St. Patrick's Day and such

So, I really don't do well with off-schedule days, apparently.  I really thought of myself as someone who thrived without a set schedule....until I had kids.   And it seems like I need the schedule for the children more than the kids need the schedule.  So Spring Break was difficult for me.  Add to that getting sick (on TOP of my continuing allergy crud that I've been sick with since we moved here), and it's been several days of just getting nothing done.

But yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, and I wasn't going to let that slide by.  The kids all put on their green, and we had our traditional Irish Stew and Soda bread dinner, with Vernor's Gingerale to drink (because it has a leprechaun on the can, of course).

And today was Grocery Shopping Day.  I put that in all capitals like it's a holiday, but it's really not a holiday.  Every 2 weeks I do a big grocery shopping trip.  And today I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't get my last store in, which is okay, because we didn't need anything from there imminently.

And since I've been sick, and Owen's had several rough nights in a row (thanks to teething.  Stupid teeth), I came home and laid down in my bed and passed out.  Owen was napping, and Allison was playing on the kindle fire on the couch until the Bigs got home, and they (amazingly!) did their homework and then all went to watch Pokemon on the TV in the playroom.  I woke up at 5:30 because Owen woke up and then Matt called, and I had not started dinner, so he decided we'd go to the nearby chinese buffet restaurant, where the Bigs had fun with chopsticks.

And I made myself another to-do list.  I started making myself one every day and found it really helpful.  And then I got sick and everything fell apart.  So here's to regaining myself tomorrow!

Starting again, zoo day

So, I had decided to make an effort to blog more.  I have a history of many failed attempts, but I think having a place to get myself out is generally a good thing.  And I realized that all the picture links on my blog were broken.  I was using facebook's image urls for my pictures and I guess blogspot doesn't like that anymore.

Anyway, we went to the zoo as a family this past Wednesday.  We had bought a membership for my birthday last year, and worked it out that in 3 visits it would pay for itself.  Well, it was about to expire and we'd only gone twice.  The Fort Worth Zoo was just too far away for us.  With the kids in school, it was just too difficult to get there.  So we won't renew it, but needed to go once more.

Matt took the day off, and the kids were so excited to have him with us.

This was a live Black Milk Snake.  Erin turned to me and said "Mom, snakes aren't slimy!"

Baby giraffe!

As per the norm, I didn't get into any of the pictures myself.  Seems to be the way of things when you're the one with camera. I didn't seem to get many of the kids' faces either. I suppose that's okay.  Not everything has to be a perfectly posed postcard moment.  We had fun, even if the place was PACKED and there was hardly any room.

I have been feeling a bit...stifled...at home lately.  There is SO much that needs to be done, and the four kids are all working against it, so it's worse than shoveling snow in a blizzard.  It was good to get out and remember that my kids are fun people, and I love to watch them discover things.  We stopped by the gorillas at the very end, and just stood outside and watched them for 15 or 20 minutes, instead of going inside the habitat, and fighting with the crowds to just breathe, let alone see anything.  And by the end, Owen was yelling "Allila! Allila!" while pointing at them, and everyone just go so excited for his new word.  Even the sleepy old lady gorilla sat up to look at him.  Allison was excited that another one was picking dandelions (one of her own favorite passtimes).  Of course, the gorilla was eating them.

It was an exhausting day, and even quite stressful at some points, but I'm so glad we went.  It reminded me that I like my kids (I always love them, but...sometimes they get under my skin in a way only kids can), and that we can have fun together.