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Happy Hour redefined

This is gonna sound like a commercial. But it’s just a testimony. About the AWESOMENESS of the Sonic Happy Hour. Now I’m kind of a bore so the Sonic Happy Hour and the 1/2 appetizers Happy Hour at Applebee’s are the only two I’ve really ever hit. But I’m about to become a LUSH thanks to Sonic!

Now I’ve been frequenting Sonic Drive-In’s happy hour on and off for about a year.  1/2 price drinks from 2-5 PM!! (At least in my area.)  This means I can get my kids a small slushie for FITTY CENT.  And let me tell you, a few times when sanity has been escaping me, I’ve strapped the kids in their car seats and gunned it over to Sonic to get some cheap treats for them AND me. Because kids quietly sucking down slushies and strapped into car seats while I greedily gulp a calm-restoring Cherry Coke or Cherry Limeade for freaking HALF PRICE = aweeesome!  We all drink for less than $2. WHAT UP!

Wow, that was like, a crazy stream-of-consciousness testimonial!

But I never knew how awesome happy hour could be until Wednesday, when it suddenly occurred to me, on that beautiful day, with gorgeous weather, to invite my friends. So I sent out a text to the ladies in my house church group and almost all of them converged on our local sonic after school.  3:15 and we had that place HOPPING.  The kids were crazy, the Sonic employees were hiding inside fearing for their lives, and we were all sucking down super-sweet, super-cheap treats.

Here’s Sophie with my friend E’s kids becoming one with the restaurant’s window:

Let's drink slushies and jump off a window!

All in all, there were sixteen kids 8 and under there. All on the teeny-tiny outdoor patio at Sonic. And despite the fact that we spent much of the time trying to keep our kids out of the drive-thru lane (and therefore, alive), we had a GREAT TIME.

As did they:

I'm flying! I'm FLYING!!

I hope this weather stays nice so we can go back and terrify the staff and run off all the other customers and drink some sugary goodness for 1/2 off ONE MORE TIME this year!

It was totally rad. Weekdays. 2-5 in my area, check with your local store, grab some friends, and maybe a harness for your children, and go!

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Stuck in the Muddle

One of the things that I hesitate to say out loud, but I’m saying it,(because really, what’s the point in pretending to be something I’m not?) is that I am so much happier now that school is back in session.  Let me just say that I believe 100% that me being a stay-at-home-mom at this time in my life, in my kids’ lives, is the best thing for my family.  I’ve realized that this is especially true in light of Sophie’s developmental delays.  I have worked my butt off in the past year to help her get caught up, and it has taken a lot out of me.  But she’s doing so amazingly well, and I know my being home and being able to work with her has played a big part in that.  So I know I am supposed to be home now, and to be 100% honest, I want to be home now.

And yet.

This summer, with a baby in the mix and two big kids constantly begging for attention or bugging each other, I nearly lost my flippin’ mind.  It was just not good.

My hats off to you homeschool moms, because if I had all three of my kids underfoot by myself five days a week, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t last long, because I’d be in the loony bin before you can say “xanaxicity“.

When my kids are gone part of the day at school, we enjoy each other more.  That’s just the way it is.  I must admit over the summer I raised my voice and said in frustration, “You guys are driving me crazy!” or “You guys are making me nuts!”  way too many times.  I just lost it.  There comes a point when I can take no more and I got there a lot this summer. And when Bobby got home, I wanted to go hide by myself and just be ALONE.

And while I have a wonderful husband who is a wonderful father, he will never understand what it’s like to be me, and I will never understand what it’s like to be him.  So when he sees me lose my cool, he generally does not understand.  But he’s just seeing that moment.  He hasn’t seen the twelve hours of incidents leading up to that, all the times I’ve been pushed and pushed and pushed.  He just sees it when I finally pop.  To him it’s the first time a child has committed the transgression in question, when in actuality, it may be the fifth or sixth time.  In any case, it’s one time too many.

So anyway. I’m admitting all that, but I’m still not sure what it says about me.  I just think when you have little kids in your face all day, it’s difficult.  And I love love love love LOVE them am doing the best I can to love the crap out of them, but sometimes I get tired of being a live-in (unpaid) servant, of the adult ADD that I’ve gotten from not being able to, for the love of all that’s holy, finish one. single. task. without being interrupted, and I LOSE IT.  Now that I’m in the throes of blissful fall, I’m realizing more and more how I spent the bulk of my summer in a state of anxiety and panic, mixed with frustration and anger.

I’m already saving my money so that the big kids can go to a week or two of day camp at Joshua’s school next summer.  Not kidding.  I’ve been amazed at how happy and efficient I’ve been this fall, and I’ve gotta figure out a way to make next summer better than this one that has just passed.

So.  Feel free to judge.  Or to admit you’re just the same. But that’s where I’m at.  Now, I’m off to enjoy my 2.5 hours of only having one kid home while I can.

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All Hail

Last night I was upstairs playing with Sophie, which of course involved nearly emptying her giant toy bin onto the floor, because really, one cannot properly play with any toy unless all the other toys are messily dispersed about the floor, right? Right.  So, most of this play involved the feeding, diapering, and lullaby-ing of her baby Starsong My Little Pony, but somehow it also involved me wearing a tiara. Not sure how that fit in.

But it’s ok, because I am comfortable wearing a tiara.  So comfortable in fact, that over an hour later, long after Sophie was in bed, I caught my reflection in the microwave door as I walked into the kitchen and saw that I was still wearing it.

I make painted plastic and not-even-rhinestones look GOOD!

Her Royal Cluelessness, at your service!

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