the vacation diary: day eight

This paragraph used to say something different about the number of days I was behind and how things had started to go wrong, but even those few sentences are out of date now.  But since one loyal reader actually cares about what happened on the eighth day, I'm going to forge ahead.  This is for you, most loyal of fans.

Day 8 stats:

Wake-up time:  7:09 a.m. Method:  naturally--if you can say that there's anything natural about voluntarily waking before a 7:30 alarm.  General mood:  Looking forward to making breakfast and celebrating birthdays and stuff.

Agenda:  I worked on breakfast solo for a while, but the little boys and Joshua were up before too long.  I offered them delightful choices of homecooking, but Pinkie wanted a PopTart because he has no taste.  Thumb did eat one of the things I offered, but it wasn't even the really good one.  After that other folks began to trickle in from various beds, and the grown-ups at least appreciated my efforts.  Actually I think Pointer and Bird ended up eating my cooking too, but Ring had PopTarts too.  Losers.

The kiddos were excited to get out into Uncle Shane's back yard, so we sent them out of our hair for a while.  Jess came over for breakfast, and we sent her out to play with the other kids.  Eventually we had to haul the smelly things back inside so that the birthday folks could open their presents.  We were jointly celebrating Susan, Shane, and my moma, and they ended up with some good stuff, I think.  Pointer and Bird painted some pottery for my moma, which was a big hit.  As a self-proclaimed pottery painting expert, I can tell you those girls are good.

Once the presents were opened, the first shift left for the Beeb and the giant inflatable water slide.  Michelle and I still weren't ready, so we stayed behind to come later.  Jess stayed to entertain us since she had to work that afternoon and couldn't go play.  The Popster also brought me a cord to connect my mp3 player to my computer (faithful readers will recall that I couldn't find mine back on day 1), so I spent some time while my hair was air-drying removing the Christmas music and adding some new music.  During that process I got a phone call from the lady who's coordinating nursery workers at church this month.  I didn't mention this back on day five, but I agreed to do the toddler nursery during first service for three of the four weeks this month.  I originally hadn't committed to Labor Day Sunday because I didn't know what exactly we'd be doing, but I told her that if she could find someone to cover the first week, I could do the others.  When she called on Saturday, she was actually just trying to verify which service I'd said I'd cover, but she did mention that she was having a really hard time finding a sub for me, so I said I could do it, and then she asked if I could find someone to help me, and I knew I could boss Jess into doing it, so I got to mark a couple of things off her list.  Eventually, both Michelle and I were ready, so we headed to the Beeb, leaving Jess to fend for herself until she went to work.  Poor weekend-working Jess.

When we got to MacMac's, the water-sliding was in full force.  Even the fun grown-ups joined in the fun (though I never got a picture of Robyn when she was actually sliding and Dixie had already called it quits by the time I got the camera out):

Thumb was so little and slid so fast that the landing was pretty scary for him.  Once Alicia started catching him, he had a lot more fun.

Elijah was just about finished sliding by the time I got here, but I got him once.

I have one of Alicia with a funnier face, but it was less flattering overall, so I took the high road.

Shane went for comedy over style every time--I also like Ring's face up at the top of the slide.

Ethan never stopped.  He loved it.

Mac was a pretty big show-off too.

Pinkie started going backwards every time.

You can't tell from the still pictures, but it was so steep that the kiddos really flew down.  None of them could really control their limbs (or faces) once they started down.  Pinkie would pretty much go airborne at the end.

I thought head-first seemed terrifying, but Bird managed just fine.

Pointer's legs were flying in every picture I took of her.

By the time I got there, the little guys were taking lots of breaks.  At this point, Rob-Bob was feeding them Cheetos, and I finally got the little beggars to look at me for a picture.  Thumb was shaking with cold and had blue lips.  The little guy doesn't have enough meat on him to actually regulate his body temperature adequately but not for lack of trying.  He's quite the little Cheeto mooch.

Big Jake was just getting over double ear infections, so he steered clear of the watery fun.

Michelle brought a little craft project to entertain the double Handful.  They decorated capes that Michelle had left over from VBS this summer.  I was pretty consumed with helping the little guys work on theirs during the beginning of the project, so I only have pictures of the slow-pokes.

This boy is so pretty, which is a good thing because he's a total mess.

You should try to get eight kids to stand still and look over their shoulders all at the same time.  I gave Josie a pass on following directions because she's too tiny and cute.

Here's the tiny, precious one's cape up close. 

Her Rob-Bob is a fan.  The feeling will be mutual if Josie knows what's good for her.

 This little darling used to be that tiny and precious.  Now she's just seven-year-old-sized and precious.  Some days that's okay too.

 

Aren't my Grams and my moma delightful?  I really like them.

It's tough to get her to smile sometimes.  I'm proud of this picture.

And though she hates it, this one is perfect too.

Eventually, it was time for the official birthday shindig.  We ate.  The birthday folk (my moma, MacMac, Shane, Rob, and Susan) opened presents and cards and such.  There were birthday cakes and singing and candles.  It was a full day of delightfulness.  But eventually we had to head back to North Little Rock for Handful bedtime, leaving the big boys to play poker for a while.  Pinkie and Thumb both fell asleep in the car, and I got to carry the heavy one in. 

The grown folk stayed up for a while and talked about nothing in particular.  We didn't stay up too late since I had babies to meet in the nursery.

Food consumed:  I made breakfast casserole and maple nut ring for breakfast.  The maple nut ring is a blast from the past that was a favorite of Joshua's.  I didn't like it as a kid because I am not terribly fond of maple syrup, but it wasn't so bad this time around.  The breakfast casserole was an eggy, cheesy, sausagey masterpiece.  When we got to MacMac's, everyone else had already eaten lunch, but there were sandwiches and chips and dip and salad and cookies and good things.  For dinner, Aunt Donna outdid herself.  We had Cajun dressing, which is one of my all-time favorites.  And she made rolls.  I could die.  Robyn and I were in charge of the birthday desserts for our momas.  She made apple pies, and if you'll recall, I made chocolate sheet cake and strawberry cake.  Rob-Bob was also in charge of buying the ice cream which means that in addition to the angel food vanilla that goes perfectly with pies and cakes, she also got Yarnell's Woo Pig Chewy, which was a big hit.  I'm going to let her be in charge of ice cream again.

Bright spot:  Is it wrong if I pick the Cajun dressing?  Because seriously, it's the best.

Bedtime:  I don't exactly remember, but I'm nearly positive it was before midnight, which is pretty impressive for us.