Hose 'em Down!

At the end of a VERY long and somewhat stressful day yesterday, I couldn't wait for kids to go to bed!  I thought there was no redeeming the day . . . but I was wrong.  What had been a no good, very bad day, turned into one of my favorite evenings!  Let me take you back to the beginning of the story . . .  (cue the back in time music)

We got up yesterday and immediately got dressed and out the door to be at my work by 9 a.m. (got there at 9:15) for my TB test.  Yes, I toted all five kiddos with me, much to the delight of my co-workers, some of whom had not met my fabulous 5.  We were going to go to swimming lessons afterward, but Jackson had been running a low grade fever and woke up feeling a little yucky, so we scrapped that and called the pediatrician's office instead.  Appointment at 10:50, we'll be there, but what to do between 9:50 and 10:50? It wasn't worth going home and unloading.  No problem, my work needed cheap, plastic construction hats for a picture we were taking in front of our soon to be new and bigger facility.  So off I went with crew in tow to Party City.  I needed to get some stuff for the babies' birthday party anyway.  SCORE, two birds, one stone!  Overall, it was going pretty well so far.  A little chaotic, but that's to be expected when we load and unload to run errands.  Doctor's office, 10 minutes early, score again!!  This is when is started to get a little hairy . . .

My kids can handle two errands, but that's really about all they are good for.  After that, all bets are off.  So the doctor's office got a little crazy.  Gage couldn't stand to be confined any longer and so I had to get him out of the stroller and pray that no one else would ask to get out.  Fortunately I won that battle until we were actually in the exam room.  Then EVERYONE had to get out for a little stretch.  Imagine a room that was maybe 10' x 5' (if that) with an exam table, my huge bus of a stroller, a 4 year old and four 23 month olds on the loose.  They were almost literally climbing the walls!  By the time the doctor walked in, I was trying to fix a sippy cup that I had messed up, so Kynlee couldn't get anything out of it.  She was mad because everyone else had a functioning cup.  Everyone else was pretty happy up to that point, but when the doctor walked in, that changed quick.  They are of course at the "don't like strangers stage" so I had 2 clinging and crying and the rest being loud.  Jackson had crawled in a cubby behind the exam table during the sippy cup chaos because he was playing hide n seek with Gage and Gage had crawled in after him and was laughing, and a third kid ( I don't even remember who now) was trying to squeeze in too.  Jackson couldn't get out so the doctor could examine him and while I was trying to extract the babies and talk to the doctor, Kynlee picked up her lid-less sippy cup and poured water all over the floor!!  Fortunately our pediatrician LOVES my kids and just laughs and goes with the flow!  She thinks it's great!

After getting a tonsilitis diagnosis and prescription for antibiotics, we were out of there!  Kids in the car: check, quadruplet stroller strapped to the hitch platform:  hmmmm  I thought I did this, but when I turned out of the doctor's parking lot and into the thankfully small street in front, I heard a crash. As I drove I looked in the rearview mirror to see the huge quadruplet stroller laying on it's side in the middle of the road.  I put the car in park and ran for the stroller, getting to it just as another car was approaching (the man looked like he was trying to figure out the situation, I can't say I blame him for being a little confused as to what was going on.).  Stoller strapped on: check this time!  The funny thing is, this is the second time that the stroller has been put on, but not strapped.  The first time (and it wasn't me who forgot that time), was in Kansas the stroller rode 75 miles down the highway before Poppo realized that he hadn't actually ever strapped it on!!  It never fell off, so no he's telling me that if I were a smoother driver, it would have stayed on ;-)  Anyway, on to get some lunch for some mildly cranky kids, but this wasn't our last stop.

Chicken nuggets to go from Chick-fil-a and then onto the last (almost) task: a tour of our new building for work and picture for our flyer . . . this time when we got out I didn't try to use the stroller, the kids had been cooped up for too long and I knew it wouldn't go over well, so I bribed them to be good with chicken nuggets as we walked through.  There was a little running in the HUGE space, but otherwise, not too bad.  Mommy was a little tired and flustered by this point and I did get a little stressed out when a certain 4 year had to be reminded of the way to act to set a good example.  All in all, they were all being pretty good considering they had been cooped up, running errands for TOO long, but I think we were all getting tired and cranky . . . it was finally time to take the picture that I had come to be in and of course, every tiny person wanted to be near me, so with an Oreo bribe, we got all of them to sit down behind us where they couldn't be seen so we could take the picture quick!

Kids back in the car, a quick stop to pick something up from a friend (where Jackson got out of the car to see his friend even though I told him no and he stood on the other side of the glass door because I told him that Cooper didn't want his germs, he looked a little like he was in quarantine!)  Then finally home so little people could take naps!  We left the house at 9 a.m. and got back at 1:30!!  I never run around this long with all the littles in tow!  Jackson and I enjoyed some one on one time during naptime after we decompressed from the morning.  My nerves were just a little shot from the heat, the running and the chaos!  Once little people got up from naps, the chaos began again. 

The kids ended up going outside while I made dinner which seemed like a great idea and HUGE relief until I found out that they had been out there caking sand into each other's hair (all five of them!)  I made them eat outside (after they started to come in and shed 1/2 a beach worth of sand into the first 3 ft of the doorway, I immediately shooed them back out).  After eating, I had to get the sand off (here's where the hose 'em down comes in).  You always hear people say that they will just "hose the kids down in the backyard," but how many actually do it?  I can now honestly say that we have!  I stripped my kids down, got out the hose and went for it.  Everyone loved it except Brooklyn and Jackson who thought it was too cold.  I didn't just spray them down though, I had Clint get the baby wash and I actually just bathed them with the hose!  I'm really not kidding.  Gage thought this was awesome.  You would have thought I made all of his dreams come true by letting him run naked in the yard while being hosed down!  Kynlee loved it too. Westin really wasn't so big on being sprayed, but he did love running naked and spraying Gage with the hose and since Gage thought this was hysterical, it was a win, win!  Westin did get angrier than I have ever seen him when I took the hose and made him go inside to get dressed.  He got down on all fours and backed away from us screaming so he didn't have to get dressed.  It was actually pretty funny just because it was so out of character! 

I will admit that when I realized they were all covered in sand, all I could think was that this was just the last straw in very long, busy and stressful day!  I was not very happy and really didn't want to deal with it . . . but it became something that I will remember forever!  We did get a couple of pictures with Clint's phone (the camera button is stuck again, I think it might be time to give up on it), but I'm not willing to post them online.  I bet everyone can understand that.  They are priceless though, as was the evening!!