Friday, July 10, 2009

Camp Survivors

Well, looks like everyone here survived camp week. We picked Maya and Eva up about an hour ago and they don't look too exhausted. Isaac seems happy (at this point) to have his companions back. Our cousin Emma is over telling Maya and Eva they really need to make compromises on their stories they are telling of camp as there is more bickering going on about who is going to say what than actual story telling. I couldn't agree with her more. Wow, it really was so much quieter while they were gone.

Now that I have all my little chickens back I'm ready to tuck them in and sleep soundly without falling asleep worrying about their carsickness, sunburns and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately it's 1:10 in the afternoon so I'm going to have to keep my eyes open a few more hours and listen to camp stories. This is where the ability to fall asleep with my eyes open would really come in handy.

I'm sure if I look back on the week there are some lessons I've learned from our first camp experience. One would be to know when camp actually is so you're not freaking out the night before trying to pack. Another one would be that sending your kids away for camp for the first time is not that much unlike sending them off to their first day of kindergarten - be forewarned.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned this week is that it doesn't matter how many kids you have because one kid is going to fill up your time just as well as three especially if his name is Isaac Johnson.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Camp Advil

I think we've all calmed down now. I think it was about 11:30am yesterday that I got over my camp anxiety.

My friend Beth (who is at camp with Maya and Eva) called me this morning to say they appear to be having a great time. I'm just going to go with that. At this point I have to go with it because my head feels like it's going to explode from the combination of yesterday's stress and monthly hormone surges. I'm pretty sure someone ran over me with a car last night while I was sleeping. It's at times like these when you remember just how stressful parenting can be and also why you hold on to those prescription painkillers.

Isaac and I were like nomads today. We actually went to the girls' tennis practice yesterday without them because we didn't know what else to do with ourselves.

Today I tried to take him on a bunch of errands and realized it doesn't matter if you have 3 kids or 1, they still don't want to run a bunch of errands.

I managed to get a few things done before Isaac's legs got so tired he just couldn't walk anymore. Fortunately they have those really big carts at Home Depot with seats in them. Isaac sat in one seat with his feet propped on the other while I pushed the 8 foot long cart through the store with a 10 ounce bottle of Miracle Gro in it. And, you know, it's not like you can go to Home Depot and just go down one aisle. I had to check out everything. Who knows? I might need an entirely new kitchen next week.

Tonight Tim and I took Isaac and Olive to the park. I walked Olive around a football field twice to wear her out. And Isaac managed to run around the playground for an entire hour without the aid of a behemoth shopping cart.

But now my flowers are happily fed, my dog is tired and Isaac is propping his feet up on the sofa to watch a movie before bed. And me, well, there's always plenty of Advil.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Anxiety Camp

Oh what have I done? I just sent Maya and Eva off to camp for a week. Oh what have I done? I'm repeating myself. They've never gone to camp by themselves ( by themselves except with each other of course). And I've compounded my anxiety because I completely forgot about camp until last night at 8:00pm.

Needless to say I was a little freaked out at having to get them ready to go at the last minute. Tim helped by telling me "ok, you're a little stressed out..." I responded by walking away and not kicking him in the nuts.

They were both excited although Eva was a little nervous. This is not unlike Eva as she's my anxious one. She's also the one that doesn't like to eat outside because of the bugs, gets nauseous if she gets too hot or has to ride in a car for more than an hour and I just put her on a bus packed like a sardine with 55 other kids for a two hour drive to southern Indiana. What the hell was I thinking?!!

Ok, maybe I'm overreacting here. Somebody please tell me I'm overreacting because right now I'm nauseous and my head is beginning to ache.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Ahhhhh.....

We're home. Actually we got home Sunday night. It was nice to be back after being gone for 11 days. Now it's Wednesday and it's not as nice because I still haven't unpacked my suitcase and I am feeling an overwhelming urge to either call Merry Maids or just set a pile of laundry on fire.

I just have to thank Bobby and Mary Jay for their wonderful hospitality. I don't know how they do it but I certainly appreciate that they do. Can't wait to see the video from the talent show. Plenty of blackmail material for the future.

And I also want to thank Tim's parents for entertaining us for a week. Oh, how we love the beach and being able to just hang out with you guys. It's great that the kids could get to know their "white grandparents" a little better. You know it's important that they know both of their heritages. White-haired or black-haired. We are united into one family, all equal despite the color of our hair. We are well, white.

More to come.....