He's a crawler!

When I woke up Saturday morning I sat on the couch in my jammies and robe. Snuggled in while the kids played. So relaxing.

I made my list of to-dos. Laundry,  dishes, breakfast,  church... and... something was missing. I puzzled on it for about three minutes.

Thats how long it took me to figure out that Katie has gymnastics on Saturday at 10:00... and it was 9:33.

It goes against everything in me to get dressed without taking a shower but there was no time.

I jumped up, looked at Katie with wide eyes and told her to get ready! Leotard,  tights, teeth, hair, face, pants, coat, shoes! And hurry!

We did make it and, as usual, it was fun to watch the kids try hard to do the cartwheels, handstands,  jumps and balance beam. No one faceplanted this week so it wasn't *as* entertaining as last week but it's always fun to see how excited Katie gets when she does one of the activities well!

Katie is also super observant.  On Saturday she pointed out to me that Jackson was CRAWLING. Sure enough.

He's officially mobile now *Gulp* which means the days of setting him down and leaving him to play (without worrying that he'll make his way to Katie's room or into the pantry) are pretty much over.

Crawling is scary and awesome.

He's getting faster every day! Today he followed me and the kids to Jake's room where we were putting up Jake's Toy Story poster he got for Christmas.

I wonder if the baby fence will work better with Jack than with Jake. 

Here's hoping.

Kids are fun(ny).

Me, my mom, and all three kids justh got out of the show for Elmo.  Busy event, infant,  toddler,  5-year-old (who thinks she's 15), AND over the dinner hour?  How we managed to make it out with only a minor demand for a balloon shaped like Elmo's head and a few times when *someone* wanted to wander off on his own (JACOB) I just don't know.

The Elmo balloon he wanted are super expensive... but I think Jake thought they were giving them out for free because he was saying he needed "to get my balloon" as he walked towards a little kid about 20 feet away from us.

Eventually he'll learn that, at $10 a pop (pun intended), we do not purchase fragile bits of helium filled Mylar that won't last long in our house between the pulling and the pushing and the poking and the probable popping.  Plus. $10.

Really Sesame Street people?

So, no balloon.

Hypothetically, impulse buys like oh, say popcorn for $4.50 and maybe some cotton candy for $5? Yes. For sure.   Ahem.  HYPOTHETICALLY.

Balloon? Nope.

Also, Katie started gymnastics! She loves it!  It was a little hard though to not laugh TOO much at the face plants and tipovers I saw. Katie did a great job on the things she learned from her last class and she got to wear her pink leotard.

(And I realized that I will pay inflated prices for so-so food but not for flimsy balloons.)

Black Friday. Ugh. And now... an update.

John thinks I insist on standing outside of Best Buy while waiting for their midnight open because I want a break from the nightly routine of getting the kids to bed. Which, if he knew anything about me at all, he would realize is totally ridiculous.   Okay. 98% ridiculous. But still more ridiculous than not ridiculous.

Why? Here are a few reasons I've had time to come up with while standing in this slightly chilly outdoor weather. For the past 30 minutes.

1. Standing outside in the cold (as mentioned, I'm in line as I type this) isn't comfy. Sure I'm in my yoga pants and winter coat but it's not where I would choose to spend my free time on a normal night. (Meaning any other night that *isn't* tonight.)

2. The kids are probably in dream land right now. Meaning that my night would be a bazillion times more relaxing if I were at home at this very moment.

3. I would rather be snuggled into my cozy spot on the couch watching one of the many "guilty pleasure" TV shows that are constantly on while snuggled up with a toasty baby and listening to the snores of my other two from their rooms.

No, what I'm really standing outside in the cold for is a 42" TV that we would never splurge on because it's one of those things I just can't spend an obscene amount of money on when we've got a mortgage, tuition for Katie, two car payments, and baby expenses. But for the price, I figured why not see what the fuss is about.

So I'm at the end of a very long line with next to no chance of getting one of the TVs but... I still don't want to give up. This is the first year I've done this and it's probably going to be the last (I don't play the lottery and I don't (usually) gamble because there's no guarantee I'll win) but even with the horrible terrible no good odds, I want to see it through.

In the cold.

Update:
I didn't get the TV. Duh. I pretty much knew I wouldn't but, like I told John,  I wanted to try. And he went with me.

Granted he did spend most of the time in the car watching the activity in the line (line jumpers. Ugh.) and listening to the police radio.  And let me tell you, things were hopping at Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

As a nice little break... I did get to see two guys doing a choreographed dance in the back of a pickup truck. (I know, odd. And oddly entertaining.)  I watched said truck park. Two guys got out and started to dance a jig in the back of the truck.  A few seconds after they started, the truck pulled forward. With the guys in mid dance.  It seemed a little unexpected. And the quick move caused one of the guys to topple out onto the hard ground.  It was pretty funny.  Okay, I laughed so hard I teared up.  And then my eyes kept watering.  Comfortable?  No.  Worth it? Ohhhh yeah.