"I think I am going to die"

Don't be alarmed. That phrase was what made me smile today, like smile for more than just a quick second.

Today's been one of the harried days I could certainly do without. I am a much happier human when I can just be home (my kids are too). I'll give you a rundown on my day and then you can understand why I smiled when my daughter said the above statement about dying.

I had a church meeting this morning that entailed me leaving the house about 8:30 with two girls. The boys in my family were camping (yahoo - they had so much fun) and had our one vehicle. I proceeded to push an empty stroller up the hill (wearing sneakers and a short denim skirt). The girls walked, but eventually both of them ended up in the stroller (thank goodness, or we'd never been able to meet the agreement). I dropped one off near the house she was going to be babysat (and said, "you can almost see the house, go ahead and run to it, you'll be OK). I just bank on safety around here, everyone's nice right? And, besides, my kids eat at least three times a day so I can't imagine anyone being interested in having to maintain that kind of strict :-) schedule.



Can you imagine me wearing these?



Amazingly enough, with just a little glisten on my forehead, I actually met the agreement and had both kids at their sitters' houses as well as ready (sneakers off, replaced by snappy pumps)  to go to the church meeting.

The meeting was really good and a privilege to go to because a church leader from SLC was visiting. I started to phase out around the start of the second hour, but composed myself and finished strong on the alertness factor.

I arrived home close to 1:00 to find the remnants of a fun camping trip and 2 out of 3 kids hungry for lunch. I fixed lunch, ate lunch (homemade burritos - wow, thanks to Kim and Jenni for teaching me that one), and then headed off to violin class at 2:45. We then head to swimming class which is clear across the valley (I definitely don't live in a valley, but I grew up in a valley so I don't know what else to say -- I drove from one lake to the other?).



Swimming Lessons 2010



The kids are cranky by this time (who am I kidding, it didn't take till 4:30 for them to become cranky) and I had that little wrinkle above my eyes that my childhood neighbor use to tease me about because I'd get sunburned except for that little crease, which has now turned into a deep-set wrinkle. I think I should get it botoxed. But then, you wouldn't recognize me because I would look so youthful and vibrant :-).

I got us all home and fed dinner (can I just mention, after swimming lessons, I filled up the car with gas, broke the little gas door, got a car wash and within 15 minutes of being home it is raining (still is - 3 hours later) AND my nice friend let me know we had left the van door open).  Back to the story, I got one child bathed and I finally FINALLY took a few minutes for myself to use the bathroom. I am not kidding, this is a feat. After just a few minutes, my 5 yo starts crying in the other bathroom. I was mostly choosing not to concentrate on that but when my son came back to chat, I asked him to go help her. Which, of course, didn't do a bit of good.

When, I came to her aid, I heard her tearfullysay (in an empty bathtub with the curtain mostly closed), "I think I am going to die in here." I helped her adjust the temperature to something more comfortable and went on my way.

Now, that all are in bed, that statement makes me laugh again. Kids are so dramatic, but after a day like this it feels so nice to just sit and smile.