Week in Review: Dead Batteries, No Big Kids, and The Best Pants

On Friday, my mom called me around 3pm and I could hear noises in the background, so I asked where she was.  "Shopping at Kohl's" she replied and I said "No way, I am heading there after work ends at 4!"  I had an hour to kill between work and Eamon's basketball game and figured I could use it to make a few returns.  When I walked into Kohl's at 4:20, guess who was checking out?  My mom.  I went over and hugged her and she said "Don't tell me it's already after 4:00?  Dad is gonna kill me for shopping for so long!"  Apparently my Dad was waiting in the car for her outside, having gone to Lowe's and back already.  I said bye to my mom and went to do my exchanges.  When I was done, my mom called asking if I was still in the store.  Yup, I was.  Their battery was dead, and did I perchance have any jumper cables?  I said I was pretty sure I did, and went out to the parking lot, pulled up next to them and found the cables.  

But then we couldn't figure out how to get their car hood open.  It's a newish car (the battery died because my dad had been listening to the radio while my mom was shopping) and so my mom was reading the manual, and I was googling, and my dad, in his gentle Irish brogue, finally just asked a passing guy "Do you happen to be mechanical?" and the guy said not really, but how could he help?  My dad explained the situation and this nice guy was able to pop the hood, with some difficulty.  Then he made sure we had cables and knew how to use them, and left after we assured him that we did.  

I went inside my van and realized that I *also* did not know how to pop my hood.  Oh for the love.  We laughed and laughed and then my dad searched with a flashlight (it was getting dark) while I googled again.  He found it and just as he popped it open, the nice guy was back and said "Let me guess, you didn't know how to open your hood either?" and we all laughed and laughed again.  Talk about a comedy or errors.  This nice guy then thankfully took over and we got the battery charged.  My mom gave him a miraculous medal because she hands those out like candy, and the nice guy said that he already had one, but thank you.  I said "Oh you're Catholic?  So are weeeeeeee!!" as if I just came across a long lost relative.  We thanked him and his wife, who was patiently waiting in their car the whole time (not listening to the radio I'm sure).

Lessons:

1) Do not listen to the radio without your car running.

2) Do not believe a woman when she tells you it will be a quick trip inside a store.

3) Don't be afraid to hand out a miraculous medal.  Though I think it helps when you're a sweet grandma.

4) Know how to pop your hood and travel with jumper cables.

5) People are mostly very kind.

6) The daughter who jumps your battery is obviously your favorite child.  May the will reflect this.

7) It's always an adventure with these two:

I did make it to most of Eamon's game after...

#5 on the court but #1 in my heart (don't tell the others!)

A coworker of mine asked if my boys would want an old Nerf Gun that her kids were too old for.  Ummm yes please!  They had lots of fun with it this weekend.

I don't know if you can see it back there, but we got a little red air popper, and it has become quite the popular evening snack option in our casa.  Much cheaper and healthier and easier than buying bagged popcorn or making it on the stove.

On Saturday after Mass, Phil and I took JP out since he was going back to school soon and one-on-one time is hard to get.  We had a gift certificate to a restaurant right near our church but they were closed for renovations.  D'oh.  We took him to our favorite bar/watch sports/play Keno spot instead and it was great.  JP had joined us on our Body Diet Reset since Jan. 3rd and so we all treated ourselves in grand style (boneless chicken wings, loaded fries, tortellini) and felt stuffed and ready to get back on the plan.  Ha!

 On Sunday, we went to support my goddaughter who played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at my kids' elementary school.  It was such a great performance!

Phil bought flowers for the Scarecrow (on right) and for me (on left) because he's a gem.

On Monday morning, we brought JP and another goddaughter/niece to the Boston airport so that they could return back to Franciscan University for their Spring Semester.  I'm so glad these two have each other out there!

JP and Bridget on the right

After dropping them off, we took the youngest four kids to the Boston Museum of Science for a few hours.  It should have cost us $159 just for general admission (crazy!!) but we belong to a cheap zoo near our home that has a reciprocal program and we got in for freeeeeeeeee!

It was a freezing snowy day and we were glad to be inside

Yes, he does!

And that's where the baby goes!

Deciding whether or not to pick in public.

Maggie could only see the old lady, how about you?

Snow!

The electricity show was lit ;)

Maggie on her bed of nails or how we make her tough.

Phil showing them sciency stuff

I totally didn't even think to pack food or drinks for the kids (the only drawback of not needing a diaper bag or stroller anymore) and so by 2pm we were all starving and headed home, stopping at a yummy no-frills restaurant on the way.  At the end of the meal, Xander offered to buy all the kids a $2 Kid Sundae with his funeral-serving money.  Brendan declared it the best day ever.  He does that a lot, but it's still so sweet.

I saw this post from Ryan Hall and could.not.believe this is the same person.  After retiring from running, he has put on 50 pounds of muscle...making his runner self look completely malnourished by comparison.  And I like the message...you just can't be all things at the same time!

Andrew, Eamon and Maggie left early Thursday morning to travel to Washington DC with their high school for the March for Life.  I miss them already!

What good doobies, even if one of them refuses to smile nicely :)

I have been wearing these pants every week, sometimes twice a week if I'm feeling sassy(pants).  They are so comfy, only $30 from Target, and look dressy with ankle boots but feel like pajamas.

And that's a wrap.  Now we have to figure out how to survive without any big kids in the house until late Saturday night, it's so weird!