Snapshot Of My Life: Bowling on a Wednesday Afternoon

Here is a picture (use your powers of imagination because I forgot my camera) of what it's like to go bowling with my family, which is what the kids and I did after school today with my mom.

• One cup of red fruit punch, spilled onto the floor, two chairs, a shirt, and a pair of pale pink tights.
• Three crying girls, they thankfully more or less took turns. 
• Countless trips to the snack counter, vending machines, and restrooms.
• French fries, nachos, soft pretzel, chips, and corn dog = dinner.
• One almost two-year old chasing a bowling ball down the lane, followed by her biggest sister chasing her.
• One eldest sister falling flat on her bum as she tries to prevent her baby sister from knocking the pins down by hand.
• One ball sent rolling down the wrong lane.
• Lots of cheering and rowdiness, with total disregard to performance or score.
• One four-year old girl dressed in an utterly mismatched outfit of her choosing, which, consequently, she also wore to preschool that same day.
• Proprietor marveling at the motherliness of one nine-year old girl, commenting to the mother of the girl, "your baby is taking care of your baby." Or something to that effect. 

Next time I will remember my camera. But here are a few pictures from yesterday of my baby who is sadly no longer a baby...

Looking eerily like a blue-eyed, red-headed Lucy

My little girls have a strange habit of wearing their sunglasses upside down

Finally got them right...but it's way cuter when they're upside down, don't you think?

I Did It!

Yesterday was a successful day. I got through my birthday without once getting overly crabby. In fact I hardly got crabby at all. I had a good day.

One of my very best and oldest friends (as in we've been friends since 7th grade), Julie, treated me to a delicious French toast breakfast at The Pantry. We each brought our youngest offspring with us, who are only months apart and destined to stand up in each others weddings one day. I love Julie and am always happy when I'm with her. So, it was a good way to start my challenging day, otherwise known as my birthday.

My dad came over for a visit, which was lovely, especially since we don't get to see each other very often. Chris went to Secretary of State for me to renew my tabs (thank you honey!) so I wouldn't have to sit there and get crabby on my birthday. Yes I could have gone before my birthday, or actually mailed in the renewal, but geez that takes foresight and preparation and that is just not how I roll. While Chris was getting crabby for me at SOS, my mom and I took the kids bowling. We only had to get someone to retrieve a stalled ball two times, and just watching Lucy do a little victory dance every single time she rolled that ball down the lane made the whole thing worthwhile and fun. Connor is getting much better (he even had a strike or two!), and Bethany is so strong she just amazes me. I was one of those kids who could never climb the rope in gym class or do a single pull-up, and Bethany is one of those kids who climbs swing sets at the park and gives her mother a heart attack, so yeah she can totally hurl a bowling ball. She practically throws it.  

After bowling, my mom came over and had dinner with us - homemade (by Chris) lasagna and cassata cake (from a bakery) for dessert.

It was a nice, pleasant day, and I don't have one single thing to complain about. I knew I could do it!