What Was I Thinking???

I have been overcome with the desire to be normal. Not in an unhappy way, but in a way that has me looking back at my recent decisions and saying, "What was I thinking?" Do you ever do that? An example of this same desire that backfired on me is the "Christmas Tree" post. I wanted to pretend that we were a normal family and have the dream Christmas I had always planned on having with my family. That was a big eye opener. Since then I have come to grips with my life and the new normal I have embraced.

I have no idea what has come over me. Rob and I went on vacation and now I am acting like I don't have five toddlers.

Ex #1) The day after we got back from vacation we went over to my friend Jina's house to pick out a kitten. A KITTEN!!! Seriously? Not only did we pick out a kitten, we picked out TWO kittens! Seriously? What was I thinking? As if 5 kids weren't enough. Now I have 7 kids to worry about. They are the cutest little things. KiKi is the little dark one and she is just precious. Gray (how original) is the boy and he is really feisty. Now, our first approach was to tell the kids they couldn't touch the kitties. That didn't work. So, we have showed them the proper way to pick them up and hold them. Since then, we haven't been too successful at being gentle. I try to keep the kittens away from the kids, but that is impossible. Jenna and Syd are REALLY rough and just don't understand that they can really hurt them. The silly kittens just keep going back for more. You would think they would hide or run or something. Now we are faced with a decision of keeping them or giving them back. I really love KiKi, but I am stressed out because I am so worried the kids are going to kill them. Like I mentioned before, "What was I thinking?"

Ex #2) Sunday evening Grandma and Grandpa Wright took Ethan and Sydney to spend the night. Aunt Mel and Uncle Shawn took Peyton and Landon. That left Jenna with mom and dad all to herself. Monday morning I went and got Landon and Peyton and went to Menard's. They played in the play area and then we walked by the fountains and everything was fun. I took them to McDonald's for lunch and we had a great morning. The day was going so well that I must have forgotten I had two other kids who would be coming home that evening because I made a crazy decision. I had the bright idea of painting my cabinets. Now, one may think that isn't a horrible idea. However, I had to sand them and prime them and tape and lay plastic and take the cabinets and all the hardware off. What was I thinking? I have 29 cabinets and 11 drawers. Now I am at the point of no return. I am exhausted and ready to be done. Tomorrow I will painting the drawers and cabinets and hopefully get all the painting finished. I have no idea what came over me that made me think it wouldn't be a big deal to paint. I think it will look great once it is done and I am glad it is getting done, but I was not thinking clearly when I made this decision.

Besides my obvious lack of good decision making, things are going smooth here. We had an awesome week last week. The weather was wonderful. We played outside all week and discovered a new world. We learned about trees and leafs. We dug holes and played with sticks. We threw dirt and ran up and down the hill. We jumped and ran and rolled and crawled all over the yard. It was a week of exploration. We also took the kids on their first walk without a wagon or stroller. We put their harnesses on them and headed around the block. It was hilarious. The kids have no idea how to walk on a leash. They wouldn't go. As you can see, the boys struggled the most. Peyton was in lala land most of the time and wouldn't walk.
Friday we decided to take the kids to Evansville to Show Carnival to get some new sandals for our picture session with Tanya that evening. The kids did great in Show Carnival and the workers there were top notch. We had all the help we needed and everything went smooth. A+ for Shoe Carnival. After that we went to Boston's for lunch. This was our first time taking the kids out to eat by ourselves. We were giddy with excitement as we were sitting in the booth eating. It went so well that I said to Rob while we were eating "Doesn't this excite you? Look at what we can finally do!" It was hilarious to see how the kids ate. Jenna ate an entire bowl of french onion dip and Syd ate an entire bowl of ranch dressing. Everyone behaved and no one fell out of their seat. It was a complete success and I am smiling just thinking about that day.
So, things are great here in the Wright house. Everyone is healthy, happy, and loved. God has blessed us beyond measure.