The Tomlinsons: Messy Manicures

Wednesday (2-26-14):

Kora loves drawing. She's always saying "draw", and heaven forbid she sees you with a pen!

I downloaded the ABC Mouse app, not positive what it's called, but they have a song for every letter of the alphabet. It has really sparked Kees's interest in writing. Can you see the letters? There's a lower case "g", and upper case "G", a backwards "j", and an "i". Not sure what else he was writing, but it's exciting to see him learning!

And the crazy packing, is out of control. Doug was wanting to pack the van on Thursday because the weather was supposed to be the nicest. So I had to decide which clothes to pack (to send to Idaho) and which ones to set aside for the kids to wear the week we'd be apart. (Doug was planning to leave Monday, and the kids and I were flying out the following Monday.) We used a lot of space saver bags...genius invention!

Part of my brilliance, a pink tote for Kora's stuff and a blue tote for Kees's. Since we used the space saver bags Doug ended up just fitting those into gaps and didn't want the tubs. I managed to get the blue one to Idaho, but not the pink one. We'll be in Oklahoma in July....maybe I'll get it then. :)

I finally convinced Kees that tasting this was a good idea. Then, he insisted I make a note to remember to buy some for our new place in Idaho. This photo was the reminder.

Okay, so there's a little method to my madness. I picked out enough outfits to last us the next week and a half, I put the kids clothes in clothing packs, that included full outfits for both kids. Then I kept them in a suitcase I cleverly hid in the living room. Every day, I'd pull it out, and grab a clothing pack. I only packed about half as many as we actually needed and just did laundry and re-packed. (Funny, when we actually got to Idaho, it took me a while to get the kid's room set up, so they've been wearing the same 6 outfits over and over again. I'm almost positive it won't kill them. But it did make blogging confusing, as I scrolled through the photos I kept seeing the same outfits and getting confused which day was when.)

Using paint markers.

Kora loves make up, sometimes I let her play with mine.

And who remembers me pointing out that GRAMPA was seen by my children writing on the feet of stuffed animals. Looked over to discover this! Thanks a lot Grampa! Good ideas really DO catch on.

And then, there was the epic trip to get Mamaw's nails done. We normally go to church on Wednesday night. I think it was Doug's turn to take the kids, but I offered to let him go to the regular bible study and I'd take Mamaw into town to get her nails done. Here's the thing, her memory is so bad, that every single time she looks at her nails, she mentions them needing to be done. The rest of the week was so full, and I wasn't sure when there would be another chance. I also really wanted to help my parents out with her while we were in Oklahoma, and more often than not, I'm not much help because I have two little kids that actually ADD to the crazy. So I convinced myself this was a good idea. I asked a couple of times if there was a number to call to set up an appointment, but no one knew for sure, so we went in blind! Bad, bad idea, stupid idea, why on Earth would I take a lady with dementia, and two tiny people into the wilderness with no real plan. I have a ridiculous sense of optimism and perhaps stubbornness that can get the better of me. This day, that lethal combination bit me, HARD!

So we arrive at the lovely nail salon, please know that for at least the next paragraph my words are DRIPPING with sarcasm. As soon as we pull up, Mamaw says, "Let's just go home, I'll come back another time." I calmly explained that no one would be able to bring her until next week, and she'd been wanting to get her nails done. She said, "That's okay, I'll just drive myself back." (Inner sigh, no one heard it but me, promise) "Well, you probably don't remember, but you're not allowed to drive." This is such a huge battle, multiple times a day. She wants to drive so bad, and she knows the van is hers. If my dad parks it in the back, she's frantic about where it is. We had it in the shop and I wasn't sure we'd survive the two days it was gone. You can't blame her either, who wants to lose all recollection of who people are and have one of the few things you truly know is yours, being driven by who knows who!

I convinced her to get out of the car, there was a sign on the door that a massage was in progress, so I knocked, just to see if she'd be able to squeeze us in after. She came to the door and told us to come back in an hour.

Hmmmm, what to do with Mamaw and 2 kids for an hour. She insisted she wanted to go home, but stubborn as I am, I convinced her we NEEDED to get her nails done. So she agreed to go to Sonic for ice cream. While we were waiting on our ice cream, which came out WAY too fast, I might add, I decided, I'd drive Mamaw around Prague, since it's all new to her regardless. So we killed some time, driving around, chatting with Mamaw. Got back to the nail salon, a little early, and Mamaw wouldn't get out of the van. And I guess she's more stubborn than me, because we ended up going home. I managed to hold it together, but I felt like a big fat failure. Not to mention, Kees was so sad because he wanted to look at all the nail polish colors.

So, we got home, and discovered that Kora is more stubborn than all of us. Someone was getting their nails done, and it ended up being Kora pretending to clip her toe nails. I'll call it a victory!