That Time again

Saturday was an interesting day. I told my little one that she could have a friend sleepover and we would take her the the Taste of Charleston on Sunday. We picked up her little friend around noon and went to the grocery store to get goodies. The neighbors came over afterwards and we had a house full of children. There was a few extra kids then usual, but it was a typical afternoon. The neighbors across the street have 4 kids and their oldest 2 girls are close in age to my girls so they are always playing and their 4 year old little brother tags along. He always is popping up out of nowhere. He calls me Miss B. I'll be in the kitchen and he'll just walk in and ask, "Miss B, whats for dinner?"

So, there were 7 little ones running around this weekend. Playing badminton, playing the the hose, running around. We grilled out. It was really fun. In the evening, we decorated the house for Halloween. I broke my own rule. I am a holiday FREAK. I love to decorate for the holidays and I have a schedule. On Feb. 1st the Valentines decorations go up, March 1st for St. Pattys, April 1st for Easter.....you get the picture. Unfortunately, I will be out of town all week on business so I defaulted to the early date. I thought it would be fun for the kids to help. The girls helped me make a graveyard cake and we played Halloween party music to set the ambiance.

You may remember that all of my Halloween decorations were ruined by mold a few months ago so I had all new stuff. The house looks great. There are spiders hanging from light fixtures, bottles of
"posion" and "vampire blood", ghost garland, and skulls. The kids were such big helpers - all 7 of them. I was giving them jobs so they helped put a white sheet over the scarecrow to make her a ghost. I had purchased a bunch of ravens and so I gave the kids each one and told them to put them around the house. They did a good job - perched them on the bookshelves and on the window sills. One wound up sitting on the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. I didn't clarify to put them in a practical place. They had a fun time, eating cake and decorating. Afterwards they played outside until dark. Then my girls put on their PJs and settled in to watch a movie.

My husband and I hung out downstairs and watched Revenge (my new favorite show), I fell into a deep, blissful sleep on the sofa. But as you know, all good things must come to an end. I was awoken in the middle of the night by my husband screaming my name and shouting, "Come upstairs, C just threw up." Great. We're not having fun until someone vomits.

I dragged myself up the stairs and my daughter was already in the shower. There was vomit on the blanket and carpet on one side of the room and then on the carpet and bathroom floor and door. I said to my husband, "I'll get this pile and you get the bathroom." I went to work. I picked up the blanket and scrubbed the carpet down. I went to check my husband's progress. It looked the same as when we started. He was kind of standing over it, grimacing. "I can't do it. I hate throw up." I looked at him like he was crazy, "Have you ever cleaned up the kids vomit?" He said nothing and I realized that in over 9 years of parenting, I cleaned up all the vomit. He always played the supporting role - bringing me towels and cleaning solution and pointing out the places I missed. So basically I am the Batman and he is the Robin of vomit cleaning in my house. I felt slighted in that moment. It's not fair. "Look, I will help - but you have got to help me." I got down on my hands and knees and began to clean. He started to wipe a bit. I tried to make small talk, to be humorous. "This is especially horrendous. It's like sauerkraut and spicy mustard hot dog, grapes, green beans, chocolate cake, dill pickle potato chips and orange soda all mixed together." He got up and stood over the sink for a minute and tried to compose himself. I still scrubbed away. He came back and tried to help again. I said, "Honey, can you get me a roll of toilet paper?" "Why?" "So I can scoop up these chunks and just flush them." Again he stood up to compose himself over the sink. I laughed and laughed and told him to "man up."

After we cleaned, I got my daughter out of the shower. "Mama, will you get me some ginger ale and crackers?" I told her I would in the morning when the store opened. "No, go now." "It's 3 in the morning, now rest." I felt like I closed my eyes for a second and she was nudging me. "Mama, it's 7 o'clock. Please get me ginger ale." Lord in heaven. I rolled out of bed and pulled on a cardigan and put on my slippers. Off I went to the Piggly Wiggly at 7 am. I didn't put a bra on, I didn't brush my teeth. I just decided I wouldn't talk to anyone. After a night like that, I did not care. I am not trying to impress the cashier at the Pig at 7 am on Sunday morning. Who am  kidding? I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm just trying to make it through the day. And I did, and she felt better. Next weekend, we can get back to our regularly scheduled Halloween activities. I'm thinking corn maze and home made pumpkin pie. Yum!