and then they were six

I started this post on Thursday night but fell asleep while writing it. I tried working on it again last night, but fell asleep again. In the interest of time, of which I have very little, I'm not making more edits but instead, leaving this post as if it was published on Friday.

With that in mind: Yesterday = Thursday. Today/Tonight = Friday.

************

Yesterday was a very rainy day.



So the plans that we had to go apple picking were scrapped and instead, we stayed home and played a Super Mario Brothers racing game for the Wii that Charlie surprised the children with for their birthday.



When I tried to play, I continuously crashed my cart off the course, flipped off the road and fell in to an abyss. Not once was I able to get out of last place. Despite the fact that I lost every.single.time, my children displayed such patience with their technically incompetent mother. They'd gently take the wheel from me and show me how to carefully steer so my little dude could stay in the game.



It makes me wonder, what kind of technology will be available 30 years from now? When the kids who are growing up and learning this stuff at such a delicate young age, are the ones developing things? I suspect it's just a matter of time before we have refrigerators that scan the contents of the doors and shelves and via some telemetry system order those things that are in short supply, before they are even needed.



Charlie would love a refrigerator like that. It always puts a damper on his morning when he wakes up only to realize that he is out of Half-and-Half. Because when he runs out of Half-and-Half, his first cup of coffee will be less than perfect. Perhaps coffee drinkers can appreciate my husband's predicament. But seeing as I don't drink coffee, I cannot. All I know is that due to that seemingly simple omission of one ingredient, my husband's entire day will teeter on disaster until he gets the precise blend of caffeine, dairy and sugar in to his bloodstream.



These days, my husband's survival is largely dependent upon coffee.

And my survival is largely dependent upon my husband's ability to function.

Without him, it would be like trying to fly a plane with one wing.



Yesterday, we were up until 2:00 AM wrapping presents and making cupcakes for the classroom party. Last night we were up late, again, sanding walls, door jams and windows.

When the triplets were young, I thought we were busy. But the busy then, isn't anything like the busy that comes from having three six-year-olds who are involved in various activities, a house that is in dire need of updating (which we are doing almost completely ourselves), and a full-time office job thrown in the mix. And then there's a three-year-old who wanders around freely and has discovered how to unscrew light bulbs from our lamps and has taken to stashing them all away like a squirrel hides acorns.

We're in the dark much of the time.

Both literally and figuratively.

The post I published about missing the 3-Day breast cancer walk, this past weekend, took me four days to write. Considering I churned out a comprehensive and somewhat coherent post less than 24-hours after giving BIRTH to Henry, this should serve as an indication of just how wiped out we are. It's like the past six months have finally caught up to us and is now kicking the wind out of our sleep deprived bodies and minds.

Yesterday, we had a birthday party at school, and another one at home. After we battled 20 minutes of traffic driving to the school, arriving with seconds to spare before we were due in the classroom, we realized that we had forgotten the cupcakes at home. Panic ensued. Until we realized NO WAIT, they're in trunk with a bag of groceries we bought a few days earlier but forgot to bring in the house. (Crackers, tomato paste = nothing perishable = lucky us.)

Have you ever felt so frazzled you don't know what you're doing?

Am I wearing pants??

Last night, we had a community cake and each child then received their own slice with their own candle so that they could make a wish and blow it out. Once. Twice. Five times.

We haven't replaced the matches that we had to throw out before we left California (they wouldn't pack them in the moving truck), so Charlie had to light candles using the electric burners on our 50-year old stove. Once. Twice. Five times.

Elizabeth was so excited to be six-years-old that when she woke up yesterday morning, the first thing she did was look under her pillow for money. When I reminded her that she only receives money for losing a tooth, she was sorely disappointed. She was even more disappointed when she climbed out of bed and sizing herself up next to her sister, realized that she hadn't grown any taller overnight.



Tonight, we had leftover cake with candles.



The children shared their wishes, before they blew out the flames. William wants to be Spiderman. Carolyn wants a real live guinea pig. (A REAL ONE, Mom. OK? A REAL ONE.) Elizabeth wants to be taller. Henry wished for ... I'm not really sure what.

I think more cake. And maybe light bulbs.



Charlie wished for a pack of matches and a refrigerator that never runs out of Half-and-Half. As for me, I wished for more days just like these. Because while we're busy beyond belief, we're so excited to be here. Add to that, we're healthy and happy and enjoying a beautiful Fall season.

Watching my children experience another birthday that now requires them to count their age on TWO hands, I'm keenly aware of just how fast time is going past.



So I'm doing my best to enjoy every minute.