A Driver's Permit and a Call for Calgon....

My head is spinning.  And if I never have to drive another child somewhere, it'll be too soon.

There.  That's my little morning rant.  

This week has been nuts.  Last weekend was the big state homeschooling conference, which was wonderful, as always (as close to Heaven as I can get!).  Then we jumped right into this week. My husband just looks at me and says, "You know, you could have said 'no' more this week.  You keep saying 'yes', and that's why it's crazy'".  Well, yes, dear, I suppose you are right. (He always is)  But it's too late now.

Monday I loaded up 9 of the kiddos, drove to 'town', dropped 4 off at our favorite vacation Bible school, ran into the bank, took Joey to work, ran into 2 grocery stores, and went and spent some time with Miss Joan at the nursing home until I had to pick up my guys from VBS.  Spent 20 minutes trying to find them in the church, check them out, and walk ever-so-slowly out to the car, tripping over them and listening to their chatter about the morning.

We then drove 40 minutes up to the DMV to see about getting Sammy's permit.

We walked into the very crowded room, took our number, and sat down.  Some on chairs, some on the floor.  Yes, it was that crowded.  Apparently, summer Mondays are their busiest days.  Uh Huh.

After an hour and a half (no, that is not a typo) of trying to keep the little ones quiet and happy, Sammy got to take his test. But only after Michael tripped hard and fell hard (think, 'bald head hitting cement floor') and cried hard.  And yes, the entire room full of people turned and stared. And little Mikey ended up with a pretty nice goose-egg.

One more hour (seriously) and we got to leave.  Sammy did get his permit!  But two and a half hours of the above-mentioned, and you can imagine that some of us were winding down pretty fast.

Sammy had met his friend JB at the DMV, and after they each passed, they went out to lunch to celebrate.

I took the younger ones to ice cream, because they were so very good at the DMV.  And I paid 19 whole dollars for seven little soft serve cones.  Cones that are only 88c from the same store in another city.  But they're not 88c in this city.  So, as my kiddos sat happily slurping up their treats, and I waited to pay, I noticed that price of these cones on the menu.  And I asked the girl serving us about it.  No 88c cones?  Castle Rock has 88c cones.  Try as I might, I lost that fight. And even though I was very nice to her because really, it wasn't her fault, I leaned forward as she gave me the total, and said, "OUCH".  With a smile, of course.

HOORAY!  Our third driver!

Hot, tired baby with a goose-egg.  The ice cream almost didn't cheer him up.

After ice cream, we picked up Sam, ran to another store, went home and made a salad for a birthday dinner at our Pastor's home.  Got home that night at 10 and dropped.

The rest of the week has been spent in the car.  Taking boys to work so I can have the car.  Picking up boys from work.  Practicing driving with Sam.  Driving to VBS. Picking up from VBS. Meeting a friend for coffee. And a thousand trips to different stores to get food and paper plates and balloons and such for possibly over 100 people.  No I am not kidding.  Joey is having a few friends over Sunday for his graduation reception.  HaHa. And when your son is moving out of state, well, you might just accidentally invite your whole state to see him off.

So today, before I go pick up Sammy and Tommy from work, I will be scrubbing my kitchen and painting my bathroom and laying mulch and baking dozens of cookies.

But guess what?  Today as also our 21st wedding anniversary.  So I get to go out and relax with my hubby for dinner.  And we are NOT going to talk about the kids!