Monday, October 13, 2008

My Blogging Sabbatical Is Officially Over.

In a few days it will have been a month since I've posted anything. I'm not exactly sure what got into me but all of the sudden I felt like I was back in high school. It's so stupid but I felt like I had an important homework assignment due. And in true Breanna like high school fashion, I kept procrastinating. It kept weighing on my mind, like I better get started, but I just had other things to do and I'd get to it later. Finally it had been so long, I didn't even know where to start. It's like I had a 12 page paper due and I had not even a single page of notes let alone picked a topic. So at this point I'm going to take things slow. I'm not going to cram a month's worth of info into one ginormous post. I'll do a little here and a little there until hopefully I can get to the point where I do not feel like detention and or an F is looming over me.

So part of what kept me away was that in fact I was away for 5 days. My grandma Jenkins passed away on Sept. 28th. Though death is never a joyous occasion, she had been sick for quite sometime and the relief death brought her was at this point acceptable. Her funeral was to be on Oct. 6th in Salt Lake City. My sister Kelsey and I hitched a ride up with my parents. We left Friday the 3rd and came home on Wednesday the 8th. Ok so did you notice the word "I"? Yep just "ME" the one and only hitched a ride. No kids. Eric took time off work to stay home and watch the kids while I was gone. 5 days is the longest I'd been away from my kids. But they had the "nice" and "fun" daddy to take care of them. So I knew they were in good hands. I did as much planning ahead for them as I possibly could. I made sure they had the Dad essentials ex: Mac N cheese, hot dogs, cereal, PB&J, you get the idea. I hesitate the to share this next bit of info, only because I've been ridiculed soooo much about this in the past but hey, It works!
That right there is a basket full of individually packaged days of clothes (with one extra, in case of emergency) for each one of my girls. They are clearly labeled and noted as to which ones are acceptable for school. Mock me if you will (I'm pretty sure I've heard it all. Eric and his brothers keep asking me "who's going white water rafting?") but I know how things go. If I were to have just set them out, the potential for unruly madness would have been inevitable. Perfectly matched tops and skirts for the individual children could and most likely would have been haphazardly knocked over creating total confusion for Eric. Emry would end up wearing belly shirts (really a shirt meant for Tatum) And Tatum would be wearing Summer's Shirt, all the while Eric assuming it must be a dress. And let's not even mention the subject of mismatched outfits. You know, a cute pink skirt with a green and orange shirt. So to save Eric from such pandemonium, I thought ahead. Thus, all the Ziploc packages of clothes. I did let him pick out their panties everyday. Nice huh?! I did all I could, but could think of nothing to save my girls hair from looking like a homeless child. I tried to show Eric how to put a little elastic band in their hair before I left. But I saw the glazed look in his eyes. There wasn't much hope. As it turns out they ended up with a single barrette in their hair each day. Better than nothing I suppose. The one bullet I dodged is that it was General Conference weekend. So yep you guessed it. Eric did not have to get them ready and take them to church. All this being said, Eric did an amazing job with them while I was gone. They called me each and every night before bed to talk about their day. He took them to the store, their tumbling, their cousins, and school. He played with them a ton. (more than me I'm sure.) And to top it off the house was perfectly clean when I got home.(bathrooms scrubbed, floors vacuumed, beds made, bedrooms clean, dishes done, need I say more?) (I'm convinced he's trying to show me up, you know... to say "I can do all this plus keep the house all clean" ) But really I do owe him a big THANK YOU! He never complained to me even once and supported me 100% in going to my grandma's funeral.

I do have to admit, it was a nice break from the normal every day life of kids and home.


I got to spend time with my family

I got to see Utah at my favorite time of year
And pay my respect's to my Grandma Jenkins, who will be dearly missed but with the knowledge and understanding I will see her again.
We did manage to fit in a few fun times in the midst of sadness, But as I said before "little bits at a time". A little here and a little there. So more to come.....

10 comments:

Wendy Hansen said...

So sorry about your Grandma, but I understand the enjoyment that you can get from the family reunions at a funeral too, you look beautiful by the way. I absolutely LOVE the individually wrapped clothes, that is so AWESOME! Seriously. I have a shoe rack in my kids closets & put things together by outfits, but sometimes they try to mix and match and it can be hazardous. What a great hubby taking such good care of all of those girls, even if he did try to show you up. Jason does the exact same thing to me and I always tell him that I could do EVERYTHING for a week, just not for 20 years you know. We can't sprint, we have a long run ahead. Plus, we prepare everything for them so it is a little easier.

Anonymous said...

I am glad you're back!!!
I think it's a great Idea to pack their clothes like that and the only reason the "boys" make fun of it is because they didn't think of it themselves.
I miss Utah in the fall. I know it was kind of hectic having your Grandma's funeral over conference weekend but be grateful it was because the following weekend it snowed in the valley (so I heard).

karis stapley said...

That's the greatest idea with the ziplock bags of individual outfits! So funny, yet so innovative!yes that is true that keeping things up for a week as opposed to years is different, but sounds like Eric did a great job still! It is nice to come home to a clean home after being away for awhile, Jace does the same thing for me.

Heather said...

Glad your back Bre! Sorry about your grandma.
Glad your kids survived a week with dad! I guess we should give the guys more credit. They can pull it off when they have to! :)
I will see you around soon, I'm sure!

Pam said...

I totally know how you feel about the overwhelmingness of the blog sometimes. Don't worry there is no grading and no deadlines luckily.

So sorry to hear about your grandma but when they have lived a good long life sometimes it is for the best. And we are so lucky to know you will see her again.
You are so organized and nice when I left my family for my grandmas funeral I said good luck honey and that was all he got. Our kids were older so I hoped that would help. Still you are much nicer :)
Glad your back.

Varney Family said...

I'm glad that you were able to go and be with your family. What a great legacy your Grandma left. I know she'll be missed and am glad we have the knowledge that you can see her again.
Landon is just like Eric - in that he can do it all and then some - but in agreement with former comments... it's the long distance that we do as moms and not the short miraculous sprint that our hubbies do ;) congrats on the clothes in baggies...stellar idea and anyone who mocks it doesn't have 3 girls - or even 1 - to get dressed every day!!! You are awesome woman!

Juvan Family said...

LOL! That is so funny that you did the girls clothes like that, I went out of town in January and I did the EXACT same thing! You just can't trust a dad when it comes to things like getting girls to look cute!

Chelsey Howard said...

I wondered what was going on with you. Congradulations to your hubby for doing so good while you were gone. And I think its smart to put there clothes in the zip lock baggies, I'm totally gonna copy you and do that. Otherwise they never match:)

Kurt, Christine and kids said...

Love the bags. Should have thought of that when mine were little. Now there is no hope for me. Katie loves to pick her own outfits out, and they don't always match. And, the other 3 would just laugh at me-they are to old. I'm sure Katie's teacher thinks she has a mom that doesn't care about what she wears to school. But really I just am not in the mood to argue the fact at 6:50 am!!
We are so sorry to hear about your grandma. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Funerals are never fun or easy, but I always enjoy seeing all the family members.
Give ther girls big hugs for us, especially Kacee.

Alishia said...

I'm so impresesed with Eric! Bryan couldn't have done in even with the ziploc bags of clothes. I'm so impressed with you because, of course, I could totally see myself doing the same thing. Although boys clothes aren't nearly so complicated. Khaki shorts or jean shorts go with anything, and the twins dress the same, so confusing whose is whose would be hard to do. Still, I'm impressed.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandma, but am glad you got away for awhile! I'm also glad you are back to blogging. I've missed your posts, you are hillarious!!!