Countdown to the move - Day 43

I didn't want to mess up my 'Countdown' titles, but here were some alternate titles I really wanted to use for today's post:

"The Day I Subjected Myself to Public Humiliation... Without Realizing It"

"I Should Just Stay Home"

"Don't Even Try Anymore, There's Less Disappointment That Way"

"I Wish I Had A Pregnancy To Blame All This Ridiculousness On (...I Don't)"

"How To Waste Time When There Is ZERO Time To Waste"

So today was a good day overall. Except that my low-grade anxiety about how much I have to get done and how little time I have left is turning into a nearly full-fledged panic - that I am of course trying to keep neatly beneath the surface. You know how that goes though, right? It comes out in really awesome ways. I was disappointed when I opened my phone to pick from today's pictures for this post to discover that I had taken zero.

Which is a shame because I dressed the girls like we live in the deep south for church this morning (I found these cute outfits on clearance and could not resist!). *Disclaimer: google images provided all the pictures in this post for me since I dropped the ball today. Boo.

Ellie's outfit, which I added a black velvet skirt to since the shirt didn't quite clear her bum as a dress like it was supposed to:

Maddie's dress, which I layered a simple white onesie under:

And her tights (polka dot pair on the right):

I love dressing girls. I warned the nursery workers as I pulled Maddie out of her car seat that Christmas had exploded all over her and I was not ashamed. They laughed.

This morning we all slept in until 7:30am! I didn't think I'd need to set an alarm for church since the kids start waking up around 6:30am and that leaves us all plenty of time to get ready. Well, 7:30am is a stretch. But we managed to get everyone ready (looking Christmas-y!) and in the car not too far behind schedule, and I even remembered to pack my indoor slippers (since I was volunteering in the nursery) and the Christmas gifts we needed to deliver to the Children's Ministry Coordinator as well as the kids' Sunday School Teachers.

We dropped the older 2 off at their classrooms, and then Rob headed to the service while I went to Maddie's class to help. I took my boots off just outside the nursery and changed into my slippers before heading in with Maddie. After the service was over, I got totally preoccupied by the chaos of babies being picked up, getting all of Maddie's things together, and trying to get out to the hallway where Rob was managing Robbie and Ellie on his own, that I forgot to change out of my slippers. It is always a total circus trying to get out of church, so I thought I had everything (coats? check. crafts? messy-glittery-check. diaper bag? check... and the list goes on for a very long time.)

Well we stopped in the hallway and talked to friends, and finally made our way out to the car. We drove home, I made everyone lunch, and it didn't occur to me that I was still wearing my slippers until I spilled juice on my foot at around 12:30pm and looked down to wipe up the mess.

I WORE MY SLIPPERS ALL THE WAY OUT OF CHURCH.

They look like this, only they're grey. I am mortified. They did not look passable as normal shoes with my outfit by any stretch of the imagination.

Don't be ridiculous. {Apparently I can't help it.}

To add insult to injury, we live about 20 minutes from church, so after I fed everyone and wrestled them to their cribs for much needed naps, I had to drive all the way back to church for my boots. Our church:

I tried really hard not to be mad at myself the entire way, but every hour counts right now and that one was a waste! Imagine how many boxes I could have packed in an hour. Ok, don't.

I still needed to shop for a few more Christmas presents, and to return some pants for Rob at the mall, so I headed straight there after getting my boots back. I was able to find what I needed for a few special people at this store:

And I really can't go in there anymore because it makes me want to convert our next home into an - I don't know - eclectic English cottage? Whatever the style is called, I want it in every nook and cranny of my living space. It's just about the opposite of what Rob likes, so I wander around and daydream! Which is better because for the most part, those price tags are nothing but trouble.

I came home and one of my favorite people on the planet came over to help me put pieces of our life into cardboard boxes for a while. Whenever we hang out, it's exactly like the book "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"...

If you let a girl hang out with her sister, she'll start to tell you about her upcoming blind date. That will remind you that you want her to borrow your sweater, and so you'll go upstairs and she will try on some of your clothes. Nothing will seem quite right, and so you'll want to make up for it by offering her some of your perfume for her big date. You'll sniff every bottle, and realize that she might need a new shade of eyeshadow to wear, so you'll get out your makeup...

We eventually got back to these bad boys...

And made such a nice dent in packing up the basement that we congratulated ourselves with pizza from Wheaton's finest for dinner:

Which coincidentally gave both of us stomach aches at the same moment, and we lamented our dairy-and-grease-combo issues. Sisters are great for a lot of things, this being one of them.

I gave the older kids showers with the removable spray nozzle thing in their tub, which always annoys them because not enough water pools in the bathtub for them to splash around in it (WAAAH-ha-ha-ha-ha! it's intentional, I didn't have the patience for a huge water mess tonight), and put them all to bed. Maddie was in a funny mood and instead of going to sleep, she somehow pulled the camera monitor down into her crib and was playing with it. She was cracking up when I walked in to put it back!

Then I packed up more of the kids' toys and ate a very wrong amount of these:

They might have been purchased by Aunt Kelsey for the kids, and I might have intercepted them and hoarded them for myself after one taste. Hello, love. You will help me get through December, and I thank you for it.

Thankful:

- For a new week filled with new mercies and a lot of help from family and our babysitter. For friends who don't care about your footwear that much anyways. For hot ham and cheese sandwiches and chocolate and Christmas Blend coffee.