Apparent Tales: 7 Quick Takes Friday Vol 22

--1--
These better be legitimate quick takes this week, so I'm a gonna time myself. Ready, set, GO!

--2--
We got back super late Monday night from my sister's wedding in Wyoming so exhausted from the truly epic journey traveling back that I was sure all of my kids would sleep in Tuesday morning. By 7:00 am all 4 weary travelers were up and ready to play with their toys that they missed like the dessert misses the rain. The night before I had decided to keep them home from school an extra day so they could ~~sleep in~~ apparently just to play with their estranged toys. "Oh well" was my original thought, but much to my pride by 9:30, both kids had asked if they could go to school now. Jonah said he missed riding his bus. Sienna said she missed her friends and didn't want them to do show and tell without her because she had so much to tell about. So I kicked my dark circled babies out the door and off to school with only a few hours of sleep. I have to say it did pay off later that night when everyone was asleep 45 minutes early and to my knowledge they held it together during school.

--3--
I think I have post-vacay depression. Actually, it's worse than that. It was a vacation and my sister's wedding. Two majorly anticipated, over-planned and hyped up events that came and went almost just as fast as my own wedding! Every day since getting home it's been the same sad scene:

I've woken up and it's still hot out.
There aren't any wild horses eating grass outside my window.
I'm not living in a cozy log cabin at the foot of a mountain.
And most depressingly of all nobody, not one kind person has offered to make me whatever I wanted for breakfast.

--4--
There were definitely less romantic sides to the trip. Like me trying to haul my 4 children and all of our excessive baggage through three different airports, two different shuttles and two different vehicles without my husband all in one day. I was stressed out just thinking of it for weeks before we left. By the grace of God and for their own longevity in this world, all four of the kids really had excellent behavior. There were no melt downs. Relatively conveniently timed potty trips. They all stayed close to the stroller at all times and were generally content sitting quietly waiting at all the stops (not without plug in to various iNanny devices of course, but hey, whatever works works for me!). I think they were so excited to be going on such a big trip, they didn't dare test any potential "we are going straight back home" threats.

--5--
#4 made their behavior seem self-imposed... so to set that all straight, the fine workings of the gigantic family traveling without Daddy machine would not have ran so smoothy without a substitute engineer. And so... I would like to dedicate an entire Take thanking my baby brother (who is an actual engineer) (and who doesn't read this blog) for all his help on the trip! You entertained my wildest of the wilds. You kept an extra eye on the stragglers. You were firm, yet fun.

You were the best uncle ever! Emphasis on the UNCLE for the two different people who assumed he was my husband. He, being my baby brother who is only 22 and looks a half birthday above 18. Not only did he provide me with treasured camaraderie, but also was almost as good as having daddy with us whenever he was around.

Thanks for the help Brudder!

--6--
Sienna also found her treasured camaraderie on the trip. My new brother-in-law has a niece Sienna's age who was also a flower girl and a fast best friend!

These two were adorable beyond words throwing the flowers down the isle. We all forgot about flower girl baskets, so we had to scramble for one for them to share at the last minute. I think that actually turned out even cuter. They giggled and clung to each other the entire walk to the front. I don't think there was a smileless face in the crowd watching them not just toss, but literally chuck bunches of petals at people as they walked by. Sorry for the blurry picture, but it was all I could find. Hopefully someone caught it on video and I'll share it later.

--7--
Well shoot, that wasn't fast at all. I'm terrible at the Quick part of this game.... How about I just dump some of my random favorite iphone pics on you as a quick wrap up?