Six children, an alien and a somewhat qualified adult at Santa Monica Pier

This past week you could say I felt like a mama opossum with her babies on her back. Seth is away for work in a country far away still and I am trying to keep it all together here at home. The kids all had various things going on this week with school and activities.

Here's how my week looked to give you an idea. The crazy didn't really kick in until Wednesday.

Sunday and Monday.. not too bad.

Tuesday: Horse riding for Miss S. Dropped her off, darted back to town to get Alannah from school, darted back to get Miss S from her lesson. This day wasn't anything too crazy until the evening. I actually slipped and fell out of the car. It's an Armada, so not exactly close to the ground. I banged myself up really bad. My back got pretty scraped up.. but my booty got a HUGE cantaloupe sized bruise on it that is very painful. I couldn't sleep well that night. The drive the next day was quite uncomfortable for me.

Wednesday: Field trip with four of the kids to the Getty Villa which is 2.5 hours away. I grabbed donuts to give them for breakfast, dropped Alannah off at school, dropped little H off at school, then met up with the older kiddos teacher at their school. It was a LONG day, but the villa was so amazing. The villa is filled with ancient greek statues.. or.. creepy naked people according to the 12, 11, and 10 year olds. I tried to get them to appreciate the art and history.. nope. I'll share photos from that trip soon. That evening after such a long drive, I was home for about 1.5 hours before I had to leave to get Alannah from dance class.

Thursday: Another horse riding lesson for Miss S.. This time with the three boys in tow. It NEVER fails, they get into something when they are there. "Hey boys, stay away from the pond.. don't get muddy.. get muddy and I won't feed you!" (Half kidding on that last part)

Guess who got muddy?.. Oh, just all three of them.
Guess who's fault it was? Nobodys.
Guess who had to drag three filthy boys to haircuts right after looking like I don't take care of my children?.. Me.

After haircuts we still had about 1.5 hours before I could pick up Alannah from dance.. off to the park we went. They got some energy out, had fun and it was just a gorgeous afternoon. We picked up some pizzas and headed home.

Friday: A field trip with all 6 kiddos to NASA. I let Alannah skip school to go with us (she is the only one currently in public school). Got them up bright and early at 5:30. I want to tell you what we did for breakfast this day, but I honestly can't remember. I think they were fed though. This was an AWESOME field trip. Also, I did a flight simulator and was able to control and land an aircraft with one failed engine. I'm basically a pilot now.

After NASA we headed to the bowling alley for lunch and bowling with the class. This is where I kinda lost my shit for a solid 15 minutes.. Might've been 17. I had six staaaaaaarving children who didn't know what they wanted to eat, that were also overly concerned about getting their bowling shoes and the right colored bowling ball before anyone else. My name was called every direction only about 29 times when we first got there. My brain was about to explode.

DEEP BREATH.. *insert internal self-motivational speech here*

"No, you can't sell them. Don't you dare go cry in the bathroom. No drinking margaritas on the job. You really do love these children. No, that one did not grow fangs and horns, it's only your imagination.... you.can.do.it"

Then an angel in the form of the teacher appeared before me saying they were doing a Starbucks run and asked what I wanted.. then things started magically getting better. Funny how most things in liquid form packed with calories just perks me right up.

After throwing whatever food I could find at their faces, hydrating them and getting them all in bowling lanes that hopefully wouldn't start WWIII, we really started having fun and I was able to relax. It was really nice being able to hang out with the other parents in our tiny class.

We headed back home and I was questioning my sanity.. but we headed home to pack up to drive to the beach the next day.

Yes, folks.. you read that right! After a jam packed week I VOLUNTARILY decided to take them to the beach two hours away.

There's got to be medals.. ribbons.. something for this kind of bravery?

Saturday: 6am wake up for the kids. Loaded up the car and headed to Santa Monica pier.

It was crowded, as Santa Monica usually is. When we parked and started unloading I got kinda panicky thinking that they'll all run into the ocean every which-way and I will lose someone in the crowd. So I lined them up and had a 'very strict rules, or we're leaving!' talk. I think it worked. The older kids helped with the younger ones. Not too much bickering. Nobody stepped foot in the water without letting me know and they had a 'spot' they had to stay in when in the water, which was direct view from my sun shade that I had my super-pale-burns-like-crazy butt parked in most of the day.

The water wasn't exactly warm, but it didn't stop them from diving in!

Amelia was so good! I was really worried about her taking off. She had so much fun and listened very well to mommy. 

That would be my glowing arm. As much as I tried to stay out of the sun, I still managed to get a sunburn.

We brought plenty of sand toys.. but there were still some arguments over 'the big green bucket'. I ended up hating that bucket by the time we left.

And nobody cared about what my hat said. Especially the strangers. I was asked countless times, "Are they all yours?" and "Where did you get your sun shade/tent/canopy/pop-up?"

Answers:

"I did not physically pop out three of them, but yes, they are all mine"

"This over priced, but had to have it piece of fabric with poles in it that's a 'B' to fold back up is from Pottery Barn Kids."

I packed some sandwiches for lunch. Everyone finished theirs and nobody dropped their sandwich in the sand and I got all the 'orders' correct! That's some kind of miracle with six kids.

After several hours enjoying the sand and water, we washed up and headed to find some treats on the pier. Another 'Is this a good idea' moment with how many people were wandering around, the weirdos (Like the guy in a loincloth holding a giant fake snake), and six kids wanting to go their own way. I was really thinking about just heading home after the drama of washing sand out of cracks, eyes and ears and waiting in line for tiny icky pier restroom stalls for them to change and holding a 4 year old up in the air above a toilet seat with "Tara was here" written on it in a hot pink marker begging her to go pee while my arms were on fire from holding her body weight. My foot got peed on. Mom life. People literally sign up for this job. *sigh*. We put our soaking wet sand filled swimsuits in the car and went back to the pier for some fun.

We found ICE CREAM!

Please notice the random pint sized diva posing in the background lol. 

Yes. That would be a $54 receipt for ice cream and a funnel cake. I just wandered up and let the kids order. I wasn't really paying attention to the prices so when the guy gave me my total I said, "Did I just buy an extra kid?!" He just laughed. I wasn't laughing.

It was worth it though after these cute smiles.

Notice the alien mask? Notice the blog post title mentions an alien? 'H' brought his alien mask for some true entertainment. He put that thing on and wandered around the beach holding a sign that he made the night before. So proud of this little planner. Way to be on top of it, kiddo! People were cracking up.. taking photos, etc. He swears he will be 'internet famous' from this. Either way, he made people smile.

The fun didn't stop there. He put it on and walked the entire pier! The looks we were getting were unreal lol. I feel like we've started something with this and it has to be a 'thing' now!

This kid could care less about everyone laughing and snapping pictures. I just shook my head and proudly walked next to my soon-to-be stepson doing his thing. He was so happy and had a lot of fun doing it.

And that was our day! A two hour drive home with a pit stop for some burgers and our jam packed week was at an end.

Although I was very outnumbered all went well for the most part. I still get a little terrified at the thought of bringing ALL the kids out somewhere far from home out in public, but I usually suck it up and just do it. I guess I just question my ability to handle things. I will fully admit I am the kind of woman that depends greatly on a partner. I always worry about failing them or being a lame mom who gets flustered and wants to hide in her house... and some days I much rather hide at home.. and some days I do just that so I can get it together. Jumping from three children in my care daily to six is no joke.

But.. I got this. Tomorrow I might feel different. But right now.. I got it.

I only started cussing and whining that I wanted Seth with me when I was dragging the heavy ice chest with my sore back and bruised booty across the sand. That was just not fun. I am kinda whiny and don't do 'guy jobs' very easily sometimes. If Seth were here with his manliness he would've happily carried that ice chest across the beach for me and probably 4 other bags twice his body weight at the same time and barely break a sweat. I sure do miss him, but he will be home this Friday! And knowing how much he loves and appreciates me when he is away makes the extra hard long days a little more bearable..

And getting presents in the mail while he is away is pretty cool, too. Especially presents in Tieks blue boxes.

Isn't that just so sweet?

Alrighty.. Have a great week!