Christmas Concerts and a Very Bad Day.

I had a bad day yesterday. I mean, it was like comically bad. It started out trying to get Nick to school. His school is less than a block from our house, so he usually walks, but since we have gotten so much ice and snow lately, I’ve been driving him. The doors to our van were frozen shut in the morning, so we started walking, but Nick and I both fell on the ice before we even got out of the driveway, so we went back to the van and all the kids had to climb in and out through the driver’s door. We slipped the whole way to school, but we got him there safely.Thankfully, nobody got hurt on the ice either. Did I mention that our windshield is cracked in half because it had a very small chip in it and when we got so much ice the small chip turned into a 3 foot wide crack?  (Windshield replacement is on today’s schedule.)

Then I discovered the kids had locked their bathroom door shut. I discovered this when Penny, who is almost two, told me she had to go potty. All the diapers were locked in that bathroom. I went to find something to try to jimmy the lock open and discovered the dog had peed on the new carpet in our master bedroom. I threw down some paper towels and yelled at the dog and put her outside. Then I went back to poor Penny, who had an accident because I couldn’t get her to the potty on time. I used the last diaper in my purse to clean her up. I still couldn’t get the bathroom door open.

Then I discovered the dog had run away.

I spent half an hour looking for her and called Eddie crying because she was still missing, but I had to get Abby to school for her Christmas tea. He started to leave the office and as I was pulling out of the driveway, who did I spy hiding behind a neighbor’s shed? The dumb dog. We got her back inside, but we were a little late for Abby’s preschool party.

The parents had some time before we were supposed to come back to see the kids sing, so I took Penny to a store near Abby’s school for some last-minute shopping and to pick up diapers. (Related: Have you ever had to go to the bathroom in Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, hovering over the toilet whilst holding a sleeping toddler? I have.) Guess who forgot the case of diapers was on the bottom of the cart as we checked out and accidentally shoplifted them? Yeah, it was me. Neither I or the checkout girl noticed them there. I have to admit, once we were back to the van-where I noticed them-I considered just taking them home after all that, but I figured I had enough bad karma for that day and I went back to the store and stood in the crazy holiday lines again to pay for them. 

We made it to Abby’s Christmas tea. Although, I did leave my car keys in the preschool bathroom while we were there.

I swear, one of these days I will get it together. Maybe.

Nick also had his Christmas concert at school this week, so I’ll leave you with these pretty pictures.

Remember that behind all the “perfect” pictures like these that you see on blogs and Facebook, there is a mom who has her fair share of not-so-perfect days too.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go write a check for $265 to the man in my driveway who is here to fix my windshield.