Better Late than Never

We had a great time at the Festival of Hope tonight, even though we were about 15 minutes late. We still made it in plenty of time for me to sing, but I was a little nervous that we would walk in and it would be over with. I'm pretty much always on time for things...I don't do tardy very well. I'm blaming our lateness on my 4 children who are just plain impossible to rush out the door.

First we had to find shoes for everyone...that's 8 shoes.

Oh, and we had to make sure that the boys each had a left and a right shoe.

Then we had to make sure that Eli and Cara used the potty. Of course Brady wanted to use the potty, so we happily obliged.

But first we had to have a fight over who sits on which potty.

Then we had to pry Allie out of the bathroom so that the big kids could use the potty and wash their hands. I've been finding myself declaring "All non-essential personnel please vacate the bathroom!" quite a lot lately.

Next I had to put "piggies" in the girl's hair. I miss the pull-their-hair-up-on-the-side-and-stick-a-bow-in-it-days. No, I put pigtails in Cara's hair a few weeks back and she basked in the attention she received from everyone. Now she must have "piggies" when we go out. And Allison, well...the child looks so darn cute in pigtails that I have to do hers that way too!

Then there was packing the diaper bag, making sure that I had an extra outfit for each child, extra undies for the big kids, extra diapers for Allie, and cups for all.

Finally we made it out the door where I continued to try and herd my brood like cattle to the garage. Why is it that 3-year olds notice every little detail of the world when you are in a hurry. They honestly decided to have a conversation about the cracks in the sidewalk while I was shooing them to hurry!

But alas, we arrived in plenty of time because the program started a little late. I sang God Bless America which lasted all of about 30 seconds. My heart just about melted when the kids wanted to give me high fives after I sang. Someday I'm sure I'll embarrass them, but for now they are my biggest fans:)

We all ate dinner at the festival and played some games that they had set up for kids. One of the games involved pulling prizes out of a pirate treasure chest. I thought the boys would about die from excitement! Ever since Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney World they are just wild about pirates, singing "Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho" every day and telling each other to "Drop the anchor matey!" After the boys reached in and pulled out their prizes, it was Cara's turn. Well, my little sweetie reached in and pulled out....

an eye patch! Ha! She has been faithfully wearing an eye patch for two hours a day for the past week or so to help correct her eye problem, so she thought it was just great to have a black patch with a skull and crossbones on it. We all had a good laugh:)

The Williams family is set for an adventure this weekend! I'm sure that I'll have some great stories for you later in the weekend!