All 4 of my kids woke up sick. Not dying, not throwing up. Just sick. No fever, but upset tummies and sore throats. You could just tell they didn't feel good.
That was a fun call to the elementary school.
"No, really, ALL of my kids are sick. We're not just playing hooky. I'd tell you if we were."
By noon they were all feeling well enough to fight, so I knew they were on the mend. So we decided to go check out some Christmas lights for Family Home Evening. The kids could stay in their jammies, but we'd still be able to get out of the house and have some fun.
As we were leaving the house I realized that we could stop at the gas station on the way and put some air in the tires. They've needed to be filled more for quite a while, but I had been - oddly - putting it off. I've never filled our tires at the gas station before; they've always needed it when it was time to get the oil changed. But the minivan didn't need an oil change and it was getting so I could tell just by the feel of driving that the tires were too low. But for some reason I was just really nervous about doing this chore, which is weird because I'm not usually chicken about stuff like this.
Anywho, this was perfect! Lance could help me with the tires, the chore would be done and I'd conquer my irrational hesitancy (it wasn't a fear), and we'd be on our way.
After getting change from the cashier (because I only had 3 quarters and we needed 4), Lance and I got to work. He did the first 2 tires and then it was my turn. I put the nozzle on the valve, but it sounded like the air was coming out rather than going in. Lance came over to check things out.
That's when the top of the tire valve shot out and the tire went flat.
@#$^@#!!
To his credit, Lance said "Tonight I learned that your fears were not unfounded" before he got to work on replacing the flat with the spare. (No mean feat - the design of our mini van is so stupid. The spare tire is under the mini van and quite hard to get to.)
While Lance had fun with that I took the kids into the gas station. That was about as fun as you would imagine; there was much "Don't touch any of the candy. Ever." and "Get out of the 'Cold Cave', Cole!" (The 'Cold Cave' is where they refrigerate their cases of beer.) However, there was no whining for snacks or treats, so that's how I know my kids were still on the mend. Fully healthy children would've been whine machines over that!
Tess matched the Christmas tree.
Cole could not keep his freaking hands off the freaking candy.
Josh good-naturedly withstood my mocking of him wearing shorts.
And Spencer kept looking outside, declaring that Lance had left without us because he couldn't see the minivan. No matter how many times I pointed it out. (Why would he think Lance would leave us?)
All of the kids complained about how long it was taking. I told them we were close enough to walk home, if they wanted. Fortunately, they're all smart enough to realize that waiting in a boring gas station was far preferable to walking home in 20 degree weather.
We finally made it home an hour after we left. Not the funnest FHE ever, but certainly one we'll remember!
No comments:
Post a Comment