Story Time at Oaklands Mansion

Well, I'm taking a short break from my furniture re-dos that are all over the drive way right now. I seriously have no idea what has possessed me to suddenly want to sand and paint and all together "fix-up" some furniture. Except that it needed to be done. Only it didn't really bother me several months ago. Now it does. Oh well!


Thankfully my daddy is/was a carpenter and taught me a few things along the way. Currently I am sanding/painting a picnic table, frame, rocking chair(major good will find and will be for Daisy when I'm finished) coat rack, step stool, wicker chairs... yes- it is ridiculous! This is all in addition to the other projects I have going on. It will take me all summer to get this finished. I wonder if they have medication for this type of thing?


I certainly can't complete as much in 1 day as I used to. There was a time, not so long ago, when I could whip some projects out SUPER FAST. Now, I have to stop and feed a baby, wipe a nose, put in a hair bow, fix lunch, change a four diapers... you get the picture. I am determined to finish these things so God willing, it will happen.


ok- so the real reason of this post....

wait- Daisy is crying- be right back...


ok- I'm back.



Yesterday we went to "story time at Oakland Mansion". For some reason, Puddin refers to this as her "Bible study"! I think that's so funny! I keep telling her we aren't reading the Bible, it will be a different book. Do you know what she said? Seriously, she said, "But Mommy, it won't be as good as the Bible!" She was right.


Not to knock story time... we had a fabulous time! Even the boys were able to participate this year. Poor things, last year they were much too small so they had to sit in their strollers. They could hear the story but didn't get to participate in the activities. This year, they were rock'n and rollin!


First, last year it started at 10:00. If you know me you know I don't always read the details about things.. forget the fine print! Never happens. Anyway, I thought it still started at 10 so off we went with plenty of time to spare. I did not want to be late. If you know me, you know I am also chronically late. This is one of the major things I am working on. I am trying sooo hard to fix that. It is terribly embarrassing and not the nicest thing to do to keep people waiting or to interrupt once something has already started. I know that and like I said, I'm working in it. Although having all of these little people to dress and care for does slow me down a bit, it is getting better. Because, now when I'm late, we completely stop the show- wherever we are at. Everyone stops what they are doing and stares at us, asks us a million questions and it really takes away from whatever is going on. So, I am really trying to fix my tardiness habit.

So- we left in plenty of time. We got to the parking area and I noticed there weren't many cars. I looked around and noticed there was no set up going on under the giant oak trees in front of the property, I checked the time and realized we were about 15 minutes early. Perfect! I still had time to unload the van and leisurely walk to the tree where we would meet for the story!


Well, I did all that and still, no one was there. I seriously started to wonder if I had missed a day and it was actually Friday already! I walked on up to the guest area with the kiddos and asked a nice lady inside when story time would take place.... one look and she was out on the sidewalk with us. A couple of her co-workers joined us. They were all sooo sweet but had a lot of questions. I politely answered them all and asked again about story time. Finally she told me it started at 10:30! Wow, I was really early!! We still had time to wander a bit and play!

Look at Puddin JUMP!! AWESOME!


Go Monkey Do!

Monkey See- bringing up the rear! This was close to their favorite thing all day!

So we did and I got some great pictures of the kids. It's such a cool place! I have several more I want to get so I'm hoping Kate can come and snap some for me next week!

We headed back to the giant tree, spread out our blanket, the big kiddos ran around playing, picking flowers, throwing sticks, etc. I started feeding the babies. It was really great to have the extra time and it worked out perfect.

Finally, people started to arrive for the story, we met the new teacher and story time was in full swing. A story about manners. Which Puddin apparently forgot she had. After the story there is a craft and an activity. Because of the # of kiddos there they are supposed to share. Well, that didn't go over very well. To her credit, she does share all the time. She has no choice but to share with 2 little brothers hot on her heels day and night.

Anyway, Below are some pictures of our fantastic morning. After the story time, we had a picnic and played at the park for a while. Once I got them all home they had a nice bath and got all snuggly in their jammies... (they were sooo dirty and sweaty for all of their playing). Then it was off to bed. By 2 o'clock all 5 lovies were sound asleep in their beds!!! YIPEEE!! And- they did not start waking up until 5:00! Amazing.

Look out Oaklands Mansion, here we come!