Riding in the Car with Eric

There are days I feel like I am CONSTANTLY in the car!  I really wish I had a driver that could drive me places or could take my kids to and from their activities without me.  I literally think I am away from home more than I am home for the first half of the week.  Now, some of you may say, well cut it back.  That's easy to say, and believe me there are days I am ready to call it quits on everything, yet I do like that Eric has a Tumbling class and Pre-K.  I like that Alex has Art and Lego Robotics.  It's all the other stuff...grocery shopping, doctor's visits, and other miscellaneous errands!  The perfect example is yesterday.  I had my two youngest asleep for naps (BLISS) and then the time came for us to leave for art class!  Isn't there a saying to let sleeping dogs lie!?!  It must apply to kids too!  Eric doesn't wake up from naps well at all!  He screams and carries on and literally shakes and can't get himself together for a good ten minutes, and then Josephine was sleeping so good, and then to wake her up is like a long term sentence of crying and crankiness until bed time!  OYE!  Well, I did it and we made it to art on time...I guess that was the whole point.  Well, there is one car trip each week that I look forward to, and that's when Eric drives.

Now, before you go and call CPS let me explain.  At the children's museum They have the front half of a truck that the kids can climb in.  Most of the buttons have been removed, but the steering wheel, gear shift, air  conditioning/heater dials, turn signal, and pedals are still there.  One side has a door that can't open, but the window is missing and the other side has no door.  Eric LOVES this part of the museum the most.  The first thing he tells me when we walk in is that he wants to drive me around town.  We climb in (Josephine usually on my lap) and Eric drives me around.  We always stop at McDonalds or Chick Fil-A.  There he "rolls down" his window and orders 2 chicken nugget kids meals with waters (cause that's what Mommy drinks) and if we have been good we get a milkshake too.  It always costs $2.00 and it is on sale!  We then drive to the zoo to see pink elephants and big alligators.  We drive to the mall and go to the Lego store and stop at the chocolate store for Mommy.  We went to the drive-in this week and we watched a movie about knights, ninjas, and princesses.  We stopped at Wal-Mart for Mommy's medicine and then we drove around looking at Halloween decorations.  Nobody could possibly know how much I LOVE this time with Eric.  He is such a sweet boy with the biggest heart.  He wants to be his best and he wants to love everyone.  He is so attentive to the details of our trips.  Even down to making sure the toy we got from McDonald's is a girl toy for me.  I know how much he watches me and I can tell that he sees everything.  He even plugs his "phone" into the "charger" as soon as we get in the car.  I know there will come a day when he will drive away without me, but right now, I am trying to soak in these "trips" he takes with me in the passenger seat.  He is growing up so quickly, yet he is still my baby boy through and through.  I love my little Toodles and I hope he will look back at these times, and have some really sweet memories too.