January 2: Day 16

Today was another early day for us. That has honestly been one of the hardest parts on this journey. We have to be "on" so much during the day, that we can't get our daily chores done until the kids go to bed... which puts us to bed later, only to get up at 6 with John. It is all short term, and well worth it. It just makes the days long and we are wearing down with the lack of sleep. 

John did not want anything I offered him for breakfast. Shocking. He asked for Oreos and corn dogs. What the heck. Breakfast of champions! I apologize to John's future family. I have created horrible habits, but I have a feeling you would've done the same thing in my position. The kid has 4 weeks to experience life!! If he wants a corn dog for breakfast, he is getting a corn dog for breakfast!

John seemed a little off this morning. So did our other 5 kids, and they spent most of the morning whining, fighting, and crying (not John, just the other ones). It was wearing me down and I guess John felt the same way. At one point he was walking around with headphones on his head to drown out the noise. Genius! Why didn't I think of that years ago? Then he told me that he just wants to play quietly, and he kept walking away to be by himself. 4 of the 5 kids got sent to their rooms to get a grip on their behavior, but shockingly Timmy didn't have to go. Timmy followed John around the house trying to play with him and saying "hey, John... hey, John.... hey, John...." John kept saying, "No, Timmy... No, Timmy.... No, Timmy." I finally had to tell Timmy to leave him alone. John ended up going to his room on his own will. He shut the door and spent several hours in there playing legos. I really think he needed the quiet and the down time. John is a laid back kid. He is quiet by nature. He is always calm. I think the noise and chaos of our big family really gets to him sometimes. 

We ventured out to see the UK game today. He loved it! We had a rocky start. Parking is always a pain, but we figured that out quickly. The weather has been colder here, and this kid has no fat on his bones to keep him warm. He was shivering and we had to walk so far! He kept saying, "I freezing...." over and over. It took us forever to find a place to eat, then we had to wait longer for the food because they lost our order, then security wouldn't let me through with my camera. Ugh! We finally worked everything out and got to our seats just in time to see the start of the game. His eyes were HUGE during the game. He was taking it all in. He gave me a thumbs down when the other team scored, and would cheer with so much enthusiasm when UK scored. It was priceless. When we left, he gave me two thumbs up and said, "GOOOOOODDDDD" which means he liked it and he is happy. 

After many failed attempts to find a restaurant, we settled with Arby's. It was so packed that it still took us 45 min to get our food. John didn't enjoy it as much as the other fast food places we have eaten.

Finally in our seats and ready to cheer on the CATS!

Oh, the joy. Every basket had this reaction. It was priceless.

Go CATS!!!

We were lucky to catch this guy as we were walking out. So thankful we got our picture with the wildcat. 

We didn't get home until late. Tomorrow is a church day, so we will all be getting up early. We will not have any fun adventures tomorrow. It is our last day of break, so we have to get things around for our busy week of school. At first I worried about John being home with just one parent, but now I am thinking it will be a nice change of pace for him. To have a quiet house to himself, and the complete attention of either Rick or myself is going to make him quite happy!