dinner and a show

Since it was MLK day yesterday, Clyde and the children had the day off. I has been nice lately to get a few more hours of sleep. We spent yesterday folding laundry, matching our 2 baskets of mix matched socks, and just general house cleaning. Libby was invited to go to a pals house, so once it was time to pick her up and once the little girls were awake from their naps, we loaded up both cars for a trip to Costco. We didn't go on Saturday, so we were in need of a few items. Once @ Costco, we loaded up our 2 buggies of children and did our grocery shopping. We got a bunch of funny stares and we could see people counting heads. We knew that this would happen, but we still got a good giggle out of it. We get it normally with our 5 children, but throw in 2 more and we are a spectacle. Clyde wanted to get the children out of the house, but it was too cold to go to the park. They really needed to get the wiggles out. We decided to treat them and take them to McDonalds, which BTW is unlike us, the McDonalds part, not treating them. We have just about sworn McDonalds off, especially after seeing "Super-Size Me." (It is an interesting documentary on the fast food industry, McDonalds specifically.) The only thing that Clyde will buy is a milk shake here and there. However, it was either Chick-fil-a, which would cost us as much as going to a buffet, or McDonalds, which is still expensive, but I wouldn't feel so bad if the new girls didn't eat their $1 hamburger as I would for a $2.39 pack of 4 chicken nuggets. Yep, I'm cheap that way. We get in the restaurant, find a few tables close enough so that we can sit together, grabbed 2 high chairs (if they had a 3rd I would have grabbed it too), got the children all situated, while Clyde ordered the food. It took them a good 10 minutes to have our order. I think that they were a bit short handed and then when someone orders 10 of anything, probably throws them for a loop, especially when a few of them are special orders, you know...not mustard, or ketchup, or a combination of the two. We get the food, then it takes another few trips to get drinks. I am unwrapping the burgers, and giving everyone their fries as quickly as I could, while making sure that the little girls don't slide their food off the table. We had everyone wait for Clyde and Erin, so that we could pray. Amen...and the fun began. Actually everyone did fine. Madi only wanted fries, so once I noticed that she wasn't eating her burger, I moved the fries out of her reach, so that she could see them, but were motivation to eat her burger. She wasn't too thrilled. Once she opened her mouth to cry, a piece of burger was placed in. She even tries the gagging thing, but alas, I have too many children to allow that. All said and done, she ate 3/4 of a double cheeseburger. Zoey was the same way minus the gagging thing. She covers her eyes and just cries. I think that Zoey just needs the comfort of positive attention. I was feeding her as well. My behavior needs to change. They should be feeding themselves. Penny was in good spirits, as she was laughing and eating her burger. Meanwhile, there was this lady, who came with her two girls to eat. They were eating and watching us like a sitcom. The Mom was telling her older girl not to stare, as they counted children and were whispering...while she was gawking. We told the children, that when everyone had eaten, they could play in the germ ridden play house. I'm not a fan of those places either. Thank goodness for germ-x. We got up, handed the older girls and boys their cups, got coats on everyone and headed back to the playhouse, when our observer family made comments, all nice, but comment after loud comment, along with their stares after stares, about the number of children and how beautiful they were, were they all mine etc. I seriously had to bite my tongue as I had Penny screaming, Madi wanting to take off running, while crying, Zoey glued to my legs, while I was calling for Jacob and Josh to wait a sec; I wanted to say, to the gal "Well, I'm glad that you had a show with your dinner." I was nice. That may not happen the next time, so at least I behaved well last night. I learned a valuable lesson...drive-thru's are a blessing.