DeLappenings: Catching & Packing Up

Okay, peeps.

We made it to Oklahoma.

But our travel day didn’t exactly go as planned—in large part due to poor Chicklet, who suffered a major bout of carsickness along our journey. :(

She’s been prone to more of that lately, but is usually better when we’re on the highway with less stop-and-go traffic.

Totally was a different story.

It was cold and rainy, and pretty much from the get-go, Chicklet was queasy. We did all we could to help ease her yuckiness, but finally decided to stop in Waco, grab some Dramamine, take a food break, and let her body even out.

Welp.

We got the Dramamine in her system, and made it into the restaurant for our reprieve—just as she finally hit her limit and threw up in a big way.

Alas, this ain’t my first kiddo-throwing-up-in-public rodeo, so based on the look on my poor girl’s face, I was at her side lickety split and pulling up her sweatshirt to use as a makeshift bucket.

Yup.

It’s not pretty.

But it’s a helpful technique I’ve used with a great deal of success on each of my kiddos when nausea hits instantaneously and there’s no bag or trash can or restroom in sight.

I shuffled my poor, crying girl back to the car, where we managed to remove said soiled sweatshirt (NOT a fun removal process), bag it and the rest of her clothes up, clean her as best as we could, and get her into fresh clothes from the suitcase.

Then we proceeded to return to the restaurant, wash her soiled hair with soap in the bathroom sink (classy, I know; thank heavens it was the loveliest, coziest bathroom), and do the best we could to tidy her up enough to make the rest of the journey.

Ugh.

She was such a trooper.

The Dramamine eventually helped—as did some anti-nausea medicine we happened to bring with us (because we’re basically traveling with a whole pharmacy these days), and some food and a couple breaks from the car helped her, too.

We’d planned to stay in Dallas overnight, and continue the journey tomorrow morning. But by six o’clock, when we were eating dinner, we took a family vote and everybody decided to just power on through and get there, already, so we could wake up in the morning not having to drive.

Long day, peeps. Long day.

After a few really long days prior to that.

Looking forward to a non-travel day mañana, and a decent night’s rest (fingers crossed!).

Now.

To rewind…yesterday, the hubby and I managed to work some quality kiddo time into our insanely long laundry list of chores and catch-up items. And my personal favorite was some reading time with the kiddos.

Little Man might have pretended he was too old and mature, but the second I settled in the playroom with a handful of our very favorite Thanksgiving-themed classics, he was the most enthusiastic listener, all sprawled across my lap. :)

I give you…The Great Thanksgiving Escape:

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie:

How To Catch A Turkey:

Happy Thanksgiving Day!:

And…A Pumpkin Prayer:

We also managed a happy family lunch of crustless maple sausage quiche…

Complete with happy, silly kiddos…

And I finally—finally!—caught up on laundry, completed all the Christmas tree decorating, knocked out a gazillion errands and got the house completely clean and disinfected.

It. Was. Exhausting.

But, man, was it nice to leave things in better order than they’ve been the past couple crazy weeks!

The Christmas Tree ambiance is happy and so glorious. But never in my life has it taken a full week from start to finish to get everything out.

I mean…we, admittedly, have a ridiculous number of trees. But typically, when I start decorating (around November 7-10th ish, we are committed and ready to deck the dang halls! Stat! But this year, illness and busyness got in the way and we kept having to hit the breaks and then return to do more.

You’ll notice a lot of outfit changes in these pics, as so much of it happened over the course of dayzzz.

Helloooo, newer, taller kitchen tree! This was before decorations, but it’s always one of my faves, with all my kitchen and coffee-themed ornaments. :)

After decorations. :)

Seriously, seriously, a lot of work to wrap up and make it out of town. But it will be so nice to return home to things in order—because next week won’t be any calmer!

Okay…to close out, a couple pics from our journey. The happiest we could manage.