Week in the Life: Thursday

photos taken: 49

Thursday morning was a bit of a blur, but thankfully Brandon had timed his departure to work with Greyson's school bus, and so I packed up my two boys and kissed them both on the way out the door before beginning our morning with breakfasts and lists (grocery and library book).  Violet slept a little later than usual because of our late birthday dinner the night before, so Gem and I had some time to do a little spooky spider craft to add to our Halloween door collection.

I am not great at decorating, so it is the kids' projects that act as the piece de resistance for the duration of the holiday.  I'll save a few of the really great ones for next year (Gem's spider might get saved, she named her Layla and she's poisonous, but only to monsters and not people), but most will get trashed and we'll make new ones next year.

The girls and made a mad scramble to get everything packed up and all of us dressed and ready to make it out the door in time to get to Library preschool storytime by 10am.

We returned our library books and then booked it upstairs to get to storytime just in time for Gemma's favorite "Hello" song.  The girls loved bubble time (per usual), we listened to a funny book about birds, hugged the bear puppet, and Gem made a crow craft.  The girls spent a little time in the playroom (making me 'lunch and coffee' with the play food) and then I searched the aisles for books from my book list.  I struck out 9 times out of 11!  But I still managed to get a good mix of books.

By the time we made it home, the girls were both snoozing in the back.  Violet went peacefully into her crib and Gem (thankfully) continued to nap after I transferred her to the couch.  I got time to blog, and do some chores like watering my poor thirsty Mums on the front porch (sorry babies).

The girls woke up and I tried to do some quick calculations about time.  I figured I could get the kids clothes folded and the truck packed for an evening at my parents' house before we had to pick up Grey, right?  right?!

turns out, not right.  Got the kids' clothes folded and checked the clock to see it was time to pick up Grey, um right.this.second.  So, we hopped in the truck, dogs barking and biting at the wheels in their herding attempts to pick up the boy.

So it was a few last minute things to finish and pack up at home before we got back in the truck and headed to my parents' house for dinner and playing!

Abba and Chum's house is always an adventure!  We had dinner and then my Dad took the kids in the basement to do pumpkin carving with them (one of my least favorite halloween events, so thank you Dad!!!)  Chum called my mom and I downstairs to see how the kids first drew a practice face on a paper and then how that translated to their drawing on the pumpkin = tiny little faces drawn.  It was the cutest and we were all smiling and laughing.

Grey had homework to finish and guided reading to practice, and Violet took a few steps to Abba (!!), We also got a very sad call from my sister Kayla about one of her dear friends who is not doing well in the ICU (send you good thoughts and prayers if you have extra please).

The pumpkins turned out awesome and then the big kids went on a spooky nighttime walk with Chum down the street.  Grey found a random onion on the walk (no clue, that kid finds the oddest things) and then Abba facilitated a much needed bath time for the Gremlins.

Violet was up to her normal no good with holding her breath while crying (! only one of our babies who has been a breath-holder) and held it for the longest ever on record in her little life.  I was actually praying, "just pass out! pass out and you'll breath again"  She didn't pass out, or maybe she half-did because when I went to lift her, her neck was sort of limp (SCARIEST ever.).  Mum and I were both rattled, a few minutes of fussing and Violet was perfectly fine like there was no problem to begin with.  (help me, Lord Jesus)

Grey ended the evening by chasing each other in a circle basically worshiping the onion singing, "We have a duty" over and over.  It was one of those things that if you had to ask what it all meant, you'd never understand anyway, so Mum, Dad, and I just stood there laughing at the strangeness of it all.

I was hopeful that the kids would be asleep by the time we got home (about 35 minute drive home), and they all were, until it was time to transport them all to the house...of course.  All three woke up but were happy to get some hugs and kisses from Daddy who had only arrived home a few minutes earlier from work.  

The kids went down fairly easily after three books - two of which were two of our new library rentals, and a little reading aloud from my book.  I had the diaper bag to empty and dishes to put away and all that nighttime cleaning and Brandon and I caught a few minutes of Impractical Jokers (so hilarious) before we both fell asleep on the couch with all the lights and the tv still on until after 1am.  classic.

If I'm being honest, I'm looking forward to this week in the life being over!  Such great photos of our everyday life that have been captured, but it's pretty heavy on the intensity.  I'm looking forward to being done in only two more days!  Hooray!

Week in the Life: Wednesday

photos taken: 52

It's Brandon's birthday!  I came downstairs and started the coffee only to nearly break my neck from slipping on water all over the middle of the floor.  The freezer had some sort of malfunction in the middle of the night that water was running all through it (whhhhhhhy), but seemed to be fine again now with the exception of the water on the floor and giant blocks of now-frozen ice all over the contents of the freezer.  I threw two bath towels over the spills and ignored it until after breakfast, because: coffee first.

The two big kids woke up in time to sing 'happy birthday dear Daddy!' as he blew out a candle on one of our chocolate chip icing sandwich cookies before hustling out the door to the grand opening of the store he's been working on (which hopefully means no more super late nights! hooray for us all!)

Lainey bug arrived for another playday with us and Grey came clean about having a splinter in his hand from the playground at school the day before.  This kid hates splinters, no, not the actual splinter, rather the removal of the splinter.  hates, hates, hates.  So it was a solid forty minutes of crying and fussing about the thought that removing the splinter would be painful.  that's a lot of patience from a mumma at 7am in the morning.

After several half-attempts both by Grey himself and me, we settled on neosporin and a band-aid until the afternoon when we would have more time (and patience!)  Then he dried his crocodile tears, got a few hugs and he was off to school.  whew, I was all like, please tell me it's after 9am at least. um, no.  So the girls and I got breakfast, got ready for the day, and started tackling chores and playtime.  The girls were playing so nicely that I got a chance to sneak in a hot (super quick!) shower and it's amazing what clean hair, fresh lipstick, and a dance party while folding clothes can do for a person's psyche!

By lunch, we were all feeling a little sleepy, so after some pizza and peaches, Miss Violet girl gave Lola a few good (spirited) pets and she was off to sleep before I even closed her bedroom door.  Lainey wasn't too far behind and was happy to cozy up with Gemma on the couch in front of a movie (not Mulan today only because I pleaded with her.  I can not have the song, "A girl worth fighting for stuck in my head one more afternoon"!)  

I got a a minute to chat with the birthday boy on his way in between stores.  Sometimes, a call from him in the middle of the day can really put a pep in my step.  You don't know how lonesome you are until you hear someone voice sometimes, ya know? 

During naptime, I switched the laundry and worked on the blog with a cup of tea (happiness boost!) and then the girls started stirring again - anxious to play and enjoy the sun.  So out we went to run amok in the yard and enjoy the trampoline.

Gemma was happy to discover that Lainey had brought a Doc McStuffin's singing microphone ("a singer") with her and she played that thing on repeat for a solid twenty-five minutes.  She is a lip-syncing maniac and loves moving her mouth in very dramatic ways even if it's not at all close to the words of any song - she just like the theater of it all.  She's also been doing a lot of talking about her 'claws' (fingers in the bent position) which is so weird and cute.

Cara swung by after school to grab Lainey bug and then we only had time enough to read one Halloween book and feed Lola before it was time to pick up Grey from the bus stop!  

On the way to pick up Grey, our afternoon plans took a dive for the unexpected.  A call from Pappy that he was headed to an unplanned dentist visit (all is well now!) meant that Brandon and I had to split up between the kids' practices.  I also realized among the countertops of dirty dishes that I didn't have another cream cheese for Brandon's birthday cheesecake, Greyson's fundraising orders needed picked up from the school before six, and that also, ugh, it was garbage night. 

Brandon was on his way home from work and saved the day by swinging by Dollar General to pick up milk and cream cheese, stopped at the school to grab our fundraising items before coming home to pack up the garbage and take Gemmi to gymnastics at 5:30p.  Defeated I said, "some birthday, babe, I'm sorry," to which he replied, "the roast smells awesome, you're making cheesecake, and I'm home before dark, this is the best birthday ever." 

As he and Gem headed out the door, I whipped around the kitchen like a certified lunatic, washing dishes, loading the dishwasher, and throwing together the cheesecake knowing that I needed to time it exactly so that it could bake while we were at karate practice (gulp, risk-taker over here). I put some snacks for Violet in the diaper bag and threw the cheesecake in the oven right before we walked out the door.  

On the way to karate class, Grey was talking about getting a girlfriend when he gets to college.  I asked him what he thought girlfriends and boyfriends even do together and he said, "I don't know.  Like sit on the couch together?"  then after a few thoughtful seconds, "maybe the boy just has to do whatever the girl says?" I laughed and said, like what kinds of things does the girlfriend say? and he said, "Maybe like, Pause this movie because I have to poop!" to which I laughed until I cried because that's the very last thing a girlfriend would say to her boyfriend and also, boy did I need a good laugh at exactly that moment.

At karate, Gigi met us to hand off Grey's clothes and equipment to us and offered (like a total professional Grandma) to take Violet during class so I could have some peace.  Sweet Lord, thank you for Gigi.  I got to watch Grey all during class without the whines and tugs of a curious and bored one year old.  Hallelujah, for real.

Success! We got home in time to pull the cheese cake out and it was just fine.  Pappy, Gigi, and Violet showed up a few minutes after us, just as I was reaching into the pantry for some instant mashed potatoes to whip up and lo and behold, guess who was out.  This chick.  Yeesh, Momma said there'd be day like this, there'd be days like this, Momma said (sometimes the need to break out into song is too strong to deny).

So, I got to peeling, boiling, and mashing potatoes from scratch, and finishing the rest of dinner:  three- packet slow cooker roast, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes (!the real kind, not by choice), and rolls.  We had cheesecake for dessert (B's favorite) and sung happy birthday while we laughed and talked around the table and the kids played under the table their strange spy kid games of make believe.  Gosh, do I love those kind of dinners that nobody feels like getting up and being done.   I hardly took any pictures at dinner because I was too busy participating and enjoying dinner (!) but I caught a few blurry ones of the big birthday singing.  

By the time we had said goodbye to Gigi and Pappy, cleaned up the kitchen, and got the kids settled into bed, it was after 9:30p!  I read Grey's book he brought home from school and Gem was asleep before I even finished that.  Grey announced promptly afterward, "Mum, please be quiet now, I'm tired." He did ask for me to read aloud a little from my book, so I got myself settled on the floor to read a few pages.

Then I kept nodding off mid-sentence (!) and barely made it downstairs to snuggle up with Brandon on the couch while he watched the Cubs/Mets game.  I fell asleep I think in under two minutes and he woke me up afterwards and helped usher me up to bed where we both basically fell face first and didn't wake up until the morning. #parenthood

Week in the Life: Tuesday

photos taken:  59
Woke to much a warmer morning (no frost at least) and we're lucky to get our cousin Lainey for the day to play while her momma attends nursing school.  I burnt the bacon (ugh), but we got the big boy off to school without a hitch and the three girls spent the morning crawling and playing house in our entire collection of pop up tents in the living room.  Violet snuck away several times, per usual, to sneak upstairs and stand up on the bathroom stool to try to brush her own teeth.  That child.

The three girls, sitting on the counter obviously, helped me whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies in part because it's Brandon's birthday week and also in part because I needed a chocolate fix, let's be honest.  I rarely lack cookie-baking helpers because my method of baking cookies includes mixing the ingredients while snacking on loose chocolate chips.  The kids line up to help around here.  HAH!  We turned the cookies into icing stuffed sandwiches, because if we're going to go for a sugar rush over here, we're swinging for the fences, man.

We had lunch and then it was time for Violet's nap.  Gemmi is in a big Mulan phase, so we played it on Netflix (second time this week already!) and Lainey started showing signs of sleepiness.  Hooray for getting to snuggle a toddler to nap today and then I got in some reading and extra snuggles with my Gemmi girl ("but you're MY mom, so snuggle with me too") while she finished Mulan.

After naptime, we headed outside to soak in the beautiful sun and had a visit from the UPS man.  I was hopeful that it was our next book for the Inspired Readers Book Club, All the Light We Cannot See - alas it was the two thanksgiving books I ordered for the kids and a copy of Go Away, Big Green Monster! for our own in-house library, as it was a major hit when we borrowed it from the library.

Cara came to pick up Lainey and after a little more playtime, the girls and I headed down to pick up Grey from the bus stop (after I made sure the truck would start: success!) On Gemma's rush to give Grey a hug from the bus, she bit it pretty good right on the asphalt and so we had some booboos to kiss and cries to soothe before heading back up home.

Grey was happily surprised to find our new home library addition (gah, that smile).  And we spent the rest of the early afternoon with read alouds, homework, and making cards for Dad's birthday tomorrow.  We had chili over bowtie noodles for dinner, don't judge that massive pile of cheese.  #nojudgements

B updated that it'd be another long night before he came home (waaaaah), so out of desperation of not getting my blog done yet, and also chores piled high - the kids got to spend the evening watching the Halloween favorite, Hocus Pocus ("how many more spooky parts though, Mum?!" "That's a good zombie?" "But this is a pretend story, right?") while I blogged, vacuumed, and cleaned the kitchen. I'm happy to report that despite the movie being "kind of spooky," there were no nightmares!

After the movie, I had about forty-five minutes to try to keep the kids awake to see Brandon when he got home, so we all headed up to Violet's room to read books and make believe.  The two big kids toted around a pretend phone and a flashcard pretending they were tech devices explaining to me that they were magical and they could "download pets."  I asked Grey if he knew what download meant it he said yes, that it meant "you get it on your phone then and can play things.  Like games."  Future Tab, good luck.

A little before nine, B came home to the cacophony of kids and dogs celebration that happens daily upon his arrival.  We spent a little while talking and giving Daddy lots of hugs, but Violet was more than ready to sleep so she went down easily and sweetly.

The big kids got a few stories and then laid in bed while I read aloud to them from my own books - this is our little routine that we have been doing for the past few months:  we read them some children's books and then turn out the lights and I lay on the floor, facing the hallway light while I read aloud from my own books (skipping over the curse words or inappropriate parts if necessary.  Wally Lamb!!) But I like the idea that what they hear as they drift off into sleep is my voice reading beautiful writing with big vocabulary words.  I like to pretend it gives them a little culture (hah).

After the kids had fallen to sleep, I met up with Brandon (devouring chili like a maniac and repeating over and over, 'this is some good freaking chili, babe') downstairs and we watched day2 of the Voice (it really seems like we watch a lot of tv, huh? I promise it's just Sunday-Tuesday) and we laughed and cried about it like we do at every single episode.

It was fairly early to bed (yay!) after I tried to give Brandon a summary of my Wally Lamb book so far, which is so funny because that's impossible and a crazy amount of story lines.  He was trying so hard to fall along and kept nodding encouragingly until finally I was like, 'i love you for even attempting to listen to that.'

still going strong on the heavy photos, just intense.