I started last week off with some deep cleaning. I was looking for some lost items-mainly a few of the kids plastic plates and a phone. I ended up moving the fridge out to see if the plates somehow ended up under there, which lead to cleaning behind and underneath the fridge. Then it was searching around the tv armoire (and moving and cleaning under it). I figured I might as well finish up the last couple things on my "whole house clean" list which was cleaning the blinds and ceiling fans on the main floor along with scrubbing where the baseboards and floors meet. It was like I was nesting or something (definitely not!). I did find the phone but still have no idea where the plates are. The twins had gotten into the cabinet they were in one time when I was at the store and I haven't seen them since. A couple were in their walker toy, but the others are missing. Later that afternoon it was time to drop Ellie off at dance and pick up Jackson from swim team. We then had to run by the bank and drop off a Redbox movie. It always seems that when I just need to quickly return a movie, I end up behind someone who has to search through all the movies and rent three. I feel like telling them that it is much more convenient to rent the movie online and then come pick it up :-). So I was finally able to return the movie and then we headed over to my parents. They had been down in Bentonville visiting Sara and they brought her, Bella, and Brady home with them for a few days. They also brought AJ's home with them-yummy. By this point school had already been canceled for the next day because of the impending winter storm.
So even though Tuesday was a snow day, I didn't really sleep in. I had woken up early because my stomach was bothering me. Thankfully it got better. Andrew had woken up early too and eventually headed to the office around 4:30. The snow was really coming down at that point but he made it. Our power went off a couple times, but thankfully came back on within a minute. The kids eventually started waking up but they noticed the LaBeths were already outside playing. Ellie and Lincoln quickly got ready and I had to actually wake Jackson up. Then they all joined the LaBeths outside and had such a fun time. They had their four-wheeler out and were pulling the kids on their sleds. They were out there for a couple of hours doing that and just playing around in the snow. Tiffany took some fun pictures of them. And Ty gave Lincoln the goggles. He said they help keep the snow out of your eyes.
Andrew showed up later in the morning. He thought court would be canceled, but it wasn't. So he came home (only got part way up the drive), got ready, and then got stuck trying to back out of the driveway. He ended up having to dig himself out in his suit. And then he put on quite a show for Lincoln and I trying to get out and down the street. His tires were spinning and throwing snow everywhere. They actually didn't plow our street until Wednesday morning.
It snowed all day and the kids loved playing in it. They were outside several times. Ellie tried to make a snow man but didn't have much success and ended up over at the Rourkes helping them make a fort. I stayed inside all day with the twins and managed to get some stuff done. Jackson came in for a bit to do his homework (I also found him playing on his DS though) so he got to help me make some cookies. We ended up having my family over for chicken taquitos. Thankfully Steve had plowed our driveway even if the street wasn't clear. So they made it okay. Andrew had gotten home a little earlier and had taken Lincoln downstairs to watch tv. I found them both down there asleep as I was getting stuff ready for dinner, so he didn't even know my family was coming until he woke up for dinner and came upstairs to everyone already here. Jackson and Ellie played outside up until the very end and it was time to come in to eat. We let Owen and the twins watch everyone outside as we got dinner started.
After cleaning up from dinner, Owen wanted in our bedroom. So I opened the door and he went straight to the bath tub. He really wanted to take a bath in our tub again, so awesome Aunt Lissy did baths. School was already called off again for Wednesday, so we had Bella stay the night. It was her first sleepover and she did really well. She fought off tears a couple times, but stayed strong :-). Her and Ellie had a busy schedule though. They painted some jewelry, painted their nails and took a bubble bath. Then they wanted me to braid their hair so it would be curly the next day. After that it was time for some hot chocolate, then popcorn and a movie. They watched Eloise at Christmastime, Ellie's favorite sleepover movie. Bella lasted until the very end and finally went to sleep. It was close to midnight when she finaly fell asleep. I didn't want to go to bed until she did in case she did get scared.
The kids actually slept in the next day, so went ahead with my usual Wednesday morning routine and cleaned all the bathrooms, dusted, etc. They got up, got ready, and had some breakfast. Miles and Bennett slept in late too, so I set them at the windows to eat while Jackson and I went outside to shovel what had accumulated since they plowed our driveway the morning before. The city snow plow came by a little earlier so we had some deep snow at the end of the driveway. At some points it was easier to just pick up the big boulders of snow and ice and chuck them rather than try to shovel it up. We eventually got it done and by that point I had sweated through everything and had to change. It was almost lunch time, so I loaded up the kids and we went through McDonalds to get some lunch for them and then headed to my parents. The kids played around there for a bit and went outside also. Then it was time to take Miles and Bennett home for their nap and to finish getting ready for small group. Ellie ended up staying there to play and we dropped Jackson off at the church to play with Zach. It seemed like it snowed most of the day on Wednesday too. But the kids were back to school Thursday and Friday. I am not sure how much snow we ended up getting. I've heard anything from 12" to 15". I just know it is a lot and I'm not sure when it will all melt away.
The twins, Lincoln, and I spent part of the day at my parents on Thursday since everyone was heading home the next day. Jackson and Ellie joined us after Little K. Then Andrew and I got to enjoy a date night Friday night. CCF had their Parents' Night Out at our church. We decided to just rent a movie, order out, and relax at home. Our plan hit a little bit of a snag as I couldn't find anything to rent from Redbox so Andrew had to go to Hastings. But he got out of work a little late. So to make sure we had time to eat and watch the movie, we ended up having him pick up the movie and dinner while I took the kids to the church to drop them off. We ended up getting home at the exact same time. We got our food, ate on the couch (that never happens anymore), and enjoyed watching a movie without interruptions. It was peaceful :-). And before you knew it, it was time to get them picked up.
This Saturday was the first Saturday in six weeks without a basketball game, so Andrew to Jackson and Lincoln out to the ranch. Ellie stayed with me because she had a birthday party that afternoon and didn't want to take the chance that she would miss it. The party was at two and since Andrew still wasn't home, I had to keep the twins up and take them with me. Andrew called as I was on my way to let me know he was almost home. Darn. I laid the twins down when I got home but they never settled down for some reason. And I ended up sending Lincoln to his room for a nap because he kept crying about different things. Andrew went to the office, so going to pick up Ellie was a bit of a fiasco. Miles and Bennett were just starting to calm down, but I had to get them up. Then Lincoln was still out and he is such a crab when you wake him up. So you can imagine the rest of the afternoon was full of crying and whining. I was able to get dinner ready and Andrew got home around 6:30. He told me he would clean up for me if I wanted to go ahead and do the grocery shopping. I was tempted to just send him shopping because it was a long list and I'm not a fan of grocery shopping. Before I left, he asked if I could do the big stuff as far as the cleaning before I left and then he would do the rest and do baths :-). And I did come home to a fairly clean house (Andrew and I admittedly have different opinions on what is clean) and bathed kids so I was thankful.
Today we ended up going to late service at church so things weren't as hectic getting ready in the morning. It seems like the kids have had some attitude problems lately and I have felt a little out of control, so we took the time to sit down, pray together, and read from our devotional book on how they are supposed to honor their parents, both when they are around them and when they aren't. We also discussed probably getting up a little earlier on school days to do chores. I am better about having a schedule for chores in the summer and not during the school year. School day mornings always seem so busy. And between games, going out to the ranch, and church, the weekend mornings fill up too. It seems like lately chores have been done more as when they are being disciplined and I wanted them to realize that they are also just a part of our daily life-we each contribute and are responsible. My siblings and I had chores we were expected to do before going to school every day. We were always expected to make our bed and have our rooms clean and the same goes for our kids. But we also had other chores. Mine was usually vacuuming the kitchen. Yes, our kitchen had carpet. And I had to pull out all of the chairs from around the table to another room, vacuum, then move the chairs back. So now I have to come up with what chores I want my own kids to do.
Now I am off to work on dinner, laundry, and stuff for Jackson's birthday next month. He has decided on a Lego party and I was able to figure out the invitation yesterday. I surprisingly had a hard time finding a lego image I liked online and ended up stacking some of Jackson's and scanning them on my printer. It took a few tries but I finally got something that worked. To send you off (as Andrew lays next to me snoring-hope you enjoyed your nap :-)) here are a couple pictures of Miles with his blanket. He like to walk around with it over his head and kind of reminds me of ET.
Oh, one last one of everyone piling on Andrew. Except Bennett, not sure what he is doing.
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