Another Week, Another Birthday

September is a busy month of birthdays for us.  This past Saturday we celebrated Andrew's birthday.  But first, I want to get down what we did the week before that.  My last post was Tuesday morning and a little later Lincoln got home from school and was very whiney with me.  So I sent him to his room while I was working on lunch and he fell asleep.  I think he was worn out from the weekend, so I let him sleep and he ended up sleeping a couple of hours.  I just wrapped up his sandwich and he was excited to have lunch when he woke up.  Jackson and Ellie had Elevate at church after school on Tuesday.  I planned on picking them up at 5 and just taking them straight to Jackson's soccer practice which was at 5:30.  I thought we could just wait in the car and Jackson could do his homework or do his nightly reading before practice started.  Then around 4:50 I got a reminder on my phone that Jackson didn't have practice that day, but got to scrimmage during half time of the JV soccer game at Spainhower.  Problem was that we were supposed to be there at 5.  So I quickly got the diaper bag ready with snacks, drinks, and camera, loaded the stroller, got Jackson's shirt, socks, and cleats, loaded the other three kids in the car, and called Andrew on the way to church to tell him about the change in plans.  We got there in plenty of time and Jackson did an awesome job.  The teams were also supposed to stick around for the beginning of the varsity game and walk out with the varsity players.  But that was still around 40 minutes away and Jackson was already anxious about getting his homework done, so we headed home. 

Then while I was getting dinner ready, I was using a knife to open a package and took a chunk out of my finger.  I went through a couple of band-aids, but the bleeding eventually stopped.  After dinner and some play time outside, it was time to take Ellie to gymnastics class.  She loves it and so far is okay with the later time. 

After I got the house cleaned Wednesday morning, the twins and I went for a walk.  They would always get excited to see a dog or cat roaming around, even birds flying over head.  They got to play outside a bit while I changed out some landscape light bulbs and picked up some stuff outside.  Andrew and his family had a big cattle sale on Wednesday.  Lincoln was so excited he got to go with Andrew for a bit after he got out of school.  They did have to shower off though when they got home because a cow kicked some manure at them-lovely.  I think Lincoln thought it was kind of funny and exciting.  Wednesday afternoon we actually got a little bit of rain.  It didn't last too long though.  It did cool things down a bit.  That evening we had small group and I think I may have convinced most of the girls in our group to do the TriFAHL women's triathlon the end of March. 

Thursday was a busy day for us.  It is usually my day for grocery shopping but I also needed to drop off snacks to the church and K-Life.  Kevin and Chelsea, the K-Life directors, just recently had a new little daughter and I wanted to bring them a little gift when I dropped off the snacks.  But then I also decided to bring them some cookies.  So last minute before I headed to the store, I made some cookies and packaged some up to take to them.  We went by the church first to drop off the snacks for Elevate the next week.  Then it was off to Aldi and Walmart.  The twins were a little feisty this time.  I actually opened up some applesauce pouches I was buying at Aldi and gave them each one before we got through the checkout.  Then at Walmart, we spent the whole time looking for Mickey Mouse as we went through the store.  After Walmart, we dropped the snacks off for Little K and the present and cookies at the K-Life house.  Then we washed the car and headed home to unload everything.  During nap time, Lincoln played with Alex and helped me a bit with my work.  I used the leaf blower to clean out the garage and the back patio.  Then I decided to put some stuff up for sale on our area Facebook swap shop. I ended up selling Ellie and Lincoln's bikes.  I thought Ellie's was so cute and she would love it, but she preferred to ride Jackson's old beat up bike.  Even though they had the same size wheels, she felt like hers was too small.  And Lincoln's chain kept falling off his bike.  I also sold Lincoln's John Deere tractor.  It had cracks and holes in the tires and the battery didn't stay charged for too long.  I sold it for $20 and there were at least four people that were in line for it and someone was already here to pick it up that afternoon after I got back from taking Jackson to football practice and Ellie to soccer practice.  And the last thing I posted was our big umbrella.  We've had it several years but it seems to spend more time in storage than outside.  A lady is coming to pick that up later today. 

Friday was a beautiful day.  It did start out a little chilly though when I went for a run in the morning. The boys just played all morning.  Miles and Bennett do well at keeping themselves entertained.  Bennett, along with telling me about who all is going bye-bye, also says hello.  He even drags it out a bit :-).  And Miles is my kisser.  Usually when I pick him up from changing his diaper or getting him dressed, he leans in and gives me a kiss.  Another funny thing I have noticed about them lately is Bennett now picks out the blue sippy cup and Miles goes for the green.

We ended up meeting Andrew's parents and Uncle Buzz at Colton's for lunch before Andrew's parents to Gulf Shores for a month of relaxation.  A little jealous :-).  Then Friday evening we had Jackson's football game.  The weather was much more pleasant than it had been the previous two games.  It was kind of hard to catch the game though since I let the twins out of their stroller.  They also ended up moving the boys down the field a bit so the Moberly team, that was there super early for their varsity game, could do some warm-ups.  After the game, we headed home for dinner and ate out on the back porch.  I love eating outside because we usually use paper plates and plastic utensils.  I also just fill the kids' plates inside and don't really put anything in serving dishes which means less mess to clean up afterwards.  It is great :-).  After dinner I ended up running some errands.  Andrew was planning on going on his first bike ride since the triathlon the next morning and it was only going to be in the 40s.  So I was on the hunt for some pants for him along with a few other things.  I ended up going by Orschlens, Tractor Supply, Westlakes, Home Depot and Walmart and found very little of what I was looking for.  I did find Andrew some pants and a bright pullover at Walmart.  So now Andrew officially owns some stretchy pants.  And now I just have to include the quote from Nacho Libre..."When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room.  It's for fun." 

So he wore his stretchy pants the next morning for his ride, but he also wore shorts over them.  He thought they were great though.  What a great way to begin your 37th birthday.  While he was gone we put up a birthday banner and some balloons.  He already got his present a few months ago when he accidentally opened the box from Amazon that had it in it-Italian Rosetta Stone.  We also had soccer games that morning.  It was the same as last week with Jackson and Ellie playing at the same time.  It won't be that way for the next three games though.  Jackson did a great job with his ball handling and passing the ball.  He also scored two goals.  Ellie is definitely getting more aggressive with it. 

The camera on my phone did this to three of the pictures of Ellie-cool

Part of the cheering section

After the games, Andrew headed to the office and I worked on his birthday dinner and made him a pumpkin pie.  The kids were busy in and out of the house.  They just have a great time playing with all of their neighborhood friends.  For some reason, Lincoln's room has become the place to be.  Ellie and her friends like being up there and I'm not sure why.  Lincoln and his friends like it because of the three beds side by side.  So Lincoln's room is off limits for a little while :-). Jackson also helped me with my project for the afternoon-hanging lights from our arbor.  We still need to get electricity to our arbor-I want an actual plug-in on the arbor for the lights.  My Uncle Bob came by a couple weeks ago to get an idea of what needed to be done, so hopefully they will be by soon to take care of that.  For now, we are just using a lovely orange extension cord.  Jackson helped hand me the lights while I screwed in the hooks and hung them.  I was excited to get that done.  We are just using clear Christmas lights right now that Lissy got for my mom's party but hope to get some different ones sometime.  That evening, my parents came over for dinner and we got to eat outside again.  It was a great night.  We turned the new lights on, Andrew played football with some of the kids in the yard, and had some pumpkin pie and cupcakes.  Now I am really excited to get the outdoor fireplace done and enjoy some time out there.  Hopefully it is sooner rather than later.

Upset because the icing fell off of his cupcake!

 

Andrew went to the office Sunday morning and got home in time for me to head to Columbia for my cousin Lucy's wedding shower.  I went with my mom and met Sara there.  We did some quick shopping at Target before the shower and then I ran by Children's Place afterwards and picked up some outfits for Christmas since I had some Place Cash.  It was great to spend some time with my mom and Sara without the kids screaming in the background and it was also nice to see some of my family we don't see very often.  Andrew took the kids out to the ranch for a little bit to check his cows and he said they also got another football game in.  And it rained!  The not fun thing about the rain is that Andrew decided to go on a quick bike ride around the block and I guess Andrew wiped out on wet spot.  I think he scraped up his leg a bit, got a hole in his shorts, and scraped up his bike a bit too.  Thankfully he is okay though and I think his biking should be restricted to when the roads are dry.  He didn't tell me about the wreck for a while though :-).  When I got home Ellie and her friends were running all around trying to shoot each other with Nerf guns.  And the next moment she was wanting me to buy ribbon when I went to the store so she could make bows with Faith.  I guess she has diverse interests.  And Lincoln told me last night that his Batman outfit was too small.  It was like he just now discovered this even though he has been wearing it all summer and the pants only went down just a little past his knees.  I imagine he will keep wearing it though.  I have convinced him to be a cowboy for Halloween though.  So we are almost done with that outfit.  I told him I would order a gun holster for him.  Jackson wants to be a ninja yet again and thankfully his outfit from last year still fits.  Check.  Ellie is going to be Eloise and I just have a few more pieces to pick up for that.  I meant to get her a black, pleated uniform skirt when I was at Childrens Place along with some white knee socks they had.  Now I'm just hoping they have a free shipping day before the rest of my Place Cash expires.  And I think we have decided on what Miles and Bennett will be-Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  I just bought some red pants at WalMart last night that were on clearance and I'm now on the hunt for yellow long sleeved shirts.  Then I just need to make some hats, and collars and bow ties.  I think it should be pretty easy and cute.  We'll see.  I'm just glad to have Halloween figured out at minimal cost.