Well it seems our Mondays are just going to be busy days. It seems to be the day where random things are scheduled. The kids had to head back to school. Thankfully Lincoln didn't go until Tuesday because I think he needed a little more recovery time from the trip. And I got to make up for all the laundry I didn't have to do while they were gone-many, many loads. Oh and I almost forgot, Monday was St. Patrick's Day so the kids woke up to a mess and random green things scattered around the family room. There was also the green milk and green toilet water that they decided was leprechaun pee. I guess the green milk didn't settle well with Miles and he proceeded to throw it up. Luckily it was on a throw blanket that I was able to clean. He was totally fine after that incident though. I tried to take some pictures of the three youngest together but Miles wasn't having it. I did get some cute ones of our little leprechaun though.
Andrew brought the kids home from school and after he got home from picking up Ellie at dance I left with Andrea and we headed to the St. Patrick's Day 5K. It was kind of chilly, but not horrible. Andrew brought all the kids after Jackson was done with basketball practice. I saw them a little after mile 2 and then as I was finishing. It is fun to have your own little cheering section :-). I was able to improve my time so I was happy with that. I had it at 24:42 on my app but my official time ended up being 34:52.I ended up being 6th in women overall and third in my age group. Second place in my age group was Hannah Hagan who was a state track star in high school so I was totally okay when she passed me a little before the 2nd mile marker. After the race was over we stayed for the parade that they deem the World's Shortest Parade. It may have been a tad bit longer this year since it is an election year :-). The kids enjoyed it though and then we went on our way to my parents for a colorful St. Patrick's Day dinner. I was so thankful the had dinner for us.
Tuesday morning I swam at the Natatorium since that is where our race will be. It is definitely colder and I started swimming fast when I got in to try to warm up. I was a little off on my depth perception in the deep end and getting close enough to the wall for my turns, but I think it was all good enough that I don't need to go back until race day. I was going to run after it too, but a warm shower sounded too tempting. Heidi came over after lunch time and Lincoln, Brooke, and Tyler played together while Heidi and I caught up. It is always good to see her. Before I knew it it was time to pick up the kids from school and get to Jackson's spelling bee. I am so thankful my mom showed up for the Spelling Bee because I was by myself with the four kids and the twins weren't being cooperative. The snacks ran out early-there were 50 participants (2 from each class) so that first round took a little while. My mom ended up pushing the twins around the school and gym. Jackson made it to the fourth round and got out with "height". He left the e out when he spelled it. He did a great job and was disappointed to be out. I wasn't aware of it at the time but my mom said there were only around 13 kids left by the time Jackson got out. I am glad that he took on the challenge and did it.
That night Ellie had gymnastics and she was very excited to get a move that is called the fish flop. She doesn't get it every time but she is definitely improving.
Our copy of Frozen came in Tuesday so we watched several times over the next few days. Alex came over to play while Leah had an appointment and he and Lincoln loved singing along. I was finally able to finish up the dressers for the boys' room. I am almost wondering if we are going to have to build the closets around them. That night we had small group and I had challenged everyone to try their hardest to make it and see if we could get the whole group together. I don't think we have had our whole group here at one time since we started in the fall. We were so close, but one family had a kid with strep and got back late from doctors' appointments in Columbia. We are trying again this week :-).
Thursday was a beautiful day. The twins and I went grocery shopping and it was one of their first times in their new car seats. After I put Miles in his, he said, "Wow." It is one of his favorite words right now as he said it many time as I put things in the grocery cart. We got home in time to put the groceries away and get ready for a bike ride. I got to go for a bike ride when Andrew got home for lunch. I wanted to see what it would be like riding while my pants were wet since that is the way it will be during the race. So I actually got my tri shorts wet and tried putting my spandex running pants on over them and it worked out better that I thought. Everything ended up drying pretty quickly which was good. I did a run after the bike to practice the transition. Andrew laughs at my transitions-I have to change my shoes, but I also took off my jacket, changed out of my ear warmer for a headband, started my music and put on chapstick since my lips get dry while working out. The first mile of the run is always a little rough since my legs feel like jello after the bike. I think I am ready though.
Jackson and Ellie had Little K after school while Lincoln and Alex dressed up in their super hero outfits and protected the neighborhood.
Andrew went out to fix fence and was gone until that night. I went to the bank and picked up the kids from Little K then we all played outside for a bit.
The problem was getting dinner ready, everyone eat, and getting Jackson to his 6:45 swim practice. We ate dinner super quick (it was spaghetti which probably wasn't the best choice) and were a tad late getting Jackson to practice. We went to my parents during practice since they are on the same end of town. As we were heading over there, Lincoln told me he wanted to give Grandma a hug because he loves hugging. Then he told me he was going to kiss me when he was older (he said earlier he wanted to marry me when he was his daddy's age). I asked him if he meant on the cheek and he said, "Well how does Daddy kiss you?" Kind of awkward :-). Then that night we had another interesting conversation with Ellie. She was supposed to be going to bed but we ended up talking about the Daddy Daughter Dance and what she wanted to do. She was kind of hesitant about it so I asked her if she even wanted to go. She wasn't sure, so we gave her another option of getting dressed up and going out to eat at AJ's. She liked the sound of that by agonized over her decision and eventually started crying. I think she wanted to do the dinner but didn't want to disappoint Andrew by not going to the dance (and we all know how wrong that is :-)). Andrew had told me that she hasn't seemed to really enjoy it the past couple of years because it is so loud and crowded that she has a hard time finding any friends and ends up just staying glued to Andrew's side while they are there. So I think they are both happy with the decision as long as we get to do Ellie's hair and get all fancy. I am a little sad that she doesn't want to go though.
I went for a swim at the warm Aquatic Center Friday morning and when I got home the twins were up and screaming which was unusual. So I went in there hoping to give them their pacifiers to calm them so I could get a shower in but then the smell overtook me. Miles had a nasty diaper and bad diaper rash. As I am changing Lincoln comes in, having just woken up, crying that I haven't made his oatmeal yet. Then the twins cried for quite a while after that because I put their sheets, blankets, and bears in the wash. Kind of a "loud" start to our day. I did get a shower after they got their clean blankets back and I turned on Mickey Mouse. I ended up doing a bike ride over lunch since it was looking like it would be the last nice day before the race. Then after I got done, Andrew headed out to the ranch to put out hay. I sewed some paper garland for Jackson's party that afternoon and then we played outside. Jackson ended up having basketball practice in our backyard since it was nice. Miles and Bennett enjoyed playing out back while they were practicing. Then we had to take him to a boys' night at church. I picked up McDonalds for the other kids for dinner on our way home and let them eat outside while I ate leftovers. We played outside the rest of the night but it was starting to get cold. I ended up with my winter coat and a blanket, but it didn't seem to bother the others. I eventually had to force Ellie to change back into her jeans out of the shorts and tank top she put on when she got home from school. Then she and Faith sat out back making loom bracelets until almost dark. That night we watched Mr. Popper's Penguins. I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I set the sleep timer on the TV do the kids weren't up all night watching it and went to bed.
Andrew took the older kids out to the ranch Saturday morning but let them sleep in a bit. They had a full day of riding four wheelers, exploring, and panning for gold among other things. They had fun and came home muddy and smelly :-). The twins and I did fun things like clean blinds and ceiling fans. I felt like I had pulled a muscle the day before so I decided to rest it and not work out. And it was so cold again that there was no going outside to play for the twins. I was trying to read them a book in their room before their nap and Miles ran away. He kept opening the door to their room and peeking his head in and Bennett thought it was hilarious. They like making each other laugh and can do such a good job of taking care of each other-getting the others sippy cup, getting blankets, bears, snacks, etc for the other. Plus their conversations and interactions are always entertaining-like they have some understanding of each other. Another funny thing Miles does as part of his cleaning things up is throwing stuff downstairs. He has seen me throw a few toys downstairs that need to go to the playroom, so now he does it too but it isn't always stuff that is supposed to be down there.
After dinner on Saturday Jackson and Ellie spent some time reading. Jackson is really enjoying the Percy Jackson books and Ellie had brought home a few medical/doctor books from the school library that she likes reading. And I forgot to mention that they both brought home awesome grade cards for the third quarter. Ellie was great in all of her marks and Jackson made the A Honor Roll again. I finished up the night by making some cookies and going grocery shopping. The next day Andrew went to the office in the morning and then he had to go both services at church since he was doing the communion message and working a booth. Jackson ended up going to the actual service with us instead of the children's church. I always enjoy watching him sing the worship songs out of the corner of my eye. Makes me smile.
Andrew went straight to the office after church while the rest of us went home for lunch and then we had to take Jackson over to campus. Their Student Athletes Association was having a program where you could work on two sports with their athletes. Jackson did football and basketball and had a good time. Ellie and Lincoln played with their friends all afternoon while the twins napped and then it was time to pick up Jackson. I wasn't sure how long it would take to pick him up, so all of us went in. I ended up having to go down to the gym to get him and I was carrying both of the twins so by the time we walked back up the stairs and to the car, I was pretty winded. So then we headed over to my parents for dinner. The twins were more interested in the cookies though that they proceeded to destroy with some spoons.
Monday was back to school. I got a swim in before the kids left. I just concentrated on the 150 distance I will be swimming and working on going under the lane lines after my turns since we are doing a zig zag swimming pattern down the pool. But I think that was my last workout before the race because my knee has some slight pain and I don't know why. So I think I will just rest it for now. Monday afternoon was busy again for us. We had Sarah come over to watch the younger three after school while Andrew and I went to watch Ellie at her dance class for Parent Watch Night. Jackson went with us because he had basketball practice about 45 minutes into Ellie's class at the church which is right next to Ellie's studio. My mom and Mary showed up too and Ellie loved it. He dances are definitely getting a little more complicated and I love watching her dance.
After dance we ran home and ate real quick, cleaned up, picked up Jackson from practice, and headed to my parents house. They watched the kids for us so that Andrew and I could go to our K-Life meeting. We are preparing for the 3on3 Tournament and we have a great opportunity with Kanakuk. In trying to think of higher cost Silent Auction items, I thought maybe we could do a week at kamp-maybe several board families could donate to it along with kamp giving us a discount. Well Kanakuk gave us a whole week free to give away. There are only two weeks available that it can be used and it has to be a first-time kamper, but we were trying to come up with a way that would make most money. I think they came up with a good way and I'm excited to see how it turns out.
Tuesday we got to watch Ellie again. This time it was her private gymnastics lesson and we all went along with my parents and Andrew's mom. She was nervous at first about us all coming and cried a couple days before because she was embarrassed that her teacher had to help her on a few things. Yes, she is an emotional little girl. But that night she was all smiles and loved performing for all of us.
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| Her class isn't until 8:15, so Miles & Bennett already had baths and pjs on :-) |
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| Showing us how she can cover her eyes :-) |
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| She is supposed to wink at the end of her routine-she seems to have my winking abilities. |
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