They were all excited to see each other and Lincoln was really anxious to have a sleepover. He wants a sleepover every time we go to my parents, but it is usually during the week and he doesn't understand why we never let him. We went back over to my parents after lunch on Tuesday for just a bit for the kids to play before nap time. But we were doing dinner for everyone that night, so we headed home for nap time so I could work on things for that. And even though it was a chilly evening, the kids still went out back to play. Andrew got a small football game going too. Andrew got some bummer news-it looks like he does have what is called a femoroacetabular impingement of his hip. He is in the process of getting an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in St. Louis that is really knowledgeable in this type of surgery. His nurse said they are scheduling surgeries in July right now so I imagine he will have to wait until after we get back from Italy to have it done because it has a longer recovery.
Wednesday we worked on getting stuff ready for small group. I brought up some of the wooden blocks and puzzles for the boys to play with. They had fun with them but Lincoln always gets so frustrated when they knock down what he has been working on-I would too. Miles actually had to go to time out in his room for being a bully. When I went to get him out, he was up on the changing table rubbing diaper cream on his face.
I ended up signing Lincoln up for ABC Mouse that afternoon and he has enjoyed it so far. Ellie was a tad jealous because she always wanted to do it. She did the free one month trial when she was younger but didn't seem too interested in it once she started it so we didn't continue. She is more of a hands-on learner than doing computer games while Lincoln loves computer games. He doesn't always appreciate the redundancy of it but it is what he needs.
Since I had not gone grocery shopping for about a week, I had quite the list going. I am better with the twice-a-week shopping trip, plus I was wanting to get stuff for Jackson's upcoming birthday parties. So I decided to divide it up a bit and hit Wal-Mart Wednesday night and had to do Aldi Thursday morning since they were already closed by the time we finished up with small group.
Miles and Bennett were very good with our Aldi trip. They even helped me put the food on the conveyor belt and on the shelf to bag it. Then we ran home to put everything away, picked up Lincoln from school, picked up some lunch for the kids from Sonic, and headed over to my parents to hang out with the Bobziens since they were leaving the next day. It was all good until nap time. I thought Miles and Bennett went down okay but about 1/2 hour later we heard a door opening and closing and it was Miles. He had climbed out of the pack-n-play and Bennett was still awake. So after trying to put him back in the pack-n-play a few times and moving it around a bit, he would still get out. So I put Miles in the bigger pack-n-play that Bennett was in and moved Bennett to the smaller one. Next thing I know they are both out and messing up the room. I looked in to see Bennett laying on the bed in a boppy and stuff was thrown all over the floor. So that was the end of nap time-the whole process took a couple of hours though. Thankfully they don't get out of their cribs at home, but now I need to figure out how to keep them in their pack-n-plays because we still have a few overnight trips to do plus summer swim time at my parents where the twins are usually napping during the afternoon. And needless to say, they were kind of grumpy the rest of the day. It was a cold, grumpy kind of day anyways :-).
Ellie and Jackson had Little K after school, so I picked them up after that and took them to my parents but then Jackson had to go to swim practice after dinner. Ellie has been teaching Carson how to do the Rainbow Loom bracelets and they also spent some time doing word searches and the like. I love having conversations with Colton and Carolina these days and Preston and Grayson finally warmed up to me towards the end of their visit. I think it was because I got their blankets for them. I am glad they were able to come into town over their Spring Break because it was great getting to hang out with them.
When we got home that night, Andrew was on the bike for the first time in a long time (he moved it back inside on the trainer since the weather this past week was supposed to be dreary-and it was). He has decided it will probably be an easier recovery if he is in shape so he is heading that way. We think the biking may be okay as long as he doesn't push it too much, along with swimming. Running is probably not the best option right now. That night, I was trying to work on the computer because it was running really slow and I realized that Miles and Bennett still weren't in bed. Everyone else had gone to bed and we forgot that they had gone downstairs. They had the door to the playroom closed so you couldn't really hear them. It was a great mommy moment. I went downstairs to get them and the playroom was a huge disaster including the smashed Chees-its all over the place. I usually set out some small snacks for the kids down there during small group and I forgot to put them away that morning. So I just turned off the light, closed the door, and put the twins to bed. After a little battle, they were out. I guess no nap does that to you.
Friday morning I employed Lincoln's help in cleaning up the playroom. He received a cup from school to collect money in to raise money for new playground equipment at school. So I told him I would give him money for his cup if he helped me clean up the playroom, clean his bedroom, and put away his laundry. He did a great job and was happy to put some money in his cup. I keep reminding him that it goes to the school and not him and he is okay with that...for now :-). We had a small problem that afternoon during lunch time. I had already fed the kids and was sitting down to eat a quick bite when Miles and Bennett decided they wanted some too and were both climbing on the other bar stool. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw it tipping over. Miles was sitting in it but Bennett had been standing, holding onto the back so he took the brunt of the fall. Thankfully they were both okay, but the bar stool was not. I got online to see if I could get another one only to discover that you could only buy them in pairs. I even contacted the actual company that makes them and their only other option was to buy the chair by part and it would probably end up costing just as much as two stools on the other sites. So I guess we will have an extra stool in case something like this happens again.
That afternoon I started working on some chocolate chip ninja cookies for all of Jackson's birthday celebration happening next week. I made two big pans of "cookie cake" and decided to use the ninja cookies cutters Lissy gave Jackson a couple of years ago. It wasn't as easy as I was hoping. If I did it with cookies at room temp, the appendages were breaking off easily. So I put them in the freezer, but then they were too hard for the plastic cookie cutters. So I let one pan set out for a bit and worked with them a bit after dinner and had a little more success. I need to do cookies for his family party, friend party and school but I have a feeling one batch will just be regular cookies :-). But I did have to head back to the store Friday night to get more eggs and butter for the cookies. Jackson had his last basketball practice before the 3on3 tournament after school and then they had five games on Saturday starting at 9. I took him a little early with Ellie and Lincoln and then Andrew brought the twins around game time. With the tournament, the games were just 15 minutes each. His first three games were at 9, 10, and 11 so we just stayed around there that morning. The twins actually did pretty well up until the last bit of the third game. Jackson's team struggled a bit getting used to actually playing other teams but got better with each game. We knew it would be harder for them since most the teams they were playing were ones that had played together all winter on traveling teams. Out of 6 teams in his age group, only his team and one other weren't traveling teams. But like I said, they were getting better each time and even though they were losing, it wasn't too bad. We went home after the third game for lunch and to regroup. We decided that I would take Jackson and Ellie back with me while Andrew took Lincoln and the twins. He was originally just going to stay home with them and let the twins nap, but decided to head out to the ranch and take some mineral out to his cows. The twins do enjoy when they get the chance to go out and I think had some fun playing in the mud (Andrew was scrubbing off their shoes when we got home). Jackson's team lost their fourth game too, but again they were getting so much better. But they were really discouraged after the fourth loss. After he got done with the fourth game, I had to work the concession stand. Ellie wanted to help out because she was wanting to earn money for the book fair (we didn't realize at the time but the book fair was over that Friday before). She did a great job! She got right up front and took orders, got the food and drinks, and helped hand back change (she let the adults make the change though:-)). I left after an hour to watch Jackson's last game, but she wanted to stay and help out. Jackson's last game was against the other non-traveling team and neither of them had won a game. It was a great game for them. Jackson scored four baskets and was pretty excited because they ended up winning. It was a great way to end the day for them and I was so grateful for the time their coaches put into coaching them. Then it was back to the concession stand for a little longer. We ended up sticking around a little longer to see who won the week at kamp. It wasn't anyone we knew but I was excited that it was a successful fundraiser for K-Life.
Andrew got home from the ranch a little before we got home and he laid the twins down for a nap. The other kids played outside with their friends while Andrew and I worked on dinner. Andrew grilled hamburgers while I did the sides. Jackson and Lincoln ended up going out to the Hettinger's farm for a bit, the twins were napping (or so we thought), and Ellie was playing outside, so Andrew and I enjoyed a quick dinner by ourselves. Then he went to get the twins up while I cleaned up and he was asking me what the white stuff was on Bennett's face. I said, "Was Miles out of bed?" And it wasn't until then that Andrew realized that Miles did get out of his crib and the noisemaker was off. So Miles can now climb out of the crib! I am not ready for this. So he climbed out of his crib, got up on the changing table to get the diaper cream and proceeded to put it on himself and Bennett (through the slats on his crib). I was expecting him to do it again that night but he didn't. I moved the bookcase that was between their cribs to a corner behind the chair in their room. Not the prettiest, but hopefully the safest.
On Sunday after church, we headed to Orscheln's to buy some mud boots for Ellie. We weren't able to find a good pair of mud boots for her, but she was happy with the pink camo rain boots she got. Andrew was taking them out to the ranch that afternoon and we have been meaning to get her something. And lucky for us, it was Chick Days at the store so the kids got to see a lot of baby chicks and some rabbits. Then Miles and Bennett found the toy aisle and didn't want to leave.
After we got them home, I got them lunch and then Andrew loaded up the older three for some adventures out at the ranch. Andrew ended up sending me a couple pictures that showed the kids climbing a pretty steep embankment.
They had a good time and I got to catch up on office work while they were gone. But by the time they got back, Andrew was beat. He had been coming down with a cold and it caught up with him. So while we headed to my parents for dinner, he stuck around home and rested. He thought my parents would appreciate him not bringing his germs over :-). So we stayed at my parents until bed time so we wouldn't bother Andrew too much. I put the kids down we got home and I was hoping that things would be okay with Miles since he didn't get out of his bed the night before or for nap time, but I was wrong. He got out of bed twice. The second time I went in he was giving Bennett some books. So after sitting by the door listening to when I thought he was trying to get out and some stern no's, he stayed in bed and eventually went to sleep. So we will have to keep working on it. I was hoping to hold off for a while before I moved them upstairs, but now I am hoping I can at least get through the rest of the school year so that we don't have to worry about trying to not wake them up while the others are getting ready for school.
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