Thursday was business as usual with Jackson and Ellie having swim practice after school and then went from there to football practice. I picked up Ellie at the football practice and we went to my parents for dinner. They had some random leftovers that we got to help them finish up. Plus Owen and Lola were in town while their parents went to Zane’s brother’s wedding in Virginia. So the kids had a fun time playing together along with Max.
Friday was a beautiful day.
We have actually had wonderful weather for the beginning of Fall. Since I had a race coming up in a week and
took a week off from working out while on vacation, I decided to actually get a
run in outside. Since I do almost all of
my running on the treadmill I knew I would be sore after pounding the
pavement. It didn’t hit until the next
day, but I was correct. But we spent a
lot of time outside the rest of the day.
We ate lunch outside and I let the twins skip their nap. That evening we had Jackson’s football
game. Then while I took the twins home
to work on dinner, the rest of them went to my parent’s house to pick up
Max. My parents went to Andy’s for a
couple days so they could watch Briley and Baylor play soccer. So Kaitlin thought it would be great for my
kids to watch Max. They were very
excited about it. They were hoping if
things went well that I would let them get a dog. There was a lot of excitement at first. Getting Max his food, taking him outside,
etc. But the excitement did wane as time
went on. We ate dinner outside that
night (actually we have been eating outside for almost every meal lately since
it is so nice) and then Andrew cut the twins’ hair. Always a fun time. When it was time for bed, I suggested they
all sleep in the basement since I knew there would be fighting over who got to
have Max in their room. Well even that
didn’t go that great. Jackson eventually
made his way back up to his room and Ellie said she was up a lot of the night. So I don’t think there was a lot of sleep
going on.
After we got home from the game, we had lunch and then Andrew took the older three out to the ranch to work on fixing water gaps that were washed out with all of the rain. I guess soon after they got there Jackson fell face first into a mud puddle. That didn’t slow them down though. While they were gone I got a lot of stuff done around the house after I got the twins down for their nap. And then I spent a lot of time trying to finish up my blog post about Italy. It took a while so I got started on dinner later than usual. I said we were just eating late like the Italians do. Then it was off to do some grocery shopping while Andrew did baths and bedtime. Ellie was still waiting up for me when I got home because she wanted to go with me to take Max back to my parent’s house. She had just dozed off on the floor when I finally finished putting all the groceries away. So I got her up and we loaded up Max. I think Max was happy to get back to my parents. And I have to say that the kids kind of dashed their chances of getting a dog anytime soon. After the initial excitement, there was quite a bit of bickering about who was going to help out with what. So we visited at my parents a bit and then came home. Ellie went to bed while I finished up some fall decorating and finally finished the blog late that night.
Sunday morning Andrew went for another bike ride. I think he is trying to get a few in before
the colder weather settles in. Then we
headed to early church service. After
church we were talking to Matthew and Kristin and the twins wanted down. Jackson said he would watch them and they
took off. Then a little later as we were
heading to the door, Tiffany came in carrying Miles and he was crying. I guess they all had made their way outside
and Jackson was trying to get Bennett while Miles decided to make a run for the
parking lot. I was so thankful Tiffany
was there. Like Andrew said, “You can
burn my Parent of the Year Award now.” I
guess we won’t do that again. So we
headed home and Andrew went to the office saying he probably needed to spend
most of the day there. I guess that is
what we get for going on vacation J. And that is what he did. He didn’t get home until a little after
six. We kept busy around home doing all
different kind of jobs, just little things here and there that I wanted to
knock off my to-do list. Then Andrew
grilled some steaks while I did some veggies and fruit and we enjoyed a late,
delicious dinner outside.
As I mentioned before, we have been having beautiful weather
so we spent a lot of time outside again on Monday. The twins just wander around playing with
different things here and there. They
were excited to get out some ball gloves and balls (and of course they always
need some sunglasses now). They would
try to throw the ball out of the glove J.
I cut back our rose bushes and cleaned out our garage. I also made an Italy tag to attach to the jar
of sea glass that Andrew found on the beach there.
Jackson and Ellie had swim practice after school. Then I took Lincoln to soccer practice after
dinner only to discover that they didn’t have practice but had a makeup game
the next evening. There were quite a few
of us there that didn’t get the memo. So
I decided to run a couple errands and picked up a new outlet for the outlet on
our arbor that quit working and a new trimmer for Andrew. He hasn’t liked our other one since we got it
last year so we decided to try a different one.
While I was cleaning out the garage earlier in the day I got out our old
push mower. We have had since before we
moved into the house and have only used it once since we got here. So I decided it was time for it to go. Andrew got it running again and thought it
would be a good idea for Jackson to mow the front yard with it. It ended up being a little more of a chore
than he thought. It isn’t self-propelled
(our front yard is a hill) and it has a bag to collect the grass that needs to
be emptied several times. So Jackson
wasn’t very happy as he pushed and pushed to try to get this thing up the hill
and Andrew found it entertaining. He
eventually finished though.
We decided to go ahead and try to sell the mower on swap
shop along with the weed eater and old deck box that held some toys out
back. The hinges on it broke soon after
we got it years ago and I tried several different fixes for it that never
lasted. Then it seemed like it will
always be that anytime it rained someone left the lid off of it and the rain
will collect in it. My parents have one
for the pool toys with hydraulic hinges that I have really been wanting for a
couple years and I found one at a good price so I went for it. So Tuesday morning I got everything posted on
Swap Shop and it was all sold within a couple hours. I decided to do another outdoor run before
the race so I went while Andrew was home for lunch and I was happy that I
didn’t end up sore after this one. Our
evening was kind of busy. I had dinner
ready to go so that we could eat as soon as I dropped Ellie off at dance. Then we headed out to Lincoln’s soccer
game. Part way through the game I had to
go pick up Ellie from dance and I was surprised to see that they were finishing
up the game when we got back. I guess
they ran it a little quicker than his previous ones.
The neighborhood kids were playing outside when we got home
so ours joined in. One of their favorite
things to do now and is push each other down the street as fast as they can in
the Cozy Coupe and little car with the handle.
I guess the older kids are thankful we still have some younger ones with
these toys J. But then Ellie had to go in and eat a quick
dinner so we could go to her gymnastics lesson.
So I took Ellie while Andrew got the other ones inside. Ellie has been trying to pick out an outfit
for her routine this year and she loves looking at all the different
costumes. I remember when the costume
catalogues would come out when I was in dance and I loved looking at them
too. We do have some different ideas of
what would be a good costume but it isn’t too bad yet. At least right now it is just that what she
likes I think is kind of tacky instead of her wanting something racy that I
don’t think she should wear.
Wednesday morning I was up early to clean the bathrooms, etc
since it was small group day. We also
ended up having to do our grocery shopping a day early since we were completely
out of milk. It was one of those trips
where it seemed I had more to get so Miles wasn’t too happy at the end of our
Aldi trip and he had stuff piled all around him in the cart. Plus they were just being ornery. But after we were done I still wanted to stop
by the new donut shop in town. It went
much better than I expected. The twins
stayed with me and we were in and out of there quickly with some very yummy
donuts. They were having a special where
you buy a dozen and get 6 free glazed donuts.
My dad had called while we were shopping to say that he was going to
come over during his lunch break to change out the outlet on the arbor that had
gone out, so I knew I wanted to send some home with him as a thank you. I think Andrew ate three of them when he came
home for lunch plus I’m a sucker for donuts too. Needless to say that when the kids came home
from school the donuts didn’t last too much longer. So we got home from our errands a little after Andrew got home with Lincoln from school, got the groceries put away, fed the kids lunch and then my dad showed up. My mom has her bible study during the lunch hour on Wednesdays so my dad thought it would be a good time to come over. He even brought chocolate milk for the boys. I had asked him earlier if he thought I could change out the outlet since it was just replacing it with basically the same thing. I have done regular outlets, even lights before, but I think I made him nervous with the ground fault outlet. So he was nice enough to do it for…even in dress pants and a button down shirt. The boys thought they needed to help him out too. But he got it replaced and I am happy our lights are working again.
After he finished up, the boys got their donuts and then we
headed to the park to meet up with Leah and Alex. They had a lot of fun going from one
playground to the next, to the swings, to the merry-go-round. But soon Alex and Lincoln decided they just
wanted to play by themselves and Miles was determined to be just behind them-he
wanted to do everything they were J. Soon it was time to get home and get the
twins down for a nap since they didn’t have one the day before and I needed to
finish up getting stuff ready for small group.
Plus our new deck box came in so I got that put together and had Jackson
and Lincoln help me get set up out back.
Thursday was another fun day. First I had Ellie’s field trip at the
Conservation Department. My mom was nice
enough to watch the twins for me so I dropped them off there and headed over to
the field trip. When I went with
Jackson’s class when he was in second grade I had a girl that kept coughing and
sneezing who wanted to hold my hand and another classmate threw up on one of
the bridges during our nature hike. So I
was hoping things would be a little smoother this time around. It started out great because of the beautiful
weather. And everything else went pretty
smoothly too. We did a nature hike, then
they got to explore the different centers in the building followed by doing
activities to learn about the different ways birds get their food and lastly
was fishing. I am always impressed how
they can have so many second graders out there with fishing poles with real
hooks and no one gets hurt. Once the
fishing starts, the parents usually stay pretty busy getting lines unhooked
from the weeds and untangled on the poles.
Ellie did a great job casting (she has done a little fishing with
Andrew) but didn’t catch anything. But I
had to leave just as they were finishing up so I could get home and get Lincoln
so Andrew could get back to work.
Once I got Lincoln we went to my parents to get the twins
and I let them play there for a little bit before we came home. Then later that evening we had the Mother Son
Stampede. Andrew picked up Jackson and
Ellie from Little K and then Jackson, Lincoln and I headed out. The twins are still too young but I told
Jackson he would have to come back for one time when they are old enough so I
can take all four of them. Jackson
wasn’t originally very excited about going because he thought it was boring
last year. I told him that he needed to
go with me so that he could show Lincoln around. But once he got there he was ready to run off
and have some fun. Lincoln had a lot of
fun though and was excited to try out the different activities. They didn’t have archery this year and we
decided to wait in the ½ hour line to shoot a bb gun. Jackson got a hot dog and s’more while
Lincoln did the bounce house and bull roping.
Jackson also spent a lot of time just rolling down a hill with his
friends. The activity that kept their
interest the most though was a contraption the boy scouts set up that had some
PVC pipe hook up to an air pump that would allow them to shoot soda bottles
filled with water like rockets. The kids
would get to pull the string that launched the bottle. They just kept getting back in line to do it.
Afterwards we met up with the Vincents, LaBeths and Heerens at Dairy
Queen. So it ended up being a fun night
for all of us and it is always good to spend some time with them like this.
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| Lincoln took our picture :-) |
Ellie was a tad bit jealous when we got home but she gets
her night with the Daddy Daughter Dance.
But then I her try on the Elsa dress my mom got for her for Halloween and
all was better. My mom had several
granddaughters that wanted to be Elsa for Halloween so she told them she would
make them the costume. I think the
thought of doing it ended up overwhelming her with her busy schedule but she
went ahead and bought the fabric to get started. Then she saw some on Groop Dealz for a great
price and knew that was the better alternative.
Ellie was so excited when she saw her dress and can’t wait for Halloween
now. We did have to put off the
discussion about sparkly blue high heels though J.
Andrew had to be at court in Clark County early Friday
morning, so I took the kids to school. Friday
was Homecoming so that afternoon we had the parade to go to. Only Jackson was in the parade this year with
the football team since Ellie didn’t do Rah Rah Rookies. My mom went with us to the parade so she came
to our house before we had to pick up the kids from school. It is always super busy picking up the kids
on Homecoming day so we tried to get there early. So we got Jackson and then Ellie and made our
way downtown with everyone else. We
found a nice shady spot and then the twins and I took Jackson down to where the
football team was meeting while my mom stayed with Ellie and Lincoln. The kids were getting a little bored waiting
for it to start but once the sirens started going off, it caught their
attention. The parade started with the
fire truck, police cars and ambulance so they just stared in amazement. The kids were excited about getting candy but
it took a while for there to be some people who were actually handing it
out. And when the twins finally got a
piece, they came back with a big smile to show me. It was a long parade since it is an election
year. But luckily the weather was nice
and we were in the shade.
After the parade we headed home and I finished up getting
stuff ready to have people over that night to roast hot dogs and s’mores. Again, the weather made for such a beautiful
night for it. There was great company
and the kids had a lot of fun playing together.
At one point the girls started doing some cheerleading builds. Leah used to coach the Truman cheerleaders so
she gave them some pointers and helped them out. Even Jackson tried to do it J.
Eventually it was time for everyone to head home. I cleaned up while Andrew did baths and then
it was time for us to get to bed. Lincoln
had a soccer game Saturday morning and I had a 5K at the same time. Thankfully they were right by each
other. The race was the same one I ran
for my first 5K a year ago. It starts at
the Primary School, goes on the walking trail and through the soccer fields at
the YMCA, so Andrew and the kids were able to see me through part of my run and
they were good cheerleaders J. Jackson stayed with Lincoln at his field
while Andrew, Ellie and the twins joined me at the starting line. The race went pretty well. It seemed like there weren’t as many people
as the year before and the competition wasn’t quite as stiff. I did improve my time. I was about a minute faster than the same race
last year and beat my “personal best” by about 10 seconds at 24:45. Not outstanding, but some little
improvement. I didn’t stick around the
awards ceremony but I guess I got second place in my age group, third for the
women overall and 12th overall including men. After I finished the race I grabbed a drink
and headed over to the soccer fields. I
got to cheer Andrea on as I was heading that way. But then Lincoln’s soccer game was wrapping
up just as I got there. They did it a
little quicker than usual. I guess they
had a good game though and Lincoln scored a goal so he was happy.
Andrew had to go hay after the game so we headed straight
home and he left for the ranch. The kids
played outside, we ate some lunch and then I put the twins down for a nap. It was a late night the night before and we
still had the football game to go to, so I didn’t want to risk them being too
cranky. I don’t know if it helped much
though. Jackson had his last football
game on Saturday afternoon. They
scheduled it to be before the 5th/6th grade game so if
the kids wanted to stay and watch them, they could. My parents and Molly came to the game so I
was able to go down on the field and try to grab a few pictures. It is hard to believe that next year Jackson
will be playing actual tackle football.
He is excited about it too.
Although he is excited about playing, he wasn’t too interested in
watching the older boys. Ellie really
wanted to stay and watch Faith cheer but the game was still 40 minutes away and
the twins weren’t the most cooperative.
So we made our way to my parents afterwards. My dad had finished our cubbies and was wanting
to know where the hooks went, so we went over that. We ended up ordering Mexican and got to hang
out with Lissy for a bit since she was in town.
Andrew actually got down earlier than I thought he would so he ate
dinner with us too. Then I dropped the
kids off at home (Ellie actually stayed at my parents house) and I met Heidi at
TCBY. She was in town and we had not
seen each other in quite a while. It was
great to get to talk with her since we have a hard time even calling each other
to talk for a bit. So we sat outside of
TCBY and talked from about 8:45 to midnight.
People were still stopping by at 11 and around 11:30 a guy came out to
clean off the table but told us it was fine if we stayed. But we eventually decided it was time to go.
Andrew went to the office Sunday morning and I slept in a
bit. Miles and Bennett came down a
little after seven and I knew we better get moving if we were going to make it
to early service. Then Andrew was late
plus he forgot to pick up Ellie so had to back track and get her. We made pretty good time though and got there
just a little after it started. Then I
went to the store afterwards while Jackson and Andrew mowed the yard. My mom texted me to let me know Jared was in
town and was coming over for lunch so I quickly put away the groceries and we
headed over to my parents. It had been
quite a while since we had seen Jared so it was good to visit with him
again. And since it was so nice, the
kids actually went swimming for a bit.
My dad had not heated the pool but he did have the solar cover on it to
try to warm it up a bit. Ellie was the first brave one to jump in with Lincoln
following. The swimming didn’t last too
long but it was fun for them to do it one more time. After Jared left my dad and Andrew packed up
the cubbies and we took them over to our house.
Once we got there and realized we forgot a few things, I ran out to pick
those up while my dad and Andrew got started on removing some trim pieces. And a couple of hours later, they had our
cubbies in place. I love them and am so
grateful to my dad for making them for us.
Next up are the desks and a couple shelves that run beside the
cubbies. And to top it off, my mom even
had dinner ready for us when we got back to their house.
After dinner Andrew headed back to the office and I
eventually made home with the kids to do baths and bedtime. I was anxious to get the cubbies organized
and was sad to discover that the baskets I had ordered were too big and it was
too late to return them. I ended up being able to sell them on swap
shop though. I think we are going to use
the shoe baskets we had from before and I had to order a few more. I did some touch up painting on Monday,
organized what I could and hung up the pictures Monday night. I love it!
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| The kids loved them! |
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| With the pictures hung. |
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