Monday it was back to school for the older three. I made
sure everyone was ready and then Andrew took them to school. I did a long bike
ride and then got ready for the day. The day went by quickly and I had hoped to
start some wrapping but that didn’t happen at all. Andrew came home soon after
I picked up the kids from school because Ellie and I had a special night. My
mom had given us both tickets to the Nutcracker in Columbia for our birthdays.
So my mom and Molly picked us up around 3:30 and we met Lissy, Sara and Bella
there. Our plan was to park in the parking garage across from the Tiger Hotel
downtown and then we could easily walk to where we were going to eat and then
the theater. It worked out great. We were able to get a parking spot on the
first level of the garage and Sara got there the same time we did. We ate at
Glenn’s Café which is attached to the hotel and that turned out great too. It
was a smaller restaurant and nice which was fun since the girls were all
dressed up. Our waiter was really nice and the food was good. Before we left
for the show we had to use the restroom. There was only one at the restaurant
so my mom, Sara and I found a really nice one at the hotel. And right outside
of it was the perfect tree to take some pictures by. Then it was off to the
theater. It wasn’t too cold so that made the walking to and from pretty
pleasant. It was a different Nutcracker than I have seen before-some parts were
missing and then they added in a few things that had us laughing. They had
these stuffed animal characters for each of the regional dances which were
pretty entertaining to us. After the show, we headed our separate ways. I drove
home for my mom and we got home a little after 11.
Morning came quickly since my alarm was set for 5:15 and
I didn’t go to bed until about 12:30. Plus I just wasn’t feeling well. I made
myself wake up though, do my bible study and do a quick bike ride. Ellie had a
little trouble waking up too. But it was worth it since we had such a good time
the night before. I got the kids dropped off at school and ran by Westlake to
pick up some hardware to fix a closet door and some Christmas lights. And
wouldn’t you know who was in the check-out line when I got up there, my dad. I
headed home knocked out some of my to-do list but I was just feeling worse. I
was so grateful that Andrew offered to pick up the twins from school. After
lunch they made quick business of making a mess in the family room, pulling out
all sorts of toys to play with.
I got a lot done earlier in the day that I thought about
wrapping when the twins went down for their nap, but that is about as far as
that went. I had probably 45 minutes left that I could wrap before picking up
the older kids from school and I ended up laying on the couch for a little bit.
I hardly ever do that but it felt good. Then I got the twins up and went to
pick up the older kids from school. Lincoln and I got his homework done when we
got home and then he was off to play. Jackson and the twins took Buddy out for
a little while and Ellie had to quickly do her homework before her I’m Third
call. Andrew came home early again since it was my turn to take to gymnastics.
It was kind of scary that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open on the
drive to Macon. I usually take my computer and work on stuff but forgot it this
time. I think it was totally God because instead of doing that, I got the girls
inside and then I went back out to the car and just laid down in the back and I
really think it helped. The girls only had one more lesson left, so I talked to
their instructors about the next session and they said they could move up to
level 3.
When we got home, Andrew had just taken Jackson to
basketball practice and the kids had done a good job of destroying the house.
There were toys, games and snacks everywhere. They had also brought Buddy in to
play for a while. Andrew picked up Jackson too since I wasn’t feeling well. He
took Ellie with him and I guess Jackson had a bit of a collision at the end of
practice. They do suicides at the end and him and another boy ran into each
other and hit heads. Jackson immediately got a bloody nose. He ended up being
okay, although Andrew had him stay up downstairs for a while that night. And I
guess Ellie got hit with a ball too. So Andrew took them to Dairy Queen to cure
the pain J.
When they got home, I ran over to my parents to have my dad look at my throat
but he said it looked fine. It was really sore and I thought I saw some spots
but they weren’t anything. Andrew had already put the twins down for bed when I
got back and had brought the bike into the family room and was riding out there
so that I could go to bed. I was grateful because I was ready to go to sleep.
And it was so hard to get up in the morning. I tried to do my bible study but
kept falling asleep. I finally got up and asked Andrew if he would mind taking
the kids to school. I gave up on the idea of going for a swim and put off
cleaning the bathrooms for a few hours. Andrew got the kids all ready and to
school and once I finally came out of the bedroom I was greeted with a
disaster. Since I wasn’t around to tell people to pick up their messes, no one
did. So I got to work cleaning up everything and got the bathrooms done. We
were having our small group Christmas dinner that night, so I had to get it
done. I picked up the twins and we just picked up some McDonalds for them. We
took Buddy out for a little bit when we got home and then ate lunch. After they
went down for a nap, I worked on cleaning a bit more and making a dessert for
that night. Then I worked on making the sandwiches and a cheese and sausage
platter when we got home from picking the kids up from school. I eventually got
everything done, took some more medicine and got ready for everyone to show up.
Everyone and their kids were able to make it to the
dinner except for Leslie. She was on a CCU rotation and had to stay late. We
just all sat around the table and visited and it was a nice, pretty relaxing
evening and a great way to get together before our break. I was exhausted by
the time it was done though. It wasn’t too much of a mess to clean up and the
bonus was that when I asked Jackson, Ellie and Lincoln to go downstairs and
clean up, Ellie said they had already done it.
The next morning I let myself sleep in a bit instead of
working out hoping that it would help me recover quicker. I woke up around 3
and my throat was very sore, so I took some more medicine and was up about an
hour before I got back to sleep. Thankfully no one else was feeling sick at
this point. Everyone got ready and we got out of the door to school. Then I
went grocery shopping and ran several errands before going home. When I went to
pick up the twins, they were playing outside. The temperature was in the mid
50s which would have been really nice except the wind was blowing like crazy.
Thankfully the wind calmed down later in the afternoon. Andrew was home when we
got home taking Buddy out. He has been working with him more with the wireless
fence and Buddy is getting better about it.
Buddy got to come inside and play with the twins while I got their lunch
ready and all was well until he peed a little on the carpet. While the twins
napped, I made another large batch of cookies to freeze for gifts later.
After we picked up the kids from school, Lincoln and I
worked on some homework before he went outside to play for a bit. Then it was
time to get ready for Lincoln’s basketball games he had in Edina. They ordered
very simple jerseys for the team and Ellie was jealous that Lincoln and Jackson
both had jerseys and she didn’t have one yet. The printing store messed up on
his name so I was just able to pick it up that morning and had him try it on
after school. It was pretty big so I
sewed up the shoulders as we were driving to Edina. He played two games and
they didn’t keep score. It was all just for fun which Lincoln had. They were an
entertaining group to watch. Lincoln was intense-well at least his facial
features and ninja moves were intense at times. We had about 1 ½ hours in
between games so Andrew ended up taking the other kids home and Lincoln and I
caught a ride home with my parents and Molly who came to watch Lincoln’s second
game. It was fun watching him play with Luke, Aven and Cohen. He made a basket
during the second game which he was pretty pumped about. Then after their
second game they all got medals which they were so proud of.
I didn’t sleep well at all Thursday night. I was starting
to feel bad again at the ball games but I felt worse when I woke up Friday
night and my throat felt swollen which was new. I had totally intended to
workout again but that didn’t happen. I slept in again and Andrew took the
older three to school. I kept busy throughout the day but moved at a slower
pace. I did turn on some shows for the twins and then they went down to the
playroom to play with their trains and trucks. They were getting so excited about
their birthday coming up on Sunday and since we had the chance of being in
Edina for Jackson’s ball tournament all day Saturday I went ahead and did some
decorating for the party. The twins loved it when they woke up from their naps.
Andrew had to take my car in the morning because his truck ended up with a flat
tire and he had a trial. So Molly was super nice and picked up a prescription
for me that my dad had called in since I had the swollen throat along with the
soreness, etc. I had some spaghetti sauce I had frozen earlier so I got that
out for our dinner. Thankfully we didn’t have anything going on that night, so
we had a low-key dinner and then I wrapped some presents while Andrew and the
kids watched some of the Christmas movies on ABC Family and played with Buddy.
Saturday morning Andrew went to the office before we had
to leave for Jackson’s ball game in Edina. He ended up taking Jackson early
while I brought everyone else later in time for the game. I got on the bike for
the first time in several days. I wore out easily but I was glad to be doing
something again. Jackson’s first game was at 11:45 and we got there just as
they were starting. They were looking a little slow and ended up getting beat.
We had 3 hours before his next game so Andrew took the other boys and headed
home so they could get some work done out at the ranch. Jackson, Ellie and I
grabbed some pizza at Caseys and then went back to watch some of the other
games. I brought my notepads so I was able to work on my shopping list and my
to-do list for the next day. A little before Jackson’s game started, my
parents, Lissy and Molly showed up. We found my parents’ class composite and my
parents looked through others talking about who everyone was.
Then it was time for Jackson’s game to start and it wasn’t
a good one for us. Jackson usually plays the 2nd and 4th
quarters because they do five in, five out. But he didn’t go in during the second
quarter and then he didn’t go in during the third quarter. By blood pressure
was rising and my heart was breaking as I sat there watching him sit on the
bench waiting for his coach to notice him and put him in. He never did get to
go in and me and my family were upset. I totally understand at the high school,
even junior high level that the kids that perform the best are going to get the
most playing time but this was fifth grade. And neither the boys (there was
another boy who didn’t get to go in at all and a couple others that got very
little playing time) nor the parents were made aware that things were going to
be different with this game. At one point, one of the coaches came over to the
Jackson and the other boy who were sitting towards the end of the bench and
motioned to them. I thought they were finally going in and they probably did
too, but nope, they were just told to move further down the bench. The head coach I guess was making all the
calls. He is a nice guy who is new to the head coaching position and I think he
was just hoping to get a win to extend their time in the tournament and didn’t
think about what those other boys were feeling. I grabbed Jackson off the court
quickly after the game and before I knew it, I was saying something to Joe
about how he didn’t get to play a second of that game and Joe said he didn’t
have a say in it. Then my dad came up behind me and started talking to Joe,
with a raised voice, and Jackson and I left. He looked totally defeated. I
guess Joe just walked away from my dad. But he actually stopped by my dad’s
house later and apologized for how he handled it. I felt bad that my family
drove to watch Jackson play and he didn’t even get in. Joe and I exchanged a few messages about the situation
and we are putting it behind us now. And after talking with Jackson, he is
determined to work harder and improve. We started the next day and I showed him
some ball handling drills that he is going to do every day.
Andrew and the boys got home just a little before we did.
He missed most of my texts I was sending him throughout the game. He talked to
Jackson a bit and then Lissy and Molly showed up to take them all to La Fuente.
Andrew and I discussed the situation while they were gone and then I got ready
to go to the store. Lissy took the kids to the store after dinner and let Miles
and Bennett pick out their birthday presents. They both came home with these
big ships that they were so excited about. They quickly got them out and played
with them the rest of the evening. Since Lissy was back with my car, I headed
out to do my grocery shopping and pick up cupcakes for the twins’ birthday
party. Then when I got home I worked on the chalkboard.
Andrew was still asleep when I got up the next morning.
He said it had been a rough night. I got a couple roasts going in the crock pot
for dinner that night and blew up balloons for the birthday. We had planned on
going to church and everyone was even ready but some things came up and we didn’t
make it. It rained all day but Jackson did run out to the storage box in the
backyard to get some basketballs. I showed him and Ellie the ball handling
drills I wanted him to work on. Then Andrew pulled my car out of the garage and
had him work on some dribbling. They worked for quite a while and I worked on
various things for the party, laundry and cleaning. The twins spent a lot of
the day playing with their new boats. Lincoln joined in with them and then
convinced me to let them take them in the bathtub after lunch. It kept them
entertained for some time but then we ended up with tears and a mess. I went
ahead and had them put on their pjs for the party that night because they were
going down for naps soon. Lincoln’s friends came over and they all played
together for a while but then someone accidentally dropped Ellie’s balance bean
on Miles’ hand and he ended up with a couple swollen and bruised fingers. Lissy
came by around that time to tell them Happy Birthday. She was going to stick
around for their party but decided to head home because she gets more accomplished
there. She brought them peanut butter cups that I put away for later because they
were going down for their naps.
Poor Buddy had a rough day. He threw up four times and
had just lost energy and any interest in eating. You could tell he didn’t feel
well. Andrew and Jackson kept watch over him though. I finished up decorating,
getting the cupcakes ready and finalized the food just as my parents and Molly
showed up. My mom helped with the last-minute stuff and dinner was ready.
Andrew’s family showed up soon after and we got the party started. It was much
more low-key than Ellie’s since the numbers were much lower. The twins didn’t
seem to notice though. We had dinner and then it was onto presents. I am always
overwhelmed with the presents since it is double the number. They really
enjoyed them though and took time to check most of them out before moving on.
We let them play with their new toys for a while. I was
working on getting stuff out of packaging and didn’t realize until later that
my parents and Molly had cleaned up the serving dishes from dinner which I
really appreciated. Next up was cupcakes and Luke led us in singing Happy
Birthday. I think he was very anxious for a cupcake. Soon after everyone started heading home. The
kids had school the next day so it couldn’t be a late night.
I started working on cleaning up and putting away
everything while Andrew went to check on Buddy. He was able to get him eat a
little from his hand but he still wasn’t feeling very well. We talked about
calling the vet the next day if he wasn’t any better. But then later that
night, after everything was cleaned up and put away I went out to check on him.
I opened up his crate and he got out and stretched. I knew that was a good sign
because Andrew said he wasn’t even stretching earlier. Then he actually started
eating some food out of his bowl. I went inside to get Andrew because I wasn’t
sure how much he should be eating because I was worried he would throw up.
Andrew was happy to see him feeling better and I’m sure he slept better knowing
that.
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