A Taste of Spring in February

The kids didn’t have school on Monday so they slept in a bit. I didn’t plan anything for the day partly because of laziness and partly because of a book I have been reading on entitlement within children. It reminded me that I don’t always have to have something fun planned for the kids or else they get to the point where they always expect it and are expecting more and more. We did pick out pictures and printed them off to make the My Monopoly board but didn’t get around to playing a game. And Jackson and Ellie ran on the treadmill-kind of prepping for the kids' triathlon in April :-).

That evening Andrew and I had another K-Life meeting. It was at a house just down the road from us so Molly came over to watch the kids instead of taking the kids to my parents. The meeting was to do Skype interviews with three potential hires for the women’s director. We had three great candidates but the process took much longer that what we thought. Molly ended up having to take Ellie to and from tumbling. She also gave the twins a bath and put Miles clean bedding back on his bed after he peed on them while napping.  We didn’t get home until about 9:40 so it was much later than I thought it would be. I was so grateful for Molly taking care of everything. I was surprised to get a text at 5:30 the next morning saying that there was no school. We were having some sleet and the roads were icy. The positive of it is that the kids got to bed late anyways so it was nice they could sleep in. The negative is that our only make up day besides going after the end of school was actually last Friday so we missed that one.  But Ellie and Jackson were excited that we did finally get that Monopoly game in.

But then our laid back day got busy. Another last-minute K-Life meeting was called so that we could interview a male candidate and decide which female we were going to invite to come do a visit. Our schedule kept changing. First we had two basketball practices and I was supposed to take Ellie and her friend to gymnastics. But then both basketball practices were canceled because school had been canceled. I checked with the other mom of the gymnastics carpool to see if she could possibly take. She wasn’t able to, but she said she was fine if they didn’t go. They really wanted all the board members at the meeting so I decided to stay home. I felt bad asking my parents to watch the kids because I hate to bother them so we thought we would just take the three youngest with us since others on the board said that would be fine. But then Jackson’s practice got rescheduled and we couldn’t figure out how to get him picked up. So at about 4:30 I called my mom to see if we could bring the kids over about an hour later and she was fine with it-so grateful. So I quickly made dinner and we all ate and cleaned up, rushed to my parents’ house to drop off the kids and then dropped Jackson off at the Y before heading to the meeting. Thankfully my dad was able to pick up Jackson because we didn’t get done until around 8:45 and we even left a little early. But the guy we interviewed was great. There was a lot of discussion which ended with discussion about the schedule for our female candidate, Laura, that we were hoping could make the trip up from Branson just a day later on Thursday. They actually called her that night and she said she could do it which was exciting.

So Laura got into town on Thursday in time to watch Little K after school. I was in charge of picking her up at the K-Life house after Little K and taking her to the Fogelsong’s house for a reception with the board. So last minute I decided I should make her a little welcome basket. I figured she was going to be shuffled all around the next couple of days without knowing anyone and it may be nice to have a few snacks in case she got hungry in the middle of all of it. So with about 45 minutes before I needed to pick Lincoln up from school, I quickly made some cookies and gathered a few snacks we had (goldfish, trail mix, peanut butter crackers and a granola bar) along with a small bottle of water and put it all in a little basket I already had with all of my party stuff.

We got to the K-Life house while Little K was still going on. All the excitement going on with club got Lincoln and the twins excited that they started chasing each other around and Miles ended up running straight into the corner of a table. I thought I saw a bump but he didn’t cry very long and wanted down, so I let him go. It wasn’t until after baths that night that I noticed it has been bleeding a bit under his hair. After we got that squared away I introduced myself and the kids to Laura, she got her stuff out of her car and we all loaded up. She seemed very at ease and easy to talk to as we made the quick trip over to the Fogelsongs. The kids were excited to finally get to go into the house the call the “castle”. They got to meet their parent and explore a little bit. Andrew met us there and we visited for a bit before I had to take Ellie to dance. After I dropped her off, I ran home and quickly started dinner. Andrew and the others came home a little later so we could all eat before I picked Ellie up and took her to basketball. Poor girl left for school at 7:30am and didn’t get home until 7:30pm. I brought her some dinner in a tupperware container to eat in between dance and basketball and she was so thankful.  And I was thankful that Lauren’s mom offered to bring her home from practice.

The temperatures rose into the mid 60s on Friday and although it was very windy, we did enjoy some time outside. I also cleaned the windows and left them open for the breeze to blow through the house. Andrew was in trial in Unionville all day but got home just in time to take Ellie out for one of their Daddy Daughter dinners that she loves to do. He picked up Mexican for Jackson and I and McDonalds for the other boys on his way home though, so he made sure we were taken care of.

Saturday was a beautiful day and such a blessing in the middle of February. I wish we could have enjoyed it a bit more but we had several basketball games. Andrew did get a bike ride in the morning. Then he took Jackson early to his game at the Middle School while I brought the rest of kids around game time at 9:15. They played Mary Immaculate and they weren’t able to pull ahead until the last several minutes. Ellie had a game at 10 and my parents offered to run her over so we could finish watching Jackson’s game then we made our way over to the Y to catch the rest of Ellie’s game. 

As we were getting ready to leave Ellie’s game and were talking to Andrew’s parents, Andrew mentioned that he thought Bennett may get sick and about that time he started to throw up. He had complained of his tummy hurting earlier during Jackson’s game but they were all kind of whining then so I didn’t take it too seriously. I went to get some towels and tell the staff what had happened so they could get more stuff to clean it up. When I got back Andrew had wiped some of it up with Bennett’s coat and then took him outside. So we all got home, got Bennett in the shower after he got sick one more time and then set him up on beach towels in our bathroom with his Kindle. 

I got lunch ready for the other kids and soon it was time to head to a couple more games. We had to change up our plans since Bennett got sick. Andrew ended up staying home with the twins and Ellie while I dropped Jackson off early for his game and then took Lincoln to the Y for his. Andrew’s parents and my parents came to the game so I left Lincoln with them and went back to watch Jackson since it was his last game of the season. Andrew hated to miss it so I was told to take video of him and I actually got some of him getting a pass on a fast break, going in for a layup, getting fouled and shooting a couple free throws. It was his first time at the line and you could tell he was nervous, plus they don’t really practice free throws at practice. His first one was so close, but bounced out. He had a great last game though and they won.  And my parents and Andrew’s parents were able to make it for the last half along with Lincoln. They said Lincoln had a great game-hustled on defense and made several baskets. I’m sure he had his intense face on.

Bennett was asleep when we got home and had not gotten sick again, so that was good. With the weather being so nice, I decided to take advantage of it and actually go for a ride outside. I know Andrew would have loved to go then but he was excited for me to go. He helped get my bike all ready to go while I got ready. I was actually nervous about the ride but knew I just needed to do it-especially since the conditions were ideal. For the first part of my ride I did the 9 mile route of the TriFAHL and was excited to see that my time was about 7 minutes faster than when I did the actual race a couple years ago. But I wanted to get more miles in so I headed out on Highway 3 and in the end I did a little over 21 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I had a quite the welcoming when I got home as Andrew and the kids met me down the road on their bikes. Andrew had put slightly wider tires (my Christmas present) on my bike earlier and I did feel like they made me more stable. He was worried about them slowing me down a bit but was impressed and very happy for me that my average speed was 18.2mph.  And I was glad I went ahead and did it because it made me feel less nervous about getting out on the road.

Andrew and the kids spent a lot of time outside playing while I was gone (except Bennett). Ellie spent a little time reading outside-she finally decided to read Harry Potter. Then she and Faith went to their old fort location and spent at least an hour exploring there. Andrew went to the office for a bit after I got home. While we were out for Lincoln and Jackson’s games, we ran by Hy-Vee and picked up some drinks for Bennett. I gave him some Sprite that he drank down quickly and he eventually ate a few bites of some crackers but you could tell he was already feeling better. I kept him quarantined in our bathroom for the rest of the day though. He was good as long as he had his Sprite and his Kindle. He would sleep a little off and on. Andrew grilled steaks that night for dinner which the kids were excited about. It was nice to sit down for dinner without being too rushed.  After cleanup, I did grocery shopping. That night I had Bennett sleep in my room but he must have slept too much during the day because it took him a while to settle down.

We didn’t go to church the next morning since Bennett had been sick so Andrew went out on another ride. Bennett seemed much better but then did complain of his stomach hurting a bit. Our church does a live stream of their service from Quincy so I pulled that up on my computer and Chromecasted it to our TV. Then we just worked on cleaning the house together. Andrew's ride was around 40 miles and he got home just in time for lunch. Then a while later, he and all the kids headed out to the ranch. I stayed home and finished up cleaning, doing laundry and some office work and then preparing a meal for the Cleaver family as Tab was recovering from surgery.  As I was driving out of the neighborhood, Andrew was heading back home so I stopped to tell him what I was doing and ended up with the three oldest getting in with me. Miles had fallen in some cow manure so he had to get cleaned up-lovely :-). We dropped off the food with the Cleavers and chatted for a bit and then headed to my parents for dinner. After dinner, Andrew took Jackson and Ellie home so they could give Buddy a bath after his ranch adventure.  Then the rest of us headed home, did baths and called it a night.