A Quieter Week With a Busy Saturday

This past week was nice in that we didn’t have quite as much going on but we still kept busy. Ellie had her last tumbling class Monday night. She had a little accident though during the afternoon. She decided to try to use the pull up bar at Faith’s house and took a running jump at it and therefor it fell off the door frame and she fell flat on her back. So her last tumbling class was more just walking through all of her routines since her back was hurting. Jackson’s pull up bar did come in that evening and he was excited to get it all put together and try it out, along with Andrew and Ellie. He also finished up his Millennium Falcon the night before, which he proud of.

I spent most of my Tuesday morning looking at and getting samples of stuff for our remodel. I just had time to go home and change out the laundry before I had to pick up the twins. The weather has been nicer so that evening we spent some time outside.  Ellie decorated our driveway for us with her chalk art. She did my bike for me since we had been out riding around just a bit and she did a couple Cardinal tributes.

That evening Andrew decided they should weigh Buddy. He was giving Jackson a hard time because he was having trouble picking up Buddy to put him on the scale. So Andrew did it and had to do it twice because he didn’t think the weight was accurate, but it was-61 lbs. Jackson had taken him for a walk earlier and he took off and snapped the leash-I guess we found out why. I picked up a new leash when I went to the store and we had to move up to the large size.  Wednesday I dropped the kids off at school, started working on snacks for small group and then went out for a bike ride. I just did the 9 mile course for the TriFAHL that was coming up on Saturday. It wasn’t quite as fast as I was wanting it to be so I was hoping I would be a little quicker on race day. Then I had to quickly shower, get ready and go pick up the twins. Then when Jackson got home he put together their “pitching machine” they got for Christmas. The only problem was we didn’t have enough D batteries for it so they could only use the backstop.

The kids did take advantage of it that night during small group. Since it was so nice we just let them play outside instead of in the basement. We did have a few interruptions through the evening though as kids would plaster their faces on the back door to look in J. The twins were kind of dragging Thursday morning. They actually had not been feeling good off and on throughout the week but it was usually that they would be fine when they were doing something they wanted to do and would start feeling sick when it was something they didn’t want to do. So I decided to go ahead and take them to school and I went for a swim. Annie Hickman and Tiff Athon were there so I talked to them for a bit. Tiff let me share a lane with her since she was just walking and I noticed she had headphones in. She said they were connected to her phone through Bluetooth and she could also answer calls, like when she gets calls that her kids are sick at school. I said I’ve never had that problem before and wouldn’t you know I had a missed call from Faith Lutheran when I got back to the locker room. I also had a text from Andrew saying to call him first and that the twins were fine. I guess Miles and a dad collided and Miles hurt his finger and wrist. It was actually hard enough to knock the dad down. I guess Miles cried for quite a bit and they tried calling me. Since they couldn’t get a hold of me, they called Andrew. He asked them if they thought anything was broken, any bones sticking out? He also asked them if they thought he should come get him and the secretary said she thought he would be fine, so he said we would see them at 11. When I went to pick the twins up later, I noticed Miles right away, just standing by the gate all ready to go. I’m wondering if the teachers thought maybe I should have picked him up earlier, but they told Andrew he would be fine. His finger was a little swollen but not too bad. He did hold it all afternoon though. He fell asleep when we got home, so I just let them watch a movie and lay on the couch instead of taking naps. He favored for several days but my dad did look at it and thought it may just be sprained.

We had beautiful weather that last several days of the week so the kids spent a lot time outside. Lincoln and his friends have been spending a lot of time at their fort. At one point Lincoln came in to get snacks to take with him. We were out of granola bars and he didn’t like anything else we had so he just grabbed several pieces of bread and stuffed them in his backpack.  Tiffany sent this awesome photo of the boys. They were so proud of their flag too.

That evening Ellie and I went to her dance rehearsal. It was on a week day since the Daddy Daughter dance was Friday night. We were there until 10 and then had to take one of her friends home. And since I was resting up a bit for the triathlon on Saturday, I didn’t do a workout on Friday and got to sleep in a bit. Ellie was tired though. I got things ready for the race and for the recital while the twins played with all of their cars and with Buddy.

Andrew and Ellie decided not to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance again and opted to do a little hiking and then dinner out at the Lake. I guess Andrew mentioned something about rattle snacks though, so the hiking was cut short.  Ellie picked out her outfit and did her hair herself instead of getting all fancy J.

While they were gone we ended up going to my parents for dinner since Lissy was in town. On our way there we stopped at the TCC to pick up my race packet. I had hoped to get to bed early that night but it just didn’t happen. At least I didn’t have to go too far for the race. I went over around 7:15 and got my transition area set up before heading into the pool area. The numbers were down from a couple years ago so they had around 36 participants. I was third in the water for the swim and it went okay. My flip turns and getting under the lane lines weren’t the best but it was over quickly and I ran out do my family cheering me on to the transition area. Andrew brought all the kids except Jackson, who was at baseball practice. And my parents and Lissy were there. The transitions weren’t timed so I didn’t worry too much about them. I didn’t go as fast as I usually would but didn’t totally slack either. I was the third one out on the bike and soon passed one girl. About halfway through our first loop I noticed my front gear wasn’t in the big gear that I usually keep it in unless I have a hard hill, so I felt like I missed out on a little speed and quickly changed it. It was fun seeing my family cheering us on along the route. Andrew worked hard moving he and the kids from one spot to the next to get pictures.  On our second time going up the hills on Shepherd I was able to pass Danielle and came in first on the bike. I had messed up my Garmin so I didn’t have it to even tell me how fast I was going, but it felt good. Danielle got out ahead of me on the run but I wasn’t too concerned about that since I knew she was a much faster runner than I was. The run was just two miles but I was still tired. The girl behind me eventually passed me with about ¼ mile left in the run and I was third to cross the finish line. So at that point I thought that I had at least accomplished one of my goals which as to do better than last time. But since I messed up my Garmin, I didn’t know what my time was. We stuck around for a bit but then they said they wouldn’t be doing an award ceremony since they had one lady that had dropped a chain on her bike who still wanted to finish, so it was going to be a while. So I loaded up and went home. Overall it was a good race with great weather. There was a little bit of wind but it wasn’t too bad.

The few hours we had at home went quickly. One of Ellie’s old friends was back in town to celebrate her birthday so Ellie went to her house to play for a bit. But soon it was time to head out for Ellie’s first recital which was just for her private tumbling routine. Just as Ellie and I were leaving, I got an email with the results of the race and I was so surprised to learn that I got first place overall. I totally didn't expect that and it definitely wasn't a goal of mine so I was excited. And I think Andrew was even  more excited for me. The race organizer offered to bring by my medal the next day, which was very nice of her. 

So after I showed Andrew the email, Ellie and I went a little early to her recital while Andrew brought the boys a little closer to when Ellie danced. Ellie did a great job and is always fun to watch.

In between recitals, we had Andrew’s mom and my parents over to eat and just ordered Coltons. The kids got to play some more and then Ellie and I went back for the main recital. She didn’t perform until the second half but wanted to see the other dances, including Ashlyn’s. The recital had to be at The Crossing this year since Baldwin will be undergoing renovations. The parking lot was completely full when we got there and so was the auditorium. Ellie went up front and sat on the floor with some of her friends. I eventually sat on the floor too until some high school students came and sat their chairs right in front of me. So I just went out to the car for a while and then spent the rest of the time mainly hanging out in the lobby. My parents and Molly and Andrew and the boys came during intermission and we were able to get seats as things cleared out a bit. Ellie had four dances and she did a wonderful job. She was a bit flustered though because she forgot a few things here and there. She had the last dance of the night and by the time we got to it the twins were done and had fallen asleep. It had been a long day for them.

We were all tired and ready for bed but I ended up staying up until midnight getting pictures off of Lissy’s SD card and then Miles came into the room with a bloody nose around 3. It wasn’t too bad and we got everything taken care off and got him back to bed. Then I worked on cleaning up some of the stains on the carpet and eventually went back to sleep around 5. Andrew was up early and went for a bike ride and I spent a lot of the day trying to catch up on laundry and stuff around the house. It was another beautiful day and the kids enjoyed some time outside. They also went out to check on Andrew’s cows. That evening we went to my parents and had Mexican for dinner. My dad was wanting help getting the pool cover to the basement. Andrew took it down for him while my dad set up the pitching machine for the kids. After the kids played for a bit, Andrew took them home and I did some grocery shopping.