Almost Done

Wow, this last week was a blur. I didn’t get anything written down during the week like I try to do so I remember it. We had our first full week of school and it went pretty well. We also added in soccer this past week for Ellie and Lincoln. We are doing club soccer and they had quite a turn out.

Next week we add in dance and then the twins’ soccer the week after that. Ellie has decided to not do her private tumbling class this year. It surprised me when she brought it up. She has loved gymnastics but she said her back hurts when she does it. I know she complained about it a bit last year but you never know if they are being truthful. We talked to her teacher about it a bit and she said she probably needs to do some exercises to strengthen her back muscles and she would help her do that if she wanted to continue. It was a hard decision with a lot of back and forth but she finally decided to not do it this year and maybe consider coming back next year. I hate for her to give it up, but I understand too. I also think she is excited about soccer this year and she was going to have to leave soccer practice early one day to get to tumbling on time.

The twins have been keeping busy inside and out. They get upset when their game time is over on their Kindles but quickly find other things to do. We have charged up their four wheelers and they enjoy getting to play on those again. I thought it would be good to do it while they are the only ones home. I also got the kayak out and let them play with it a bit.

With the new floor, the roller blades have been rediscovered.

And when I finally started cooking again, the twins brought up their grills and cooked quite a bit for me. I was stuffed :-)

I had a funny conversation with Miles about God. He told me that God died in the road and I told him that God died on the cross. He said he was on the cross, but then fell onto the road and a car ran over him. And he didn’t have the power to fly but He is invincible (invisible).

Tuesday night we went to the K-Life Kickoff barbecue. It was our first time going since it is only for middle school and high school kids. The board helped with some food and serving. I was happy to see a decent amount of boys from Jackson’s grade there and they had fun doing the slip-n-slide. I do hope they have a good group of boys that can do a 6^th grade small group.

And some big news (at least for Jackson). Before we went to the barbecue, we surprised Jackson with an early Christmas gift-a phone. Andrew got a new phone, so we gave Jackson Andrew’s old phone and got a new line for him. The phone was still in pretty good shape and Jackson already knew how to use it. Plus, if he breaks or loses it, it isn’t as big a deal as a brand new phone. We got him a new case to use with it and a list of rules. If he breaks any of the rules, we get the phone back. He was very excited and has done with the rules. He asks me before he downloads any new games or apps, keeps it plugged in downstairs at night and gave me his password so I can get into it. He loves some of the independence of it and will randomly text me.  He picks up Lincoln from school and they wait for me to come from getting Ellie and it is nice I can text him if the plans need to change because of weather, etc.

One day after school, I took the kids to the new playground at the Y. The twins had been before but the others hadn’t. Not many people were there when we got there, but it was soon packed. They had so much fun running around, chasing each other and playing though.

Wednesday night, Lincoln and Ellie had soccer practice and then Lincoln’s football practiced got rained out Thursday night but Jackson and Andrew still had theirs. Lincoln had his game on Friday, so he got to wear his game shirt to school. It was also hat day for his class so he represented well.

That evening Lincoln did a great job at his game. He even ran one in for a touchdown but I didn’t get any pictures of it. Molly came to watch him and then she joined us for dinner at La Fuente that night.

Our remodel has been moving along and I’m loving it. By the end of the week we had most of the flooring down, the ceiling resurfaced, the painting done, all but one light ready to go, most of the furniture moved back into place and our new couch arrived. All the trim still needs to go up, install the trim on the cabinets,  finishing the flooring, install the new window, put the door on the pantry and a few other random items. We have to wait on the trim to be finished being painted and for some extra flooring to come in so it may still be another week before everything but the counters are done. Those could still be another 2 weeks. The kids have loved the openness and it has leant itself well to dance parties.

Andrew took the kids out to the ranch Saturday morning so I got busy cleaning up everything-dusting it all over, sweeping the floors, mopping the floors, etc. Then I went for a bike ride and that afternoon I worked on putting everything into the island. It worked out wonderfully. I had planned to actually make dinner that night but it got too late after putting everything away that I just had Andrew pick up something on his way back from the office. Plus, I had quite the grocery shopping trip to do since we could finally start using our pantry. Lincoln got to go to Benson's birthday party at the Country Club on Sunday and it was a great hot day for it. Ellie also got to go to Baring Lake with Faith. They hung out with some of our family and even went to my great grandpa's old house and got to sit on the front porch. I told her that her papa spent a lot of time there. That night we actually did make dinner. We had the Vincents over and Andrew grilled hamburgers and hot dogs while I did sides and made Leah’s favorite peanut butter fudge cake. We ended the evening in the LaBeth’s back yard while the kids jumped on the trampoline. But soon it was time to get everyone in and ready for bed.