Staying Busy

Last week went along similar to the week before although the workers weren’t around as much. Jackson and Andrew had football for a couple hours Monday evening and I actually made dinner before they left.  I took Ellie and Lincoln to soccer and planned on running to Westlakes (second time for the day looking for screws to attach the toe kick to our dishwasher) but it started raining a little. They kept them practicing in the rain and we waited in for a bit before getting in the car. It looked like it was going to clear out though, so Leah said she would bring them home if I wanted to go run my errand. So the twins and I hit up Westakes and then I got a call from Annie saying they canceled the younger kids practice but the older kids just took a break and then went back to practice. Leah said she still had it all under control, so we headed home after the store. That night, Andrew let the kids stay up and played old music videos for them. Ellie has developed a liking for the Dixie Chicks, especially Goodbye Earl.

We had more rain the next morning and it was pouring as we headed out for school drop off. It slowed down a bit before anyone had to get out of the car though. I was surprised to see that one of the workers was there when I got home. He finished up what flooring he could and started working on the duct work for the popup ventI had planned on doing a bike/run brick workout that day but the rain forced me to do it inside. We were excited for the evening because we didn’t have anything going on. But then I got word that they carpet guy was going to come by in the evening to patch up our carpet. I had already planned on making dinner, so I cooked and we ate while he worked on our carpet. The open layout made things a bit awkward, but he was very nice.  And he did an amazing job with the carpet. You can’t really tell at all the areas he patched. The kids spent the evening outside playing on the LaBeth’s trampoline, riding bikes and eating freeze pops. When we got back inside Andrew had the vacuum out cleaning up the carpet mess. We got everything moved back to where I wanted it and it looked great.

Wednesday was a busy morning. I cleaned the bathrooms before taking the kids to school. Just as I was dropping off Lincoln, he showed me that he only had a sandwich in his lunch box (he is learning to pack his own lunch). Bad mom! After I dropped off the twins, I swam my laps and then went grocery shopping. I got the groceries put away, got ready and then picked up the twins from school. Then we went by the Primary and took Lincoln some more food. He was at recess, so we just put it in his lunch box and got to visit with his teacher a bit. She has loved having him in her class and said he has an engaging personality. We had an early dinner of pancakes, bacon and hashbrowns so that Andrew and Jackson could get to football practice. They talked about different plays during dinner (we had dinner at the new island J) and I think Andrew enjoyed that Jackson is understanding it all. After they left I found a trail of little black plastic pieces from Jackson’s football cleats all over the floor-yay turf. Later that evening, Ellie had soccer practice. Lincoln’s group had it too but they can choose to go to one or two practices a week and since he is also doing football, we decided sometimes we would just do one practice. While Ellie was at practice, we came home and tried to take Buddy on a walk but we weren't the most successful.

Thursday Andrew and I celebrated our 15^th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do anything for it since we have our trip coming up. I did give him some books for the trip. Thursday is turning out to be our crazy day. But first I started the morning with a hair appointment. Andrew came home during the afternoon to go for a ride and while he was gone I sold a chair on swap shop. I decided instead of asking him for help, I would just move it myself. I tipped it on its side so that I wouldn’t be running the legs along the floor. What I thought was a smart move wasn’t very smart at al. There was something sharp along the side of the chair that made several decent scratches in our new floor. I was so frustrated with myself, I actually started crying. Andrew could tell I had been crying when he got home from his ride. The twins were out playing and I was cleaning the garage so he offered to pick up Jackson from school.  After school, Lincoln got to go to his first Little K along with Ellie, so we just Jackson was the only one who needed to be picked up that day. And they surprised me with a Blizzard when they got home. I think it was my anniversary gift J. Then I ordered Andrew his own special pizza for dinner that night before he and Jackson went to football-a very romantic anniversary. So he and Jackson were at football from around 5:15-7:45 while I was in charge of getting the others where they needed to be-picking them up from K-Life at 5, then Lincoln to football and Ellie to dance at 5:15, pick up Lincoln at 6, Ellie at 6:15, home for a bit before going to the YMCA a little after 7 to find out the twins’ soccer coach. Matt is coaching them so they will definitely know some kids on their team. I was hoping they wouldn’t tell me that they had practice on Thursday, but they do. So we get to add another thing to the crazy evening. But then we were on to drop Ellie off for her last dance class at 7:30, take the kids home (they played on the LaBeths trampoline) until Andrew gets home and then go pick Ellie up at 8. Jackson has K-Life starting at 7, but they were too late getting out of football for him to go.

On Friday, Andrew, the twins and I headed to Columbia after we dropped the older ones off at school. We had an appointment to get our bikes worked on, so we dropped those off first and then went and picked up a Sam’s order. I made a couple other quick stops before we went for lunch at Olive Garden. Miles seemed to enjoy the spaghetti that came with their chicken strips.

After that we ran by Hobby Lobby to pick up a onsie for a friend that was needing one for her embroidery business. And while I was there, I noticed the Christmas paper was 40% off, so I got a cart and loaded up J. I even tried to text my mom to see if she wanted any but I guess she was too busy in Ireland. After that we picked up our bikes and got home just a little before the kids got home from school. I had already arranged for Tiffany and Leah to help pick them up which was good. That evening we went to Lincoln’s football game. It is hard to see all the action sometimes but I do think he got another touchdown. After the game, Jackson had his team pictures. It took a while for them to get them all done so Ellie entertained herself doing the long jump while Lincoln and the twins climbed all over the stadium.

Saturday morning, Andrew and I drove out to the lake with our bikes and then rode the NEMO bike route. It went pretty well and I was pleased with my time. Andrew was like my coach telling when I should get more aero, when to rest a bit, how to take a corner, etc J.  He went ahead and rode his bike on home while I drove home and stopped at my parents’ on the way to turn on the pool heaters and open the house up for everyone coming home that afternoon.  While he took the kids to the ranch for a bit, I went grocery shopping. Lincoln was excited that he got to drive the four wheeler a little bit by himself and he wanted Granny to send me a picture.

While I was out shopping, I got a text from Andrew that I may want to get some dog clippers because Buddy was covered in cockleburs. So Buddy got a lovely trim from Andrew when they got home.

Andy and his family and Kaitlin and her family got into town that afternoon. Kaitlin’s crew was coming over for dinner that evening, so I quickly prepped some stuff for that and then we met them at the pool for the kids to swim. It took them a little bit to warm up to it but then they swam quite a bit and had a lot of fun. Then we went home to get dinner ready and the Taylors came over. The younger kids had a lot of fun exploring all the toys in the playroom and came out with all the construction toys. Then they took a break while went out back and made s’mores. They explored the yard looking for bears and then finished up dressing up as superheroes.

My parents got home late Saturday night so we got to see them Sunday after church. Andy and Autumn had Finley’s party out by the pool that afternoon and it was a beautiful day for it. We hung out at my parents for most of the day and headed home after dinner. 

The next morning was Labor Day so the kids didn’t have school. I met up with a couple other girls and we did our last open water swim before the triathlon. Danielle and I swam together while Rebecca kayaked. Then we sent Danielle on her way since she had to get back to Jeff City and I kayaked while Rebecca swam. The water was a little cooler and choppy but it was still a good swim. After I got home, Andrew went for a bike ride while I got busy getting some things in order around the house. The kids were enjoying being lazy until I put them to work. But then they got to go to my parents and spend the afternoon swimming. Andrew got in with them for a bit and they had a lot of fun. And, of course, Buddy joined in on the fun too. Then we spent the evening outside after dinner with the kids playing with their friends. We headed in as it go dark, time to get ready for another week of school.