Let's Get This Party Started

Since New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday, Monday was officially a holiday and the office was closed. Andrew spent most of the day there though. It was supposed to be a little warmer, so I was hoping to get an outdoor ride in, but it stayed overcast, kind of foggy and misty all day. The kids did take some of their remote control vehicles outside though and tried to build a ramp with Ty to jump them on. Ellie figured out her Makey Makey and used Play Doh to turn it into a piano and she could play music with the Play Doh.

And Lincoln worked on a card for his kindergarten teacher who is battling cancer and had been the hospital with shingles and pneumonia.

I worked on some tax stuff for the office and also finished cleaning the laundry room and started working on the family room which included taking down the tree which ended up taking longer than I wanted. Some of the kids helped a little bit by helping taken down their ornaments but the problem was the lights. I had several strands go out during the Christmas season, so I wanted to get those off, kind of organize the mess of lights and put on a couple strands of new ones so that hopefully it will all be ready to go next year. Then Jackson and Ellie helped me pull the tree bag up over it, it got it all tightened up and Jackson helped me carry it down to the basement to store it away. Then I focused on cleaning the kitchen which was kind of hard to with some kiddos roller blading through it. I also got dinner into the oven and then got on the treadmill while it was cooking. Andrew got home around that time and brought work to do. While we were cleaning up from dinner that night, there was a knock at the door and it was a police officer. He said that there had been some boys that were going around taking stuff out of cars and he wanted to know if the toys in our yard (the remote control cars that the kids had played with earlier and I wasn’t aware they had not brought them in) were ours. They were just making sure they weren’t anything these kids had discarded.

Later that evening, I headed out to do some grocery shopping and dropped my dad’s extension pole off at their house. I asked the kids to wipe down the pantry and refrigerator shelves while I was gone and I was glad to see they did when I got back. Andrew was still going over some work when I got home but helped bring the groceries in. It was back to regular office hours for him the next day, while the kids had their last day of break. I got up a little earlier and went to the pool to swim some laps and since I wasn’t needing to rush too much with the pool closing, I decided to do a mile non-stop instead of the usual ¾ mile that I do and it went pretty well. Then it was back home to get the kids moving. The day before I contacted some people about going bowling later that afternoon. So with the promise of that, I sent the kids up to their rooms to clean. I figured they were getting old enough to really help with my purging/cleaning. We had gone through their dressers and closes not long ago, so I wasn’t too focused on those. I wanted them to dust everything-take everything off tables and dressers, beds, blinds, lights, fans, baseboards, etc. They did a decent job and the smell of Pledge was very prevalent upstairs. Then that afternoon we joined some friends at Leisure World. I’m glad some of us were there right when they opened, because it got pretty busy. There was a group that came in from Chariton Valley right after us that were wanting the lanes we were in, so we decided the adults wouldn’t bowl and we bunched up 13 kids in two lanes. It worked though and the kids had a good time. It was a fun way to end their break. And we totally forgot about getting a picture of all of them together.

We ended up being there longer than I had planned and then I remembered that Ellie had an extra dance class at 6 and it was 4:45 and I still had dinner to make. So, I got busy making taquitos when we got home and even got Andrew to help me roll them up when he got home. Then just a couple minutes before they were done, the power went out for no reason. I actually think it was out throughout all of Kirksville. I had just heated up some queso dip, so Ellie was able to eat that by flashlight. I kept the rest of dinner in the oven a little longer and then pulled it out and it was done. Ellie grabbed a taquito and just as we were getting ready to leave, the lights came back on. I dropped Ellie off at Pershing, where her practice was, and then went back home to eat and clean up. Andrew picked her up later and then it was time for everyone to start getting ready for heading back to school the next day. I got busy cleaning out the office and was able to get everything done before I went to bed that night.

Andrew was up early the next morning and off to Kansas City for a mediation meeting for one of his cases. So, that meant that we had to leave early to get Jackson to school, which wasn’t the easiest to do on the first day back. But we all made it just fine. Then I was off to a dentist appointment to remove a filling/cavity that went bad and get an impression for a crown. I left about an hour later with a very numb mouth/face. I went home and kept myself busy by finishing up in the kids’ rooms with the stuff they didn’t get done and was able to finish it after picking up the twins from school. The twins got construction worker outfits for Christmas and they have loved them. They decided to build Buddy a dog house this afternoon.

Then when we went to pick up the other kids, they were worn out.

I just ordered pizza for dinner that night since I wasn’t sure when Andrew would be back and I wanted to work on cleaning out the basement. But that never happened as I ended up vegging out with the kids and making sure baths/showers were done. Andrew got home around 9:30 and things went well with his case. But he did say the drive home wasn’t good because of the blowing snow. The kids were a little wound up when he got home, so it took a little bit for them to settle down and get to bed. And the snow day they hoped for the next day didn’t happen. I had some tired, grumpy kids. Andrew and Buddy went out to cut ice early in the morning and I get all the kids to school and started working on shoveling our driveway. I was almost done when Andrew got home and I asked him if he wanted to help me do our neighbor’s driveway (the couple with the accounting professor and the Asian lady). He said he would, but he had to get to the office because he had another hearing to prepare for. I went ahead and did it though. The snow was pretty light and we just had a few inches, so it wasn’t too bad. After I was done, I got a quick run in on the treadmill before picking up the twins. They put their construction worker gear on almost immediately after getting home and got to work. Since I didn’t get back to work on the basement the night before, I got back to it that afternoon. I got my “wrapping room” cleaned up and got Lincoln’s Legos set back up in there. I gave away our old TV we had in there-it was the first tv I ever got which was when I moved to Columbia and got my own apartment.

After picking up the kids, we went by Dairy Queen to celebrate their great report cards for the 2^nd quarter. Then it was back down to the basement and I started on the dreaded playroom until it was time to go to my parents for dinner. I was thankful they had dinner for us and the kids always love going over there. I also got to borrow my mom’s laminator and was able to make a few new labels for the playroom cubbies. On Friday we got the older kids to school and I guess the twins missed school and spent some time drawing all sort of pictures for me and taping them up throughout the house. I think they were playing some sort of version of school because they talked about the bell ringing and changing what they were doing each time the bell rang. The drew pictures of snowmen and self-portraits J. 

That afternoon, Gage spent most of the time at our house. He and Jackson were trying to figure out how to fix an old remote-control car he had. I realized that no one was going to be at his home until later that evening, so I asked if he wanted to join us for dinner and he did. I think he kind of enjoyed sitting down to dinner with our large, crazy family.

Friday, Andrew and I also got our new smart trainer and we started to set it up but had a few issues and decided to finish up the next day. But the next day I was not feeling good. I woke up exhausted and could hardly move without feeling so tired. I laid around most of the day and about the only activity I accomplished was laundry. Although I was able to get some stuff done on my computer while laying around. I backed up photos for the year, cleaned out old documents and photos I didn’t need on it and did my last photo book for last year. Andrew took the kids out to the ranch for a while and they got to go sledding. They had a great time but when they got home, they informed me that Miles got a bit of a shiner and boy, did he. I guess he ran into the trailer hook on Mary’s truck as he was finishing up a sledding ride. I am so, so thankful it wasn’t any worse than it ended up. He hit a little below his eye and his cheek started to swell up pretty quickly. I think it will take a while for it to go down. He has an abrasion and some lovely bruising, but has been handling it pretty well…unless he gets his in the face by a pillow by one of his loving brothers. But it didn’t keep him from being a ninja.

Andrew went to the office for the rest of the afternoon and picked up for McDonalds for the kids since I wasn’t up to cooking dinner. They were pretty excited. Sunday I still wasn’t feeling that great, so Andrew went out to cut ice and help his dad out instead of going to church. He took Lincoln along with him and they had a good time. It took me a while to get moving, but eventually did. I listened to our church’s live feed on the Bluetooth headphones Jackson got me, while I tried to pick up the mess that occurred while I was under the weather. The kids played with friends most of the day and Andrew worked again. Jackson had his first day of hitting camp at Truman. They just go for an hour on Sundays for 5 weeks and the players work with them on their hitting form. I worked with the trainer and tried a ride on it. Then I worked through it with Andrew. We have a few kinks to work out on it and it is kind of frustrating right now with all the time I spend trying to figure it out. I think it will be worth it in the end though. That night, Jackson went grocery shopping with me and helped me to get through it pretty quickly and then we went to my parents’ house so my dad could fill out a physical form for Jackson so he can play basketball. Back home, we got the groceries put away and got ready for a new week. I have enjoyed having free nights and weekends the last few weeks, but now things will start getting busier.