The Week of Forts

So, this past Monday I got around to ordering our blog book for 2016, although it became two books since I had too many pictures. So, my goal is to shorten my posts and be pickier about my pictures, even though I want to include all of them. Sometimes I take pictures to remind what we were actually doing throughout the day. Earlier that morning, I helped out in Lincoln’s classroom and he had to make sure to give me a hug and kiss before I left. I also saw that his picture was up for when he got Kirk’s Kid in December, so I had to snap a photo.

The twins joined me at the dentist office to get a temporary crown recemented since it came off during the weekend.  Miles was sitting on one of the stools and got his feet tripped up in the cables from the equipment when he was trying to get off and fell. Thankfully, he was fine after we got his feet untangled. Then, of course, we had to go visit Papa and Molly and get some suckers. We had to make two trips to the bank, which is always a fun time. And I got to do my first real ride on our new trainer and Zwift. I chose the Pretzel route because I thought it sounded non-threatening for a first ride. I only had about 40 minutes before I needed to get off to get ready in time to pick up the kids from school. The program doesn’t give you any idea what the route is like. I started going and things were good, but then I started climbing and it just kept going. I got on my phone as I was riding and looked up the course and they said it was the most challenging course in Zwift and 44 miles long. I was only able to go 7 miles in 36 minutes and then I had to get moving. I could have gone longer, just didn’t have the time. It was tough though. Andrew tried it that night and agreed that it was a hard one. He went ten miles and was beat. We’ll both have to try it again. And Jackson had his first basketball practice at Mary Immaculate that night. I’m hoping they give him number 51 J.

Tuesday brought warmer temperatures and the snow all melted away. I had a hair appointment that took all of my morning. The twins put on their “ninja clothes” (all black) when they got home and filled up their backpacks again with light sabers and the sort. After school, Ellie and I made the last-minute decision for her to go to basketball practice at Mary Immaculate. It is the 5^th/6^th grade team, but they said she could join them for practice. They have enough for the actual team, but Brett (Sharon’s daughter and the coach) said she would be totally fine with Ellie practicing with them so she could get a little extra practice. Ellie was so nervous about it, but Kiersten made sure to say something to her about it, so I think that made Ellie a little more comfortable. And I think Ellie will like the group of girls. When she got home, she said she loved it. I let Sharon know and told her to tell Brett thank you and she said Brett said she really enjoyed having Ellie there and that she wished she could actually play in the games.

Right when Ellie got home, we left for my parents. They had pizza waiting for us when we got there, so I quickly ate and then went to the K-Life Board meeting while the kids stayed at my parents. Andrew was still prepping for his big trial, so he just stayed at the office. Things keep changing with the circumstances of the trial, so he is putting in a lot of hours. He had just gotten home a little before we did around 8:30. Wednesday morning brought a bit warmer temperatures again, so Andrew didn’t have to cut ice and was able to take Jackson to school. After I dropped the others off, I swam my laps, came home and finished cleaning the bathrooms I started before school and got a bike ride in. It was a much better course than the first one I tried. That afternoon, the twins worked on setting up some forts and playing with their toys that they drug upstairs.

Jackson had basketball that evening and I worked on setting up a new laptop we got since mine was starting the slow crash (it has been on its way for a while) but then I started having trouble with it and ended up taking it to our computer guy. He determined that I should return it and try again with a new one. I was so bummed, but got it all taken care of. Ellie was back at basketball practice after school. We dropped her off straight from school, went home and got dinner started, packed up some dinner for her and picked her up at 5 and took her straight to dance. She ate as much as she could in the car and then saved the rest to eat in between her classes. She again just wanted to stay in between classes, instead of coming home. It makes for a long day as she doesn’t get home until 8. The rest of us went to eat when I got back from dropping her off and realized all of our stools for the island were in the family room for forts. Later that evening, Jackson helped them make even a bigger fort and they were so excited about it.

Friday was when our Ice Storm Warning started. I loaded up on food the day before and hoped for the best. It was pretty cold again, so Andrew was out chopping ice and was also able to move his cows. He was feeling a little less burdened as the big trial he was prepping for for the next week was settled the day before. I tried a new course on Zwift and unexpectedly won a green jersey which means I won the sprint segment of the course. But there were only 19 females on the course at the time, so not much competition. It was just unexpected-I actually thought my avatar went missing and then realized that my jersey had changed to reflect the win. I had to send a picture of it to Andrew J.

After the bike, I did a run on the treadmill all the while the twins were building more forts. But after several fights, I made them take them down until after lunch. We had to run Lincoln his lunch box since he forgot it and then back home for our lunch. The twins actually fell asleep after lunch. They had been up later the night before and actually ended up sleeping in the family room, along with Lincoln. Andrew offered to pick up the kids and I got to work prepping our room and bathroom to repaint it and finished up with that later that night after dinner while Andrew rode the same ride I did earlier in the day.

The kids spent all afternoon/evening making another fort. This time it was upstairs in the big bedroom and they loved it. And we loved it because they only fought a few times during the evening. Each of them had their own “room” in it and they each had a light, some snacks and a book or their Kindle. Very creative!

Saturday was supposed to bring the big ice storm but there wasn’t much except for a little in the morning. Andrew went to the office first and let the kids sleep in a bit. I got up and got my morning activities done and then started the all-day painting marathon. Andrew came home from the office around 10 and he and the kids then headed out to the ranch. I painted and painted, took a break for the first coat to dry, ate some lunch, did some laundry and then started the second coat. Andrew came home around the time the I was almost done with the second coat in the bedroom and he offered to help. So he rolled the second coat in the bathroom for me and then I went around and did a second coat of the edges and we finished up with a second coat. I was so grateful my mom texted me earlier in the day to see if we wanted to come over for dinner that night, so I cleaned up and we headed that way. It was delicious and it is always nice to hang out with the family for a bit. I woke up feeling sore from the painting, which is kind of sad. We had a little more ice the next day but went to church anyways. We hadn’t been in a few weeks, so we really needed to go. That afternoon, Jackson had his hitting camp and Andrew went to the office after doing another Zwift ride. I finally got around to doing one too. We didn’t have much else going on during the day though, which was nice. I was starting on dinner after my ride when Andrew suggested we just eat the leftovers we still had from Friday night. That sounded good to me, so we had an easy dinner and then actually decided to watch Cast Away. We had talked about watching it before and since the kids didn’t have school the next day, we went for it.