Only Two Days of School

This past week, the kids had more days off from school than going to school. They didn’t have school on Monday because it was President’s Day and then Tuesday was a teacher development day. The weather was warmer on Monday, so they got to play outside before we had to go to dentist appointments that afternoon. We did well with the first two as Jackson and Ellie came out with good reports. Then it was Lincoln’s turn and they wanted me to come back and give them approval for an extra x-ray to make sure his eye teeth were coming down. They thought he may need an ortho consult, but after looking at the x-ray, they decided to wait awhile and see how things go. The twins were last to go and Miles got to surprise me by finally pulling his front tooth that had been loose for quite a while. Then he also surprised me with 7 cavities! And Bennett had one to go with it. I said that Miles needs to start working there to pay off his bill.

We dropped Ellie off at basketball practice on our way home from the dentist and surprised her when she got home later with not having to go to dance that night and we were all going to see Peter Rabbit. The kids were very excited and Andrew joined us too. We were the only ones in the theater for a while, so the kids decided to spread out.

A few more people eventually joined us. The movie was cute and the kids really liked it. A fun moment was when the song 500 Miles came on. It was the main song for Benny & Joon, the movie Andrew saw on our first date almost 25 years ago. There we sat 25 years later with our five kids surrounding us 😊. Back home, the kids got to stay up a little bit since they didn’t have school the next day either. We had a pretty lazy day around home. Ellie was supposed to have a basketball game in Atlanta that night, but we had some icy weather move in, so it was canceled. Then it was back to school on Wednesday. It was dead week for track, so Jackson enjoyed some down time and spent some time with Wade and Zach at the K-Life house after school. And that night, I took Lincoln and the twins to basketball practice. Leah was there too, so we just visited while the boys practiced.

We got more ice overnight and I received a text around 5:30 that school was canceled. That meant that we would have to go the day after Easter. I didn’t really tell the kids, but most of them figured it out. Jackson did come running down in his underwear around 7:20 thinking he was late for school. He was happy to go back up to bed for a bit. Andrew did go to put hay out and said it was pretty slick and there were cars off the road. We had a busy day that suddenly became not busy. The kids were supposed to have Little K and Jackson small group but all K-Life events were canceled. Then Ellie was supposed to have her music program and a basketball game and those were both canceled. I was supposed to swim in the morning, but the pool was closed. So, I switched up my plan and did my long bike ride and short run-2hour 45 minute bike ride followed by a 15 minute run. I let Ellie make some sugar cookies and she let Miles and Bennett help her decorate them. It was a bit of a mess and although Ellie enjoyed doing all of the baking herself, she wasn’t sure if it was worth it with all of the cleanup 😊.

The kids went back for their second and last day of school for the week on Friday. I went to the pool after I got them dropped off and tried a baseline swim for the 1.2 miles I will have to do for the Half Ironman. Then it was off to do some grocery shopping, put it all away and then get on the treadmill for 45 minutes. After I got ready, I made some chocolate chip cookies and started spaghetti sauce for dinner. That afternoon, Lincoln was excited because Alex got to spend the rest of the day with us. His parents were both going to be out of town, so he hung out with us for the afternoon. They all went out back and played basketball for a while, then we ate dinner and I took Lincoln and Alex to the Methodist church for a kids’ night that Miguel had invited him to. When I got back, Andrew and the twins were heading out to go pick up some mineral.

When they got back, Ellie and the twins worked on a fort up in their room with hopes that all the boys, except Jackson, could sleep in it that night. But, it started caving in and Ellie told Miles it just wasn’t going to work. He was pretty sad about not getting to sleep in it. I picked up the boys at 8 and got them set up in the basement with a movie and they made their way upstairs when it was over. Miles fell asleep early though, complaining about his stomach hurting. I just thought he was sad because o the whole fort thing. I carried him upstairs and then he came back down around 1 letting me know that he had thrown up. I had him hang out in my bathroom while I went upstairs to see what I needed to clean up. Thankfully, it was all contained to his bedding and I just rolled it all up-all I could see at that point were the spaghetti noodles from dinner. I got Miles set up on our bathroom floor and he slept the rest of the night without any problems. He was ready to go the next morning and wanted to play in his basketball game. Plus, we had snacks for the team and he didn’t want to miss out on that. But we were unsure for a bit if they would actually have the game as it was icy outside. The games were still on though, but they weren’t quite prepared for us when we got there. The front sidewalk was still icy and Bennett fell on it. Then the courts weren’t ready, so the games were late starting. Miles sat out first and Bennett was pretty hesitant. But, by a few minutes into the game, he remembered how to play. They both did a great job and Miles scored a few more baskets this time. Bennett is usually the one to make the baskets, so he wasn’t quite sure what to think of Miles making more this time. And Lincoln was up next. He had a great game, but we did have to convince to pass off the ball to the kids who didn’t get the chance to have the ball as often.

I got my long run in when we got home and Andrew eventually made his way to the office with the boys. That afternoon, Ellie had a birthday party for a friend at Leisure World, which she was excited about. I finished up laundry and was thankful all of the spaghetti vomit came out of Miles’ bedding. We eventually made our way over to my parents where Lissy, Molly, Caroline and Emmie were waiting for us. It was nice to visit with all of them and my parents made a turkey and noodle dinner which was so delicious. The next morning, Andrew was up early and went out to the ranch to put out protein tubs and hay. Lissy came over to our house around 8 and brought Emmie with her and she watched the kids so that I could meet up with Andrew in Macon and we went to Rocheport for him to race in the Rocheport Roubaix. Emmie was so excited to see Buddy.

Andrew did this race a couple years ago, but he just did the 20 mile race this time. It was a beautiful day. We got there just in time for him to get registered, change and do a ride for just a couple minutes before heading to the start line. Once they were off, I made a quick trip over to Columbia to pick up a Sam’s order. That is all I did. Once I got it picked up, I saw where Andrew was already at mile 9 and I thought I just needed to head back to Rocheport because I wanted to see him come in. I had to wait about 15-20 minutes before I went to the finish line to see him come in. Although, he didn’t train as much as last time, he still did a great job. He was hurting though and said there were quite a few hills. And he was just ready to get changed and get back on the road. We decided we would try to eat at Cracker Barrell, but Andrew decided it looked too busy. So, we just drove through Taco Bell and headed back to Kirksville.

Lissy had taken the kids over to my parents by the time we got home, so I went over there while Andrew got busy cleaning his bike.  We hung out at my parents with everyone and had dinner before coming home to get ready for the next week. I knew my Monday was going to be pretty busy, so I ended up staying up later and cleaning bathrooms and finishing laundry. I was kind of defeated at the end though when I opened the dryer to find blue and black ink all over-on the clothes and on the dryer. I guess there had been a couple pens in Andrew's jeans. I cleaned out the dryer, but decided not to put the next load in there until I could clean it better the next day. I also decided to tackle the clothes the next day and just finished the bathrooms and went to bed.