Hiking Along!

Hmm...

The kids got along pretty well today, they played outside and in and I was able to paint the ceiling of the baby's room and even get some crafting done. After dinner and a little more outside playtime Nora offered to read to the boys before bed. As it turns out, Otto managed to lose all of his nooks - which he needs to lose - but maybe not on a weekend I'm parenting solo. Anyway, I finally got him to sleep and am expecting a night of unrest because that's what happens when he can't find his nooks. Kyle comes home tomorrow night - can't get here soon enough.

Daring to Go Out

Today is officially the first day of spring break. Despite grocery shopping on Monday we were already low on a lot of stuff and knowing the kids are going to be home all day everyday for the next week I figured we should hit the store (and the sales) before the weekend. We weren't out quite as early as I would have liked, and when we pulled into the grocery store parking lot at 10:30am on Friday my jaw dropped. It was PACKED! We'd made it that far though, we weren't turning back now. In I went with all three kiddos and a list. Turns out our cart - when sticking to the typical weekly list and picking up some of the BOGOs, looks a lot like the carts of people who are panic shopping and hoarding. Good to know! At least I had the three kids with me so I didn't look crazy! After surviving the grocery store it was home to survive the rest of the day! Meanwhile...

Kyle is somewhere over the rainbow in Arizona with friends for a guy's/Sean's bachelor weekend. Cause you know, as the rest of the world is battening down to avoid Covid-19 they all decided to YOLO and keep their weekend plans. So, the kids and I are actively battening which looks a lot to me like refereeing! Oh, and about mid-afternoon this little gem rolled in from Nora's teacher...

I was waiting for it and there it is. An extra week of special time with my darling children! Who by the way are still battling bedtime, and are still awake! The excitement of what's ahead...if that's what we'd like to call it...is overwhelming! Oh goodness it's going to be a long weekend/week/weeks!

Just Keep Swimming

After a week of rough and very whiney mornings we have finally reached the last day! Now it's Spring Break - which will no doubt come with it's own challenges! I picked Lincoln up from school and we headed straight to the Y for his and Otto's swimming lessons. The boys were both super excited that they were swimming with Miss Hanna again. Otto went first and then cheered Lincoln on and sat really nicely playing and splishing on the wet step while it was Lincoln's turn. They both had fun and then of course went and traded in their wet towels for ones fresh out of the dryer in the laundry room. They checked on all the washers and dryers, and while they were bummed that everything was in mid cycle and they couldn't help unload/load, they did have fun watching all the stuffed animals from the kids area spinning around in the dryer. (They're pulling anything that isn't wipeable out of the kids area). On the way home Lincoln saw the Elementary school kids outside doing their "fun day" and he was soooo upset that he didn't have a fun day. So when Nora came home SO EXCITED to talk about said "fun day" we had to talk quietly about it as to not open that very loud wound again! Anyway, there were some cranky outbursts here and there during the afternoon but all and all the kids played hard and were all filthy and ready for showers and bed at a decent time. We'll see how late they'll sleep in on their first day of Spring Break tomorrow! I don't have high hopes! I do hope everyone is feeling healthy and not to stressed out about getting sick so far!!

Tools for Play!

Guess who has learned to play, and play, play, play!? These vehicles and little people get hours upon hours of use everyday. Otto plays with them by himself in the mornings and then he and Lincoln play with them for a lot of the afternoon. It's so fun to listen to the stories they come up with and play out. There are occasional fights but it's also been cool to see how they've both improved in solving their problems on their own with only the occasional shove, hit or bite these days. In addition to playing with the cars, today all three kids were out in the backyard digging in the dirt together unearthing who knows what. They're pretty convinced it's a dinosaur bone - I'm pretty convinced it's an irrigation line. Otto dug a nice size hole next to the shed and was hard at work moving earth from one place to the other. I broke up their construction convention to go to Nora's swimming lessons but they went right back to work when we got home. It was such a nice night that Nora decided we should eat outside so we had burgers and salad for our first patio dinner of the year. Tomorrow is the last day of school, then spring break 2020 is upon us!

Cover to Cover

We'll kick today off with a bit of trivia. What is the significance of this date?? Any guesses? Today was a new book day! The Amazon fairy was kind enough to leave me a new book - Untamed - while I was at Lincoln's & Otto's swimming lessons today, so of course as soon as I had the chance this afternoon I cracked the cover! Despite the very many interruptions I had - hearing about everything from art projects to Cort stealing things and everything in between I managed to make dinner and put a decent dent in it by the time Kyle got home. After dinner I picked up where I left off and finished strong just a bit ago. If you couldn't tell it was a quick read, but also thought provoking (notice a couple tiny dog-ears here and there)...my kinda book!

Water Closet

It is always something - and this time, it wasn't something Otto did! Although we did initially chalk it up to him yesterday. When a wet spot appeared in the doorway to the game room we immediately started asking Otto what he spilled. Turns out, today when I went to get something out of the closet and stepped on wet carpet and then went outside to see if water was coming through the back door but found it sandbagged I discovered the real problem. It was coming from inside the closet - the hurricane water! We had 5 jugs of water on a shelf in the closet and it turns out 3 of them had been leaking out of the bottom for who knows how long! The shelves were ruined, carpet so soaked it showed on the wood and had saturated the carpet on the ground outside. Sooo...the closet is now empty and all the wet stuff is set out to dry and the waters have all been removed from the house. In addition to a closet clean out the boys and I went to the grocery store today and this evening, Kyle took the kids to Nora's swimming lessons while I went to volunteering. To top off the day, Nora's dream of dinner at Olive Garden came true as Kyle took them all on the way home - brave brave guy! Spring break is coming in hot - I need to start planning what I'm going to do with them next week!

The Grass is Back!

We didn't fare too terribly from the time change today which is cause for celebration! We did have a relatively slow and chilly start to the day, but Nora was raring to go as usual - so she was ready at the griddle to make pancakes and then eat the majority of them. Once we got moving though, Kyle mowed the lawn at long last. Seriously, that task has been on the list for nearly 2.5 months now. No joke, we haven't mowed the lawn in FOREVER and while the grass wasn't long, the yard was covered in leaves so once the mowing was done it was amazingly refreshing! Like we got the yard back! The kids were also pretty excited to see the grass again. Despite the shift in time we managed to eat dinner, get kids ready for bed and down on new time! We'll see how the morning goes! The kids have a short week this week - and coincidentally so does Kyle...hmmm...