Monday, July 28, 2014

July 22nd-28th


(7/22) Work day for Dad and me, and Sarah had the herd at my house.  They played lots of games and had a really smooth day.  We had a really nice evening too - very peaceful. 

The littles were taking selfies
(7/23) Well harrumph!  It is not supposed to pour when we have plans to go to the beach!  We were all bummed, but happily got all our stuff together to have a rainy day picnic at Nana's house!  We brought pot-luck items and I made the mistake of mentioning that there are usually brownies at Nana's, so Nana got conned into making them.  Sorry, not sorry, Nana!  The kiddos played lots of games and we stayed super late.  Came home, had dinner/baths/bedtime all squished in there and then collapsed.

Auntie Bridgette sent us tons of games
to play ~ thank you!!!
Backyard picnic fun
(7/24)  Work day for me and Dad had the kids.  Dad got everyone in the car and went off to the girls' visit, but missed the call that it was cancelled.  They attempted to reconvene at another spot to visit with our social worker, but that didn't pan out, so it was a lot of driving and traffic and hassle for a cone at McD's.  Big let down for the girls, again.  Everyone was pretty antsy by the time I got home, so it was a lot of finely managed chaos until bed. 

Deedles
Watching Star Wars.  The right way.
(7/25) Work day for Dad and me, and Sarah had the kiddos.  The middles were oh-so-grouchy today, which made for a fun day for all. Sarah said she kicked them all outside with orders to GO PLAY.  Harsh.  My book club was tonight, but after working all day and trying to figure out who was watching the kids, my brain fried and I decided to stay home.  Tonight was good, and was what we all needed. 

Beaver Pond @ Lord Hill
(7/26) I took the littles out to do some work in the yard and our social worker appeared.  He visited with us and caught up with the girls.  I'll restate the obvious and say foster care is hard.  Not just on the kiddos, but on all of us.  I kept working outside and eventually the middles wandered out to play too.  They requested a picnic.  I guess "breakfast sandboxes" weren't quite enough.  After our picnic, there was more play time and then it was time for nap for the littles.  I put them down and then came back out to do battle with the sticker bushes.  Our girl created a clubhouse in the back yard, complete with welcome mat, and C worked on his Legos.  Once the littles woke up, I decided we needed ice cream, so we piled in the car and went on a few errands and totally ate ice cream right before dinner.  Don't tell anyone. The on-again off-again slumber party appeared to be a go for the night, so the teen left after dinner for that.  I can't even pretend to keep up with that group. 

Selfies with Mom
(7/27) Today I took the middles out hiking with Sarah and family.  We stopped at Starbucks and then decided to congregate at Nana's after for an afternoon of lazing, tree-climbing and grass gathering. Dad took them out ice skating in the evening while I got the littles in the bath and caught up with the teen.


(7/28) Happy Monday!  Today is the only day I'll be working this week, and I have a lot of stuff planned for us.  Hoping for good weather and a lot of fun!

Monday, July 21, 2014

July 15th-21st


(7/15)  Work day for Dad and me, and Kathy had the kids.  She managed the chaos just fine, and the house was still standing again when I got back.  Yay!  Today was good all around, so yay for that too. 


(7/16) Work day for Dad, and I had the kiddos.  Our teenager had court in the morning, so Nanan came to fill in the gap between that and when Dad needed to leave.  After the twinsies went down, the teenager and I ran out for a b-day gift for our neighbor, and then I somehow wound up with 4 girls staying in a tent in my backyard. I made them all popcorn and sent them outside to watch movies and get out of my hair.  Worked for me! 


(7/17) Work day for me, and Dad had alllll the kiddos.  Dad took C & the twins out for wings when the girls had their visit and said the twins were super confused by their food.  I got leftovers from that, so I'm not complaining!  The girls got to go out for dinner with Dad after they came home and the boys and I shared some more "delicious."  So yeah, it was a healthy day of eating for sure. 


(7/18) I took today off because we are headed out camping!  We got loaded and sent Dad and the middles out with the camper and I brought the teenager and the twins after stopping for more books and coffee. We arrived around lunch and bummed around until everyone else came.  The middles played games, and we took them down to the river.  J got in a 10 minute car nap, but D was over tired and wired.  Between my run in the morning and following them around, I logged almost 12 miles.  They drove their trucks in the dirt, "went camping" (which meant visiting Sarah's site), and visited the potty no less than 5 billion times... because it is the best place ever?  After the sugar high from the s'mores mostly wore off, I put the littles down.  They talked forever, and D was still talking when we all climbed in bed at around 10pm. 


(7/19) After breakfast Sarah & I took all the older kiddos out on a hike to Boardman Lake.  It's about a mile out and was more climbing than I remembered.  Still a beautiful hike!  Two of our kiddos brilliantly decided to go swimming (and did not have a change of clothes, because it was a whopping 57° out!).  They got soaked and had to hike back soggy.  Dad managed to get the twins down while we were away, so when we returned Sarah & I got to visit, and the kids split off and played cards or along the river.  We had a group potluck tonight and everybody brought such good food (and drinks!).  Had a great night around the fire, and the twins even went down at a reasonable time so we were able to hang with the adults and enjoy ourselves. 


(7/20) Last day camping.  It poured during the night and woke J up, but he finally snuggled in with us and went back to sleep until 7:30a.  We had breakfast and broke camp and were home before lunch.  I couldn't justify putting clean clothes on the grubby boys, so they (and everyone else) got a bath immediately upon unloading the camper.  The twins went down for a nap, and after that we went for an early dinner at a buffet.  D kept stealing sweet things off the teenager's plate.   She didn't guard it well, and he's fast so scored on a number of occasions.  After dinner we dropped off Dad and our younger girl and went to terrorize the library.  We were definitely that family yesterday. The littles were being loud and had messy diapers, and didn't want to leave, and C was sulking because I didn't get him a library card and the teen got one and on and on.  We couldn't leave fast enough.  Took them home and I stated I was officially DONE for the evening. 


(7/21) Zzz... Happy Monday.  I am working today, and Dad has the kiddos, but I don't think there is anything that we have to do beyond that. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

July 8th-14th


(7/8) Tell me, how can my biggest boy be SEVEN? Didn't we just bring him home from the hospital? We love him so! Both Dad and I had to work today, and C had a pretty rough day. Being seven is hard work, after all. There was lots of drama on his part and he proclaimed it to be the worst birthday ever when I dared to suggest that he might try going outside and seeing if one of his friends would appear rather than wallowing around inside the house, claiming he had no friends, hated the outside, nobody ever-ever plays with him, and I was wrong-wrong-wrong! Tomorrow should be fun with this attitude....ahem. Coming back to reality is the pits, buddy, I know.


(7/9) C wanted a slumber party and to play video games all day. I told the girls they could each have one friend as well. So if anybody is counting, that's 4 boys, the twinsies, 2 eight-year old girls, and 2 teenagers. And Dad worked tonight so just read this as I'm insane. I made pizza, let them play video games, squirt guns, Legos, and Nerf. Pulled them in when it got too dark and put on a movie. The teenagers went out in the tent to watch movies and I put the younger girls upstairs. Our younger girl's friend decided she didn't feel well, so went home, and our girl came down to join the boys for the movie and camp-out in our living room. I was pretty much done when Dad appeared at 11:30p, and tried to go to sleep. That lasted until 1a when the teenagers got scared and came in. And then I heard the big boys awake at 5:30a and went up to growl at them, and grudgingly get up to go to work.
 

(7/10) I left Dad bright and early this morning with a large herd of children and cinnamon rolls. He hardly slept either, and we both spent the day in a fog. Our younger girl had a dentist appointment today, so Sarah graciously had the rest of my exhausted crew over. There was also neighborhood drama piled on top of drama today, which is always more fun when you're tired! We sent everyone to bed early at the conclusion of the day and said no more slumber parties EVER and crashed.


(7/11) I still feel like I was hit by a bus, but am feeling slightly better today. It was a work day for Dad & me, and Kathy had the kiddos. There were more drama and misunderstandings today, coupled with erratic emotions from the girls. On their behalf, let me just say GRRRRRRR. And insert mama bear here. Kathy said it was a good day other than that, which is the upside, I guess.


(7/12) IT'S HOT! The younger girl spent the day at a friend's (in her pool) and the older one decided on a lazy day, which I totally approved! C had swim lessons and then got invited to the park. He was anxious to get home because his package of Legos was due to arrive any second. Once it arrived he built and built and built. We have a ginormous tub of Legos on the landing and the twins walk by and grab handfuls, so there are Legos EVERYWHERE. J is getting quite good at assembling them. I'm really impressed! After dinner, since it at least a billion degrees inside, I told the kids we needed ice cream. We piled in the car and went to the store. The bigs ran off to try to find something to buy with a dollar, and the littles stayed in the cart with me. J is super sound sensitive, so covered his ears when the cart rattled on the cement on the way in. D was helpful and hollered, "JJ IS OKAY! JJ IS STILL OKAY!" Once inside the store, we cruised by the ice cream aisle and as soon as I put it in the cart, J says "Delicious!" He started to get upset when I went to put the 'delicious' on the belt, so I let him hold it until the very nice checker could scan it and let him have it back. The checker gave all the kids stickers, and I complimented them all for their behavior in the store! We got home, had our delicious, and had a relaxing evening.
  

(7/13) I had a race in Seattle this morning. I was supposed to do the half, but I haven't been training much as of late (sleep trumping the need to run) and didn't want to kill my foot... and there was the heat factor. I don't feel a bit bad about switching down to the 5k. Sarah ran hard and took second in her age group, and I didn't run hard, and turned in a pretty normal time. We had Starbucks, and chocolate, and spent a lovely morning in the sun at Gas Works. I had told Dad that if I was home in time I'd take the girls to church for the later service. The teen wasn't feeling so great, so we had bagged it the night before, but forgot to include him on our conversation (sorry, hon!). But the younger one was chomping at the bit to go outside. After I got home, the teenager decided she wants to sign up for a race. Think I'll grab the Couch to 5k for her and get us started! The rest of the day was spent doing normal Sunday chores (grocery shopping, napping, reading, etc.) It was still really hot, so we had more delicious after an equally delicious kabob dinner.
 

(7/14) And here we are at Monday again. It's a work day for me, and Dad has the kiddos. Might be another chill (er, not) day at our house.
 
The teenager is very in to Fruits Basket

Monday, July 7, 2014

July 1st-7th


(7/1) Work day for Dad and me, and Kathy had the herd.  The house was still standing and everyone survived - HOORAY!  And she said she'd come back.  So all good things.  LOL!   Our whirlwind evening blew by and it was bedtime before I knew it.  Whew!


(7/2) Poor Dad woke up feeling miserable.  Seriously, this stuff has got to GO.  I had court with the older girl and thankfully my mom had planned to be there to watch the kiddos while we were out.  Dad was able to rest, even with everyone clomping around above his head.  We brought him home some more ginger ale and Gatorade, and he gradually felt better as the day went on... but yuck.  The older girl and I snuck in a shopping trip and picked out some new things and I took the bigs to the bike shop to get the new-to-us bike's tires pumped up and ready for action.  The kiddos all played outside in the afternoon.  It was nice to have Dad home for the day, but we sure hope he feels better tomorrow!


(7/3) Work day for me and Dad had the kiddos.  C's last hockey practice is tonight, and Dad proposed taking all the bigs out to dinner to celebrate.  The only hitch in our giddy-up was a bummer of a visit for the girls, and the younger decided to hang with me. So we watched movies and stayed up late.  I'm glad we were both there to 'catch' them today. Sucks.


(7/4) We had the best 4th!  Kathy invited us to a barbecue at her place, and I was able to take the entire herd.  We had dinner, the kids frosted ice cream cones and decorated them in red, white and blue, and of course begged approximately every 2 seconds to light off more fireworks!  We didn't finish blowing up part of the neighborhood until past midnight.  D babbled the whole way home - "Bye stop sign!  Bye gas station!"  J does not care for loud noises so kept peeking at us through the screen, and D would holler "AGAIN!" after every pop.  Such opposites, those two! 


(7/5) Everyone slept late today.  My sis came for a visit at lunch and Nanan came to kidnap C for a few days.  He'll enjoy having some one on one attention, I'm sure.  My sis and I had a lovely visit and she got a chance to meet the girls.  She even got roped into playing Playdoh!  The kiddos were again out playing until dark.  We even had an extra girl over while her dad was off watching the Sounders lose (boo!).  I've met so many neighborhood kids and parents lately.  It's been a good thing!


(7/6) Woke up earlyish and took the girls to church.  I like going to the early service so we have the rest of the day.  The girls were out with friends pretty much all day today.  Love the summertime!  The younger one forgot to listen on her way out and missed check-in time, so lost outside privileges after dinner, which was very disappointing for her.  The older one tried her hand at ice skating, followed by ice cream.  She much preferred the latter. It was pretty warm today, so the littles played in the pool and had popsicles for snack.  And before we knew it, the day was over. 


(7/7)  Busy day.  Work day for me, and Dad has the kiddos and a repair appointment for our van.  Sure hope it's easily resolved - we need it!  C comes home too, somewhere in all of this.