Master procrastinator

This fake plant was displayed in my home in this exact condition for over a year. 

It has finally left my home. 

Sometimes I surprise even myself how long I can let things go. I'm making that my new goal to focus on for the rest of the year. Wish me luck. 

Baseball, Goodwill, and Home at 4:20

Tuesday

Today was good. I stayed up til 2am or so last night doing a million loads of laundry and dishes and then unloading the dishwasher and sweeping and cleaning the kitchen and just a bunch of things like that so I would be caught up in the morning and not feeling behind all day. It worked. Today was much better if a day than yesterday. 

I got Abigail to school on time and without any problems. Brady worked on a puzzle (somehow I've never taught him to do puzzles before now... Whoops) and hung out with Elizabeth while I did a few things. I played baseball with Brady and Elizabeth (he got her all dressed up when I was in my bathroom refilling the soap dispenser so when I got out and saw them, I about died) and pitched while Brady was up at bat and Elizabeth was the outfielder retrieving the ball. And then we took turns and Brady pitched while I batted. We all wore our Rockies gear (they wore jerseys and hats while I wore my Rockies shirt) and it was just awesome. 

After lunch, Elizabeth went down for nap by 12:30, Brady took forever to finish eating, and then he had quiet time from 1:45-3:15. This was the fort time I've had him so quiet time like that where he's been awake the whole time and it went pretty well. I spent my part of quiet time bring up the crap we've been collecting in our basement to donate. I took notes on my phone and got it loaded in my car. I got the kids loaded in the car around 3:30 and we had just the perfect amount of time to drop everything by goodwill and then get to Abigail's school by 3:55 for pickup. Jodi arrived right before we did so I had fun talking with her as we walked to get our girls. And I had fun visiting briefly with Abigail's teacher. I feel so much more connected to her day at school walking up to get her instead of just driving through the pickup line. It's nice to do while the weather is so pleasant. We got home by 4:10 and honey by 4:20!  It was such a wonderful surprise! Abigail did her things quickly and I was able to do some schoolwork with her and then the two of us read some of her new magic tree house book (that she got from the school library today) upstairs together while honey stayed downstairs with the other two. 

When we came down, honey and Brady were in the basement (meanwhile our play kitchen had fallen over onto Elizabeth... A dad's version of watching a baby is so much different than a mom's version. Ha!) as honey looked for more stuff to get rid of. So I got Elizabeth in her high chair with some food and had abigail sit at the table and read to her for 20 minutes while honey and I went through his bins of old shirts. He set aside almost every single one of them to donate! Woohoo! We also set aside some other stuff and eventually called it good with our successful time in the basement. 

We had frozen pizza (I'm loving the Kirkland brand cheese pizza... The sauce isn't spicy at all and the crust is really good) with steamed broccoli and cantaloupe. Honey took the kids up for bed, we all hung out while he read bedtime books, and Elizabeth kept her face slapping (no idea why, but when honey lays on the floor to read the kids books, she whacks his head pretty hard every 20 seconds or so... It's so strange and unrelated to her typical behavior) to a minimum. 

All the kids went to bed easily and honey and I watched some of the voice/Rockies game/who wants to be a millionaire and the pilot of the show this is us before I told him goodnight and got up to clean the kitchen. It made me happy to spend that time with him. It was just a great night together as a family. The atmosphere was happy and kinda different feeling than usual. For some reason, it just felt like a special night. I told honey he should come home at 4:20 every day from now on. 

I'm pretty sure he won't. But a girl can dream. 

Feeling so accomplished. 

He loves her so much. 

I wish I could have seen him dress her. He'd asked me if we could dress her up and I said yes but didn't think anything of it. He went and got his jersey, unbuttoned it all, put it on her arms and around her, rebut toned it all, and then put a hat on her. And she was thrilled. 

Smiling at brady wearing his own baseball getup. 

Then he spent the next 20 minutes trying to get her to keep her hat on. It was great. 

Sunday

My first Sunday back after missing two weeks in a row for Brady's hand foot and mouth! 

Last Sunday our new neighbors told us that they loved our family values and were looking for a church (they said they've been to church one time in the last ten years or so) and wanted to come to ours with us sometime. I dropped off the August friend magazine to them the following day. It sounded like they'd like to join us at church sometime in the next few months. So that's exciting. 

Abigail gave the talk in primary today. Honey wrote it for her and we practiced it last night. He texted it to me this morning since I would be the one helping her. 

So those two stories together, I kinda laughed when I saw these two texts next to each other after sacrament meeting ended this morning. 

Abigail did a great job giving her talk and did it totally by herself (although I stood with her to keep the phone screen from going black). I love that she can read. I can't believe how good she is considering a year ago she only knew maybe three letters and couldn't even tell you what sounds they made. 

Getting home, the kids did their things, I made them plates of food and then fed Elizabeth and put her down for nap. And then I went to my own room and fell asleep around 2:45 or so. Of course when I woke up at 4:15, they'd trashed the kitchen and I was instantly yelling and in a bad mood. Sooo, the rest of the day wasn't spectacular but, looking at the positives, the kids enjoyed playing together afternoon with no technology. Abigail's favorite thing is crafting. Always a big mess, but it entertains her for hours. 

Brady keeps wanting to wear his new football footie pjs but then gets sweaty and takes them off. On and off and on and off. This only reaffirms to me my good decision this summer to hide all footie pjs in the basement so the kids couldn't wear them. 

Elizabeth is so good at going up and down stairs. Super fast too except that she goes slower when she's not wearing a onesie. To avoid carpet burn on her bare belly. 

Brushing her teeth is her favorite and least favorite part of the day. 

It cracks me up every time. 

Somehow when I tell my honey, "and have Brady clean his room... But check it real well after to make sure he doesn't just throw everything in is closet," that never actually happens. In our household, the dad take shortcuts. We call it "efficiency" or something like that. 

How has it already been another well? Life is flying by and here we go again! 

Gymnastics, dugout, seafood, mini golf

Saturday morning I got the kids up early and we went to Thalia's gymnastics meet. All of those tiny little competing gymnasts. 

But Jamison and Julian were playing games on phones so of course Abigail and Brady were instantly more into that than the actual gymnastics meet. 

I made Abigail watch when it was Thalia's turn on something, but other than that, I think it was just me watching. Ha. We may not be going back for more meets...

Honey was anxious for us to get home so we could go ahead with the fun day he planned for us. First stop, the dugout store to use up an obscene amount of credit on Rockies gear. We get credit with the season tickets and have to spend it by the end of the season or it goes to waste. I got two pairs of pants, two pullovers, and a shirt. Abigail got a hat. Honey got a pullover that I actually love. Brady got two hats, a purple jersey, a t shirt, and a glove. Elizabeth got two more Rockies sippies. And honey also got more gloves or glider airplanes or things like that for his birthday gift stash. All of this is comical because we aren't really Rockies fans. Although our closest a would tell a different story. 

Then we hit up pappadeaux for lunch. We had a giftcard and the kids and I had never been. I'm hooked. It was delish and the environment and our servers were top notch. I wanted shrimp and catfish and the server had me order a platter and switched out the tilapia for catfish so I wouldn't have to choose one or the other. No where near as amazing as granny's or mom's catfish, but for a restaurant, it was good. We got the calamari for our appetize but next time I told honey I want to get the seafood mac and cheese appetizer. I told him next time he's taking me there for a date night. 

The kids loved it. They like the calamari and their shrimp and my catfish and Elizabeth enjoyed all of those things plus the tomatoes from honey's salad that he never got to. 

And then honey had a groupon so we went mini golfing. Ha. We live the high life with discounts. 

Initially, Brady was thrilled and Abigail was complaining that she doesn't like golf, but once we got there and started playing, they were both loving it. All four of us even got at least one hole in one. Although Abigail's hole in one came from hitting it half way there, and then Brady's shot hitting her ball perfectly that it miraculously rolled in the hole. So technically a hole in one for her even though her ball required two hits. Brady was pretty good. He's had quite a bit of golfing experience and practice. Abigail could never get how to hold her putter and then would get impatient and just swing it with one hand while her ball was still in motion from the previous hit. Like this...

Honey and I each tried to help her so many times but our efforts were in vain. Some people just don't care about learning proper technique. 

And we were all tired when we got home and just tried to hang in there til it was time to get baths and go to bed. Abigail did an awesome job practicing her talk a bunch of times. 

Brady would "call" me and I would use my phone and pretend to have a conversation with him. He thought it was amazing and honestly he was so insanely adorable. He didn't know when my phone was up to my ear that I was actually snapping photos of him. 

Literally giddy. Sometimes he's a punk, but most of the time he's great. And when he's cute, he is downright irresistible. 

Red party

I volunteered in Abigail's class for the fort time this year. I sat outside of their room and tested each kid on their list of sight words and wrote down their new list of ten sight words. I really liked it. Brady and Elizabeth liked going to Janel's house to play with Bodie and Sloane. 

Abigail's class had a red party to celebrate everyone being at red level or higher (I think it's some sort of good behavior thing where they get stars. I should know better because Abigail is SUPER into it). 

Abigail started this year still being too cool for school and saying she didn't actually like it. Then she liked it. Now she's to the point where she tells me "mom, sometimes when I'm not at school, I wish I was at school because I just love it so much because it's sooo fun!"  Ha. I'm excited for her enthusiasm (it's a dream come true for me because I always hated school) and trying not to be offended. ; ) 

I put Elizabeth down for nap by 1 and then worked on letters with Brady. But when he started being bratty, I sent him to his room... So of course he fell asleep. That was at 1:45 I think and Bodie and Sloane came over from 2:15-3:15. That was sort of sat that they came over and I didn't even have Brady awake to play with them. So I played hockey with them and hung out outside while they played too. Sadly, Brady woke up at 4 and his first sleepy words were "when is Bodie coming over?" I felt like the worst mother ever (I did half hearted try to wake him up earlier) when he cried and cried and cried that he'd missed it. Whoops. ; (

I made that chocolate turtle bundt cake for Shaylee's girls night. I was so proud of myself for thinking ahead and making the cake on Thursday and having it frosted by 5 on Friday. I am a completely different person than I was 10 years ago. 

It was a cool 68* but I told the kids id take them to the pool. It ended up being closed (they'd said it was supposed to stay open til the 18th!) so we went to the playground instead.

My husband is silly. 

I got back from Shaylee's around midnight and walked in to this. For maybe a month or so, Brady had been staying in his bed all night. He's totally regressed. So, we're working on that again. That kid. 

It was a busy and fun day. 

Ab

Have I mentioned yet that Brady has started calling Abigail "Ab"? Because it's the best thing ever. It almost made me cry with laughter the first few times I heard it. And after a week... Well, I still almost cry with laughter every time I hear it. I have no idea why on eats I think it is this hilarious, but it has brightened my life and I hope I never forget the time in history when Brady called her Ab. Also, it sounds similar to Brady saying "dad", so now Chris keeps answering or getting mixed up which only adds to the fun I feel in all of this. He also has made up at least 40 nick name combinations for Elizabeth and will occasionally call her Liz. Which is funny, but doesn't hold a candle to Ab. 

When Brady was whiny and complaining constantly with his hand foot and mouth, it was just so different because I didn't even want to be around him because then he just felt like he had to tell me constantly how crappy he felt. But Sunday he was feeling better and Monday was almost back to normal and Tuesday and today have been awesome. He's so cute and funny and hilarious. He's such an awesome kid. 

And he says "Ab" ... Which is my new favorite thing.

I love my kids and friends

Tuesday

How did she grow up so fast?!

Elizabeth is so good at stairs that it's starting to make me more nervous than before. 

Because she's getting comfortable with them and spends more time crawling around and playing on them and showing signs that she's going to start holding onto the rains and walking down. Which is a problem because she still doesn't walk yet. So she definitely doesn't have the skills for standing on stairs yet. 

These two are adorable. Always. 

Teething. Her left molars have mostly broken through. 

Putting on the socks grandpa gave him. Like a dad. Because they're socks like dad's. He was being so adorable and cute it literally made my eyes well up with tears. I'll spare you that picture. 

He got slippers for her so they could both wear some. 

He even gave her his shark slippers which are his favorites and he wore his cars slippers. 

We made banana muffins and then went to Sarah's at 11:15 so I could help her orahanize her pantry. I broke my own rule and completely forgot to take a before picture. The transformation was super satisfying though. I wish I could do my house as easily as I do other people's. It's so hard to do your own space. 

Honey was home and doing yard work when we got home before 3. I think he got omhime around 1 but I'd stayed at Sarah's forever hanging out because she made me a huge salad for lunch and it took forever for me to eat. 

We needed to use up the last of our nine chipotle freebie library coupons but I wasn't feeling well enough to go out. So I sent honey and the big kids to chipotle and had them bring me dinner in a bag. 

I keep telling the kids that it's too hot for winter pjs (I took them all away this summer for that very reason but recently bough new pjs for this winter and went ahead and put them in their drawers) but they don't listen. Brady for himself half naked before falling asleep. He looks like a cenautaur. 

I sent these pictures to Lisa for reasons j won't disclose here. I will say thought that I look like a man ever since I quit nursing. Ha. 

I'm not sure what honey was originally watching. But this made me laugh out loud when I came into the room and saw him passed out with this on the tv. 

Despite me feeling crappy, life is good. Very very good.