2014 - Week 33

Monday started off a little tough, saying goodbye to our friends from Indiana. Christian and Eliza were off bright and early, as he had to be to work on time. I slept in a tad, got the girls ready, and went in a little late so that I would have the chance to say goodbye. They weren’t quite ready to hit the road, so they finished getting ready and packed it up while we were off to school and work. Still so bummed our weekend with them is over so quickly. One good point in the day is that my mother in law had a much better day with Eliza this week, so that’s a plus. Hopefully she adjust quickly to all of the new caregivers. After work, our new chaos began….SOCCER! Olivia and Amelia are both playing this year (Pre-K and Kindergarten “leagues”), and for the next 3 weeks we have soccer FOUR days a week. Good Lord, we’re going to be mighty exhausted, that’s for sure. Tonight was Amelia’s first practice. For both of them, their teams are supposed to have 8 kids…the play 5 on 5 games, so they like to have a few extra to substitute in and give them little breaks. Tonight there were only 5 kids there, and two of them pretty much refused to do anything. It’s the first practice, so I’m trying not to get too pessimistic, but I’m hoping it’s not a sign of things to come. Amelia did pretty well with the actual soccer stuff (kicking the ball, running, etc.), but she was not the best listener, and often got off into her own little world, like usual. Again, hopefully that is not a sign of things to come. After soccer, we all rushed home for a quick dinner and to clean up before bed.

On Tuesday, I signed the girls up for the next session of swim classes. Apparently I’m just a glutton for punishment. Their next session will be on Sunday evenings, because they will have soccer games on Saturday mornings, but they only overlap for a couple weeks. It will again be pretty chaotic there for a while though. I left work a little early today because they were having an open house at daycare, so I wanted to make sure the girls could join the festivities for a while. They had some watermelon and juice to snack on, a few little carnival games for the kids to play, and a dunk tank. The kids have been voting for the last couple weeks on which teachers they wanted to put in the dunk tank, and the “top” 3 got the honors. It was pretty funny to watch all of the kids try so hard. Of course, all of the parents had to try too, and the kids just thought it was the best thing ever when the teachers would get dunked (of course, I got to put my softball skills to use and dunked Miss Crystal on the first throw!). After some playtime, we loaded up the van and were off to Olivia’s first night of soccer. Again, only 5 kids were at her practice. I don’t get it…why do people sign up for activities, and then not show up? Or only show up sometimes? Why even sign up? Hopefully it’s all just because it’s the end of the summer and people get busy fitting in last change summer activities, and things will get better by game time in a few weeks. Olivia did well, but she really didn’t have her listening ears on either. She was a little over-rambunctious, so we need to reel that in a little bit. Once home, the big girls were at each other’s throats ALL NIGHT LONG. They weren’t listening, they were fighting non-stop, talking back. Needless to say, it was a busy, stressful evening, and bedtime could NOT have come early enough.

Wednesday was my first official telework day. So, we were all up at our usual time, I showered to wake myself up, got the girls ready and dropped off at daycare, and made my way back home. Back into my PJ’s, fired up my laptop, and got to work. It was SO wonderful. I would seriously work from home every day if I could. I had my shows on in the background, plowed through a TON of work, used my break time to get some dishes done and do a few loads of laundry. I was up SUPER late folding clothes, since I really didn’t have time to do that, but it was worth it. When I finished work for the day, I was able to cook dinner – an ACTUAL meal, so it was ready when we got home. Seriously, PERFECTION! Finally, I was off to pick up the girls, and we made our way to Amelia’s last practice of the week. She was a little more loopy tonight than Monday, but we made it through. There were 6 kids tonight, so that was at least better. Hopefully she calms down pretty soon and starts cooperating more…though, she is only 4, so I guess it’s not super likely. LOL

Amelia wrote me a little note at school today!

Thursday was a pretty standard day. Work, school, daycare. Everything went pretty well, and Eliza had another pretty good week at daycare. Her napping is still pretty hit or miss…she’ll either cat nap all day, or take one nice long nap on the rare occasion. She has been eating well though and really seems to enjoy being there. After work, I picked them all up and we were off to Olivia’s last night of soccer for the week (YES, FINALLY a few days with a little less on our plate). She did much better tonight, listening and cooperating, so I think the initial excitement has worn off and she’ll do better now. She was also up to 6 kids tonight, so also promising. On our way to the field, Eliza went to the bathroom and we had a DISASTER! I mean, complete blow out. I pretty much missed the entire practice trying to get her cleaned up and changed. Ay, always something! Finally, we made our way home. I finally had time to put away all of the laundry from Wednesday…my in-laws sent home dinner for us, so that saved us some time (YAY!).

My Throwback photo this week was in honor of the state fair kicking off in ONE WEEK (I cannot wait!!) - Olivia and Amelia's first trips to the fair. Time for Eliza!

Olivia is a Pharaoh!

Friday was a pretty quiet day. It was my mom’s day to watch Eliza, so I was able to just leave her sleeping while I got ready, got the girls ready, and left for the day. This week Friday could definitely not have come soon enough…I ended my first real, full week of work, and between that and soccer, boy was I exhausted. I was looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend, that’s for sure. Eliza was a little difficult for my mom today…I think she may miss the activity and all of the chaos with all of the kids at daycare, or even just having her sisters around. After work I picked the big girls up, and we made our way home to relieve my mom. Christian had to work late, so we girls hung out and had a pretty quiet evening. I made quick run to Target once Christian was home, and Eliza was sleeping, but that’s about it.

This Face, to die for!

On Saturday, we had a pretty low-key, quiet morning around the house. The girls took a tad-early nap, while Christian and I watched a quick movie, then we all began getting ready for today’s event…my cousin, on my dad’s side of the family, was getting married today! We packed up our bag, got everybody dressed and ready to go, and made our way out to Stillwater for the day. The ceremony was pretty quick to the point, so we were in and out of the church pretty fast (and, we timed it pretty perfect to where Eliza got a bottle pretty much as soon as the ceremony started, so she never made a peep!). The reception wasn’t far from the church, but wasn’t scheduled to begin for an hour or so, so we joined my dad, stepmom and aunt at a bar down the street to pass some time. I wanted to take the girls down by the river and hang out for a while, but it was just too dang hot and humid out. Eventually we made our way to the reception…had some dinner, chatted with family, danced for a bit. The usual. Eliza started to have a little meltdown around 8:30 or so, so we had to call it a night and head home. The girls were EXHAUSTED, passed out pretty much immediately in the van, and went right to bed when we arrived home. Eliza and I weren’t far behind them…what a day!

Sunday was a busy day around the house. We were going to go to a little festival one of the local churches hosts every year, but there was rain in the forecast so we decided against it. Sure enough, DOWNPOUR right about the time the festival was supposed to begin. So, instead, it was chore day. I got the house picked up, washed dishes, got the girls closed ready for the week and washed a load of laundry. Whew! Christian did some work in the yard, and left for a bit to help out a friend. When they returned, they kept the big girls outside for most of the day, and out of my hair, so I was able to get a ton of work done around the house. It was a busy day, but it was nice to just be around the house, getting some things done. We did have a pretty exciting moment tonight, when Eliza rolled, tummy to back, for the first time! She proceeded to do it a few more times, so she proved it was not just a fluke, LOL. So exciting, but boy is is growing too fast!

(mid roll)

Until Next Week XOXO