Monday was back to
reality for all of us. And what a harsh, harsh reality it was. I was instantly
reminded of how much I hate going to work and being there. 10 amazing days away
was not nearly enough. I pretty much need to forever be off. It made me oddly emotional.
It brought back all of those feelings of wanting to quit so badly, but not
being able to. Meanwhile, everybody was super excited for the girls to be back
to at daycare, so they were definitely missed. It was sweet to see all of the
little kids giving them hugs and happy to see them. I spent all day catching up
on e-mails and everything that was being processed and moved around last week
which I was out. I really didn’t even get to touch anything new. I don’t feel
like I’m making any progress in my workload over all, my inbox is always
overflowing and it’s so frustrating. It just adds to my stress. I did end up
leaving a little early to stop at the store…get the house back to a normal
level of groceries and all that, and finally picked the big girls up. Amelia
had a rough day…I think a week of no naps and all of the chaos just finally
caught up with her and she didn’t snap back into school-mode fast enough.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all. We stopped home, I changed
laundry loads, packed up some snacks and we were off to base/softball. It was
my last “real” game with Olivia, and she did a great job. She got a couple of
really great hits, she got thrown out once but took it like a champ, she has
gained a ton of courage and fielded quite a few balls – even throwing an out!
Honest to God, she almost caught a line drive and I couldn’t believe it! I’m so
proud of her and how far she came this season. Amelia has a few weeks left, so
we’ll see how she finishes off the season. After ball, we all met up back home
for a late dinner, some showers and bedtime. The big girls were late getting
top bed, Eliza had a rough night and wouldn’t go to sleep for anything, and
once I finally got to hit the hay, it took me FOREVER to pass out. I knew we
were going to be in for a rough start in the morning.
Here are the pictures Dawn took of the girls last week. LOVE!
Sure enough, as
predicted, Tuesday started off rough. The girls were not cooperating, and
Amelia threw the biggest fit about not getting to wear a dress. I seriously
thought I was going to lose it. This was only made worse by the fact that I had
to dress up today, so I wore a skirt, which was TOTALLY UNFAIR! I mean,
seriously. There’s something every morning. Some drama, some chaos, something
to make it miserable. Being that I had to dress up, I had to actually get
ready, which I just do not have time for. I finally dropped them off and hit
the road…but, with construction on 77 had traffic WAY backed up. So, I was
officially running WAY late. I settled into work, got a few things done, then
had to sit on an interview panel again today. This time we only had one
interview...and while I didn’t think they were horrible, the other panel
members weren’t comfortable with the person, so the position is going to be
posted again…and we’ll have to do interviews again. So ridiculous. The
position, in my opinion, is not really necessary. And, if anything, should be
filled by an entry level, motivated, “young” person (like, when I started!),
and they just don’t see that. I feel like I should just make all decisions, all
of the time. Outside of that, I barely made a dent in my inbox, shocker. I
picked the girls up and met a new infant room teacher…named Eliza! Isn’t that
crazy?! She thought it was pretty awesome to meet another Eliza, and I’m sure
my Eliza felt the same way J Once home, the big girls swam
for a little while, and we just had random leftovers for dinner. Eliza has been
so damn crabby in the evenings, I’m seriously at my wits end with it. She
doesn’t really play with toys, so she either wants to play with the girls, or
be held and tended to by us….which isn’t always possible. So, when the big
girls play outside, she just clings and nothing else will make her happy. To
top it off, Christian had to mow the lawn tonight, so I reached my frustration
level, pretty quickly. We finally got the big girls to bed, and after some
coaxing, I got Eliza to bed as well. Thankfully she’s still been sleeping well,
through the night, even though she’s been so miserable. Whew!
Our lilies are in and they're SO gorgeous!
Pink Day at School - we have that one covered!
Thursday was
another rough day. This week has certainly been a treat. I swear, Olivia is
already turning into a teenager. She goes from this sweet, cuddly adorable
little girl to an emotional basket case at the drop of a dime. Amelia didn’t
have any regular shorts left, so she had to wear her skort today. She was made
that she was wearing shorts today, so I convinced her it’s really a skirt…and
all was well. Then, Olivia was upset that Amelia got to wear a skirt, so I
tried explaining that it was not, it was really shorts, and she didn’t agree. I
dropped her off at daycare angry with the world, once I finally got her to
leave the house. After work we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things, and
I bought a new nail polish to do our nails. Which was apparently not the
correct color, so we battled over the fact that we were not buying the color
she wanted. I had agreed to let them each pick out a small toy, so we made our
way over, and they would not pick something out to save their lives. Olivia
finally settled on a set of Littlest Pet Shop animal. Amelia continued to pace
the aisle until I finally talked her into getting the same thing, a different
set. Olivia asked her to switch, Amelia agreed, then for whatever reason Olivia
wanted to switch back and Amelia said no. So Olivia threw the biggest tantrum and
they started fighting with eachother. At this point, I was just done. I took
both toys away, and refused to get them anything. Amelia accepted it pretty
quickly, but Olivia would not let it go. She continued her attitude, and I
warned her that I wasn’t going to do her nails if she kept it up. Which she did
(after telling me she didn’t care, she didn’t want to do her nails anyway). So,
after dinner, I did my nails and did Amelia’s nails…when, of course, Olivia
asked to do hers. I refused, and she again started throwing a fit and picking
fights with Amelia, so I finally sent her to bed. She stomped off to her room,
explaining that it had been the worst day ever, that I’m the worst Mom ever,
slammed her door and sat in her room yelling about it for at least 10 minutes.
Christian finally went in to put an end to the yelling and drama, and she
eventually fell asleep. Eliza and Amelia followed behind, and with all of the
frustration, Christian and I were bickering all night as well. I decided to
just cut it off, and go to bed early. I’m telling you, I’m not entirely
convinced that we’re going to survive their actual teenage years at this rate.
The only silver lining in the day is that it was super quiet at work, and I was
able to get a ton of stuff done. Still nowhere near catching up, but it’s
relieving to have a really productive day.
Friday, again, was
a wonderfully quiet day at work. It’s really supposed to be my Friday off, but
I traded for last week to save a day of vacation. I was really bummed, but
people were gone and nobody bothered me and I had another super productive day.
Even executing a contract, start to finish, in pretty much record time. Woot!!
After work, I picked Eliza up from my mom’s, the big girls up from daycare, and
we settled in at home. Christian brought home dinner, we ate, and I was off to
Target for a nice, long, peaceful shopping trip. I hate the thought of going to
Target late in the day, but it’s much quieter, I should do it more often. I’m
really in need for some new, basic clothing (weight issues, I can’t even talk
about it), but I just can’t find anything that I like. So hard! I did grab a
few long tank tops and a lightweight sweater…and some clearance shots. Woot!
The girls were all in bed when I got home, which was the best thing ever!
Before heading to bed, I went through the 24 month clothes that we have, so
that I could get an idea of what we’ll need for Eliza when she gets to that
point. It looks like we’ll really just basically need pajamas, which is great
news! We kept all of the girls clothes from about 24 months on (because, when
we found out I was pregnant with Eliza, that’s the size Amelia was
wearing….when she was 3 years old. LOL). Finally, I was off to bed. We had a
busy weekend ahead of us!
Saturday was a busy
day. Christian was off to work, bright and early. I threw in a load of laundry,
showered and started getting ready for the day. The girls and I had some
breakfast, and we were off to swim class. Amelia swam all by herself for the
first time. SO EXCITING!! She’s finally learning, and trying harder, instead of
just screwing around in the pool. She just may move up to the next level pretty
soon if she keeps it up! I think all of the time they’ve spent in the pool at
home is starting to help. After class, we stopped at Orange Julius…I shared my
birthday gift card with them and we got some smoothies – they were behaving so
well all morning, and are both doing so well at swim class, it was my little reward
for them. Eliza ended up getting a hold of Olivia’s and quickly drank as much
of it as she could, haha. We stopped home, I threw together a pasta salad, worked
on our giant mound of dishes, finished getting ready and packing up, and we
were off to Game Day. Game Day is our annual family reunion of sorts on my Dad’s
side…for as long as I can remember, we got together at my Grandparents’ house.
We have a croquet tournament, eat lots of bad food, order pizza for dinner, the
littles run around, and there are usually some other side games going on. With
my when my grandparents passed away, my cousin ended up buying their house, and
has continued to host the annual tradition. It’s very strange to be at their
house, without them there, but I’m really happy that we’re still getting
together. The girls had a blast playing and running around like crazy all day,
and we had a lot of fun catching up with the family. I have two cousins
expecting babies right now…one due October 1st, and one newly
pregnant, not due until January. Very exciting! Christian met us there after
work, thankfully much earlier than I expected, because I wasn’t sure how I
would keep an eye on the girls, especially Eliza, and play at the same time. I
ended up making it to the “winner’s game” of the tournament, but couldn’t quite
pull off the win. So close!!! After Game Day, we all made our way home…the
girls were all off to bed, Christian was out with his friend, Lorenzo, to
celebrate his birthday, and I settled in to watch some shows, edit some
pictures and RELAX! What a long, HOT day! The weather has been pretty great
this summer – I think we’re in for an ACTUAL summer this year, wowza!
Sunday was another busy
day. We were all up early…I thought for sure after our long day outside
yesterday the girls would sleep in! I got laundry going, worked on the
kitchen/dishes some more, and one by one, amidst making and eating breakfast, we
all got cleaned up and ready for the day. Today we were off to my father in-law’s
work party. We met my in-laws and our nieces there, at the Como Pavilion in St.
Paul, right near Como Zoo. It was actually a really fun, awesome day. It was
hot again (maybe a little too hot), they had a huge bounce house, carnival
games, lots of goodies and prizes and fun for the kids, free food, drinks and
dessert. Just a TON of stuff to do and a lot of fun, free things for the kids. On
top of that, all of the kids got free unlimited ride wristbands for Como Town.
So, after eating, playing and the official program, we were all off to go on
rides with the kids. Because we actually had some older kids with us, Olivia
got to go on a new ride this year – the tilt-a-whirl. Oh my gosh, she LOVED it,
and immediately wanted to go on it again. She also was able to drive the bumper
car on her own. Growing up!! Amelia, of course, was so angry that she couldn’t
go on some of the rides, but luckily our youngest niece was there to hang out
with her when they had to sit out. My in-laws and our nieces left, Christian
took Eliza to get the can and relax (and get out of the heat), while I took the
big girls to the splash pad to end the day. It was starting to get dark, and
rain was heading our way, so we hopped in as fast as we could so they could get
some water time in. As soon as it started raining, we booked it to the exit,
hopped in the van and were on our way home. A big storm rolled in while we were
on our way home…should bring in a little bit of a cool down anyway. Once home,
finally, we had dinner, I folded laundry and before we knew it, it was time for
baths and bed. I was sore and exhausted and SO ready to just pass out. What a
fun, busy weekend!
Until Next Week! XOXO
