Lunch Date

This morning Ruthie went to the Child Development Center for a few hours, so at lunch time we texted Chet and asked him to meet the oldest three and me at McDonald's on base for lunch. (I REALLY need to go to the grocery store -- my plan for Thursday afternoon is now off the table, so no telling when it will happen...I'll let you know since you're probably on the edge of your seat to find out.)

I hope your lunchtime today was as fun (but more healthy than) as ours!

Birthday Nights

A friend/neighbor recently told me they let their children stay up 30 minutes later than their siblings each month when their birthday "day" rolls around. For us that means each month on the 5th Ford gets to stay up late, Ruthie the 6th, Lorelei the 17th, and Sydney the 27th of the month. 

When it's their day, they get to choose anything they want to do with just Chet and me (except watch TV or eat candy, ha!). 

We've been doing this since before Christmas, but we haven't made it a solid habit yet. Sydney is the only one who remembers to remind us when her day rolls around each month. The kids love it, and it helps us build into our schedule special one-on-one time with each child, which is so hard to do.

So, since it's the 27th, Sydney chose to learn how to use a knitting kit she received for her 7th birthday (NOT her 8th birthday...her 7th birthday...more than a year ago). Surprisingly (sarcasm alert!), there never seems to be an opportune time to sit down and learn how to knit, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Chet was putting Ruthie to bed when she and I started, so he wasn't there for the initial learning part. But after watching us for a little while he asked if he could have a turn. Which prompted me to ask Sydney, "Who's better at crafts: Daddy or me?" We assured her it wasn't a trick question (she looked a little nervous when I asked), and she answered: "Daddy."

She's right.

Which works great for me, because when they need clothes mended or a stuffed animal's leg sewn back onto it's body, Chet gets to do it!

Raining

Today it rained here in California's central valley (a fairly rare occurrence), so of course we had to pull out our umbrellas...and use them indoors.

(In case you're wondering what's in the middle of Ruthie's forehead, it's ottoman burn. Similar to rug burn, but from the ottoman in our living room, not from the carpeted floor.)

Wednesday v. Friday

Wednesday we did lots of things:

--Dropped Ruthie off at the Child Development Center at 9 a.m.
--Schooled Sydney and Lorelei at home, while Ford did a decent job of keeping himself busy in the midst
--Dropped Sydney of at PE, made a quick trip to the commissary for groceries with Lorelei and Ford
--Sped through the McDonald's drive thru for a medium Diet Coke before picking Sydney up from PE
--Unloaded the groceries at home before picking Ruthie up from the CDC at 2:30
--Dropped Lorelei off at art class at 3 p.m.
--Took Sydney, Ford, and Ruthie to story hour at the library a couple of blocks from Lorelei's art class

--Picked up Lorelei/dropped Sydney off at her art class at 3:45 p.m.
--Went back to the library and let the kids play in the children's area while I chatted with a friend
--Dealt with Ruthie's (loud) library meltdown
--Picked Sydney up at 5 p.m. from art class and headed west toward home, where we watched the sun set from the car
--We also may or may not have gone through the McD's drive thru for the second time for dinner

Today, Friday, I stayed in my pajamas until 5 p.m. and breathed nary a breath of fresh (freezing) air. It was glorious. It's nice to balance the busy days with calm days.

Happy weekend!

Winter Olympics

We haven't been constantly watching the Winter Olympics, but tonight after dinner we did turn on  the women's figure skating finals. I can't be alone in this: I get SO NERVOUS watching them (any any Olympic athlete/team, really) compete. It's like I'm their mother and I'll start crying for them if they mess up.

We don't have a DVR, so we can't record or pause any programs, so it's a bit like the olden days around here, with the parents and oldest kids borderline violently shushing the little ones because CAN'T YOU SEE THIS IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING?!

Anyway, it was fun to watch. I actually thought I might take up figure skating after finding out one of the Italians was 31-years old...

Shoe Hoarder

After Christmas break I started signing Ruthie up to spend a few hours Monday and Wednesday mornings at the Child Development Center on base. She absolutely loves it, and Sydney, Lorelei, Ford, and I have been enjoying Ruthie-free mornings at home while we do school.

Today she came home with this report:

In case you don't have your magnifying glass handy, it says "Ruthie is such a joy to have in class. We asked a peer where his shoes were and a couple of minutes later she had brought them to me! So smart!"

Well.

It may be less about being smart, and more about being a professional shoe hoarder.

I'll let the teachers think what they like though.

A Weekend Project

How was your Presidents Day weekend? We enjoyed Chet's extra time off, and even though we had  a few commitments we needed to fit in over the course of the holiday, Chet was also able to complete a garage shelf building project.

Saturday morning I went to a baby shower, then came home and went on a run (did I mention I'm training for a marathon? more on that another day...), so Chet held down the fort for the better part of the day. Our next-door-neighbors had a birthday in the afternoon, which lasted until the kids' bedtime, so it was an afternoon/evening of food and fellowship.

The next day, Sunday, we missed church, because 4-5 of us have been slightly under the weather for the past few days. Nothing too serious, but kind of lingering, and definitely something we don't want to pass on to anyone else. So we stayed home from church, Chet decided to tackle building garage shelves, and he and Sydney went to Home Depot for the supplies.

They ate at Five Guys (burgers) beforehand, which is probably why Syd looks a little sleepy in this picture, ha!

Chet went right to work when he got home, and finished the majority of the project by that evening. While he was building, I was puttering around the house, still in my pajamas, setting out our Easter decorations and washing the never-ending dishes (and keeping an eye on the kids, of course).

Monday morning Chet went right back to work on finishing the shelves and was done by 10 a.m. Now, to be clear, we already had garage shelves...but they were very eclectic. Too eclectic. All different sizes and shapes and materials, because we just acquired them as needed over the years, and they didn't work well together all lined up together on a single garage wall. The eclectic shelves had been bothering both of us for a few years, so it was nice to finally change them.

We also have an eclectic array of storage bins sitting on said eclectic shelves. In the past year or so, we settled on the exact plastic bin Chet and I both like, and if we need one we buy it. But I can't bring myself to get rid of perfectly good (older) storage bins just because don't match our new ones. So the garage doesn't look like it's out of a magazine, but what REAL garage does actually look like that? Anyway, since he was finished by 10 a.m., we decided to run to Target for a few more of our beloved storage bins (to hold some things we still had in cardboard boxes), and for a change of scenery.

We had another birthday party to attend at the park behind our house at 4 p.m., after which I went to the gym to run on the treadmill (because it turned COLD and WINDY midday yesterday, and why run outdoors in such weather if you don't have to?).

You're probably wondering where the finished garage shelving picture is...? I'm not going to share it yet. Mostly because it's 6:30 a.m. and freezing outside, and I don't wish to freeze this early in the day. I'll take one later, when it's slightly warmer and the lighting is better.

Oh, the shelves also have built-in bike/scooter parking. Fingers crossed this solves the problem of our garage constantly looking like the gathering place for a tiny biker gang.

The whole (garage organization) project is still a work in progress, but we feel really good about the progress made this weekend! And it's always nice to have accomplished something so visual, that you can smile lovingly at like a lunatic (am I the only one who does this?).

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Hooray for the (long) weekend!

Here's a typical scene at our house:

Lorelei (in a bike helmet) reading to Ford and our neighbor. Ruthie wearing dance clothes (again). A stripped down bed, because somehow it's sheet-changing day again. Sydney not pictured because she's out running the roads (I'm only kidding a little).

It's great fun living on a Navy base.

Happy weekend, my friends! I hope it's a long one for you, like it is for us!

Fancy Thursday

On Wednesday afternoons, Sydney and Lorelei take an art class in the next town. Lorelei's starts at 3 p.m., and Sydney's starts at 3:45 p.m. (it ends at 5 p.m.). While Lorelei is in class, Sydney, Ford, and I always walk over to the library a couple of blocks over, where I inevitably have books on hold I need to check out. Things get a little more tricky when Sydney is in class, because we have more time to kill (but not that much time), and everyone is starting to get hungry for dinner. Yesterday during Sydney's class we went to a nearby discount grocery store that I LOVE. I bought lots of fruit for the Valentine exchange we were doing the next morning (a Valentine exchange on February 15th -- don't these people know I'm OVER a holiday by the time it arrives, and definitely do not wish to drag it out one more day?!).

Anyway, Sydney, Lorelei, and I had also finished reading the book Wonder, and raced to the nearest Redbox earlier that afternoon to rent the movie. Chet and I decided that since it was Valentine's Day, we might as well get crazy and let the kids watch a movie beginning at 7 p.m. on a weeknight. It was fun...

...until the next morning when I was faced with the unwashed dinner dishes and a messy house. Because in order to have fun, sometimes you have to push pause on chores. I'm still glad we had a Wednesday night movie viewing, even if it meant feeling (and actually being) behind all day today. I finally got around to washing those dinner dishes around 4:30 p.m., and after dinner we put the kids to work tidying up the house. (The poor children thought we were doing something fun AGAIN tonight when I announced, "Guess what we're doing after dinner, kiddies!")

So I'm feeling a little exhausted right now (is there such thing as a little exhausted? hmm...), and am glad tomorrow is Friday, with a long weekend ahead of us (thank you, Presidents!).

I hope your Thursday was great, and that you're headed into Friday feeling as fancy as Ruthie was this past Saturday:

Her sisters dressed her (of course), I think the leotard is sized for a six-year old (somehow she made it work), and she wore it all the live long day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends!

Last year I took a "Galentine's Day" (February 13th) picture with Sydney, Lorelei, and Ruthie:

But this year? Nada. In fact, I had a really hard time finding ANY pictures. When did I stop taking pictures?! Is it because I'm with my kids most of the time, so I feel like I don't need to document their lives?! Yikes. Okay, so I'll just start taking pictures again. Today. As soon as they wake up. I promise.

I started decorating for Valentine's Day the instant Sydney's birthday was over (January 27th) (actually, a day or so before that if I'm being completely honest). I don't have a lot of holiday decorations in general, but I do like changing out framed pictures, and either framing or hanging (on our Ikea picture wire) seasonal artwork. Also, I helped Sydney and Lorelei make this little heart garland:

First thing tomorrow I'll rip down everything Valentine's and gleefully set out my springtime salt and pepper shakers and the kids' paintings of butterflies.

I normally have the kids decked out in seasonal clothing, but this year was an "off" year, because apparently all of our Valentine's clothes are size 3T, which no one wears right now. However, Ruthie wore this new outfit as often as it was clean:

This is the face Ruthie makes in all of her pictures now, because as soon as she sees me using the phone to take a picture she wants to see it. (Hmm, maybe that's why I don't take pictures anymore...)

I also went ahead and updated the kids' pictures on the sidebar, and the books I've recently read. Because no one wants to know about books I read LAST MARCH, and a picture of nearly 2-year old Ruthie is probably more interesting than 9-month old Ruthie (insert eye-roll emoji about my blog neglect).

That's it, friends. I hope you have a lovely February 14th!