Memorial Day

Monday was memorial day. I spent the morning making salsa and cookies but overall it was a pretty chill day. That evening we hosted a few families at our beach- the Mays, Bloomfields, Eakins and Orrs (and Lucy's friend Mila came). Ben had to work and was really bummed that he could not make it. Steven actually came and stayed the whole time- it was nice to see him out in the wild. Tyler had thought the ramada at our beach was already reserved for that evening so I was a little anxious that there wouldn't be a place for all  of us if there was already a party going on at the beach but it turned out he was wrong. We were able to use the ramada after all and we only saw a few other people there while we were there. It ended up being perfect beach weather and just a really nice evening. The girls were nice and went out in the water with Ruby for a bit and then Melissa was nice and pulled Ruby on our kayak in the water for a bit. I was grateful I didn't have to get into the water with her. Penny spent her time with Brooklyn mostly swinging on the swings and chatting. Lucy went paddle boarding with Linda and Mila. They were out for ages. I was glad to see everyone having a nice time together and I was happy to be able to just sit and chill with the adults.

Tuesday and Wednesday morning I helped Lucy with that last of her math lessons (Penny had already finished up her work last week). I am happy to say that we are done homeschooling. In previous years I would have made the girls go back and redo quizzes with low scores or submit anything that is missing but they are both passing all their classes with A's and B's so I am going to call it good. It is such a relief to not have to fight over school work any more or to have to try and do school work with a attention loving toddler.

Tuesday evening I hosted book club. We had a very eclectic group- Sandra, Becky, Nahoko, Cherish, Carli, Grace, Marlene and me. First we all sat down and ate some food- pizza, fruit and chips. Then I read out the descriptions of the "mystery reads" everyone had brought. I had everyone draw numbers and then we went in order picking which mystery read we wanted to take home. Sandra got mine ("project hail mary") and I was pretty sure she wouldn't love it. 2 days later she confirmed that with a text saying that "it was interesting" and she said that she would be happy to give it back to me if I wanted it. Oh well. After selecting our books, I asked some book themed get to know you sort of questions and then we picked out our read for next month. It was an interesting mesh of people and I will be interested to see who comes next month and how the discussion goes. I am glad people showed and it wasn't just me.

Wednesday evening we had 4 different places to be. Penny had soccer practice. Ben had a soccer game. Lucy had young women's at the church and Steven had gardening at a members home. I am grateful my mom and dad were willing to help. They took Penny to soccer practice in Milford. Tyler took Ben to his game. Steven drove himself to his activity and Ruby and I got to hang out at the church with Lucy. I wish I could have hid in the car during the activity. I wasn't feeling particulary social, but I couldn't just sit in the car with Ruby so we went and sat with the young women. They were doing lawn games outside. I ended up having to bring toys from the nursery outside for Ruby because she was bored and just getting into trouble. I was glad when the night was over.

Thursday we had preschool coop in the morning. It was at Sam's house and I was very impressed. Sam was really good at leading all sorts of activities. We did circle time, read a book about ice cream, made ice cream, pretended to sell ice cream, counted dots on ice cream cones and matched them to their numbers, and did a baking soda and vinegar science experiment. She was hard core. Ruby still doesn't participate in the activities much but she is fighting over toys less with the other kids so that is nice. 

After preschool coop Penny Ruby and I went for a walk at proud lake with Amelia and Kara. It was nice to shake it up to walk somewhere else and we have had such nice weather. Kara was nice and asked Penny questions about her summer plans and helped her feel included. It was a good walk. The only hiccup was that I went down the wrong path at the end. I felt so silly because I have been on that walk a thousand times and somehow I got lost with her. We didn't get super lost because I checked Google maps and saw that the path we were on would still get us back to our cars- it was just a bit longer of a journey.

Thursday evening Lucy and Penny had a birthday party to attend so Ruby and I went on a walk with Grandma. We have seriously had such lovely weather this past week. 

Friday morning Lucy mowed the lawn while Ruby, my mom and me went to Scarlet's Park. After the park, me and all my girls met Julie and a bunch of her homeschool friends at our beach. Julie had implied that there would only be a couple other families but there were like 5 other families. I didn't love that. I ended up sitting on the beach with Penny and helping her make a sand castle village. Another mom ended up sitting down nearby so I struck up a conversation with her and it ended up being a decent time. Ruby mostly stayed near the shore playing with Asher and Addie and that was really nice. At one point they were shaking their bums at each other and giggling. They are silly. It was a good beach day.

Friday night Ruby had went upstairs and when I went to check on her, I could not find her anywhere. I thought maybe she had snuck downstairs. I shouted "Ruby where are you?" and then I hear her say "I'm hiding! Don't find me!" Now I was sure she was upstairs but she was in a good hiding spot. I eventually found her in a bin in the boys closet. Later she got into her sisters make up. She is a lot of trouble,

Late Friday evening Tyler's parents arrived for Steven's graduation. Saturday morning I went on a walk with Grams Hatch and Ruby (Tyler and Poppy Hatch had headed off to Ben's soccer game). It was nice to chat with Grams Hatch and learn that latest going ons with Tyler's siblings. I never hear anything from anyone. After the walk, Grams Hatch, me, Lucy, Ruby, and Poppy Brady went to Penny's soccer game. They were playing against the team that Julie's triplets were on. I was boasting that Penny's team never loses so of course they lost this time. It was a bummer. We sat by Julie so Ruby had a blast with Asher. They were double trouble. Near the end they ran up the hill and when we went to get them, they ran down and straight onto the soccer field. They were lucky that the teams were playing on the opposite side of the field. Poor Julie and I looked so silly chasing after our toddlers onto the field.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. The only other thing we did was go out to dinner at Kickstand Brewing Company. Ruby sat between Steven and Lucy and was actually pretty well behaved. The food there was delicious as always

Senior Clap Out

Sunday evening I decided to clean. It had been awhile since I had done an evening cleaning and I forgot how nice it can be. It means the kids are less in my way and it just is less stressful. The con is that it robs me of a lazy Sunday night. But there are pros and cons to everything.

Homeschool this week was rough. Too many feelings with math. Sometimes I worry that homeschooling is just going to create resentment from all of us. After we finished homeschool Monday, we went to Costco with Grams and Poppy. The kids love it when we get to have lunch at Costco. 

Monday afternoon I got to chauffeur Lucy to her friend Mila's house so they could go rock climbing. I hate that her friend lives a half hour away, it's a lot of driving, and I hit traffic on the way back which made it worse. They offered to bring her home but I had Tyler pick her up since his work pays for her gas. Is that an abuse of power? Lucy was just glad to be able to spend time with her friend. They had fun and she got a proper workout.

Tuesday Ruby had a fever and was just not feeling well. That did not help with homeschooling the girls. It was a rough morning. I was happy that I got to runaway for lunch and meet Grace, Melissa and Caroline at Blue Cactus. It was a pretty good get together. Much better than the last time we all hung out. Caroline seems to be in a better head space and I am happy for that. The food was also surprisingly good for Mexican food in Michigan. While we were there we got some crazy rain which thankfully alleviated before we went outside.

After lunch I had to take Ben to his annual physical. I miss our old doctor who left the practice. The new doctor we saw was alright but he is missing the caring part that my other doctor had in loads. I asked him about Ben's anxiety and he said as long as it's not inhibiting his life in any way than basically it's probably fine. Basically Ben is like me,a high functioning anxious person. We perform well in life but inside we are dying. I hate that for him. 

Tuesday evening Ben and I had to go to the High School Soccer Meeting. Neither one of us wanted to be there. It could've easily been an email, it was such a waste of time. The coach gave his obnoxious speech about how much they care about the boys and how it's not about winning. And how with 25 players they just can't give everyone a good amount of playtime. I rolled my eyes throughout the speech. That's such bull crap.

Wednesday Ruby seemed to be better- just had a cough that she has had for ages. After we finished the grueling homeschool, we went and ran some errands with Poppy and Grams. We went to Five and Below (to get some candy prizes for Steven's grad dinner). Then we went to Kohl's where grams nicely spent her Kohl's cash on shirts for the girls. After that we had some Chick-Fil-A. I had fed Ruby ahead of time so she got to enjoy some ice cream. For our last errand I ran into TJ Maxx to grab some Raspberry Syrup and the line was insane. I am grateful my parents stayed in the car with the girls so I didn't have to keep my busy toddler out of trouble. 

Wednesday evening while Penny was in soccer, Grams, Ruby and I hung out at the park in Milford. It was a little cool but not bad. Ruby once again made friends with EVERYONE. She even found another nice Grandma who held her hand and went on a glider bench with her. There was another time where she took of her shoes and gave them to a lady sitting on a nearby bench. She really forces me to talk to people and it drives me crazy. 

Thursday morning Steven had his Senior Clap Out. Poppy, Grams, Ruby, Penny and I went. Poppy, however, was very confused about what a senior clap out was and thought we were going to Steven's graduation. I had to explain that it was everyone just clapping for the seniors as they exited the building for the last time (but not really the last time since they had to go pick up their cap and gown the next day). It is a silly production. I was nervous that it would be crazy peopley and hard to park but thankfully it wasn't that bad. There was still plenty of parking when we got there and we managed to get a nice spot near the front. While we were waiting, Ruby spent most of the time staring at the wall of the building because #1- she could see her shadow #2- there were bugs. She looked like she was in trouble. Then the seniors came out and we clapped. Penny was a great photographer and captured Steven smiling as he saw his little sister Ruby. I was happy she was there to take pictures but she was sad that she wasn't in the pictures with us.

Thursday after lunch, Ruby and I went on a walk with Kara and Amelia. The weather was absolutely perfect. The conversation didn't quite flow but that's ok. It seems like with us sometimes we have fantastic conversations and sometimes things are more meh but that's ok. She is a really good person and I was happy to be out in the fresh air.

Friday evening the girls had their friends Lara, Lyla and Anna over for a sleepover. Lara and Anna are moving in a few weeks so this was likely their last sleepover. I fed them pizza and root beer floats and then they just entertained themselves. They also all loved Ruby and so they let her join in with them. My only complaints are that they stayed up too late (I had to tell them to go to bed at 2am because I am a party pooper) and they broke our downstairs fan (they were throwing blankets at it). I also got annoyed with my girls for fighting with one another while playing a game. Lucy and Penny fight so much lately. They drive me crazy.

Saturday we had the youth fundraiser and prepping for it pretty much consumed my whole day.  All the kids had to bring 2 plates of desserts for the auction so I spent most of the day helping them make the desserts and then cleaning up the kitchen. The clean up was the worst part of it all. The youth fundraiser seemed to be a success though. It had a decent turn out, the dinner went smoothly, the talent show was fun to watch and the desserts got auctioned off for way more money than they were worth. At the fundraiser I got to know a new Sister in our ward, Elaine. She has 2 daughters the age of my girls. I ended up inviting her and her daughters to our beach for Memorial Day (I already invited the usual suspects: Mays, Bloomfields, Eakins). I lately have issues with telling everyone my life story the moment they meet me and if a story gets interrupted, I will finish it, even if I should give up. Yet despite my crazy, she still seemed happy to be invited. 

For the Talent Show, we did Ben's World of Wonder again. This time we featured Penny who was known for her ability to not move and react, despite crazy things going on. First Ben threw a ball over her head. Then Tyler told dad jokes. Next Ruby put make up on her (she put lipstick on Penny's eyelids, cheeks and lips). After that I washed it off with "mommy spit". Last Poppy came on to taunt her with candy, but then he "tripped" and Penny sprung up to help him. When Penny helped him up, Poppy shouted that he tricked her. His fall was very realistic and worried some people. It was a good little show. Lucy also played her ukulele and did a good job. I got zero pictures that night but it was a pretty good time. 

Busy May

Sunday was Mother's Day. I figured I had already been pretty spoiled with shoppoing trips so I didn't expect too much for the actual day. The kids greeted me with gifts in the morning. Ben gave me a drawing book I had wanted- The book of a Hundred Hands. Lucy gave me cold hard cash- $10. Penny gave me a framed picture of us and a topsy hair tool. Steven gave me another drawing book- sketching from the imagination. Ruby failed me, lol. She promised me flowers but did not deliver. All in all I was properly spoiled in gifts. Lucy gave a talk at church. She gets super nervous so she kind of rushed through it and her jokes didn't quite deliver but I am proud of her for getting up there. After sacrament the Bishopric told us how amazing woman are (in their long winded fashion) and then we got to eat. The food this year was really good- biscuits and gravy, and cinnamon rolls- plus the usual fruit and yogurt. I feel a bit bad for the bishopric wives who probably did all the cooking. I ended up sitting at a table with Carli, Sam R, Sam S, Melissa, and Ranell. It was a good time overall. 

After church I took a nap and did my best to be lazy but Tyler was cooking kabobs which take a lot of time so Ruby still needed some tending to. That afternoon my parents arrived so we could properly celebrate my mom too. We all had a nice dinner together and Ben was nice and made oatmeal butterscotch cookies for dessert. We ended the day playing our usual games. It was a good mother's day.

Monday felt hectic. The girls were having an emotional time with their school work plus it was clean the house day and pick up groceries day. Getting groceries became complicated when there was a car accident in the round about and I had to take an alternate way to get to Walmart- it added a lot of time to drive. Then when I got there, they had moved the pick up location. I had thought I was the only one there but of course I wasn't that lucky. When I got to the right spot there were 6 other cars there. So annoying.

Monday night I had Craft Club at Tana's. This time it was a younger crowd- Tana, Ranell, Sam R, Cassie, and Nahoko (she carpooled over with me). I love how willing Nahoko always is to join me in things. I just brought coloring this time. I felt a bit like I needed to keep the conversation going and I ended up over sharing. I have regrets but I think all in all it was a bit more successful than last time. 

Tuesday was another busy morning. Homeschooling was still a lot and I had a couple errands to run and my parents needed some help with getting some things for their house. After Ruby's nap we went to Asher's house so we could wish him a belated happy birthday. Ruby had picked out some fun bug toys for him and Julie had some leftover cupcakes and ice cream for us. Asher got a bit crazy after the cupcakes and after helping Ruby out of her jacket and taking off her shoes, he led her to his room where chaos ensued. There was hiding under the bed, jumping on the bed, Asher tackling Ruby, lights being turned on and off by Asher's brothers, toys being thrown by Asher...But Ruby didn't seem to mind it all. She laughed through most of it. Although now she keeps telling me how Asher beat her. That will be a fun story for when they are older.

Tuesday night Tyler and I went to Chili's. We carpooled over with Grace and Jason and Carli and Josh met us there. The chips and salsa were on point and I mostly filled up on them. I felt like I was able to particpate a bit more in the conversation so maybe 6 is my limit for groups. Anything over that and I disappear. Overall it was a good outing.

Wednesday homeschool felt a little less intense which was good since Ben had an orthodontist appointment in the morning to get to. He now has joined the braces club and he is miserable. All the food he loves to eat, is just too hard to eat right now. While he was at his appointment, Steven was nice and took Lucy and Penny to the Renaissance End of Year Picnic and Nahoko was nice and agreed to watch out for my girls until I got there. After the appointment Ruby and I met the girls at the park. It was cold this year and that made it a little less fun (temps in the 40's). Nahoko, Ruby and I went down one of the nature trails with the Penny and Mimi and their friends. We ended up getting futher than expected and so I made everyone go back before parents started wondering if I had kidnapped their kids. Afterwards Ruby played at the playground for a bit and then we headed home. Penny got some super cool face painting done at the picnic.

Wednesday evening I didn't want to take Ruby with me to Penny's soccer practice because I was done being outside in the cold so I left her at home with Lucy. Unfortunately Tyler had a late day at work and didn't get home before Lucy had to go somewhere. So Lucy was going to have Steven watch Ruby but there was some miscommunication between them and Steven didn't hear Lucy leave and Ruby was left downstairs alone. Ruby thought everyone had left her and when Tyler finally got home he found her sitting in her carseat that was by the back door crying. She now has anxiety about being left and will get really anxious if people disappear out of her sight. Poor traumatized toddler.

Thursday I got up earlier so we could get homeschool done before Ruby's preschool co-op. I was impressed that the girls were able to get it done before I left. Preschool was at Kelli's house again and it was nice. Once again a nice little circle time and craft. Ruby really likes Kelli's older boy and spent a lot of time playing with him. She especially liked a dancing robot that he had. She made sure to tell all her siblings about it when we got home.

After Ruby's nap we met Asher and Julie at the dock and they had fun splashing each other for a bit but then Asher went #2 so we went back to their house so she could change him. He has a fun yard and they have a toad back there that she got to hold. They also swung on the saucer swing together and just are such a cute little couple of friends.

Friday was homeschool and then I took Lucy to Sister Miller's to mow her lawn. While she mowed, Penny, Ruby and I walked over to Scarlet's park. It was a warmer day and it felt good to be outside. On our walk I saw this tree that looked like it was hugging another tree and I just had to take a picture.

Friday evening we had youth baptisms at the temple and I took the girls since the boys were working. It was nice to enjoy the peace of the temple and then socialize a bit with some of the other adults at Culver's afterwards. My girls had fun playing "Imposter" at the table after they finished their ice cream. I am glad they enjoy spending time with people from our church.

Saturday morning Penny had a soccer game. Julie's triplets were in the opposing team so we got to sit by Julie's family. Ruby loved having Asher to play with and fight with. She kept stealing his chair and his water bottle. He kept stealing her toys. They also spent some time running in circles around everyone. They are cute. The weather was rainy earlier but during the game it ended up being perfect weather. Penny's team ended up winning 2 to 1.

Recorders and Nationals

 Sunday Ruby woke up coughing and I debated skipping church but in the end, I decided to go. Her cough kind of died down as the morning progressed so I figured she was probably fine. She spent most of the sacrament meeting with Sister Pearce. Sister Pearce is nice and lets Ruby color on her tablet and also lets Ruby use her special markers and color in her notebook. Ruby in turn told Sister Pearce stories about a show where a person shot a car. Ruby told her she thought that was funny- she really needs to stop watching you tube with my older kids. I appreciate Sister Pearce.  After sacrament I hung out in nursery for a bit to see how Ruby was doing with the other toddlers but they don't interact much in the beginning. They eat snacks and do a lesson. She seemed ok so I left and went to Sunday School like a good girl. After church I had a zoom RS mtg and then after that Ben had a soccer game. I don't love busy Sundays. The girls all came to Ben's game. It was a bit cool out but not too bad. Ruby was very energetic and had to be chased around. She is also very extroverted and gets in everyone's businesss. Someone had a big dog and she kept running up to it and petting it and trying to make friends with the dog's owners. She is hard on my introverted heart.

Monday the weather was nice so I worked hard to quickly get through all the things- picking up groceries, working out, cleaning the house, and school work- so we could get outside. I managed to get it all done and then we went for a walk to 711. The weather was great going there, but coming back I started to get a bit warm. I think it's because there is a tricky part walking back where there is no sidewalk, a crevice and its uphill. If it was just me it wouldn't be so bad but pushing Ruby's stroller on that part gets me every time. Right now it looks like they are building a sidewalk on the other side of the road  and that will be so nice to have.

Monday evening I did a little mother's day shopping for myself. I asked Tyler if I could just have some guilt free money for mother's day and he came through. It was really nice to be able to shop for myself- I tend to spend most of my money on my kids. After all the shopping I ended up with a little bit of everything- some clothes, shoes, jewlery, hats. I feel properly spoiled and I am quite happy with my spoils.

Tuesday Ruby and I decided to just go to the library to play- storytime is over for now. Unfortunately the library was closed for professional development so we went to a different library. I don't love that one as much, but it was still nice to get out for a bit. 

After lunch, we went to the girls' school for Penny's recorder recital. I do not love the sound that recorder makes but I will say they did a fairly decent job of playing the right notes together. I was impressed.

We had to have an early dinner Tuesday because the boys had a pep rally and shoot out for the nationals tournament. Ruby, Penny and I tagged along- Lucy stayed at home as per usual. The pep rally was a little sad- maybe 50 people spread through the bleachers. They introduced all the archers going to the nationals and talked about how exciting it was and then took a group picture. Then they did a shoot out- one last practice before nationals. They were selling Dairy Queen ice cream so Ruby did pretty well since she was able to overdose on sugar.

Wednesday, after school and work, the boys headed off to Nationals in Kentucky. Meanwhile I took Penny to soccer practice. Ruby and Lucy came along, so we hung out at Central Park in Milford. It was a little cool again so it wasn't very peopley but Ruby managed to latch on to what people were there. Near the end she started chasing a girl and they became pretty quick friends. The girl loved being having Ruby chase her which was great. The father of the girl chatted with me for a bit- his wife had just had her second baby. Ruby really is forcing me to talk to people when I would really be ok to not talk to people, lol.

We picked Penny up early from practice so I could take both girls to the young women's activity. It was at the Jones' home. I ended up just staying with Ruby because it wasn't worth driving back home. I had a nice chat with the new mom in the ward. She seems pretty cool and I definitely need to get our girls together since her girls homeschool as well. It would be great to have more homeschool friends.

Thursday, while the girls were at school, Ruby and I went to the preschool co-op. It was at a new house this time, Kelly's, and it was so much more like a preschool- that made me happy. There was circle time, a matching game, a book, an active game (mother may I?), a craft (making mother's day cards) and then snack time. Ruby enjoyed it and we were still able to get some nice chats in. Nobody brought up the Memorial Day bbq so I am going to let that drop for a bit...But Sam did bring up frustrations with the rift between our ward and the other ward that meets in our building. Apparently the yw presidency is unwilling to try to bridge the rift and it all seems very petty. Especially now that we have a family from the other ward in our ward.

The girls had Field Day at school Thursday so I was able to pick them up a little later. We ended up going to Chuck E after I picked them up. Chuck E had gotten rid of some rides/games and had gotten some new ones. At first I was excited about the change up but I am not so excited anymore. They got rid of the police car- Ruby's favorite!- and a couple games that Ruby and I could actually play together (a lizard that catches bugs and space invader). The ones they added are not the best. There is one that drops balls on you and both girls said it hurts. There is a Lugi Mansion one but they girls said it was confusing. It looks like they replaced the police car with an old noah's ark ride. Ruby didn't love it at first but it seemed to grow on her so maybe it will become her new favorite.

After Chuck E, we went and got dinner at Chick-Fil-A. We managed to bribe Ruby to eat her food with ice cream and then she played in the play place for a bit. Of course, she immediately made a friend. When the other girl was on something that Ruby wanted to play on, Ruby sang Daniel Tiger to her "You can take a turn and then I'll take a turn." It was funny and effective.

After Chick-Fil-A, we stopped at Costco for treats (and diapers) and then we went home to veg out. When home, a potty seat I had bought for Ruby had arrived, and she was excited to use it. She sat out on it many times and she even tinkled once. She has not sat on it since she tinkled but it was a nice intro to the potty nonetheless.

That night, to continue our girls fun, we watched some of "Frozen 2" with Ruby and then after she went to bed, the girls watched "Pride and Prejudice" (the mormon version). 

Meanwhile....the boys had fun in Kentucky shooting arrows and going to horse races at Churchill Downs. They did not do spectacular with shooting but I think it was still a cool experience for them, And they did not bet on any horses but apparently, if they had, Steven would have won us some money.

Friday we had a rough morning homeschooling- lots of feelings during math, but the rest of our morning and afternoon were fairly chill. Lucy went to mow a nearby ward members lawn. Penny, Ruby and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and down in the woods while she mowed. Lucy made $30 mowing (an hours worth of work) but she is still not convinced it's worth the money. She reminds me a lot of Steven.

That evening the boys came home. I think they were a bit tired and were a bit cranky with me. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for celebrating Steven's graduation and he shot me down. And Ben was wanting to ditch a soccer game so he could stay longer at a party which annoyed me. It was a day of feelings. I ended the day outside walking with Ruby though, and that was really nice.

Saturday Penny had a soccer game in the morning. I went by myself since she had to go early for pictures. This is probably her last season with this team so I decided it was time to finally buy them. I met the grandma of her friend on the team and she was a really nice lady. The game was nice for us, Penny's team creamed the other team. Tyler ended up coming for the last 10 minutes with Ruby because he said I had guilted him into coming. I had not but whatever. The rest of my Saturday was pretty uneventful which is just the way I like it.