It's always rough coming back from a good vacation! This week was spent catching up on groceries and house cleaning and things on my to do list that I had been neglecting. It was also spent trying to get back into the routine of exercising in the morning and having the kids do their workbooks and reading. And throughout it all there was the realization that my kids had been getting along so much better when we were on vacation than when we were at home. Oh the fighting this week has nearly made me crazy. I joke that Ben has a "rage mode" but I am finding out that I have one too- like when the kids have lost the remote and we can't turn off the TV without it (why do they make TV's without power buttons!?) and we have to be somewhere. Seriously, my kids bring the worst of me out.
I spent the first few days of this week hand lettering like crazy. Tyler's mom had requested I make her some new things to hang up at her office for her birthday, plus I had some birthday cards and thank you cards to make. Then after all that I finally finished the 25 "mustache" cards that I had been requested to make by a teacher. I am feeling burnt out with hand lettering at the moment and need a bit of a break but I am really proud of how the ones I made for Tyler's mom turned out. Here are a few of them:
Aside from the hand lettering we had a fun Cub Scout Swim party Tuesday afternoon at Sister Hines pool. She has been in Cub Scouts since Steven started and just got released. She did so much and we sure are going to miss her! The swimming was really fun (minus one of my primary kids who kept squirting me with a squirt gun- so much love). The girls have their floaties which makes them pretty independent and the boys are getting to be pretty good swimmer (Ben just wears his *too small* life vest because of his anxiety but he's actually not too bad of a swimmer). I had fun chatting with parents and Penny had fun flirting with one of Steven's friend's, Enzo. She loves Enzo and his older brother, Vincent. She even tried to kiss Enzo while swimming- I think we are in some major trouble with this girl. She is way too young to be trying to kiss boys!
Tuesday evening we had the Massey's watch our kids while we went out on a date (we had won their babysitting services at the Ward auction a few months back). Sister Massey was so nice and offered to have them come to her house and she would make them dinner. The kids were totally spoiled rotten- they had dinner, dessert, games, prizes and a movie. The Massey's also had a 22 year old cat which Steven was obsessed with and this cat has inspired him to bother us frequently about buying a cat for him (will not happen!). While they had their fun Tyler and I went to The Cheesecake Factory and after eating dinner got some cheesecake to go. We brought it home and vegged out on it while watching America's Got Talent. A super laid back night but it was a super nice break.
Wednesday afternoon we had a beach day with some friends. My kids had been fighting all morning and when we got to the beach they were finally able to stop driving me crazy and have good time with their friends. Beach days like that make me so happy- I could've stayed there forever. I was also grateful Heather and 3 of her kids were able to come since they were leaving to their new house in Indiana the next day. She has always been such a good friend and so willing to serve and her kids have always gotten along so well with mine. We sure are going to miss her family! We tried to get a good pictures with Heather, Lydia, Bradley and Josie but Josie was pretty upset about a pair of her goggles that had broken so she wasn't very cooperative.
Bethany and me getting one last picture with Heather (far right)
Thursday morning we met up with Laci and her two kids at the Kensington Nature Center. The kids were super snacky the whole time (constantly getting into my backpack while I am trying to walk) and Ben took a tumble near the end and you would've thought he was going to die (a ranger even came out of the nature center to give him an ice pack- I thought it was going to be the splash pad incident all over over again) so it wasn't the best adventure ever but it was nice to catch up with Laci so there's that silver lining.
Ben asked for a picture on this rock and then everyone else followed suit so he was angry that he didn't get the picture to himself so another group picture fail.
Friday the kids requested that we go to Splash Universe and I begrudgingly took them. This was going to be my first time on my own and I was doubtful it was going to go well based on their behavior all week. Surprisingly though, it went really well (until it was time to go). The boys did really good at helping out with the girls and there were times where I just got to sit at the table and chill. I also had some fun working on the kids swimming skills while we were there. Ben finally mastered floating on his back and he was super proud of himself! Like I said, it was really good until it was time to go. Then Ben turned into the rage monster and Steven pretended his three more times down the slide were really only the one more time I told him he could have. It was a real rough exit but we made it out in time so that we were only stuck in rush hour traffic for the last half of the drive and not the whole drive. Traffic is the worst.
Friday night we drove over to Dodge Park because they have this nice straight sidewalk and we were going to start teaching Lucy how to ride a two wheeler. Our timing was bad though, they were having a concert at the park so we parked at the library instead. Tyler worked with Lucy there while I walked the rest of the kids down to the park. We listened to a couple songs at the concert- Penny insisted on sitting super close to a lady so it was kind of awkward hence the reason we only stayed for a couple songs. Then we went back to the parking lot and I watched Lucy try one more ride. She's really good at putting her feet down to stop herself from falling so at least she wasn't all banged up. The only problem is she gets nervous quickly and puts her feet down often so she's got some more courage to gain before she'll get the hang of it. I don't think it will be too much longer though.
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