Busy and Birthday Party

I can't remember if I have blogged this yet but because of some complainers in the other Ward (they didn't like the half hour overlap with our Ward) we now have church from 11:30-1:30 on Sundays. Previously we were at 10:30 and that was great, I am not a fan of this 11:30. It kind of kills the day. Mornings are wasted and lunch and dinner are hard to figure out. With the time change they also switched my lesson time so that now I teach my class the second half instead of the first which I noticed has been leaving me with less time than I had before. Let's face it I am not a fan of change and this was lots of change just after I had found a good rhythm with my Sundays. So hopefully within time I will adjust but I'm not there yet.

Tuesday I volunteered in Ben's class and helped kids with finding facts for their research papers. While I was helping one kid at the table Ben's teacher came behind another one at my table and started correcting his spelling and his facts. I hate when he does that because it always makes me feel like he doesn't think I am doing a good enough job- like I'm incapable. That's probably just me classically overthinking things but it bugs me nonetheless. After volunteering we watched one of Penny's friends for the afternoon. She is such a good friend to everyone and they had a good time together.

Wednesday was kind of a frustrating day. It started off with a fight with Steven. Right before we were supposed to head out the door to go to the bus stop he couldn't find his snow gloves and when we had to leave without them that was my fault because I didn't give him enough time to find them. I also offered him some regular mittens and he refused those because they "made his hands colder." Ugh. So from that frustration I went to Salvation Army (while Penny was in her speech class) to look for a few things. A nice customer told me all the kids clothing was 50% off and all I had to do was mention it at the cash register for the discount. Well when I mentioned it, the cashier said he couldn't give me this discount unless I showed him the post on Facebook or the email. I tried for way too long to find the stupid FB page but all I kept getting was Salvation Army pages in other places. He was not helpful and I was going to be late to pick up Penny and I was just frustrated that he wouldn't throw me a bone. Finally when another customer came behind me he decided to be nice and give me the 50% off anyways. I know stores have their policies and I was probably being ridiculous insisting on getting a discount on already cheap stuff but I was still annoyed with the situation.

So to try to turn around the day after speech class Penny and I went to the mall and got a pretzel and she played at the play area. It was really a nice time until I got a phone call from the kids' school. Lucy wasn't feeling well. She had just had a stomach bug, I couldn't believe she'd have it again so soon but to avoid any school accidents we left the mall and picked her up. She ended up having some super gross bowel movements that night and Thursday morning. So it would seem that she did indeed get a stomach bug again. I am so hoping she is the only one to repeat this.

I had a sub job Thursday but thankfully Tyler was able to work from home and watch Lucy and Penny so I didn't have to cancel another sub job. It seems like every time I have to sub someone decides to get sick. So frustrating.

The sub job went smoothly but it was a long day because that night we had an early Birthday Party for Ben. His birthday week was going to be too busy and we had originally tried for Friday but realized the church youth auction was that night. A weeknight birthday party was not my favorite but it went really well. He ended up having his new neighbor, Jacob, and his old neighbor, Beck, there. Andrea came but she came late because she had dance lessons. Also my friend needed someone to watch her 2 boys that night so they came at the tail end of the party.

We started off the party with our traditional pizza.

Next the boys colored smooth Styrofoam balls so that they looked like Pokeballs. Then they tossed the balls into bowls with different Pokemon characters. They were trying to "catch" the pokemon and each Pokemon character was worth different amounts of points. On this task Beck was the winner and earned the most points.

After that I hid some pictures of Pokemon characters and the boys had to go around the house finding them. Ben found them all first so he won that activity. Then they shot suction cup bullets at Team Rocket. Jacob had the most hits so he won that event.

Here they all are with their candy medals I had made (Reese PB Cups attached to ribbon with a pic of Pikachu holding a trophy).

Next we played "Pin the Pokeball on Pikachu" and then they played Pokemon Bingo. I learned that although Ben knows a lot of the characters names, he doesn't know all of them. Also, Jacob really likes Penny and let her share his BINGO card with him.

The last activity was "hatching" Pokemon. I had covered little Pokemon figures in a baking soda/water mixture and they hatched them by putting vinegar on them. This was by far the kids favorite activity (even if it was the stinkiest). They loved finding the figures inside!

When Andrea finally arrived it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat cake. Tyler told them we had the tradition of singing very loudly and boy did they oblige- so loud! And even though Ben covered his ears at some points, he totally loved it.

For his presents from his friends he got a Pikachu hoodie, a Pokemon drawing book and 2 Enderman Dragon Lego sets. And even though he was given the receipt with the option to return the duplicated he wanted to keep both. He is such a goof and was real excited about having 2.

Friday my friend Chalsea came over in the morning and it was so nice to catch up with her. It was some much needed grow up time. At lunchtime the kids all came home because it was a half day. They basically spent the afternoon driving me nuts with their fighting. That night we had the church youth auction. I was not impressed. This year they didn't do a dinner. They did a talent show and then sold concessions but they still asked that you donate $20 at the door. On top of that you had all the donated auction items that you were to bid on. It felt like they were nickling and diming everyone. Unfortunately we failed at having cash on us and only had a twenty. We ended up only donating $10 at the door and  used the rest for concessions. We were told we could pay later if we bid on any items but the one thing I wanted ended up going too far up in price. But a fun fact is that my hand lettered cards that I donated to the auction sold for $25 which made me feel pretty good. There were several people going for them so that was nice.

Saturday was super unexciting- a trip to the library, a failed attempt to find Steven pants (he seems to be in between sizes) and we babysat my friends kids. And that is another week down.

Things

I feel like daylight savings time really threw me for a loop this past week- loosing that hour somehow made me exhausted for the week. It also seemed to give us more irritable kids. Makes me miss Arizona where they are smart and don't do such silly things. 

Anyways this week was pretty busy and not super exciting. Monday we got to watch my friend's 1 year old, Addie. She has mellowed out since the last time we watched her and didn't get into stuff and was actually pretty complacent to just play with toys in the playroom. It made me feel a little less worried about adding one more to our family whenever that time comes.

Monday night we had middle school orientation. At this point it still seems surreal that I'm going to have a kid in middle school. It also scares me to have a kid in middle school. Middle school is such a hot mess of hormones and growing up and I worry about all that my kid is going to encounter as he enters this new realm. The principal seems good though and Steven got real excited about all the "encore" classes he can choose from. He's already determined to take band and play the clarinet (he can later trade the clarinet for the saxophone). He gets two other semester long classes to choose. I do hate though that PE is not a core class. Kids need that movement everyday- especially since recess is no longer given.

Tuesday I had a substitute job for a third grade class. They had switching in the afternoon and that is not my favorite thing. It means that I teach the same lesson to 3 different classes. It also means I have to review my rules and remind the 2 classes that I see for a short period that yes, I am in charge and no, I am not a pushover. It really wears out my voice and my mental health, ha ha.

Tuesday night I had Bunco. My friend was nice enough to give me a ride because Tyler had a neighborhood meeting at the library to attend. I am getting so over only having one car. Anyways I had a good chat with my friend and heard about the hard time she is having health wise. It's a good reminder that most people are going through something no matter what outside appearances my be. Also there is this one lady that keeps subbing for people at Bunco and she makes me a little crazy. Sometimes she can be super funny but other times her humor verges a bit too much on the inappropriate side. Everybody seems to love her but I find her exhausting and often times a bit uncomfortable. 

Wednesday morning Penny had her speech class and she still really loves it. It makes me excited for her to start school. The teacher once again said how good she was doing so I said I feel like Penny can do really well saying words alone but she loses sounds in sentences. The teacher agreed and said she was just looking at changing her goal (not kicking her out). That was reassuring. I do feel like this class is really helping her though. I notice her trying a little more often to get the c/k sounds and now the g sound too.

Wednesday afternoon I got to hold my friend's baby while she got her new house prepped to paint. It was pretty great and Penny was super cute with baby Wynn. Singing her songs and building towers of blocks for her to break. Once again, a little reassurance about adding another one to our family.

Thursday was another sub job- apparently I am back in business for the moment. I just think there were a lot of teachers out this week so they were desperate enough to ask me but I'll take it. I can always use a little extra spending money. The challenge for this sub job was teaching a lesson on unbalanced and balanced forces for Science. This was a lesson for the rotating classes so I had to teach it 3 times and the explanation for the experiment was super confusing. I had to call up Tyler for clarification and watch a Youtube video because I didn't want to totally confuse 3 classes. In the end it actually seemed easier than first thought and it made me realize how much motherhood has fried my brain.

Also while subbing I had a kiddo totally melt down. I've had him before and I am usually able to keep him calm and I usually can tell when he needs to be sent out for a break. But I failed this time and  so he threw down a water bottle, threw his chair, and screamed in rage. It was super. Apparently the kids have this routine that they all leave the classroom to the library when this happens. Extremely distracting but it was brief and we survived. 

Thursday night I took the kids out for milkshakes with mom. They had muffins for mom at school but those sort of things are always crazy busy and my kids don't really like muffins that much so we decided ahead of time we were going to do our own thing. We went to McDonald's for shakes and the kids got to play in a germ infested play place- it seriously looked super dirty and I hope we don't go through another round of sick. The kids all had fun though so that's what counts right?

Friday I had a nice recovery from a busy week day and ended up finishing the photo books I had been making for each kid. They were a lot of work and I am super excited to give them to the kids. They have a summary of each year- some pictures of things that happened and some funny stories. I basically made them as a back up in case this blog ever disappears. At least now they'll still have some memories to keep.

Saturday morning I went to go get Ben new shoes (he has demolished those and his backpack) and I discovered we had a nail in our tire. Tyler went to go get that fixed and a couple hours later, he's still out. Plans are meant to be broken. Later this afternoon Lucy has a birthday party for a friend at school. This friend is the GF one from her class that's parents seems to be kind of a pain. Hopefully we don't somehow offend them by just being us. And that will basically be our week in a nutshell.

Great Wolf Lodge

While everyone didn't stay healthy on our getaway to the Great Wolf Lodge, I still think everyone had a good time. I made the kids go to school for a couple hours Monday morning which was smart because they were so hyper and I wouldn't have been able to finish prepping and packing so easily. I picked them up around 11, they ate lunch and then we began our almost 4 hour drive to Traverse City.

Upon arrival the kids were itching to have fun but first we had to take some of our traditional photos.

After picture taking we ended up hitting the Magi Quest store first so we could buy Penny a wand - she was the only one without one- and then started the game for all the kids. After doing a couple quests the kids were hungry so we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The food wasn't quite as good as we remembered but it was just as pricey. The kids did enjoy using their wands in the restaurant to make things go off. Ben would casually flick his wand at a big tree in the center and that would make some lights flash. There was also this super annoying squirrel they kept setting off.

After dinner the boys decided they wanted to do more Magi Quest and the girls decided they wanted to go to the water park. So dad went questing with the boys and I took the girls to the water park. The water park felt extra cold and I felt like I was just shivering the whole time since the girls wanted to try everything out- that meant going in and out of water constantly. Thankfully they really wanted to go to story time so we didn't stay too long.

Story time is pretty much the same each time we go and I find it extremely boring but the girls love it and the boys don't seem to hate it. I think the girls especially love meeting the characters afterwards. This time it was Rachel Raccoon and they both gave her a big hug. I was grateful that Ben jumped into line quickly so we didn't have to wait too long to get our picture and hugs with her.

That night ended up being a rough one- Ben decided to take his turn at being sick and threw up. He was pretty miserable all night and ended up sleeping right by the toilet. That morning I had signed the boys up for Junior Lifeguarding but with Ben sick, I ended up just taking Steven. For Junior Lifeguard they threw a dummy in the water and had the kids take turns circling the water to try and find it. The life guard told them to walk on the outside because it was easier but the kids kept jumping in the water so the process took a bit longer- it was cold out of the water so I couldn't blame them for jumping in. After they saved the dummy "Timmy" they then talked about rescuing techniques. Steven seemed to enjoy the Junior Lifeguard class and when it was over he got to help "turn on" the water park which he thought was pretty cool.

Once the water park was officially opened Tyler brought the girls down to me and he went back to stay with sick Ben. It was kind of a juggle trying to watch 3 kids at the water park. The big slides were annoying because Penny couldn't go on them at all, Lucy could only do them with adult and Steven wasn't wanting to go by himself. Eventually he got brave and did go by himself and I was grateful for that because that stopped his complaining. The water park felt warmer this time around- not sure why- but that was a good thing because the girls still liked going from thing to thing. We did spend the most time in the lazy river and a good amount of time playing basketball in the pool though. While playing basketball one of Lucy's throws landed smack on the center of some man's head- so embarrassing. He didn't even turn around so we never got to apologize. Below is pics of the girls at the toddler area- I asked Penny to sit by Lucy and that snotty face was her response.

Around lunchtime Ben was finally feeling better and came and joined us. It was really a relief to have him there so Steven had a buddy.

Eventually everyone got hungry so we went back to the room for a lunch break. Then we did some more Magi Quest but the girls weren't super into it. After 2 quests the girls and I took a doughnut break since there was a Dunkin Donuts in the hotel that had been tempting me since we had got there.

After eating our donuts I tried to convince them that they wanted to take a nap because I really wanted one but that was so silly of me. Too much fun to be had. Instead we read some books and when the boys came back from their questing we went bowling. I goofed when we were swiping the card to play and only purchased a round of bowling for 4. That meant the kids got to have fun and us parents got to watch. But they were a pretty entertaining crew. Penny had a really good butt wiggle that she did before granny bowling the ball each time. They all scored in order of their age so to speak- Steven getting the highest score and Penny getting the lowest.

Next we went back to the water park and hung out there until dinner time. This time we were there with everyone- no one back in the hotel room sick and it was lots of fun. More basketball playing, more lazy river floating and the boys spent a good deal of time jumping across the lily pads. 

For dinner we went to Chili's where the waiter asked if we were trying to start our own country with so many children. Seriously? At this point I was feeling kind of off so I didn't enjoy the food too much but at least Ben seemed fully recovered by this time. So much recovered that he was upset when I suggested he didn't have soda because it might upset his tummy. We ended up compromising on a Strawberry Lemonade that was suggested by a meddling waiter. Not my favorite waiter for reals- he also kept telling my kids how grateful they should be that we took them out and how they should do chores for us when we got home. I don't know, sometimes stuff like that just bugs me, I can parent my own children thank you.

Back at the hotel I did one last trip to the water park with Ben, Lucy and Steven. I sat and read a book while they went across the lily pads. Literally that is all they did for almost 2 hours. It was fine with me though. I wasn't feeling great so it was nice to just chill and not have to be in the pool with them.

That night I went from feeling off to feeling terrible and in the early hours of the morning I finally threw up and that was the most relieving thing ever. After that I felt a lot better but unfortunately there was no sleep for me because Lucy woke up feeling sick and moaned and groaned for the rest of the night. 

Wednesday morning I was feeling pretty done with the trip but I also wanted to get my money's worth so even though I would have been happy to leave after we checked out, we stuck around. I stayed in the lobby with Lucy who was absolutely miserable while everyone else went questing with Tyler. I took multiple trips to the lobby bathroom with Lucy and around lunchtime she finally threw up. We left the hotel shortly after that so everyone else could get lunch and then it was time to drive home. 

So as I said I think everyone had a good time, at least at some point, but for the first time I was pretty happy to leave Great Wolf Lodge. When we got home Lucy was still sick and she had diarrhea all Wednesday night so I kept her home from school Thursday. By the end of Thursday she seemed fine so when I was asked to sub Friday I decided I better take it. As I had said before sub jobs were becoming few and far between. Unfortunately she woke up Friday morning crying that she didn't feel well and didn't want to go to school. With lots of mom guilt I sent her to school anyways because I just couldn't cancel another sub job and she really couldn't afford to miss more school. I felt so bad leaving her at the bus stop crying- not just for her but also for my friend that I had asked to watch them at the bus stop. Apparently she calmed down shortly after I left thank heavens. She told me later she was more sad about being away from me- we had been together for 4 straight days so I guess I can understand.

The sub job itself went pretty well- just two kids that drove me a little bit crazy but overall a good day. That night we went to the book fair and the kids were all able to get a book using some money Poppy and Grams Brady had sent (I even got one too). I did have an embarrassing moment when Steven was getting another book with his own money and needed help paying the tax and I couldn't find my money. I thought it was in my jacket pockets and when it wasn't I thought maybe I had left it in the bag with the other books so I had to call Tyler to send Ben over with it BUT it turns out it was in my back pants pockets the whole time. The workers must of thought I was a crazy person.

Our Saturday was pretty uneventful. I just ran some errands to prep for Ben's Pokemon party and then took him out on a date to McDonald's since he had earned all his jewels. I have been slacking on giving out jewels but I need to be better because it's good for making sure the kids get one on one time with me or Tyler.

Dentist, Barf and Things

On Monday I got a last minute request to sub that day but I passed on it. I figured it would be too stressful to try and make it and I was just really looking forward to getting back into routine with the kids going back to school. I also already had a job Friday so I didn't really need to take it. Too bad that sub job fell through due to reasons I'll get into later. Anyways Monday was a really nice day. Cleaned the house, exercised, did Penny's reading lessons-it was so nice getting back on track. 

Tuesday I volunteered in Ben's class and though I have had some frustrations with his teacher back in Ben's emotional days, he really is a good teacher. I was impressed with the work he was having them do for a research paper. The kids actually had to read articles and highlight things, rather than just going straight to Google. 

Tuesday afternoon all the kids had their 6 month check ups at the dentist. I always get super nervous about these check ups for two reasons- 1: Penny is usually an emotional catastrophe and 2: The kids are usually diagnosed with all sorts of issues that are costly. Thankfully it went really well. Penny did the best ever- she didn't cry at all! I had told them that she didn't like it when they spray the water so they just wiped everything and I think that might have helped. They also turned on "Frozen" music for her. I was so grateful that it went so smoothly. And as far as issues Lucy had one cavity and that was it. They've decided since Penny had such a positive experience we should just watch the crowns that have chipped for cavities and not fix them right away. I am on board with that plan.

Wednesday Penny had her second round of her new Speech Class. She loves it but her teacher once again told me that she is doing so well. I worry her teacher is going to try to graduate Penny out of speech services quickly. Penny may do well when asked to repeat a specific word/sound but put it in a sentence and that's another story.

After speech Penny and I put together a little care package for a friend who just had her third miscarriage in the past year. This friend has not been a fabulous friend to me so I had kind of taken a break but she had initiated to do a play date and then had to cancel because of the miscarriage. Her phone call was heartbreaking and though our friendship isn't what it used to be, I know she especially needs a friend right now so care package it was. I can't imagine the heartache she must be feeling.

After we dropped that off, my other friend was having laundry issues so she came over to do a couple loads. This was a last minute thing so it shook up my plans but it was good to be able to help. And it was good to catch up with her.

When my friend left I took Lucy back to the dentist to get her cavity filled. She is so funny on laughing gas. Always just a little loopy. They asked her what grade she was in and she just nodded her head enthusiastically. Overall she did really great she cried/whined a couple times but only briefly, she was able to calm down and get through.

Wednesday night Ben had a last minute invite to Jacob's brother's birthday party. Jacob is a neighbor and in Ben's class and Ben and him have become really good buddies. So much so that Ben gets pretty upset when he can't hang out with him at night. He's a little obsessive but I am glad he has a friend. Anyways he had a lot of fun at the party and he got a really awesome eye patch there.

Thursday we had made plans for someone to pick us up so Penny could have her precious story time BUT I forgot to take out her car seat and we weren't able to go after all. Penny literally cried for 10 minutes about it- she loves story time so much. Instead we had Corinne and little Lucie over for lunch. We made mac n cheese and cookies and socialized a lot and it was a really good time. I am grateful for her friendship.

Thursday afternoon, 10 minutes before school ended Steven threw up all over himself and his desk. He had complained about feeling sick that morning but I attributed it to the junk food he had at scouts.  I felt so bad that his teachers and the school and the office staff had to deal with that. Worse yet I didn't have a car (they didn't want to send him on the bus in barfed on clothes) so his dad had to rush out of work and go get him. Gosh, I miss having 2 cars.

Thursday night was book club for the book The Storied Life of AJ Fikry - I was hosting. Only 2 people ended up coming- 2 others who were going to come had things come up last minute. Honestly I didn't mind the small group. We had a really good discussion and with a smaller group I felt like I could actually contribute. The only con is that my hormones have been so out of control since getting my iud out that I kept blushing for no good reason. I wish I could say I was having hot flashes or something- I looked so ridiculous turning red talking about a book.

Friday was the day I was supposed to sub but I didn't want to send Steven back to school after he barfed everywhere so I had to cancel on it. I have said no so much lately and with this canceling I think I am pretty much losing this part of my life. I have such mixed feelings. It is a pain to find bus stop help and babysitters and sometimes so challenging in itself but I also like having a part of my life outside of the home. Something that I feel like I am good at. I guess it can be a self esteem boost and it helps me feel like I am contributing to the family funds. But I have had so much going on this year and so little sub offers and things are just not panning out with the new school so...I'm trying to accept the change. With Tyler's raise and a loan almost paid off the money is a little less needed anyways.

Anyways Friday Steven was recovered and it was a nice chill day overall. Minus me having some issues in the afternoon which I can't decide if they were my normal bowel issues or if he gave me his sickness. I am just hoping we all stay healthy for our trip to the Great Wolf Lodge this Monday! The kids are pretty excited ;)