Thanksgiving

The younger 3 were all off of school for the week and Tyler didn't have seminary. It was nice to not have to worry about school stuff and for Tyler to not have to prep lessons.  Poor Steven had school all the way up to Thanksgiving though. Monday I was able to do some cleaning and start on the path of making our home Thanksgiving ready. 

Tuesday Lucy had a dermatologist appointment all the way out in Troy. I ended up taking Lucy and leaving Ruby with Tyler. I had regrets though because we ended up waiting for over an hour before even being called back and then a good 20 minutes more in the room. It was a long time to be away from Ruby and both Lucy and I were super aggravated. Finally we saw the dr. He was a quirky guy with a bow tie and he gave us the history of warts and then put some beetle juice on her 8 warts and covered them with tape. We are supposed to put Compound W on them and then come back in a couple months. I'm not very optimistic that this was worth all the energy. Her warts seem determined to thrive and multiply. 

Wednesday morning I woke up and got moving. Usually I struggle getting up and at it, so I was proud of myself. I was able to run a couple of errands before the stores got too crazy. Later I made some snacks for Thanksgiving day- muffins, pumpkin bread and my bean salsa. I also got started on the Thanksgiving decor- I decorated some brown paper "tablecloths". It was really nice to be crafty. My hobbies have died since Ruby and I've missed them. Lucy also helped with some Thanksgiving decor. 

Wednesday night Lucy had a volleyball game. Her friend Claire came with her mom. They are good people. It was nice to get to chat with Claire's mom since usually we are just dropping off kids with one another. Her mom is also not in love with Renassiance but her kids don't want to leave their friends so she said she will stick with it. I still don't know if I will stick with it or if we will do electives next year. My girls are also attached to their friends...

Thursday was awful. It is too hard to be my perfectionist, punctual hosting self with a baby who needs me to eat and sleep. I put out snacks for the kids, made sweet potatoes and made fancy Mac n cheese, and finished setting up all the tables and with the baby...I was not ready when everyone arrived (I needed to pump and Ruby was fussy) and that left me feeling like an anxious mess. It didn't help that Tyler felt the need to go outside and work on his shed for quite awhile. He did make the turkey so I shouldn't complain too much. Anyways, the tablecloths were a hit and the food was all good and I think everyone else had a good time, even if I was a stressed out mess. I think next year I would like to not host. But Ruby will be older so maybe it'll be less exhausting. Here are some pics from the day, some stolen from my friends Instagram.

Friday Lucy woke up ready to decorate the whole house without me. I had to calm her down because I'm a bit particular about where things should go BUT then it didn't take too long before she quit on me. Since all I did was decorate, it was a chill day. That was exactly what I needed after a stressful Thursday. Saturday was basically finishing up decorating and getting count downs ready for Christmas. We also watched Mariah's kids for a quick bit but it's always just a quick bit. She worries too much about being a burden. What she doesn't seem to remember is that we totally burdened her with babysitting our kids back when she was a teenager...

Bunco, Volleyball

Time is rushing by and I cannot believe Thanksgiving is almost here. On Sunday Tyler took Penny, Lucy and Ben to Chicago. Brennen was there for a volleyball tournament with his sisters and parents. They left at 5am and didn't get back until 11pm so it was just Ruby, Steven and me for the day. Ruby was pretty good at church and these sweet older ladies passed her around for part of Relief Society. After church Steven was nice and watched Ruby while I took a nap and then later I got to video chat with my parents- usually my kids hog the phone ;)

Monday was another rough day. Ruby was uncooperative and lots on my plate to be done. Tuesday through Friday Ruby actually did pretty good. She actually took good naps and she took them in her bassinet instead of her swing, car seat, my arms...I was hoping it would stick but by Saturday she was back to her old, nap hating ways. She is exhausting.

Tuesday I ran some errands with Ruby, looking for some new leggings. I think walmart has really upped its game in the clothing department. I struggled to stay focused on only leggings. Lots of cute tops and jackets there.  That night I went to Bunco. It was my first time back since having Ruby. It was a lot of fun and I even got 2 Buncos which won me a prize. Too bad I wasn't super interested in any of the prizes but that's usually how it goes for me. Although I had a good time, Ruby did not behave for Tyler. I think she goes to sleep better when I nurse her than when she's just given a bottle. Bummer. 

Wednesday after school work was done, Penny and I ran a couple errands. With life being busy we're changing our Christmas count down (which consisted of 12 countdown things/activities) to a box full of fun things that they'll open up Dec 1st. Penny helped me get some chocolate advent calendars and things for it. She was excited to be in the know and have a secret to keep.  That night I picked Lucy up from volleyball. I was going to wait in the car but Ruby was fussy (it was close to bedtime) so I went in with her. We were immediately surrounded by a group of teen girls that were just in love with Ruby, lol.

Thursday Tyler and I had a nice little day date (with Ruby)- Culver's and Target. The rest of the day was pretty low key with no activities in the evening for once so we watched "Three Amigos" as a family.  We had to explain a lot of the jokes so I'm not sure the kids loved it... 

Friday Lucy had her first volleyball game and we took her friends, Claire and Brielle with us. Lucy's team lost the first 2 rounds but they did win the last round and half the points were due to Lucy's awesome serves. I sat with Stacey. Her daughter, Marin, held Ruby the whole time which was nice. Afterwards Lucy went and spent the night at Brielle's house. Lucy is always begging for sleepovers...even after I say no, and she is good at wearing me down. I am not a fan of sleepovers really at all but Tyler isn't against them so here we are. I guess I went on a lot of sleepovers as a teen and I turned out *relatively* normal.

Saturday Penny got to be my errand buddy again while the other kids all had various things with friends. That night I hung out with Grace, Caroline and Melissa for a bit. I didn't stay out too late because I didn't want Tyler to have a fussy baby on his hands but apparently any amount of time is a bit too much because he did have a fussy baby on his hands *sigh* I keep reminding myself that this won't last forever.

Things

On Monday- and pretty much the rest of the week- Ruby was not good at taking naps. She would only nap with lots of rocking and effort on my part or with a car ride. I hate Mondays when she doesn't nap well. Those are always busy days with school work and a house that needs to be cleaned and groceries to pick up. Made me a stressy mess.

On Tuesday the kids had zoom meetings and Steven was off of school because it was Election Day. The girls ended up going to a Geli and Luna's house for the Zoom meetings and Ben had Andrea over here for the Zoom meetings. I think they all hated Zoom a little less since they had friends to endure it with. Tyler and I went on a little date at lunchtime, running an errand and picking up lunch. We are trying to be better at making time for each other during the week and I would say we did good this week.

On Wednesday Tyler took Penny to the Orthodontist. Looks like she needs 4 teeth pulled (2 permanent, 2 baby) and an expander. We scheduled the 2 permanent teeth to be pulled out in January and we are hoping the 2 baby teeth will fall out on their own soon. Poor Penny and her tiny mouth. In a few years, after all of her teeth have fallen out, they'll do braces. Waiting for the braces should keep us from having to double pay, like we'll some day have to do with Ben so he can have straight teeth. Wednesday night the kids had to go different directions so Tyler took the boys to their church activity and I took Lucy to volleyball with Penny and Ruby. Volleyball is better than soccer. It is indoors (nice and warm), it is loud (fussy baby won't bother anyone) and there are hallways to push the stroller down. Ruby did really well until near the end when she pooped (I had to change her in the hallway because high school bathrooms are not known for having changing tables) and then after that she started to get tired and fussy.

Thursday Tyler took the kids to school and brought Ruby along with him. I was actually able to fall back asleep and it was a really nice, lazy morning. Steven had a half day and was home by lunchtime so we took him with us on a quick Costco run. We got a present at Costco that the grandparents will be giving the kids- it's a tablet that you can do board/ardcade games on. I think the kids will have a lot of fun on it. Thursday night Steven had archery practice and was actually bugging his dad about getting there on time. It is so nice to have him in something that he actually wants to do.

Friday afternoon we had Lucy's friends over and her friend's brothers both came over too to hang out with Ben. I was glad that they finally let me host but also I am not the fun mom I was before Ruby. I tried though. I made some mini chocolate chip muffins for them and took them to seven eleven for treats. Hopefully that was enough sugar that they'll want to come back, lol. They did enjoy holding Ruby.

That night Lucy and Penny went to their friend's play, "Matilda Jr". Their friend's mom was nice and bought the tickets. She spoils my kids. While they were there, the boys and I watched "War of the Worlds". None of us loved that movie. But I still think it's fun having kids old enough to watch PG-13 movies.

Sat was a nice homebody day for me. Mostly trying to get bits of tasks done between feedings and trying to get Ruby to nap. Tyler took Steven to his first archery competition out in Grand Ledge. Steven wasn't thrilled about the long drive but he didn't complain too much. He did good but still has room for improvement. He scored 204. All bullseyes would be 300.I'm excited to see his progress.

And some random pics from the week...

Trick or Treat and Lucy Turns 11

Sunday I ended up chatting in the nursing lounge with the only other nursing mom in the Ward. She lives with her husband's family and her mil seems a little controlling,  although she would never say that. Makes me grateful for our own home and for a non controlling mil. After sacrament I ended up chatting with a friend who had moved 6 years ago but was back for a visit. Honestly we were not super close when she lived here but after catching up with her, I wish I had gotten to know her better when she was here. She was really down to earth and much nicer than some of the friends I had at that time. After church we rushed home so Ben could change and go to his last soccer game. I was staying home with Ruby but apparently I should've gone to help navigate because Tyler got so lost that they missed the game. I guess that's what we get for trying to break the sabbath :/

On Monday Tyler had Jury Summons so I basically planned to just survive the day. Ruby ended up having a really good day though so I was actually able to get quite a bit done. I wish I could figure out why some days are better than others but I will just find joy in the good days for now. Also on Monday, Lucy started volleyball. We had tried to get her on her friend's team but failed. However, they did a get to know you activity and Lucy said her team seemed fun.

Tuesday was Halloween! The kids all had school and got to wear their costumes. Nothing fancy year but plenty cute.

While the kids were at school I went to Grace's for lunch. Melissa and Caroline were there as well. We all had a good vent and I got to admire Grace's cute Halloween decor. I feel like my house has too much stuff for me to be able to decorate that nice. After school Steven took off to Max's (as per tradition) and I attempted to make a fun Halloween dinner- monster sandwiches. But the sandwiches had olives for eyes so obviously none of us would eat those. Still they were cute.

The weather for trick or treating that night was sooo cold and it even snowed. Ruby really hated her dragon costume so I ended up taking her out of it before we even left. Mariah came over and did the girl's makeup while Jeff took her kids to get dinner. Then once they were back and the May family was here, it was time to trick or treat. I put Ruby in her pumpkin costume and I only took her to one house- Sharon's. After that Tyler went off with the other kids while I passed candy with Caroline. Well mostly, Caroline passed candy because I was busy with Ruby. I guess Mariah's kids were slower trick or treating and they ended up seperating from everyone else. Mariah's kids were also sick so I think she was trying to keep them seperate anyways. She really worries about germs. Much more than I do.  

Tuesday was Lucy's birthday so she got to open presents as soon as she woke up. Her big gift this year was a Polaroid Camera. The camera and film was all that we got her. My parents got her a doll tent and then a gift that someone had given her at her party. She ended up returning the repeat gift for a Target gift card. Tyler's parents got her a camera cover, camera strap, photo album, and photo film. We totally forgot to take a pic of all the gifts but here is a belated pic of a couple things.

For lunch Mariah came over but her kids were still sick so she was hesitant to leave her car. So Tyler and Lucy hopped in and they went and got some Taco Bell and then she came inside but only for a short bit. Just long enough to eat and sing happy birthday to Lucy.

That afternoon Lucy went to Target with Claire to spend her birthday money and gift cards. Maybe she is finally growing up because she didn't spend it all at once like she tends to do. The only thing she got was an LOL Tween Doll so she is still fairly rich for once. Afterwards I took them back to our house so they could hang out. That evening Lucy had activity days where they had an un-birthday party for all the girls. A little weird that they chose to do that on her actual birthday but ok. I think she still had fun.

Thursday morning Tyler was nice and took the kids (and Ruby) to school. It was the first time in a long while that I had the house to myself, it was nice. Also on Thursday, Steven started archery. I am excited to see how it goes for him. It is something he is good at and he usually doesn't complain too much about it. His first competition will be next weekend.

Friday and Saturday I just might have got started with running some errands for Christmas. I know everything will take longer with a baby so getting started early seems smart. But also, I love being a planner aheader. And double also I love shopping. Penny joined me on my errands Friday but when I invited her Saturday she declared that I took too long shopping and she was not interested, lol. She did have some fun taking selfies while we were shopping Friday though.

Saturday night, Tyler and I (and Ruby) went on a date to Culver's. We are so romantical. 

And Ruby is 3 months now!