Monday was back to homeschool life and it was not a good week for homeschool. Lots of drama, mostly from Lucy who was getting really frustrated with math. I realized I wasn't being the best teacher, and needed to make comments that were more positive like "you are smart and I know you can do this!" than comments that were like, "you should have this already!". It is really hard to teach your own children.
Tuesday morning, Tyler and I attempted to go turn in our passport paperwork to a post office that said on their website that they had walk in hours, but when we got there we were informed they are understaffed and they don't do that anymore. That was really frustrating. As much as I hate phone calls, I decided we couldn't waste another trip so I called another place on the list while we were driving home. Their first appointment wasn't until Valentine's Day so it looks like we will be spending our Valentine's morning applying for passports. Very romantical.
Wednesday I dropped off the girls at school and then I attempted to clean out the guest room but was hindered by a toddler tornado. Thankfully Steven had a half day (off his already half day which means he gets home super early) and he ended up watching Ruby for a bit so I could finish cleaning up the room (mostly because he wanted to get on his computer in the guest room but not with me there). It feels a little better now but Ruby was getting fussy with Steven so I had to rush. After the cleaning, Ruby was an emotional disaster so we ended up going a walk. It had been a long time since we did our loop. The roads were still snowy and icy and I thought it was super ironic that a couple hours after our walk, a snow plow came through the neighborhood and cleared the roads. That evening Lucy had volleyball and it turns out they didn't have a coach for her yet so Tyler decided to volunteer. He is now coaching archery and volleyball which means he has something 4 nights a week to coach,lucky duck.
Thursday I was feeling spazzy about my bangs, they just didn't feel quite right, and Grace was nice and made time for me to come in to her salon and get them adjusted. She cut them slightly shorter and added in some side bangs. I feel much better about them and am grateful she puts up with me. I knew she wouldn't let me pay her (she sends me money back on Venmo when I try to) so I brought her a jar of pickles. It looked pretty funny when I pulled it out of my little purse.

Thursday Tyler also had his annual review with his boss. He was really worried because some of his friends, that he felt were personable and good employees had gotten laid off, but thankfully he did not get laid off. Instead he got raving reviews that came with a big raise and a good bonus. I know inflation and expensive kids will take most of that money but he is also hoping to pay a little more on our loans (student debt and equinox) . And as for the bonus, hopefully we can remodel our upstairs bathroom at long last and save some for our 20th anniversary trip next year.
Thursday, after dinner, Julie came over to drop off my canner that she had borrowed ages ago. She also brought Asher so we let the toddlers have a play date. Asher is talking a lot more than Ruby but he is a few months older. I was worried with Ruby not being a great sharer that it might be rough to have another toddler in her space but she did fine for the most part. She even "fetched" the balls that Asher threw, lol. I enjoy hanging out with Julie because she is the one mom that I know that is in a similar situation- older mom with a large gap between her youngest and her other kids. It is nice to have someone who can relate with the unique challenges that brings.
Friday, during Ruby's nap, I went to Stefanie's. She had some books she was wanting to pass on to someone else but really that was just an excuse for us to get together and catch up. It was a really nice outing talking about all the things in our lives- particularly our children growing up and travel wishes. Getting some new books to read was just an added bonus. For dinner Tyler and I went to Costco to pick up pizza and while we were there it snowed a lot and we had a very slippery drive back home. It was scary and was very grateful that it was Tyler driving, not me. That night the kids were all home so we watched "Flight of the Navigator". I thought it was a pretty fun old movie.
Saturday was fairly uneventful. Steven had work and Ben went to another archery tournament. This tournament Ben got 223, so 3 points higher than the last. It's fun seeing how he's improving. That evening we babysat Mariah's kids. I was having them play on the tablet and Jessie tripped over the cord and knocked it off the table. It scared me and I shouted her name. The tablet was just fine, but apparently, even though I told her a dozen times I wasn't mad at her and I knew it was an accident, I traumatized her by shouting her name. She got in the car and told her mom that I was mad at her and didn't love her anymore. Mariah said Jessie's never had an Aunt yell at her before, way to make me feel crappy. They ended up coming back so Mariah could show her I was not mad at her. It was a lot of hullabaloo about nothing.
Ruby this week seemed to either wake up early (like 6:30) or wake up during the night and need to snuggle for an hour before going back to her bed. She is getting more teeth in so I would like to blame this for the bad sleep but who knows. Ruby has also picked up some new words, like "ball" and "snow". I wish she would learn more specific words that just "food" though. I am tired of her just saying "food" when she wants to eat but not knowing what food she actually wants. This week Ruby discovered the joy of stacking play-doh containers and obsessed over stacking them and knocking them down and then repeating that for ages. She also still is obsessed with listening to the "Police Car Song" by Pink Fong.
And random pics because when I get new hair I tend to take lots of selfies to come to terms with my new face, lol.