Sidewalk Art

Sunday I took Lucy to her friend's brother's graduation party (Claire's brother). It was awkward since I only know Claire's mom so I talked with her for a minute and then sat for a little with Lucy and her friends. Lucy got tired of me being there very quickly so I didn't stay long. Lucy stayed but that is an awkward situation because Lucy is constantly competing with Brielle (who was also there) on who is Claire's bestest friend. It is a lose lose situation for both of them. 

Monday Ruby, Penny and I walked down to Dodge Park so we could make some sidewalk chalk art (Lucy was mowing the lawn, she loves making money). I did not expect Ruby to have much of an attention span with it but she was surprisingly entertained for a long while. Penny and I had fun too. I made a little sidewalk chalk obstacle course- walk the vine, spin in a circle, hop the lily pads hop scotch- and Penny helped me decorate it. Making art always makes me happy.

Tuesday afternoon both the girls had friends over- Mimi and Claire. Claire came over first and they thought it would be funny to be doing a pretend funeral for Claire when Mimi came over...They buried Claire under blankets, put on dark clothes and eye shadow and played the funeral march on the Alexa. They are weirdos but it always nice when Mimi and Claire come over, there is very little drama and lots of silly play.

Wednesday morning me and all the girls went to Dodge park and did some more sidewalk chalk art. Lucy and Penny made a sunset that was really pretty and pretty much used up all of our sidewalk chalk. I am glad they got so in to it though. It's nice when I can get them distracted from screen time. While they were coloring their masterpiece, Ruby played on the playground.

Wednesday evening the young men and young women had a combined activity at our neighborhood beach. The lake had just been treated the day before with chemicals so we probably all shortened our life span by playing in the water. I came because Tyler had a daddy daughter activity at the church with Penny at the church and I felt like one of us should be there since they were at our beach, but I probably did not need to be there. In the beginning it was just Ruby and me at the beach while everyone else ate under the ramada. Then Bishop and his couselor came over to the beach when the youth came in to swim but it is awkward with them. They want to talk about sports and how to "bulk up" and other boring men things. The young women leaders finally came down near the end but they were very cliquey so it was a pretty blah evening for me. The bright spot in the blah was when one of the yw, Renee, went out in the lake with Ruby and kept her entertained for a good while. I was really grateful for her help and a little break from Ruby.

 

Thursday morning I dropped off Lucy at her new babysitting job and Ben off at soccer conditioning and then I took Penny and Ruby to Scarlet's Park. Penny made me nervous going down slides with her broken arm and Ruby on her nap but thankfully no more injuries. 

Friday morning I went on a walk with Ruby, Penny, Lucy and Ben to seven eleven. We walked a different route and we happened to walk past a house with pet ducks in their front lawn. They had a sign with the ducks names and everything. Now my kids all want pet ducks. They were pretty cute. This time I did not get a slushee so Ruby did not have to get angry about sharing. I was smart and brought her a lollipop from home. Her sisters picked her some pretty flowers and she carried them around for a bit.

When we got back from the walk, I got a text from Grace letting me know she had a cancelation so if I wanted, I could bring my girls in to her salon. The timing was perfect, so I brought them in. Lucy got a little trim- trying to even up some layers as she grows out her pixie cut- and Penny got off a couple inches and got some good layering too. Grace was nice and even styled their hair, Penny loved the curls she gave her.

Friday night- after cleaning the house and doing a Costco run- I went with Lucy and Ben to the temple for baptism. Steven had to work at Taco Bell so he wasn't able to drive them but I was happy to be able to go because I hadn't been to the temple for ages. Also, since I was there, Ben got to drive so it was good for him to be able to accumulate some more hours. It is always peaceful at the temple and I love how calm I feel. After baptisms the youth always go out for ice cream at Culvers. I feel weird having them get me ice cream since I am not a youth so I didn't get any but then I felt sad that I didn't have anything.

Saturday Tyler's parents came in town. They had wanted to take everyone to dinner but Lucy had to babysit and Steven had to work so I thought we could do a late lunch instead. I made sure the kids did their screen time early- dealt with fights with Steven over computers- let them starve themselves and not eat lunch...only for Tyler to pick them up from the airport and take them out to lunch by himself. 

Also while waiting for them to get here I had a particularly frustrating conversation with Steven about senior things. He has senior photos this month and I wanted to know if I should just buy him something to wear or if he had opinions. After a lot of I don't knows, I think he agreed to let me dress him but I am sure that will back fire. Then I tried to talk to him about how he really wants to celebrate graduation and once more I got a lot of I don't knows. He thinks it's ridiculous that I am asking him so early but what he doesn't realize is all the planning that goes into something like this- especially because we need to figure out if we will have funds for what he wants or if we need to start saving a little each month. I hate that conversations about what should be good things, turn into fights.

Once Tyler's parents got here, they took us on a Costco run and treated all the kids to a box of their favorite treat/snack. Since I never buy fruit snacks, they pretty much all went for fruit snacks of some kind- hello cavities. Then his dad treated all the kids to Culvers- this time I got a treat so I didn't feel sad. The rest of our day wasn't too exciting. We hung out, went for a walk, I made a bean salad for a light dinner, and we watched "Day One Quiet Place"- even Penny watched it and didn't get too scared.

This week Ruby had a momentary obsession with the moon. Tyler had shown it to her when it was out during the day and she had asked about it another day so we explained it was high in the sky and ususally comes out at night time. So then she said "Moon high, moon sky, moon night, night"....over and over again. She is a pretty fun parrot.