Busy May

Sunday was Mother's Day. I figured I had already been pretty spoiled with shoppoing trips so I didn't expect too much for the actual day. The kids greeted me with gifts in the morning. Ben gave me a drawing book I had wanted- The book of a Hundred Hands. Lucy gave me cold hard cash- $10. Penny gave me a framed picture of us and a topsy hair tool. Steven gave me another drawing book- sketching from the imagination. Ruby failed me, lol. She promised me flowers but did not deliver. All in all I was properly spoiled in gifts. Lucy gave a talk at church. She gets super nervous so she kind of rushed through it and her jokes didn't quite deliver but I am proud of her for getting up there. After sacrament the Bishopric told us how amazing woman are (in their long winded fashion) and then we got to eat. The food this year was really good- biscuits and gravy, and cinnamon rolls- plus the usual fruit and yogurt. I feel a bit bad for the bishopric wives who probably did all the cooking. I ended up sitting at a table with Carli, Sam R, Sam S, Melissa, and Ranell. It was a good time overall. 

After church I took a nap and did my best to be lazy but Tyler was cooking kabobs which take a lot of time so Ruby still needed some tending to. That afternoon my parents arrived so we could properly celebrate my mom too. We all had a nice dinner together and Ben was nice and made oatmeal butterscotch cookies for dessert. We ended the day playing our usual games. It was a good mother's day.

Monday felt hectic. The girls were having an emotional time with their school work plus it was clean the house day and pick up groceries day. Getting groceries became complicated when there was a car accident in the round about and I had to take an alternate way to get to Walmart- it added a lot of time to drive. Then when I got there, they had moved the pick up location. I had thought I was the only one there but of course I wasn't that lucky. When I got to the right spot there were 6 other cars there. So annoying.

Monday night I had Craft Club at Tana's. This time it was a younger crowd- Tana, Ranell, Sam R, Cassie, and Nahoko (she carpooled over with me). I love how willing Nahoko always is to join me in things. I just brought coloring this time. I felt a bit like I needed to keep the conversation going and I ended up over sharing. I have regrets but I think all in all it was a bit more successful than last time. 

Tuesday was another busy morning. Homeschooling was still a lot and I had a couple errands to run and my parents needed some help with getting some things for their house. After Ruby's nap we went to Asher's house so we could wish him a belated happy birthday. Ruby had picked out some fun bug toys for him and Julie had some leftover cupcakes and ice cream for us. Asher got a bit crazy after the cupcakes and after helping Ruby out of her jacket and taking off her shoes, he led her to his room where chaos ensued. There was hiding under the bed, jumping on the bed, Asher tackling Ruby, lights being turned on and off by Asher's brothers, toys being thrown by Asher...But Ruby didn't seem to mind it all. She laughed through most of it. Although now she keeps telling me how Asher beat her. That will be a fun story for when they are older.

Tuesday night Tyler and I went to Chili's. We carpooled over with Grace and Jason and Carli and Josh met us there. The chips and salsa were on point and I mostly filled up on them. I felt like I was able to particpate a bit more in the conversation so maybe 6 is my limit for groups. Anything over that and I disappear. Overall it was a good outing.

Wednesday homeschool felt a little less intense which was good since Ben had an orthodontist appointment in the morning to get to. He now has joined the braces club and he is miserable. All the food he loves to eat, is just too hard to eat right now. While he was at his appointment, Steven was nice and took Lucy and Penny to the Renaissance End of Year Picnic and Nahoko was nice and agreed to watch out for my girls until I got there. After the appointment Ruby and I met the girls at the park. It was cold this year and that made it a little less fun (temps in the 40's). Nahoko, Ruby and I went down one of the nature trails with the Penny and Mimi and their friends. We ended up getting futher than expected and so I made everyone go back before parents started wondering if I had kidnapped their kids. Afterwards Ruby played at the playground for a bit and then we headed home. Penny got some super cool face painting done at the picnic.

Wednesday evening I didn't want to take Ruby with me to Penny's soccer practice because I was done being outside in the cold so I left her at home with Lucy. Unfortunately Tyler had a late day at work and didn't get home before Lucy had to go somewhere. So Lucy was going to have Steven watch Ruby but there was some miscommunication between them and Steven didn't hear Lucy leave and Ruby was left downstairs alone. Ruby thought everyone had left her and when Tyler finally got home he found her sitting in her carseat that was by the back door crying. She now has anxiety about being left and will get really anxious if people disappear out of her sight. Poor traumatized toddler.

Thursday I got up earlier so we could get homeschool done before Ruby's preschool co-op. I was impressed that the girls were able to get it done before I left. Preschool was at Kelli's house again and it was nice. Once again a nice little circle time and craft. Ruby really likes Kelli's older boy and spent a lot of time playing with him. She especially liked a dancing robot that he had. She made sure to tell all her siblings about it when we got home.

After Ruby's nap we met Asher and Julie at the dock and they had fun splashing each other for a bit but then Asher went #2 so we went back to their house so she could change him. He has a fun yard and they have a toad back there that she got to hold. They also swung on the saucer swing together and just are such a cute little couple of friends.

Friday was homeschool and then I took Lucy to Sister Miller's to mow her lawn. While she mowed, Penny, Ruby and I walked over to Scarlet's park. It was a warmer day and it felt good to be outside. On our walk I saw this tree that looked like it was hugging another tree and I just had to take a picture.

Friday evening we had youth baptisms at the temple and I took the girls since the boys were working. It was nice to enjoy the peace of the temple and then socialize a bit with some of the other adults at Culver's afterwards. My girls had fun playing "Imposter" at the table after they finished their ice cream. I am glad they enjoy spending time with people from our church.

Saturday morning Penny had a soccer game. Julie's triplets were in the opposing team so we got to sit by Julie's family. Ruby loved having Asher to play with and fight with. She kept stealing his chair and his water bottle. He kept stealing her toys. They also spent some time running in circles around everyone. They are cute. The weather was rainy earlier but during the game it ended up being perfect weather. Penny's team ended up winning 2 to 1.

Recorders and Nationals

 Sunday Ruby woke up coughing and I debated skipping church but in the end, I decided to go. Her cough kind of died down as the morning progressed so I figured she was probably fine. She spent most of the sacrament meeting with Sister Pearce. Sister Pearce is nice and lets Ruby color on her tablet and also lets Ruby use her special markers and color in her notebook. Ruby in turn told Sister Pearce stories about a show where a person shot a car. Ruby told her she thought that was funny- she really needs to stop watching you tube with my older kids. I appreciate Sister Pearce.  After sacrament I hung out in nursery for a bit to see how Ruby was doing with the other toddlers but they don't interact much in the beginning. They eat snacks and do a lesson. She seemed ok so I left and went to Sunday School like a good girl. After church I had a zoom RS mtg and then after that Ben had a soccer game. I don't love busy Sundays. The girls all came to Ben's game. It was a bit cool out but not too bad. Ruby was very energetic and had to be chased around. She is also very extroverted and gets in everyone's businesss. Someone had a big dog and she kept running up to it and petting it and trying to make friends with the dog's owners. She is hard on my introverted heart.

Monday the weather was nice so I worked hard to quickly get through all the things- picking up groceries, working out, cleaning the house, and school work- so we could get outside. I managed to get it all done and then we went for a walk to 711. The weather was great going there, but coming back I started to get a bit warm. I think it's because there is a tricky part walking back where there is no sidewalk, a crevice and its uphill. If it was just me it wouldn't be so bad but pushing Ruby's stroller on that part gets me every time. Right now it looks like they are building a sidewalk on the other side of the road  and that will be so nice to have.

Monday evening I did a little mother's day shopping for myself. I asked Tyler if I could just have some guilt free money for mother's day and he came through. It was really nice to be able to shop for myself- I tend to spend most of my money on my kids. After all the shopping I ended up with a little bit of everything- some clothes, shoes, jewlery, hats. I feel properly spoiled and I am quite happy with my spoils.

Tuesday Ruby and I decided to just go to the library to play- storytime is over for now. Unfortunately the library was closed for professional development so we went to a different library. I don't love that one as much, but it was still nice to get out for a bit. 

After lunch, we went to the girls' school for Penny's recorder recital. I do not love the sound that recorder makes but I will say they did a fairly decent job of playing the right notes together. I was impressed.

We had to have an early dinner Tuesday because the boys had a pep rally and shoot out for the nationals tournament. Ruby, Penny and I tagged along- Lucy stayed at home as per usual. The pep rally was a little sad- maybe 50 people spread through the bleachers. They introduced all the archers going to the nationals and talked about how exciting it was and then took a group picture. Then they did a shoot out- one last practice before nationals. They were selling Dairy Queen ice cream so Ruby did pretty well since she was able to overdose on sugar.

Wednesday, after school and work, the boys headed off to Nationals in Kentucky. Meanwhile I took Penny to soccer practice. Ruby and Lucy came along, so we hung out at Central Park in Milford. It was a little cool again so it wasn't very peopley but Ruby managed to latch on to what people were there. Near the end she started chasing a girl and they became pretty quick friends. The girl loved being having Ruby chase her which was great. The father of the girl chatted with me for a bit- his wife had just had her second baby. Ruby really is forcing me to talk to people when I would really be ok to not talk to people, lol.

We picked Penny up early from practice so I could take both girls to the young women's activity. It was at the Jones' home. I ended up just staying with Ruby because it wasn't worth driving back home. I had a nice chat with the new mom in the ward. She seems pretty cool and I definitely need to get our girls together since her girls homeschool as well. It would be great to have more homeschool friends.

Thursday, while the girls were at school, Ruby and I went to the preschool co-op. It was at a new house this time, Kelly's, and it was so much more like a preschool- that made me happy. There was circle time, a matching game, a book, an active game (mother may I?), a craft (making mother's day cards) and then snack time. Ruby enjoyed it and we were still able to get some nice chats in. Nobody brought up the Memorial Day bbq so I am going to let that drop for a bit...But Sam did bring up frustrations with the rift between our ward and the other ward that meets in our building. Apparently the yw presidency is unwilling to try to bridge the rift and it all seems very petty. Especially now that we have a family from the other ward in our ward.

The girls had Field Day at school Thursday so I was able to pick them up a little later. We ended up going to Chuck E after I picked them up. Chuck E had gotten rid of some rides/games and had gotten some new ones. At first I was excited about the change up but I am not so excited anymore. They got rid of the police car- Ruby's favorite!- and a couple games that Ruby and I could actually play together (a lizard that catches bugs and space invader). The ones they added are not the best. There is one that drops balls on you and both girls said it hurts. There is a Lugi Mansion one but they girls said it was confusing. It looks like they replaced the police car with an old noah's ark ride. Ruby didn't love it at first but it seemed to grow on her so maybe it will become her new favorite.

After Chuck E, we went and got dinner at Chick-Fil-A. We managed to bribe Ruby to eat her food with ice cream and then she played in the play place for a bit. Of course, she immediately made a friend. When the other girl was on something that Ruby wanted to play on, Ruby sang Daniel Tiger to her "You can take a turn and then I'll take a turn." It was funny and effective.

After Chick-Fil-A, we stopped at Costco for treats (and diapers) and then we went home to veg out. When home, a potty seat I had bought for Ruby had arrived, and she was excited to use it. She sat out on it many times and she even tinkled once. She has not sat on it since she tinkled but it was a nice intro to the potty nonetheless.

That night, to continue our girls fun, we watched some of "Frozen 2" with Ruby and then after she went to bed, the girls watched "Pride and Prejudice" (the mormon version). 

Meanwhile....the boys had fun in Kentucky shooting arrows and going to horse races at Churchill Downs. They did not do spectacular with shooting but I think it was still a cool experience for them, And they did not bet on any horses but apparently, if they had, Steven would have won us some money.

Friday we had a rough morning homeschooling- lots of feelings during math, but the rest of our morning and afternoon were fairly chill. Lucy went to mow a nearby ward members lawn. Penny, Ruby and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and down in the woods while she mowed. Lucy made $30 mowing (an hours worth of work) but she is still not convinced it's worth the money. She reminds me a lot of Steven.

That evening the boys came home. I think they were a bit tired and were a bit cranky with me. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for celebrating Steven's graduation and he shot me down. And Ben was wanting to ditch a soccer game so he could stay longer at a party which annoyed me. It was a day of feelings. I ended the day outside walking with Ruby though, and that was really nice.

Saturday Penny had a soccer game in the morning. I went by myself since she had to go early for pictures. This is probably her last season with this team so I decided it was time to finally buy them. I met the grandma of her friend on the team and she was a really nice lady. The game was nice for us, Penny's team creamed the other team. Tyler ended up coming for the last 10 minutes with Ruby because he said I had guilted him into coming. I had not but whatever. The rest of my Saturday was pretty uneventful which is just the way I like it. 

Is it Really Spring?

Saturday night Ruby was up off and on and I wasn't able to get much sleep. I ended up sleeping in later than I usually do Sunday morning and I had to rush to get everyone ready for church. I might have considered skipping church, but Ben had a talk, it was a Relief Society Sunday and I had a meeting after church. 

Ben did well with his talk- he told a funny story about how he thought he was doing service for me by coloring on things in the bathroom-with sharpie. Then I spent most of Relief Society busy- talking with a sister who rarely comes, taking attendance, printing out a new sheet for the missionary calendar and then passing the missionary calendar around. After church we had training by the stake rs presidency. It was a useful meeting and I feel like we have a better understanding of  what our roles are. I think we have some room for improvement. After the meeting I had no other plans so it made for a nice Sunday. We video chatted with my parents, I made homemade toffee, and we played some of our favorite games.

Monday was busy. I spent the morning cleaning and then Penny's friend, Claire, came over around lunchtime. This was our first time having her over and I think they had a good time. I took them thrifting so they could find a purple shirt for color day at their school. They ended up finding a pretty cool 80's/90's outfit and they each took a piece of it- Penny got the pants and Claire got the jacket. The outfit was honestly more neon green than purple but they liked the idea of matching and then wearing some purple accents. I could not convince them otherwise. I told Penny she was going to have to wear that outfit with confidence- and she did!

That night there was Senior Academic Excellence Night but Steven had no desire to go. I was honestly grateful he didn't want to go because it was supposed to be 2 hours long and that felt like that would be really awful with a toddler. My friend Stacey went and said it was super boring and all of the same kids won awards. Does not sound like we missed anything. 

Instead of going to that, we went to Costco and Home Depot. At Home Depot we picked out flooring. I can't wait until we replace our gross flooring and have something a bit nicer. Although I am not excited about the upkeep. Carpet may be gross but vacuuming is easier than cleaning vinyl flooring. Ruby's favorite thing to do at Home Depot these days is to pet all the carpet samples. It is quite funny.

Tuesday we skipped library time because Ruby had a pretty gross runny nose and sounded pretty congested. Instead I spent most of the moring working on the newsletter for relief society and posting relief society events on the facebook page. It really wasn't that much but somehow it consumned my morning. 

Tuesday after I got back from picking up the girls, Ruby decided she just wanted to hang out in my car. We literally spent an hour in there with her playing and me reading. At one point our bug guy came and I wondered what he thought of me sitting in the car for so long.

After dinner we went on a walk with Julie and Asher. Ruby and Asher spent a long time jumping of the dock (it wasn't out in the water yet). They would jump off and we would catch them. Another family that Julie knows came to play on it too and gratefully, their dad caught Ruby when she jumped before I could get there. She is far too brave.

Wednesday morning was full of lots of math, a work out, a little baking, and I took Penny to her orthodontist. Her orthodontist told her she has to turn the key on her expander 12 more times. She doesn't love that, but at least the end is in sight.

Wednesday evening I took Penny to soccer practice. It was raining in the beginning so I left Ruby at home with Tyler. It was really nice to just sit in my car, watch a show and draw my day. 

Thursday had a rough beginning. I went to start the car so it could warm up before I took the girls to school and realized Ruby's car seat was not there. It was in Tyler's car and he was already at work. I panicked. I couldn't take Ruby that far (and back) without a car seat. I thought of Julie and asked if I could borrow Asher's car seat but she didn't get back to me. I ended up calling Sharon and asking her if she could watch Ruby. She was so nice and said "yes". I feel so grateful to her and her willingness to help. She read with Ruby, let her pick a tulip from her yard, had her play with her dogs, colored with her and gave her a giant mug full of juice, lol. She had a great time and the girls were able to get off to color day at their school.

Tyler was nice and brought the car seat home. He arrived shortly before I got home so that Ruby and I were still able to go to the Preschool Co-op. She still had a bit of a runny nose but I decided to go anyways. Hopefully she didn't disease everyone. It ended up just being a play date. The ladies got to chatting so much that there wasn't time for any singing or lessons. One of the ladies in the Ward (that I don't think likes me much) got on a tangent about why she essentially doesn't like our ward- it doesn't feel like a family, there are not enough ward activities. The thing is, she has made friends with most of the young families in the ward and does things with them so I am not sure what she thinks she is missing out on. Our ward as a whole is a bit of a dysfunctional family in my opinion (and I am ok with not hanging out with them often). Anyways she tried to arrange a Ward Memorial Day BBQ at my beach, even contacted the Bishop, but it didn't take. However, it sounds like I will be hosting these ladies and their family at my beach for Memorial Day. Not sure how I feel about that.

After that fun, Ruby and I went to the girls school for Lucy's ukulele recital. First we got to watch a dance recital, and that can feel awkward to watch. Then came the ukuleles. Lucy played a lot of fun songs "Row Row Row Your Boat" "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" "Jeopardy" "You are my Sunshine" "Jurrasic Park" "Island in the Sun" "Riptide".  She seemed to do well but it was hard for all the kids to stay together on songs. Ruby wasn't too crazy during it, but she did make it challenging for me to record the songs.

After school we took Penny's friend, Mia, home with us. Julie happened to be walking by when we pulled in our driveway so I ended up inviting her and Asher in- it was cold outside. Ruby and Asher have strated to interact more. Ruby did Asher's makeup (and then he did hers) and then they took "naps" on the couch. They also had a gigglefest over opening and shutting the toilet. They are cute.

After dinner Penny and her friend played outside. For some reason it felt a little warmer than when we had gotten home from school. Mia and Penny had fun giving each other wagon rides and then painting their faces with side walk chalk.

Friday was a pretty chill day. We did schoolwork and then I took the girls to Walmart. Ruby thought it was funny to put her baby doll's pacifier in her mouth on the way home.

Then I baked some cookies as a thank you for Sharon and we had pizza for dinner. That night Tyler and I watched Black Phone 2. It was very disappointing. It was too much about gore and special affects and not enough about plot.

Saturday morning Penny had a soccer game. It was another cold game- 40 degrees. It didn't feel too bad when the sun was out and the wind wasn't blowing, but when the opposite happened it was cold. Ruby made a friend while we watched the game, her name is Alice. Ruby really insterted herself but Alice seemed more than happy to welcome her. They had a fun time running around in circles. Penny's team ended up tying one to one.