Santa and Ward Party

Monday night we went to Mariah's house to celebrate Maverick's first birthday. They had delicious homemade ice cream and cake. Maverick covered himself in frosting and was super cute. He is such a chill baby, I feel a bit jealous. Also that night, Jessie and Penny did each other's make up. 

Tuesday night we did our typical visit to the library while the boys were at archery. There were some fun photo props so the girls had to get pictures. The West Acres Library is always quiet so it is a nice escape. Ruby just likes to climb up on all the tables and that can sometimes be frustrating.

Wednesday I was suppose to start our new Elf tradition but totally forgot- not a great start. So I did it while the girls were at school. We are not doing elf on the shelf but our elf- starfire- is traveling to see Jesus and has various scripture inspiring stops each day. For example the first day she was following the star (and she had a starburst trail) and on another day she was cold and was wrapped in a swaddling new blanket for the kids. It's not too much work, the kids seem to like it and it helps them think of the true meaning of Christmas, if only for a minute.

Penny had her showcase for theater and choir on Wednesday. Mariah and her kids came to watch her little play which was nice. It was about a small town that had an internet outage. Penny was a teenager and one of her parts involved her treating a librarian like Google search. It was silly and she did good. Then a couple hours later I had to come back for her choir concert. Tyler was able to come to this. They sung "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" "Onomonopia" "Somewhere in my Memory" and some African song. They did really well and her friend Luna was there and gave her flowers. They were hot pink and you could tell it made her feel special. Annoyingly they sill had another hour of school so dad had to get back home from work and then I had to drive out their again to pick up the girls. At least Ruby slept for most of the drive back home and then there again. 

Wednesday night Lucy had her last official volleyball game. Mariah's whole family came to watch. Lucy and her team won yet again. They really rocked this season. Tyler kept score so I had the task of wrangling Ruby. At one point another toddler that was there took Ruby's hand and tried to pull her around. Ruby was not a fan and made sure to hide from that girl for the rest of the night.  

Friday I picked up groceries early in the morning to try and avoid the Christmas shopping chaos. It sort of worked, I only had to wait 20 minutes...It seems the workers that load the groceries don't start their shift until my pick up time so it took them a bit to get started. That afternoon Mariah was going to come over while Jeff had a Zoom Interview- she didn't want the kids to be noisy and distract him. However, her normal late self did not get here until his interview was over- they had stopped at Costco first- and me and the kids had to leave shortly after she arrived because we had plans to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. It felt weird and awkward. She ended up staying after we left- Tyler was home working in the basement. Tyler family's and their lack of time management skills can be super annoying. Also annoying was Lucy and Penny squabbling over dumb things most of the drive to the Bass Pro Shop. Steven did not end up coming with us, even though he was suprisingly willing, just because he was worried it might make him late to work. The Santa visit itself went smoothly- only 2 families in front of us. The kids told Santa what they wanted and talked about their favorite cookies. The older kids were slightly awkward about it but they were good sports for Ruby.

After we saw Santa we strolled Bass Pro Shop for a bit and then we went to the Lego Store, I needed a few things. Then I took the girls to Claire's while Ben watched Ruby at the play place there. There were some fun Christmas earrings there that I wanted to get for both me and Lucy but I resisted the temptation because my budget is spent.

That evening, Steven had requested that Ruby come visit him at work so Tyler, Ruby and me went and had Jersey Mike's for dinner. There was this cute girl there that he did not speak to (and apparently he doesn't know her name) who looked like she was intrigued by our presence. I really enjoyed seeing him at work and teasing him and Ruby kept reaching to him and saying "bro!" it was cute. I took a stalker shot of Ruby watching him and I think I weirded out another customer who saw me take the picture.

Saturday we had the church Christmas party in the evening. Lucy brought her friend Claire along and Cherish and her girls met us there as well. The food was just pasta, salad and breadsticks bought from somewhere but I like that they didn't burden anyone with making all the food. Then they had the ward bring various desserts and that was the best part, so many good treats. After the food there was a very short program which I thought was perfect- a Christmas story was read, the primary sang a song, they played a video of various members talking about Jesus and the then they had a few woman sing a song. I think it was a nice night.

Christmas Lights

Sunday my nose stud got literally no comments so either they were thinking "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...." or no one really cares. I haven't had any issues with it, it's healing nice and I still think it looks fun.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Grace's house to take their family picture for them. I am so awkward and was worried I was ruining it with my unsteady hands and my tendency to accidentally get my fingers in pictures. They did not seem to like any of their inside pictures but liked the ones I took outside. Hopefully it was good enough for their Christmas card. That night I took the girls to the Commerce library while the boys were at archery. It wasn't too crazy busy but it was busy. A friend from the ward was their as well. Her daughter has tutoring Tuesday nights at the library. It was nice to chat with her and it was nice to get Ruby out of the house.  

Wednesday while the girls were at school I ran a couple of errands with Ruby and just walking from the car to the shops was enough to knock the breath out of you. It was COLD. When we got back, we watched June. Her mom had to go put their dog down and did not want to bring her along for that sadness. June was kind of weary of us at first but eventually got comfortable and played with some toys and ate a bagel. She's a cute kid and helped me out by telling me that Ruby was on the table when I was upstairs putting something away. Ruby has been driving me crazy with her table climbing antics all week and I have taken to just moving the chairs into the living room. She is exhausting. That night while the kids were at their church activities, I asked Tyler to take Ruby out on an errand and he was very nice and did that. It was a much needed break from my busy toddler. He even came back with a Lego Christmas tree for me to make. Can you spot them both on my mantle?

 

Thursday Lucy had her annual check up in the afternoon. When the nurse came in to do her shots, Lucy started breathing loud, short, rapid breaths because she was so anxious about it. I think it freaked the nurse out because she insisted that Lucy stay for 5 minutes after she got the shots, just in case Lucy got light headed. The nurse said that the vaccine Lucy got could cause fainitng but I really think it was because of Lucy's panic attack that she made us stay.

Thursday night we went to do our traditional drive of the Wayne County Lightfest. We went to Mariah's house first and swapped kids. Mariah had a girl's night so she didn't come but Jeff did with all their kids. Our car had all the girls (so we got Jessie) and their car had all the boys (so they got Steven and Ben). There was no line of cars when we got there so we drove right in which was nice but there also seemed to be more dark parts with no lights than usual. Not sure if we were misremembering or if they really did have less lights on. Ruby said "Wow!" a lot. Penny complained that we were driving too slow. And Lucy and Jessie seemed to enjoy the leisurely drive. It's hard to get good pictures in a moving, dark car.

Friday I went to pick up groceries and all the spots were full. Apparently the pick up has not slowed down, even though all the deals are done. Thankfully they had enough people working that I wasn't their too terribly long, just 30 minutes. That evening the older 3 kids were at the temple so we took the younger 2 to Culver's for dinner. Ruby was very popular. She kept making eyes and smiling at all the older people and they were soaking it up. It's fun when people pay attention to cuteness. 

Saturday Tyler got up with Ruby and for the first time in a long while I was able to sleep in, like actually sleep. Usually my body doesn't let me fall back asleep. It was really nice change. That afternoon Mimi came over and I felt like doing some crafts while she was here so the girls made some snow globes (that hopefully won't leak) and some ornaments out of a plastic cup (you color it and then it melts flat in the oven). They also spent hours playing school. Silly girls hate doing homeschool but love to pretend to be in school...

After being cooped up in the house because it was especially cold, I attempted to take Ruby out at the end of this week and she did not want to wear all the cold weather attire. She screamed and kicked but once she was outside on her "car" she was very happy. I am not sure if we are going to survive winter. 

And a list of the words Ruby knows- words she signs: food, more, please, all done, out, color, thank you (she also says thank you) words she says: bro (for Ben), wow, Lou (for Lucy), hi, night night, woof woof (for dog), ma, da, mwah (for kiss). And that's all I can think of but she's doing pretty good with communicating. 

Thanksgiving

This week for homeschooling the girls I decided to do just math Monday, just English Tuesday and then take the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. It was a good choice. This is the flexibility I really love about homeschooling. Monday was nice and chill overall. That night Lucy had volleyball practice so I dropped her off and then took Penny and Ruby to the library because there was a book the girls wanted. We were just going to run in real quick but shockingly it was empty so we decided to stay and play. Penny was able to build a fort with the tiles and we even got Ruby to go inside (but only because I went in too).

Tuesday Tyler was off work so after the girls finished English, Tyler, Ruby and me ran a couple of errands for Christmas presents. Then that afternoon Steven had his last dentist appointment for cavity fillings. As I mentioned before none of these cavity fillings have been covered by insurance thanks to his wisdom teeth taking all the money,so in the end we've paid almost $700 for his stupid teeth. This is probably just karma for all the money my parents spent on my teeth. On a happier note, that night Mariah, Penny, Lucy and I went to see "Wicked". I had high expectations for this movie and it didn't let me down. It turned out really well. My only complaint was it was long and I have been old and achy lately so it was hard for me to sit that long. Near the end I really wanted to get up and go for a walk but I also did not want to miss the movie. 

Wednesday I got an early Christmas present, Tyler took me to get my ears pierced. I went to a piercing/tattoo place because they are much more reliable but man was that place full of booby pictures that people could tattoo on themselves. SO many boobies. We had a bit of a wait because there were 2 people before me and the lady does a really thorough job of cleaning between people (which is a good thing). But the wait made me feel pretty anxious. I know I have had 4 c sections but still a piercing made me nervous. Mostly because it felt like an unknown quanity. When it was my turn she had a look at my ears and said the holes were totally still there from when I was a child and she could just stretch them out like she would with a gauge piercing. I was not confident that she would be able to do it without repiercing them but she did and with almost no pain, I had earrings! So since that ended up only being $30 I decided to go ahead and get my nose pierced. It has been something I have wanted for awhile but haven't really had the courage to do. It felt spontaneous and when she was asking me which nostril and about placement I really wasn't sure but now it's done and I am loving it. It's my little midlife crisis piercing and my small sparkly rebellion. My eyes watered when she pierced it and it was pretty sore the first night but it hasn't really bothered me since. I would definintely take the girls there to get their ears fixed/done.

Also on Wednesday Steven got his Oculus/VR headset that he had ordered and spent his hard earned money on. He had never bought something that expensive before and he was sure that there was no way they would just leave it on his doorstep. He was convinced he would need to sign for it. He was constantly tracking it from the moment he ordered it so he could make sure he was home. He of course did not actually have to sign for it but he was indeed home when it came. He was also convinced that having it shipped to him would mean that it would be in better condition than one that was at a store. He feels too many people handle the ones at the stores. He had all these silly, worried thoughts about his Oculus. Lucky for him his Oculus came with no issues and he has been enjoying it since.

That night Andrea was over so Ben, Lucy, Andrea and I did our classic movie night and I decided to have them watch "Disturbia". That was a poor choice. The first two thirds of the movie have lots of inappropriate stuff and the scary/action stuff doesn't really happen until the end. It felt mostly awkward to watch with them.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Tyler was insistent that we just do Thanksgiving with his sister's family this year so it was pretty low key. I took Ruby out in the cold snow in the morning while Tyler was prepping the turkey. Then I decorated the tables because I enjoy doing that but it is very time consuming. Then I started on my make ahead mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. While I was working on them Mariah's family came over. The kids watched "Wizard of Oz" (inspired by watching "Wicked") and not too long after it finished (but long enough that everyone was starving and I wished I had put out some snacks) it was time for dinner. We had the turkey, Tyler's special punch, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes and sweet potates. Mariah brought crescent rolls, some other veggies and crescent rolls, and then she made stuffing and cooked some bacon wrapped green beans just before it was all ready. It was a good meal. After dinner the kids watched the Veggie Tale version of "The Wizard of Oz" while we cleaned up and then it was pie time. I had been worried that it was going to be a stressful day but honestly, it ended up pretty low key. It was a good holiday and Ruby really took to Mariah that night and kept asking to be on her lap, it was cute. I also thought it was super interesting that Steven put on his thankful list that he was thankful for his job. Who would have thought?

Friday I had a chill morning. I took Ruby out to walk in the cold snow again and did some after Thanksgiving clean up and then it was time to start decorating for Christmas. Lucy was so pushy all morning about doing it...she reminds me of myself sometimes. We watched "While You Were Sleeping" while we decorated. This year I was going for a more whimsy, colorful tree. I think it turned out pretty fun

Friday night Tyler and I took Ruby grocery shopping at Walmart. I was worried about doing order pick up with it being black Friday. I had a really bad experience last year ordering grocery pick up on Cyber Monday that I did not want to repeat. The store was fairly empty and the lines weren't bad, but it definitely was more work for me than pick up. I have become lazy.

Saturday was another low key day. Mostly just checking things off my To Do list. That night Andrea was over again and Ben, Lucy, Andrea and I watched a movie from the 1960's, "The Birds". It was definitely an old movie, with a very slow beginning and weird ending and I am thinking I should not be allowed to pick out movies anymore. Ruby and Andrea are really becoming buddies though. At church today, Ruby would not go to anyone who was not family except for Andrea.

Ruby has not been the best sleeper this week. I think she is getting teeth in. The weather has also gotten super cold so maybe the temperature change is messing with her. Who knows? I still try to get outside with her everyday because I like to pretend that helps but I do not love the cold. Here are some silly pics of my cute baby.

First Snow

Monday night, Lucy's team had another volleyball match. Mariah's family came again. Lucy's group won all 3 matches despite only having 5 girls. Her team is pretty amazing. 

Tuesday I took the girls to Target because they love spending their money and they had got some on Monday for raking leaves for Sharon. We went while Ruby was napping (it was a half day so both boys were home to watch her). The girls bought Mini Brands and Penny made a mistake opening hers in the car and of course melted down when we got home and she was missing something. Her melt down woke up Ruby so I was not too happy. That night we met Mariah's family at the Commerce Library while the boys were at archery practice. Her husband was still out of town and she says she likes getting out. The library was super busy again and far too peopley for me. There were also a few kids that were super bossy. It seems that library may not be our best bet after all, for killing time at night. 

On Wednesday I decided to go to Ikea with Ruby while the girls were at school. The upstairs shower is a leaky mess so I have been just getting ready downstairs and that means I needed a little more storage space down there for all my things. Ikea had a thin cart for cheap that would be just perfect. Ikea wasn't quite open yet when we got out there so we made a couple stops. First we stopped at Home Depot to look at the Christmas decorations. Ruby was not a fan of the giant Santa, Grinch, Reindeer...they all terrified her. She did like the little singing dolls though. After that we went to Marshalls and looked at shoes for her. She had fun trying on some princess shoes that had a little heel. Then Ikea was open and we went and got my cart for the bathroom plus we found some new mugs for the kids. The mugs are much smaller and don't take up all of our counter space. It was a good outing. However, Ruby has taken to falling asleep in the car again, and I had a tough time keeping her awake on the drive home. I kept rolling down the windows but than felt bad because it was cold and made her cry. 

Thursday we woke up to a bit of snow. Ruby was not a fan of playing in it at first and I realized she probably needed some snow pants. Lucky for me I found a cheap pair on Facebook Marketplace close by so I picked them up during her nap. Then when she woke up, we dressed her up and let her go play in the snow. She had a little more fun and she was especially a fan of any puddles she can stomp in.

Thursday night we decided to try out the Westacres Library instead and that one was completely dead. It is so much neater and quieter but that almost made it a little boring, lol. Apparently we can't be happy.

Friday morning we had some intense drama with Penny over practicing her multiplication facts. I really wish I could find the proper way to deal with her melt downs. They are always over different issues and it just feels hard to find something that consistently works. That night the older 3 had a youth temple night so the younger 2 went with us to Culver's for dinner. 

Saturday the boys had an archery tournament. We found out earlier this week that Steven had placed 8th at the last one and got a medal! He was the first from Walled Lake to medal in a competition. Yay! But unfortunately this competition was not his best. He ended up with a 249 (26 less than the last competition). Ben scored a 148. It was his first competition and he definitely has lots of room to improve. 

 

While they were at their competition I decided to take the girls to the mall and we brought Lucy's friend, Claire, with us. We had a weird experience when we arrived and the automatic doors did not open all the way for us. We had to push through a small crack. Then the girls took a long time shopping at the store "Claire's" which was rough with Ruby. Ruby just wanted to touch everything and pull everything down. I decided after that to let them be independent and go do some shopping without me and Ruby for a little bit. Honestly it made me super anxious to let them be on their own and on top of that, Ruby got crabby because she wanted a snack and she did not like what I had packed (she kept signing "food"). While we were going up and down on an escalator we saw the girls and I felt relieved to be back with them. Apparently in the half hour they were being independent they only went to the candy shop and they spent all their money. They had some fun at the Crocs store and then we all decided it was time to head out. We made one quick stop to look at puppies on our way out. Everybody loves the puppies.

Walk and Library

Monday Tyler was off for Veterans Day. He had a lazy morning while I homeschooled and then that afternoon I left him with the kids so I could do a quick run to the Outlet Mall. I had a Christmas dress to pick up for Penny and then I wanted to grab some of those silly sodas they have at the sweet shop while I was kid free. The kids really liked trying to guess the soda flavors for New Years last year. I feel like in years past I was always the only one prepping for Christmas things this early but now it seems like everyone is being an early bird and I am not a wierdo anymore. I don't really like it though because having everyone else prepping somehow makes me feel like I am now behind. Anxiety can play some weird mind games with me.

Monday night Lucy had a volleyball game. Tyler stood in as coach since her coach was unable to be there (and I may have volunteered him to help). Mariah came to the game with all her kiddos so between her littles and Ruby it was a bit chaotic. Lucy's team creamed the other team for the first 2 games but the last game, the other team made a good comeback. 

Tuesday after the girls finished their work, Penny, Ruby and me went for a walk at Proud Lake. Lucy said she wasn't that into walks and did not want to come. She is getting very teenagerish on me and reminding me a lot of Steven. The walk was really nice. It was cold but with the sun shining it didn't feel so bad. Ruby actually walked for a good chunk of it and she really seemed to enjoy being out and about. And Penny was a good big sister and had fun finding sticks.

Tuesday night while Ben and Tyler were off at Archery, I took the girls to the library. We lucked out and it was super empty. The girls got free reign of the new fort tiles that were there. They are really cool and I had been considering having the grandparents get them for us for Christmas but they aren't super stable, they hurt when they fall on you and Ruby was terrified to go in the forts the girls made. So I think it will suffice to just play with them when we go to the library.

Wednesday, after dropping the girls off at school, I went pant shopping for myself. Poor Ruby had to tag along with me. I went to three stores and found some good deals and that was a lot of shopping for Ruby. At Kohl's I had to go change her diaper (she seems to always poop when we go out)and I was letting her walk after we left the restroom. As we passed the bedding section she immediately went for the soft bedding and stuffies and grabbed as much as she could. When we went to Walmart, I took her to the toy aisle after looking at clothes. She did not care about the toys but once again, went for all the stuffies. She is obsessed with all things soft and would probably love just blankets and stuffies for Christmas but we do not need anymore of those things. After the shopping, we came home for a bit and then I went to go pick up some Water Wow books from someone and she decided to fall asleep in the car. She took a 20 minute car nap and that was it for naps for the day. I hate it when that happens.

That night Lucy had volleyball practice but there were no church activities that night so everyone else was home. I decided to be the mean mom and not let them watch TV. They had been watching "Teen Titans Go" non stop and it is funny but it was still driving me crazy. Penny was really upset with me not letting her watch it but Ben rolled with it and played a game of Scrabble with me. It was a tight game and he kept refusing to accept defeat, but I won in the end.

Thursday was a super rainy day. After the girls finished homeschool (and it was a dramatic day of it), I took them shopping for some clothes. Now that Lucy has her wide leg jeans, she was feeling like her shirts were too babyish. She told me she needed, and I quote,"my age" clothes. And Penny was having wide jean envy and wanted her own pair. Lucky for them, Kohl's was having a good sale so we went there and were able to get some good deals. Ruby was not happy about being dragged along for more shopping though. She was hard to keep happy but we survived.

Thursday night we had nothing going on so 4 out of the 5 kids went to the library with me. This time we were greeted with a very busy library full of little ones. Ben tried to build some things with the fort tiles but the little kids kept breaking what he built. So he gave up and worked on putting together train tracks instead. It wasn't quite as fun as when the library was empty but it was still nice to get out of the house and kill some time. 

Early morning Friday Ruby woke up coughing and it was a rough next couple of hours. I hate this lingering cough. Friday I was trying to get some projects done after homeschool and was reminded how tricky that is with a toddler. Anytime she sees me doing something she wants my attention and she is not one who is easily distracted or who can focus on playing with something. That night I went over to Grace's house for a girls' night  and we all had a good chat. I vented about the struggles of homeschooling my girls and Grace had some good suggestions for ways to handle their meltdowns. We shall see if they help.

Saturday we watched Mariah's kids so she could get some Christmas shopping done. Jeff is out of town for a couple weeks so I am sure it was a much needed break. That night Tyler, Ruby and I did a Walmart run and got Culver's on the way back. Then I watched the 1980's version of "Poltergeist" with Lucy, Ben and Andrea. It wasn't super scary, just kind of weird and a bit gory at times.

Some silly things this week... Ruby likes to abandon the spoon and eat yogurt from her finger. She also learned a new trick this week- throwing things away. She threw away half the contents of my bottom kitchen drawer before I realized what she was doing. Ben decided he had too much hair so Tyler cut it this week- the pic below is the before when it was driving him crazy. 

Bronner's

Monday we did homeschool in the morning and then we went to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall to try and find Lucy a pair of jeans that fit. That was an ordeal that no one enjoyed. Ruby and Penny were bored to tears and Lucy was sick of trying things on by the end. It is just so hard to find something that fits her tall and thin body- I can totally empathize with that. At first she was all about the flare pants but then she tried on wide leg pants and realized how comfy they were and we ended up finding a pair of wide legs that fit her (it just requires using the adjustable waistband). So after an hour of trying on things, she ended up with one pair of new pants. We got pretzels to make up for the frustration of it all. Later that day we did one more shopping trip to Hobby Lobby so she could use the giftcard she got for her birthday. She ended up getting nothing crafty and instead bought a makeup bag, eyeshadow and lip gloss that were all candy themed. Not quite what I thought she would buy at Hobby Lobby but she was happy with her purchases.

Tuesday the kids all had off of school for election day. Tyler and I went voting after I got Ruby breakfast. The line wasn't bad at all so it was a quick outing. After voting I did a workout and then we all got ready to go on our annual outing to Bronner's to pick out new ornaments. Unfortunately, Steven did not want to go with us. He claimed he had too much homework but when we got back, he was long done with it and gaming. It makes me sad that he doesn't want to spend time with us anymore. Other than not having him there, it was a good outing. 

Ben picked out his usual marshmallow snowman ornament. This year he was able to find one that was a soccer player which was perfect. Lucy took ages to decide what she wanted but she finally chose one that looked like fruity candy. Of course, Penny picked a Stitch ornament. Although there was a marshmallow snowman that placed a close second. Ruby actually had an opinion and turned down a few dog ornaments before choosing one that she did not want to give back. There was a baby shark one that she held for a bit but in the end, she ultimately put it down for the dog ornament. She is choosy. And the kids picked out a nerdy marshmallow snowman for our no show Steven.

After Bronner's Lucy still had a giftcard she wanted to spend so we went to Home Goods. She ended up finding a mushroom bedding set that she loved and bought. She was tired of her "little girl" bedding that she had. Then I made her go to Old Navy and try on another pair of pants. She was not happy about doing more pant shopping but we did find her one more pair of pants that she loves.

That night I stayed up too late watching the election results. When it seemed like it was pretty promising to Trump, I went to bed. When Ruby woke me up the next moring at 6:00 (thanks Daylight savings, for the earlier wake up calls) the results were in. Trump ended up winning. I honestly don't love him, but I am going to be hopeful that he does good things for our country. I trust him more than the other candidate.

Wednesday while the girls were at school, Ruby and I ran a couple of Christmas errands. When I got back home I was going to try and get outside with Ruby but I got distracted by the kids' rooms and did some cleaning. Both rooms needed more cleaning than I had time for but I did slightly improve them. The boys had a half day which was nice. It meant I did not have to wake up Ruby from her nap to pick up the girls. Wednesday night Lucy had volleyball practice while everyone else went to the church. I was feeling a little cranky so Tyler watched Ruby and I went and got a few things at Krogers after dropping Lucy off. It is amazing how just a short moment of kid free time can recharge me. 

Wednesday night was rough for Ruby and me. She woke up at 5:00am coughing and would not go back to sleep. I ended up downstairs with her after an hour of trying to get her to sleep and eventually she climbed onto the couch and fell asleep on me. Tyler almost woke her up coming home from seminary and so I almost murdered him.

Thursday Ruby was super fussy because of the rough night and to make the day even more challenging, she had a dr's appointment. Ruby found the whole appointment traumatizing- she did not want to stand on the scale, be measured and most of all she did not like getting 3 shots. I was glad that Lucy had come with me. She was really helpful. Ruby was pretty cranky for the rest of the day and did not like her legs to be moved or bumped. That night,after dinner, I took the girls to the library. I am struggling with it getting dark at 5:30. That means no more going outside so I thought the library might be a nice alternate. It was alright but I miss the outside.

Friday was rough. Ruby woke up at 5:30am coughing and did not go back to sleep. Since this was day 2 of interrupted sleep, I was extra exhausted and on edge. Then to make matters worse both girls gave me grief during homeschooling. Lots of anger and frustration. I don't know why it has to be so difficult. Then it was Penny's turn for a doctor's appointment. She was really anxious but only had to get one shot so it wasn't too terrible. Later that afternoon I left the kids and went painting with Debbie. It was nice to get away  and do something creative. I have missed our painting "dates". She was dog sitting for a dog that actually did not annoy me too much- although some of its hair got in the paint. I came home for a bit after that and then ditched my kids again to go on a last minute hang out with my friend. She is officially filing for divorce and it's such an emotional rollercoaster for her. We just picked up some Sonic's and talked in the car for a long while. My heart hurts for her.

Saturday we had no plans so I was able to be somewhat productive and then Tyler and I went out on a date that evening. We went to the Filling Station which is so pricey but their burgers are just so good that we have to go every now and then. It was a lot busier than it usually is which is good. I want them to stay in business. After dinner, we did a quick stop at Target. I am also looking for pants but I did not spend as long as Lucy did shopping.