February Break

My girls were out of school all week this past week for mid-winter break.  Here are some of our adventures:

Monday: I was sick today.  Bleh.  Yucky cold/sinus/raw throat kind of funk.  We stayed in and did a few crafts today.  The kids played together pretty well inside, which always helps when your head feels like it's about to explode (plus, it was chilly and threatening to rain, so I'm glad we could stay warm inside).  Finally, I made an appointment at the nearby Walgreens to get checked out.  Sinus infection was diagnosed, and she gave me a couple of prescriptions plus told me an over-the-counter medicine to take.  After the 2 hour wait/appointment, I took the kids to Chick-fil-a to burn some energy playing on the playground and we grabbed an early dinner there, then headed home.  (Stephen is in California Monday- Thursday, and then a day trip/flight somewhere on Friday).

Snow paint!  Equal parts salt, flour, and water.  Mix together, paint on paper, and it dries to look like snow.  I did 1/2 cup of each and it was plenty for all 3 (and me!)

We are keeping the tooth fairy busy over here.  Sydney lost tooth number 6!

Tuesday: I woke up today feeling so refreshed!  Today was the day when Raegan came to play.  We took Parker to school and then went to the Mall of GA.  We ran to a couple of stores outside the mall, ate lunch at Panera Bread, then went to the mall itself.  The girls and I had fun walking around, going into stores, and they had the best time on this little inside playground.  We left, went to pick up Parker, and then the kiddos played the rest of the afternoon away outside.  The weather was gorgeous today!

Best friends.

I was trying to tease Raegan's mom, sending her pictures of things we were going to buy.  Like this, and the 3"  long feather earrings.

They got some new friends! (Just what they need...)

That evening, Kristin and her 2 kids brought pizza over so we could all eat and hang out.  The kids had fun (Savannah and Sydney are the same age, and Parker and Ryker are the same age).  The main incident was Parker breaking in the pantry to get the mini-chocolate chips, putting them in his bulldozer toy, and then dumping them out all over the carpet in his room.  Like, hundreds of little chips.  Yep, that happened.

Dinner with friends!

The finger and thumb suckers.

The rest of the night and Wednesday's adventure can be found here.  (By the way, I figured out why I was so tired.  The medicine I was taking had a stimulant in it- even though it said to take every 12 hours- and it made me have insomnia!  As I was wide awake at 3 AM one morning, I googled the medicine and it said about 10% of women have insomnia from it.  Maybe I should play the lotto.  Needless to say, I stopped taking it)

Thursday: The girls and I took Parker to school, and then we headed back to the Mall of GA to meet Grandmom and DeeDad!  We went to a few stores, ate lunch, chatted a while, and then made our way back to get Parker.  Stephen was home (yay!) so we played outside a bunch that afternoon, playing a lot of tag.

Carpool line selfie.

Made my day- my old co-workers sent me this picture.  I always initiated this game with them (you make this symbol, and if someone looks at it, you get to hit them.  Total middle school maturity level, but we would all have the best laughs with it) and I'm glad to see they haven't forgotten it. ;)

A grave?  No, Parker just stuck my fake-flowers-that-I-was-trying-to-pass-off-as-real-flowers-in-February in the ground.

Friday: I was going to take the kiddos out somewhere today, but all of us felt a little under the weather today. :(  So, we tried out a few new crafts for fun.  (see below)  We played some games and literally bummed around the house all day long.  I got a lot of stuff done, which was nice.

A fun little science experiment.  Food coloring and white vinegar in a cup, and then you add a teaspoon of baking soda to it.  You then watch it "explode" (or simply bubble over).

Salt painting.  Fun but reallllly messy.

This break was filled with a lot of spending time together and chilling.  My kind of break!

I'm tired!

I've forgotten what it feels like to be totally exhausted.  I've been spoiled lately with not having to get up until 7:15 and typically don't feel too exhausted during the day.

Today... I'm tired.  Exhausted.  Beat.  Ready to hit the hay!

Let me start this story with what happened last night.  Raegan came over to play yesterday, and we had a little girls' day out at the Mall of GA while Parker was at school.  When Raegan's mom came to get her, my friend Kristin and her 2 kiddos brought over pizza for us to eat dinner and hang out.  So, a fun, but definitely long, day.  After they left, I got the kiddos and myself in the shower and in their PJs, and went to close up shop downstairs afterwards.  I noticed that our door to the garage had been unlocked, and the garage door was open.  For probably 4 hours.  Now, I wasn't too concerned, because, besides the time in the shower, we would've heard if someone had come in.  But, I did a once-over and checked every nook and cranny our house has to offer, just in case.  We were in the clear... so I thought.

As the kiddos were laying down to go to sleep, I heard Taylor cry.  I went to check up on her and she was shaking.  She said she heard 2 separate booms, coming from Stephen's office (which is set up in our ridiculously large master closet).  She said, "Someone is in our house!!"  (She didn't know I had left the door unlocked)  Holy cow.  I, myself, was a bit freaked out.  We have 2 little attic doors in our master closet with storage space, so she had me slightly convinced that someone had snuck in and hid in there.  With Taylor wrapped around my leg, I checked.  Nobody was there.  I saw spots of ruffled hanging clothing, which freaked me out too, but Sydney admitted to hiding there for hide-and-go-seek.  Whew.  I checked the house again, and didn't find anything.  Taylor was still shaking- teeth chattering and all.

I called my next door neighbor.  (Stephen's out of town, by the way).  I told him what happened and asked if he'd mind doing a once-over to ease our minds.  He came right over, in the rain and thunder, and checked everything... house, garage, back patio, backyard, attics, etc.  He made us all feel so much better, and we were so appreciative.  Taylor's shaking finally stopped!

Sydney fell asleep pretty easily, but Taylor and Parker didn't.  They came downstairs with me to watch TV until after 11 PM, when they finally crashed on the couch.  I took them to their beds, and then tried to go to sleep myself.  After all the freak-outed-ness that had happened, it was hard to settle down to go to sleep.  Finally, I managed to fall asleep, with 12:45 being the last time I saw the clock. Then, I woke up at the 3-o'clock hour for about an hour.  Then, Parker woke me up at 6:30 AM, and I never really went back to sleep after that (even though he did!).  Parker and Sydney ended up sleeping until 10 AM!

I was going to take the kiddos out somewhere today, but decided that it might be a good stay-at-home day.  I wasn't prepared, but we winged some fun pretty easily.  This is some of the fun we did:

• Painting rocks from a craft kit

• Painting printed coloring sheets and more

• Having a picnic at our playground

• Exploring the "desert" (aka- the deserted lot next to us that is wide open with lots of hills and dirt)

• Riding jeeps
• Playing a soccer game
• Finding outside rocks and painting them

• Going to get some frozen yogurt (we were going a little stir crazy!)

• Went to Kroger

Also, I cleaned the house, cleaned the shower, did a few loads of laundry, and cleaned up the garage and all the toys outside that Parker had littered throughout our yard.  And I did a little craft!

Now, at dinner time... I. am. tired.  I'm hoping our nighttime routine isn't riddled with drama tonight, and that the kiddos will be kind and just go to sleep.  So I can do the same.

Fingers crossed.

Hanging out

This past week was really busy, keeping up with my effort of prioritizing friends and planning activities.

Last Friday night, the girls went to their school dance.  It is a fundraiser for the PTO, and it is a very popular activity.  There were lots of kids, music, lights, food, and drinks.  A good time was had by all!  I got to hang out with some of the parents while my girls danced the night away with their friends.

Parker wanted to go...

Red carpet entrance.

Saturday night was the Valentine Date Nights.

Sunday night was the Super Bowl, and we invited two of our neighbors over to eat and watch the game!  I didn't get many pictures, but we had some adult fun while the kids entertained themselves.  In all, the kids are 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 1, and 1.  My girls are the only girls... the rest are boys.

Ummm... yes.  This was the mess.  It was so bad.  My neighbors went up to help clean up, and it was a lost cause, so I told them not to worry.  It was a definite "start from scratch" cleaning that was needed.  It took me 3 hours to get it back to normal, but the good part was, I took 2 whole bags to Goodwill!

Monday was workout group with church friends.

Tuesday was getting my hair done by a friend who does hair.  It was nice to catch up with her, kid-free (her kids are 3 and 7).

Wednesday, I hosted 7 neighborhood girls who stay home for a craft day!  We do these every once in a while, where you bring a craft you're working on and a side dish, and you come to work on your craft while you socialize and eat lunch.  I didn't get pictures from this either, but here is the craft I did (see below).  After craft day, we went to one girl's house and the kids played until dinner time.

Friday, Parker and I went to CFA to meet the Moms Club for a craft and playdate.  Parker started off well, but got to be reallly cranky after awhile.  This was him about 3 minutes into the drive home:

That night, we went to dinner with Raegan and Savannah & Ryker and their parents.

Parker admiring the men in uniform.

Saturday, we had Taylor's BFF over for a playdate!  Her mom and I had so much fun talking, they hung out for most of the day!  The kiddos did a craft, we had some snacks, and they had fun playing.

Yesterday, after church, Raegan came over to play with Sydney before small group.

Whew!  It was a fun week, but I definitely can't keep this up.  At least it was a good excuse to keep the house clean!