Sunday, March 16, 2014

Our Family: Week of 3/10-3/16

A long time ago, I felt myself "too good" for the dishwasher.

In our dorm, we didn't have a dishwasher.  In our apartments, our dishwasher didn't work.  When we moved into the house, I tried the dishwasher, but it left the dishes worse than before.

So, I have hand washed my dishes over the past few years. I never minded, because I felt that I was cool and old-fashioned.

After Sam was born (and my Mom left) my house went from "clean" to "gross" overnight.  It was all I could do to stay awake on only 4 hours of sleep day after day, feed my family, nurse, cry away my leftover baby hormones, and try not to itch.

In the mail one day, I received a "dish washing" sample that it claimed I had requested.

I never requested it, nor did I ever plan on ever using my dishwasher.

But, with my tired eyes, I looked at the mountain of dishes in my sink and decided to try it.

The dishes were perfectly cleaned.

And I have been insanely grateful for that dishwasher every single day (and the blessing of the mysterious dishwasher sample and that it worked).


Especially on Mondays.

***

On Tuesday, I (finally) finished my stack of "thank yous" for all of the beautiful gifts and service we received after Sam was born.


Our friends + family are too good for us.

Last Tuesday evening while Adam was at Cub Scouts, I looked over our bookshelf for a chapter book that Grace would like.  She loves to read, but making that girl read a chapter book is like pulling teeth.

I found an American Girl book from my Mom and found a cute on-line reading chart.


She read it, loved it, and it gave her the chapter-book-confidence she needed, and she took off!

She reads in the car, on the couch, and late at night in bed.

I am so happy!

I read once that every kid can be a reader... if you can find them a book they will love.

I'm pretty sure that's true.

***

On Wednesday Grace came home and told us that she had been bitten by a leprechaun.

Adam told us that lice was going around school.

I was worried about one of their ailments.

;)

Grace and her friends have been having too much fun making up tales about leprechauns, trying to trap them, and using their vivid imaginations to describe them. ("We saw one with red hair and glowing green eyes in the shed.  We didn't look him in the eyes, though, or we would have disappeared.  And got into trouble for going into the shed.")

I love it.

I do not love lice.

That evening, Grace reminded me (again) that she had to bring a "100 Days" cape to school.

A cape with 100 items attached to it.

I had never received a flyer and the assignment wasn't on her teacher's website.

And after the "Valentine's Day box" fib, I was pretty skeptical.

I told her she would have to change all of Sam's diapers the entire weekend if I spent time making a cape with her, and she didn't really need it.

I had leftover felt from their Halloween costumes, and 3 helpers cutting and hot glue-ing hearts, so it ended up being fairly easily.



(And, I saw lots of "100 Day" superhero 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders running around in capes the next morning... lucky for her.  And Sam.)

;)

After weeks of ignoring Adam's messy room... and him not having any "media time" as a result of that messy room, he finally got it cleaned!

And that coupled with his piano practice being done + homework + other chores resulted in 30 minutes of Donkey Kong time.




He (and Josh) were pretty happy.

***

On Thursday Sam turned 2 months old.

We took him over to his pediatrician after the kids' went to school.

Baby boy weighs 16 pounds and is 24 inches long.

This kids is HUGE!

(Josh only weighs 32 pounds at 4 years old.  Sam's going to outgrow him quick!)

My poor buddy got his shots, cried, and then I nursed him in the car until he fell asleep.



After he was settled down, we got Mike to work and grabbed a pizza for Adam at Little Caesar's for his class "Pi Party."

All sorts of celebrations were going on at the school that day.

Grace had fun celebrating 100 days of school, and Adam had lots of fun doing different groups of 100 exercises (100 jumping jacks, 100 squats, etc... in honor of 100 days) and eating pie.

That evening Mike sat next to Josh while he tried to sleep (in hopes of keeping him in bed).


Unfortunately, 15 minutes later, Josh ran out, triumphant that he had put his father to sleep instead.

***

On Friday we got the house sparkling clean and Adam had some friends over to play.

I made cupcakes so I could be a cool/fun Mom.


And also to bribe the kids to get the house sparkling clean.

;)

Adam had fun with his friends, and when their Mom came to pick them up, I got to have some friend time, too.

While we were talking, Mike surprised me.

We have had a mis-matched table and chair set that really bugged me.


It shouldn't bug me (because I am grateful to have a table and chairs in the first place).

But it did.

A beautiful set came into D.I. and was priced really affordable.

So, he brought it home.

It's beautiful!  I love it!

(Not that I took pictures of it or anything).

***

Saturday was spent doing chores, running errands, and doing homework.

Grace's girlie had lunch with us... at our new table (there it is!).

(Unfortunately she flashed her, as Josh calls them, "oboes" at us the entire time.)


We need to work on our guests' manners.

;)

Adam had a major career project, explorers test, and 20 book summaries due Monday.

He worked hard all day.

We finished our day off with some apple pie, in honor of Pi day, a day late.





Fact: Apple pie tastes best when served on Tupperware lids.

;)

***

On Sunday we had a wonderful ward conference.

After church, in preparation for St. Patrick's Day the next day, the kids' got started on their leprechaun traps.  They SO want to catch one of those sneeky leprechauns.

Especially Grace.

They worked all afternoon on different approaches.  They couldn't decide on one plan together, so they ended up each doing their own.

Josh went with a "trip them with my pile of random popsicle sticks, lured by a quarter taped on a popsicle stick" approach:
 

Grace attempted to catch them with a rainbow slide, dropping into a cup at the bottom:


And Adam built a ladder with a "false roof" over the cup, with the lure of "gold."


We will have to see if any of them work!

After they were all tucked in bed, I made some green lunches for each kiddo.


Because I'm just so darn lucky to have them.

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