Lily, Lydia and Mary left for Chicago today! I’m at home with the two younger kids getting help with childcare during work from Lizzy (our new stop-gap nanny). After work, Todd came over with his kids Chora and Kasey. I felt so tired from my allergies, but still it was so great to hang out!!
Lydia planned a party for her class, Eli, Emerson and Isabel. Lydia is incredibly shy at school (apparently she won an award or some type of recognition for being so quiet). But inside she wants to connect more with her classmates, and I think she wanted her party to be just the thing to make that happen, – to help the class get to know her better. Lydia planned the activities and the concept of the party.
Lily also has been completely on-top of helping to plan the party. Lily had a really hard time socially in the latter part of elementary school, and so all of her heart-strings were pulled, and she did a ton of work to help provide a great party. She cleaned the house top to bottom (which was a ton of work), cut veggies, ordered drinks and pizzas, got s’more ingredients, and coordinated with me for karaoke setup etc. We were perfectly prepared and everything pulled off without a hitch.
First the kids ate pizza outside.
Then everyone watched Matilda. I was going in and out of working, but I was laughing harder than any of the kids at Matilda. I forgot how funny it was, especially when the parents argue with Matilda and insist that she’s 4, not 6 and a half, that she can’t go to school because no one would be home to sign for the packages and tell her to put down her books and watch tv with the rest of the family.
After the movie, we had a raffle. Lydia and Lily prepared gifts to hand out to raffle winners and Lydia announced the raffle winners.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ceL0QBpFOYA
After the movie, we set up the karaoke machine and the kids really took to it. They sounded great!
Then we all had s’mores.
I’m so impressed by Lydia’s class. I just enjoyed being around all of them. They are all so bright, kind, funny, thoughtful and fun. It made me very grateful for children. They really are the light of the world.
Clarissa is still a little tired from getting over being sick. Just after 7:00, Clarissa announced she was tired, crawled into my lap, and promptly fell asleep. This was s joy for two reasons. One, it was so sweet and adorable to have her cuddling in my lap with her little kid snores. And two, she’s the hardest one to put to bed, so having her fall asleep was a gift. Lily captured a picture and a video.
Today I slept in (Lily and I stayed up late watching Yellowstone) and then walked Basil. I grabbed a couple of pictures while I scratched his belly. He loves that.
While I was doing all that, Lily was working out, and Lydia and Mary were recreating pieces of art from the Chicago Art Museum (which they are about to visit). Here are Lydia’s recreations. I’m not sure if Mary finished hers because I never saw them.
After that, I showered and Lily and I took Ammon and Clarissa to Ikea. We ate lunch there, made returns from our purchase last week and got ice-cream. It was a very fun outing. I also bumped into my friend and old co-worker, Shane Smith. It was so nice to see him!
Then we went to Barnes & Nobles for some things for Lydia’s party and we got some things for the yard from Lowe’s. After that, I went straight to home church at Whitney’s place in Vineyard. We gave Lydia and Mary a choice to go with me or do something else for their soul, and thy chose to listen to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I loved home church as I always do.
At home, Lydia and Mary showed me the incredible things they made in the crafting room while they listened to Charles Dickens.
Then we all went to Noodles and Company and picked up food for ourselves and our friends, Chris and Jen. They are moving to Baltimore the day after Lily and the girls get back from Chicago and we wanted to see them one last time before they leave. We had a really nice visit with them and saw their new 37′ Montana trailer that they will be living in for the next little while until they decide where they will permanently settle. It was a beautiful trailer. It was so great to see them!
At home we put the kids down and I worked at my computer while Lily took a bath. It was a great day!
Today I slept in and then worked on my computer for an hour and a half (budget, journal, blog). Then I showered and got ready and started helping Lily with the house. She had already gotten a start and especially worked hard scrubbing black marks out of the wood and folding laundry. I helped Lily staple some fabric back on the underside of a piece of our coach (we couldn’t believe how much was under it when we tipped it!), cleaned Clarissa’s room, and then spent most of the rest of the day working on the craft room.
In the craft room, I hung peg boards, assembled a bench and assembled a foot-stool. Lily helped to organize everything. When it was all done, Lily and I just rested on the daybed (feeling so happy with how everything turned out) and we just watched the kids get lost in all the things they could do in the new craft room. They were so engaged, and they aren’t even allowed to paint yet (because the sink hasn’t arrived)!
Lily made a comment to me the other day about how precious every day is and how we should capture more every-day living moments. That conversation was in my mind when I snapped these videos:
Then Lily, Mary and I got some things done in the yard. I planted all my tomato sprouts, cleaned Basil’s poop, cleared out the old sandbox toys and got soil ready for Lily’s newly purchased flower seeds. Then Lily and Mary planted flowers.
Well after everyone’s bedtime, I caught Lydia, Ammon and Clarissa still in the craft-room. I couldn’t be too mad because I was so glad they love the craft-room so much!
Lily made delicious mashed sweet potatoes today. Clarissa begged to lick them off the spatula…
Lily has been working a ton with the kids lately. Not only working on music practice with the three oldest, but working on reading and other academics with the two youngest. Here is Ammon practicing his reading:
I worked very hard to get my work into a good spot in time to take Mary, Ammon and Lydia to their dance recital. Clarissa didn’t go because we lost her dress. Also, Mary was so sad because her dance number was later than we thought so it made her super late for a birthday party she wanted to go to. I asked her teacher about skipping and the teacher said, “I can’t force you to stay, but it would ruin the dance if she’s not there.” I’m so proud of Mary for being a team player and sticking it through. She was still able to make a showing at the birthday party for 30 minutes and her attitude really turned around even before she went to the party after her initial frustration.
Today Lily braided Clarissa’s hair and went on a walk and admired a lot of the trees and plants she saw.
Also, Lily told me Ammon is going through a small dinosaur phase and today she took Ammon and Clarissa to the dinosaur gardens at Thanksgiving Point. She got a lot of great videos and pictures!
Then Lily picked up everyone from school and took them all to Harmon’s
In the evening Ammon and Clarissa were hilarious. They dressed up like each other and pretended to be each other. In these pictures, Clarissa is being a ninja and Ammon is doing his version of a face that Clarissa makes:
Today I was on Long Island for a customer onsite. Lily took Ammon and Clarissa to the dinosaur park at Thanksgiving point:
At the end of the day, Lily interviewed Ammon about his school-year since today was his last day of school and she interviewed Clarissa about her day (it was her last day too).
Tonight I tucked Clarissa in, gave her a melatonin gummy and told her to stay in her bed and go to sleep. Well she got half of my instructions right. She didn’t stay in her bed, but she did go to sleep 🙂
Today Lily and I ran to Ikea while Lydia and Mary babysat Ammon and Clarissa at home. I had so much fun ideating and making decisions about the craft room with Lily. It was such a fun date and we were both reminded about how much we love Ikea (even their food!). I also feel very satisfied by this before and after photo of the craft room. We also have some more things to do, but this is a great start:
Also, while cleaning I saw this picture that I assume Lydia or Mary made and I was blown away by it. I think it was using a “how to draw faces” book.
