Author: Abe Darais

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.

Today was another ballroom competition. Legacy has been a great studio, but we are all burnt out on dance including the kids. They are probably burnt out on us as well because with all of the things that we have going on, we don’t always come to practice. Even today we were 25 minutes early for Lydia’s first performance, but we barely missed it because today they were running almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Apparently we were supposed to show up two hours early, which we were not willing to do with four kids. We showed up two hours early last time and it turned out to not be at all necessary that time. Needless to say, it’s been a great (although stressful) experience, but we are ready to be done.

The highlight of the day was Clarissa’s encore. I cannot believe I didn’t get a video or even see it! Lily told me all about it. Apparently at the end of the Charleston dance (video below), all the kids exited the stage. And then Clarissa came back on stage all by herself and danced for everybody to the sheer delight of the crowd. When I saw everyone exit, I turned off the video and turned around to walk back to where Lily was, missing everything. Still though, I can picture it in my head and the thought of it give me a good laugh.

Today I had a nice phone call with my dad. I caught him on a walk while taking a break from his work at his office. He was in wonderful spirits, is having great health, and was feeling very grateful for life. My dad is such a positive force in my life, and it was so wonderful to hear him doing so well on his birthday. Happy birthday dad!!

Also, I had a very stressful day at work today because one of my star employees told me he’s taking a job with another company. But weather is starting to get nice and it looks like Lily had a good time with Ammon and Clarissa at a park:

Tonight Clarissa really wanted to sleep in one of her fancy tutus. Isn’t she cute!