Early 2019

Just a few happenings from the last few weeks.  Lots of indoor activities, a little outdoor.  Indoor lacrosse, gymnastics, swimming, dance parties, music playing, cat taunting; outdoor snow play, snowboarding, ice cracking...  And of course, we've had an embarrassing amount of Fortnite playing.   We've actually had some low key weekends lately and by low key, I mean, only 1 or 2 activities per day.  I've read quite a few books lately and Matt has been taking guitar lessons.  We are anxious for the sun to return in the spring but we are enjoying some cozy winter weekends...and maybe a few bottles of wine here and there. 

A Day in the Life

If you asked me what my typical day "off" looks like, the answer might not be what you were expecting.   Today, for example, you might think I answered the question "What's a typical day driving Uber look like?"  Wake up at 6:00 (normally 5:00, even on said day "off') , herd the children and lead them through basic daily hygiene activities.  Strongly encourage them (every 30 seconds) to move through or onto the next task.  Hustle child 1 out the door, drive him to school and return home. Do the hair of my biggest charge (Matt) and drop him off at work and return home.  Do some more hair and take child 3 to school.  After dropping off child 3, take child 2 to the drive thru Dunkin Donuts because she has informed me that she only ate 2 pickles for breakfast.  Who eats pickles for breakfast?!?!  Drop child 2 of at school.  Run an errand and return home to do some actual workplace work.  Read text from Matt and must go rummaging through the basement to get his rain pants which he promised to a coworker.  Drive rain pants to Matt at work.  Workout.  Respond to next text from Matt to pick him up at work and take him to a coffee shop.  Have a quick snack.  Drive Matt to go pick up our other car and return home.  Do some things at home which probably need about 8 hours to do and do them in 2.  Go pick up child 2 and drive her 30 minutes to gymnastics.  Drive to pick up child 3 at a birthday party and return home for a few hours.  Finally, pick up child 1 from activity night at school.  It's a good thing I like my car.  And my children.  And my husband. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2018

We have had lots time with our families over the last few months.  We spent Thanksgiving in Canandaigua this year.  There was plenty of snow for outdoor activities and plenty of food and drink for indoor activities :-)  We ended up skipping the annual 5k this year and opted for a rigorous workout at the JCC instead.

For Christmas, we did our normal 4/5 day nomadding between Corning and Canandaigua.  Luckily there were some nice people around to take us in, feed us, and give us a few gifts.  The kids were able do a little ice skating and sledding, too!

Many thanks to all who helped make our holiday season memorable!

Braces

My boy just got a little bit closer to being a teen.  And with that comes that whole awkward phase where the process of becoming isn't pretty but the result is. There is now a beautiful amount of very expensive metal in his mouth.  When we made his appt. for the actual braces to go on, Luke negotiated with the ortho and convinced him to wait until after Halloween so he could eat all the candy he wanted.  Huge eye roll from me but the dr. went along with it.  The silver lining is that the braces really do curb his candy consumption. So far, he isn't bothered much by the braces and he actually enjoys going to the ortho's office.  I can't wait to see the final results in 2 years!

Hair

Oh my word, hair is such a huge hangup in our house.  From Luke's, 3 week cut and style cycle, to Adrienne's horse mane and everything in between, we do a lot of hair.  We attempted to leave the house this weekend with everyone looking put together and it was an ordeal. 

Luke:  After I styled his hair for him so it wouldn't look wet and slicked back- comes back with dripping wet and totally slicked back hair

Coco:  After I told her she could not have 1 side braided and one side curly - "Your hair is going to have curls and I'm gonna have "Nothin"  I get "nothin!"

Ade:  Actually let me blow dry her hair which took a minimum of 30 minutes - literally kept face-dodging me, lacrosse style, when I tried to put in a bobby pin

I'm thinking of getting everyone buzz cuts.

And then this morning, Coco asked for 2 long braids and because we just have school today, I could comply:

Halloween 2018

I may not love Halloween but the kids sure do!  School parties and parades, office trick-or-treating and canvassing the hood in the rain...25 lbs of candy!

Swimming - Fall 2018

I’m so glad that Luke and Adrienne have swimming as one of their sports.  I really enjoy getting to spectate inside where it’s nice and warm.  It’s great exercise AND the schedule is somewhat flexible, although we end up being at the pool 4 nights a week in some capacity.   The first meet of the season was a success for both kids.  Adrienne dove off the block instead of start in the water.  She even swam 50s instead of 25s which means she did flip turns in competition.   Luke bested all his best times in 50s except one.  And Coco spent more money at the concession stand than her previous record. 

School drop offs

Coco and I have been enjoying the best rides to school this year.  It's usually quite peaceful as long as it isn't one of those days where she feels forced to wear socks that she deems unworthy.   She's finally able to buckle herself in which means I don't have to get into some yoga pose just to reach the seat belt anchor.  She usually comments on the weather and sometimes asks me what day it is.  We head out and she begins requesting her music.  At first she was requesting "sad" songs but what she really wants are slow songs.  She's a fan of Ed Sheeran and also of Justin Beiber.  She does her best to belt out Ed's song "Perfect," and it is just so sweet.  Each time, I try to take a mental snapshot as I don't want to forget this time with her.


A few pictures of her being her lil' ol' rself in the backseat: