School pictures 2020
I never thought I'd be a meme collector, but I kinda went wild this month. This one made me really chuckle.
I feel like Cashel's spelling words went from "at/cat/bat/man/tan" to this overnight. In true confessions, I have seldom if ever helped him with spelling words, and he's in 3rd grade. I know I'm supposed to be, but until this year, I never did. I'm so proud of how well my boys have just tackled their schoolwork head on. I'm also so, so grateful for the teachers who continue to work on these skills, even when they aren't always enforced at home. #SorryNotSorry #InDueTime
This is Kinsley's go-to girl right now. I love having girlier shows on these days, after 3 boys!
#EveryDayImPuzzlin
Some days I look around and I see all the things still to be done.
Some days I look around and see all the people I love.
One Sunday morning, the kids were up early, and I decided to pile them all into the car and go see if we could catch a sunrise out at the wetlands preserve. We were super close to missing it, but it woudln't have mattered anyway, because we got out there and it was SUPER foggy. It was such a cool experience, and the kids thought it was great fun!
I just love my people ♥
Weekend mornings are my favorite ;)
We're finally back to Sunday School and church in person! I had been holding off until Sunday School was open, since it's otherwise just a huge rat race and no one learns anything, and I just get angry and take away everyone's priviledges and drive home screaming at them all for being so exhausting in the church service.
#KeepingItReal
So...I weigh more now than I ever have in my life (aside from when I was pregnant), but I'm also arguably in the best shape I've been in as far as muscle mass and such. It's weird. But this shirt? When I was 10lbs lighter and "skinnier", it didn't fit comfortably. Definitely thrilled to be supporting the AFTD and my friend Deb Scharper's Crusade for a Cure.
#TerrificThrees
The issue was that she wanted ALL the "teeny" pumpkins, and I was trying to get her to pose for a picture lol
Look at this tough guy!
Flashin' the gang symbols or something here lol
Trying to balance teaching Kins to be a strong woman...but also allowing her big brothers to help her out here and there. I love watching them dote on her :)
Time goes so quickly. Wow.
Ocheda 2020
She is such a girly tomboy lol
I'll preface this by saying that I asked her repeatedly to put on some not-quite-so-dressy clothes for the pumpkin patch and farming day, but she was all dressed up from church, and threw a MAJOR fit when I asked her, so...yeah. She likes feeling "fancy" lol
Waiting for her first combine ride!
She was ALLLLLL smiles during the whole ride. She's such a happy little girl most of the time. It's kinda contagious! As an aside...I wouldn't recommend getting me any sort of jewelry in the near future. She has stolen pretty much anything I put on and claimed it for her own lol
#Harvest2020 was a hit this year! It was so nice to have Uncle Daniel's help to corral the kiddos and take them for tractor rides while Grandpa was combining.
It was no small feat! lol A huge thanks to Iryna and Sofie for "loaning" him to us while he works on the building in town. He has been such a huge help, and brings so much joy to the kiddos!
I mean...we try over here. lol #WhenItsNotYourTurnToGoForATractorRide
The kids have had so much fun raking leaves at daycare, and are super proud of their leaf piles. Our big bright tree out front is finally losing all its leaves, so we'll be busy raking at our house before too long! It's one of our "things" we like to do every year...make a giant pile of leaves and jump in them lol
Seriously. The curb alert group on FB has made life so much easier. You don't want something? No need to load it up and make a haul to a donation center, just snap a picture, post it, and magically within an hour or two, things just disappear. It has saved me so many trips to donate stuff lol
Progress. It's hard seeing the scale go up, but when I see the muscle mass and feel the strength in my body, it's all worth it. I am definitely not one of those people who like to exercise with other people watching, so I'm SO thankful for the group fitness room that no one is in so I can do all the awkward exercises that make me feel more vulnerable or uncomfortable with an audience. I am 1000% a gym rat (no need to deny that), so being able to find the quiet areas where I can do my own thing has been such a blessing. Also, for the first time, I'm legit seeing some major definition in my arms, so YAY!!
AWANA!! I am super thankful that 1) All my kids can now go, and 2) It is only an hour at this point. Trying to break the 3/4 year olds in the first year or two is ROUGH when it comes to the end of the night when it ends at 7:45. With it being over at 7, it's nice to have that full hour to slowly get them to bed, instead of to rush them and be frustrated with how late it's getting. I'll certainly be helping out in years to come, but for now, I'm embracing knowing that I have that solitary hour once a week while my kids learn about Jesus.
I have never been, nor will I ever be, the Mom who really cares what my kids want to wear. Granted, I always try to make sure they're dressed appropriately for the weather, but beyond that? If it's not a special occasion (Easter, Christmas Eve, family pictures), my kids can wear whatever the heck they feel like. However, I do feel like Kinsley has taken it to a whole new level.
Sometimes I get so caught up in gym time that I forget that winter is coming soon, and I need to get out and enjoy the weather while I can. Thankful for such beautiful walking trails out at the wetlands preserve!
DEFINITELY going into the meal rotation very soon!
With 4 bedtimes and the little two taking extra time, it has been hard for me to help the big kids as much with their 20 minutes of reading. I ended up getting Cashel this book series from the Scholastic book club, and he is OBSESSED! He read the one on the Titantic in a day and a half! Highly recommend!
Saturday morning vibes :)
We go to Grandpa's Fun Farm every year, and I'm going to be honest and say that it's probably my least favorite place to go. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I felt that way until this year. There's just SUCH a huge area, and I have 4 little kids, and well...trying to find them all at any given time (especially when it's time to go) is exhausting. They never want to stick together, and I end up losing one or more or them at some point, which is super stressful. I think I have decided after this particular day that my big boys need to have a cellphone so that I can just call them and figure out where they are for things like this, because it is so stressful to not know, and a cellphone is much cheaper than one of those tracking devices. They'd only get it when we go places like this (not for things like every day to take to school or anything), but I think we're at that point. With it just being me, it's just too hard to keep track of everyone, especially as they get older. The older boys don't have much of a concept for time, and they get distracted easily, and when the little two are in meltdown territory, I end up having to carry two flailing children (who would rather have plopped down on the floor and throw a tantrum) to find the big boys, and it's just a mess. So then I become "that Mom", the one where I disrupt beautiful family days with two screaming preschoolers strapped into their seats in the car while I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, just hoping my big kids are within earshot and come to the car.
I don't want to stop going places and doing fun things, so against my better judgment, I think that's the route I'll go. Mark would be so adamantly against it, but so would the non-single-Mom version of me. Eight is a far, far cry from 13, which is what Mark and I had agreed upon back in the day.
That being said, it's a kids' paradise playland! They have so much fun every year!
If anyone feels like building this type of little bench, I'll buy the supplies! (Or, really, I probably already have them). Kinsley LOVED this, and I know my boys would play with it a ton as well. Definitely on my project list for this winter. It'd give them a good outlet for using wrenches and sockets and the cordless drill and all that.
Mark was never an avid golfer, but he enjoyed it, and always was so good at helping the kids putt. This is the first little one he hasn't been able to teach, and that made my heart sink a bit realizing it in that moment.
The kids love going through this little "spooky house" every year, and before I knew it, both Ryan and Kinsley had run inside. (It's supposed to be 5 and up, and they're 3 and 4). I was so thankful that Cashel and Kendrick were in there and were so helpful!
My little ones at the fun farm ♥
My Jill and I :)
I had pulled out a pile of photo books to take to Mark's to swap out (he hadn't had updated ones for probably 6 months), and I came into my room to find Kinsley looking through them. She was SO EXCITED to see Mommy and Daddy in the books. I am SO GLAD that back when I was so bored and felt like documenting life that I did. It's so fun to let the kids just look through the books and not have to go back and recall all the things from then from memory. All the stories all laid out there with the pictures. And really the best part is that if they ever were to get damaged, lost or caught on fire, I can go on Shutterfly and just print them out again.
I so love my visits with this guy! It's hard to get him to stand still long enough to even snap a picture, as his movement cycles are something like 7-10 seconds right now. It's exhausting for all the people. His aides probably have no need for actual exercise after chasing him around all day. I am SO GRATEFUL for them!!
The window visits are much more for Mark these days than for the kids. They still get excited to see him, but between their attention span and Mark's, the window visits are extremely short.
The bonus for a Mankato visit for the kids is Fallenstein Park.
I love getting pictures of the kids during the day from their daycare!
Sometimes I think back about all I haven't done yet, but I forget all I HAVE done. This room alone is such a drastic change from what it once was. Dingy, gross carpet, toys strewn everywhere, mini blinds, a gross, old, stained sliding door, the yellow-tinted paint that blended well with a really awful border I was too weary to think about taking down. It was a LOT of work, and much of it rushed due to the flooding from Spring 2019, but I'm SO glad we tackled it. It was our least favorite spot in the house, but now it's just so cozy, and I'm so, so pleased.
A little sneak peek of Kendrick's Halloween costume this year.
For Kendrick and I's date afternoon this month, he wanted to make Halloween decorations for his room. You can see the little ghosts up in his window, the chain link up in the deer antlers, and maybe can barely make out his little bat hanging from his ceiling fan. He was SO EXCITED, and I really had a fun time crafting with him.
I got a few more Mixtiles for my living room and some for Mark's apartment, now that he's staying.
I FINALLY got a bug lit under me (thanks, Jenna) and got that awful border removed from my kitchen! Now, what color do I paint in there? It has been like this since probably about 2000? Maybe even original back to 1997? I'll eventually (maybe) replace the cabinets, so I'm trying to keep that in mind, but the floor is a darker wood withi reddish tones, so I feel like a gray might look weird. Thoughts?
I bought this Ring doorbell in July 2019, and no matter how many times I try things or follow their directions, I can never get it to work. Anyone have this happen to them? I keep trying to remember to call customer service, but never have the time to wait to walk through with them. It's far past the return period, otherwise I would. I have done all the speed tests, got an extender for my wifi, it always recognizes it, but then doesn't ever complete. It's really annoying not having a doorbell, but I was planning to use this after having our siding installed, so I never got the wires connected back up again. If you have something else that works well for you, I'm open to other suggestions, too, I just need a doorbell!
Some days I feel like it was such a waste of my time to do the photo books for the kids, but I forget that while I tried pushing them on the boys and they couldn't care less, Kinsley LOVES them. She loves looking at how big my belly would get during her pregnancy, and she talks about climbing back in my tummy sometimes. She get super concerned about seeing herself as a baby crying, and would smile this huge smile when she'd see herself snuggled with Mommy. It's so cute to see her reactions to cute baby Kinsley lol
I swear I clean up the garage so many times each year, but I needed to BADLY in preparation for winter and getting the jet ski stored again.
I spent a solid afternoon one Sunday working on it, and was SO pleased with the progress! I had been wanting to get the bikes hung up for years, so, although I probably need to get those attached into the actual studs (they're not at this point), I'm so, so pleased! It still looks cluttered, but that's a whole jet ski in there too! I also finally got all our camp chairs hung up and better placement for storage for the other garden tools.
So my friend Jenna has been challenging me to declutter my kitchen counters, and I've accepted the challenge! It isn't often I come home and have it this cleared up! But...it gets better by the end of the month, as I eliminate the spice carousel. That's not to say that half the time, I don't have canned goods sitting there that don't quite fit into the lazy susan below or anything, but it was so nice to have it for a moment cleaned up!
That evening, against my better judgement, I took the kids to the drive-in movies, since it was earlier in the evening (not 10pm like the summer, more like 7pm), and Kinsley and Ryan were too scared of it (Nightmare Before Christmas - it IS pretty scary!), and Cashel and Kendrick couldn't stop fighting about snacks. Memories, right? Oy!
The kids go CRAZY over having candy in popcorn. Ryan talks about it incessantly, and it's so funny lol
We finally got the chance to celebrate these guys! Of course, Kendrick's birthday was all the way back in August, but we hadn't gotten together since then, so we celebrated both he and Grandpa's birthday at the same time. Kendrick was BEAMING when he realized he got to open presents lol
So fun to be with family when we get the chance!
Why is it that when I suggest we all play games together at home, no one wants to, but when practically anyone else suggests them ANYWHERE else, they're CRAZY about it?
OMG Kinsley was SO FUNNY that night. She basically wanted to play hot potato, but she was VERY specific as to how it was supposed to go, and who could throw to who, and who could sit where, and we were all just cracking up.
Kinsley loves her some Aunt Jess!
One evening I saw Cashel playing Soliltaire on our computer downstairs and was SO confused as to how he even knew how to play. Now I see lol
The first half of the month, Super Mario was the name of the game.
The first snow of the season was October 20th this year! It was gone in a couple days, but ugh!
Dental appointments for the boys meant a lot of waiting in the car, since we couldn't all be in at the same time. I did get to go in with Ryan for a split second to ease his worries, but then he was fine.
This made me laugh so much harder than it probably should have. SO true, though! Mark used to be SO good at reminding me to eat, drink water and sleep when I would get bent out of shape about something. And then I'd bite his head off about how things really WERE that bad, and so on and so forth. BUT he was always, every single time, right. I really miss his levelheadedness. He never knew that I had ADHD (I just found out last year), and I'm sad that he never got to experience me on the right meds for it. I was pretty calm and rational under no stress or pressure, but he would always see the irrational side of me that no one else saw when things were overwhelming or stressful. Now, I handle it with so much more grace than before.
Well, we had to quarantine for a couple weeks. I'm really going to try to refrain from whining about it, but it was rough. We'll leave it at that.
Before we knew it was a legit quarantine (the known exposure had felt fine, but had yet to be tested yet or gotten her results back), I had a sitter come for a day so I could get back into the office. This was the text I got at 10:45am lol
Every once in a great while, I win the lottery and the vast majority of my kids are asleep before I start bedtimes.
When you have to keep your perfectly healthy kids home on quarantine for a couple weeks, you get kinda creative. I came across some stickers in a closet, and was working on meal planning, so I thought what better way to entertain them than to have them go through cook books and pick out meals by putting stickers on the ones they wanted to try. Some of their choies were interesting, to say the least.
Mark hadn't been calling very often, so when he does anymore, we just leave the portal on and keep doing our thing, and he leaves his on, so we can just both watch each other come and go and do our thing. It's nice, since he can't really talk anymore. I know he misses his kids a lot, but with them not being able to go inside, it's just too much for me to keep taking them all the way up there for a 3-4 minute window visit, and it's becoming more and more difficult to keep them entertained afterwards, with everything indoors closed (bounce town, the arcade, the mall play place and arcades,
I know this looks cute and all, but it's literally what things looked like anytime I sat down through the entire day every single day of quarantine. I love my kids, but there is such a thing as too much closeness, and I about lost it by the day's end every day.
I did get a few very short snippets of time to continue working on the annual grandparent albums (which are now also the gift I give to Mark for Christmas each year). I think I got 2 pages done over the course of 2 weeks, so...yeah.
The second snow of the season actually required snow removal from the driveway. Kendrick is such a nut - shorts and a light jacket.
In all the madness and chaos, I completely forgot to bring the pumpkins in before it got so cold, so our carving pumpkins froze and turned into mush. Ugh!
I've begun some research on a new toaster oven, and was thinking maybe of upgrading to something more like this. It'd be really helpful when we're doing frozen pizzas, or if I want to do a whole chicken or something. Do yo have one you like? Any recommendations? It'll probalby be a ways off, as I like to research for forever, it seems, but our current one just does toast and then like maybe 3-4 chicken patties or a small tray of tots, so I'm thinking I'd like to go for a little more robust one.
I really do love baking with my littles. It used to be more chaotic when the big two were little, but now I've learned little tips and tricks to make it less chaos and more fun. (hint...when they're younger than 3, don't let them see you sneak the flour in while they're practicing cracking eggs into a separate bowl).
While they were baking, they decided to start "counting" the cereal and making "muffins" with it. Kept them busy for a solid half hour, so I consider it a win.
I don't LIKE making the wrong decisions, though :(
Puzzling was a BIG part of quarantine. The little two were OBSESSED! I was so glad they were getting more use out of them!
When working from home, the scenery changes every couple hours, it seems.
This would be why when I'm working from home, I wake up at 5 to get a couple hours in before they wake up, and then during nap times and then after they're in bed at night. I could NOT keep this up long-term. No.freaking.way.
These two saved up their money (mostly Cashel, really) for a Wii. Cashel alreayd has a Wii-U, mind you, but apparently it's just not the same, and this is WAY better. I convinced them to look for a used one, and they ended up getting WAY more bang for their buck, thankfully!
I finally got myself an indestructible water cup with a steel straw. It has made getting my water in for oa day SO much easier.
Kinsley was very concerned about any of us getting the virus, so she was walking around "taking our temperature" all day long. It was pretty cute lol
I could not have said it better than this!
By the end of our 2 weeks of quarantine, we finally reached a place where I think if I had to do a longer one as a result of one of us testing positive (it's 24 days from the positive test - oy!) I'd know much better what I needed to do to ensure more success. As it stands, this was NOT a great 2 weeks for keeping up with school for the kids. I'm so grateful that, at least for now, they're still in-person for school. I'm betting that changes as the year goes on, but for now, it's what it is, and I'm so thankful!
By FAR, the hardest part of quarantine for me had nothing to do with requirements or working with kids around in general, it was watching my house turn into a disaster area and not being able to do anything about it right away. And with two moody, only occasionally napping preschoolers in tow, the slightest thing would tick them off, and suddenly it'd look like a bomb literally exploded that was full of puzzle pieces or small toys like legos or the like. Maddening!
I struggle so much with this. Most days it doesn't even feel like I ever was married or had a healthy husband who we had a real, actual life with. I get it now when people say "in another life", because it literally does feel like a whole other life. Like we're just two completely different people who met before "in a former life". It's a feeling like I can't begin to describe.
This is 39.
I accidentally made WAY too many waffles for breakfast, so I said screw it, it's my birthday and I'll eat peanut butter waffles with syrup if I want to.
Jenna and I were poloing the other day and decided we need to start a club of single Moms who still want to travel and need travel buddies. I've checked off a number of these already, but I think this is a good list!
Month 2 of these kids arrived at the end of the month, and the boys did MUCH better this time around.
Happy Birthday to Me! A huge thanks to Mel, Jenna and Jill for making it extra special, even though I was quarantined!
Also a HUGE thanks to Uncle Daniel for saving the day and bringing over new pumpkins for carving since ours were a mushy pile of garbage!
I made some yummy pumpkin bars for my birthday "cake" this year! My sister had done it a handful of years ago, and I had forgotten how much I love them! I think it'll be either pumpkin bars or carrot cake every year from here on out. Yum!!
I kid you not. I had to work standing up a lot, because within 15 seconds of me sitting down, they could just sense it and swarmed me.
I have this mirror hanging on the back of my door. It's a constant struggle to get the kids to not slam the door shut when they're playing tag or something (which I always tell them to go outside with, but I can't be everywhere at the same time) Well, after taking it off the hinges when I re-did the carpet a few years ago, I couldn't find the mirror clips (only found 4), so it wasn't on super soundly. It kept falling off, because, as is the norm for me, I kept forgetting to buy more clips. I'm proud to say that in November, it happened, and it's now secure again lol
The boys were SUPER motivated to help around the house at the end of October, since they spent all their money on the Wii. At $2/bag, they thought it was pretty great! I was pretty pleased to not have to do it myself this year! lol
Kinsley was WAY more excited about jumping in them! lol
Cashel too! lol
He's such a goofball lol
They all had a lot of fun...except for Kendrick. Kendrick wanted to get them bagged and the job done, so it took some coaxing. But the other kids...oh man! lol
We're obviously really weird, right Kendrick? lol
Puzzlin' has been BIG business around here lately.
Working from home sometimes looked nice and peaceful like this...sometimes.
I surprised the kids with these fun chocolate strawberries for Halloween, since it was going to be a bit of a bust in quarantine. They were definitely yummy, but I'll never order them again.
I finally got around to watching this documentary about Robin Williams and his battle with Lewy Body Dementia. While it's true that FTD and Lewy Body dementia are very different animals, there are still so many similarities, and it was humbling to watch. I think one of the most difficult parts for me was the immense apathy, but I'm also so, so grateful that Mark does not have the awareness or insight about his disease like many other dementias...or at least I really hope not.
As I mentioned, Halloween was kinda a bust this year. Usually, we do all kinds of activities, including Halloween Trail in Worthington (which was open, but we were quarantined), Schwalbach's Fall Festival (cancelled), the School Fall Fest fundraiser, and, of course, trick or treating. I still had the kids get their costumes on and come trick or treating at our house at least, and we watched some Halloween movies together and made homemade pizzas, but it was definitely kinda a bust overall. We DID have some sweet friends stop over with some goodies, though, which was so, so sweet!
Kinsley hadn't napped all day, so she was out cold by 6pm. However, the joke was on me, as she was just "napping", and woke up as I was going to bed at 11pm. Oy!
I never thought I'd be a meme collector, but I kinda went wild this month. This one made me really chuckle.
I feel like Cashel's spelling words went from "at/cat/bat/man/tan" to this overnight. In true confessions, I have seldom if ever helped him with spelling words, and he's in 3rd grade. I know I'm supposed to be, but until this year, I never did. I'm so proud of how well my boys have just tackled their schoolwork head on. I'm also so, so grateful for the teachers who continue to work on these skills, even when they aren't always enforced at home. #SorryNotSorry #InDueTime
This is Kinsley's go-to girl right now. I love having girlier shows on these days, after 3 boys!
#EveryDayImPuzzlin
Some days I look around and I see all the things still to be done.
Some days I look around and see all the people I love.
One Sunday morning, the kids were up early, and I decided to pile them all into the car and go see if we could catch a sunrise out at the wetlands preserve. We were super close to missing it, but it woudln't have mattered anyway, because we got out there and it was SUPER foggy. It was such a cool experience, and the kids thought it was great fun!
I just love my people ♥
Weekend mornings are my favorite ;)
We're finally back to Sunday School and church in person! I had been holding off until Sunday School was open, since it's otherwise just a huge rat race and no one learns anything, and I just get angry and take away everyone's priviledges and drive home screaming at them all for being so exhausting in the church service.
#KeepingItReal
So...I weigh more now than I ever have in my life (aside from when I was pregnant), but I'm also arguably in the best shape I've been in as far as muscle mass and such. It's weird. But this shirt? When I was 10lbs lighter and "skinnier", it didn't fit comfortably. Definitely thrilled to be supporting the AFTD and my friend Deb Scharper's Crusade for a Cure.
#TerrificThrees
The issue was that she wanted ALL the "teeny" pumpkins, and I was trying to get her to pose for a picture lol
Look at this tough guy!
Flashin' the gang symbols or something here lol
Trying to balance teaching Kins to be a strong woman...but also allowing her big brothers to help her out here and there. I love watching them dote on her :)
Time goes so quickly. Wow.
Ocheda 2020
She is such a girly tomboy lol
I'll preface this by saying that I asked her repeatedly to put on some not-quite-so-dressy clothes for the pumpkin patch and farming day, but she was all dressed up from church, and threw a MAJOR fit when I asked her, so...yeah. She likes feeling "fancy" lol
Waiting for her first combine ride!
She was ALLLLLL smiles during the whole ride. She's such a happy little girl most of the time. It's kinda contagious! As an aside...I wouldn't recommend getting me any sort of jewelry in the near future. She has stolen pretty much anything I put on and claimed it for her own lol
#Harvest2020 was a hit this year! It was so nice to have Uncle Daniel's help to corral the kiddos and take them for tractor rides while Grandpa was combining.
It was no small feat! lol A huge thanks to Iryna and Sofie for "loaning" him to us while he works on the building in town. He has been such a huge help, and brings so much joy to the kiddos!
I mean...we try over here. lol #WhenItsNotYourTurnToGoForATractorRide
The kids have had so much fun raking leaves at daycare, and are super proud of their leaf piles. Our big bright tree out front is finally losing all its leaves, so we'll be busy raking at our house before too long! It's one of our "things" we like to do every year...make a giant pile of leaves and jump in them lol
Seriously. The curb alert group on FB has made life so much easier. You don't want something? No need to load it up and make a haul to a donation center, just snap a picture, post it, and magically within an hour or two, things just disappear. It has saved me so many trips to donate stuff lol
Progress. It's hard seeing the scale go up, but when I see the muscle mass and feel the strength in my body, it's all worth it. I am definitely not one of those people who like to exercise with other people watching, so I'm SO thankful for the group fitness room that no one is in so I can do all the awkward exercises that make me feel more vulnerable or uncomfortable with an audience. I am 1000% a gym rat (no need to deny that), so being able to find the quiet areas where I can do my own thing has been such a blessing. Also, for the first time, I'm legit seeing some major definition in my arms, so YAY!!
AWANA!! I am super thankful that 1) All my kids can now go, and 2) It is only an hour at this point. Trying to break the 3/4 year olds in the first year or two is ROUGH when it comes to the end of the night when it ends at 7:45. With it being over at 7, it's nice to have that full hour to slowly get them to bed, instead of to rush them and be frustrated with how late it's getting. I'll certainly be helping out in years to come, but for now, I'm embracing knowing that I have that solitary hour once a week while my kids learn about Jesus.
I have never been, nor will I ever be, the Mom who really cares what my kids want to wear. Granted, I always try to make sure they're dressed appropriately for the weather, but beyond that? If it's not a special occasion (Easter, Christmas Eve, family pictures), my kids can wear whatever the heck they feel like. However, I do feel like Kinsley has taken it to a whole new level.
Sometimes I get so caught up in gym time that I forget that winter is coming soon, and I need to get out and enjoy the weather while I can. Thankful for such beautiful walking trails out at the wetlands preserve!
DEFINITELY going into the meal rotation very soon!
With 4 bedtimes and the little two taking extra time, it has been hard for me to help the big kids as much with their 20 minutes of reading. I ended up getting Cashel this book series from the Scholastic book club, and he is OBSESSED! He read the one on the Titantic in a day and a half! Highly recommend!
Saturday morning vibes :)
We go to Grandpa's Fun Farm every year, and I'm going to be honest and say that it's probably my least favorite place to go. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I felt that way until this year. There's just SUCH a huge area, and I have 4 little kids, and well...trying to find them all at any given time (especially when it's time to go) is exhausting. They never want to stick together, and I end up losing one or more or them at some point, which is super stressful. I think I have decided after this particular day that my big boys need to have a cellphone so that I can just call them and figure out where they are for things like this, because it is so stressful to not know, and a cellphone is much cheaper than one of those tracking devices. They'd only get it when we go places like this (not for things like every day to take to school or anything), but I think we're at that point. With it just being me, it's just too hard to keep track of everyone, especially as they get older. The older boys don't have much of a concept for time, and they get distracted easily, and when the little two are in meltdown territory, I end up having to carry two flailing children (who would rather have plopped down on the floor and throw a tantrum) to find the big boys, and it's just a mess. So then I become "that Mom", the one where I disrupt beautiful family days with two screaming preschoolers strapped into their seats in the car while I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, just hoping my big kids are within earshot and come to the car.
I don't want to stop going places and doing fun things, so against my better judgment, I think that's the route I'll go. Mark would be so adamantly against it, but so would the non-single-Mom version of me. Eight is a far, far cry from 13, which is what Mark and I had agreed upon back in the day.
That being said, it's a kids' paradise playland! They have so much fun every year!
If anyone feels like building this type of little bench, I'll buy the supplies! (Or, really, I probably already have them). Kinsley LOVED this, and I know my boys would play with it a ton as well. Definitely on my project list for this winter. It'd give them a good outlet for using wrenches and sockets and the cordless drill and all that.
Mark was never an avid golfer, but he enjoyed it, and always was so good at helping the kids putt. This is the first little one he hasn't been able to teach, and that made my heart sink a bit realizing it in that moment.
The kids love going through this little "spooky house" every year, and before I knew it, both Ryan and Kinsley had run inside. (It's supposed to be 5 and up, and they're 3 and 4). I was so thankful that Cashel and Kendrick were in there and were so helpful!
My little ones at the fun farm ♥
My Jill and I :)
I had pulled out a pile of photo books to take to Mark's to swap out (he hadn't had updated ones for probably 6 months), and I came into my room to find Kinsley looking through them. She was SO EXCITED to see Mommy and Daddy in the books. I am SO GLAD that back when I was so bored and felt like documenting life that I did. It's so fun to let the kids just look through the books and not have to go back and recall all the things from then from memory. All the stories all laid out there with the pictures. And really the best part is that if they ever were to get damaged, lost or caught on fire, I can go on Shutterfly and just print them out again.
I so love my visits with this guy! It's hard to get him to stand still long enough to even snap a picture, as his movement cycles are something like 7-10 seconds right now. It's exhausting for all the people. His aides probably have no need for actual exercise after chasing him around all day. I am SO GRATEFUL for them!!
The window visits are much more for Mark these days than for the kids. They still get excited to see him, but between their attention span and Mark's, the window visits are extremely short.
The bonus for a Mankato visit for the kids is Fallenstein Park.
I love getting pictures of the kids during the day from their daycare!
Sometimes I think back about all I haven't done yet, but I forget all I HAVE done. This room alone is such a drastic change from what it once was. Dingy, gross carpet, toys strewn everywhere, mini blinds, a gross, old, stained sliding door, the yellow-tinted paint that blended well with a really awful border I was too weary to think about taking down. It was a LOT of work, and much of it rushed due to the flooding from Spring 2019, but I'm SO glad we tackled it. It was our least favorite spot in the house, but now it's just so cozy, and I'm so, so pleased.
A little sneak peek of Kendrick's Halloween costume this year.
For Kendrick and I's date afternoon this month, he wanted to make Halloween decorations for his room. You can see the little ghosts up in his window, the chain link up in the deer antlers, and maybe can barely make out his little bat hanging from his ceiling fan. He was SO EXCITED, and I really had a fun time crafting with him.
I got a few more Mixtiles for my living room and some for Mark's apartment, now that he's staying.
I FINALLY got a bug lit under me (thanks, Jenna) and got that awful border removed from my kitchen! Now, what color do I paint in there? It has been like this since probably about 2000? Maybe even original back to 1997? I'll eventually (maybe) replace the cabinets, so I'm trying to keep that in mind, but the floor is a darker wood withi reddish tones, so I feel like a gray might look weird. Thoughts?
I bought this Ring doorbell in July 2019, and no matter how many times I try things or follow their directions, I can never get it to work. Anyone have this happen to them? I keep trying to remember to call customer service, but never have the time to wait to walk through with them. It's far past the return period, otherwise I would. I have done all the speed tests, got an extender for my wifi, it always recognizes it, but then doesn't ever complete. It's really annoying not having a doorbell, but I was planning to use this after having our siding installed, so I never got the wires connected back up again. If you have something else that works well for you, I'm open to other suggestions, too, I just need a doorbell!
Some days I feel like it was such a waste of my time to do the photo books for the kids, but I forget that while I tried pushing them on the boys and they couldn't care less, Kinsley LOVES them. She loves looking at how big my belly would get during her pregnancy, and she talks about climbing back in my tummy sometimes. She get super concerned about seeing herself as a baby crying, and would smile this huge smile when she'd see herself snuggled with Mommy. It's so cute to see her reactions to cute baby Kinsley lol
I swear I clean up the garage so many times each year, but I needed to BADLY in preparation for winter and getting the jet ski stored again.
I spent a solid afternoon one Sunday working on it, and was SO pleased with the progress! I had been wanting to get the bikes hung up for years, so, although I probably need to get those attached into the actual studs (they're not at this point), I'm so, so pleased! It still looks cluttered, but that's a whole jet ski in there too! I also finally got all our camp chairs hung up and better placement for storage for the other garden tools.
So my friend Jenna has been challenging me to declutter my kitchen counters, and I've accepted the challenge! It isn't often I come home and have it this cleared up! But...it gets better by the end of the month, as I eliminate the spice carousel. That's not to say that half the time, I don't have canned goods sitting there that don't quite fit into the lazy susan below or anything, but it was so nice to have it for a moment cleaned up!
That evening, against my better judgement, I took the kids to the drive-in movies, since it was earlier in the evening (not 10pm like the summer, more like 7pm), and Kinsley and Ryan were too scared of it (Nightmare Before Christmas - it IS pretty scary!), and Cashel and Kendrick couldn't stop fighting about snacks. Memories, right? Oy!
The kids go CRAZY over having candy in popcorn. Ryan talks about it incessantly, and it's so funny lol
We finally got the chance to celebrate these guys! Of course, Kendrick's birthday was all the way back in August, but we hadn't gotten together since then, so we celebrated both he and Grandpa's birthday at the same time. Kendrick was BEAMING when he realized he got to open presents lol
So fun to be with family when we get the chance!
Why is it that when I suggest we all play games together at home, no one wants to, but when practically anyone else suggests them ANYWHERE else, they're CRAZY about it?
OMG Kinsley was SO FUNNY that night. She basically wanted to play hot potato, but she was VERY specific as to how it was supposed to go, and who could throw to who, and who could sit where, and we were all just cracking up.
Kinsley loves her some Aunt Jess!
One evening I saw Cashel playing Soliltaire on our computer downstairs and was SO confused as to how he even knew how to play. Now I see lol
The first half of the month, Super Mario was the name of the game.
The first snow of the season was October 20th this year! It was gone in a couple days, but ugh!
Dental appointments for the boys meant a lot of waiting in the car, since we couldn't all be in at the same time. I did get to go in with Ryan for a split second to ease his worries, but then he was fine.
This made me laugh so much harder than it probably should have. SO true, though! Mark used to be SO good at reminding me to eat, drink water and sleep when I would get bent out of shape about something. And then I'd bite his head off about how things really WERE that bad, and so on and so forth. BUT he was always, every single time, right. I really miss his levelheadedness. He never knew that I had ADHD (I just found out last year), and I'm sad that he never got to experience me on the right meds for it. I was pretty calm and rational under no stress or pressure, but he would always see the irrational side of me that no one else saw when things were overwhelming or stressful. Now, I handle it with so much more grace than before.
Well, we had to quarantine for a couple weeks. I'm really going to try to refrain from whining about it, but it was rough. We'll leave it at that.
Before we knew it was a legit quarantine (the known exposure had felt fine, but had yet to be tested yet or gotten her results back), I had a sitter come for a day so I could get back into the office. This was the text I got at 10:45am lol
Every once in a great while, I win the lottery and the vast majority of my kids are asleep before I start bedtimes.
When you have to keep your perfectly healthy kids home on quarantine for a couple weeks, you get kinda creative. I came across some stickers in a closet, and was working on meal planning, so I thought what better way to entertain them than to have them go through cook books and pick out meals by putting stickers on the ones they wanted to try. Some of their choies were interesting, to say the least.
Mark hadn't been calling very often, so when he does anymore, we just leave the portal on and keep doing our thing, and he leaves his on, so we can just both watch each other come and go and do our thing. It's nice, since he can't really talk anymore. I know he misses his kids a lot, but with them not being able to go inside, it's just too much for me to keep taking them all the way up there for a 3-4 minute window visit, and it's becoming more and more difficult to keep them entertained afterwards, with everything indoors closed (bounce town, the arcade, the mall play place and arcades,
I know this looks cute and all, but it's literally what things looked like anytime I sat down through the entire day every single day of quarantine. I love my kids, but there is such a thing as too much closeness, and I about lost it by the day's end every day.
I did get a few very short snippets of time to continue working on the annual grandparent albums (which are now also the gift I give to Mark for Christmas each year). I think I got 2 pages done over the course of 2 weeks, so...yeah.
The second snow of the season actually required snow removal from the driveway. Kendrick is such a nut - shorts and a light jacket.
In all the madness and chaos, I completely forgot to bring the pumpkins in before it got so cold, so our carving pumpkins froze and turned into mush. Ugh!
I've begun some research on a new toaster oven, and was thinking maybe of upgrading to something more like this. It'd be really helpful when we're doing frozen pizzas, or if I want to do a whole chicken or something. Do yo have one you like? Any recommendations? It'll probalby be a ways off, as I like to research for forever, it seems, but our current one just does toast and then like maybe 3-4 chicken patties or a small tray of tots, so I'm thinking I'd like to go for a little more robust one.
I really do love baking with my littles. It used to be more chaotic when the big two were little, but now I've learned little tips and tricks to make it less chaos and more fun. (hint...when they're younger than 3, don't let them see you sneak the flour in while they're practicing cracking eggs into a separate bowl).
While they were baking, they decided to start "counting" the cereal and making "muffins" with it. Kept them busy for a solid half hour, so I consider it a win.
I don't LIKE making the wrong decisions, though :(
Puzzling was a BIG part of quarantine. The little two were OBSESSED! I was so glad they were getting more use out of them!
When working from home, the scenery changes every couple hours, it seems.
This would be why when I'm working from home, I wake up at 5 to get a couple hours in before they wake up, and then during nap times and then after they're in bed at night. I could NOT keep this up long-term. No.freaking.way.
These two saved up their money (mostly Cashel, really) for a Wii. Cashel alreayd has a Wii-U, mind you, but apparently it's just not the same, and this is WAY better. I convinced them to look for a used one, and they ended up getting WAY more bang for their buck, thankfully!
I finally got myself an indestructible water cup with a steel straw. It has made getting my water in for oa day SO much easier.
Kinsley was very concerned about any of us getting the virus, so she was walking around "taking our temperature" all day long. It was pretty cute lol
I could not have said it better than this!
By the end of our 2 weeks of quarantine, we finally reached a place where I think if I had to do a longer one as a result of one of us testing positive (it's 24 days from the positive test - oy!) I'd know much better what I needed to do to ensure more success. As it stands, this was NOT a great 2 weeks for keeping up with school for the kids. I'm so grateful that, at least for now, they're still in-person for school. I'm betting that changes as the year goes on, but for now, it's what it is, and I'm so thankful!
By FAR, the hardest part of quarantine for me had nothing to do with requirements or working with kids around in general, it was watching my house turn into a disaster area and not being able to do anything about it right away. And with two moody, only occasionally napping preschoolers in tow, the slightest thing would tick them off, and suddenly it'd look like a bomb literally exploded that was full of puzzle pieces or small toys like legos or the like. Maddening!
I struggle so much with this. Most days it doesn't even feel like I ever was married or had a healthy husband who we had a real, actual life with. I get it now when people say "in another life", because it literally does feel like a whole other life. Like we're just two completely different people who met before "in a former life". It's a feeling like I can't begin to describe.
This is 39.
I accidentally made WAY too many waffles for breakfast, so I said screw it, it's my birthday and I'll eat peanut butter waffles with syrup if I want to.
Jenna and I were poloing the other day and decided we need to start a club of single Moms who still want to travel and need travel buddies. I've checked off a number of these already, but I think this is a good list!
Month 2 of these kids arrived at the end of the month, and the boys did MUCH better this time around.
Happy Birthday to Me! A huge thanks to Mel, Jenna and Jill for making it extra special, even though I was quarantined!
Also a HUGE thanks to Uncle Daniel for saving the day and bringing over new pumpkins for carving since ours were a mushy pile of garbage!
I made some yummy pumpkin bars for my birthday "cake" this year! My sister had done it a handful of years ago, and I had forgotten how much I love them! I think it'll be either pumpkin bars or carrot cake every year from here on out. Yum!!
I kid you not. I had to work standing up a lot, because within 15 seconds of me sitting down, they could just sense it and swarmed me.
I have this mirror hanging on the back of my door. It's a constant struggle to get the kids to not slam the door shut when they're playing tag or something (which I always tell them to go outside with, but I can't be everywhere at the same time) Well, after taking it off the hinges when I re-did the carpet a few years ago, I couldn't find the mirror clips (only found 4), so it wasn't on super soundly. It kept falling off, because, as is the norm for me, I kept forgetting to buy more clips. I'm proud to say that in November, it happened, and it's now secure again lol
The boys were SUPER motivated to help around the house at the end of October, since they spent all their money on the Wii. At $2/bag, they thought it was pretty great! I was pretty pleased to not have to do it myself this year! lol
Kinsley was WAY more excited about jumping in them! lol
Cashel too! lol
He's such a goofball lol
They all had a lot of fun...except for Kendrick. Kendrick wanted to get them bagged and the job done, so it took some coaxing. But the other kids...oh man! lol
We're obviously really weird, right Kendrick? lol
Puzzlin' has been BIG business around here lately.
Working from home sometimes looked nice and peaceful like this...sometimes.
I surprised the kids with these fun chocolate strawberries for Halloween, since it was going to be a bit of a bust in quarantine. They were definitely yummy, but I'll never order them again.
I finally got around to watching this documentary about Robin Williams and his battle with Lewy Body Dementia. While it's true that FTD and Lewy Body dementia are very different animals, there are still so many similarities, and it was humbling to watch. I think one of the most difficult parts for me was the immense apathy, but I'm also so, so grateful that Mark does not have the awareness or insight about his disease like many other dementias...or at least I really hope not.
As I mentioned, Halloween was kinda a bust this year. Usually, we do all kinds of activities, including Halloween Trail in Worthington (which was open, but we were quarantined), Schwalbach's Fall Festival (cancelled), the School Fall Fest fundraiser, and, of course, trick or treating. I still had the kids get their costumes on and come trick or treating at our house at least, and we watched some Halloween movies together and made homemade pizzas, but it was definitely kinda a bust overall. We DID have some sweet friends stop over with some goodies, though, which was so, so sweet!
Kinsley hadn't napped all day, so she was out cold by 6pm. However, the joke was on me, as she was just "napping", and woke up as I was going to bed at 11pm. Oy!
