Four hours of math, Check engine, and Choked by fumes

Days in the Life

Monday morning we were all ready for the great painter invasion...and then they texted that they were not coming because of truck trouble. That was just after we acknowledged that this week would be a week of being flexible, fluid, and happy to go with the flow.

So we continued on with our day.

Mom and the littles met friends at a zoo for a good part of the late morning and into the afternoon. I took charge of Sofia who had not slept for Mom at all prior to her departure.

At 11:30, though, I fed her a bottle and within seconds of finishing it, she was out. 

She proceeded to sleep for 3 and a half hours. 

Dad had lunch with someone and Chloe, Christian, and I worked on our own things at home. 

That night I babysat for the small group.

My foot hurt the entire day and the pain had moved into my ankle as well. It was hard to sleep that night because of that and a couple other things. 

Tuesday morning I woke up at 6:00 to be ready for Kate to arrive. Both she and Sofia were given into my care when they arrived so I got to finish getting ready for the day with both of them playing at my feet. I loved it. 

Kate was "helping" make my bed. 

Walking down the stairs- don't fall, don't fall, don't fall. 

(Holding both of them didn't last much longer than 5 minutes.)

Aron arrived before any of the rest of the kids were awake to make us pancakes for breakfast. I made green smoothies so it would be a balanced meal. 

Kate and Sofia were both model babies all morning. 

After we all ate together, me dripping syrup on Kate, who had eaten her own breakfast and still wanted bites from my plate, the babies went down for naps and the rest of us discussed possible day-trip plans for the coming weeks. 

The kids threw discs outside with Aron for a bit, while I iced my foot. Then some people went over to the little house. Kate was awake again so I stayed home. 

Also, the painters arrived and scattered to work all over the house fixing water damage, a guy showed up at our door wanting to talk to Dad, and a couple other random guys came down the driveway. It was rather a crazy morning. 

I realized after I took the picture that 

we probably should not let Kate play with library books. 

We don't really do "spring break," but since Aron was here Mom told the kids they could blow off school for the day. They were, of course, all for it. Except Mia, who asked to do her math during rest time in the afternoon. 

There was time for a "deep discussion" when people returned from the little house. Then Aron headed out and we ate lunch. 

Kate went down for her afternoon nap about 1:00 and since I'd slept badly, gotten up early, and my foot was hurting, I decided to take a nap too. Just right about that moment I made my decision, the painters knocked on my door asking to work in my room. So I went downstairs to do much needed math review. Doing math when you are tired is a bad idea. 

Very quickly, however, Mom had to leave for an appointment, and Sofia, who had decided that naps are overrated, was given to me. Then Kate woke up. So I got neither a nap, nor math accomplished. Oh well. *smiles* 

How are they so cute?

She wanted to share her food with me and the baby.

After Sofia left, I fed Kate more and then braided her hair and turned on music for her. 

She loves having her picture taken. 

I got to put dinner together then, while trying not to cry about my foot. That was the worst it had hurt and it was not fun. 

My room in upheaval for the painters.

We had a mostly quiet evening with a visit from Nana and Grandfather to see the progress around the house. 

Wednesday morning the painters arrived and Mom, Sofia, and the littles left to go meet friends at Bubble Land. Meanwhile, I escaped next door to study and take a practice math CLEP test. 

I finished it, not super-pleased with my score (it was much lower than I had excepted based on my confidence working problems on my own and how I felt about it as I was taking it), and came back home to eat lunch.

After talking with Dad, I decided to study my trouble spots and take a second test right away, so I headed back next door with a double chocolate chip cookie, because that makes math more bearable. 

I finished that one and it was even harder (probably because I'd already done 3 hours of math so far that day and was tired) and I still didn't do great. So I went back home to discuss it with Dad and then put math away for the day. Four hours is a long time. And math is not my favorite. My hope had been to be able to pass at least one practice test and then schedule the real one for the next day, but we decided not to do that. 

Aron came to pick Christian up so they could go play disc golf and then go to their guys' group. 

Chloe returned from work and we loaded up my car with books and stuff to take to donate. We took the books to a huge, old, recycled books store to try to sell them. While the staff looked through our boxes we walked around. Neither of us purchased any books (I already have a huge stack waiting to be read sitting in my room), but it was so fun to walk around and look at stuff.

When they were done looking, we took the ones they didn't want, along with the other stuff and dropped it all off to donate. 

Mom made a deal with us a couple years ago that if it ever got above 82 degrees outside during the winter, she'd buy us milkshakes. So far it has done that every year since and we very, very rarely get milkshakes any other time, so we all remember that deal. 

It got above 82 on Monday, so on their way to Bubble Land, the others picked up milkshakes. Driving home, Chloe and I decided we still wanted ours, so we each purchased our own and sat down in Chick-fil-a to enjoy them and talk. 

I like the Oreo one. 

This is Chloe and when I told her so she said, "Inescapably." 

When we got home I had a few minutes before I turned around to leave to go get Christian. 

My room was supposedly finished, but when I went to see it, I found the painters had accidentally used the pink paint that is in the little girls' room to patch where they had fixed water damage. So I let Dad know and prepared for at least one more day of my room being a "mess." (It wasn't that bad, actually, I was surprised that it didn't bother me that much. I didn't enjoy not having it the way it normally is, and having to stay out of there most of the time, and having to dig through my closets to get to stuff that I'd had to put out of the way, but I was able to adjust appropriately and just chose to not let it bother me. Two years ago, though, that would not have gone over so well.) 

As I was driving down, the meeting place for where I was to get Christian changed. Two people called me and I pulled over and formed a new plan. It worked out fine and went right along with "a week of being flexible." 

I ended up going to a Starbucks near the In n' Out Christian was at and caught up in my journal until Aron and Christian arrived and we headed home. 

When we got home around 9:00 I remembered I'd not eaten since lunch (a milkshake and coffee does not count as dinner) so I ate real dinner and iced my foot. Then, for the first time in a long time, I read for almost an hour before going to bed. I had forgotten how much I enjoy that. But I remembered why it doesn't happen often anymore, I kept almost falling asleep. 

Thursday morning the painters arrived early and got started painting the living room and the stairway. My room was still not done and it was raining. I decided I wanted to form spontaneous get-out-of-the-house plans. 

It's so cool to read World Magazine and see my Uncle's picture!

Progress!

Mom needed me to care for Sofia while she and the littles did school. As soon as they were done, though, and had eaten a quick lunch, they took Sofia and headed off to Bubble Land again. 

Chloe's hand is yummy. 

After Sofia left, I got ready and headed to get copies made for Dad and then go blog and study at Starbucks...at least, that was the plan. 

I got to Staples, after fighting unexpected traffic, and realized that my check engine light was on. So I got the copies made, then rushed to Starbucks (because I'd had a lot of water to drink that morning), and finally settled at a table to text Dad and find out what to do. Unfortunately, what to do was leave right away and go get my car looked at. 

I took my mocha with me in the car and waved hopes of blogging and productive study time goodbye. 

After getting on and off 35 three times and making several U-turns, I finally got going the right direction and took the correct exit. I totally knew where I was and where I was going, I just wasn't paying attention. 

Thankfully, the car repair place was not busy, and a simple oil change took care of the issue. 

Chloe and Christian left for Debate early to go pick up Christian's wallet from the restaurant he left it at the night before.

I headed home to turn around again once everyone else returned and go pick up Aunt Cendei to meet Aron for dinner at Babe's. 

We all had a lovely time at dinner. 

Friday morning Mom woke up with her hip hurting so badly that she could hardly move it. Dad took care of Sofia until I was ready for the day, then left for a meeting. The painters arrived and finished all their work by mid-afternoon. We were so excited. And slightly choked by the fumes. 

When Dad returned just before the painters left, we formed a plan for the evening. It was a clean-and-put-the-house-back-together party! With everyone working, it didn't take too terribly long to get rid of the layer of dust over everything and vacuum and put furniture back where it goes. It felt great to have stuff back to normal. 

Chloe is funny.

Flowers for my room! 

When we were finished I ordered Papa John's Pizza and left to go pick it up while everyone else finished a few other things and got ready for bed. 

I finally tried one of the spicy peppers that comes with the pizza and I really liked it! I like some spicy things, but I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. 

Dad and Christian watched "U571," Chloe and the littles watched "Star Wars, episode I-have-no-idea," and Mom and I watched "The Devil Wears Prada." 

Saturday was wonderfully quiet with no strange men working all over our house. We kept windows open to help with the fumes, though, and Dad was still working on getting his office back together. Mom's hip was totally fine! 

I spent the morning sleeping in some, having my Bible time, sipping coffee, dreaming, praying, and catching up in my journal. 

After my shower I finished this drawing. Very rarely do I take the time to draw something that is not a portrait. I enjoyed this! 

We all left for church at 4:30. Christian and I were a part of the pre-service worship and prayer time, which merged right into the actual service this week. The others went to Costco and arrived in good time. 

One of the many babies I hold at church. 

If I don't have a baby, people start asking me what's wrong.

Sunday was very restful compared to the previous week. 

We had our brunch meal as usual and then rested in the afternoon until Aron arrived about 4:00. 

The plan had been to go eat at the Cheesecake Factory, but Mom and Dad were both dragging, so Gabe, Aron, and I were sent to pick up food from the Cheesecake Factory. 

Nana and Grandfather joined us as well and we set out all the food to eat family style. (That just means, we had several entrees and everyone got what they wanted for their own plate.) 

While we ate, we watched "Phantom of the Opera" which is another family favorite. We'd not seen it in a while, which made it even more fun. At least half of us sang along quietly at different parts. Mia declared that the Phantom must have crossed over to the "dark side." 

My foot did not hurt at all all of Sunday, until I jumped over the couch... Don't do that if your foot has been hurt for the past three weeks. It's a bad idea. 

That Moment When...

You perfectly parallel park without hitting any cars.

You donate the laundry basket that was just supposed to be holding stuff to donate.

Your "check engine" light comes on.

Mom drops her mascara wand on her shirt, it slides down to hit her sweater, and then lands in her lap. (Eye makeup remover took care of the mess.)

Dad shakes a paint can vigorously and then realizes it wasn't sealed.

You are the first one to go to bed and find out that at 9:00 it's still loud enough in the house to make falling asleep slightly difficult, but not impossible, if you are tired enough for some unknown reason.


The Herd: Quoted 

"Last night, when I was laying awake, I was trying to think of something I could do to bless everyone. I couldn't think of anything that was quiet." -Mia 

"Oh, those need to not be I front of me." -Mom referring to the box of donuts. 

"Get thee behind me!" -Chloe 

"Wait, is it April?" -Me 

"No, March." -Christian  

"Oh whew!" -Me  

"Buddy, will you forgive me for the times that I have not been a good mom?" -Mom
"Sure! But, you've been a mom for 18 years now, how come you're not good at it yet?" -Gabe