A Cancelled Turkey Trot & Lost Credit Card

Saturday everyone was asleep when I snuck out of the house at 7:15 to workout. It was 20 degrees out. I can't imagine less optimal conditions for leaving the house to exercise.

 

When I got back at 8:30, everybody except Calla was up. She was just snoring away in her bed! She loves sleeping in on Saturdays. She finally woke up at 9.

 

We didn't have any plans for the morning. Jonathan went to Ace hardware for a new heat filter or something (I have no idea) and to the post office for stamps. I've received a couple "Christmas" cards already (they were "Thanksgiving" cards...both families had moved so perhaps they wanted everyone to know their new addresses). That got me thinking about stamps. And picking out a Christmas card. And needing a Christmas card picture. And this is a tangent if I've ever written one.

 

My girlfriend Emily organized a Turkey Trot last year (picture below)

 

 

 and decided to plan one for Saturday morning at 11:00am. Well, sadly, at 11am it was about 20 degrees with 20mph winds and Em sent out a second email cancelling the Trot. I guess it did seem a little inhumane to drag young children out to a mile-long trail around a lake in frigid weather. haha. I had already started gathering the winter clothes and my kids would have looked dressed to go play in snow, not run anywhere. (Jonathan wasn't sure Kelsey Mae could run in winter boots but I said I was not carrying her bc her feet had frost bite.) Well we didn't need to find out, because instead of Trotting, we met at Chick-fil-A for lunch. Even the run into the restaurant was too much of a run in my opinion. It was so cold!

 

There were seven families that met up so we took up a whole wing of the restaurant. The kids scarfed down their food so they could take over the playland. They appeared to be having a wonderful time, except at one point my friend Emily carried Jay out of the playland and he was crying his head off. I wasn't sure what the issue was (Em's son Grant had carried him down the slide...so kind of him to care for a tot in need!). He kept saying "Calla, Calla" and I realized that Calla wasn't even in the playland. So I asked him if he had lost Calla and he said yes and I suppose that's why he was so worked up.

 

Well we all left at about 1...I am sure the Chick-fil-A employees let out an audible sigh of relief. We went home and Calla gathered her birthday card and gift for her friend, Jenna. At 1:30 Jonathan and Calla left to drive Calla a half hour to "Petland." I have never heard of Petland, but it sounded pretty wonderful from Calla's report. The party was from 2-5pm, and Jonathan said that it looked like they were going to be able to pet a bunch of pets. Plus there was aquarium and cake and present opening. I asked Calla if it felt really long (three hours seems long for a party to me!) and she said, "No it seemed SO short!" ha!).

 

below: a mom from the party sent me this pic...

Calla, Kaily, Aubrey, Jenna the birthday girl (and Kaily's younger sis). All the girls are in Calla's class.

 

 

While Calla was having the time of her life, Kelsey and I were plodding along at home, packing up for our trip out to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Jaybird took a nap, and then he woke up and Kels and Jay got in the way while I tried to finish up packing.

 

We left the house at 5:30 to pick up Calla...fortunately, my friend Ashley had picked her and Robbie up so I didn't have to make the half-hour trip. Jonathan wasn't at home because he went to the Wisconsin basketball game after dropping Calla off earlier in the afternoon.

 

It was 19 degrees out when we went to pick up Calla, so clearly the temperature that usually keeps us huddled in our home. But this baby has been growing like a weed and my jeans are becoming unbearable. I thought I'd drive past Ashley's house after picking up Calla to stop in at Old Navy for some new maternity jeans. The kids and I braved the cold, we went to the fitting room and they noisily watched me try on 5 pairs of jeans, and then I went to pay for them and realized my credit card was at home. Actually, I wasn't sure it was at home but it was definitely not in my purse. Oh for goodness' sake.

 

We drove back home and I searched everywhere for it and couldn't find it. So I started making dinner and after a bit Kelsey said, "Mom I found your credit card!" Here she found it stuck in a pack of gum! I had taken out the Trident pack to give Kelsey and Jay a piece before we left the house and the card must have gotten stuck in the pack somehow in my purse. Instead of putting it back in my purse, I put it on the piano. Well I was just so glad to see it that I didn't waste any energy wondering why I had decided to store it on the piano.

 

I made breakfast for dinner. The kids always think that is a hoot. We had scrambled eggs and toast and bacon. Jaybird ate a big piece of bacon with glowing reviews, and then after a few minutes spit it all out in his napkin. I guess the chewing part was his favorite part.

 

I gave the kids a bath and then we read stories and I put them to bed. Jay gave me a terrible time about going to bed. He kept yelling "NO SLEEP!" from his crib. I am not sure what he has against sleep, but he did take it least forty-five minutes to fall asleep. I have no idea how a child can lay in the dark and not fall asleep immediately.

 

We leave for Pennsylvania in the morning!



 

below: Jay still fits in the infant seat in the Old Navy shopping carts. HA! (Actually I write "still" but I don't remember ever seeing these carts before. Must be new. He is eating Calla's lollipop from her goodie-bag from her party. She is pretty generous with her goodie bag contents.)

 

 

Callaism~

 

~ For the party favors, Calla received a coupon for a FREE PET! Oh how wonderful. They specified that Calla can redeem her coupon for one of the following: (1) a male beta fish (2) a golden hamster and (3) a hermit crab. well you can guess which one she wants. (2)

 

Calla's 1st Class Party

Friday was such a relaxing day! I feel like Fridays always seem pretty low-key over here and it is always welcome by the end of the week! Kelsey and Jay and I dropped Calla off at school and then came home and the kiddos played. My girlfriend Emily and her daughter Lucy popped in and it was fun to visit for awhile. Kelsey and Jay and Lucy colored for awhile and cut up paper into small pieces. That is one of Kelsey and Jay's favorite things to do.

After Em and Lulu left, Kelsey and Jay and I headed to Target so I could buy thank you notes. It seemed ridiculous to go on an errand for one item but I had completely forgotten them on Wednesday and isn't that so typical to forget one item after a trip to the store? We picked up Calla from school. She was on Cloud 9 after "Native American Party" day. Which I think is a politically correct way to say "Pilgrims & Indians Party."

She had an Indian headpiece and lots of fun crafts and a necklace and a "Blessings Mix." She sounded like she had a wonderful morning. We didn't have too much time to talk about it, because I had packed a lunch for the girls. My friend Kris invited Kelsey and Calla over for a couple hours to play with her girls Annie and Molly. She was going to bring them back home on her way to pick up her son from first grade.

Oh poor Jaybird. He and I walked the girls to the door and he immediately took off his coat and ran in! He thought the playdate was for him too! (His little friend Ben was standing at the door dressed in his Halloween costume as Yoda from Star wars so I am sure Jay thought it was going to be a pretty awesome afternoon!)

I carried Jay back to the car and told him Ben was going to take a nap and that it was his time for a nap too but I promised I would read him a ton of books. We went home and he ate fruit snacks (that always softens the blow of missing out on playdates) and I read for a half hour. I put him in his crib and he went to bed and I sat down on the couch and got carpel tunnel from writing a ton of thank you notes.

Kris dropped off Cal-Cal and Kelsey. Jaybird woke up soon after they got home so the three of them made a big fort in the front room. In fact, they pretty much turned it upside down but they were playing so happily that I did not care.

below: a mess

We had our extensive clean-up time before dinner. I made food for the kids and then I got ready to go since Jonathan and I were headed out to dinner with friends. Brannon the baby-sitter arrived. Calla is really attached to "BB." (They call her BB because they always forget to call her Brannon and it ends up being Brandon!) Calla began asking "how many more minutes until BB gets here?" about thirty minutes before she arrived and asked on the 30-second mark until she walked in the door.

Jonathan and I said goodbye and headed out to dinner with five other couples. We haven't done a big dinner-out with a crowd like that in awhile and it was super fun! We ended up going to the Moo's afterwards...Jenny had cookie dough in the frig that she popped in the oven to make cookies. She hadn't even planned on having anybody over. Jenny is like a Martha Stewart - ready for company at a moment's notice.

Brannon said the kids did well...she said Calla led a 45-minute storytime, so it actually sounded like a relaxing baby-sitter gig! hahaha. She could not find Jay's pacifier at bedtime and to tell you the truth neither could I so I wonder exactly how we are going to carry on without it!

Callaism~

~ Calla in her Indian "hat." Headdress?

(Forgotten) Jersey Day

Thursday morning was "jersey day" in Calla's class. Except we forgot that it was jersey day at all, until we had already arrived at school and saw Calla's classmates walk in with their jerseys on. Oh no! The class had earned a "jersey day" because they had gotten all ten horses in their corral. It had taken a long time (they win horses on "good behavior" and that behavior must be few and far between because it took them over four weeks to corral those horses! ha!).

I told Calla I would go home and get her jersey and bring it back to school. I probably would not have done that if it was just some token "jersey day" but I know she had been trying really hard to win those horses and was feeling very victorious about those ten.

So Kelsey and Jay and I drove back home to pick up her Wisconsin jersey. I grabbed Kelsey's too since I thought perhaps someone else might have forgotten to wear one. We headed back to the school, and Kelsey and Jay were happy to walk into the school office. (I think Kelsey looks at Calla's school building with wonder and awe.) We dropped off the jerseys...I'm glad I grabbed Kelsey's because it turned out there was another student who had forgotten one. Calla said later that it was so fun to wear matching jerseys with "Josiah." She said, "I am not at his table so we didn't talk very much but when I would see him across the room we would point at our jerseys and give thumbs up!" hahaha.

After we dropped off the jerseys we drove across town to BSF. In the car Jay was saying he wanted to go home but as soon as we pulled into the driveway he said "Train class!" He really loves the train table at his BSF class. I am sure it pales into comparison to the love he has of singing the Bible songs and listening to the Bible story.

After BSF we went home and Kels and Jay had fifteen minutes to eat lunch. Actually, Jay missed it because he was sitting on the potty (sometimes he lingers on there for quite some time). But Kelsey ate and that was most important since she had preschool. We headed out the door at ten of twelve to pick up Cal-Cal. I thought she would be praising me and kissing my feet for going to the extra effort of bringing the jersey to school for her. Instead, she seemed pretty matter-of-fact about it. Like, of course I would haha.

We stopped by Molly's house on the way to preschool to pick her up. I am so glad Kels has a little friend in preschool with her...she was zipping Molly's backpack up for her on the walk in and saying "Come on, Molls!" It was so cute.

The kids always line up behind the speech teacher. Kelsey was turning around to say something as she followed the line, and turned back around in time to walk smack into the glass door. (One side of the door was open...Kels was walking into the side that was not.) It was hilarious. The aide was next to her and said "Oh my goodness are you okay?" but Kelsey did not seem deterred. Maybe she was trying to play it off! haha.

Calla and Jay and I headed home. Jay and Calla crawled into his crib and Calla read him several books. Whenever I ask if he wants me or Calla to read to him before bed, he always says Calla!

 Calla got out of the crib and resolved to make her own crib. I tucked Jay in and Calla brought me into the kitchen and said she needed scissors, tape, paper and markers to make her crib. I wished her luck and then I took a nap.

When I woke up she was still working on it...in fact, she worked on it for the next two hours. There was strewn paper and markers all over the floor of her room. Kelsey Mae got dropped off from preschool and joined in. In the end, they decided that the crib wasn't working well and they were going to change it into a tent. Bless their hearts.

Thursday evening we had small group, so the kids helped me clean up the house (there was a lot of chopped up paper around, let me tell you). I made dinner and gave the kids a bath while it was in the oven. Jonathan came home but had to turn right around because my minivan tire had gotten a screw stuck in it (no idea how). In fact, the poor fellow got a flat on the way to get it fixed (it is pretty amazing I had noticed it first thing in the morning and it never went flat with all my driving around all day!...which is a good thing because I have no clue how to change a flat).

below: dinnertime. we sent some pics to Daddy so he'd feel like he was there.

 

 

below: Jaybird imitating Big Sis haha.

 

 

Jonathan picked up Brie to baby-sit on his way back from getting the tire replaced. The kids were so excited to see her! Even Jay was really happy...she went to the back room to talk with the girls and Jay got out the magna-tiles in the front room and started yelling "Brie! Brie! Come!" In fact, we left with him still yelling his head off for her.

We went to small group. We are still working our way through Tim Keller's "Reason for God." It is not a fast read! ha

Jayism~

~ This is TMI, but Jay went boo boo on the potty before we picked up Calla from school. He wanted to leave the potty without flushing it so Calla could see "it" when she got home. When I told Calla in the car on the way home, she said, "Jay that is so nice of you!" haha. I thought that was an interesting reaction.

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey does not like going potty at preschool and I really don't have any idea why. When Kris dropped her off at the house, she told me the teacher's aide had informed her that Kelsey had an accident in her panties. YIKES! And sadly it was NOT pee. Fortunately what was there was pretty tiny and Kelsey claims she was telling the teacher she had to go potty but the teacher said to wait a minute. (Or perhaps the teacher said, "What? What are you saying?" jk). A little girl in class, Riley, took Kelsey to the potty and Kelsey said that she had to send Riley back to the classroom to fetch the teacher's aide. Oh my. Teachers don't make enough money.

Yesterday

Wednesday was our last Bible Study day until January. We will miss it! We start a new study in January...I am looking forward to it.

 

Anyway we took Cal-Cal to school and then headed to church. Jaybird insists on carrying his own backpack:

below: as you can see, we were there early (there's nobody else in sight! ha)

 

We always take Jaybird to the potty before his class and then they take him at the halfway point in the morning and I take him as soon as class ends. I feel like my days revolve around trips to the bathroom. Being pregnant is the perfect time to be spending a lot of time in the bathroom though; I'd be there a lot anyway.

I picked up Kelsey Mae and Jay and we headed on our way to pick up Calla. We had some errands to run at Target so I went through the drive-thru at McD's to get the kids burgers for lunch. We aren't at McD's often but Jaybird loves himself a cheeseburger haha. He ate his entire burger and half of Calla's. (Calla ate one-half and was full.)

The kids ate in the cart at Target. We had to pick out a birthday gift for a party Calla has on Saturday. The girls also pointedly clued me into toys they would like for Christmas haha. They also picked out something from the dollar section because they filled out their sticker chart. {Sidenote: Calla implemented a sticker chart for her and Kelsey. Occasionally when I ask them to help me with Jay or something, they say, "Can I put a sticker on my chart?" Clearly all their hard work has paid off because they picked out a yo-yo and a one of those brush-mirror compact things that I had when I was a kid.}

My girlfriend Ali invited my girls over to her house for the afternoon so after Target I dropped them off. Jaybird is such a dear. They ran into the house and he started exclaiming, "Me too! Me too!" and I said, "Jaybird, Blake and Chase are taking naps. And you have to take a nap. So we will play later." And he said, "Okay." I was so grateful that he seemed so reasonable that I promised him I would read him 100 books before his nap.

Well I broke my promise, but I did read him some books and then put him down for his nap. Then I tried my very best NOT to take a nap. haha. I succeeded!

Ali dropped the girls off at 4. Birdie had just woken up so he was glad to see them. They played and we did our Awana homework and I made dinner. Birdie likes to listen to the Awana Cubbies stories. In fact, he may pay closer attention than big sister Kelsey. (She seems less interested in them! ha)

We ate dinner and then headed out into the rain to church. Calla was appalled when we walked in to realize that she had forgotten it was stuffed animal night. As a sidenote, I would like to add that I wish Awana embraced the 21st century and emailed out a list of the theme nights at the beginning of the year. (They gave everyone a piece of paper at the informational meeting at the beginning of the year, but I didn't attend it because I was taking care of the kids in Puggles.) So we usually don't know themes until it's too late. However, I told Calla she should pick out a stuffed animal from Puggles and so she did. There was only one stuffed animal in the entire room and it was very baby-ish looking, but she said it would do. I asked Kelsey Mae if she needed me to search for one for her and she shrugged and said, "no." I love that quality about Kelsey - every kid in the entire Cubbies could have a stuffed animal and she would not care. She does not have to fit in with the masses. That is a very good character trait to have!

My night at Puggles was much more fun than usual because my friend Ashley stopped in with her daughter Maddie. She got me hot chocolate and sat and visited with me and it was so great to catch up! We only had four kids in there anyway and they happily played together (for the most part!). I told Ashley we welcome visitors any time haha. It sure made the evening fly by!

 

 below: Ashley took this pic of her Maddie and Jay. It was their idea to get situated in the basket.

 

 

After Awana we headed home. Jonathan and I put the kiddos to bed. The girls are always so wiped after Awana and the playdate+Awana combination just amplified that. (Kelsey had even fallen asleep on the drive to church at 6!)

 

Jayism~

 

~ Jay loves watching the big kids play while we are waiting in the pick-up lane to get Calla. He asked to get out and play with them but I didn't think he would blend in well.

A Typical Tuesday

Yesterday was a busy day...I feel like Tuesdays are always busy for Kels now that she has afternoon preschool.

Getting the kids out of bed is not an easy task. Actually, Kelsey Mae and Jay are ready to get up the second their eyes pop open but Calla takes an entire strategy. We start with turning the lights on dim in her room fifteen minutes before I need her up. She does not speak back to me when I speak. haha. Then I go back in and turn them all the way and take her covers off. By this point she's usually groaning that she's cold. I throw her a robe. Five minutes later, I tell her she is going to be really late if she doesn't get out of bed that minute and eat her breakfast. She is such a stinker.

So we took Calla to school and then headed to the sports center. I didn't want to take too long since I felt bad the kids were in childcare at church on Monday (and would be on Wed. and Thurs. too) so I just ran around the track. Then I took a fast shower and picked them up and we headed to Aldi. Kelsey is still pretty enamored by Aldi because of the whole quarter-in-the-cart thing.

From Aldi we headed to gymnastics, which is just around the corner. We had some time to spare so Kelsey changed into her leotard and then she and Jay sat together and ate a red Jello. What a life. ha.

Kelsey had her gymnastics class. It is just the cutest thing to see her and her little buddies Hailey and Molly and Annie and Kate and Maggie go in there with their little gymnastics leotards on. After Kelsey was done we went and picked up Calla. Then I dropped Calla off at gymnastics, and drove Kelsey to speech preschool (picking up little Molly on the way). Jaybird ate a pack of fruit snacks to help make the car ride seem more fun.

Then Jaybird and I drove back to gymnastics to pick up Calla. I ended up taking my friend Kate's daughters home because she had a showing on her house (it is for sale). Calla was pretty thrilled to have two friends to play with while Kels was gone.

Jay took his nap and Cal-Cal and her buddies played. My friend Kris dropped Kelsey off and then she got to play with the girls for an hour before their mom picked them up. Jaybird woke up in time to watch them play. At one point he tried wrestling with them while they were playing "dogs"....I can see his confusion. (If you are crawling around on hands and knees, why wouldn't you want to wrestle?)

Our guests left and I made dinner. It's so nice to have Jonathan home around 5:45-6. It makes dinnertime much less hectic when it's not so close to bedtime! He got home and we ate and then headed out to the door to Bry and Ali's. They invited us over to watch the Wisconsin basketball game. The kids may have watched 30 seconds of basketball and then they disappeared. (Actually, we kept seeing them out of the corner of our eye...I think they were spying on us! haha.)

Actually I am not sure how much I concentrated on the game...it's hard for me to pick staring at the game over conversation (-: We left at 8:30 to get the kids to bed. Jaybird was a little wound up when he got home...he loves playing with all of Blake and Chase's boy stuff! (In fact, he loved it so much that at one point he came waddling out of the toy room...waddling because he had accidentially let out a little boo boo in his panties. oops.)

Callaism~

~ Calla likes to have Kelsey practice her letters and then she "grades them." She circles some letters and writes "bad" (if they are) and others she will write "Good job!" or "Great work!" or "Excellent!" hahahaha.

Jayism~

~ Jay in his Wisconsin shirt and baseball cap, ready to cheer on Uncle Ben.

A Monday Swim

Monday we had a wonderful morning because the littles and I went to Moms Together at church after taking Calla to school. I love Moms Together events at church and try not to miss any. One of the best parts of them is that they work hard to make sure Kids Together is just as fun. The kids got to eat cinnamon french toast and learn about David Goliath. They all gathered in the Chapel for a singing time (even Jaybird's class!) and heard the story from Esther Eriksen, who is the preschool director at church and does a great job. The craft was painting rocks...you know, since David probably paused to paint his rock before putting it in the sling shot to swing it at Goliath's forehead.

 

Kelsey Mae was so thrilled with her plate of rocks! ha! She was walking so gingerly out of the church holding her little paper plate full of painted rocks. Jay did not paint his rocks but he didn't seem to notice. ha!

 

We picked up Calla on the way home and Kels and Jay played with their rocks while I made lunch. I think I may literally wrap rocks for them for Christmas hahaha.

 

Monday afternoon Birdie took his nap. The girls got busy playing. It was one of those afternoons when they played happily all afternoon. I think they began with some sort of plot line ("school" or something) and played for three hours straight. I missed an hour in the middle because I fell asleep on the couch. I was supposed to be listening to a sermon, but you can't really listen to a sermon laying on the couch with your eyes closed without falling asleep. oops.

 

I woke Jay up because he seemed to be sleeping the day away. We straightened up the house and I made dinner and we ate early. Jonathan was at a Bulls game with his boss so we decided to eat early and then go swim at the sports center.

 

below: Ready to swim!!! Haha no way was Jaybird stopping for a picture. He loves to stand on the top step and do a "high jump" (belly flop) into the water.

 

 

 I didn't let Kelsey have her swimmies on in the shallow end where she can reach and we worked on her swimming. Calla wanted to swim in the deep end so after awhile Kels put her swimmies on and we went over there. Kelsey is so cautious! It was so funny to watch Calla run and jump into the deep end and Jaybird follow her with a big splash, and then Kelsey walk over and slowly let herself into the water. The less splash the better for that girl.

The kids swam for an hour or so. Then we headed into the locker room. We took showers and the kids had a snack.

below: crackers while they waited for mother to get ready

 below: Kelsey is quite a few shades paler than her sis.

The whole showering-and-into-pajamas (well, for the kids, not for me) took a half hour. Then we headed home!

I think the girls fell asleep in two seconds flat. I checked on them later and it seemed that Calla was infringing on Kelsey's personal space.

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey choked on some water and said, "I think it went down the wrong..." she couldn't remember the word and so I said, "the wrong pipe?" She said, "yes." She pointed to one of her legs and said, "It went down this one." HAHA.

Jayism~

~ We saw a tall, black guy at the pool and Jay thought it was uncle Daniel! Poor Jaybird. He probably couldn't understand why Uncle Daniel was ignoring us.

Our Weekend

Saturday morning Jonathan left early to take Corinne and Daniel to the airport. The rest of us slept in until 8:30 (all four of us). I think the cloudy, rainy day was to blame!

 

I woke up with a nasty cold so I decided to skip the Saturday morning workout. We ended up leaving the house in our pajamas to pick up Jonathan (who was getting something done with his car) and to grab donuts on our way. Jaybird is enthusiastic about nothing more in life than a drive to get a donut. A vanilla long john, to be specific.

 

So most of Saturday was pretty dull...lots of rain and wind outside, so we hung indoors. Calla had the most exciting day of any of us, because I had scheduled for her to take a cooking class with Norah. There is an adorable store named Marcel's in Glen Ellyn that sells cooking tools and tableware and also offers cooking classes. Jenny has taken some so she thought it'd be fun to have Norah and Calla take a kids class together. I was pretty jealous! Haha!

 

Calla was really excited about it (on the drive there she asked me if she could take one every Saturday...and I said, "uh, no"). She did get a little shy when we arrived.

 

below: feeling shy

 

 

below: Getting her apron on. She got to keep it! She was thrilled.

below: a picture with the Chef. He was a friendly fellow.

below: Norah and Calla, future celebrity chefs. (haha jk)

On the menu was turkey and cranberry panini, potato croquet and pumpkin "pop tarts." It sounded so delicious that I was tempted to stay hahahaha. It was definitely a drop-off event though! Jenny and I snuck out after the girls looked more relaxed.

Jenny was so sweet to drop Calla off an hour and a half later. Thank goodness she brought what she made home. I was dying for a sample. Thankfully she wasn't a big fan of the turkey and cranberry panini so Kelsey and I split it. She had already polished off the potato croquet in Jenny's car. Calla has a weakness for potatoes.

below: Savoring the last of her pumpkin pop tart.

Saturday evening we were home for dinner, and then Jonathan got all his rain gear on and headed out to watch the Wheaton North football game. It was playoffs. Jonathan's friend Bry coaches but I always tease him it must be his son out there playing because Jonathan doesn't like to miss a game. haha.

Actually it was warm Saturday (60s) so the kids and I would have gone if it wasn't so rainy. Instead, I asked if they wanted to watch the Wisconsin game with me. (Ben's team played at 7pm.)

Jay straight up told me he wanted to paint instead.

below: an artist at work

 below: somehow the floor seems easier to clean than the table. less spills too.

 

Calla and Kelsey built a fort. When Jonathan got home, he watched the end of the game and then we put the kiddos to bed.

 

Sunday morning we were up at 7:30 (I overslept my alarm - not a shocker) and out the door by 8:15. We can thank Daddy for making that happen. He is responsible for the children and himself. All I have to do is comb hair, pick out clothes, and get myself ready. Somehow Daddy's hair combing (for the girls) never ends well.

 

So in the morning we went to the first service and then I helped in Bird's class in the second. He was kind of cranky. He and Bitty kept squabbling over the same book. (It had a cow on the front.) At one point they were sitting together on one of the kids-size couches and he tried to grab it from her and she up and kicked him off the couch. He was so insulted! He cried this loud, dramatic cry and it was just hilarious to me. Go Bitty go.

 

So after church a huge storm was rolling through...in fact it was barely raining when we started to leave the side door of church to walk into the parking lot and it was pouring by the time we reached our minivan. Yikes!

 

We got home and the wind was howling. We had a couple waves of bad storms come through. I was so thankful we didn't lose power! (Some of Wheaton did.) I am not sure if anyone was more worried about that than Jonathan, since the Bears game was going to be on at noon.

 

The rest of our day was very boring. I suppose Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest! Jay and I took a two-hour nap in Mommy's bed. (I don't know if he's taken a nap with me since he was an infant. It was kind of nice! I ended up having to wake him up...rain and wind make for perfect nap weather!)

 

The girls played and played. They built forts and played school and, of course, "cooking class." I think Calla's "cooking class" will live on for weeks to come in the imaginations of her and Kels and their little plastic kitchen haha.

 

We ate dinner and had family worship and put the kids to bed. Jaybird took so long to fall asleep! He played with his trains in his crib in the dark for it least an hour. Oh Birdie.

 

Callaism~

 

~ Calla told me the "only rule" that they had at cooking class - "Take a bite to be polite." She said to me - Don't you think we should make it a rule at our house too? Nobody likes a rule like Calla.

 

Jayism~

 

~ we were stopped in in a drive-thru line for Dunkin Donuts and Jay was incredulous that the cars in front of us were stopped. "Move, dude! DUDE!" Hahahaha I was laughing so hard. I tend to refer to other cars as "dude!" when I am driving. Sadly, it has rubbed off on Birdie.

Corinne & Daniel Visit

Wednesday we had a busy day getting ready for our guests, Corinne and Daniel! But in the morning we had Bible study at church, so we took Cal-Cal to school and then headed to church. Afterwards, the Bible study leaders had a luncheon. My friend Ashley was so sweet to offer her baby-sitter's services to pick up Calla (since the luncheon obviously interfered with school pick-up) and her sitter was already picking up Robbie. So I was able to attend the luncheon (I packed a lunch for Bird and Kelsey, who ate with all the other leaders' kids...Kelsey Mae was looking forward to being in class with Jay!...they were coloring together when I picked them up).

 

We drove to Ashley's house to pick up Calla. She and Robbie had ate lunch with the baby-sitter, and she said she also got a chance to play Legos. She requested some for Christmas. I guess legos have been unchartered territory for us but Calla insists she saw pink Legos in Target. (Where was I?)

 

Wednesday afternoon Birdie napped, the girls played, and I cleaned the house and did some cooking. We ate our typical 5pm dinner, and then headed to Awana at 6.

 

Awana Puggles kind of gave me a headache on Wednesday night. One little boy (who shall remain nameless, except to say it obviously wasn't Jay) cried off and on the entire time. He is three, which seems entirely too old to be crying for his mother. He also likes to throw up when he is upset, so every time he started crying didn't I march him over to the toilet and tell him he had to cry by the toilet because I didn't want him to throw up anywhere else. Thankfully, the close proximity to the toilet miraculously kept his throw up from coming (although he did keep making threatening gagging noises).

 

The night was finally over, and the kids and I went home. I put everyone into pajamas and got the girls to bed. I was reading books to Bird when Daddy got home, so he took over the bedtime responsibilities while I snuck out the front door to pick up Aunt Corinne and Uncle Daniel from the airport. Definitely the highlight of my day!

 

Corinne and Daniel and I had great timing! I did a couple rounds of the terminal and soon they were ready, standing at the curb. We headed back to Wheaton and did a little chatting and then they went to bed. I was sure they were tired since it was an hour later for them.

 

Thursday morning it was all I could to do to keep the girls from waking our guests up! I quietly made some pancakes and bacon and soon Corinne and Daniel were up! I fed Calla and then left to take her to school. To keep Kelsey out of the Iya's way, I put on a Doc McStuffins episode on the TV in our bedroom. (Corinne said Daniel watched it with her. HA!) Jaybird was still asleep, so he didn't even know there was a school drop-off (later, he asked "Where's Talla?")

 

I returned and Daniel was ironing a dress shirt in the front room, which he was still doing when Jay woke up. Imagine Jay's surprise to find uncle Daniel ironing in the front room. ha! I let Jay sit at the little table in the front room to eat his breakfast so he could watch Uncle Daniel.

 

We had a busy morning planned since Corinne and Daniel and I had a meeting at First Trust, a business in town. I had arranged the meeting so that they would have a chance to present a year-end giving opportunity to First Trust Cares. Stefani our regular sitter came by to watch Kels and Jay while we were gone.

 

Corinne, Daniel and I left at 9:45 in our dress clothes. It felt a little unusual to be in "business dress" -it's been awhile! Corinne and Daniel presented their presentation to raise money for college scholarships for Ugandan orphans (graduates of GSF) and the lady in charge of the foundation seemed really receptive. We were probably there thirty or forty minutes (the presentation took 20, and the lady had lots of follow-up questions). We thought it went well.

 

We got home and Stefani had done all the breakfast dishes (after eating some pancakes!) - bless her heart. They were cleaned up just in time for me to feed Kelsey some lunch, since she needed to eat before we picked up Cal-Cal since we had to take her to preschool right after. I also did some last-minute "sn" practice with her (that's the sound she was learning last week). I had better luck than Calla (Corinne overheard Calla trying to quiz Kelsey with her speech cards and Kelsey saying, "I'm not going to say it!").

 

Corinne and Daniel decided to come with me to school pick-up so they could see Calla's school. I think it was pretty fun for Calla to have her aunt and uncle there to pick her up! We then drove across town and Corinne and Daniel got to help drop off Kels at speech preschool. Even more fun!

 

We headed home and had some lunch. Thursday afternoon I spent a lot of time getting ready for the get-together that evening that I hosted for Corinne and Daniel. Corinne was a lot of help! And Calla helped me with my chocolate trifle.

 

I ran out to pick up Kelsey Mae from preschool. It was so nice to be able to let Bird sleep and Calla at home while I grabbed her!

 

Once they got home, Uncle Daniel did some reading....



 

 

{captivated audience}

 

I had made baked mostaccioli the day before (a request from Corinne!) and so I popped that in the oven and we ate early so we'd have time to clean up the dishes and display the desserts and drinks before my guests arrived at 7:30.

 

Jonathan was a little late getting home, so we started dinner without him. I was nervous about waiting for him and getting too far behind! Corinne helped me clean up the dishes and sweep the floor and set out the food. I wish she was around every time I have guests. haha.

 

below: I took a pic of her and the food! haha! I wanted to send it to Mom

 

 

Daddy got the kids into pajamas and set them up in our room. We decided we'd put a couple shows on for them until bedtime so they wouldn't interfere with the evening!

 

The goal of the evening was to have some friends over who have expressed interest in Corinne so they could meet her and Daniel and hear more about their ministry. We had fifteen or so people come and it was a really fun evening. I think everyone had a good time! I was so excited that so many of my friends came...it was a really dark, windy evening and not really the type of evening you want to spend out and about! I know several people had really busy schedules and still made it work and I was so grateful.

 

Friday morning Kelsey and Jay went along to take Calla to school. Corinne and Daniel were still asleep so I wanted to give them an extra few minutes of silence! ha! Kelsey Mae woke them up at 9:30 or so, and we had breakfast. Jaybird requested to sit next to Daniel. Uncle Daniel was quickly gaining a big new admirer.

below: Jaybird, reading a book while he was waiting for Daniel to wake up.

Friday morning my friend Ashley stopped in with her girls, Ellie and Maddie, to meet Corinne. She had helped send toys over to Uganda last year at Christmas and had been following Corinne's blog for months so when she couldn't stop in on Thursday evening she squeezed it in to stop in Friday morning!

She asked about our evening and when Corinne and Daniel said they did a presentation, she said she wanted to hear it! I tried to keep Ellie and Kelsey and Maddie and Jay busy while they talked. A few paints and some brushes and paper on the kitchen floor kept everyone happy.

Ashley and her crew left just as we were leaving to pick up Calla from school. Corinne was talking about how everyone in the Midwest wears big puffy winter coats (I hadn't noticed that people on the east coast don't do that!) and so we had a laugh when we got to the school and Calla's kindergarten teacher was escorting the kids out, in a big puffy winter coat! I guess Midwesterners need to keep warm, puffy coats and all.

My girlfriend Kris hadn't been able to come Thursday night either and wanted to meet Corinne, so after kindergarten pickup we drove across town (through Wheaton College's campus ! --> Daniel had never been) to meet her at Chick-fil-A. Molly and Annie and Calla and Kelsey sat at one table, and the adults and the little kids sat at another. It was fun for Corinne to meet Kris and for the two of them to talk...Kris has two sisters (who I've gotten to know) so it was fun that she got to know Rin.

We didn't stick around too long because Daniel had a meeting at Chase bank for something at 2. We got home in time for him to drop us off and head to the bank. I put Jay down for a nap and then laid down with the girls, although neither of the girls slept. This was surprising since the night before they had taken FOREVER to fall asleep. They were incredulous that I wasn't letting them stay up and watch Corinne and Daniel's presentation with the adults. Even Jaybird was wide awake until our guests started leaving...I have no earthly idea what he was doing in his crib (although I did hear him calling out "Mama!" from time to time).

At 3:30, Daniel and Corinne had a meeting at my friends the Westons' house so they could hear about their ministry. The Westons went to Africa last year so I know Corinne was excited to hear THEIR story too! I think they spent an hour or so there...they seemed to really enjoy talking to Brooke and Jeff. Brooke and Jeff are really easy to talk to so I knew they would. (-:

Once they got home I put out some cheese and crackers as a little appetizer to hold us over until Jonathan got home from work. We had plans to go out to this sushi restaurant in Wheaton called Wok & Fire once Jonathan arrived. The kids remember Wok & Fire as "the dragon on the wall restaurant" so we kept calling it that.

The wait at the restaurant was a bummer. I would have thought to make reservations except the last time we went that place was empty...it must be pretty unpredictable. Oh well. The kids passed the time by trying to balance and walk on a straight line and by staring at other kids waiting with their parents. (It's funny how blatant eye contact with strangers does not seem uncomfortable to children.)

We finally got seated and Corinne and Daniel gave the sushi a thumbs up so hopefully it was worth the 30-minute wait! Calla and Kelsey split a burger so they obviously weren't feeling in the mood for Asian fare. Jaybird shared Daddy's rice and chicken, although he kept trying to stab Kelsey's fries with his chopsticks.

below: I took a pair of the newlyweds at dinner!!

 

 

 

Our service at dinner was pretty prompt, which was nice since I could tell the girls were starting to get cranky. The late night on Thursday was catching up with them!

 

We got home and put the kids straight to bed. They were asleep in no time, and so the newlyweds and the oldlyweds started our game of Settlers. Somehow Jonathan and my marriage survived. (Although, as you can see, one time I forced him to consult the rulebook because I didn't trust his memory...)

below: the gamers

We let Jonathan win since he had paid for dinner.

After we were done I pulled out some pants that I had "outgrown" for Corinne to borrow until she leaves for Africa. Probably by Thanksgiving I will have outgrown some tops...I feel like every day I am getting bigger. Calla likes to make me look up the "fruit/vegetable" sized of the baby and right now the internet says it is the size of a sweet potato although I think they meant to write cantaloupe.

I said goodbye to Corinne and Daniel before I went to bed since they were leaving early in the morning. We were so glad Dad flew them out here and so grateful for time to spend with them! It was short but hopefully they enjoyed themselves! Fortunately we didn't have to say goodbye for long since Thanksgiving is around the corner!

 



Kelseyism~

 

~ Kelsey asked me if she could eat a piece of candy (this was before breakfast) and I said no and she said, "You aren't showing God's love." Hmm interesting persuasive tactic.

Getting Ready for Company

Monday morning we had an usual morning! We dropped Calla off at school and then Birdie and Kelsey and I headed to the airport. Brie had gone to PA for the weekend and so I offered to pick her up at Midway. Kelsey and Jay got tired of the car (I should have thought through the morning enough to bring a DVD player along), but they brightened up when Brie joined us. She had flown to PA for my cousin's wedding so it was so nice to hear all about it since I was unable to go.

 

After we dropped Brie off at her house, we stopped at Aldi for some groceries. We had just enough time to get what we needed before picking up Cal-Cal.

 

A bunch of my girlfriends were eating lunch at Chick-fil-A, and so we joined them after I got Calla. Calla and Kelsey Mae had a playdate arranged at my friend Kate's anyway, so it worked out well to eat lunch altogether and then the girls left with Kate and her girls (Kelsey Ann and Maggie). Jaybird got into the minivan and looked at me and said, "Where's Talla and Telsey Mae?" Sorry!

 

Bird was stuck at home with me. We both took naps. At some point, the rain turned into snow. There wasn't even enough to completely cover the grass, but it was enough for the kids to feel pretty thrilled about it! Kate dropped off my girls before Bird even woke up. As soon as he did, they ushered him to the window to show him the snow.

below: November snow!

The only time from my childhood that I remember a November snow was one Thanksgiving when it snowed on Thanksgiving eve...it was coming down in flurries as we walked out of church after the Thanksgiving Eve service. My kids will probably experience a November snow it least every other year! I feel like I have.

We made dinner and I sat the kids down to eat it just as Daddy was getting home. As soon as he was in the house, I said goodbye and headed out to my baby doc appointment. It went well!

I got home and we put the kiddos to bed.

Tuesday morning Birdie and Kelsey and I dropped Cal-Cal off at school. Then the kiddos and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some items that Aldi doesn't carry (Aldi has its limits!). The grocery store recently opened and the kids are totally captivated by the carts.

below: case in point (Kelsey looked smiley until I told her to smile)

 

 below: Ready to roll! (again, Kelsey...)

 

below: I bought it least a half hour more time at the store by letting the kids pick out a donut. Long Johns all around.

 

 

I bought some food for the get-together I was having on Thursday evening for Corinne and Daniel. Then we had enough time to go home and empty our groceries before heading out the door for gymnastics. Kelsey and Calla decided they would prefer to do dance next semester (Jan-May) instead of gymnastics, but they love gymnastics so much that I wonder if they'll really prefer dance. I am not going to argue though because dance is cheaper. ha!

 

Tuesdays are busy for Kels! After gymnastics, we picked up Calla and then dropped her off at her gymnastics class. Then we picked up Molly, who takes speech class too, and I took the girls to speech class. Molly's mama says that Kelsey broke the news to Molly that they are attending "speech preschool" not just "regular preschool." I am surprised Molly doesn't think it's "peach preschool" because that's what it sounds like when Kelsey talks about it.

 

Calla, Jay and I got back to the house and Jay took a nap and Calla worked on some rainbow loom bracelets. 

 

 

Molly's mom, Kris, dropped the girls off after preschool ended which was so nice because otherwise I would have had to wake Jaybird up. Instead, he got in a good long nap and then we ate an early dinner and headed to the pool.

 

Daddy was going to the Wisconsin basketball game so we decided to spend our evening swimming. Nothing like going out in the cold and dark to spend time in a hot pool and then heading back out in the cold to go home! ha! The girls and Jay do not think it is a bad combination.

 

below: ready to swim!

 

 

I ended up putting the kids in childcare for a half hour before we went swimming so I could workout. When I picked them up and we got to the locker room to change to our suits, the girls realized that they had both packed the same suit....as in, ONE suit. (I guess Kelsey saw Calla pack it and thought she was packing it for her?!) Anyway, Calla had never taken her gymnastics leotard off so we decided we would see how it functioned as a swimsuit. It turns out, two thumbs up! Calla was pretty delighted about wearing it in the pool.

We are trying to teach Kelsey how to swim, which is quite a feat since she doesn't want to be taught. But she does keep her swimmies off where she can reach and attempts to do the doggy paddle. Calla likes to pretend she's a swim teacher and holds Kels by the belly and tries to coach her through it. She does the same to Bird. I wish I could take video of it - it looks hilarious.

After a long swim, we got out and I gave the kids a shower and put them in pajamas and then we headed home. I gave them a snack before bed (swimming makes us hungry!) and then got to sit on the couch and watch some of the Wisconsin basketball game. It was a good one!

I will post about the rest of the week tomorrow! --> on Wednesday, Aunt Rin and Uncle Daniel arrived and they stayed until today and we had a great time!

Happy Veteran's Day to Grandpa & Poppi

Happy Veteran's Day to Grandpa & Poppi!

Yesterday I didn't have to help in Jaybird's class! I wonder if "ladybugs" felt the same without me.

I did help in Calla's class. I am on the substitute list for it and they needed me and she was thrilled. We had to be there by 8:15am sharp. Getting out the door by 8AM is no small task. Yikes.

After church we met up for lunch at the Arrowhead golf club in Wheaton with Opa
and Mema. They were meeting parents of one of Ben's teammates to watch the Bears
game and so we got to eat lunch with them before the game.

Below: Jaybird likes to cuddle, even to the point of lounging......

 below: Jay didn't have time to eat. He was too busy watching the football game.

 below: Hi I'm Calla and I'm so happy that I still fit in the outfit Mimi got me last Christmas.

 

 below: I asked Kelsey to smile pretty so I could get a pic of her with Opa. This is what I got instead: {sidenote: I told her she would be in bigtime trouble if she took her cardigan off at church since, as you can see, she was wearing a corduroy jumper...sleeveless}

Jonathan and I have been to Arrowhead several times but we've never taken the kids and it turns out they have amazing Mac and cheese. Haha. Calla was requesting we go there for lunch after school for some more. Haha.

We headed out just as Mema and Opa's friends arrived so it was good timing. We went home for naps. Well, for Jay and my naps. I have decided that Sunday was going to be my last nap day because I have a terrible time waking up (not unlike jay! Ha!) and then I don't go to bed at night until 11 or midnight anyway. Might as well skip the nap in favor of an earlier bedtime.

Jonathan worked on yardwork outside and the girls joined him. It wasnt terribly cold but the girls didn't last very long out there.

I made a pasta dish for dinner and we had a quiet night at home. Actually that isn't accurate at all. We were at home (nothing about it was quiet). We had family worship, during which Calla poked her eye with her finger while waving it around as the "light" in "This Little Light of Mine." Who knew it was such a dangerous song?

I had all these plans for organizing my room but my enthusiasm waned as the bedtime rituals commenced. Sometimes brushing the children's teach and reading 4,258 books before bed will do that to you.

Kelseyism~

~ Kels: "Do you think Corinne & Daniel will play with me when they come?" Me: "Yes." Kelsey: "We can play house and Daniel can be the dad and Corinne can be the teenager and Calla can be the mom and I can be the dog." As Aunt Kelly said, it least Kelsey knows her place. HA.

Jay Attends His First Birthday Party

Yesterday morning Jay had his first birthday party. Well, he's been to other parties but this was the first party in which he received an invite just for him. (-: In fact, it was a drop-off party but I decided to stay...you know, in case he peed his pants. (Not joking.)

 

But the party wasn't until 11am, so in the morning Daddy took the kids to get donuts at the French market while I went to the sports center to a class. (Quite the contrast.) Daddy also took Jay to Target to pick out a present for Dane (the birthday boy). I got ready there and headed home and got Jay ready for his party.

 

I should have taken a picture of Jay standing with his gift bag for Dane (it was almost as tall as he was). We went to Two Toots. Dane (or Dane's mother!) had invited four friends.

 

below: Can you tell who the birthday boy is? ha! I loved his choice of outfit for the big day-

 

 

The boys sat together at a table with Jenny and Luke and I sat at a different table with Jenny's older kids and our friend Jason and his kids (he was the father of one of the guests as well). Jay sat with the "birthday boy" and friends but I don't think he said an entire word the entire time! He didn't even answer when Luke asked him what he wanted to eat. (Just stone silence.) Luke ended up ordering hot dogs for everyone. Hot dogs all around!

 

The party was an hour and it was so cute. Cupcakes with candles came out for Dane, and Jay polished off all the icing on his. (Not a bite of the cake part, of course.) Dane opened his presents...you should have seen all the little hands in the thick of things, trying to rip wrapping paper and yank tissue paper out of the way.

 

Jay had selected a pair of Cars-themed pajamas for Dane and a toy car. Dane seemed pretty stoked about the pjs. I made a big point of showing Jenny where the gift receipt was in case she was feeling less enthusiastic about it hahaha. Those movie-themed pjs are always so tacky!

 

Jay and I said goodbye. Dane gave him a big hug. It didn't seem like Jay was real aware of why we were there but later he kept talking about Dane's birthday so I guess he did have a clue.

 

Jay went down for a nap on Saturday afternoon and the girls and I hung at home. Daddy went golfing (it was 60 degrees...apparently that's warm enough for golf).

 

I took a nap, which gave the girls an opportunity to take selfies on my phone:



 

The girls also looked through American Girl and Target toy magazines and cut out all the things they wanted for Christmas. Needless to say, Christmas may be a big disappointment around here:


We spent the rest of the day at home. I got out the kids' tent (I bring it out every couple months) and so they played with that like it was the first time they'd seen it. You know...fill it with tons and tons of their belongings and then try to sit in it. Jay found the 3958 little plastic balls that go in his ball pen (when it's blown up) and so I got those out for him to play with. Needless to say, cleaning up at the end of the day took the kids longer than they were actually playing. ha.

We ate dinner and daddy gave the kids baths. We couldn't really go with an early-to-bed agenda because Jay had napped for three hours and Kelsey for two. I think everyone was asleep by 9.

Callaism~

~ Calla, surveying the leaves in our front yard, "I think we should have a family rule that we rake the leaves once a week." [we do] She continues: "We have a lot of leaves and we could all rake them once a week."

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey loves doing her speech flashcards. She makes a big point to take them out of her bookbag with a lot of flare and announces that it's time to do her homework. She is working on the "st" sound right now. Apparently it's difficult for her because on her instruction sheet, the teacher wrote "review 20 times in a row, multiple times a day." ST ST ST ST ST ST ST ST ............

Jayism~

~ Jay can count to ten. But only in English. (sorry, cousin Haley.)