This morning I started to panic when I realized that my fun, relaxing week home with the kids was almost up. As weird as I may sound, I actually love having my children home with me. There are definitely times when it is really convenient to have two of three gone to school full time. Times that I can lay around and do nothing or read a book if I feel like it. I can also be super productive and organize entire rooms without breaking up sibling arguments. But I also miss them like crazy. I hate how our life is busy and chaotic the moment they walk in the door after school. I hate trying to cram in extra curricular activities, playdates and errands in the few precious hours between school and bedtime. I hate trying to be a drill seargant at bedtime and get them down at a reasonable time so that we can get up early for school the next morning. The only thing that got me through this panic was realizing that in less than a month they have a half day/no school day combo and then in April, they have Spring break.
Friday was a busy, lots to do sort of day. Maddie went to a birthday party for her friend Leah and immensely enjoyed the cowgirl theme. So that the boys wouldn't be sad about Maddie having such a fun activity, I took them to the movie theater. We saw the newest cartoon movie out complete with old popcorn, treats, 3D glasses, and a filthy theater.
After both of those activities we went bowling with the Monteleone's. The kids played "Candle-Pin bowling" that features smaller bowling balls, bumpers and tall skinny pins. Maddie and Robby really enjoyed this; Mr R was so serious when it came his turn to go. Eli on the other hand could care less about the game. He was busy wandering around, laughing, jumping on chairs, trying to escape to play arcade games, running halfway down the lane to bowl, and in general create mischief. I finally buckled and handed a kindle fire to him and he played games in between turns. As always, bowling was fun but crazy. JJ and Eli enjoyed clowning around in the car together....I think Mr E brings out the super sillies in nearly every child he's friends with.
We ended the night with a date for Jesse and I. We went and ate at this cute Chinese restaurant in Lebanon and finished our date at the grocery store. It was really nice to clear our heads and take some time for just the two of us. Thankfully we have a fabulous babysitter that our kids all love!
Some other smaller activities we did during the week included:
*Reading our "Book of Mormon Stories" kid manual every single morning at breakfast. This is yet another reason why I love having no school for the kids. I love being able to have a lazy morning complete with yummy breakfasts together where we have time to read our scriptures as a family. I was excited to be able to make Buttermilk pancakes, waffles, french toast, german pancakes, scrambled eggs, muffins, etc. Breakfast is basically my favorite meal of the day. I love cooking breakfast and I love eating it as well. Too bad most days I don't have time to do this.
*Playing board games together. One of Rob's favorite things to do besides electronics would have to be board games. He particularly loves ones involving mathematics. We went through all of our games this week and realized we had never opened up several of them. The favored game this week was Quirkle. We also played Monopoly Jr, Rummikub, Parking Lot, and Memory together. I have full on embraced my inner nerdiness and I am loving becoming a board game family. Our favorite time to play these games are between Eli's and the biggies bedtimes.
*Reading/Quiet Time every day. Whenever I have all three children at home, I feel like I need a little breather some time in the middle of the day. I need a period of time when there is a calm relaxing atmosphere around my home. One of the ways I achieve that is holding a mandatory 30 minutes where all the kids pick out there favorite books and we bring pillows and blankets into the family room. We all sit and "read" our books. I always love a good book and am typically immersed in one, therefore it is heaven to be able to stop my motherly duties for a period and just read. It's been fun to see Maddie loving to read as well. I am looking forward to the time that my other two are also reading.
*Playing gymnastics ALL OVER THE HOUSE. I think Maddie probably spent at least an hour each day doing gymnastics all over my house. She is really trying to improve her handstand hold and does them on walls, into people, against the fridge, next to me, on the couch, you get the idea. The brothers have also been doing lots of their "tricks" and they love showing me forward/backward rolls, headstands and spinning dancing manuevers. We have this routine going where we set up our gymnastics mat and they stand in line and take turns doing their tricks.
*Obviously watching some television. Because I hate mornings so badly my children have this bad habit of getting up and turning Netflix on the TV on non-school days. I love this because it buys me an extra 30 minutes to an hour more of sleep, but also hate how they easily become dependant on getting their fix of TV time. Luckily we have been involved in many different activities this week which has helped to cut back prolonged time in front of the television.
*Playing board games together. One of Rob's favorite things to do besides electronics would have to be board games. He particularly loves ones involving mathematics. We went through all of our games this week and realized we had never opened up several of them. The favored game this week was Quirkle. We also played Monopoly Jr, Rummikub, Parking Lot, and Memory together. I have full on embraced my inner nerdiness and I am loving becoming a board game family. Our favorite time to play these games are between Eli's and the biggies bedtimes.
*Reading/Quiet Time every day. Whenever I have all three children at home, I feel like I need a little breather some time in the middle of the day. I need a period of time when there is a calm relaxing atmosphere around my home. One of the ways I achieve that is holding a mandatory 30 minutes where all the kids pick out there favorite books and we bring pillows and blankets into the family room. We all sit and "read" our books. I always love a good book and am typically immersed in one, therefore it is heaven to be able to stop my motherly duties for a period and just read. It's been fun to see Maddie loving to read as well. I am looking forward to the time that my other two are also reading.
*Playing gymnastics ALL OVER THE HOUSE. I think Maddie probably spent at least an hour each day doing gymnastics all over my house. She is really trying to improve her handstand hold and does them on walls, into people, against the fridge, next to me, on the couch, you get the idea. The brothers have also been doing lots of their "tricks" and they love showing me forward/backward rolls, headstands and spinning dancing manuevers. We have this routine going where we set up our gymnastics mat and they stand in line and take turns doing their tricks.
*Obviously watching some television. Because I hate mornings so badly my children have this bad habit of getting up and turning Netflix on the TV on non-school days. I love this because it buys me an extra 30 minutes to an hour more of sleep, but also hate how they easily become dependant on getting their fix of TV time. Luckily we have been involved in many different activities this week which has helped to cut back prolonged time in front of the television.
Maddie has been quite obsessed with making sure that she's reading the book of Mormon every day. She even fell asleep while reading in her scriptures one day at the table. These particular pictures were snapped one evening while I was making dinner. I love how dedicated she is becoming with her studies. She loves bringing her scriptures to church now and really enjoys reading through them during sacrement meeting. It is really neat to see your child starting to develop the beginning stages of a testimony, but sad at the same time to see their early childhood leaving.
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