Counting is Hard

... so if you are going to do it, you should do it with style!

Losing It

Don't forget Declan!

We got up Friday morning with big hopes of doing Fiona's flush, grabbing some breakfast, loading the car, and heading north. Mike and I had finished most of the packing the night before and all the bags where piled by the stairs. Declan was a little worried that we would lose him in all the stuff, so he positioned himself right next to the bags - just to be sure we wouldn't forget him.

We got on the road just before 9:30 and made it all of 20 minutes before Quinn was sobbing in the back and saying that she was going to puke. We were not close to anywhere to stop, so Mike did some fancy driving and we ended up in a church parking lot. The second she got out of the car into the cold, fresh air, she felt better. Back into the car we went. And ten minutes later, we hit repeat. Except this time we stopped at an ice arena. Q and I went inside to the bathroom and took our time. She was totally feeling better, so we knew it was carsickness. We had a long talk about whether she wanted to go home or keep going north. She wanted to keep going, so we talked about being a trooper and if we had to stop again to puke (or try to puke), that we were going to need to go home. She did her best to power through, but it felt like a crapshoot of who was going to lose it between Minnetonka and Elk River - Quinn or Mike (it's not very fun to have to come up with puke spots on a moment's notice).

She once cried (wailed) for
150 miles straight.
Now she is a road warrior!

We stopped at the infamous McDonald's in Elk River (where she puked last year) to take a break and give them a chance to run around in the play place. We also stopped at Walgreens to get some children's dramamine. Game changer! Made the rest of the trip up so much more pleasant for all. Luckily for Quinn (or unluckily, since that's probably where she got it), both Mike and I had issues with carsickness as kids too ... so we are extremely sympathetic to her plight. It really really sucks!

When we got to GR early afternoon, Fiona was done messing around with a very loose tooth. Once we unloaded, she and Mike got to work and she quickly lost that sucker! Thankfully, the tooth fairy is super smart and two quarters found their way under her pillow - even in Rapids! She has already decided that she wants to "donate it to people who don't have much money. so it will help them." If she keeps this up, the tooth fairy may need to be more generous.

The cold she was fighting plus the dramamine made poor Q super groggy and tired for the day. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, watching a Christmas show, and heading to bed early-ish. Oh, and Grandpa made the night for the littles and built a fire in the fireplace. Since we don't have a fireplace, this was a first for them - and they thought it was pretty amazing! It was an eventful early portion of the day and a much quieter, relaxing end to it.

The stockings were hung ...

One more [bottom] tooth is out

Packing in Christmas Cheer

Quinn seems to have decided to start a new holiday tradition. I don't like it! This morning, as I had big plans to get us packed up for our trip North, she puked. And I spent the morning stressing about whether or not we will make the trip. [Also - all.the.presents are already up north ...] You may feel like you've heard this story before. You have - we did a very similar dance last year! Fingers crossed for us tomorrow morning.

The kids have been on holiday break since last Friday, so we've been sure to do some fun holiday activities. Today, we sat at the table mid-morning with cups of hot cider and some cookies. The kids love vacation Mom! Last weekend, we decorated cookies with a LOT of candy and sprinkles, built a gingerbread house with some solid teamwork, and tested out our new foam stamps present to create beautiful artwork.

In our spare time, Quinn and I have also been enjoying baking some Christmas goodies. We decided to make gingerbread cutouts instead of sugar cookies this year and everyone seemed to enjoy the change. Then on Tuesday night, Quinn, Grandpa, and I made our Oreo truffles into cute "melted snowmen" for the cookie contest at my work on Wednesday. It was a team effort that paid off, as I took home both bragging rights AND a Caribou coffee card. The kids were so excited - both that we won and that mommy gets some free coffee. My kids know me so well! We decided today that maybe we would all go together to use the card and some of the shorter members of the family would get coffee of a hot chocolate variety.

Our countdown tree tells us that there are two days until Christmas and we can't wait to get to GR and see all our favorite people. Only a rather long car ride and healthy kids between us and Christmas!

They got face paint for Christmas

Winning melted snowman cookies

Fiona's Singing Debut

On Sunday, the Sunday school kids at our church were going to sing during the service. Which sounds all cute and stuff. Until you learn that there are three kids in Sunday school. Total. Needless to say, Fiona was a little nervous. And by a little, I mean losing sleep over this.

We went to the practice on Saturday morning where she stood at the front of the church, stoic, holding the microphone, looking like she wanted to cry. For the rest of Saturday, we alternated between not mentioning it and propping up her confidence. Ultimately we told her that if she didn't sing that she should at least smile. 

I was worried for a moment when it was time for her to go up. She looked terrified, but set her chin and walked up to get her microphone. She didn't sing, but she did smile and sway a little. We were very proud of her. And now that she's done it once, she says she'll consider actually singing next time. She's not willing to completely commit to that yet though!

Snow Many Pictures

Last weekend was simply awesome Minnesota weather. It was cool, but not crazy cold - so if you were outside moving around, it was quite nice. And we got the most beautiful snowfall. On Saturday night, as the snow started to fall, we headed to the S-town Winter Wonderland light display. While significantly smaller than Bentleyville, it was also significantly less crowded. We wondered around to see the lights, stopped in the garage for hot chocolate, cookies, and crafts, bought the cutest handmade wooden reindeer/sleigh decoration from a little old man who reminded me of my Grandpa J, and then drove around to look at lights and listened to Christmas carols. Until Quinn had to pee.

The snow fell all Saturday night, so Sunday morning, we were outside almost all morning* - getting ourselves shoveled out, helping the neighbors while the kids played together, and building forts! Then we made some Christmas cookies, took a short rest, and hit the sledding hill. On Quinn's first ride down, she veered off the packed run and ended up face-planting in the snow. We figured she would be done - but she picked herself right up, grabbed her sled, and went again. Good girl, Quinn! Fiona was a master of the blue saucer and loved it all. Mike and I got our exercise hauling sleds (and humans) back up the hill. Although the girls are getting pretty good at bringing their own back up. We had so much fun welcoming the first real wintry weekend this year.

*It was so much fun that Mother Nature thought we'd do it again this weekend. Hit repeat on the Sunday morning shenanigans. Only move it to Saturday, drop the temp 10-15 degrees, and add a bit of a chilly wind. Today we defined "all the praise hands" as when you've shoveled your whole driveway except the plow pile (Texas friends, this is by far the worst part!) and your neighbor comes by with a giant snowblower and moves that sucker in two minutes!

Winter wonderland Santa

Dec is NOT interested in Santa or his candy canes

This will end well - right?

Snow baby

It was the perfect kind of snow to eat

"Do it again!"

Dec Turns Two and a Half

Alternate title: The Week Everyone Got an Ear Infection

Dec turned 2 1/2 on Monday. I had really good intentions of blogging about that right away. Instead Mike took Dec to the doctor in the morning after D had been up most of the night to find out he had an ear infection. Then I picked Fiona up early from school after the fifth call from the nurse and brought her to the doctor (with Dec in tow) for our second ear infection of the day. Then yesterday, I picked Quinn up from school and took her to the doctor to make it an ear infection hat trick. Five bottles of pink meds in the fridge later, everyone seems to be on the mend.

Mailing his Santa letter

So ... back to Declan. He's becoming such a kid that we just can't believe it. There is absolutely no baby left in that big boy! Here are a few big kid milestones and how he is tracking on them:

Big boy bed: Check! He transitioned very well to his bed and loves it! My bedtime threat of "do you want to go back to a baby bed?" is very effective. He does not. "I like my big boy bed," he says! The pacifiers are long gone, but he does love to have his mimi, soft baby, snuggle blanket, and monster in bed with him. He's a snuggly boy!

Potty training: Well, he pooped in the tub on Monday night and was surprised a couple of weeks ago when he discovered that Mike pees out of his boy part. So ... I'm going to go out on a limb that we aren't quite ready! And we're just fine with that. I suspect that he will be a lot like Quinn - if we just wait until he is ready.

Vocabulary: He's a talker. I have no idea where he got that ... could not have been those sisters ...! He says the funniest things and remembers a lot as well. He told me a couple days ago that "When I big, I drive a race car." Fiona brought home a rather in-depth book on race cars from the school library for D and he hung in there for multiple pages on the mechanics of a V8 engine. And when I say hung in, I mean hung on every word.

Gross Motor: Declan is incredibly athletic like his daddy. I often play goalie while making dinner; he stands in the kitchen doorway and shoots wiffle balls at me with his hockey stick. He loves to climb and run and throw and hit things with other things. And make a LOT of noise.

At two and a half, Declan is loving (he gives such great hugs and says "I love you, mama" in the best way), funny, a tease, a tad destructive, obsessed with balls, an enthusiastic dancer and singer, and incredibly fun to hang out with! We are so glad he completed our family!

Making Friends with a Reindeer

Our secret hope when we planned to go to Bentleyville last weekend was that the kids could see Santa too, and we could check it off the holiday to do list. Apparently our secret hope should have been just getting IN to Bentleyville! Needless to say, a visit with Santa remained in order.

Yesterday morning, we headed to our local YMCA for breakfast with Santa. The girls have been excited all week and eagerly dressed for their breakfast date. Declan decided he was a little nervous about Santa and he most definitely was not interested in seeing the reindeer. He warmed up slightly when we started out our visit with pancakes. And the girls loved that they each saw a teacher from their after care programs helping out with the breakfast.

We spotted the reindeer outside when we made a quick trip to the bathroom to de-syrup before meeting the big guy. Quinn was really intrigued by them and Dec thought a full story and glass barrier was a nice safe distance. He would have liked a similar distance between him and Santa. The boy was not interested in sitting on - or next to - Santa. Nor was he compelled to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Luckily, he has two big sisters who were more than happy to climb up in a lap and tell Santa what little bro wanted. 

Then the girls each made an ornament (and Dec sulked about the indignity of having his picture taken with Santa even though he had clearly informed me that he did not want to), they all made bags of reindeer food (we tricked him out of the sulk), and then wrote letters to Santa and put them in the special Santa mailbox. We ended with a trip outside to meet Prancer and Dancer. The girls headed right up to the pen and Fiona happily made friends with Prancer. By the time we left, Prancer was nuzzling her hand and did not want her to go. Quinn wasn't ready to pet the reindeer yet, but she hung in right next to Fiona the whole time. Dec gave them a large radius. 

It was a fun way to spend our morning and a pretty relaxing way to get our Santa visit in the books for this holiday season.

Train[Wreck] Weekend

Christmas train

Last weekend, we made a quick trip North to spend Saturday in Duluth and catch cousin Huxon's baptism in GR on Sunday. It was a really short trip with a lot of driving - but was also a ton of fun!

After Buggy's flush on Saturday, we hit the road and made it to Gpa V's before lunchtime. We checked out Gpa's train room and blew Declan's mind. The girls remembered it, but it was new to the boy. Fiona got to drive the trains a bit and Quinn and I had a fun time looking at all the details that Grandpa has built in (including the group of tiny people mooning the train. We laughed and laughed!).

Hanging out in the caboose

We ate lunch at Grandpa's and made a quick trip over to Mike's Uncle TJ's to drop off some Christmas gifts. The kids did not want to leave the cousins and their toys ... but they were really excited to go downtown to the Depot. The Duluth Depot is a real train depot - complete with an entire floor of real trains that the kids can climb into and explore. We met all the grandparents there. Yep, all of them. Gpa V, Gma and Gpa N, and Gma and Gpa J! The kids were in grandparent (and train) heaven.

Once Declan was convinced that the trains were not going to spontaneously start rolling away with him in them, he was all in. The girls thought it was really cool as well. There was even a train car in the display that Gpa V had worked on in his days on the railroad. And Bugs' mind was blown. In addition to exploring the trains, the kids found a little theater and put on quite the performance(s) for us. The Vs know how to dance!

Bentleyville in the background

We headed to our favorite pizza place (Sammy's) for an early dinner so we could go to Bayfront for the Bentleyville Christmas lights display. It's supposed to be the coolest thing - with Santa, marshmallows and fire pits, and over a million lights. You know what else there was a million of ... people!!! After walking for over 15 minutes (once we finally got a parking spot), we still had not found the end of the line to.get.in! What a trainwreck! We ended up bailing and had two sad, crying girls in our possession. They were so so disappointed. We were able to help soothe the sadness with some hot cocoa at Gpa's. [We found out that some friends were there that night and it took them over 3 hours to get through. THREE HOURS! Glad we gave up!]

Drowning sorrows in hot cocoa

After hot cocoa and one more viewing of Grandpa's trains, we jammied up the kids and loaded up to drive to Grand Rapids. The kids watched part of a Christmas movie to start out the drive and then Quinn asked to turn it off so she could go to sleep. When I turned it off, both girls snuggled up in their seats to sleep. Dec was not quite ready and was talking a lot. I told him to "Shhhh" and for the next 20 minutes, we heard a rather constant stream of "No Shhhh. No shhhh." from the backseat. Until there were suddenly no more No Shhhhes.

When we got to Gma and Gpa J's, we got everyone transferred to their beds and got to spend some time with Mike's sister and her family. Then on Sunday morning, we met the family at church for Huxon's baptism. All five kids were so good and it was great to be there for Hux. My favorite was watching Otto and our kiddos play together after church and at Liv's house. They had the best time and Otto wanted to come home with us. We promised him we'd be back soon and the kids can hardly wait for several days together at Christmas!

North Pole Breakfast

Last Saturday night, I was wiped out. We'd had a busy day and I was done. I had planned that our elf Tyler would show up on Sunday morning and bring breakfast from the North Pole to surprise the kids. Unfortunately we hadn't gotten groceries yet and there was no way that I could dig deep enough for the energy to go to the store.

Mike generally rolls his eyes at my over-the-top schemes (and had been for weeks about this North Pole breakfast) and pretends to be a grinch. But when I said that I was going to postpone the breakfast, he didn't hesitate before getting his coat and going to get my supplies for me. He really is the best! While he was gone, I pulled myself together and got the table all decorated, found Tyler, and wrote notes to each of the kids about how proud Santa was of them this year.

When the kids got up in the morning, they found a table of fruit and "snowy" powdered sugar donuts, their notes from Santa, and new matching Christmas pjs for each of them. They were so excited and asked us to read their notes over and over. No one ate a ton - and as that was the day the stomach bug arrived, in hindsight, it's not surprising.

Puking aside, it was a fun way to kick off the holiday season and reintroduce our "favorite" nightly chore of figuring out where to put that silly elf!

New matching pjs

Dec Does Stand Up

Declan was full of one-liners tonight that we don't want to forget. He was so funny and had us laughing all night.

**********************
Fiona: What's med school?
Me: Where you go if you want to be a doctor.
Dec: I don't want to be a doctor.
Me: What do you want to be?
Dec: I want to be Batman.
[this may be one of those "you had to be there" moments. But seriously, he had such a perfect delivery. We all burst out laughing and Mike spit watermelon across the table.]

**********************
Dec (after walking in on Mike in the bathroom): That your boy part? You squirt pee out of it!

**********************
Me: Time to brush your teeth.
Dec: I brush it my-self.
Me: Why do you brush them yourself?
Dec: Cuz my big.
Me: How big are you?
Dec: My grown up.

How We Holiday

Watching the snow

We've had a mostly lovely Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We decided to end it with 2 of the 3 kids throwing up. I'm feeling a little dicey myself, but I'm hoping that's just because I've been cleaning up vomit all day. Fingers crossed!

But before our weekend gathered around the toilet, we had a lot of fun. And actually, we had fun today. Q was a pretty upbeat puker - only upset when her stomach was as well. She didn't love being separated from her sibs all day, but she liked the one-on-one time! Dec just started feeling sick ... so I'm unclear how that will play out. 

Helping Mom shovel

It snowed on Tuesday night. It's really up in the air who was the most excited - the kids, the dogs, or me. We simply love the first snow (and many after that). We didn't get more than 2-3 inches and it's already melted away. But before it did, we played in it plenty. I took Wednesday off of work to prep for cooking on Thursday - and then picked all the kids up early. We headed straight outside when we got home and didn't go in until dinner!

Then on Thursday, we got to have Gma and Gpa J, Auntie, and Bugs' friend Makai and his family over for turkey. We greatly missed Gma and Gpa N and Gpa V, who stayed home because of illness. I'm sure I owe them all a turkey dinner and will happily pay up! The kids had a great time having a buddy over for the holiday and M's big sister found it more fun to oversee the kids than hang with the adults. So we watched football and played games all afternoon. It was lovely!

Our first snowman of the season

Mike had to work on Friday, but we got to keep Gma and Gpa for part of the day. We took them to our favorite new park and got soaking wet from the melt. However, we were the only ones there so had full reign of the zipline. It was totally worth it. Grandma, the girls, and I ventured out shopping briefly in the afternoon and the girls got a couple new Christmas dresses. By the time we went out, the stores weren't too crowded.

We spent the rest of the weekend putting up our Christmas decorations (poor Mike ... that December 1 rule seems to have gone by the wayside this year), watching our buddy J play hockey, playing our own hockey with snowballs in the road, and not feeling the greatest. Oh, and we also got a visit from our favorite North Pole elf - but I'll write more about that next time.

Street snow hockey

Grandpa on the zipline

Squad Goals

Mike and Brad had a somewhat early hockey game on Sunday evening - and it wasn't all the way across the cities. So Cheryl and I gathered up all the children and brought them to the game. Or we thought we brought children. I'm pretty sure they transformed into a herd of elephants once we got there!

Since it was an early game, there were several families there - all with kids around our kids' age. So it quickly became one big gang of small humans running up and down the length of the ice on the bleachers. The big kids had a blast and very sweetly included Declan in their escapades. C and I tried to keep count of humans and watched Hannah ... and the game.

The score was a bit lopsided (not in our favor), but Mike played really well and it was a fun game to watch. Hannah was ready for bed early in the third period so the Ps left. The kids and I hung out until the end. Because ... then they can watch the handshake line AND Daddy will skate over to see them. It makes their day to high five their daddy through the glass. He is truly their hero! 

[And I'm not going to lie, watching the Zamboni - and having the Zamboni driver wave to them - while Daddy changes is the most amazing thing. It may be even better than Dad at the glass. Don't tell Mike!]

Three Things

Fiona
Fiona has started chewing her finger nails. I blame Auntie. She desperately wants me to paint her fingernails and I've told her that I won't do it until she stops chewing her nails. The other two look like Wolverine (so I know when it's time to clip everyone) and F's are as short as can be.

She cracks us up with her expressions. Whenever something is weird to her, she calls it "creepy." She also says "seriously" all the time. And has even "Seriously, Dude"-ed me a time or two.

Fiona is learning two new songs in Sunday School and will be singing in church on December 18. She is super nervous, but also excited. Mike told her to pretend everyone was in their underwear. She told him that was "creepy." I told her to just look at me and pretend she was singing to me. We'll see version she chooses.

Quinn
For our child who doesn't forget a blazing thing, Quinn simply can.not remember to bring her coat home from school. By the end of the week, she usually has burned through both her coats, one of Fiona's coats, a sweatshirt or two, and perhaps one of Fiona's sweatshirts. Plus at least two hats and several pairs of mittens.

Quinn loves practicing her writing and drawing/coloring pictures. She's getting very good at her letters and is trying to learn to spell words. Fiona loves to try to help her. Depending on the day, the help is met with appreciation or annoyance.

Preschool has helped her gain a confidence and independence. She will still hang close to us [or on us] at times. But we are also noticing her adventurous nature emerging more. At Fiona's skating lessons or Mike's hockey game tonight, she enjoys nothing more than exploring the arena and running around with her friends.

Declan
Dec has learned to open doors. Which is a really fun development alongside the recent move to the freedom of the Big Boy bed. As our early riser, he has been known to wander into our room at very dark hours to ask if it is "wake up time." And is sent back to bed when it is not.

He is always singing. Usually not a song we know, but he's constantly stringing together words or gibberish and putting it to a tune. He has also been known to bust a move when a favorite song [or any good beat] comes on. And let me tell you, boy has moves! Mike better watch out or I'll have a new favorite dance partner!

He is ALWAYS hungry. He wakes up in the morning asking for food. He's asking for a snack within 45 minutes of a meal. He is also a total stringbean. If his pants fit in the waist, they are way too short. If they are long enough, they fall down. We have a shoelace belt and a basic disregard for fashion as our coping mechanisms.

Mike and Sara
Mike just completed his ITIL certification training and passed the final test. He worked really hard studying and this certification will be a good base for future career opportunities at his job.

I have my Christmas cards sitting in a box, just waiting for me to write the letter and address everything. Getting everyone's Christmas cards and putting them up on our coat closet is one of my favorite parts of the holidays!

I was at a funeral yesterday and the kids tricked Mike into playing Christmas songs on Spotify. And then they told me about it. That was pretty much all I needed as permission to break our [Mike's] "not until December 1" rule and start playing Christmas songs now!

A Day in the Life: Year of Three Drop Offs Edition

I’ve seen this Day in the Life concept documented on several blogs that I follow – and I’ve always wanted to do it. I’ve always hesitated out of fear that it will be so boring as Mike and I are at work for such a huge chunk of the day. As the Year of Three Drop offs/Pick-ups continues, I feel compelled to document our chaos so we can look back and laugh – or stare in astonishment that anyone ever got where they were going on time.

I selected a random day on the calendar a couple months ago – which now happens to be a day that Mike is in ITIL training (and therefore has a different/longer commute) and Bugs has skating. So this Day in the Life will be extra special-y special. And I guess it’s really a day in my life. We go five different places for the majority of the day – so you’re stuck with me. Buckle up – it’ll be fun!

6:00 am: Mike gets up and gets everything ready for Bugs’ flush. He gets her up, gets her hooked up, and brings her a bowl of cereal. Depending on our morning schedule, she either eats during her flush or after she gets dressed. Today was a “during flush” day.

6:10 am: I get up and get in the shower. My alarm makes a ridiculous beeping noise that throws me off. Then I realize that I normally have it set to the radio station and some little fingers seem to have reprogrammed it.

6:25 am: I get out of the shower and Mike gets in. I stay in the bathroom and continue getting ready.

6:33 am: I hear what seems to be a small scale riot in the other bathroom and go to check it out. Apparently Dec and Quinn are also now awake and have decided to “keep Buggy company” – which really means “try to play with her iPad.” D is also trying to steal F’s cereal. [I downloaded a free Easy Bake Oven app over the weekend. It’s the hottest thing in our house right now and they are all ob.sessed.] Bugs is not having it, so I bribe the other two with promises of a bowl of cereal and Mickey Mouse.

6:36 am: I was wrong. Mickey Mouse isn’t on. Miles of Tomorrowland is. Another small scale riot occurs while I try to reason with a 2-year-old. He suddenly loses interest in talking to me and becomes engrossed in the show. I head back to my room to get dressed.

6:41 am: Quinn shows up in our room sobbing because she wanted PJ Masks and not Miles of Tomorrowland. I talk her into sitting on our bed and keeping me company while I get dressed. She helps me pick out my outfit and we discuss the day.

6:50 am: Mike is dressed and heads to the living room to get a couple “hockey team captain” emails done. I pick out some clothes for Quinn. She starts crying again because the pants I picked are “itchy” – so I go pick out different, non-itchy pants.

6:55 am: Mike wrestles Declan into some clothes. I meet him in the hallway as I head to grab something in the dining room and he is heading to the bedroom to swap a “too big shirt” for a “baseball shirt.”

7:00 am: I’m closest to the remote so Mike yells at me to turn off the TV before PJ Masks starts. Because no one wants to have that argument! I literally chase Dec down to get his shoes on him, chase him again to wrestle him into his coat, and get his teeth brushed. While I do this, Mike is gathering all his stuff and feeding Yogi. Quinn is making her bed.

7:05 am: Mike and Dec head out the door. Dec is upset because Mike told him not to bring his water bottle in the car. I hand Dec’s water bottle to Q and ask her to run it out to the car for daddy. Crisis averted.

7:07 am: I help Fiona get off the potty and get her cathed. Quinn brushes her teeth and then lays on the floor with Fiona and chats with her.

7:13 am: Fiona heads off to get dressed. Q goes with her. I clean up the bathroom and the kitchen, get my lunch and Fiona’s snacks ready to go, and fill water bottles (normally we have Q’s too – but she forgot it at school yesterday).

7:17 am: Fiona shows up in the kitchen, half-dressed, to tell me that she lost one of her socks, but she didn’t really because it was right next to her on Dec’s bed, but she and Quinn spent the last few minutes crawling under all the beds looking for it and they found this red bracelet and isn’t that so funny, mom. And I take and deep breath and ask her to please hurry up and get ready (for the first of 97 times in the next 13 minutes).

7:21 am: I go check out the situation in the bedroom. Fiona is dressed (amen!) so I send her to brush her teeth and get her braces on. I make the beds and listen to the girls chat (and not brush teeth) in the bathroom. There is a lot of mirror admiring happening though.

7:23 am: I let Yogi out one final time, ask Quinn to get her shoes and jacket on, hurry Fiona on her teeth brushing, and start packing bags.

7:27 am: We are all standing on the landing, ready to go, when Quinn reminds Fiona that she gets to bring a toy to YMCA after care today (which both F and I had forgotten. So yay for Quinn!). So I run back up to their room to grab Clifford and we shove him in Fiona’s bag.

7:30 am: We are on our way across the street to drop Fiona off with Ms. Katie, who will walk F and Ev to the bus (which picks up at 7:51 am).

7:33 am: Q and I head to preschool and discuss the finer points of Daylight Savings Time and why it is always so dark when I pick her up. She also asks me if I remembered to let Yogi in. I confidently tell her "yes," pause, and then spend the next 30 minutes worrying that I forgot. Until I verify with one of the photos I took this morning that yes, that is his butt in the background and yes, he is inside. 

7:37 am: Arrive at preschool, give Q hugs and kisses, sign her in, and head to work.

7:58 am: Despite slow and rather heavy traffic, arrive at work just in time for my 8:00 meeting. My day is full of meetings.

8:27 am: Sneak out of meeting for 5 minutes to get a cup of coffee. Because our mornings are a giant Jenga game where the tower is always wobbling.

4:20 pm: Mike calls to tell me that his training class ended earlier than anticipated for the day. Which means he will pick everyone up, so I can head home and pull a quick dinner together.

4:47 pm: I leave work and talk to my parents on the drive home. It's really the only time where I can talk to them without being interrupted.

5:07 pm: I pull into the garage just as Mike is unloading the kids. Quinn runs out to get the mail and Declan hands me his empty snack cup, informing me that he would like it filled with new snack. Mike and I run around with our shoes and jackets still on to get everyone a snack, let the dog out, get everyone out of the gear, unload the backpacks, and start dinner.

5:18 pm: It's leftover night so dinner is on the table for the three kids. F and D picked leftover hotdish and Q went for the pork chop. Mike and I had cheeseburger joes.

5:35 pm: Mike and I are done eating and start going through school papers, loading the dishwasher, and reminding short people to hurry up and finish eating.

5:45 pm: Mike starts cathing Fiona and getting her ready for skating. I finish cleaning up dinner and act as referee between Q and D.

6:05 pm:  We are all loaded in the car and on our way to the rink. There was a last minute scramble because we couldn't find D's hat. Luckily we have a bunch of hockey hats in the closet.

6:15 pm: Fiona gets her skates and helmet on while we visit with Makai's mom and explore the arena. Bugs heads out on the ice to practice until her class starts. Mike and I take turns visiting with a couple of the moms we know and chasing the other two around the rink. It's the last night of skating so Bugs is going through the final evaluation on the ice.

7:05 pm: Class is done. Quinn and Makai are playing tag in the stands, so I help Bugs get her skates off so she can join. They all play for a few more minutes before we convince everyone to head out.

7:15 pm:  We're home. The kids each grab a handful of goldfish while I get the bathroom ready for ninja showers.

7:26 pm: The first ninja shower begins.

7:35 pm:  All three kids are showered, lotioned, and in their pjs. Mike is cathing Fiona and I'm helping the other two get their teeth brushed and picking up the living room.

7:43 pm: We settle in on the couch for our book and video. Fiona asks me to pick a new video tonight so we watched "Hard Knock Life" from the original Annie.

7:57 pm: Kids are tucked in bed. For a while. There's a bit of yo-yo behavior, but by 8:30, all is quiet.

8:00 pm: Mike pulls out his training materials to study for class tomorrow. I fold the kids' laundry, get everything ready for the backpacks tomorrow, grab a beer, and sit down to blog. We have reruns of The Big Bang Theory on in the background as we work.

10:30 pm: Bedtime. So we can start the giant Jenga game again in the morning.