The Full Grocery Story

I alluded to a pretty substantial grocery adventure in a previous post. My friend Kim, who got the whole story over our office chat, encouraged me to share the full account. I wasn't sure and then reread what I wrote her. It is beyond funny and ridiculous. So here you go ... hope it gives you a giggle for the day!

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Saturday afternoon, the kids and I were going hiking after all the hockey. But they wanted a snack first, which was fine. I put in my grocery order and set it for delivery between 6-8pm that night. Went and did our hike. Got home. Started dinner.

Sat down for dinner around 5:30 and get a notification that they have started to shop. Cool. Bring my phone to the table because there are always substitutions. Get nothing and about 20 minutes later, get a notification that it's shopped. Weird, because it's a week's worth of groceries and I'm surprised they could do it that quickly with no substitutions. I look up the receipt and am pleasantly surprised. No subs. No adjustments. My spidey sense should have kicked in, but it didn't.

The app said the delivery would be here by 6:25. The kids bop over to the living room to do their Legos and I clean up dinner while waiting. I'm eventually surprised it's not here yet, but it's also not 6:25. It's just usually faster.

About 6:22, get a note: Please rate your order.

Um. What order? Go look out on the front step. Nope. By the garage. Nope. Look up the order on my phone and says it was delivered at 6:02.

Send the kids out to find it while making sure I didn't somehow send it to the old house. Also look at the receipt and think "WHY is it so expensive?" and see a $75 charge for a "special request."

Kids come in. "No groceries anywhere, mom." At this point, I'm fairly certain no groceries have been shopped and we've been scammed.

I hop on my app and report that nothing showed up. Get in a chat and the person is super helpful. They immediately reverse the $75 charge and re-submit the order for delivery, telling me it will be to our house by 8:30. Not ideal, but fine.

Twenty minutes later, I get a note because it's been delayed until 9:45pm. At this point, I reschedule to Sunday because I don't want groceries coming at 10pm.

The reschedule never updates on my screen - but no shopping is started. When I hit reschedule, it shows me the Sunday morning time that I selected.

At this point, I give it to Jesus and go to bed.

Get up on Sunday and open the app. Says "delivery today" but the 8-10am delivery that I had selected is not selected and is no longer a choice. All the options remaining are in the afternoon or during the 4 hours of hockey practice.

I choose the "fast and flexible" option and tell F that if groceries come, do NOT answer door. Wait until the car leaves. Bring the bags in and please put the milk in the fridge.

Shortly thereafter, someone starts shopping. She makes substitutions and sends me photos of options via chat. I feel reasonably convinced that maybe groceries are actually being purchased.

She checks out about 5 minutes before I need to leave to bring Q to the rink. So I convince an unhappy Quinn to get dressed at home while we wait for the groceries. I get them inside and put the fridge things in the fridge and the freezer stuff in the freezer. Leave the rest on the counters while telling F to feed D before I need to pick him up for practice and there is food in the bags and dig for stuff and good luck.

Q and I get to the rink about 7 minutes before practice, but she only has to put her skates and helmet on so we are good. Uncle Brad is in the lobby, so I make him tie her skates (she hates how I tie them). We head to the locker room to drop her bag and are somehow not late.

Until we meet Coach Erik, who convinces (not hard) Q to play goalie. So now she has to take off most of her gear to put all the goalie gear on. She is annoyed with me because I didn't bring her gear so she has to use the association stuff and the gloves smell and she doesn't like that stick.

All of this happened by 10:45 am. But - I feel like the moral of the story is GROCERIES DID COME!

That Girl Goalie Is Your Kid?!?!?!

I mentioned in the last post that Quinn unexpectedly was tapped to play goalie while Mike was hunting. The three M4 (advanced mites) teams were being divided into two teams (two boys teams and one girls team) for a full ice scrimmage. As Q and I waltzed in three minutes before the game, one of her coaches stopped her in the hall and asked if she wanted to play goalie. She immediately said yes and I silently berated myself for not throwing her goalie gear in the car ... because I had a sneaky suspicion things would play out like they did. 

She was able to use the association goalie gear and Coach helped her put on the pads (I have no idea how to do it!). I only got to watch a little bit of her game because I needed to run home to get Declan for his practice. I made him get ready in the arena so I could watch the end of the game, which was a shootout. From what I hear from others who watched the whole game, Quinn played very well. Then she found her groove in the shootout and stopped 20 straight shots. It was impressive! D and I were sitting next to several of the dads from the boys team and they kept talking about how the boys' shooting was off that day. It was all I could do to keep "or is my girl goalie just that good?" inside my head!

Quinn's team played a half ice scrimmage against Eden Prairie the next week and it was, as Mike described, "not a fair fight." Because it was half ice, they used the smaller nets. And the poor EP girls didn't have a chance to get that puck past Q. Bugs, Dec, and I went to the game and it was extremely one-sided. One of Q's teammates said in the locker room after the game, "I think we won like 30-6" and Q piped up "I did not let in six goals." She let in three. And two of them she would really like back!

That night, Mike was riding to his hockey game with Brad and another Shako coach on his team. Brad was asking how Q's game went. As Mike talked about her solid performance between the pipes, the other coach said, "Wait?!?!? That girl goalie is your kid?!?!" Apparently while the dads in the stands couldn't figure out why their boys couldn't score, the boy team coaches were very clear at the talent level of the goalie! Word is out and Q even got asked to tend goal for a tournament that the boys team is playing in January. We passed, but it is a nice compliment to her skills.

Then right before Thanksgiving (as we locked ourselves in covid isolation), the Spotlight Players from the first month of the season were announced. Players are nominated by the coaches for showing great effort, great sportsmanship, and having a positive attitude. Quinn was the M4 player of the month! Her nomination read: Quinn is always willing to volunteer for goalie. She is a great listener and has put in extra effort at improving her goalie skills. I know many of her teammates appreciate her taking the majority of the goalie slots.

Even more than being a reliable goalie, Quinn is a quiet leader on her team (I keep telling Mike she's the Joe Mauer of the team). She leads by playing her hardest every shift and bringing an understated confidence and emotional stability to the game. Mike says as a coach, it's really fun to see how the other girls look up to Quinn and how she is settling into her role as a leader. 

It was a long few days for Quinn when she couldn't be on the ice. Thankfully, she and Mike were out of quarantine the day after Thanksgiving and she celebrated by playing in a Turkey Cup jamboree. Her team went 3-0 and by all accounts, destroyed the competition. She tended the pipes for one game and played out for two. While Q enjoys playing goalie, she also enjoys playing out and is happy to not have to commit to a position quite yet. We just love watching her play because her joy is visible. 

October Stories

The kids all had to run the mile in gym class this month. Quinn was the first runner. She came home that day and proudly waved her hand for all to see. Written on it in red sharpie was 9:23 - her time. She was so pleased with herself and announced that she was the fastest in her class. Not the fastest girl. The fastest. Because I'm me, I opened my Fitbit app and showed her that I had run a 9:20 mile that morning. Because Quinn is Quinn, she pointed out that I also ran a 9:45 mile that morning. Meanwhile, Mike and Fiona simply rolled their eyes at us.

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Dec and his buddy Andrew were out playing hockey in the driveway. It was hockey evaluations this month, so they were practicing their skills. Andrew was trying to pump them up by telling Dec that they had to play well "so we can get on a good team." Let's-Just-Play-For-Fun Vanneste piped up with the sentiment that just being on a team would be great. Andrew said (in the best possible I-see-and-accept-you-for-who-you-are way), "Decky, I'm going to need you to focus during evals." And I almost fell over laughing. Oh, Andrew. I feel you, man! Mike and I are happy to add another member to the team trying to keep D focused. [Spoiler: he focused. They made the same team.]

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The kids have been biking to school every Friday (and occasionally other days too). They love it - as biking was never an option from the old house. We'll let them do it as long as the weather cooperates and I have no doubt there will be lots of biking come spring. Two weeks ago was an early release day on Friday, so they were biking home at 2pm. Mike and I walked to the end of the cul-de-sac to meet them. Around the corner came 1-2-3-FOUR children. Then four children turned into our cul-de-sac. And then four children parked their bikes in our driveway. Mike looked at me and mouthed "who is that?" No.clue. 

As I walked back to our house, sweet #4 said "Hi, are you Quinn's mom?" which helped identify which V was responsible. I told her I was and asked who she was. Then I asked if her mom knew where she was (because it was not beyond the realm of possibility that Q had made a plan that she had not looped me in on). She told me "Maybe. But she knows Quinn lives here, so she'll probably figure it out." I told her that moms don't deal in Maybes when it comes to the location of their babies. Turns out, her mom works nearby, so Quinn biked her over to her mom's work for a check in. And biked back with a piece of paper with said mom's cell number. Which I used today. When a fourth bike again arrived in our driveway. Well, technically a fifth bike. But the fourth was Andrew's and I knew what to do with him!

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The kids had their school fundraiser last Friday. In years past, it has been a readathon. This year, it was a Fun Run. Fiona was not on board with the change. We had the same conversation multiple times. Mom, I don't get it. We just run in circles and that's supposed to be fun? That's it, baby. It will be fun. It says so right in the name. Moooooo-ooooooom.

For the record, she did have fun. But she would also like the record to show that 1) she still doesn't get it, 2) she would prefer the readathon, and 3) she ran more laps than Quinn. 

Quinn would like the record to show that she walked most of the laps because there were a lot of moms and dads watching and that made her nervous. Dec cares not at all about the record, but when Mike and I got there near the end of his 35 laps, he still had plenty of pep in his step. He also showed off some mad flag and pom pom skills when cheering on his classmates.

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On the same day as the Fun Run, Mike and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. In addition to catching parts of three runs, we had a very fancy Papa John's pizza dinner (and prosecco). While it wasn't actually fancy, it was delicious. The easy clean up was exactly what I wanted as an anniversary present (plus we had leftovers and I didn't have to figure out what to make for lunch on Saturday. Bonus gift!) 

Then we invited Andrew, Lo, and their mom over to test out the new fire pit. The adults sat around and visited while the kids ran around the yard in the dark. Our new yard is great for after-dark playing. But all the children need a refresher course on head lamp etiquette. All in all, it was the perfect low-key celebration.

*And with that, I have accomplished something that was only a dream since the move. The blog is 100% caught up. Just in time for our Fall Break adventures! But I'll bask in the victory for a day anyway. 

The Two Houses

Having two houses and the time to transition was all fun and games – until it wasn’t. It was wonderful to have a week to work in the new house and get it ready for us to move in. It was less wonderful to continue to deal with the remnants and responsibilities in the old house once we transitioned our lives to the new neighborhood.

For the final week of school, every morning, Mike, the kids, and I schlepped ourselves over to the old house so the kids could catch the bus. Because real truth, I was not adding “change the bus stop for a week” to my to-do list. [Fun fact: writing this reminded me that I need to call the school so that we are assigned to the right bus stop in the fall. Yikes!] Once they were off to school, we typically loaded a random assortment of things into our cars, toted it over to the new house, unloaded, and then went about our actual jobs for the day.

Then every night, usually around 9pm after all evening activities had ended and the kids were tucked in, one or the other of us would head back to the old house to continue packing, patching and painting, mowing, or cleaning. It.was.exhausting. And truly felt like we had no time to spend settling into the new house because whoever was left at home was paying bills or doing laundry or other such “keep daily life afloat” tasks.

By Wednesday night, we were mostly out of the house, Mike had patched and touched up walls and finished the yard work, and the dumpster (to his great chagrin) was still sitting in the driveway [it was supposed to be picked up on Monday. It was not.]. So it was my turn to head over after the evening sprint to do the cleaning. The final walk-through was Thursday afternoon, so I wanted things to look nice and tidy.

By the time I ran a couple errands and caught up with our neighbors, it was 10pm when I started. I buckled down and made good progress. I had just finished vacuuming the basement and planned to load up my supplies so I could mop myself out of the house. As I was eying the things to load, I decided to grab the last few things in our house – which were my houseplants – so we didn’t have to deal with them in the morning. I grabbed one of the plants and turned to walk to the car. Unbeknownst to me, this vine-y plant had intertwined itself with another vine-y plant and the two had become one. But I only had one. So other plant went toppling off the ledge, spilling plant, leaves, and dirt across the newly cleaned floor.

I was too tired to either cry or swear. I simply picked up the mess, re-vacuumed the basement, and successfully transported the rest of the plants to the car. Then, as I went to load up my vacuum, I somehow knocked the canister out of it, dumping everything I had cleaned up all over the floor. Again. WHY!?!?!

Against all odds, I managed to finish up without destroying the house. But since the dumpster was still there and Mike and I have been talking for a couple years about needing a new vacuum (we bought the current one when we got married), my vacuum and I broke up. Target loaded a shiny new one into the back of my car the next morning and by early afternoon, the old vacuum and the dumpster had disappeared from our house. Just in time for the final walkthrough. 

In the midst of all this bouncing between houses, Mike managed to bring our old living room couch and love seat up to a donation warehouse in Bloomington to help out lower income families furnish their homes. And he found a great charity called Keys 4 Kids, where we were able to donate our old piano. We had really struggled with what to do with it and were both so delighted to find it a new home. Hooray!

Meanwhile, I contributed by calling the garbage/recycling place no less than five times in order to transfer our service from the old house to the new. And not a moment too soon. Because we were up to our armpits in garbage and recycling at the new house. Where there were no containers. And we didn't want to be paying for service at the old place - where they had neglected to pick up the containers. 

For so many reasons, we were delighted and relieved on June 11 when our realtor stopped over with a large check and official word that the sale was completed. We loved our old house. But that last week really helped us all mentally (and physically) transition to the new one. We are ready to make new memories here and hope that the new family makes a wonderful life in the old house. 

Now if I could just find an unpacking fairy ...

The Move

When Mike and I discussed the actual move logistics, we quickly decided that hiring movers to carry the big stuff was well worth the money. I had no interest in helping move our giant sectional or hoisting the grill off the deck. Then after we lined up the movers, our sweet next door neighbors offered us their piano - meaning I had even less than no interest doing the heavy lifting ourselves. [It took two movers plus Mike to move that piano, so movers were a great call!] 

Moving day came and brought sweltering temperatures with it. The radio later told me was the hottest June 5 in 96 years. It was too hot to blink. So thank goodness we weren't relying on the strength of our friendships to move our crap. No one should have to be that good of a friend!

The movers showed up just after 8am Saturday morning. They were ... unorthodox ... to say the least. We are 99% sure that they were drinking on the job - but they were really hard workers and very careful, so we are going with it. While Mike had hired them to only move the big heavy stuff, they did so much more than that. Which was both good and overwhelming. We were not prepped for them to basically grab anything not nailed down. Mike finally told them to hold up in the garage - because they were throwing random things in random boxes. We will have to fully unpack every single thing. I finally found the rain coats tonight - buried under beach balls and bike helmets. We still can't find the levels. Sigh.

My favorite movers story comes courtesy of Thurman. Thurman was a tall, lanky guy. Probably 6'3", maybe 160 lbs. He was 60 years old and had a heart attack last year. Honestly, he looked like I should be lifting heavy things for him. Mike and I have a two-drawer file cabinet. It is heavy and takes both of us to move it. So when Thurman wheeled it into the new house on a two-wheel cart, that made perfect sense. Then he looked at the stairs to our basement and the 180 degree turn he needed to make at the bottom of it, decided that wouldn't work, crouched down, lifted the dang thing all by himself and carried it down the stairs! You are probably thinking "yeah, but you emptied it first." We did not. Moral of the story: don't mess with Thurman.

Once the movers were done, Mike, Gpa V, and I headed over to the new house to put beds back together and make sure things were ready for us to sleep here for the first time. Meanwhile, Auntie had come down to visit and was spending the afternoon in the tiny blow up pool in our old back yard with the small Vs. Turns out, hose water can be quite refreshing! It was an emotional day and the kids needed the fun that only Auntie can bring.

Sunday morning in the new house was interesting. We hosted an underwear scavenger hunt. Because the kids now have their own rooms, we have a bedroom furniture shortage. F got my dresser, Q got the big shared dresser, and D got the other shared dresser. M's dresser was built into his old closet. So if you are keeping up with the math, that leaves Mike and me with zero dressers between us. 

But I hadn't yet had time to switch the dresser contents. So ... F's underwear was in D's room. Her clothes were in Q's room. Q's clothes were in D's room. My underwear and shorts were in F's room. And M's underwear was in a suitcase. We lived like that for a week. It was a very happy day when I re-aligned the dressers. Unless you are older than 11. Then your underwear is still in a suitcase. Or sitting on the shelf of a bookcase, which is doubling as a makeshift dresser. [Have we had time to go buy new master bedroom furniture yet? Nope.]

Since we got rid of or redistributed all our master bedroom furniture, night one in the new house, we slept on a mattress and box spring on the floor. Like we are 19 again. The movers accidentally switched our mattress with the guest room mattress - so Brad was invited over on Sunday to help with a mattress swap. Because if we are going to sleep on the floor like college kids, we at least want to do it on our own mattress.

Leprechaun Mischief

There are splatters of green paint on our white ceiling above the dining room table. I really wanted to blame it on Darby the leprechaun and his St. Patrick's Day shenanigans. Unfortunately, the girls took that whole honesty lesson to heart and sold me out. I was opening some craft paints for them and apparently should not have squeezed when I did. It exploded everywhere. Including on the ceiling. New family rule: Just don't look up. 

We woke up on St. Patrick's Day to find Darby in the leprechaun trap that the kids had built. There were several piles of gold candies spread around the trap - as well as a few wrappers and footprints in green paint. Fiona also found a shamrock painted on the bathroom mirror. The kids were delighted by their morning ... other than the fact that I wouldn't let them eat a gold candy until after school.

While I was planning the menu for the week, the kids asked for green eggs for dinner. So my food gel and I obliged with disturbingly green eggs, bacon, and hash browns. They were odd to eat - but made everyone laugh. And we followed them up with some gold leprechaun candy. 

Unfortunately there are still green splatters on the ceiling. Those darn leprechauns ...

Second Winter

Last Sunday after hockey, we decided to check out a new hiking trail behind the Shutterfly building in town. Mike has wanted to explore it for weeks - and it felt like the right day. Until we got outside and realized it was cold. And windy. Nonetheless, we bundled up and explored. Weather has not often been known to stop us!

We did a loop that was just over a mile ... plus a bit of off-roading through the swamp. We should have gotten much wetter wandering through the swamp than we did. It was painfully clear that that the lack of snow this winter is going to create quite a spring drought. Hopefully it will be a wet spring or the lakes are going to be low this year!

Everyone's favorite part of the walk was the big fallen tree trunk that the kids spotted. Q and D wanted to climb it - so Mike went first to determine safety. He deemed it trustworthy so three more Vannestes shimmied up. I contributed by taking a picture. And then helping everyone down. Turns out, down was much trickier than up.

Part of the strategy behind the walk was to wear people out enough to go to sleep. While we tend to Spring Forward better than we Fall Back, either version of daylight savings time tends to throw things off kilter for a few days. [Fun fact: the wheels came off hard on Tuesday. But by Wednesday, we seemed to be pulling it back together.]

No one wanted to get up on Monday morning, which made it even more exciting when - 10 minutes before the bus arrived - Mike looked at the weather forecast and realized that we were supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow that day. Ummm, what?!?! There was a quick sprint to pull the boots back out of the closet (as predicted) so they had them for recess. It was a pretty snow during the day, although I don't think we got more than 3-4 inches. It never even really stuck to the road. 

It's already melted and I'm planning to return the boots to the closet again tomorrow. Although probably not for the last time this season.

The Streak Continues

Well, Declan has extended the streak of dramatic tooth loss to five teeth now. To review, tooth #1 was lost via hat pull and then lost (and found) in the school cafeteria. Tooth #2 was just simply lost and maybe swallowed. Teeth #3 and #4 came out via remote control car. Tooth #5's extraction may have raised the drama bar. So perhaps a discussion about just simply losing a tooth without fanfare is in order ...

Anyway, tooth 5 has been loose for a while. But not super loose. Just enough that when he would chew wrong, he would notice it. Our kids are notorious for having loose teeth for months on end, so no one has paid much attention to it. Until Sunday night. When that tooth got a lot of attention.

Mike and Quinn were at goalie clinic, Fiona and Dec were playing with balloons in the living room, and I was cleaning up dinner. Unexpectedly, I heard Dec start to wail, so I went to check it out. He was crying really hard and Fiona was pretty upset. They had been trying to catch the balloons in the knee hockey nets and apparently she had accidentally clocked him in the face with one of them. She thought she hit him in the nose. D was holding his hand over his face, so I got him to come to me so I could see.

He took his hand down and, wow, there was so much blood. It was one of those parenting moments where you just have to clear away the blood so you can actually figure out what you are dealing with. I wasn't sure if he had split his lip or what. Fiona was very helpful, bringing me tissues and a water bottle so we could find the source. As you can probably guess, it was tooth # 5 - which was now hanging by a snaggly thread. 

I got Dec settled down with the promise that Daddy would take care of it when he got home (I do not do teeth. Gross!). By then, poor sweet Fiona was sobbing. She felt so bad, but both Dec and I knew it had been an accident. Dec gave her big hugs and assured her that he was fine. But to make everyone feel better, we FaceTimed Auntie. Because if there is one person who does teeth even less than me, it's Auntie (she's still scarred from Fiona's snaggle tooth). Auntie was sufficiently grossed out, which soothed both injured mouths and injured feelings. 

When Mike and Q got home, Dec proudly showed off his tooth. Mike and some floss made pretty quick work of it. Thankfully one of the two top teeth that he lost in October is partially in. Because holy smokes, the dude has a holey mouth! He did say he was glad it was out so it doesn't hurt when he chews anymore. Fiona responded by making a fist and asking him if he wanted any other teeth knocked out. Well played, Bugs!

Back at Home: Surviving Round 2

Well, we've survived week one of being home from school (so sad) and back to home from work for me (not so sad). I won't say it was pretty, but it was an improvement over week one last time. And definitely an improvement over the first day of spring school at home. No one buried their face in the chair this time!! 

Monday and Tuesday were official full school days. We set up three individual work stations as all three kids have Google Meets most of the morning. Dec is using the pull-out desk in their room, Fiona has her work desk in the basement (next to Mike, who is working at the bar), and Quinn camped out at the kitchen table for the week. 

We ordered another desk [which should get here tomorrow!] that will get set up in our bedroom, and that's where Q will go. Then I'm still hanging out at the camping table in our guest room. You can't say we aren't using every available corner in this house. 

Mike and I logged a lot of steps Monday morning, checking on everyone - but they all did great. Then Tuesday, Bugs did half a day of school and she and Mike headed up to spina bifida clinic. Dec had class all morning, but Q finished all her assignments by 9am. I handed her a bunch of art supplies and the hot glue gun. Then after lunch when I needed to go to a meeting and Dec was done with class, I handed the 8 and 6 year old the glue gun and told them to be careful. Who am I!?!?! 2020 has clearly lead to big steps in independence and trust [not desperation ... obviously ...]. Thankfully, it was a two day week for school. We'll see how it goes this coming week when they all need to put in five days of effort! 

Both Mike and I had to work on Wednesday, but the kids got to hang out and have fun. Mike had to run into the theater, so I was solo wrangling. I bribed them with nachos for lunch if they were well-behaved (they were angels). Then I had the very best visitors in the afternoon. The girls came twirling in, wearing fancy dresses they had found in the closet and looking like supermodels. Then they told me Declan was coming too. I fully expected him to be decked out in something fancy (they usually convince him to do that) ... so when he came somersaulting in as Superman, I laughed really hard. Well played, Dec!

It was very clear on Wednesday evening that everyone needed OUT. I sent Mike to find the stash of flashlights, made the kids put warm gear on, and we went for a flashlight neighborhood walk. We admired Christmas lights, sang some carols, raced up and down the big hill, burned off a lot of energy, and enjoyed the crisp fresh air. 

Like Round 1, we have experienced some bumps and frustration in Round 2 of being home all.the.time. But we know a little more about what works and how to manage the energy and emotion of togetherness. Right now, when all else fails, we are working on learning the lyrics for The Twelve Days of Christmas. #goals

All Dec Wants For Christmas ...

... are his two front teeth, which fell out within less than a day of each other last week. Also, after we sang the song to him, he would like the record to reflect that he is fine without his two front teeth and he would rather have Legos for Christmas thank you very much. That is what we call "clear priorities."

Do you remember the drama of the last lost tooth? Both that it was swallowed and that Mike and Dec were unable to execute their master plan of tooth extraction via remote control car? Well, fear not, dear readers. Remote control tooth extraction happened not once, but twice! However, we're not sure that tooth #2 was quite as ready and it hurt a bit more. So Dec is not sure they need to use this plan for future teeth ... however, there is a plan to shoot it out via nerf bullet. So, basically, stay tuned because it is never boring here.

Last Thursday night, we had nothing better to do, so Mike tied floss to Dec's tooth and to his big monster truck remote control car. It took a couple tries to get the right angle, but then POP - out that tooth came. Everyone was shocked that it worked! So Friday afternoon, they did the same set up and out came tooth two. And a lot of blood. But the dude was super proud that he earned four quarters from the tooth fairy in two days. That's a whole dollar!

He looks like such a big kid with his gappy smile. It's also really funny to hear him work on sounding out words or try to say "Fiona." He tells me that there are more loose teeth in there, so we'll see how toothless he is by Christmas. Maybe he will change his tune and ask for some teeth. But probably not. Legos are more fun.

The Lost Lost Tooth

Big exciting news - Dec has lost his second tooth! Apparently he loses teeth with flair. He announced it was loose a couple weeks ago and we were very excited. You see, the adult tooth is already in ... behind it! So we have been hoping it would come out on its own - because otherwise the dentist was going to give it a yank. 

Once it was loose, Mike and D started planning how they would get it out. They decided to tie a string to a remote control car and pull it out that way. Mike was doing a daily check to deem it "loose enough" or not. On the infamous night, the tooth was declared "close, but not quite yet." So Dec trotted off to brush his teeth. 

Suddenly the whole house was filled with the saddest wail: "I swallowed my tooth." D's toothbrush disagreed with Mike's assessment and popped that tooth right out. It startled Dec and down the throat it went. Or down the drain. There is a bit of confusion around the actual course of events. We do know that the tooth was nowhere to be found

There was a lot of sadness and concern about the tooth being in his tummy and what that meant. Once we assured him that it would not make him sick and that the tooth fairy would still come [let's be honest, that was the main concern], the smile returned. Big sister Q stepped up and wrote a note to the tooth fairy that informed said fairy that Declan swallowed his tooth and would she still bring him two coins pretty please. The note - instead of the tooth - went under his pillow.

The tooth fairy is a good egg - because two quarters found their way under the pillow and the drama of the lost lost tooth turned into a funny story that he enjoys telling. Will the third time be a charm and he won't try to lose the lost tooth? 

And ... will that be the tooth extracted by remote control car? No boy living here has given up on that plan!

Game On

When we started looking more seriously at houses last year, one of the things that was a "nice to have" in my mind was a place to store all our games. When we decided not to move, getting the game situation under control was big on my to-do list. Then lockdown hit and we were more focused on establishing our new routine and getting homeschool under control.

With a few weeks of lockdown under our belts, it was time to finally tackle the game situation. Especially since Quinn really wanted to play Uno ... and Uno was ... [insert your best guess]. Also - we were getting desperate for new things to do!

You guys, I spent approximately 20 more hours thinking about organizing the games than it actually took me to organize them. I was on pinterest, I was on Amazon, Target, and Wayfair. I was back on pinterest. I had out a tape measure and was measuring the game boxes. There may have been shades of ridiculousness in the amount of thought that went into this project. When it came down to it, I ended up ordering a 4x4 cube organizer from Target. All that thought for such a simple solution.

We were able to do a contactless drive up to get it at Target, made a swing by the storage unit where a critical mass of games were living [fun fact: when we actually thought we were moving and just decluttering the house, we put a lot of things we actually use in storage - not thinking they would live there for months. We are slowly but surely retrieving said items.], and set up a construction crew in the basement.

Once Mike, Q, and D had built the shelf, I gathered all the games from seven (yep, you read the right. SEVEN) different spots in our house. It was clear why we didn't play games as often as I would have expected. If you managed to find the game you wanted to play, it was hard work to get it out. And heaven forbid you want to put it away - as that often required a PhD in engineering.

Quinn was so excited to help. There's not much that Quinn likes more than organizing things. I was told in no uncertain terms to wait for her! Once we got everything staged, Q and I probably had everything put away in under two hours. We ordered a few cubes for the smaller dice and card games, cleaned out some games that we've outgrown, and even have space to grow!

Fun fact #2: when you can find the games, you actually play them! We've been enjoying many rounds of Old Maid, Go Fish, Memory, and Phase 10 dice.

Fun fact #3: when you don't need an engineering degree, even five-year-olds can put their own games away!!

Stories from Lockdown

You guys, I'm worried. It is Day 22 of life on the inside. No one has stabbed anyone else in their sleep and we do still like each other (I married really well!!). We are settling in and actually having fun. But ... will we know how to interact with other non-V people when we're released?!?! I mean, we are looking forward to trying. But be kind if our social awkwardness hits new levels of special.

Last week, Mike held a special Shop Class workshop in the backyard and the garden that we promised Quinn a couple years ago has been completed. We didn't build it last year because we were deep in the house search. But now that we know we're staying - and Mike has plenty of time - the garden was top of the list. We had a few days of great weather where the kids could play outside and Mike could work. It went together more quickly than he expected and Q and Dec even helped put the baseboards in.

During the garden project, Mike also found time to build a monkey bars off the climber in the backyard. He's had the actual monkey bars for a while, but didn't have the time or lumber to construct the frame. We had been using the monkey bars as a ladder to the tall part of the climber. So the only obvious solution once the ladder was gone was to install a fire pole. When Mike first mentioned getting a fire pole, Quinn stopped dead in her tracks, gave him her most serious face, and said "Don't lie to me." To say she was excited when it arrived is an understatement.

On Saturday, we were out in the yard playing and a little boy walked by with his dad. He asked his dad if our yard was a park. His dad said "no." The little boy did not seem convinced. **Now, more than ever, we stand by our choice of not compromising on the yard when looking for a house!

It took three weeks - but the great Lego project has been completed. The Volkswagen camper was constructed in full. And now can be played with ... the whole time they were building it, Mike kept telling Dec not to play with it because "it's not a toy." Ha! The bin of Mike's old legos has also found its way to the lego table and creativity is at its prime. Today, a space rover was built. And a helicopter.

Mike broke out the N64 and the kids have been obsessed with watching him play Bond (notice all the legos in the background). I found a game map online to help (end the insanity) and Quinn has taken it upon herself to analyze the cheat maps and direct Mike while he plays. It's actually quite impressive. Fiona just likes it when someone falls down the stairs. Dec can't wait to learn to play himself.

He did learn to play a snowboarding game. Mike had run to the grocery store, so Fiona was his tech support. We are all learning new skill sets these days.

I hate Peeps. I think they are gross. So I never think to buy them. When Mike was doing the grocery shopping, he bought a couple packages so the kids to try them. They are fans. They even came down to visit me "in my office" for the inaugural taste test.

I still think they are gross.

A favorite place to read or do art is on the bed in the guest room. Why? Because it is right next to me while I work. As long as I'm not on a really important call and they are quiet, they know they are welcome to hang out. It's ideal for when someone needs a quiet time break from the whole gang. Quinn prefers to color, while Fiona likes to bring her latest book down. I sure enjoy their company!

There has been a lot of rollerblading and street (driveway) hockey on nice days/evenings. The two hockey players are getting really good on their blades and Fiona is making big improvements (and having fun). Mike has set up several practice drills for them (and I think he enjoys it just as much as they do). Tonight, Dec's face took the brunt of a weird ball bounce. He was fine, but I'll be interested to see if we have a bruise tomorrow. It did not, however, stop him from playing!

Robot Tops That Battle

So very happy.
God bless Teenage Target Boy

In January, Dec went to his friend G's birthday party and came home talking about beyblades. "Do you know what beyblades are, mama, and can I have some for my birthday?!?!" No, I do not. And sure, I guess ... it's 5 months away. Whatever. Mike's curiosity got the better of him, so he looked them up and then told me they were "robot tops that battle." I understand each of those words individually ... but still had no idea what in the world beyblades were.

Dec seemed to mostly forget about them ... and I most definitely forgot about them ... until this week. Beyblade mania happened. On Wednesday, I think he said the word "beyblades" to me 97 times before I finally said "if we go to Target on Saturday and get some, will you promise not to say 'beyblades' again until then?" Fun fact: I upheld my end of the deal. He did not.

Then on Thursday at pick up, he and G were playing beyblades. I 100% blame G for my current beyblades seventh circle situation. His punishment was that he had to host a training course on beyblades. It was way more useful than my previous attempts with Mike, my 9-year-old boy network, and my 7-year-old boy network. The 6-year-old boy network was key! The best part was that several other parents and 6-year-old boys joined the training course. I am clearly not the only one baffled by these things.

This morning, Dec and I headed off to Target with the Christmas gift card from Brenda and Mike in his pocket [this RIGHT HERE is why I do not let the kids spend them right away]. We looked up the aisle on my phone and found the beyblade section. Then we both stood there rather cluelessly. One of us was more clueless than the other - but neither one of us was too prepared. I started pulling down different ones for D to choose from. And he started asking ridiculous questions like "does this one have a launcher?" and "can I get one with a ripcord launcher?" and I said very exasperated things like "I don't know what a launcher looks like, buddy" and "I still don't know what a launcher looks like."

And then, you guys, like a heaven-sent miracle, a teenage boy who works at Target came around the corner, showed us what a launcher looks like, and asked if we needed help. The question was just being polite. We were clearly out of our league. He sat in the aisle with D and help him select two beyblades with launchers and was just the absolute sweetest. I may have cried in Target without him. Or FaceTimed G's mom and asked for G as a consultant. We left with one hydrosphere and one sling shock. I have no idea what that means. But Dec and Teenage Target Boy seemed satisfied.

I thought maybe getting him the beyblades would mean we didn't have to talk about them anymore. That was categorically false. I also did not think about the fact that I would have to learn how to put them together because one of the whole points is for them to burst apart. Mike did NOT train me before he took Q to hockey - but thankfully I figured it out. I have beyblade battled multiple times today ("mama, you aren't very good with the launcher") and have reassembled them about three dozen times.

He is beyond joyful and I love that. But I miss discussions about superheroes. Or dinosaurs. Or hot wheels. Or lemur stink fights. Or even construction vehicles. On the upside, I think I finally know what a beyblade is.

The Sports

Saturday night, I was home with the kids while Mike was at his own hockey game. Dec asked if he could put on his hockey gear and play goalie in the basement. I said "sure." Then Quinn got wind of this and decided to put her gear on as well. Soon enough, a knee hockey game broke out in my basement.

They very sweetly invited Fiona to participate. She was the "cheerer" and the announcer - and apparently the ref and timekeeper. At one point, she announced that it was "halftime." I promptly informed her that there is, in fact, no halftime in hockey. She ignored me. Then after halftime, she dropped the puck by saying "hut hut hike." I suspect [hope] that was just to sass me.

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I do blame the halftime comment on the fact that we actually made the Super Bowl an event at our house this year. Turns out, certain five-year-old boys in the public school system had very strong opinions about the game and which team should win. I was told I was cheering for the Chiefs. I may have had to ask said opinionated 5-year-old who was playing. When I learned that the Chiefs QB was the son of a former Twins pitcher, I was good with my assigned team.

We ate dinner downstairs at the bar and piled on to the big sectional to watch the game. There were chips and top the tator (so a real party) as well as all the fruit Declan could eat. At some point during the first half, each of our kids separately asked what a quarterback was. Quinn is clearly a hockey player and was quite annoyed when it took sweet forever to all the players to line up, only for no forward progress to be made. Several times, she said "that was it?" So while our football knowledge was lacking, we all agree that it was a really fun event to mark together.

We let them stay up through the halftime show so they could be culturally relevant at school the next day. Except for the fact that they had no idea who Shakira or J. Lo were. Nonetheless, they enjoyed it. And Dec was thrilled the next morning when he wandered into my room and I told him the Chiefs won. He was slightly less annoyed that it was Monday.

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This weekend was "south metro exchange weekend" for Mite hockey. Dec played in Prior Lake on Saturday and volunteered to play goalie for the first game. Mike volunteered to be bench coach, which D loved as well. Dec was proud of how he played in goal and enjoyed being out of goal for game 2. They even did a shoot out at the end of the game - and he scored!!

Sunday found Mike and Quinn driving to New Prague, very early in the morning, in near whiteout conditions. Mike texted me when they got there that he had seen one plow - in the ditch. It was an adventure, but well worth the crappy roads. Quinn had the best time and played really well. Apparently she did skate into the net at one point - so they tell me.

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The best thing about super early morning hockey for everyone on Sunday is that we were done with hockey by 10:30am. Which meant we had the rest of the day to play in the fresh snow (more on that later). At one point, as Q walked up the hill with her snowboard over her shoulders, her hat pulled down over her eyes, and completely covered in snow, our neighbor Mike said "everything about Quinn screams X Games." And our brains exploded a little bit.

In not our brightest parenting move, we showed the kids a few videos of Shaun White snowboarding. Later, Dec told me that he was going to be just like Shaun White. Only not. Because his tricks were going to be different and better and harder. He also asked to take both skateboard and snowboard lessons. And said that instead of asking Santa for yogurt next Christmas, he's going to ask for goalie pads. It may be going awry here!

Life with Dec

Tuesday, I had an early morning conference call with some people in Europe. I mostly just needed to listen, so had my computer on the kitchen counter, my headphones in my ears, and was distributing cereal and "yogurt buffets" (parfaits). Occasionally I would smack the counter to remind the breakfast table to quiet down, but for the most part, they were really good. Until the moment I went off mute to ask a question. At that same exact moment, Declan yelled "Hey mom! I just farted and it sounded like a bear." Whhhhhhhyyy!?!?!

Luckily I was standing far enough away from him that I don't think anyone on the call heard. My friend Mike was on the call and I'm fairly certain he would have immediately texted me if it was audible. That's what I'm telling myself anyway!

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Friday morning, Dec wandered into our room when he woke up. His morning self is my favorite.
Me: Good morning, ninja Santa [he was wearing Santa pj bottoms and a ninja turtle pj top. As one does]
D: Good morning, Mrs. Claus
Then he headed into our bathroom where Mike was showering to use the toilet
D: Good morning, Dada
Mike: Good morning, buddy! How'd you sleep?
D: On me back, Mush
[if you don't have Newsies memorized like Dec does, this means nothing to you. But if you can recite Newsies in your sleep, it's awfully clever for 7am]

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Hockey season has started for three out of five Vannestes. Never fear, all five Vannestes are impacted. Mike is hunting this weekend, so I was grateful that Dec and Quinn had practice at the same time today (we are not so lucky tomorrow).

Dec had a rough practice. I could tell that he was super frustrated - but I was honestly really proud because he kept getting up, showing up, and trying to do it. He never quit. After practice, he told me he didn't like hockey anymore. I asked him why. He said "because I'm no good at it." We talked about how I thought he did a really good job and how I was proud of him for trying. I think he felt a little better.

Then we got home and I told him he could eat his tootsie pop from our neighbor. THEN ... he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a dollar. No one knows how it got there. But he told me that they are now his lucky hockey pants. Sometimes it's the little wins that reset your whole day!

Family Costume - and a Power Ranger

I say it year after year – campground trick-or-treating is far superior to actual trick-or-treating. There is no doorbell-ringing requirement, none of the awkward “are they home? Is someone going to answer the door?,” and less distance between bowls of candy. Vannestes look forward to this night all fall!

In September, we started the very important “what do you want to be for Halloween?” discussions. We’ve learned (the hard way) that early preparation is critical. The girls are currently in the heart of their obsession with Descendants (the third movie came out in August) – so they quickly decided to be Mal and Evie.

Then there were a couple of loooong days where Q decided she wanted to be Mal too and Fiona was.not.having.it. They worked it out and Q happily (?) returned to being Evie. Next step, they decided Mike should be Hades (Mal’s dad) and I should be Maleficent (Mal’s mom). I let that ride for a couple days to ensure Q didn’t get mad about Evie being parentless. She did not so we went with it.

Next up, should little brother be Carlos or Jay? What the ladies did not take into account is that little bro does not believe in group think and had decided he wanted to be a red Power Ranger. Despite their best marketing efforts (mom was proud), Dec stood strong – so red Power Ranger it was (let’s all pray this ability to ignore peer pressure remains rock solid in the teen years!). My Amazon cart was full of colored wigs – and a power ranger suit.

My shopping was mostly successful – except for Mike’s blue mohawk. It looked way more “flock of seagulls” than “Disney god of the underworld.” I put in one night of effort and a lot of hair gel to make it moderately better. Thankfully, Gma N has far more talent and patience than me and spent two days (when they were down watching the kids) making that wig a thing of beauty. Fiona is crazy in love with her purple wig and pretty much wants purple hair now.

The camping crew decided to skip the parade and getting ready was more relaxed. Mike even let me put some heavy eye-liner on him and he killed the look. It was so fun and the kids LOVED it! Real truth: the adults did too.

Trick-or-treating was less frigid than last year, which everyone appreciated. We went through 2.5 loops, found the site that hands out the shots, and called it when the kids all happily agreed with being done. Then it was back to the sites to hand out candy to the final trick-or-treaters and to participate in a pretty awesome dance party. We headed up to the program and our group took home a couple door prizes.

The only bummer of the weekend – they changed how sites are booked for the next year and when we went to get our sites for 2020, all the electric sites were already gone. After a group discussion, we committed to non-electric sites. And have a year to figure out how to not freeze to death!

Toe Truck

Final smiles at the lake as we
said good-bye to summer.
And the cabin.

This blog is a place of honesty - yes? Good. If I'm being  honest, life went off the rails this week. We had a nice long holiday weekend up north where we inhaled the final breaths of summer and we launched all the children into a new school year - including an official final kindergartner. There's big stuff happening! It sounds under control. But what life actually looks like right now is Mike and me watching the Twins game with margaritas, me elevating my toe, and the girls wearing headphones in their bed to block out the rather intense snores of their brother. How'd we get here, you ask? I'll tell you.

Tuesday morning dawned with us scurrying about to get loaded up and on the road by 10 - because we had to make it back to the cities for a 2pm doctor appointment for the bookends. Dec did not sleep well the night before and we could tell he wasn't himself that morning. Just as we were about to buckle into the car, I didn't like his face and we high-tailed it toward the bathroom. We didn't make it - and he threw up in Gma's laundry room (luckily a tile floor). Gpa handed Dec an empty minnow bucket for the car ride and I said a prayer (or twelve). [Is that not the most up north move ever?!?!]

Actual first day of school
Sadly, missing the newest
school kid

The good news: Dec did not throw up in the car AND ate most of a cheeseburger for lunch. We also made it to the eye doctor with 10 minutes to spare (and everyone got a good report). The bad news: Yogi pooped in the car on the way (which ate into our lovely 35 minute arrival margin) and this was the beginning of a three-day fever battle for Declan.

Wednesday morning, Dec woke up, made good use of his minnow bucket, and continued to sport a fever. We managed to get it down enough that we could go to their Meet the Teacher meetings. When we got home, Gpa V was there to hang with the troops for the afternoon. Dec's fever spiked again mid-afternoon, so I took him in once I got home from work. She was sure it was strep - but the test came back negative. However, he did have an ear infection, so we came home with a prescription for pink medicine nonetheless.

In-between teacher meetings and doctor appointments, while I was getting lunch for the kids, I was not watching where I was walking and rammed my foot into the garbage can. Hard. Mike's pretty sure I broke my pinky toe on my right foot. I'm not positive it is broken. I am positive that it is very bruised and hurts. A lot.

I was texting with my sister about our woes and she responded with "Jesus take the wheel." I told her that we were too far gone. Jesus needed to send a tow truck. Declan woke up Thursday morning with sobs and a fever. While a sad decision, it was a fairly obvious one that he was going to have to miss his first day of kindergarten.

But you know what - Jesus sent a tow truck. Its name was Grandpa, who decided to stay the night on Wednesday even though he had planned to just come for the day - in case we needed someone to watch D on Thursday. And Jesus also sent forklift, in the form of a teenage boy who loves Declan, discovered he missed his first day of kinder, and stopped over that afternoon with a bag full of goodies to cheer a sad boy up.

We may be off the rails - but our support crew is top shelf!

The Funny Thing About Life

Our day started with several faces pressed against the master bedroom window because there was a duck stuck in our trampoline. It ended with Mike in the garage duct taping the back window of my SUV because the hinge randomly broke at the garden center tonight, we were afraid it might come off, and we don't have time to get it fixed right now. There truly is never a dull moment around here.

As we hold on for the sprint that is the final two weeks of school and buckle up for a June that defies the laws of scheduling, it was only fitting that our Memorial Day celebration was completely unorthodox and 100% Vanneste. After a beautiful Saturday and Sunday (more on those later), the Monday holiday was rainy, cold, and windy. Blech!

We, however, did not want to be stuck in the house all day. So early afternoon, everyone grabbed raincoats, rain boots, and umbrellas. And out we went. It was the best decision of the weekend. We came home laughing so hard we were crying. From the wind turning Declan's umbrella inside out, Mike jumping in a puddle so hard that he splashed puddle water into his mouth, or Declan's overly aggressive jumping that caused his pants to fall down, it was just the family adventure we all needed.

Sometimes it has to be okay to get wet, make extra laundry, literally dump a stream of water out of your boots, and laugh together. I told Fiona that it was the rain versus the Vannestes. And that when Vannestes are a team, we rarely lose. I'm not sure she bought it when we started out ... but by the end, even the doubters amongst us had to admit it was a good time.

While not the ideal weather for kicking off the summer, how often do things work out in the ideal way? We love opportunities to take a less than ideal situation and turn it into a fun family memory. It doesn't hurt that Mike and I truly enjoy these kind of adventures as well.

Life in the last couple of days has taught us this: when it rains on the holiday, or you're stuck in a trampoline with your mallard partner quacking what I assume was pretty useless information, you put on your gear, back up your runway, and get the extra air under your wings to take you over the top. And when all else fails, you get out the duct tape.