Thankful for Family, Finds, and Facemasks

Our Thanksgiving weekend was pretty low-key, which was exactly what we needed heading into a holiday season that looks not low-key. The girls had a two-day school week and spent Wednesday home with Gma and Gpa J. Quinn and Gma were in charge of the Thanksgiving pies - and Quinn was in heaven! According to her writing journal, baking pies was her favorite part of the weekend.

Thanksgiving morning found five Vannestes huddled around the oven, putting the bird in with great ceremony. Then the kids dug into the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I made like it was their job! I was also armed with a fun pilgrim hat cookie project for mid-morning when the million commercials during the parade (and the wait for our guests to arrive) got to them. They were all able to make their cookies without assistance and had a blast. It seemed they didn't hate taste-testing them either.

We had Gma and Gpa, Gpa V, Auntie, and Enchilada and her mom Gramchilada for dinner. We had a great dinner, a fun afternoon, a second round of pie and queso/chips, and a rousing Pie Face contest (thanks to leftover pie whipped cream). Pie Face was initially a bust - but thanks to Mike's amazing fix-it skills, he repaired/patched whatever internal pieces were broken and whipped cream yet again flew into people's faces.

Mike had to work on Friday so the kids and I got to hang out with Gpa V for a bit in the morning and have donuts with him as is tradition. After Gpa headed north, we went down to the basement to play and to clean out the storage room. The girls did a great job helping to identify toys that we could move to their next owner and we created some nice space in the storage room (conveniently in time for the Christmas influx ... I always have a strategy!). Between trips to Once Upon a Child and Goodwill, we've moved the whole pile out of our house.

While digging around in the storage room, I found a couple games from my childhood - a Crazy Bears puzzle game and Giant Old Maid. Both games were well loved by Auntie and me and brought back a lot of memories. Especially Crazy Bears and how dang hard that game is. I embarrassed to admit that - because after HOURS of working on it, Quinn has mastered it.

I was researching the game and found an article about how difficult it was. The author couldn't believe it was marketed to children (it says ages 6-99) because "what six-year-old on the planet could solve this?" Our six-year-old, that's who! And now, Declan is starting to try to figure it out. I would not put it past our four-year-old to also demonstrate some mad skills.

Giant Old Maid has also been a giant hit! Although we are still working on our strategy for holding the giant cards in tiny hands. And I've chosen to not sing the song that Em and I used to sing to the loser ... "xxxx is an old maid. xxxx is an old maid." We're still refining our sportsmanship skills around here.

Sunday afternoon, we had a parenting oooops. We thought Dec had hockey practice, but it was actually on Saturday (so we missed it). Dec was totally bummed out, but open skate started in 40 minutes. So instead, Mike ran home, got everyone's skates, and we did family open skate. Everyone has upped their skating game considerably since last year! Dec even skated in full gear to practice moving in all his pads.

I was grateful for helmets and facemasks - as all three skaters smacked their heads on the ice a few times. [Dec tends to fall face first on the ice - so I really appreciated his facemask] But we made several successful trips around the rink with minimal falls - and lots of smiles.

We wrapped up the weekend with a viewing of The Grinch (the cartoon, not their daddy!). In full honesty, we had a great weekend ... and no one was on board with it being Monday!

Good Game

Mike's hockey schedule is either great or terrible this year - depending on how you look at it. It's great that the majority of his games (like over 80%) start after 9pm. That means we get to keep him through the kids' bedtime and both he and they love that. But that also means that the options for us actually getting to watch him play are slim at best.

So when there was a 5:30 game last Saturday, let me tell you that we were all on board with heading over to St. Paul to cheer on our favorite Venom player (Uncle Brad is a close second). Mike gave up his role as captain for the season as he has taken on the extra work of a full course-load of school ... plus a full-time job, husband, and dad of three. Hockey captain just slid off that very full plate.

It was quite the educational pre- and post-game, as Mike's team didn't have a locker room (the facility didn't have enough), so the guys had to change on the bench. I wasn't paying attention until one of the kids shouted, "Mom, Uncle Brad is naked." He wasn't. He was shirtless. Nonetheless, we got busy prepping our picnic dinner to distract eyes. And were grateful for the zamboni at the end of the game!

The team's regular goalie was sick - and their back up goalie didn't have the best game. It wasn't the prettiest score, but we still had a great time watching. Dec was really interested in the game and discussed several plays with Mike on the way home. Watching his dad play is making the dude a bit more excited to start his own hockey career. The girls were thrilled that a few new friends (kids of Mike's teammates) showed up and were happy to play.

It was a bit of a late night for the crew - but worth it to bring Mike's fan club to the rink. And I'm not at all sad that I've continued the annual tradition of getting a photo of them high fiving their dad through the glass.

Vannestes at School

If you read about our Day in the Life, you know that school conferences for the ladies happened last week. The conferences went really well. Both girls are doing great in school and have wonderful teachers – who really “get” them. After our bumpy last year, we do not take that for granted.

Quinn has a solid future as a lobbyist – and used all her skills to convince me to let the girls attend their respective conferences with us. Going to your conference was not a thing when Mike and I were growing up – but I guess it is now. The plan got a bit of side-eye from Mike, but he went with it nonetheless (he’s also fallen prey to Q’s lobbying efforts).

Q’s conference was first – and was pretty short. Her teacher said that she had nothing but awesome things to say about Quinn, her work, and her behavior in the classroom. You could almost see the praise soaking into Q’s very being. She’s right on track (or ahead) of where she should be at this point in the school year. Academically, she's fine - but she's also doing well socially. She's not quite the class leader like she was last year ... but we'll see how that develops as the year goes on. Quinn often needs time to "pre-heat" with a group.

Fiona's conference also went great. Her report card was phenomenal (she's ahead in almost every aspect) and she got to hear her teacher tell us how great she was doing ... in MATH. Fiona's confidence in math is non-existent and we are already falling into her not believing me when I tell her she's good at something "because you're my mom and you have to say that." (I don't.) So to hear her beloved teacher say it ... worth the price of admission right there.

When I tucked Fiona in that night, I told her that I was proud of her. Her response: "I'm proud of me too." You guys, she has never said that. Usually she tells me the six things she could have done better or the three things she messed up ... (that was a personality gift from her mother ... sorry Bugs!). So to have her be proud of herself - amazing! We haven't won the confidence game - but this was a big step forward.

Also worth noting, Mike has officially finished his first term of school. He took 15 credits, has a 4.0 GPA, and is on the Chancellor's list. We are all so proud of him! 

Cousin Weekend: Relocated

Last weekend, the kids and I headed north for the fourth annual cousin weekend. Normally the cousins come down here on hunting opener, but second weekend worked better this year. In addition to changing the dates, we changed up the location. The girls were off school on Friday and Liv is busy cooking the newest member of the gang (due Christmas day) - so we volunteered to travel.

Originally Mike was going to join us, but work was really busy and he had quite a bit of homework left before the end of the term. So we decided to leave him with a quiet house (and a dog. and a short list of chores ...). That also meant that we didn't need to wait around for him to leave. The girls and I got us packed up and the house under control - then picked up Dec from school right after lunch so we could hit the road. I'm so glad we left when we did because the weather was not awesome on the way up. We had a lot of blowing snow and not great visibility. But we did have daylight. And the roads weren't slippery.

Other than my white-knuckle driving (and Fiona occasionally verifying that I was qualified to drive in such weather ... sigh ... ), we did just fine. The crew unanimously decided to watch Newsies - and got to watch all the previews before it because the DVD player remote battery was dead (luckily Grandpa fixed it for us before the return trip home). We pulled into Gma and Gpa's driveway just after 4pm - and even surprised Gpa with the homemade apply crisp we brought.

It was a low-key night and normal bedtime, which was good. Because on Saturday, we did all.the.things. Like I'm not sure there are things that you can do in Rapids that we didn't do on Saturday. Needless to say, the good night's sleep was essential!

Saturday morning, Gma made pancakes so that our bellies were ready to take on the day. Then we met the cousins and our friends Avett and Alaya at open gymnastics at 9:00. It's preschool open gym, so the equipment was a bit small for the girls. But they had a great time hanging with the littles. Fiona and Hux became quite the buddies. She was thrilled that he would let her carry him around. He was thrilled someone would carry him around ... Dec and Otto's bromance continued ... and Quinn and Milo entertained/terrified us all with their mischievous gleams and matching evil laughs.

After gymnastics, it was off to the new cupcake shop in the mall. Oddly, Gpa and Gma found time in their busy schedule to meet us there ... The cupcakes were so good, but we learned that I should have followed my instincts and got two cupcakes. Four cupcakes for four Vs was way too much. I think we each ate about half a cupcake. When I mentioned splitting them next time, nobody argued. That's a sign! With a lot of sugar hitting a lot of bloodstreams, Gma and Gpa remembered how busy they were and split - while the rest of us headed to the Children's Museum (to run off all that sugar).

The museum was a madhouse - but the kids didn't seem to mind. There was a lot of dress up, kitchen cooking, boat floating, Milo chasing, and mail delivering. The little cousins were getting tired, so shortly after noon, we packed up and headed back to Gma's for lunch. Let that soak in for a minute. We did all that - before lunch.

While a nap would not have hurt certain members of my crew, they were in pretty good spirits (could it be the pancake and cupcake sugar highs?!?!) so we dispensed with the rest time and had a game afternoon with Gma and Gpa instead. Gpa showed off his Chutes and Ladders skills and beat Quinn twice. So she schooled everyone at Memory in retaliation. Dec showed some formidable skills at a British pub game that Gma and Gpa had bought on vacation. Pro tip: don't bet against Dec when playing Shut the Box. And Fiona was a worthy challenger for me when we dusted off the old Twister game. We had the best afternoon!

I was worried we hadn't done enough, so we squeezed in a quick trip over to Auntie Tracey's to see them and meet the new kitty. Fiona was completely enamored with Luna and completely annoyed at having to share time with the kitten with her sibs. Luckily, Q and D were not that excited, so the shine of the new kitten wore off and playing some sort of wild spy game with Nate was much more interesting.

After I finally managed to extract the gang from Auntie's house, we made a quick pit stop at Gma's before heading out to Anna's house for cousin movie night. Ott and Milo were super pumped when we arrived and the gang immediately got down to the business of trashing the house. They paused long enough to eat some pizza and then got their snack cups for a viewing of Incredibles II. Quinn was pretty tired at this point, so shortly after 7 (to Fiona's lasting chagrin), I made them hug their cousins and we headed out. Fiona would like me to indignantly add "before the movie was finished."

It was the right call - because at 5am, Quinn woke me up to tell me that she needed to throw up. When she did and then fell back asleep for 2 hours, I was cautiously hopeful that it was drainage from her cold and over-doing it on Saturday. She didn't eat much breakfast and ended up throwing up again that morning - on my mom's stairs. As I was scrubbing the stairs, I could hear her happily participating in the world's wildest game of Hide and Seek with my dad. Quinn is the living embodiment of puke and rally - and we honestly don't know how we feel about that.

Armed with a bucket and a lack of clarity as to whether this was cold-related or stomach bug, we decided to forego spreading germs at church (my gang was NOT happy with me) and hit the road for home. Yet again, the only movie they could agree on was Newsies, so an encore it was. They were all such troopers. Quinn ended up throwing up during the drive, but her sibs were so kind to her - and it was in a convenient spot where I just pulled off into a parking lot, dumped her bucket, "washed" it out with snow, and handed it back to her (oh yeah - it had snowed 3 inches overnight on Saturday).

We pulled into our garage at 2pm, Quinn woke up and puked, handed her bucket to her dad, went to the table and asked for an apple, and was fine from that point on. Honestly, the puke leg of the drive was significantly less stressful than the bad weather leg [which we can file under "things I never thought I'd say"]. But no one can say that we didn't pack in the fun - and we all agree the weekend one of the best!

A Day in the Life: School Conferences Edition

When I started taking a bunch of pictures this morning and announced that it was our annual "day in the life" blog post day, the news was met with varying levels of enthusiasm. I was primed and ready, Mike was annoyed, and the kids were along for the ride. Quinn was happy to pose, Bugs was happy to point out photo ops, and Dec was confused. If that's not representative of a day in the life, I don't know what is.

Last year's post is here and if you want to go waaaaaaaaaaay back to 2016, try this. Some things don't change year over year, despite our best efforts! Buckle up, it's a busy day.

6:04: Mike gets up and preps Fiona's flush. Then he wakes her, grabs her breakfast, and ensures she's all set.

6:12: I get up to shower as he goes back to bed.

6:41: I'm out of the bathroom and getting dressed. Mike's hiding under the covers and pretending he doesn't have to get up. Eventually I turn on enough lights and he heads for the shower. I make the newly-vacated bed and head out to the kitchen.

6:50: Checking the weekly calendar shows that it is both school conferences for the girls and floor hockey day.

6:54: I hear a dresser drawer open in the kids' room. Quinn is awake and trying to sneakily get ready to surprise me.

6:56: I surprise her and wake Declan up as well. He's not a fan, but the promise of breakfast convinces him to get dressed. He'll eat breakfast again at preschool. Next year, when he doesn't get a second breakfast at Kindergarten, it's not going to go well.

7:01: I let Yogs outside while Q and D get their yogurt and pick out cereal.

7:03: Pour a couple bowls of cereal, open yogurts, and start my coffee.

7:05: Make the kids' beds and straighten up their room.

7:08: Mike's ready and getting his morning coffee (he didn't wash his cup last night, so had to wash it this morning). I'm throwing dinner together in the crockpot because it's 7am and I already know I don't want to cook dinner tonight.

7:12: Bugs is done and Mike helps get her set for the day.

7:16: I clean up breakfast, load the dishwasher, and wipe down the bathroom.

7:20: Help the girls with the hair, hug everyone, and head out the door. Mike is currently in charge of short people drop off (usually) and I do the pick up (usually). Make a quick pause as I pull out into the road to roll down my window and wave to faces pressed against the front door.

7:24: On the road to work. With a detour. Because, yet again, my normal road is closed (for a YEAR). It's going to be a long winter.

7:47: Arrive at work and get started with my day. Not too many meetings, but a couple big projects that I'm hoping to move forward.

11:28: Take a quick break from my video script to complete open enrollment for next year's benefits. Things high on our list of needs ... medical insurance.

3:15: Start packing up to head south for school conferences. Get caught on way out to answer a "quick question."

3:23: Actually leave for conferences. And cutting it very close for timing. Call my mom on the way. Also grab a quick call from Mike, who didn't read his meeting request or realize that I accounted for drive time. He's definitely on time and does a bit of work from his car.

3:49: Arrive at the school for a 3:50 conference. Wave to Bugs on my way through the cafeteria and verify that Q is already with Mike (we had agreed to let the girls join us at their conferences).

3:53: The conference before Q's runs late so I'm totally on time. Her conference goes well. Swap one blonde for another in the cafeteria and head to Bugs' conference. This one also goes well.

4:35: Done with conferences and attempting to get everyone organized enough to leave. Quinn and I head home to peel potatoes for dinner and Bugs and Mike pick Dec up.

4:43: Quinn and I get home, get the mail, let Yogs out, and start prepping her backpack for tomorrow. At this point, I say "oh crap" and realize that I forgot about the day in the life project and took no pictures during conferences. Vow to get back on my game.

4:56: The rest of the gang is home and the mashed potatoes are cooking in the Instant Pot.

5:00: Quinn decides to do an art project at the table.

5:04: Once their bags are prepped for tomorrow, Dec, Fiona, and I play a couple games from his literacy backpack from school.

5:23: While I go work on dinner, the kids play "What's Different?" As predicted, Dec pulls out his signature move.

5:40: Dinner is on the table.

5:45: My phone beeps and we suddenly remember that floor hockey is at 6:00 and NOT 6:30 like we thought. So Quinn and Dec now have five minutes to eat. This will go well ...

5:53: Quinn and Dec finish eating, wash up,  and change into their hockey clothes.

5:58: Out the door they go while Bugs and I finish dinner.

6:10: Bugs practices her spelling words while I clean up dinner. I regret my choices as I have to wash both the stuff for the crockpot and the Instant Pot.

6:30: Put away the laundry I folded last night. There's always laundry.

6:40: Bugs and I head out the door to watch the tail end of hockey. Dec and Q had asked for spectators.

6:48: Bugs (and her book) join her dad (and his homework) in the lobby. I go watch the gang play.

7:00: Hockey is done and we visit with D's friend Ethan's family for a couple minutes (E went to the same preschool as Dec and started Kinder this year. His little brother still goes to school with D).

7:22: Home to address a minor hockey injury. Quinn and her hand decided to grab a puck at the same time Dec and his stick decided to hit it.

7:24: Grab a quick snack before pjs. Made possible by mom guilt around the shortened dinner.

7:30: The gang is moving on pjs, pottying, brushing teeth, taking meds, and all the ancillary bedtime activities. Mike and I work on emptying the garbages as it is garbage day tomorrow.

7:33: Quiz Quinn on her spelling words while waiting for her sibs to finish up.

7:37: Read our book. Talk about the funny scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the turkey goes pffffft. Then show them that clip on YouTube. Fiona dies laughing. Quinn picks the actual video for the evening, which is from Incredibles II (Jack Jack vs the racoon. It's the current favorite)

7:55: Tuck everyone into bed

8:00: Settle in for blogging, homework, and the Wild game. Also take a few minutes to discuss some Thanksgiving logistics. Mike mentions that he would appreciate a grocery list sooner rather than later. We are having a hard time believing it is a week away. The cook should probably start getting herself ready!

10:21: Time for bed so we can do it again tomorrow. We are all thankful it will be Friday!