WITL 2018 - Friday

There really is a reason why I should journal during the actual week the photos were taken.  Already, I  look at them and can't really remember some of the back story.  For example, why did B not going to swimming this Friday? I have no clue, but I'm fairly sure he didn't for mysterious reasons?  SO as best I can remember, Friday, May 11. 

7:25am - Brent heading to work.  Photos of Brent is one of the bonuses of this project. I so wish I had more photos of my dad so I really make sure to take them of Brent. This one is particularly good. 

7:26am - B doing dishes - again- He really doesn't do the dishes as his morning chore every day, but it definitely was a theme this particular week. 

7:51am - E setting up Tic Tac Toe game - we played several times and had fun.  It is also worth noting that he is actually ready for school a bit early!

 8:23--- cue the nearly inevitable tears.  It is time to go, but he (as often happens) hasn't had any electronics time.  Clearly he could have as he was ready 30 minutes ago, but did other things.  It is irrational and frustrating all around. Electronics time is not a priority for me so I never remind him it is a choice, but there are consequences.

8:25am - we're in the car, waiting for E to pull himself together and get buckled in -- our normal NPR playing.

 8:31am - about to exit the car - It is the last day of teacher appreciation week so each kid has some collection of gifts for the remaining people. M is also carrying in the popcorn for the teacher's lounge popcorn bar.

11:56am - Lunch! This is of note because we actually grew that broccoli in our garden!  I found these broccolini type plants and while they don't really make enough at a time for all of us we throw them in things here and there--- including my lunch! The rest is left over grilled chicken and some of the left over baked potatoes M mage yesterday.

12:43pm - Moose walk!  One of the ideas behind getting a dog was that it would get us outside and active more.  In concept, I can/should take Moose for a short walk in the middle of my work day.  I rarely do, but am always thankful when it happens.

 4:12pm - I've gathered up all the kids from school/bus and we head straight to the grocery store to buy food for the farm tomorrow.  M&E also manage to spend some of their Christmas money on stuffed animals....

 4:29pm - Our cart as we are checking out-- We almost never get chips, but they were part of our assignment for the Farm and for Mother's Day with the Jones family.

5pm - Home and trying on clothes from my stitch fix as I try to cobble together clothes for DC .  None of these made the cut. E did have a good time though. 

5:15pm - M went looking through my cedar chest and found this gem from the first "formal" dance I went to with her Daddy in college (it is clipped in the back) along with my favorite gold shoes that she loves to borrow from my closet.  She did pick them out for me with some help from her Daddy. 

 5:15 -- the cedar chest is always full to over flowing and has the most random collection of things inside!

 5:39pm M and E processing strawberries to make jam as gifts for mother's day!  The recipe comes from a raddish kit they got a couple years ago and it is delicious.

 8:25pm - B taking inhalers and pondering the mail? I'm not sure what is up here, but we're on our slow process towards bed.  In the intervening 3 hours, we played outside, sprayed weeds, and met our new neighbors.  We talked to some of our current neighbors along the way to deliver cookies to one of the new families on the street.  The weather was lovely and it was so nice to just have a chill evening.  The next day, I realized I was supposed to be at book club during this interval and just completely forgot? That is pretty unusual for me, but I suspect I needed the quiet time at home and in the neighborhood more.

 8:27pm - E flossing--- which is adorable, somehow.

 8:27pm - Brent waiting for people to go to sleep. I love him.

1, 2, 3 kids all in bed if not yet asleep!

We have date night on Fridays so we watch a movie together. I believe it was Ant Man on this particular day, which I really enjoyed!  Then off to sleep for a very full weekend ahead. 

WITL 2018 - Thursday

So, Fun fact --- the time is wrong on my camera--- possibly from my trying to upload photos yesterday.  So many (but not all) of these photos are time stamped to maybe four hours earlier (so like 2:48am instead of 7:48.... it is mysterious). Therefore it will be a bit less precise today. 

7:48am - E is dressed with his now WAY too small Mario costume on top.

7:49am - M is doing chores - vacuuming (RIP Robby) and B is doing dishes (again). 

8:02am - M heads to be bus stop early after giving Moose his walk.  Her friend Clara is sometimes waiting early so they use the time to talk.  The cookies are for the Janitors as the parade of cookies and teacher gifts continues. B & E's teachers' got drink gift cards today and B delivered cookies to his two other teachers (he rotates rooms) and to the art teacher. E brought a present for the Pre-k cafeteria worker. 

8:29am - Car drop off line with E... who may be picking his nose? and is kind of over photos. 

9:02am - my desk - new this year - double monitors -- always, double phones, double headphones, double keyboards, double mice, etc... It takes a lot of technology for me to make telecommuting seem easy. (Hint: It isn't always easy and when the technology doesn't work it can be quite a mess... but for this day it is fine).  Also my work buddy - Moose-- he spends my work day taking a series of naps, but picked a good lighting spot today. Oddly, he almost never takes his naps in my office.  This may be because when he was a puppy there was a pen right where he is napping in this photo--- so perhaps we've trained him to do a few things. 

12:48pm - Urgent care--- I finally accept that this cough is never going away on its own.  I got oral steroid, and antibiotics, and a cough medicine that makes me too sleep to work. (Note from the future: I was back at Urgent Care Monday for more medicine as I still didn't manage to shake the cough enough to work.)  I am not great at going to the Doctor, but I am obsessive about being able to do the best job possible while in DC so I fought really hard to eliminate this cough before getting on the plane. 

3:21pm - picking up E from school--- After roughly 11 years of picking kids up from school/child care in the afternoon we are entering the last few weeks of this being an every day routine as next year all three will generally ride the bus. (If all goes well...)

3:26pm Every two months since October we've gotten a Butcher Box shipment. I added a couple more things this month so now it is in two boxes? It isn't cheap, but the meat tastes delicious and I feel better about helping small(er) farms and more sustainable agriculture. It also means that this is most of the meat we'll be eating so less need to run to the store. 

3:50pm - M & Clara getting off the bus and B and Gibson walking home. 

Here, I think, M is deciding that she wants her chore to be making baked potatoes for dinner. Random, but tasty!

4-4:30 - These are the photos from that magic window of time after they get off the bus where I hear their stories, go through their back packs, talk about home work and activities, and generally we just hang out and eat snacks.  This window is made possible by my weird work schedule and I so cherish it as I know it may not always be there, but is a trove of information and quality time. 

5:14 - What happens after that magic time is swimming (for B) and chores for those that haven't finished them yet--- E is not handling chores well lately because he "doesn't want to do ..." insert whatever a chore is. It is very frustrating for everyone. 

5:52pm - M's last regular Girl Scout meeting of the year - complete with final camping plans and lessons.

7pm - B is home from swimming and Moose is very happy to see him.

7:01pm - E is getting electronics time.  I usually do yoga or some sort of exercise during Girl Scouts and cook dinner with Brent. 

7:29pm - Girl Scouts is ending with a friendship circle and everyone saying something they were grateful for this year.

7:54 - Dinner included hamburgers (because the Butcher Box arrived) and baked potatoes (because M made them).  Brent had to leave for dorm night before dinner was over as sometimes happens, but the rest of us carried on.

8:46pm - M snuggling moose before bed.

8:46pm E taking his anti-biotics

8:47 Moose watching everyone head upstairs as he watches from below. This also shows the disaster that is the crafting table in the background.

8:49pm - M is finally in bed-- the delay was mostly reading and getting everyone through dinner and baths that didn't even start until after dinner.

8:53pm - E being weird.  This is a normal part of bedtime and possibly why it takes so long.  
Even B is tired and slowed to a stop putting on his ointment.

After that, I read and check my social media before bed and begin shutting the house down.  I'm actually in bed before Brent gets home around 10:30, but glad to talk to him for a bit as we wind down the day.

WITL 2018 - Wednesday

Tuesday was the first day with the big camera and thus there were TONS of photos.  Wednesday was a mix of phone and camera. Add I liked a lot of them....

 7:21 am - Tuesday evening Brent and I assembled this ridiculously large new cage for Moose... followed by a lot of discussions about how to not have his bed/home be out in the middle of our house.  Having two kids in it gives you a sense of just how huge it is.  He is a big dog...

 7:32am - Breakfast! The kids and Brent all have cereal, at minimum, for breakfast.  B is wearing his new 5th grade shirt for the first time and is confused by his first experience with 3/4 sleeves.  He is going to the Oklahoma Dodgers (minor league) baseball game today so they are all wearing matching shirts.

 7:56am - Morning chores - Brendan has been picking dishes as his morning chores of late, which is great as there are always more to do. As our beloved vacuum robot is broken, I'm sweeping at least two rooms + a part of the hall every morning.  All the other kids have other chores and this morning it was mopping the upstairs bathrooms.

7:57 - E is not nearly as far along in getting ready.  He was still in the "get dressed" phase as B is finishing his chores.  He does leave for school about 5 minutes later than B, but....

 8:10am - The kids can have electronics when everything else is done.  Here B has taken his medicine (anti-biotics and inhalers for ear infection and asthma flare up), brushed his teeth, done his chores, and packed his stuff for school.

 8:12am - M looking wistfully into the distance as she's ready to go to the bus. Really we're just pondering if she has everything she needs for school.  And just about here we remember that she need to grab the clay for her "Mini Society" project.

 8:13am - B in the distance and M (plus clay) up close and on the way to the bus stop.


And then a lot of time passes and I took no photos. I mopped the guest bathroom, worked, took Moose for a walk, made lunch, worked some more.  Brent had tons of meetings and an interview for the job he has been filling on an interim basis, the kids went to school, etc...

3:15pm - Sitting in the pick up line waiting for E - This is the first pick up line of the week as he has been home sick from school.  I realized that I'll only be doing routine afternoon pick up for a couple more weeks after YEARS of daily afternoon pick up. I won't miss it, but I will miss the bonus time with E. 

3:18 - E is in the car with a front pack as he is carefully bringing home his Mother's Day gift - A hand print tile. I love hand print crafts!

3:25 pm - E putting away his bag and upnpacking his folders. (Those shorts are just really short, but he was feeling Hawaii today?)

After we work through his bag and folders he got a few minutes of electronics while I read and walked in circles before we took Moose on a walk to the bus stop.

3:51 - E and Moose exploring while we wait for the bus. 

3:52 - E staring off into the creek as we wait.  I love this area. So beautiful. 

4:09pm - I got an MM LaFleur box - this is part of the prep for my trip to DC.  The clothes are more expensive than I normally buy, but a really good quality and perfect for my work so I'm slowly adding some pieces here and there for my work wardrobe. M always helps with taking photos so I can see what it looks like. 

4:12 - E wanted to see the clothes too, but had way more fun on this scooter than we were having picking standard business attire.... Love him. 

 4:35 - The kids might like the crate more than Moose - Here they are all involved along with a reminder that we don't shut people in the crate....B is trying to help Moose escape while M & E want Moose to stay in with them.

5:03pm - M & E are helping make more cookies for the support staff (Janitors, Cafeteria workers, Office Staff, etc...). B is working on his Science report again.  It is taking up a lot of time every day. 

5:18pm - We were planning on family gym night so M has put on her brand new work out attire to prepare. 

6:41pm - Brent got home around 6:10 and it was really too late for him to change, get to the gym, and have time to do a worthwhile amount of exercise.  So, I left when he arrived to get 20 or so minutes of weights in while I waited to pick up B.  It was leg day + my normal 8 min arms circuit.  At home, Brent grilled chicken we'd put in to marinade earlier and the rice cooked in the instant pot. Brent and Moose got some play time in outside too.  We also had beets for dinner that the kids think taste like potatoes and to me smell like summer as we had them a lot in the summer growing up.   

8:03pm - M & E are heading for bed and B is trying to finish rewriting the draft of his science paper. All that mess is M's from a big paper doll crafting adventure this weekend. B has a sunburn from the baseball game which you can sort of see here. 

8:06pm - Reading with E - Don't let the Pigeon Stay up late. (Photo by M)

 8:12pm (or maybe 8:10 per her clock?) M is in bed with the blinds up so it is still pretty light. She likes a LOT of pillows.

 8:13pm - Capturing all these riding ribbons as a year ago she had never done a riding competition and has won lots of ribbons since then!

After this, I read a chapter of the Apollo book with B and did 45 minutes of "Deep Stretch" Yoga--- which probably should have been called All the Hip Openers.

11:16pm - Brent is playing video games at the couch - I was reading there next to him. I took this as I headed to bed and took all the inhalers.