Back to the real world. This was our first full week back to life as usual. And back to being busy as usual.
Monday, January 6
School was back in session. And by school, I mean our toddler class through Bellevue College. It was perfect timing because the kiddos were asking to go to school a few days before. I think they realized they hadn’t been in almost three weeks thanks to the holidays. They’re so much fun to watch. Blaise is Mister Independent, off the minute we walk in; Laine hangs around me for about 10 minutes before she’s off on her own. They play so well on their own, together, and with other kids. It’s a proud parenting moment when they are just being their happy-go-lucky selves, along with great manners and social skills.
School ended, I had hungry and tired kiddos so straight home we went. According to the weather, it was to be the last rain-free day for a while, so I pitched going to the dog park. Of course, Leilah was at the door already before the kiddos enthusiastically said yes. The dog park is great because it wears all 12 legs out. It was a lazy afternoon, then our standard dinner, bath, bed routine followed by mom and dad time downstairs.
Tuesday, January 7
It had been since September that we last saw a friend and her kiddos. I emailed her after the new year to check in. It was perfect timing, we both had Tuesday free. With five kiddos between the two of us, we kept it simple and played at her house. (Of all the homes I’ve been to, I adore hers. We eventually want a one-story and hers is the perfect layout.) We played for almost two hours before heading home for lunch. Blaise and Laine were talking about their friends all afternoon and filled B in when he got home from work… another standard evening.
Wednesday, January 8
We have standing Wednesday plans with a friend and her two boys. It was off to Rainbow Play Systems this Wednesday, a place where we enjoy playing. Blaise and Laine palled around at first, then separated and I saw Blaise hanging out with another little girl. I watched for a while, then made my way over to her mom and we started talking. Blaise made a new friend and so did I. It’s almost like dating in the mom world. How cute it was to see Blaise and his new friend, Kate, walk over to Laine and the three of them stand there while Blaise made introduced the two. They all played for another half-hour or so before we left for lunch. Driving home we passed through Redmond so we called B at work to see if he wanted to meet us. He did. We met at Red Robin for a family lunch, the kiddos telling him all about their morning and their new friend. Laine said she wants to talk to Kate about pretty dresses. Priorities! Back at home I prepared dinner and we played until B got home… another standard evening.
Thursday, January 9
The plan was to have a playdate here at home, but our friends had a family thing come up. With a clear schedule, we left for Sandbox Sports in Seattle to dig in the sand. What a great program they run for toddlers. It’s an indoor sand volleyball place, and three mornings a week they open up one court to kiddos under five. They bring out a ton of shovels, buckets, dump trucks… several toys for the kiddos to play with. Sticking with their love of making new friends, Blaise found another little guy to play trucks with. Laine and I played together for a while until she decided to pal around with the boys. Laine fell asleep on the way home and for the first time in a while, I was able to transfer her from her car seat to the couch and she stayed asleep… actually, she woke up as I was walking her in from the van and she said she didn’t want to lie down. I told her if she did for two minutes then I’d put on the Back-Happy-Yardigans for her (aka the Backyardigans she renamed the Happyyardigans, now a little of both). She was out in two seconds when her head hit the pillow. Blaise and I played with magnets and his sandbox while Laine napped. B came home a little earlier than usual to barbeque our at home Chipotle meat. It turned out well! After dinner, B took the kiddos up for bath and bed as usual, I decided to paint the inside of our front and garage house doors. They turned out well, too! Then off to Target to get a new entry rug.
Friday, January 10
Tiny Treks! We’re back at it, and are so happy to be. Of all the kiddo programs and classes we’ve attended, I enjoy Tiny Treks the most. It’s an outdoor program we attend once a week, and each week there is a focused topic. This time it was winter. We talked about signs of winter and col weather, then on our hike the teacher brought ice cubes and we talked about frozen things and what happens when you leave them out in the cold versus tossing them in the creek (which we got to do). It’s just a great program. And it’s at our favorite park, even better. It ended around 11:45am, and after a busy morning and week, we went home and took the rest of the afternoon off. We watched a show but the kiddos get bored of TV (I’m glad they do except for when I want to take the afternoon off too). Once the TV was off, we dug for dinosaur bones and did several construction jobs. It only takes about a minute to build a house, who knew?! Before we knew it, B was home and we were eating, bathing, and bedtiming.
Saturday, January 11
The first weekend in ages we had zero plans. Well, we had one thing, an eyebrow waxing appointment at a friend’s house. It was Saturday morning and after, we felt like we should do something since we were out an about. I had heard of a place in Redmond that was only open on weekends so we went and checked it out. Giggles and Grins. The set up and play structures are really nice… we thought it’d be a hit when we first walked in. In the play area there is an air pressured gun for balls that made a really loud noise. Blaise did not like it. He walked around covering his ears the entire time. He finally came over to me and said he was scared—still with his hands over his ears—so he and I left and played in the van while B and Laine played until our hour was up. Poor guy was holding his ears so hard his ears and cheeks were bright red. We had a good time in the van despite it not sounding too thrilling. He sat in the passenger seat and we went over what every button did, even down to moving the seats forward and back. When Laine and B were finished playing, off to Red Robin we went. A big windstorm was due late in the afternoon so we left Red Robin for home and stayed in the rest of the night. No big windstorm. Shocker with the bipolar weather up here.
Sunday, January 12
The kiddos were up at 7:30am as usual. I let B sleep in a little since he’s always the one who gets up with them. Laine asked to watch a show when we walked downstairs so I obliged. The show allowed time for me to clean the kitchen. I had plans to go see a movie with a friend so once B got up, he took over kid duty and I showered then left for some me time. I hadn’t been to the movies sans-kiddos since I was pregnant with Blaise. And man, I picked a horrible movie. Granted, I probably should have looked at what was out and not just pick based on a two second scene I saw. After wasting over two hours of a ridiculous amount of previews followed by the terrible flick, I left laughing it was so bad. I needed to hit Target to get a few things and did before heading home. We had a lazy afternoon and a typical evening. Back to the grind Monday.
Jumping Raccoons 