Here's out I hear this commentary going:
Brady: "Brother, what am I supposed to do for the picture? Show me? Wow your hair is different."
Brady: "Oh, okay, I'll smile with my head turned to the side."
Hunter: "Are you tilting your head and smiling like I'm doing? I'm just checking on you."
After our fun-filled trip, Sunday was filled with naps and homework... how do I apply for a switch in activities?
Hubby and I went to the Crab Crack in Rangely, which was Mardi Gras themed last week.
I didn't get many pictures, but I did manage a few from our fun date.
And, like so many dates nights, it ended in bed... with a little one.
We had a full week. After a regular week of work and after school activities Monday-Thursday, we had a dear old friend come visit Thursday evening for dinner and spend Thursday night. This was also the one Friday in January that I worked all day for a staff inservice.
Then Saturday we had Tracey's surprise birthday party (which was awesome but pretty tiring and we got home late) AND good friends from Rifle spent Saturday night and we had a leisurely breakfast at home Sunday morning.
Then I tried to fit all the tasks at home that I usually would do on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday into Sunday afternoon.
Pushing through this week of Halloween... Monday was exhausting. The kids arrived home Tuesday ASKING how soon they could go to bed. We had everyone down around 6:30... except Hunter who seems to be determined stay up until Daddy gets home.
Meanwhile I can barely keep my eyes open as well... and the week is not even half over. This one is a doozy.
The homecoming theme is cruising through the decades, so Wednesday was decades day.
The high schooler grades were each assigned a decade, but the elementary students were allowed to choose any decades -- which I greatly appreciated.
Tracey dressed up like the 80s -- she wanted "the decade with the neon clothes"
Howard dressed up like the 70s -- like a man in the military. I tried to explain that in the 1970s we were at war in Vietnam, and he corrected me. "I'm fighting for American, Mama."
Caroline dressed up like a girl from the 90s -- in one of my old dresses from the 90s... circa 1994 if I had to guess. The curls and side ponytail really sold it.
Lee Lee dressed up like a girl from the 80s -- in one of my old dresses from the 80s... circa 1989 if I had to guess.
Mama dressed up like the 1950s.
The last time I worked full time was the year Tracey was a baby. Even then, my days began at 5:00am and I was off at 1:00pm -- so it was a 40 hour week, but I got my afternoons and evenings with my baby.
Fast-forward 7 years and I am not only working full time, but I am filling two teaching positions -- one should be full-time by itself and the other should be half-to 3/4 time by itself. My plate is very full.
I'm contracted to a full-time position, but this job could easily take 60+ hours of my life... and of course, I want to do it well.
But I'm also the mother of 6, and I get off work at 4:00pm, and my children are headed to bed at 7:00. I get three precious hours to welcome them home from school, connect with them about how their day was, feed them dinner, help them with homework, get them baths, and ready for bed with a bedtime story. The evenings are even more full when you add sporting events, school events, and Hubby's evening school responsibilities.
If I do not devote my attention to my children between the hours of 4:00-7:00, the time is gone. Not only is the time gone, but everyone has a rough night, a poor night's sleep, and it carries over into a rough morning.
Sometimes there will be a work event or meeting that requires my after-school attention, but the RULE has to be that I am with my kids from 4:00-7:00 and taking care of them and their needs, and it will be the rare EXCEPTION that takes me away from that.
I tried to take a lot of pictures this weekend because I feel like I don't see my kids at all during the week. Lots of pictures are never a bad idea...
I'm not sure where to start in order to catch up what has been going on in life... so I'm going to just share some info, and it might not be in chronological order.
With the advice of our realtor, Hubby and I made the decision to try to get our home on the market by June 15... I'm trying to remember the details... I think we made that decision just before Memorial day. So we had about 3 weeks to try to prepare our house.
It has been CRAZY!
Hubby and I have been working like crazy, putting the kids to work as much as possible, hiring some middle schoolers a few times to help with the kids, and pack closets and cupboards.
We found a painter who agreed to paint the entire inside of the house before we listed... and most of the painting time coincided with our time away in Vail.
Our house is now officially for sale and we get to figure out the world of showings... praying that it goes under contract quickly and we don't have to prepare for showings too many times.
Tracey and Howard are playing softball (well, Howard is t-ball, and Tracey is coach-pitch) with practices and/or games two nights/week. Tracey and Caroline are doing cheerleading, which practices two afternoons a week, and Tracey, Howard, Caroline, and Lee Lee are in two back-to-back sessions of swim classes at the local pool.
We have been running around like crazy.
So, with that said, I'll include a few pictures from our time in Vail -- the girls DESPERATELY wanted me to take them to the SPA. We had to wait until Daddy and Grammie and Papa were available to watch Howard and the little boys, but then they were able to enjoy the ladies hot tub, the room for relaxing, and the fancy shower with 5 heads. Then, I dried and curled their hair, and put some fancy products in their hair, and let them put on lipstick. It was very special to enjoy time with them, just the girls.
