Last week was our first week back into “routine”. We actually had a full week of school if you can believe it. I’m on my cleaning schedule yet again, and amazingly, it works. I figured out all the housecleaning jobs that need to get done during the week, then sorted it out so I have 2-3 to do each day. Helps to not have 5 loads of laundry all at once and a whole weekend day of cleaning to do. Now if only I could keep the clutter down…
We had baby S back for a few days, she’s 2 months old now and still sweet as ever. It was nice to have the baby holding time as always.
The weather has been so freakish the last few days. This morning we woke to snow…yes, snow. Gigantic flakes, but lucky for us they didn’t end up sticking at all. Then the sun came out as bright and beautiful as ever then the winds kicked up and it rained and hailed sideways. We ended up losing our power but only for a few hours. Dee and the boys took some time out to take a nap while the power was out and I watched War Games on my iPhone. It had been forever since I’d seen that movie, but forgot how low tech the computers were back then. It’s amazing the progress we’ve made in that dept. Would you like to play a game? How about Global Thermal Nuclear War?
Mary, Dee and I had a wild night last night with a few games of Pirate Farkel (thanks, Jenn!!!) and some Skittles Infused Vodka. Goofy times, but so much fun to just kick back and relax. We paid for our fun today but it was well worth it.
Looking forward to another week of swimming lessons, family dinner and hopefully just a regular, mellow week.

an

So, tomorrow’s my birthday…yup, another year older. It’s all relative, I don’t feel like I’m aging but I see everyone around me getting older so I’m sure it’s happening to me. Dee wanted to take the boys shopping today for a present for me but I couldn’t bear not to go along. We loaded up and went to Target and they went their way, I went mine (which was not a good way to go…bought some totally uncomfy underwear, but that’s as far as I’ll go on that topic). Got the shopping done and headed to Clear Creek Nursery and walked around there awhile. The kids loved the Koi Pond there, the Koi are seriously the biggest I have ever seen, they must have been a foot and a half long. The picture doesn’t even come close to showing their size. Finished up there, had a great lunch at Red Robin, where I got my free birthday burger, yum. Did a little shopping at Lowe’s and headed to Coldstone Creamery for a birthday ice cream. What a great day and it’s not even over yet.
Dee got Carolyn to come watch the kids while we go down to the Pub for dinner. What a treat! I’ll admit it, I love my birthday!

So we’re in week 5 of “the cough”. YUCK. I’ve been on antibiotics for a week and I’m feeling pretty darn good, but everyone else is still coughing. Went to the doctor last week and their chests were all still clear. Levi was hacking MORE (if you can believe it) on Thursday so I made him another appt for Friday and took Alice along since she sounded equally bad. With Levi’s asthma I always get nervous that he’ll go downhill quickly so we try to stay on top of it especially. Anyhow, good news/bad news. Good news is that both kids had clear chests, bad news is now we’re on to something new. FUN! They didn’t like that I made them wear face masks in the van on the ride home. But one can never be too safe….

The boys LOVE playing the Wii…this is the Build-A-Bear Workshop game that I won from a mom blog awhile back. It’s pretty great, it’s easy enough for them to follow and feel successful and it gets them moving! I thought it was too darn cute.

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool lately, the boys are all in lessons and ask every day if it’s a swimming day. They get to see Sophie and Alice there, too so it’s extra fun. Nana and Papa have come to watch and Carlos got an extra special treat when his former speech therapist, Linda Raquer, came to see him last week. Boy was he proud. Tuesday nights are extra special, we eat dinner at the pool so we can catch the Pajama Storytime at the library. Levi especially likes to listen, the other boys go mostly to pick out new books to read at home.
Last weekend we got to spend the night at Nana and Papa’s house. No, we didn’t lose our power or have any issues where we couldn’t stay at our own place, we just have been wanting to spend more time with Nana and Papa! We had a great time, too and hope to do it again soon.
The Parent Fair was also this weekend and we took the guys to play there. I think their favorite part of it was going around to the booths to collect the free stuff. Oh wait, that and the balloon pirate swords were super cool…until they popped and we had drama. I went back later to volunteer and learned that I had won some raffle prizes. Came away with 3 bottles of Eleven Wine, a 2 hour house cleaning certificate and a month worth of martial arts. Can’t complain about that! And the luck of the Irish is still going…I won a $100 gift card to Toys R Us this week.
Last night was family dinner with Mary and Alice and we decided that we’d splurge and make our favorite recipe, Pescado Veracruzano. Homemade guacamole, the sea bass that melted in your mouth like butter, I made a green rice that was tasty and we ended it with homemade churros! Who doesn’t love deep fat fried batter rolled in cinnamon sugar?
Conferences for all the boys in the morning, we’ll see how they’re all doing. I’m feeling good about it, especially where Levi’s at! Hard to believe my baby will be in Kindergarten next year.