Week 41, Part 1: Minecraftification and Gabe's birthday

We had a wonderful time with Lisa during this week. The focus was on painting, but we fit a bunch of other stuff into that time: introducing her to Minecraft and the Cornetto trilogy, a trip to Hershey Park, bowling, eating at our favorite restaurants, and enjoying the antics of the kiddos.

First we have photos of the painting! We completed the sky and the grass, and now I need to finish the details, like trees, more dirt, and pixels. I'm hoping to work on that this week. We also really need to sort toys again/get rid of junk/organize the closet.

Charlotte's first time bowling. Zach was there for a birthday party and we stayed and played a couple games.

Monopoly Junior with Lisa.

Right in the middle of the week was Gabe's birthday! We were still on the Minecraft theme, as you can see from the cake and most of the gifts. They're obsessed, I tell ya!

Weeks 39 & 40

Last week we had some big adventures with Lisa, and I haven't even looked through all the photos yet. But the two weeks before that were busy in their own way (in addition to the time spent planning the adventures of last week!).
Zach went on a field trip to an animal preserve
Charlotte went to a birthday party at a tumbling center
I took "before" pictures of the boys' bedroom
We celebrated National Walk to School Day
I finally hung some photos in the living room
Frank, Charlotte, and I had a day out, hitting Starbucks, shopping for paint and supplies, and trying out a new restaurant for lunch.

October 4th

It's been a hectic and exhausting few weeks. Mainly because one or more of us have been sick/with allergies, and too much of the time it was me! I think we are all beginning to get better, but I feel like too much of last month was devoted to runny noses, sore throats, and uncontrollable coughing. 

Also, my computer partially died. The last couple of weeks I was using it in the limited capacity it would allow, and this week I'm in the process of moving stuff over to another machine. It's just more work to get in the way of my already full routine. 

Of course, there's always other miscellaneous stuff going on. Frank was racking up overtime at work (not all bad), Charlotte is only about halfway potty trained, and Gabe only wants to eat fruit loops, go-gurt, and Ritz crackers. Apparently our washing machine may explode if I use the wrong setting. On the bright side, we finished Game of Thrones, so I'm free to read about it as much as I want now and not worry about spoilers.

My currently vexing project is making the plan to paint the boys' bedroom. We are aiming for "minecraft" landscape, without getting too detailed (pixelated), but it's only a partial vision at this point. It should be interesting. So no new photos right now, but hopefully in a few days. I think I may go take a nap!

Week 38: Camping and carnival rides

Saturday was a Cub Scout Adventure camping weekend for Zach and Frank, while I took Gabe and Charlotte to an arcade birthday party for his friend. They rode the teacups dozens of times, and he and Charlotte also had a lot of fun playing air hockey (when I propped her up on my knee).

Week 37: A funny one

Capturing this video of Charlotte was a highlight of the week. A bit of background: the boys nicknamed her "deh-deh" quite a while ago, since there was a time when that was about all she said. It is hilarious when she comes to tell me things the boys have said!

Week 36: Here we are

Just a glimpse. Short week and long days. Zach and Charlotte caught the first cold of the school year. Frank and I finished Season 4 of Game of Thrones; it's so good.

The boys made up a game where someone draws what the others choose while blindfolded. Everyone took a turn and it was pretty funny.

Charlotte started speech with the teacher at the elementary school. She was so excited to go, and even more excited to get her own notebook.

She swings the entire time Zach is in his cub scout meeting. Frank's arm gets tired pushing her.

The kids picked our tomatoes. We tried them, I thought they were pretty good even though I'm not really into tomatoes, but the kids thought they were just okay.

Fun with the bubble blower.

Week 35: Trying to catch up

I've started to believe the last couple of years that seven to eight hours of sleep a night just isn't cutting it. I (and maybe Frank, as well) must be one of those people who needs a good 10 to feel really rested. But the thought of going to bed when the kids do, and never watching TV again, is just not realistic (or fun). I thought that exercising regularly would give me a leg up, energy-wise, but lately it seems to make no difference. So we are busy trying to catch up, on sleep, on cleaning house, on adding events and projects to the calendar for this fall. Life has just been really full.

Frank was in Las Vegas again last week. It was another conference, maybe not as fun overall as his last trip but with some exciting moments. For the rest of us it was a pretty typical week.

New school year, new routines. The boys bring their backpacks in, take their lunch/snack containers to the kitchen, and take out their folders to do homework or show me stuff.

Monday evening we went to the park to watch a friend play soccer and play with his siblings on the playground. It is still way too hot here.

It is always exciting here when the next book in the Captain Underpants series arrives.

Zach is learning to use a pocket knife at cub scouts. He whittled that bar of soap into a bear (it's pretty close).

I am in the middle of sorting 30+ years of printed photos and negatives (this is only a small portion of those!) It's been a bit of detective work, for sure, but I'm so thankful to have all of them.

The fun part of the conference: in addition to a concert, attendees were driven around the track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (only 90 mph).

And Frank won a GoPro :) We have no idea when/what we will use it for but it's still exciting!

Catching up on shopping over the weekend.

And a Labor Day family outing to Starbucks. Much calmer than when we tried this a year ago.