Forts and Fun Runs

To the dismay of any child, we do not own couch cushions.  So in order to survive the fort building stage, Skyler must resort to using kitchen chairs and blankets.  He built a fort in which only boys were allowed to enter (which is ironically made with 3 pink blankets).  So he scooted the Bumbo'ed Thad into his fort and they "played" aka stared at each other.  

 Then Skyler started making noises that made Thad belly laugh -- which then naturally made me start to belly laugh.

Side note:  I just love being able to say "my boys" and "my girls."  Two of each is a pretty awesome thing.

Today, Lily's school had their annual Fun Run.  I'm just putting this out there -- when I was a kid, they put up cones around the parking lot and we ran around in circles until time was up and we all went inside.  Things have changed since then.  There were huge inflatables, there were speakers everywhere pumping out loud music, there was a whole Fun Run team (that does this as a living) that had microphones telling kids to be a cowboy or run like an Egyptian.  It was just as much entertainment as it was a fundraiser and race.  All five of us went to cheer on Lily for 45 minutes as she ran her 35 laps.

When we found Lily the first thing Ben and I said to each other was, "Whose jacket is that?"  It's definitely not hers.  When I asked, she told me it belonged to one of the boys in her class.  She has a new boyfriend every week pretty much. 

I have to admit that Lily was a fast little runner and she kept to the outer edge of the track.  She did great!  She even stopped to hug one or a bunch of us after every few laps.

 At one point I told Ben I wanted to run a lap with her since a bunch of parents were doing it.  When she saw me run out with her she went all turbo on me and sped off.  Luckily, I was able to keep up -- but she tried to cut me off every time I tried passing her.  We were laughing the whole time.  We do this every time we go to the bus stop, too.  It's a sweet victory when I can manage to sneak in front of Lily on the way up our street.

You know, I look terrible in this picture.  My hair's not done.  My makeup hasn't been done in a few days.  I'm in a sweatshirt.  But I LOVE this picture because it expresses so many moments I have with Miss Lil.  I love that girl and I'd watch her run a million Fun Runs.

Outside

You guys.  I don't even know how many days of school have been cancelled at this point.  This winter has been harsh.  We have lots of make up days ahead of us and we're supposed to be getting winter weather again next week.  I wish I could tell my 5 month ago self to stop doing a snow dance and enjoy the warm weather already!

Since we've had fantastic weather the last few days, we took advantage of it like crazy.  So the answer to everything happy right now is this: OUTSIDE.

She's learned how to say "cheese."  It's the best.

They're 4 years apart.  I'm pretty sure they don't know it.

I remember at the end of last summer, sitting in these chairs, hugely pregnant with this baby.  I often had a paper and pen at this table, writing down times from my phone which were always a few minutes apart.  But now a few months later my baby gets to join us at the table for dinner.  When did this happen?

Today we all picked up Lily from the bus stop and walked straight up to our neighborhood park.

Every single day of winter:  "Moooooooooooooom?  Can we go to the pool today?"

Skyler looked so longingly at the pool today that I'm sure in his head he was thinking, "Just two more months..."

(That is, if we're not getting snow in May, of course)

Dear Southern Hemisphere,

It's your turn.  Please take the cold weather.  We don't want it anymore.  Just take one for the team.

Thanks,

Northern Hemisphere

Yes Mom

You may or may not have heard of the true story of "Yes Man" who decided he was missing out on too much in life by saying no to practically everything.  Well, long story short, he started saying yes to everything for a certain amount of time and it changed his life for the better.  He ended up with a way better job and met/fell in love with his wife this way.

Today I woke up and felt like I needed to become Yes Mom.  But only to Skyler.  You see, Skyler has severe Middle Child Syndrome because Lily gets to go off to Kindergarten to eat in a cool cafeteria, play on a playground, and make fun things like Leprechaun traps, all while he stays at home with boring me.  My attention is usually on my babies who both need it.  And when I'm not focused on the babies, I'm focused on actually getting something done around the house.

But not today.  I made a vow that I would say yes to anything (within reason) that Skyler wanted to do, eat, play, etc.  I thought I was insane for a second, mostly because I figured Skyler would say something like, "Let's go to the library, then go to Costco, then go to the movies, then come home and make some homemade cotton candy!"

(I was rather hoping he'd ask for the cotton candy.  But he didn't.  And when I asked if he wanted some, he said no.)

(Lame.)

Here's a rundown of our day:

He wanted part of my banana.  Done.

He wanted to play in the backyard.  In the 35 degree rain.  In our soggy, poorly drained, and practically grass-less backyard.  Check.

He wanted to cut down a tree.  I handed him a saw.  He sawed.  He decided that a sapling  tree was too difficult to saw through, so he decided to saw a twig  branch instead.  Success.

He wanted to play in the water from the gutter.  Soaked.

He wanted to play BINGO.  He won 4 out of 5 rounds.

He wanted to cuddle on the couch and watch A Dolphin Tale.  We cuddled.  And selfied.

When we got home from a trip to Target, Skyler asked if he could play in the driveway.  Yes Mom said yes and we were back out in the cold rain again.  Ella was thrilled to be awake this time around.

Skyler enjoyed levitating  jumping in puddles.

I'm not sure how many times Skyler and Ella rolled that ball down the driveway but they sure did get their workout.  Speaking of work outs, I didn't get mine today.  So my abs are a little flabbier, but my heart is a little stronger.

We did other fun things today like watch Frozen when it finally was delivered to our house and we ate the waffles for dinner that Skyler requested.  And the day wasn't perfect.  Skyler still had his usual meltdowns and I still had to say no to certain things.  Um, no you don't get to sit in the front seat.  Sorry, buddy.

But I learned something important from today.  I thought he was going to ask for something extravagant and totally out of the norm, but what he really wanted was quality time with me.  He didn't want me to focus on washing dishes or on ridding my muffin top.  He wanted me to love him more.

I don't think that there are going to be tons more Yes Days in our future, but I'm sure there will still be a few.  But one thing's for sure.  I got much more out of today than Skyler did -- a lesson I truly needed.

The Zoo with Friends

On Saturday we got together with our friends, the Roths, and went to the zoo.  Besides all the craziness that comes from having 7 kids together in a crowded place, it was so fun and all of the kids really were great.  I think the kids all loved spending time together and I think the adults all enjoyed spending time together, too.  Plus we saw some pretty fun animals.  It was a win for everyone.

Ben and Steve helping the kids see the frogs. 

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like Pride Rock? 

 "Cheese!"  Isn't she adorable?!  I'm 90% sure this is Merinn, but there's a possibility that this is Awen.  

Ben's favorite animal of the day. 

 Since we wanted to be able to see the African animals and the North American animals we had to take a shuttle to get to the other side of the zoo.  Twice.  I think all the adults would agree that the shuttle was the low part of the day.  Having to break down our double strollers and take everything out of them while still managing all the kids -- not fun.  Somehow Jen and Steve ended up with 5 of the 7 kids while Steve was also holding some of our stuff.  Sorry guys!

The miracle of the day was that this girl actually slept in the car on the way home.  Say what?!

It was a fun day filled with good friends and perfect weather.  It will be great to do it again.  But Steve and I agreed on one thing -- it would have been so much harder to take our families separately.  I'm glad we had such a great time together!