Playdates

It's Saturday afternoon, and both Ross and Hope have a friend over to play.  Hope and J are happily listening to books on tape, and Ross and R are playing baseball outside.  Grant is at N's house.  Grant was supposed to stay overnight last night, but I got a call at midnight from Grant saying he wanted to come home.  Since Kris isn't here, I told Grant I wasn't able to leave the house to pick him up, so N's dad very graciously brought him home.  As the got out of the car, dad said, "Don't worry about it Grant, this happens a lot.  Just call or text me whenever you wake up--6, 7, whenever--and I'll come and get you so we can all have pancakes for breakfast."  How awesome is that? True to his word, N's dad came to pick up Grant when we called (after 8) and Grant has been over there ever since.  I am so grateful for this family, and for all my kids' friends, for being willing to have the kids over once in a while to play. I'm also glad we have two little friends at our house today, so we can reciprocate.  I just pulled chocolate chip cookies out of the oven for a snack.  It's a good day.

Bedtime

It's 12:26AM and I should be in bed asleep.  I've noticed that when Kris isn't here, I tend to stay up later. I think it's my way of capturing some 'me time' after the kids finally go to sleep.  Tonight, mom took us out to dinner after Ross's T-ball game, so we didn't get home until toward 8:00.  I let Hope play in the tub a long time while the boys played Minecraft on my ipad, and I finally folded two baskets of laundry that had been sitting in the hallway for a full week.  After everyone was squeaky clean, I let the kids start a movie so I could go downstairs and use the elliptical trainer for a bit.  It felt so good to MOVE.  I've been experiencing a lot of lower back pain this summer, and I think it's because I'm sitting so much--at baseball games, tball games, swimming lessons, and in the car.  However, this late evening workout meant that I didn't tuck everyone in until 10:30!  I've showered, read, snacked, checked email, and here I am, still awake.  At least we don't have to get up too early tomorrow.  'night, all.

Talent Show

Well, we have survived one month without daddy and we're doing pretty well. We miss him terribly, but we get to talk to him every day. Sometimes we also skype or facetime. I think that's harder for Kris, though. He smiles at us, but his eyes look sad.  We're sending him a carepackage for his birthday--complete with his fave Special K bars--as soon as I can find a box big enough to send it! 

The kids have been super busy with their summer activities, and I've spent more time shuttling them back and forth than I care to think about.  Last night, instead of vegging out on the couch (again), we went to the Fargo downtown library. I love that place--it's so pretty inside, and the kids always find books, dvds, and wii games to entertain us all. When we got there, we stumbled upon a kids' talent show that was in progress. After we watched one act, I asked Grant if he wanted to sneak out to go look for books, fully expecting him to say yes.  To my surprise, he vigorously shook his head no. He, Ross, and Hope all wanted to stay to watch the talent show.  I was secretly proud of my crew for setting their original plans aside to see what other kids would perform on the little stage. Turns out that the daughter of one of my friends was in the show (although we missed her number), so we ended up sitting with them for the second half of the show.  Grant saw a boy his age perform some impressive yo-yo tricks, and we all enjoyed the dancing and singing.

We topped off the night with an ice cream from DQ, and there was very little bickering, which was a treat for me!