Wagon Rides and Big Boy Cups

With Jim being gone last week, it was hard to keep up with my posts, but I am slowly catching up.

There's no doubt about it, single parents are amazing...not only was it challenging to get everything accomplished during the day, but then I don't sleep well so I'm like a walking zombie. The kids were both good though, so I can't complain too much. Cade got upset one night because he didn't want to take a bath, but other than that, I can't remember any major meltdowns. Luckily, we had some helpful visitors...my mom and Aunt Vicki came up Wednesday night because they were going to be watching my nieces starting Thursday while my brother and sister-in-law went to Las Vegas for the Cyclone game.

We went out to dinner with them at Red Rossa Wednesday night and then they stayed with us. Of course Cade had to sleep in the basement with them.

On Thursday, after preschool we had a picnic outside because it was such a nice day. I find Cade is always a little more agreeable when we do "fun" things or have little surprises. Jim was very thoughtful before he left and made up some little emergency care packages in case things got hairy. Luckily, we only used a couple of them. Cade saw the cup in the refrigerator and wanted to use it and of course I was not going to let my "Keep Mommy Sane" Caribou Coffee card gather any dust! No I didn't use the entire $20 in 4 days! ; )

Thursday night the group came over and had dinner with us. Then Friday I had to go to work for a meeting so the kids went to daycare. After my meeting, I met my mom and Vicki for lunch at Camille's and then we did a little shopping. They were helping me with some decorating in our family room. I picked up the kids after their naps and they picked up the girls and we again had dinner at our house. We were also joined my cousin Ali because she was joining the party due to her mom having to go to a conference. After dinner, we decided to walk to the Ice Cream Shoppe which is downtown and probably 15-20 blocks away. Ali pulled Julia and Cade the whole way in the wagon! I pushed Brecken and Lauren the whole way in the stroller! ; ) We sat outside and ate our ice cream. The kids were so wound up...I think we scared the rest of the customers! I realized, "wow this is what it will be like when we have 5 kids!" ha ha ; ) A few potty breaks and several in-and-outs of the wagon later and we made it home! The five of them then left, Brecken and I went to bed, and Cade and I waited up for Jim to get home.

Saturday we met them again for a picnic at the park. I convinced Jim that it would be much more fun than sitting on the couch watching football...quite an accomplishment if I don't say so myself! ; ) The kids had the whole park to themselves for a while, which was odd since it was a gorgeous day. After a bit, another family came and they had a little girl who was probably about 2, maybe even younger. She was a cute little girl with blonde curly hair and pink eyeglasses and Cade just became mesmerized by her or something, following her around the rest of the time making sure she was okay, patting her back, he just wouldn't leave her alone. I have never seen him do such a thing! Something about her brought out the gentle side in him that's for sure! I think her name was Kaleigh and her mom was getting a kick out of it too.

That night we went back over to their house and watched the ISU game. The first half was pretty uneventful. In fact, Jim was falling asleep, so I was saying, "let's just go home." Then the second half, things improved, Jim woke up and it turned out to be a great game, going into overtime! Unfortunately they came up short in OT. The kids were giving each other wagon rides down Anne & Ryan's hill, which was fun for them, a little scary for the adults. Most of the time it was Ali pulling the little ones and they would giggle every time like it was the first. Cade and Lauren played good together. At one point, Lauren was the mom, Cade was her son, and I was the teacher at daycare and she would drop him off and pick him up again and again. Each time, she was saying, "I need hugs, kisses, and Eskimos." Probably just like her mommy says to her when she drops her off! : )

While Jim was in D.C., our wash machine broke...the 3rd appliance in the past year to break down! Luckily, my step dad Clark was able to order a part and he came and fixed it for us. Thank you!!! I like to do at least one load of laundry a day to keep up with it, but it was a nice break to not have to worry about laundry while Jim was gone! : ) We also went and looked at campers and found one we like, so hopefully it will be ours soon. Is it the smartest time to buy a camper? Probably not, but I see it as in investment in our family and why not now when the kids are little and weekends aren't filled with activities. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of camping with my Grandpa & Grandma Swenson and our extended family. We are hoping to take it to an ISU game in a couple of weeks. My mom watched the kids for us while we did that. We actually gave Cade the choice of going or staying and he chose to stay and play with his cousins. We ran into our neighbors while we were there and their boys just couldn't understand why Cade wouldn't want to go with us!

Another busy, fun, and exhausting weekend!