A Quarantine Birthday

Hello friends that are still willing to read blogs! 😂

Ruby turned 6 on Tuesday, April 7th, and it was a day that I just really want to remember.

The day before her birthday we picked up the kids packets of school work for the next two weeks. Ruby's teacher had included a few things for her birthday that she would have been given if she would have been at school. I just cried at seeing the sticker and candy. It was a mixture of tears for her teacher's thoughtful, and tears of heartache and grief that her birthday wouldn't be able to be what I would have wanted for her. She was super excited though, which was pretty contagious. The evening before her we dyed her hair pink, so she could wake up on her birthday with pink hair. She LOVED it! She still loves it. That is one thing we couldn't have done if school was still in session.  

I woke up early to make Ruby birthday doughnuts from scratch. I thought they were amazing. Ruby was disappointed that they didn't have chocolate or sprinkles on them. Don't worry, I did add chocolate and sprinkles for her a little later. 

I have the sweetest most thoughtful kids. For his gift, Reddic took Ruby out on a special birthday bike ride just the two of them. He planned the whole thing out, and Ruby loved it. 

My mother in law always comes by with a gift for each kid on their birthday. Today she decided to do things a little different for Ruby since she knew this would be a regular birthday. She created the cutest little treasure hunt for Ruby to find her present at her house.<3 a="" at="" birthday="" font="" for="" her="" house.="" hunt="" nbsp="" out="" planned="" she="" treasure="" whole="">

Ruby's sweet little friend Audrey came by with her family, to drop of a present for her. I wish I would have gotten a picture. I was so touched by everyone that thought of her. We had a special little picnic lunch together, and my mom called to FaceTime her while we were out. 

Grady made his best friend, Doggy, an airplane. 

This year Luke decided that he wanted to make Ruby's birthday cake. I only helped him a little bit. I have really enjoyed having the kids help out a lot more with all the cooking and baking these last few weeks. 

Had to get a picture with that PINK hair! :) Ruby has been saying that she wants a cheetah birthday party because they are really fast. I had no idea what that meant so i just got her an animal print dress to wear instead. 😂

Reddic has started wearing around this play doctor's mask around the house these last couple days. I find it hilarious. 

Reddic made Ruby's extra fancy dinner of macaroni and cheese. 

Ty's parents came by to join us for cake.

The whole day was happy, even if it was a little quieter than birthdays of the past have been. Ruby and Reddic both kept saying how it was the best day ever. I hope she always remembers it. 

A Day in the Life 5.11.16

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

and Lucy Jane's 2 month birthday :)

I wake up at 5 am. LJ is the most amazing sleeper ever. She usually wakes up only once a night between 3 and 5 am. It feels like my body is screaming "Hurry up and wake up and eat little one!", but my brain is saying "just go back to sleep and try to enjoy this. She is learning to sleep through the night!", so of course I wake up every 10-15 minutes until 6am when I finally wake her up to feed her so I can go work out. 

I love riding my bike. It feels like freedom. I think exercise is as much for my mental health as for my physical health. It is so nice not to be needed for a little bit in the morning. 

( And yes, Aunt Mari, I realize 7 miles in 39 minutes is incredibly slow, but I'm working on it. :))

Time for breakfast. Day old Bashas doughnuts for the win.

This kid reads from sun up to sun down. 

Oh crap! Quick check of the backpacks reveals that we haven't done Grady's reading homework yet.

 I remember back when my oldest child was only a baby, one of my older and more experienced mother friends telling me that potty training and teaching a child to read were her least favorite parts of parenting. Grady becomes frustrated and angry with trying to read and dad steps in to help him and give me a break. I am such a lucky woman to have a husband that is so caring and involved with our children.

Big boys are gone to school now, dad is off to work, and miracle of miracles both my baby girls are still asleep!!! I quickly rush and put Netflix on the ipad for Reddic and run off, for what I hope will be a peaceful shower. 

LJ is still asleep, but the crazy 2-year-old has awoken!

Now it's time to get ready for the day, and finish all the prep work for our mom swap preschool that will be held at my house this morning. 

Time for a quick watering of the plants while we wait for our preschool friends to show up.

 Ridge, Jared, Gil, Reddic and Teddy. The only little girl in our group, Macey, just moved to Virginia, and we all miss her and her family tons!

The first 45 minutes of preschool go really well. We are learning about Winter on this ridiculous hot day in May. :) Then I hear LJ finally wake up. I leave the kids nicely crafting their snowmen at the table while I go tend to the baby. Let's just say that the nicely crafting didn't last long. :)

Time to finish up preschool, by making our homeade ice cream. I think there was a science lesson in there somewhere with the ice cream. :)

I only lost my patience once, so I think that overall preschool was a success. :) 

All of our preschool friends went home, and so now it's back to our normal crazy life. Um, yikes. I mentally add cleaning the toy room to our list of things to do today. 

Daddy surprises us by coming home for lunch! The kids are in daddy heaven!

I heat up some leftovers for my lunch. Eat half of it, and then Ruby falls apart and turns into a fussy mess. I realize that she needs to go down for a nap asap. I put her down, and then LJ has a diaper blow out. I clean up LJ, change her, feed her, nurse her, and put her down for a nap. I get back to my lunch, but it has been about an hour since I first started eating. My food is cold, but I open up my phone to catch up on reading the HONY stories about pediatric cancer. I eat, read, convince myself that at least one of my children must have cancer, and feel guilty for not paying attention to Reddic all at the same time. :)

I prep pasta salad for dinner, and then Reddic and I attack the toy room.

LJ wakes up. 

LJ in outfit #2 of the day.

I sitting in the recliner in my room feeding the baby when the big boys come home form school. They naturally gravitate to wherever I am, and we all take a few much needed minutes to relax after a long day in my room together.

I probably should have told him "no", but I got a good laugh out of Luke showing me his new trick. 

We clean, do homework, the kids enjoy playing trains in a nice clean toy room, and then they go outside to play. 

Grady rides Ruby's bike around the house putting toys back where they belong.

I know I will miss seeing these 3 little beds all lined up when I walk past this room. The week after I took these pictures, Luke and Grady moved into a new room, and Ruby moved out of her crib. 

Time for dinner! We never eat dinner without dad, but Mutual starts in 5 minutes and it is going to be at my house, so there is no waiting for dad tonight. 

 Luke makes sandwiches out of the bacon and cheese from the pasta salad.

My Mia Maids are as fun as they are beautiful! Tonight we have a watermelon eating contest and play an impromptu game of softball with the kids toys in the backyard. 

Scripture, prayer, brush teeth, bathroom, and then off to bed for the kids.

Ty getting LJ ready for bed.

We stay up with the baby and then finally peace with a house full of sleeping kids. 

 Time for some adult time and my favorite show ever, Castle. So sad this was it's last season.

I am so tired. I am so blessed. The End.