Tree Trimming

D: Were you alive before Dad?

Me: No, he was alive first.
D: And then did you come out of his tummy?

Me: What book did Dad read to you last night?
D: Diarrhea of a Minecraft Zombie!

D: The reason I was undressed before J was because he was being a slowpoke! And I was being a fastpoke!

Dad: How was your day at school?
D: I'm not going to tell you because I'm eating dinner.

D was playing movie theater today ~

D: You can see Elsa, the Emoji Movie, or Rocket League.

Me: I guess I'll see the Emoji Movie. 

D: You've already seen it, so you can go see Rocket League.

C: Aren't I too young for my back to hurt? 

Me: Yes. You may have slept on it wrong, but I'm sorry it's hurting.

D made me a heart as high as he could reach.

Tree time!

D: I just woke up. I was finishing my dream, but I'm not gonna tell you since Noodle is around.

D: Did you hear Cass? What did he say? 

Me: YAAAARP?

Epic bedhead is epic.

J said he made a "sacrifice"

(11/14) Work day for Dad & me, and school for the boys.  Nanan picked them up from school today, and D taught her to play Uno.

(11/15) I worked in the twins' classrooms today, and got to be a part of the fire drill in the morning. Fun, fun, fun!  In D's class, we set up a store with two cash registers going, and a ton of kids picking out food, and practicing paying for things.


(11/16) J woke up at 4am muttering something about not wanting to swim without his goggles.  I checked his head and he was burning up.  I gave him some ibuprofen, and he went back to sleep.  We went ahead and kept him home for the day.  He and Dad had a lazy day at home, and I went in to work.  He was feeling well enough once I got home to go the gym with the herd.

(11/17) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys.  The twins and I were supposed to go see a play tonight, but we rescheduled with J not feeling 100%.  C had been wanting to see Wonder, so we caught a showing of that this evening.  What a sweet movie!  We managed to get seats in the very front row, but luckily they were recliners, which made it so we could lean back instead of craning our necks to see.

(11/18) Today was Sarah's birthday.  Dad kindly took the twins to their practice, so I could go walk to coffee with Sarah and her mom.  We then attended a bazaar at the school.  In an effort to get our big kiddos out of the house, we sent them to the store. C picked out a ginormous jaw breaker that matched his hair.


(11/19) The twins had a game today.  D spent the entire time moving the bumper and not paying attention.  J skated some, but didn't get involved much in the game.  He did get the puck once....long enough to score on his own team, but who's counting? We zipped home to go to the Silvertips game.  SO.MUCH.HOCKEY.

J doing the splits

(11/20) Work day for Dad & me.  I grabbed the kiddos from school a little early for C's appointment.  We came back home, and C left for hockey while I finished up my shift at home.


(11/21) Work day for Dad & me today, and school for the kiddos.  My office did up a basket for the YWCA's Thanksgiving program.  I drove the goods down to Seattle and dropped them off. We fed a family of 6, and then some!

(11/22) The boys had an early release from school today, and I got to go in to help with the turkey hats in the kindergarten classes.  The cuteness!

(11/23) Happy Thanksgiving!  Dad kicked off the gravy train early by making breakfast poutine.  De-lish! Sarah & I went to a ZumbaStrong class this morning, which is Zumba on steroids, and has lots of burpees and push-ups.  It was fun!  Dinner was hosted by my brother and his wife, and we all had a great time.  Dinner was delicious as well!

(11/24) The only Black Friday shopping we did today is to go to a farm and find our tree.  We found one quickly, and also picked up some local blueberry honey.  We got the tree in & lit, and the boys set to work decorating it while I busied myself decorating the rest of the house.  When I finally sat down, I saw a sneaky Jimmy checking out the tree.  I chased him away, and went back to sit down.  Next thing I see is the tree crashing down.  ARGH!  Once we got it all set back up, I took "after" photos.


(11/25) Sarah and I ditched Zumba and decided to trek over to Fred Meyer to do some shopping. We grabbed our coffee on the way, and scored a few deals.  While we were out, Dad started the bird for friendsgiving.  We had our gaming group  over this evening for dinner. It's been too long... I know I say that every time we get together.


(11/26) Lazy day for the boys & me.  This week was exhausting, and I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I went back to sleep for a few hours after breakfast.

(11/27) Work day for Dad & me, and school for the boys. I worked from home and noticed there was a definite funky smell coming from the dishwasher.  I watched a few videos and probably took the thing apart four times before clearing all the junk. Fun times!

(11/28) Work day for Dad & me, and Nanan picked up the kiddos from school.  I had book club after work tonight, and got home just before story time for the twins.


(11/29) Wednesdays off makes them errand days.  On tap today was a dental appointment for C, and working in D's classroom in the afternoon. Missed J's class on account of C's appointment, but I'll be there next week.


(11/30) Work day for me, day off for Dad, and school for the boys. We decided on a lazy evening after everyone got home.  Sounds good to me!

Hot Chocolate & Mug Shots

Me: I made you a doctor's appointment.
C: Whhhhy?

Me: Oh, only because you kept us all up last night, and can't stop coughing.

C: (coughing)
D: Stop dying! Just cause I'm doing it doesn't mean you should too!

D: Mom, don't say "poop" when you're in school or you'll go to the principal's office. That's just how it is. It is what it is. *solemnly shakes head*

J: I made you a phone!  But I'm giving you the worser one, so I can hear better.

Me: Thanks?

J: What if you had a baby and carried Mom all the way to his room?

Jor: Did you just ask what if I carried a baby?

D: You mean *her* room. 

Me: Yeah, because that's what was wrong with that question?

D (yelling): TMD!!!!  (TMD stands for Too Much Denton)

J: D just TMD'd hisself.  

Me (texting while trick-or-treating): There's a beer garden over here!  

Dad: WHY AM I NOT THERE?!

D: I'm done trick-or-treating.  I'm saving room in my bag for all the leftover candy at the house.  

D: C has to sit in the middle, so he can teach us how to be cool!  

Me: What does it say? J: I don't know. I can't read.

Me: Is that a ghost hand? D: No, this is a hand that's scary!

Whoops, it's been a while... Strap in, long post ahead. 

(10/24) Work day for Dad & me, and Nanan grabbed the boys after school.  She made cookies with them this afternoon. Looks like they had a lot of fun!  I had book club with my work peeps after work today.  We all convened at a coworker's home this time, and barely talked about the book.

(10/25) Day off for me, and work day for Dad. I worked in D's classroom today, and he showed me the cash register, and told me all about his restaurant.  His teacher says the kitchen center is his favorite.  After the kiddos came home from school, I went back for their conferences.  Three really good ones - all the boys are doing great academically.  None of them seems keen on writing, but art and computers are favorites.


(10/26) Nanan had a medical procedure today, so she and I headed off to that about the same time Dad and the kids left for school.  She wasn't able to drive today, so I drove her back home, stayed for a few hours, and had Dad and the kids come and get me.  Dad picked up a new phone for C today, and this one is capable of playing Pokemon Go. He wanted to go out for a walk tonight, and amazingly knew all about everything already (like how there aren't many Pokemons in our neighborhood, etc.)  Silly C.  We walked for a bit, found a Pokestop, and called it good.

 
(10/27) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys after school.  C wanted to go for another Pokemon walk tonight, so I leashed up the dogs, and brought them with us.  The twins had great fun diving in the leaves as we went.

(10/28) Dad took C to go watch the sunrise at the beach this morning.  He had fun because he got to Pokemon Go.  I took the twinsies to practice, where Dad met us.  He took the boys to Double DD Meats to pick up dinner and special sodas, and I hightailed it home to meet Sarah for a walk.  After I got home, I realized that I needed something from the store, so walked back over.  When I was coming home, Dad & the boys drove by and picked me up.

(10/29) We were supposed to be out the door to C's hockey game early-squirrely, but I mathed wrong, and was just getting the boys out the door when I got a call that the ice was melting at the rink, and that the game was cancelled. Oh darn!  We proceeded to have a lovely lazy day.  We rode our bikes over to Sarah's house this afternoon.  I reached for my cell phone to text Dad where we were and didn't have it, figuring I had just left it on the counter.  When I returned this afternoon, I still couldn't find it, so had Dad call it... only to have someone answer.  It had fallen out of my pocket while I was pushing a boy on a bike across the street.  Whoops!  So glad it did not get smashed, and I'm grateful to the nice neighbor that returned it.


(10/30) Work day for Dad & me, and school for the boys.  C had a rough day today, and refused to do any work at school.  He refused again for me this afternoon, but calmer heads prevailed after practice and a snack with Dad.  Both J & D's pumpkins melted right before Halloween, so Dad ran out and got them little white ones.  J did his to be just like C's.

(10/31) Happy Halloween!  Tuesdays are work days for Dad & me, and Nanan grabs the kiddos in the afternoon. My office peeps have been demanding a Noodle visit, so I brought the pupper to work with me.  It's hard working, it really is. I came home as quickly as I could this evening, and we gulped down dinner, and rushed to get costumes on & make-up done before Sarah & co arrived.  We didn't quite make it, but got out the door reasonably quickly to go do the tour of the neighborhood.  We have some very creative people living near us! We had a lot of fun, and the kids came home with ridiculous amounts of candy.


(11/1) Whew!  The day after Halloween is intense.  I worked in D's classroom today, and there were lots of "brain breaks" in his class (kid Zumba ~ super cute!) and a lot of reminders about expectations.  It was about the same in J's class, but I went during center time (Plan/Do/Reflect), where J made us phones at the art station, and then we made a pretty cool block house with slides.


(11/2) Work day for me, day off for Dad, and the boys had school.  I took the herd to Zumba this evening.  The gym daycare is worth every penny.


(11/3) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys after school. It snowed a little bit today. It sure made my afternoon walk pretty, and all the boys wore their trapper hats to school this morning.  Dad made the boys hot chocolate when they came home, because necessity.


(11/4) I went to pick up the teenager this morning, and there was no kiddo to pick up.  She didn't manage to get a ride, so opted for the bus after some back and forth.  I picked her up in the evening for the Silvertips' Pink the Rink night, supporting Providence's General Foundation. We went with Sarah, my sister and her hubby.  C had a game this evening, so Dad took him to that, and then took all the boys out for dinner at Azteca.  Yum!


(11/5) Lazy day for us, and work day for Dad.  I left the kiddos at home with a sleeping teenager and went out for a walk.  This afternoon, we piled in the car and went to rec swim at the aquatic center.  C tried to convince me he only swims in the summer. Pfft.  The teenager's siblings were all at swim, and it was fun to say hi to everyone!


(11/6) Work day for Dad & me today, and school for the boys.  The boys got their school pics back and look adorbs!  I love C's expression.


(11/7) Ugh, horrible night.  C was up alllll night coughing.  I called out sick (cuz I now feel like death, TYVM for sharing C), and took him to the doctor.  Yay, bronchitis.  So we got meds for C, and headed home.

(11/8) Day off for me, and work day for Dad.  I worked in both boys' classes today, and got to play bingo in J's, and paint in D's.  It's so fun going back to school!  I brought C home after I worked in J's class for the morning session. He was in the nurses's office feeling puny when I walked in to make copies.  I told him he had to come home and take a nap (instead of video gaming, cuz I'm mean like that).  He slept through me going back to the school for D's class, and picking up the boys.  Guess he needed it!


(11/9) J lost a tooth this morning.  Good timing, since they had a dentist appointment today.  D apparently has 3 more loose ones.  The tooth fairy is gonna be busy. It took fooooorever for me to get home tonight, but I had just enough time to load up the monsters and take us all to the gym.


(11/10) We were all off today in observance of Veterans Day. I had planned to be productive and go exercise, but I am still feeling horrible, and instead laid back down.  C asked if a friend could come over this afternoon, and I said sure.  Dad took the two older boys to the auto show in Seattle, and I took the younger two for hot chocolates and a visit to the park.  C's friend spent the night tonight and we caught up on all our shows.


(11/11) The twinsies had practice this morning, to which Dad took them so that I could attend our annual home owner's association meeting.  Woo.  Nanan came over this afternoon so I could look at her printer.  And that was about all the excitement for the day.


(11/12) Busy day of hockey today. Dad had to work, so I took the boys first to C's game down in Renton at 9a.  C's team continued their streak of not winning, but they got close with two goals in the last two minutes, and C had an assist. I took the boys to Starbucks for lattes and hot chocolates after, and then we headed home for lunch.  After lunch, the twins had their first game.  It went about as expected.  No goalies for this group, and D & J were on opposing teams.  I love the below clip the most.  D is #21 in a yellow penny, and J is #16 black.

(11/13) Happy Monday!  It's a work day for Dad & me, and the boys have school.