How Bout Them Apples

(8/17) I had a pretty light day for a Tuesday at work. We made the decision to transfer the twins to the virtual option for the upcoming school year. I went to orientation tonight and it feels pretty similar to last year, so that won't be a big change. But UGH, I didn't want to do this again. Hopefully they'll be able to be vaccinated midwinter and then we'll have to decide what then. 

(8/18) I had the day off today. I took myself to the Sunflower Festival at Bob's Farm. It's so beautiful! I think I only took around 200 pictures. I brought home a huge kettle corn for the kids and a bunch of corn for dinner. SO good! Other than that, I ran a few errands and did some yard work. My fall plants are starting to make an appearance. 

(8/19) Work day for me and day off for Dad and the kiddos. I got to go in and unpack my new office in our new building. I love it! We now have standing desks, and I have a great view. Who knows when we'll be back in the building, but I'm ready to go now when we are. I had an appointment down in Seattle afterward. Oh man, I do not miss that drive one bit! 

(8/20) I had to work today, and Dad took the kiddos out to do some back to school shopping. They got the call that C & J's glasses were in so picked those up too. Handsome dudes! They stopped for pizza as a treat.

(8/21) Work day for me and day off for all the men. My work is running a school supply drive and I've had everything sent here. Today I went through allll the boxes. Everyone has been so generous, and I'm excited to take our loot to our charity!  

(8/22) Today was cool and drizzly. Dad took the twins out to get new shoes and I had a quiet house for a bit. I read my book, and then I went to Target to pick up the last of our supply drive order plus my own portion. Other than that, we had a pretty chill day. Dad worked this afternoon, and this should be the last super late time off. Hooray for that! 

(8/23) Today was a work day for Dad and me. I have a couple of bigger projects that I'm working on, so today was dedicated to those. D has been super into playing Mille Bornes lately so we played a round after dinner while J was out playing in his fort.

(8/24) Work day for Dad & me. It was a busy day for me and the day flew by. Before I knew it, it was time to go pick up our pizzas as is our Tuesday night staple. 

(8/25) I had the day off today and slept in. C and I went to pick up his new tablet for school this morning. I still cannot believe he'll be in high school. Time has really flown. He has a campus tour and orientation tomorrow. Fun stuff! I made shrimp risotto tonight and didn't have Gordon Ramsey come yell at me, so I think I did okay. 

(8/26) I worked today and Dad ran around doing school stuff with/for the kids. C had freshman orientation and Dad picked up the twins' Chromebooks for school. It's fast approaching. We went to Alfy's tonight for dinner. D has been missing the salad bar this whole pandemic, and our restaurant will be closing soonish to make way for a new development, so we figured we'd go for one last hurrah. 

(8/27) Happy Friday! Shew, it's been another short/long week. I had to work today and Dad and the boys were off. Dad has to go back on graves for this next week (grumble). He's not happy about that. We're hoping for a quick finish to his project so he'll be back to a more reasonable schedule.

(8/28) I attempted to sleep in this morning but I'm so used to getting up early that I finally gave up and  went to have coffee with the pups. Dad picked up a pie from the Pie Co and meatloaf from Double DD Meats while out running errands and we had ourselves a feast tonight! 

(8/29) Dad is working graves this week, so we had a lazy morning and tried to be quiet. The twins and I went over to Sarah's house to play in the pool for the afternoon and the kids had a good time and already can't wait to go again. 

(8/30) Oh boy, Monday again. Both Dad and I had to work, so we didn't do a whole lot other than that. C made fried rice for dinner from EveryPlate, and we all decided we like his recipe better.

(8/31) Work for us parentals and another day off for the boys. I had a busy day of meetings and work, and Dad had to leave shortly after I got done. I'm so glad this is only for the short term! 

(9/1) Yipes, September already! Dad joked that this is the last week of the "summer uniform" and that the children will have to be far more dressed next week when school starts. I had the day off today, and attempted to sleep in. Dad worked what we hope is his last graves shift tonight. 

(9/2) Work day for me. I had a longer training this afternoon, and thankfully was able to do that upstairs without distraction. 

(9/3) Happy birthday to S! We saw her briefly when she stopped by to pick up camping gear. Hope she has fun! I worked today and Dad was off. I was off early today for the holiday weekend and am looking forward to spending some quality time reading this weekend! 

(9/4) Dad and I took advantage of the nice, sunny day and took the pups out wine tasting with us. Toffee did great, and was well behaved throughout. Dad made us quite the spread for dinner including bourbon bacon noodles and roasted chicken. 

(9/5) The weather is definitely turning. It's cool/cloudy in the mornings and is warming up in the afternoon. I took my audiobook outside and cleaned up the back yard beds. 

(9/6) Happy Labor Day! Sarah and I went for a walk this morning and it rained the whole time, stopping just over the last hill on the way home. It was beautiful out this afternoon, and I went to Lowe's to grab some potting soil and some bulbs and got the front planted. I may have picked up another couple of pretties since I was there. I got everything all planted and the lawn (read: dandelions and crispy grass) mowed. 

(9/7) Both Dad and I worked today. I had a bunch of meetings followed by a mandatory school supply pick-up. The twins' school was not prepared for the over 500+ students that enrolled last week alone, and ran out of supplies. At least we got their chromebooks, so should be good for the first day of school tomorrow. 

(9/8) Back to school they gooooooo! Today was a hot mess, but we survived. C went off to high school (9th grade), but missed the bus this morning and got off to a rough start. The twins are attending virtual school (4th grade), and we didn't get a teacher for J until this morning, and got his Zoom info about a half hour before class. It's fine. It's all fine. I had book club tonight and it was nice to unwind and talk books this evening. I'm glad I was off today and didn't have to try to manage school and try to get stuff done too. 

(9/9) Today went a little smoother. C was up and caught the bus on time. When I went up to read to the kiddos tonight, J had his curtains drawn and the light off. I told him his room felt like a cave. Now he wants to decorate it like one. I found a firelight LED lamp to add to the ambiance. I hope he likes it! 

(9/10) It's finally Friday! Work and school for the boys and me today and Dad had the day off. Dad dealt with the boys after he got up so I could work uninterrupted. It was great! He made us a fancy shrimp linguini tonight, and we watched our favorite comic's Armageddon Update after the kiddos went to bed. 

(9/11) D has been waiting allll week to have Nanan over and show her how to play Mille Bornes. He has talked about it over our video calls and was ready to play when she walked in. We made monkey bread this morning for breakfast. The twins helped cut it up and sugared it up for me, and I just had to put it in the oven. It was inhaled pretty quickly, though we did manage to save a tiny bit for Nanan. Gotta be quick around here, especially when it comes to sweet things. C went up to spend the night with a friend and go to his birthday party tomorrow, so it was pretty quiet this evening. 

(9/12) We had a pretty low-key day. The twins were still up bright and squirrelly, because of course. Dad had to work, so it was just the twins and me here for most of the day. C came home after dinner. He got to go to a VR arcade and then to The Cheesecake Factory. Lucky kid! 

(9/13) Normally my Mondays are pretty quiet, but today the kiddos had school and I had several long meetings and a training. I was pretty fried by the end of the day. To add to that, our brilliant corgi has decided she can't poo outside when it is dark, so I spent my evening grousing at her to go already. She is going to have a long winter if she can't figure this out. 

(9/14) Work and school for all of us today. Thankfully most of my meetings were all in the morning today so Dad could supervise school. Our full staff meeting got bumped to this afternoon after school, when the twins were off doing their own things. 

(9/15) I had the day off today. Sarah and I got up early to walk. I love getting up early and having a little quiet time in the morning before the chaos. I may have nodded off while the kiddos were schooling though. It was beautiful out this afternoon and I walked our property with our association's manager. We discussed an upcoming sidewalk remediation project. Not gonna lie, I'm not excited about that. I picked a few of our apples for a crisp for dessert. It was delish!

(9/16) Work day for me, school for the boys, and Dad had the day off. The boys were wanting more apple crisp this evening, so I whipped up another batch. Double this time, and we didn't have much in the way of leftovers. C is claiming it for breakfast tomorrow. 

(9/17) It was pouring at early o'clock, so Sarah and I bailed on walking. I was up anyway, so went out and used the treadmill instead. C stood out in the rain for over twenty minutes and his bus never arrived, so I gave him a lift to school. I think we passed it on the way out, but sheesh. After Dad came down, he took over school for me and I was able to work upstairs. It's been a busy week, but was thankfully quiet today so I got a lot done! 

(9/18) I ran a few errands this morning, got my flu shot (woo ~ even though I don't go anywhere, lol) and then came home to my book(s). I have one that's due to expire in a few hours so was listening to it double-time, and then I have another on my Kindle that I'm working on too. Dad cooked up one of our EveryPlate dinners for lunch and we had loaded baked potatoes, followed quickly by a food coma. 

(9/19) The boys and I had a pretty lazy Sunday. Dad took the Miata to a car show, and was off to that pretty early, which meant I got to sleep in to the glorious hour of 9a! I didn't do a whole lot today other than read my book. I trimmed up the apple trees out front and brought in all the rest of the apples. The weather has vacillated between sunny and thunder storms today, so I encouraged the boys to go out while it was still nice out. They wanted to go back out this evening when it was storming too. Goofy guys. 

(9/20) Work and school for us all today. D was convinced that it was only going to be nice out when they were in school. He was pleasantly surprised when this afternoon turned out to be nice too, and both boys couldn't wait to get through dinner so they could go play. 

(9/21) Dad went in late today and took over school for me while I worked. I normally have a bunch of meetings on Tuesdays, but only had one today. It was a nice reprieve on both fronts! 

(9/22) I'm off today--thank goodness, because I was up way too late last night! I did catch this stunner of a sunrise though.