Week in Review: Meetings, Volunteering, and Projects

Last week was a good week! It was a nice balance of busyness and productivity :) Hopefully my productive streak will continue for a while.... ;) Apparently I was too busy to take ANY pictures last week. I haven't taken any pictures on my real camera in quite a while, but I didn't even take pictures with my phone last week. I'm really going to try to do better about using my real camera more!

Sunday: We all went to church, and then we had Sunday School. When we got home, I fixed lunch and then we ate. After lunch, I made some chess squares to take to church that night for a banquet. Next was naps for all :) We went back to church that night, and we had a special installation service for our new assistant pastor. After the service, we had a banquet in his honor. We stayed for a while, and then we came home and put the kids to bed. David and I talked for a while that night before going to bed. I also watched an episode of Downton Abbey.

Monday: David took Aubrey to school that morning, and Jude and Alaina and I stayed home. We played, and then I put Alaina down for her nap. I took a shower and got ready while she slept, and then I fixed lunch for Jude and myself. We ate, and then Alaina woke up. I fed her baby food, and it was time to go get Aubrey. We picked her up really quickly, and then we came home, and I put Aubrey and Jude in their rooms for rest time. My grandmother came over right then, and I gave her instructions for putting Alaina down for her nap, and then I left. I was meeting David at the adoption agency we're using to meet our case worker for the first time. I was excited about the meeting, but I was also a little nervous. Thankfully, it went really well! It took about an hour and a half, and then David left to go to karate, and I came home to relieve my grandmother :) When I got home, they were playing outside in the backyard. We came inside so that I could pump, and my grandmother left. I fixed some quesadillas for us to eat for dinner, and then we had a low-key rest of the night. When David got home, we put the kids to bed and then he ate dinner while we talked about our meeting and all the paper work we had to do. I watched another episode of Downton, and we went to bed.

Tuesday: Alaina had been super fussy and snotty, so we skipped Bible Study that morning :( I told the kids we could go to the park after Alaina's morning nap if they were good. When I got Alaina down, I took a shower and started getting ready.... and the kids were NOT good :/ They got into a HUGE fight, and they both got in trouble. I told them we weren't going to the park, but then I thought I was being a little harsh since they had already gotten in trouble (plus, I realized that staying home all day was more of a punishment for me then them -- hahah), so I had a talk with them about grace, and I told them we could go to the park after all. When Alaina got up, I packed lunches for the kids, and we left. There was no one else at the park, and we had a good time. The kids got to run off some energy, which was a REALLY good thing! :) When it was naptime, we came home. I put everyone down for naps, but Alaina didn't sleep well. So, I didn't get much done that afternoon. When David got home from work, he played with the kids, and I cooked dinner. We ate, and then we gave the kids baths. We put them to bed, and David went to bed early. I wasn't tired enough to go to bed, so I watched an episode of Downton Abbey... or two ;) I went to bed late.

Wednesday: It was a school day for Aubrey, and David took her. I took a shower after they left, and I started getting ready. My grandmother came over again so that I could go volunteer at a school for special needs children, and I got Alaina down for a nap before I left. I had a great time at the school! It was fun to be around the children :) I stayed until it was time to pick Aubrey up, and I went straight to her school. I got her, and we headed home. When we got home, Jude and Alaina were having fun with my grandmother. She helped me put them down for naps, and then she left. That afternoon, I got on the computer and didn't do much else during naptime :) David came home that afternoon, and we got the kids ready and headed to church. We had to stop at Target on the way for baby food. We had a good time at church, and after it was over we came home for bed. We got the kids down, and then David and I had a nice evening just talking. We went to bed fairly late.

Thursday: That morning, the kids and I got up and ate breakfast. Then we hung out at home. Aubrey and Jude played while I took a shower, and then I got Alaina down for a nap. I quickly got myself ready and got the house presentable, because Sarah Denley and her kids were coming over. They picked up pizza and brought it for lunch. It was so fun to hang out with them and catch up! It had been FOREVER since we had gotten together due to the holiday busyness and then sick kids, etc. We had a great time! After they left, I put the kids down for naps. I straightened up the house, and then I got on the internet for a little while until it was time for the kids to get up. I started working on dinner, and then David came home. We ate dinner, and then the kids played and we just visited. After we had a family devotion, we bathed the kids and put them to bed. The rest of our night was very uneventful.

Friday: We had a day at home, and I decided that I was going to make it productive. We are literally over-run with toys. I'm sure everyone with little kids feels that way, but our toy situation was really out of control. There is just no need to have multiple toy piles in EVERY room of our house. So, I went through almost every pile of toys in this house (except Jude's room -- I ran out of time) and threw away broken junk and purged the rest. It felt so good to consolidate. The kids played well together for most of the day, so I didn't even involve them in the process very much. I knew it would be easier and quicker if I just made the executive decision about what stayed and what was going to go :) We ate lunch at home, and the kids napped that afternoon. Between all of the toy sorting, I did also take a shower and get myself ready. When David got home that afternoon, we went through a few piles that I was unsure of whether to keep/toss/donate, and then we got the kids ready for dinner. We met David's parents at Newk's for dinner, and it was fun! Except that the kids were wild. David and I got a little stressed out towards the end. When we left Newk's, I wanted to go in TJ Maxx, but after our experience at dinner, David decided to just sit in the car with the kids while I ran in. Ha! We came home after that, and we put the kids straight to bed. David and I then watched Inception. I think I was just as confused as I was the first time I saw it. Haha! We went to bed late.

Saturday: David took all THREE kids to the Farmer's Market that morning, and I slept until 9:30. Ahhh! :) They got home not too long after I got up, and then we just tried to get a lot of little projects done around the house. I painted a table with some milk paint that I've been wanting to try, and it was just a disaster. The paint didn't stick to the table at all, and it's just a big flakey mess. I'll definitely be working more on that another day, but for now it's just hanging out in our garage. I came inside and made a meal plan for the week and a grocery list, and we ate lunch. I took a shower and got ready, and we put the kids down for naps. I then ran to a few stores and to the grocery store. When I got home, we did some more around the house, and I cooked some chicken and we had chicken salad for dinner. After dinner, we gave the kids baths and I picked out their clothes for church the next day. We put them to bed, and then I ironed some curtains for our kitchen. I've had them for a while, but we haven't hung them because I've been dreading ironing them. I ended up ironing them on the living room floor instead of the ironing board, and that made it much easier. David hung them for me, and then we got ready for bed.