Week in Review: Parties, Date Nights, and Painting

So, now that this week is over half over, let's see if I can remember anything about last week :/ I'm so frustrated because our new laptop that we just got in NOVEMBER has decided that it will no longer upload pictures. Apparently we have the worst luck ever when it comes to computers. Is it too much to ask of my computer to upload a few pictures? I don't need anything fancy.... I just need the thing to work. It seems that, right now, that is too much to ask. So, that has really contributed to my blogging slump. I'm just not really feeling it these days. BUT, I know I'll regret it if I don't keep it up, so I press on until we get our computer fixed and the urge to blog returns to me :)

Sunday: We had a normal morning at church. David had to usher, so we were rushing to get there on time. After church and Sunday School, we went to my parents' house for lunch to celebrate my baby brother's 15th birthday! I can't believe he's that old! I vividly remember the day he was born, and he was totally "my baby." I carried him around everywhere for practically the first two years of his life :) Anyway, we had a fun time over there for lunch, and then we came home and put the kids down for naps. I got a short nap in myself, and then we got ready and went back to church. After church, we came home and ate sandwiches for dinner. We turned the Super Bowl on, and we got the kids to bed. I got on the computer while David watched some of the game, and then we went to bed.

Monday: Aubrey had school that morning, and David took her as usual. Jude, Alaina, and I stayed home. I got some laundry done, and I even rearranged some furniture. I took a shower and got ready while Alaina napped, and then we ate lunch. After that, it was time to go pick Aubrey up. Sarah Denley and I visited for a few minutes in the parking lot, and then we came home. I put the kids down for naps, and I watched Downton Abbey while they slept. When they got up, I fixed a snack for them, and then I started cooking dinner. We ate and then just played and hung out at home the rest of the night. When David got home, we put all the kids to bed, and then he ate dinner and we talked. I got on the computer for a little while before bed.

Tuesday: I got up early that morning and started getting ready because David and I were going to a volunteer training time for the school where we've been volunteering. David took the kids over to my parents' house while I finished getting ready and pumping (that takes SO long in the morning), and I left as soon as I was ready and met him at the school. The training was good! Everyone we've met at the school is SO sweet, and the training was good for us to learn what is helpful for the teachers. After it was over, David left to go to work, and I went to Beagle Bagel to get some cookies for Aubrey to take to school the next day for her Valentine's party. I kind of had to decide between the cookies being homemade and good or cute (but still good). I chose cute :) I went to my parents' house next to pick up the kids. They had had fun, and when we got home, it was naptime! I got everyone down, and then I just sat and did nothing productive for most of naptime. When the kids got up, we had a snack and waited for David to get home. When he did, he played with the kids, and I cooked dinner. We ate together, and then we gave the kids baths. We put them to bed, and David and I hung out for a while until bed.

Wednesday: David took Aubrey (and her cookies and lame store bought Valentine's -- haha!) to school that morning. Her school is on "winter break" this week (you know, the actual week of Valentine's Day), so they had their little Valentine's parties a week early. After David and Aubrey left, I took a shower and got ready, and then I put Alaina down for a nap. My grandmother came over to babysit Jude and Alaina, and I left to go volunteer. It went well, and I had fun with the kids! When I finished there, I went to pick up Aubrey. She had had a lot of fun at her party! :) When we got home, we visited with my grandmother for a few minutes, and then I put Aubrey and Jude down for naps before she went home. I put the Alaina down for her nap, and then I rested for a bit during naptime. David came home that afternoon, and we got ready and went to church. My friend who I teach with was sick, so I was on my own that night. We missed her, but thankfully the kids were sweet for me. After church, I was supposed to go out with some people for our friend Meredith's birthday, but David was in a meeting and it went much later than I expected. By the time he finally got out, I was a bit annoyed :/ I almost didn't even go to the party because I hated to be the last one there, but I decided to go anyway. I'm so glad I did because I had so much fun! We went to Babalu, and I had a great time hanging out with some of my friends. They asked me about the adoption, and without even meaning to, I ended up going on and on about some of my fears going into it and about how it's just really been hitting me lately that this is happening. Soon. I felt kind of bad for dominating the conversation, but my friends were so sweet and encouraging. It was good to be reminded that we have so many people praying for us and such a great support group in our church family. Anyway, we stayed pretty late, and when I got home, David and I talked for a bit before going to bed.

Thursday: This was definitely my most productive day of the week. I decided to stay home all day and do some deep cleaning. The kids played that morning while I did general straightening and cleaning, and then after lunch and during naptime, I really did some scrubbing. I spent almost the whole naptime cleaning the master bathroom. I did things that I rarely do like clean baseboards. Haha! I took a shower and got ready too, and then the kids got up. They ate a snack and played, and then we left to go meet David for dinner. I had asked David to get some meat out of our deep freezer the night before, but he forgot and I didn't realize it until I started to cook it. So, Corner Bakery for dinner it was! :) It was actually nice to not have to cook on a weeknight, and it was very nice to get out of the house after being at home cleaning all day. We had a fun dinner together, and then David drove the kids home and I ran in TJ Maxx to get some glass Tupperware. When I got home, we put the kids to bed, and then we had an uneventful night.

Friday: We had another low-key day. We were running SO low on groceries (Which, by the way, is so frustrating. It seems like no matter HOW much food I buy and no matter HOW much money I spend at the grocery store, we NEVER have any food left by the end of the week.), so we had to make a Kroger run. We literally wouldn't have been able to eat lunch without a grocery trip. Haha! As soon as Alaina got up from her morning nap, we went to the grocery store. It was just a quick trip to get us by until I could make my big weekly run. When we got home we ate lunch, and then I put the kids down for naps. While they slept, I straightened up and got myself ready for date night! David got home that afternoon, and then my mom came over to babysit. David and I had our Valentine's date early, and it was fun! We did a quick(ish) dinner at a kind of nice pizza place, and it was SO good! It felt kind of funny to do pizza for date night, but we were both happy with that decision :) After we ate, we went to the movies and finally saw Les Miserables. I had been dying to see it! It was.... good. I don't know, I think I built it up a little too much though, and I didn't like it quite as much as I expected. David felt the same way. I enjoyed it, though, and I'm definitely glad we saw it! By the time it was over, it was late, so we headed home. The kids were all in bed and had been fine for my mom. We talked to her for a minute, and then she left.

Saturday: David took all of the kids to the Farmer's Market again, and I slept later than I meant to. We were planning on starting the huge project of painting our living room/kitchen that day, and I wanted to get an earlier start. Once I was up, I realized that we didn't have any brushes, so I called David to stop and get some on his way home. There wasn't a lot I could do in the meantime, so I felt like I was just sitting around wasting time. David ended up getting home way later than I expected, and I just got frustrated that the day wasn't going as planned (at least the way I had planned it in my mind). I was finally able to start on the painting at about 1:00 :/ My mom and grandmother came over to play with the kids while David and I worked. Jude and Alaina were napping, but we let Aubrey stay up. We got a good bit of painting done considering we had gotten such a late start. We still have a LOT to do, though. We painted until dinnertime, and then we got cleaned up and went to dinner. We are really trying to get the kids to bed earlier on Saturday nights so that they're not tired for church, so David took the kids home and I went to Kroger. When I got home, he had bathed them, and I helped get them to bed. That evening, I ironed our church clothes and got everything ready to put in the crockpot for lunch the next day.