Piggyback

Mr. 4 comes along every Wednesday to cello lessons.  This Wednesday was no exception and Mr. 11 tagged along as well.  We tried to take a walk but Mr. 4 was so very grumpy.  Until Mr. 11 offered to piggyback him and then he was all smiles!

A Day in the Life

We've been on our own all week with David in Mountain View for the Google Making Science launch (it's awesome - https://makingscience.withgoogle.com/science-journal/).  There have been ups and downs (getting everyone out the door to school was not pretty) but today was a great day!

6:30 - Mr. 4 is up.  He tries to snuggle with me (since I don't want to be up) but after 5 minutes or so he decided to go read books in the living room and I get to sleep until almost 7!

7 - Mr. 4 and Mr. 11 are up (typical for our house) so I get up and join them.  Mr. 4 and I work on his Koala crate and make a bird mask and some wings.  They're hungry so we make pancakes.

8 - Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 are up.  Everyone seems happy to I leave Mr. 4 watching Alton Brown Good Eats with his pretend food so he can cook along and jump in the shower.
8:45 - Time for the 5th grade car wash.  Mr. 11 heads out with me and Mr. 4 to walk to school and we leave Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 to work on chores and relaxing.

9:30- Mr. 4 and I leave Mr. 11 happily washing cars and walk back home.  After a quick planning meeting we decide that Mr. 4 and I will run to the garden store and then Mr. 13 and Mr. 7 will meet up with us at the car wash.  Mr. 4 helps me pick out some new adirondack chairs, potting soil, seeds, a watering can, and a few other odds and ends.  We text Mr. 13 and head back to the car wash.

11 - We're back to get our car wash and to visit the bake sale (Mr. 4's second trip).  Mr. 13, Mr. 7, Mr. 4, and I play tag on the playground while Mr. 11 finishes the car wash and then we head home.

11:30 - It's a beautiful day so I unload the car and start working on the garden while the boys have a water fight.  Mr. 7 and I had built the new garden box on Friday night and now it's time to put it in place.  The old box had rotted and it was time for it to go.  It takes a while but I think we managed to get it in place without killing any of the strawberries plants (we'll see how they do).

1:30 - Mr. 4 is starting to tear apart the kitchen looking for food so we head in for lunch.  After leftovers for everyone, it's time to finish up in the backyard and to plant our seeds.  Mr. 4 has been carrying around the packets and has lost quite a few (I actually had to put the remaining watermelon seeds in my pocket early in order to have any left to plant).  He helps me plant them and get them watered.  They're sitting on the porch so hopefully we'll remember to plant them!

3:30 - Backyard is finished and I head inside.  Mr. 7 and I practice cello together while the older boys clean up a few things and then everyone gets a little screen time.  I take advantage of the quiet to do the dishes, make coffee and clean up.  I get dinner started because we have a play to go to tonight so need to eat a little early.

5:30 - The boys are happily making a science video which is an activity I had suggested yesterday but didn't get off to a great start due to everyone being so very tired.  Mr. 13 composed the theme song and Mr. 11 started designing the logo.  Now they've decided to work on an aeronautics video and find instructions for a homemade wind tunnel.  Happily our upstairs neighbors have a big cardboard box  and they find a fan in the basement.  They're figuring out how to fly gliders when I interrupt them.  We have to eat or we'll be late for the play.  The transition does not go smoothly and there is a lot of difficulty taking a break but eventually we all get to the table.  I had made dumpling (thanks to Blue Apron) and everyone seemed to enjoy them except Mr. 11.  The rice wine vinegar and tamari sauce did not go well with his canker sore!

6:30 - Into the car for Little Women.  Our upstairs neighbor S and one of Mr. 11's best friends R are in it.  It's a great performance but long.  I bribe Mr. 4 through the first act with the promise of cupcakes but we cannot make it through the second act.  We wander the lobby looking at the artwork for the rest of the play.  It's actually impressive he made it considering there is no music to distract him!

10 - Home and trying to get everyone to bed.  Tomorrow morning is going to be a bit rough but we'll get through!  Just church, teaching sunday school, soccer for Mr. 7, a birthday party for Mr. 11, soccer for Mr. 4 and I'm the assistant coach, and then home for dinner and hopefully an early bedtime!

Camping

Some weekends start out crazy and just get crazier but you wouldn't have wanted to change any of the individual parts.

Mr. 11's best friend G is moving away and we've been trying to squeeze in some extra time with his family because we're going to miss them so much!  Mr. 11 invited G for a sleepover and they had a great time hanging out together and it was amazing to reflect on how much these 2 guys have grown up over the years.  There were some Minecraft battles, some Playmobil stories, and time to hang out but not enough sleeping!  After lunch we tried to pack up for our first cub scout camp-out while keeping the 5 boys in our house somewhat quiet (and inside) because our upstairs neighbors were having an open house (another sad move for us - but at least they're only moving 15 minutes away rather than 1500 miles).  We had hoped to be on our way earlier but it just didn't work out.

We snuck out finally around 2, got G home, and then headed out to do some camping.  It was a great group of Tiger Cubs (Mr. 7's compatriots) and we hiked, cooked over a campfire, played hide and go seek in the woods, told stories around the fire, and slept in a tent.  It was definitely a trial run for us but the boys have been asking when our next camping trip is since we returned (especially Mr. 4)!

Sunday afternoon we managed to squeeze in a little soccer and then dinner with 2 of our favorite people!  Hard to beat such a great weekend although Monday morning was a bit rough getting this crew out the door!