Practice

There is something to be said for practice. Since writing a few days ago about how hard it was to go places with Rachel and Owen, I decided to start practicing. Last week, Brendan had basketball camp from 9-12 every day. So one day after dropping him off, I went to a store with Tori, Rachel and Owen. Tori pushed Rachel in a cart and I pushed Owen. It went really well! We shopped for probably 45 minutes and no one was extremely cranky, although Tori did complain towards the end about all the walking.


I have also stopped putting Owen and Rachel down for their morning nap. This has gone much better than expected. They are playing well and don't act unusually tired until lunch time. It also helps if we go somewhere to break up the morning. Quite a different way of thinking than what I am used to - before I never wanted to go anywhere until evening. I can see where this will be good for all of us. I can also see where I could get into trouble with this because more often than not, I would choose to go to a store and most likely find something to buy that I did not need. We will also have school starting in another month and I need to be disciplined enough to stay home and get it done. It's a time of transition though. I think as they adjust to not napping in the morning and as I adjust to not getting that break, it will be easier to spend the whole morning at home.


My next thing to conquer with Rachel and Owen is taking them outside to play. It's just easier to stay inside with them when I'm by myself. But they really enjoy playing outside and I know it's good for them.


I felt like I accomplished a lot today. I hadn't done laundry this weekend so that needed some attention. After 4 loads, I'm about caught up. I also took the kids to swimming lessons. Tori had a friend over for the day so I set up the slip-n-slide and a small inflatable pool. They enjoyed that all afternoon. After supper, I took her friend home and then we stopped at Target to do some shopping - another trip out with Rachel, Owen and Tori - more practice! After getting Rachel and Owen in bed, I vacuumed and swept the floors and did some more laundry. It felt good to sit down tonight!


Last Thursday, I went up to my hometown to visit with my 3 friends from high school. It's amazing how we can pick up where we left off. We go back and forth between sharing what is going on currently in our lives and reminiscing about old times. It was a great night. I have a picture of the 4 of us but want to scan one of us from high school and can't get my scanner to work. Hopefully I can get that done soon.


On Friday, my sister came up from Indiana. We went out to a late movie and did a little shopping. Then Saturday, my parents and brother came down for the day. It was so fun to hang out together. We grilled and spent time outside and it just felt like summer. One of the best parts about the weekend is that it was kind of spontaneous - I found out about it Thursday afternoon! As much as I like planning and looking forward to things, I love surprises, too. Sometimes surprises are easier to enjoy because I don't have expectations.


In my last post, I talked about a song that means a lot to me right now. This gave a friend of mine an idea to create a cd of songs that have been meaningful to us throughout our life. I love the idea but I'm not sure I can narrow it down to one cd. She said I can do a book of cd's. :) I have been thinking about songs non-stop. I think it will be interesting to see the progression and if my tastes have changed. Don't worry, I'll post my list as soon as I get it figured out! She also asked that we say why the song is meaningful - I'm looking forward to that because I love analyzing things. I wish I could turn that off sometimes.