Today? We really did nothing. I think it was mostly because we were all tired of being in a car and possibly we were even tired of being together in close quarters.
The kids have been delighted to play with all the toys they got for Christmas and Robert and I have been delighted to let and watch them.
Now that the year is ending, I realize that my New Year's resolution needs some re-visiting. Over the last year, we made serious progress with our de-cluttering. Unfortunately, it (and by 'it' I mean crap) comes in faster than we can process it.
Well, okay, that's not entirely true. I hate to file, so that's piled up. I'm making memory books for the kids with their school work. I kinda sorta failed on the baby book thing, so I'm trying to keep some work from each school year for them so they'll have something to look through when they're older. At least, that's my current attempted project. But for every piece of paper I keep, I need to get rid of about 20. Add Sara's tendency to be a pack rat and the tendency of all of us to just pile stuff up where ever, the house is looking pretty cluttered again, although all the closets have been cleaned out and look pretty darn awesome.
I'm going to get this all done. If it's to the point that it's irritating Robert, then it's absolutely time to start sorting and streamlining.
So I'm all over this.
Starting tomorrow.
Because today? Is the day of nothing.
Showing posts with label family time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family time. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Never a dull moment
The family and I headed out earlier this week to North Carolina. It's quite warm here considering that it's almost the end of December. This time last year it was freezing and over four inches of snow fell at Dad's on Christmas day. Great for photos, not so much for driving.
Today, the kids slept in and hooo boy - we let them! Once we were all awake (and I still say it was our radiating giddiness about their sleeping in that woke them) and ready to go, we headed over to Mom's for most of the day. After lunch, we went to visit my grandmother in her assisted living facility. Tucker and Sara were excited about going, more for the ice cream machine in the parlor (do people even use that word anymore?) than for visiting purposes but hey, it got them there voluntarily and in a good mood.
My grandmother has Alzheimer's so she has good days and bad days. Two things are guaranteed to perk her up - kids and men. And that's really as far into that as I care to delve. So when she saw my kids, she perked up a little but still refused to walk with us from the common room to her room or the parlor. Mom, trying really hard to be patient after repeated attempts to get her to budge, asked one of the nurses to help us convince her to move. I tried first and had no luck. The first nurse tried and had no luck. I tried again. No luck. Richard suggested we walk away for a few minutes and then try again. Works for me. At that point, the second nurse walked over to try and darned if she didn't get right up and come along.
Interesting.
We visited with her for a while and then tried to get her to walk back to the common room with us. She was as reluctant to return as she was to leave. Not willing to push the issue any further, we got ready to leave. I picked up Sara and walked over to say goodbye. I'm not sure what about that got to my grandmother, probably nothing, but she perked right up and wanted to hold Sara.
Sweet, right? But the thing about Sara is that she marches to the beat of her own drummer and at that point, she'd been mostly ignored by my grandmother. Not with any ill intent, but Sara is firmly of the "I will not be ignored" school circa Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. After trying to get attention and not getting it, she was a bit averse to getting what at that point was unwanted attention. And we all know Sara can be a bit stubborn. ::Snort::
So when my grandmother suggested that Sara sit in her lap, Sara buried her head in my shoulder and tightened her arms and legs around me.
That just made my grandmother repeat her request for Sara to sit in her lap. I tried explaining that Sara was heavier than she looked (which is true). But aside from that, my grandmother doesn't do too much moving around these days and I was worried that Sara sitting on her would hurt her in some way. Plus, Sara just wasn't interested.
We went back and forth for a bit over this - my grandmother would ask to hold Sara, Sara would shake her head no and clutch me tighter, I'd try to explain that we were concerned Sara would be too heavy.
Finally, Grandmother got tired of this and decided she wanted to go to the common room. You know, the one she had just insisted she didn't want to relocate to. So we walked her in and when my grandmother sat down in the common room, she started asking again for Sara to sit on her lap. This time, though, she asked Sara directly. It went a little like this:
G: Come sit in my lap.
S: No. I'll sit right here.
G: Come on and sit in my lap.
S: No. I'm too heavy. I might hurt you.
G: Come sit with me.
S: I'm sitting right here.
G: Come and let me hold you.
S: No thank you.
G: Come and sit in my lap.
S: That's okay.
G: Sit right here, honey. ::pats her legs::
S: ::sighs loudly:: o-kay.
Gets down and climbs up into Grandmother's lap.
5..4..3..2..1..
G: UNH! You weigh a ton!
S: I told you.
G: Oh! My legs!
S hops off and looks at me. Can we go now?
G: (loudly) She's heavy!
S: ::rolls eyes::
So, uh, yeah. Time to go.
Today, the kids slept in and hooo boy - we let them! Once we were all awake (and I still say it was our radiating giddiness about their sleeping in that woke them) and ready to go, we headed over to Mom's for most of the day. After lunch, we went to visit my grandmother in her assisted living facility. Tucker and Sara were excited about going, more for the ice cream machine in the parlor (do people even use that word anymore?) than for visiting purposes but hey, it got them there voluntarily and in a good mood.
My grandmother has Alzheimer's so she has good days and bad days. Two things are guaranteed to perk her up - kids and men. And that's really as far into that as I care to delve. So when she saw my kids, she perked up a little but still refused to walk with us from the common room to her room or the parlor. Mom, trying really hard to be patient after repeated attempts to get her to budge, asked one of the nurses to help us convince her to move. I tried first and had no luck. The first nurse tried and had no luck. I tried again. No luck. Richard suggested we walk away for a few minutes and then try again. Works for me. At that point, the second nurse walked over to try and darned if she didn't get right up and come along.
Interesting.
We visited with her for a while and then tried to get her to walk back to the common room with us. She was as reluctant to return as she was to leave. Not willing to push the issue any further, we got ready to leave. I picked up Sara and walked over to say goodbye. I'm not sure what about that got to my grandmother, probably nothing, but she perked right up and wanted to hold Sara.
Sweet, right? But the thing about Sara is that she marches to the beat of her own drummer and at that point, she'd been mostly ignored by my grandmother. Not with any ill intent, but Sara is firmly of the "I will not be ignored" school circa Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. After trying to get attention and not getting it, she was a bit averse to getting what at that point was unwanted attention. And we all know Sara can be a bit stubborn. ::Snort::
So when my grandmother suggested that Sara sit in her lap, Sara buried her head in my shoulder and tightened her arms and legs around me.
That just made my grandmother repeat her request for Sara to sit in her lap. I tried explaining that Sara was heavier than she looked (which is true). But aside from that, my grandmother doesn't do too much moving around these days and I was worried that Sara sitting on her would hurt her in some way. Plus, Sara just wasn't interested.
We went back and forth for a bit over this - my grandmother would ask to hold Sara, Sara would shake her head no and clutch me tighter, I'd try to explain that we were concerned Sara would be too heavy.
Finally, Grandmother got tired of this and decided she wanted to go to the common room. You know, the one she had just insisted she didn't want to relocate to. So we walked her in and when my grandmother sat down in the common room, she started asking again for Sara to sit on her lap. This time, though, she asked Sara directly. It went a little like this:
G: Come sit in my lap.
S: No. I'll sit right here.
G: Come on and sit in my lap.
S: No. I'm too heavy. I might hurt you.
G: Come sit with me.
S: I'm sitting right here.
G: Come and let me hold you.
S: No thank you.
G: Come and sit in my lap.
S: That's okay.
G: Sit right here, honey. ::pats her legs::
S: ::sighs loudly:: o-kay.
Gets down and climbs up into Grandmother's lap.
5..4..3..2..1..
G: UNH! You weigh a ton!
S: I told you.
G: Oh! My legs!
S hops off and looks at me. Can we go now?
G: (loudly) She's heavy!
S: ::rolls eyes::
So, uh, yeah. Time to go.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
It was pretty much a perfect weekend
After my recent embarrassing little iPod incident, I've decided to make more of an effort to be technologically um....aware. Proficient would be a bit of a stretch after my half decade or so of ignorant bliss, so I think aware is a good compromise. And achievable.
So this is my first post after voluntarily choosing to switch to the updated/upgraded Blogger interface.
Yay me! Or something.
Moving on....
Friday, the school district we live in had a teacher workshop day, so the kids were mine. Alllll mine. Muahhhhahahaaa! We had planned a play date that afternoon with some kids up the street, but by Friday at noon, the plans had grown from four kids to eight.
Growing up, there were no kids my age on our street, which was kind of a bummer sometimes. So knowing we'd have kids and live where there would be lots of other kids made me really happy. Of course, then that whole anti-social, hate to be outside thing popped up, but I'm working on it.
Friday was proof. I think I was happier than the kids were. Everyone got along and played well together. It was the least Tucker and Sara have bickered, like, ever. And while there were dramatic moments courtesy of our Resident Diva, she recovered pretty quickly and mostly accepted reasonable solutions.
The play date turned into dinner and both the kids were asleep by the time I tucked them in. I hope everyone else's kids slept just as well.
Saturday, we did errands and then headed to the Circus. Last time I went to any circus, I only remember hot, smelly, long, and kinda boring. This time, I really enjoyed it. Granted, it was a little warm inside the tent, but all the performers did a great job and it moved along quickly enough that the kids didn't get bored. It was two hour show complete with 20 minute intermission, but there were tons of acts and they were all great. Robert and the kids even got to ride an elephant. I passed.
Today we didn't really do much but hang out together.While all weekend was completely awesome, I think that was my favorite part. Oh, and Tucker decided to start riding his bike minus the training wheels, which he mastered in less than 10 minutes.
So this is my first post after voluntarily choosing to switch to the updated/upgraded Blogger interface.
Yay me! Or something.
Moving on....
Friday, the school district we live in had a teacher workshop day, so the kids were mine. Alllll mine. Muahhhhahahaaa! We had planned a play date that afternoon with some kids up the street, but by Friday at noon, the plans had grown from four kids to eight.
Growing up, there were no kids my age on our street, which was kind of a bummer sometimes. So knowing we'd have kids and live where there would be lots of other kids made me really happy. Of course, then that whole anti-social, hate to be outside thing popped up, but I'm working on it.
Friday was proof. I think I was happier than the kids were. Everyone got along and played well together. It was the least Tucker and Sara have bickered, like, ever. And while there were dramatic moments courtesy of our Resident Diva, she recovered pretty quickly and mostly accepted reasonable solutions.
The play date turned into dinner and both the kids were asleep by the time I tucked them in. I hope everyone else's kids slept just as well.
Saturday, we did errands and then headed to the Circus. Last time I went to any circus, I only remember hot, smelly, long, and kinda boring. This time, I really enjoyed it. Granted, it was a little warm inside the tent, but all the performers did a great job and it moved along quickly enough that the kids didn't get bored. It was two hour show complete with 20 minute intermission, but there were tons of acts and they were all great. Robert and the kids even got to ride an elephant. I passed.
Today we didn't really do much but hang out together.While all weekend was completely awesome, I think that was my favorite part. Oh, and Tucker decided to start riding his bike minus the training wheels, which he mastered in less than 10 minutes.
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