Homebodies

Now that we have school going on in the mornings, we are finding ourselves sticking pretty close to home. So far this week, on Sunday I went to CVS and yesterday we went to Publix. Other than that, it's been home sweet home. That's not necessarily a bad thing especially as far as gas goes I suppose. But it's definitely a change of pace compared to the "old" days when I usually liked to get out somewhere each day.

Week Two of school is rolling along. Fortunately Calleigh is still enjoying it. I keep waiting for the moment when she says she doesn't want to practice writing her letters or something but so far so good. I've quickly determined that she is gaining a very important skill...the ability to concentrate/work with major noise going on around her. A silent classroom we have not. Aubree and Brady are constantly in and out, talking loudly, yelling, running around, asking me to do stuff for them, etc. Sometimes the baby has been known to make some noise. So yeah, it's not exactly what one would call the ideal learning environment. I find myself thinking, "Hmm, in about four or five years, things will be so much better because the youngest will be five and we can hopefully have a little bit of quiet in our school." Of course, by then I'll potentially be dealing with five and seven year old boys who like to pummel each other. So it could all be a pipe dream really. In the meantime, I just keep reminding myself that it may not be the perfect situation but we're doing the best we can. It's not like she's trying to figure out the Pythagorean thereom after all. Surely one can make a perfect "S" despite some background noise

Showing off their craft we did on the five senses.

A quieter moment in the school room.

Let's see...what have we been up to other than school. So Friday we had our first serious yard sale outing. I say serious because we did try to make a trip out yard sale-ing while my mom was here only to be waylaid at the first sale when I realized I didn't have my wallet and my mom didn't have hers either. Nice. Back home we went on that one. We would have gone back out but my mom had to leave at 11:30 to catch her flight so there was no point. Anyway, this time everything was aligned. The only downside was that Colby had the one grumpy day of his life and didn't seem to sleep at all while we were out. Not that he cried the whole time but I could tell he was displeased. I was also reminded that I need to set my sights a little lower on the number we will be making it to since I have to stop and feed Colby along the route. Still, I will not be deterred! We didn't find a whole lot, however, on this particular day although I did find some nice white bowls from Pier 1 that I love.

We had a nice Sabbath although the schedule still didn't work out quite how I had hoped. This was our first time going to both church and Sabbath School with Colby which takes some great teamwork in the morning to pull off. Ideally, he would be eating around 7 am and then again when we get to church at 10 am but darn it, he has his own schedule. He ate at 6 am which means he had to eat at 9 am which meant Duncan had to get the kids ready (showered, dressed) by himself. Thankfully he was a good sport. With this timing, though, Colby was due to eat again during Sabbath School which is a bit of a bummer although I suppose at 2.5 weeks, he didn't really know what he was missing!

Saturday night I left Duncan in charge so that I could attend a baby shower for my friend and neighbor, Catherine. She is due to have a baby boy in November to add to their two girls. Sounds familiar. Tangie and I car pooled to a nice Mexican restaurant in Winter Park where we had a nice private room. This was particularly nice since I obviously had my little buddy with me and we thus had plenty of room to spread out. Colby slept the entire time despite being held by several ladies. Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Duncan had a houseful of husbands and kids who all came to hang out there while the ladies were at the shower. I was afraid what I was going to find when I arrived back home but everything had been cleaned and put back and I couldn't even tell that there had been 10 kids running around.

Lisa and Magally (holding Colby)

Catherine

Brady eating with the ladies back at home.

Sunday we got a few things done around the house. In the afternoon Ricky came over to hang out (the wife had a lot of studying to do) followed by the Isidros and Bruce and the boys. They wanted to come and watch the big Manning vs. Manning football game. Later, Jennifer followed and made some quinoa burgers with buffalo wing sauce. So good! So yeah, it almost turned into a little party with everyone over there. Only problem was that Broncos beat the Giants. Yes, I said it. I was actually rooting for the Giants. Boy, that kills me.

Hanging with Uncle Ricky

Oh, also on Sunday morning, we got stalked. Duncan opened the door to get the papers and we noticed that there was a rooster on our front lawn right near the road. A rooster. There are no farms or people with backyard coops or anything anywhere near us so we were a little mystified. Even more so when the rooster did not go away. In fact, he kept getting closer and closer and eventually came right up to our door and started pecking on it. He probably stayed on our front door mat and the surrounding porch area for a couple of hours. Finally, Duncan opened the door and chased him away with a rolled up carpet and that was that. But very strange! No sighting of him since.

On the Colby front, things are pretty much the same. We're still at about three hours during the nights. I'm patiently waiting for that to start stretching out :) Actually, the time he is doing the four hours is from about 7:45 pm to 11:45 pm and I even have to wake him up from that one. If there has been any pattern to his habits, it's that he goes to sleep in his swing every night after I put the other kids to bed (so around 8:45) and sleeps until I wake him up to feed him so I can go to bed. He is also taking a nice nap in the afternoons during quiet time. He sleeps for almost three hours which has been perfect because I've been able to nap too. This has been one advantage in comparison to when Aubree and Brady were born. Since I'm no longer working, I can take a nap when everyone else is sleeping/being quiet. It's made a big difference. Yes, part of me feels a little guilty for not getting other stuff done around the house but on the other hand, it really helps to keep me going since I'm probably getting about five hours of sleep at night.

A few tidbits from the kids before I close...

Calleigh is holding Colby and Aubree and Brady are crowding around and "bugging" the baby.
Calleigh: "I'm glad you guys weren't hanging around when I was born."
Aubree: "Well YOU were the one bugging me."

Duncan to Brady: "Don't touch the baby, dude."
Brady: "I not dude. I Brady."

The kids were all in bed and I had the monitor on. Brady was trying to talk to me through it but he has his binky in so I can't understand what he's saying.
Me: "Huh? What did you say?"
Brady: Unintelligible question
Me (finally just answer to get him quiet): "Okay, yes. Good night Brady."
Brady (binky clearly is now gone): "Guys! Guys! Guys! Mommy said we can go to Sea World tomorrow."

Oops.