Spring Cleaning

Skip's been away on business since verrrry early Wednesday morning... in "Lost Vegas," as Oscar keeps telling people... so I've spent much of my time doing spring cleaning activities. Well, more like spring organizing. I thought I'd be playing video games and watching movies with most of my free time, but then I realized that I do that a lot with him when he's home... These organizing activities have been waiting so long to happen because I am usually enjoying time with Skip instead of doing odd-jobs around the house. So...

I really got some bonding time with my beloved drill this week! Skip gave it to me for Xmas a year ago and I use it as much as possible! I also got to use my new Leatherman- gift from Skip this past Xmas- for the first time... so exciting! (It easily pulled a broken drywall anchor right out of the wall for me.)

I installed a bunch of new, kids' height hooks for robes and towels in the kids' bathroom so that we can avoid the wadded-up-on-the-floor thing that the boys seem so fond of lately since they can't reach their existing hooks that easily. I hung some new coat hooks in the mudroom entryway, too. We already had some there, but there were only 3 hooks and with backpacks and miscellaneous snow gear enough for three kids, the thing was just not cutting it. Now we have plenty of hooks for visiting friends or for us to just sprawl our things out even further.

One of the new mudroom coat hooks
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I also hung a new bulletin board that I got several months ago... It's been sitting in the basement, waiting for me to decide where I wanted it. I decided to hang it near the kitchen and turn it into a little "Artist of the Day" showcase for the things the kids bring home from school. And now I have a central spot to hang Lola's extra collars for the invisible fence and for her -ahem!- barking issues. No more wandering the house to find which doorknob we happened to last hang them on.

Our new Artist of the Day bulletin board
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Lest you think I don't know how to have any other kind of fun without my handsome husband around, let me say that I didn't just do organizing while Skip was away... Last night Katherine & her four-year-old twins came over for dinner and a movie. It was nice- the kids loved it and played very enthusiastically together. Of course, it made for a pretty distracting environment in which to prepare dinner, but the meal came out fine and we were so glad to have had the company!

Random photo of Lola trying to nap
in the sun the other day
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Friday, I was able to chaperone Oscar's class field trip to the planetarium. (Thanks to the fabulous Diana for taking Rocco!!) I even got to ride on the school bus... Something that sounds more fun than it is when you're driving down a road that's peppered with frost heaves from this heinous winter we're having... Oscar was thrilled, though. And it's always fun to see how he is with his classmates. He's very fun-loving and a good friend to the other kids. He was cool with me not sitting next to him during the star show- I instead ended up sitting next to a little girl who was afraid of the dark. She squeezed my hand so tightly throughout the show! And, when she wasn't holding my hand, she had all four fingers stuffed into her mouth, two-knuckles-deep, biting down on them... Then she'd reach for my hand again. (Luckily, I had just enough time to quickly wash my hands before we hopped back on the bus!)

The boys and I all went out that night for our regular Friday night dinner, even though Skip wasn't here. The kids picked a local Italian place. I was happy because it's only about five minutes from home and the food is pretty good... They were happy because the restaurant has a box of toys that you can borrow from while you're at your table. Everyone was really well-behaved and we had a great meal together. It was one of those fabulous times where I could see and hear people at other tables commenting on how good my children were. (Trust me, with three smallish boys, you really become adept at recognizing and grasping onto those moments when they happen!) The boys really were awesome- not missing a "please" or "thank you." I even trusted them to sit next to each other in the booth- something we rarely do because of the great likelihood of a fight breaking out. They did great.

The only snafu in the otherwise-perfect meal was when the boys' chocolate milks arrived and Oscar said, "This chocolate milk tastes kinda funny." I asked what it tasted like and he replied, "Like chocolate milk with lemon juice in it." Eww. I knew right away it must be sour milk, but I took a teensy sip anyway to be sure. Yep. Grosssssss. I asked Owen if his tasted funny, too, and he said, "Yeah, kind of..." Kind of?? These kids are off their rockers! There was no question the milk was sour. Yet they are so easy-going that they were going to keep drinking it anyway! Skip probably would have thrown up if he had been with us! (He won't drink milk if the date on the carton is anywhere near the current date.) The waitress was, naturally, mortified when I mentioned it to her and replaced them right away. Having been a waitress myself (so long ago), I sympathized with her- it's hard to tell if the milk has turned unless you're sipping it yourself. No harm done. Perhaps it even bolstered our immune systems.

Oscar & Owen in their costumes this morning...
Oscar is wearing an astronaut flight suit under
his storm trooper costume- with silk butterfly wings over that!
Owen's also got a flight suit on, but his is under a
Jedi robe- with a "Capt. Heartbreaker" superhero belt over it.
Are they fashion plates, or what?!
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Today has been a lovely, lazy Sunday. We made blueberry muffins and the kids are now watching Home Alone 2. They're dressed in some crazy outfits that involve layers of costumes. It's pretty funny. I'm still unshowered, but that's my next stop after putting Rocco down for a nap. We have less than 12 hours until Skip is finally home again and I can't wait!!