Nerf Wars with Grandpa

My dad came for a quick visit to see us while Karen had to be in Phoenix for work. He took Ryan shopping for his birthday (which only 2 and a half weeks away!) and one of the things he bought him was a big nerf gun!

Tripp and Dad trying to put the thing together

Dad, taking aim!

It's not really fair that Dad's gun had 36 bullets but the boys' guns only hold 10!

The way Emily's personality has been lately is that if she doesn't know you, she is very shy around you. That was the case with my dad. But finally she warmed up to him and wanted him to play babies with her! Of course he had to leave 10 minutes later...

It was good to see my dad, but the visit was too short. Hoping he and Karen can make it back soon.

Need to get back on track

I've gotten away from blogging in the past several months. I just spent a good hour reading a woman's blog and though she's going through a very difficult time, she is still blogging about it. I'm not going through any difficult times right now - in fact life is pretty even keel. I just want to get back to journaling the simple moments in my life. The moments that I'll look back on and smile and the ones that I wouldn't have remembered if I hadn't blogged about it! So I am going to make more of an effort to record this fleeting season of life, when our kids are young and actually want to spend time with us!


Today Tripp was at the station and I told the kids we weren't going anywhere today. We would just hang out at home. So we did! It was a brisk and mostly cloudy day so we dressed in comfy clothes and didn't do a whole lot. I wish I'd made more of an effort to do things that the kids enjoy, but I kind of wanted to be lazy. So I was. Here is what our day looked like. Brace yourselves, it's less than fascinating!



7am - the boys get up


7:10am - Tripp leaves for work


7:30am - cartoons turn on


8:15am - get Emily out of her crib, cereal bars for breakfast for the boys a bowl of dry applejacks and a sippy cup of milk for Emily. Cartoons continue for another hour while I check email, read blogs, Facebook


9:15am - finally fix my coffee and "huddle" (cuddle) with Emily during the last bit of Curious George.


9:30am - The boys ask if they can watch one more show on PBS Kids. Since I'm enjoying my "huddles" with Em, I agree. Telling myself that 2 and a half hours of cartoons in the morning is ridiculous and I really should've turned off the boob tube an hour and a half ago! But it's Sunday, so I let it go.


10am - Play Wii with the boys


10:30 - let the boys play Wii alone and help Emily into her fairy costume


11am - clean up the kitchen (from dinner last night, ugh, I hate waking up to a messy kitchen!) and start thinking about lunch since I didn't do breakfast justice


11:30am - lunch is served (baked - not nuked - chicken nuggets and tater rounds with apple slices). Funny comment by Casey at lunch: "I wish Jesus had made me a dog" (rather than a boy)


12pm to 1-ish - Play with kids; play outside with the dog and Ryan while Emily and Casey play inside.


1pm - Emily down for her nap. The boys play in their room. I work on my Bible study.


2pm - I finally take a shower, love to take long showers when I'm not rushing to be somewhere!


3pm - Get Emily up from her nap. Fix the kids a snack (grapes, pretzels and a cheese stick).


**At this point I've checked my email and FB about a half dozen times and played Bejeweled and also done a couple loads of laundry**


4:15pm - Casey is already asking for dinner. Ryan gets on the computer to read on his reading website. Casey and Emily enjoy this too. They pull up their little chairs and look on as Ryan reads to them outloud.


4:45pm - decide to glue together the kids $1 wooden projects from Michael's that they painted on Valentine's Day.


5pm - my sweet neighbor Faith and her two cute kiddos come over asking to play outside with my kids, but it's cold out there! So I invite them in to play in our house. Faith and I chatted for a while. I enjoyed her spontaneous visit!


7pm - reheat lasagna for dinner


7:15pm - Ryan takes his shower


7:45pm - Casey and Emily take their bath; Ryan watches the rest of the "falling down houses show" (Extreme Home Makeover).


8pm - Ryan reads to me


8:15pm - boys brush teeth, say prayers, go to sleep


8:45pm - I brush Emily's teeth, put her to bed; finish watching Desperate Housewives and wonder why I watch it when there are much better things I could be filling my brain with...


9pm - begin watching Brothers and Sisters; Tripp calls to check in


10pm - one last trip to the office to finish a load of laundry and then end up parked in front of the computer


currently - blogging

Tomorrow, we're looking forward to a quick visit from my dad while Karen is in town for work. Ryan is excited because Dad will take him shopping for his birthday while he's here!


So! Aren't you glad you checked back in on my blog for this exciting account of my day?? But I have to remind myself, that I blog for me. And now that it's a private blog I feel less pressure to be witty or creative or inspiring. Like I said above, I just want to be able to look back and catch a glimpse of my life when it's 10 years down the road. Hopefully blogger will still be around! And if so, then my kids will be able to catch a glimpse into life from my perspective. Now that my mom is gone, I sure wish I had her blog or a journal or something to look back at!

Here are some recent pictures for your viewing enjoyment :-)

Ryan and Casey wanted to get into Emily's crib. But with Ryan weighing in at 79lbs and Casey at 44lbs. I didn't want them all in there at the same time! So they took turns cuddling with their sister
The End!

(For now)