Peek at Our Week {cat litter, time change, and crabby kids}

Oh spring forward how I loathe thee…

Seriously,  I hate the time change in the spring.  It seems like unnecessary torture, especially to my sleep-needy kids and I.  We’ve struggled with fatigue, crankiness, and all out exhaustion this week. 

Sunday we had to stay home because Olivia was sick, and Saul had to work.  It snowed a bit through the night but ended up being a fairly nice day.  It was the start of some really great weather we had over the course of the week.  The kids and I mostly hung out.  I did a lot of cuddling with Olivia because she was miserable and terribly whiny….

I could tell that Isaac was getting bored, which usually happens after two unstructured days in a row.  I kept giving him suggestions of things to do to keep himself occupied, but nothing was interesting to him. 

Until later on that evening when we couldn’t find him anywhere.  After calling for him, he emerged from the bathroom a big ol’ muddy mess.  If you can guess what in the world my almost 9 year old was doing in the bathroom, you are a genius, because I sure didn’t see it coming.


I guess we can chalk it up to a M.L.E. {Major Learning Experience}.  And it goes as follows:



Yep.  That’s how we roll around here. Never. Ever. Dull.

Sometimes, I think I’d like to try dull, even just for a day or two.





Besides his cat litter sculpting incident, Isaac had a pretty good week.  I finally got the new math books for the boys.  I was able to find them at Mardels, which I have never been to.  I LOVE that store!  I’m planning another trip over there next payday…



Nate had another great week!  Yea Nate!



He completed all of his school work without any complaints and even got to earn extra technology time.  He wrote an adorable cartoon about Benjamin Franklin.



Elaina was the one who had the hardest week. 

She was not into school at all.  Despite all of my attempts to make it fun and interesting, she would not be fooled into believing that school was going to be fun.






We did a bit of math with money, which was fun until I made her count it…




We did spelling with letter tiles and built sentences with  magnetic sight words.  Those were okay until I made her read the words…



We used Silly Story Maker to practice sequencing and ordinal numbers, and that was just boring and dumb…

She even had a hard time when I went downstairs to play dress-up with her and she told me she wished I would stop bossing her around and telling her what to do.

Oh Elaina.  She finally took a very long nap on Thursday and that seems to have done the trick for her.




Olivia is still working through her cold.  I think part of her issue was the time change as well, but nevertheless she was up every night asking me to scoot over to make room for her in our bed.  I think that’s the main reason why I didn’t sleep well this week.



She is still tooting along on her little trike.  Her speed is about double though and she is getting careless about running into things (and people).  I may have to start handing out speeding tickets soon….



She did a little bit of school work and a lot of coloring….







Mostly though she did a lot of playing.  She had so much fun playing with her babies this week.  She is so motherly and loving. Not to mention stylish.  Every good mother changes her baby in golden satin gloves, right?



The kids are complaining constantly about their simple lunches.



Honestly, I just don’t have the time or energy to be creative for three meals a day, every day of the week.  When I was a kid, I ate a sandwich and chips everyday for lunch at school, and I don’t remember ever being bored with it. I think my kids are pretty spoiled…







I made Toscana Soup, Citrus Basil Pork Chops, Orange Chicken with Fried Rice, and lots and lots of salads.






This one I made had so much salt and garlic, I think it scorched my taste buds because the next day I couldn’t taste anything.  But it was sooo good. Tomatoes, Capers, Pine Nuts, Spring Olives and Spinach with a garlic mustard vinaigrette.  Nom..nom..

We had ice cream sundaes too with a home-made hot fudge sauce.  And I made Chex Mix and Caramel Corn for snacks.



This cat of mine has been terribly naughty this week.  It is not tolerated for him to be on the counters ever, and yet all week long we took turns shoo-ing him down from places he wasn’t supposed to be.  Maybe he has a bit of cabin fever.  He is a monster of a cat, and has grown even taller in the last two weeks.

Tonight I get to go out for Girl’s Night!  I’m so excited!!  Saul is off for the weekend, and we are hopeful to get a bit of spring cleaning and organizing done.  Or I should clarify, I am hopeful to get those things done.  He is hopeful to relax, get a haircut, and hold the sofa down.  At least that’s what he keeps telling me.






Happy Weekend!