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Category Archives: Kids

Katie’s teacher gift drop off!

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It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and…end of year I guess?! Mrs. Hansen got some beauty goodies from me and, well, since it’s Cinco de Mayo she also got margaritas (plus Katie’s memory book to write in). She only lives about a mile from us—and probably less as the crow flies.

Lest you think I forgot Owen’s teacher…I delivered hers last week! That was a story in itself. I transposed her address so I actually dropped off the gift—and Owen’s book!—at the wrong house!!! There were a few moments of panic on my end because Owen’s book is irreplaceable and I kept thinking WHAT IF… Plus with the Corona thing, it’s not like she could just go knock on the other person’s door! And I felt horrible that I screwed it up. Well, some quick googling got me property records and a name which got me to LinkedIn where I recognized the guy who had been inside the screen door at a desk (I had just assumed it was her husband) and his posted resume had a phone number! I called and left a message explaining everything…and he called back almost immediately—he had been talking to her! She had walked down and they had a nice chat! In a bizarre turn of events, his daughter’s name was Heather and she was a teacher so he just thought it was a gift for her and didn’t even think anything of it! But he was very nice about it and even joked about enjoying the margaritas!

Tom came up with dinner tonight

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Introducing naan pizzas with leftovers! We each got to build our own with bunches of whatever was left in the fridge!

  • Tom: pulled pork, fried onions, fried jalapeño, bbq sauce, mozzarella
  • Owen: pizza sauce, spaghetti and meatballs, pulled pork, bratwurst, cheddar cheese
  • Jen: mozzarella cheese, fried onions, fried jalapeño, bbq sauce, cheddar cheese
  • Katie: bratwurst, pulled pork, cheddar cheese

They were delicious. But more importantly, Katie willingly ate meat! She finished the whole thing!

Not quite a lazy day.

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So I knew when I woke up this morning that something was different about today because our room had a really distinct bright white light in it…which can only mean that there was snow outside on the ground. WHAT THE F, MOTHER NATURE?! Then Katie came in all excited because she thought today was going to be a lazy day—apparently she thought that since LAST Friday was a lazy day that THIS Friday was a lazy day, not realizing that last Friday was a holiday.

“BUT THERE’S SNOW OUTSIDE….” she whined.

“Yes, and in regular times, you’d still be going to school.”

I did agree that today should be a LAZIER day (because my ulterior motive was me not getting out of bed at all!)

So here it is 1pm and I just got out of bed to put my mask on and then I crawled back into bed.

This might be the last puzzle.

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I think this is the last puzzle that I am buying and we are attempting as a family.  Puzzles are just one thing that I would absolutely love to be able to sit and do with my family…but as I’ve mentioned before, Tom hates them, Owen really doesn’t like them, and Katie is okay for a short amount of time.

We have done smaller puzzles (I’ve posted pics recently) but it’s a trade off because Katie loves them but they only take 5-10 minutes. I’ve bought all of 8 or so of the ones she loves (of which Owen will tolerate doing 1-2 of the smaller ones).

I guess maybe I need to look at more options. We don’t have to do them but just in watching Owen try, I get really frustrated because he (mostly) has zero sense of spatial ability or sense of color. I watch the pieces he tries and he’s trying to put a round knob into a long skinny foot. Like huh? Didn’t you learn how basic shapes fit in kindergarten? Why is this different just because it’s not a triangle or a circle? And trying to put a white piece where it’s clearly black. I thought he was just being stubborn so I asked him if he really couldn’t tell or if he was just being silly and he said he couldn’t tell. If I’m to believe him…I just can’t even…?! I mean I guess I know people have those issues, but it just seems so weird because nothing else in his life shows that issue. So I want him to keep trying puzzles to get better at the spatial thing.

Maybe in the next house if I had a separate room to do them in…but there’s no good place here. That said, I rarely have the time.

But one cool thing about this puzzle is that it came flat and put together and we had to make the box! So Owen did that!

The Hudson read three stories for Katie’s class!

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Katie’s teacher sent a YouTube video of her reading a story so I asked the kids if they wanted to do one…and to my surprise they both said yes. Katie whines and complains so much about reading that I was FLOORED that she was excited to do it. She knew exactly the book she wanted to read (they’ve read it in class), she knew what one I should read (an old favorite), and Owen knew what one he wanted immediately.

Happy Easter with new baskets!

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We got caught up in finishing Ozark so we were up much later than expected prepping for the Easter Bunny. And the weather stinks so the eggs have to be hidden throughout the messy house…

Katie left a request for the EB to put up the last sheet of Easter window clings—she even left the scissors out so he could open them. She also specifically told me she wrote “like you” instead of “love you” — maybe love is too strong for the EB? Kids.

Also, she wrote that note in like 2 minutes happy as a clam. I try to get her to write a sentence for homework and you’d think I was asking for War and Peace.

This basement makes me want to scream.

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They’re cleaning right now…but please tell me we’re not alone.

Also? They cleaned for a whopping two minutes before they started playing with the toys. WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT CLEANING UP? Yet if I stand there and micromanage they throw a fit.

Honestly, the only rule they really have is that I need to be able to walk to the pantry and the cat room without tripping on anything. If they would just keep those pathways cleared I would be much more lenient. But they don’t. So then I have to let loose on everything else.

P.S. Granted it was over a week, but it’s what happens when they NEVER put anything away when you’re done with it and Mom isn’t standing over them nagging.