Everyday that I choose something else over effortful blogging, I feel so darn guilty. For the past week, once I got done with a task that I felt was more important, it was too late and I was just too tired. I refuse to let myself get run into the ground, as I did last year when I ended up with pneumonia. So here I am, with a little bit of oomph left in me. I’ll give it my best until I simply can’t anymore. Then rest assured I’ll be guilt ridden until nothing is more important than blogging about our wonderful children.
This morning was the usual. While I blended, Riesling and Cashel watched some British children’s television. They watched the Number Jacks (about dividing sets of numbers evenly) Tikkabilla (a variety show about rockets, astronauts and circus performers, littered with songs) and Bits and Bobs (two balls of fluff ride around in a Trug (a small wheeled toy) and figure out what things are used for, this time in the supermarket). There were also a few short Sesame Street clips for them to watch about counting, alphabet and a goat who gets mad.
We watched the video with Cashel in it quite a few times.
Since they didn’t get to take a bath last night, I filled up the tub and got them in. So a couple of firsts for our household today. 1-I decided to put every single bath toy in the tub that they had. 2-Cashel pooped in the tub…after I put the toys in.
And so went our day.
The kids played hard today. Toys were ALL over the house, nearly shin deep. There were sleep overs and Riesling in a Commando outfit and dollies to care for and cats to terrorize and parachute man and wrapping paper to make and gifts for Daddy to wrap and all the stuff that is so very chocked full of learning.
I read Blue’s Clues: Blue’s Cool Idea, Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale and Rainbow Fish to the Rescue by Marcus Pfister.
Cashel decided to skip snack so by dinner he was a wreck. While Riesling finished her tuna melt, I sat him on my lap and hugged him until he calmed down. Finally he ate some yogurt and asked for a piece of bread with no “yucky” stuff on it. I toasted some up, parked him in his chair and readied Riesling for Nutcracker rehearsal.
She did her Polychinelle routine for us while she waited for her ride.
Immediately after dinner, I got Cashel ready for bed and read him Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. He asked me to rock him. I said, “Ok.” and he snuggled up. I laid him in his little bed and listened to him fall asleep within minutes.
Riesling finally made it home from rehearsal at 10. Poor kid was so tired that she tried to crawl into bed with her leotard on. Tomorrow’s dress rehearsal and then 3 shows. If she didn’t love it so much, I’m sure she would have quit long ago.
I can’t imagine her not dancing. She saw her first ballet when she was 18 months old on the very stage where she will perform. She got up and danced in front of the stage during intermission, trying to imitate the dancers. It seems like just yesterday…
I needed to take the car to the Body Shop for some follow up repairs so I was up and making smoothies before 7:00. Riesling and Cashel both got up at about 7:15. I hurried us through our morning to get out the door at 8:30.
The kids both started out with $2 today, since they saved their dollars from yesterday. They each spent 25 cents on candy from the machine at the Body Shop. I was surprised that we were there for about 5 minutes or so before Riesling decided to buy something. I guess that the toys were more exciting today, especially the Buzz Lightyear action figure that Cashel found.
Next stop: James Madison University Young Children’s Program (JMU YCP). I really really needed to drop off a book that I had been borrowing for an obscene amount of time and Riesling wanted to say, “Hi” to her former teacher, Mrs. (Kelly) Rooney. Riesling seemed to be very happy to see her. Cashel explored the water fountain.
We went on our way to the Downtown Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market because it plainly states on the home page of their website that they are open March through December on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7-1. Not so. Riesling and Cashel were both disappointed.
We drove on to Finders Keepers, a discount merchandise and grocery outlet store. The kids took the opportunity to stretch their legs and ran around and around and around. Fortunately, the store wasn’t busy at all and I only needed to reign them in once or twice. Cashel found a padded bat and a lacrosse stick. He alternated carrying these around the store. I reminded him to be aware of the no “high sticking” rule! He didn’t have enough money to purchase either, so he reluctantly put them back before we left the store. Riesling found some light up flowers in pink, green and blue for $1 each and suggested to Cashel the they pool their money so that they could purchase them. Cashel agreed. He and Riesling played a game through out the store where they hid from and feigned fright of all people (including me at times).
As we headed through the middle of Harrisonburg on the way to the next stop, the kids asked if we could go to the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum. It was 11:30 and we would have been there for hours. I tried to let them know that we needed to keep going if we were to get everything done that needed to get done today. As we neared the Harrisonburg Crossing Shopping Center, Riesling asked if we could go to the pet store. Cashel chimed in that that would be a great idea. I agreed to a short visit.
In PETCO the kids ran to check out the rodents and ferrets. They got the biggest kick out of the mice on their exercise wheel. Two of the creatures would get on at once and begin to run. Well soon enough one would get going faster than the other and the slower one would do a loop-de-loop all the way around. Riesling and Cashel laughed and laughed and laughed. They checked out the dog treats that closely resembled human food and looked at the birds for a few minutes. We stayed in the fish section for quite some time, reading the names of the types of fish and talking about how they looked. They really liked the R2-D2 with a fish tank for a body. Then it was on to the reptiles. They watched the hermit crabs (they were in the reptile area) crawl around with their colorfully painted shells on their backs. Cashel really liked watching the snakes and described their motions, complete with hand movements. After an hour, it was time to go.
We walked to Payless Shoe Source to return some shoes. Riesling insisted on trying on ballet slippers and tap shoes. Cashel dragged a pair of rain boots around with him until he found the Cars slippers. It was all I could do to get him out of the store.
It was quite busy at Walmart so I needed them to stay close to the cart, which after one retrieval of Cashel, they did. They each had 19 cents left. In the foyer of the store I counted out the coins and gave them to my children. I let them know that there was a Salvation Army kettle outside that they could put the money in for people that didn’t have enough food or clothes or a place to stay, if they wanted to. Riesling said that she would since she couldn’t buy anything with 19 cents. Cashel said, “No!” and gripped his dime, nickel and pennies in his little hand. When we got to the van, Cashel put his change in his cup holder for safe keeping.
At Kate’s Natural Products Riesling asked if she could have some change from the “give a penny, take a penny” dish. I quietly explained to her what that money was for and that it wouldn’t be appropriate or polite for her to take it. Cashel decided that he wanted to put his 19 cents in the little fountain. I ran out to the van and grabbed it. He threw it in all at once. Riesling reached in to get it. We headed directly to the bathroom to wash her hands and to talk about why it isn’t appropriate or polite to take money out of a fountain at a business. Then Riesling and Cashel walked around the store very fast, since the proprietor had asked them not to run last time we were there because there was another business downstairs.
Last stop (Thank GOD!) was Martin’s. Riesling and Cashel insisted that they wanted to ride in the car cart and said that they would stay in it and not get out and leave me to push the silly thing around with no kids inside. This worked for most of the time. They were really rambunctious and silly by this point.
We were almost home and Cashel couldn’t keep his eyelids open any longer. As I pulled into the driveway, he fell asleep. It was 4 o’clock. I put him on the couch in an effort to rouse him, but he did not cooperate. He slept until 5:30.
Meanwhile, Riesling helped Joe take apart and fix my bed side light.
Soon enough it was time to go to Nutcracker rehearsal. When we arrived, Riesling saw a girl named Danielle that Mrs. Rooney had mentioned went to JMU YCP and was in the Nutcracker. Danielle is four. Riesling explained to her that she went to JMU Young Children’s Program and that she was there last year and that Mrs Rooney was her teacher, except when she was having her baby and then Mrs Guerrier was her teacher. Riesling tried to put her arm around the little girl and Danielle clung to her mother’s leg. I gently gave Riesling a hug and said, “I think she needs a little space.” I knelt down and asked Danielle if Mrs. Guerrier was her teacher and she said, “Yes!” and smiled at Riesling. Later I saw them playing together while they were waiting for their turn to rehearse.
At nearly 9:00, Riesling was done. It was so quiet on the way home. I asked Riesling if she was doing ok. She said, “Yes.” The next time I looked back she was fast asleep.
I carried her in and got her out of her leotard and into her pjs while she snoozed. As I tucked her in, I heard Joe take Cashel into his room. He had just fallen asleep as well.
I asked Joe what they did while we were gone and this is what transpired:
Cashel woke up at 3AM crying and calling Mommy. Joe went in to check on him and came back with a report of possible bed wetting. I went in and sure enough, he had wet the bed. I tried to pick him up to change his bed clothes and he effectively attached himself to the sheet telling me that he wanted to sleep so he could get stronger and stronger. I reiterated that he was wet and needed to be changed. He said, “No!” I said, “Ok” and stood by the door for a minute. He had gone back to sleep.
I heard someone yelling at the top of their lungs for Mommy at 4:27 and thought it was Cashel again, but it was Riesling. I quickly went in to see what was wrong (I didn’t want her to wake Cashel) and she said she just wanted to come into our bed. I let her know that she could turn on her flashlight and make her way by herself next time! Three minutes later, Joe silenced his blaring alarms and stayed in bed.
Cashel woke up again at 5:30. I told Joe what time it was and he got up to shower. I let Cashel know that Joe was going to wash him up in the shower. He hollered and cried because he didn’t want to get out of his bed. While Joe was washing him off, I stripped the bed, wiped down the waterproof mattress and started a load of wash. Then I got Cashel dressed and brought him in to snuggle with me and parachute man. By now it was 6:09. He wanted to get up and kept asking for granola. I let him know that at 7:00 I would get out of bed and get him whatever he needed.
I was in and out of sleep for what seemed like minutes. I fully woke up again when parachute man’s plastic parachute was pressed against my face! It was 8:47 and Cashel was determined to get my attention and some granola.
Riesling woke up about 10 minutes later and I gave them both some granola. The munched and talked about something silly. After polishing off their smoothies they played with the miniature porcelain village. Then they watched Dora the Explorer Lost Map and Super Map.
Cashel had parachute man by his side. He played airplanes and trains. He asked me what the names of each train was and then pointed the train out on a corresponding card and repeated the name.
We changed the Magnetic calender from November to December. While we were doing this I noticed Riesling was a little rusty with her second decade of counting numbers (i.e. the teens). I also noticed that if I began counting Cashel was able to continue the counting numbers for the next number even into the twenties.
I dug out some dot to dot books and put them on the table and let Riesling know they were there. She and Cashel hopped up to the table and Riesling began to connect the dots from 1 to 100. I found a more basic number book for Cashel and gave him that. He took his pencil and colored the pictures.
I read and read and read to them today. First up was The Biggest Snowball Ever! by John Rogan, twice. Then DragonTales Flower Power by Irene Trimble, The Night Before the Night Before Christmas by Natasha Wing, The Magic School Bus At The Waterworks by Joanna Cole and What Santa Can’t Do by Douglas Wood.
They played a game of Perfection riddled with conflict.
Later, they did some belly button dancing to Beats Antiques.
Stefano and his Mom stopped by. My kids were excited to have someone different to play with. Riesling and Stefano strapped on some roller blades and shuffled around the house.
Riesling got ready to go to Nutcracker rehearsal and Cashel and Joe wrestled and played a game that is kind of a hide and seek, tag, tackle combination.
Joe detached parachute man’s parachute for bed time. Cashel wasn’t too excited about this, but since it was nearly 8:30, he passed out anyway (after I read him What Was I Scared Of? by Dr Seuss).
Riesling got home from rehearsal at 9:30. She ate a quick snack, Joe got her ready and I read her The Easter Bunny’s Lost Egg by Sharon Gordon. Then I sang my best Redemption Song and I’ve been working on the railroad while listening to her wide yawns. A quick kiss and tuck in and it was good night for my little dancer.
I made smoothies and Riesling made the eggs almost all by herself. Cashel is getting a pretty good handle on the toast too. Joe only provided minimal assistance. Now I know what was going on while I was sleeping in…the kids were learning to cook!
I finished yesterday’s blog and the kids and Joe watched some old videos. Riesling and Cashel played with the little village again. Later they were running from room to room chasing each other, laughing.
Cashel had parachute man by his side all day.
They took the yogurt containers and built a wall to keep me in the bedroom.
After lunch we went and got Riesling’s ballet classmate, Hannah B., and went to Nutcracker rehearsal for The Land of the Sweets. The children sat on the floor playing while they waited for their turn to practice their parts. Many of them played rock, paper, scissors…shoot! Riesling joined in, even though she had never played before. The games then turned to ring around the rosy and London bridge.
Then an adult plopped a bunch of long pipe cleaners in the middle of them. They twisted and tied them into candy canes. Riesling made hers into cat ears, with the help of another girl.
Hannah B. went in for her part. Riesling and the few kids that were left tried to lift each other off the ground and showed each other how they could jump and bend.
Cashel napped through the dull roar. When he awoke, he and parachute man joined in the contests.
After rehearsal, we dropped Hannah B. off and went home.
I got the kids a bath. They spit water on each other the entire time.
The kids and Joe played Twister Hopscotch and I got dinner. I made turkey salad sandwiches. Cashel swiped his off his plate and took a bite before I got it to the table and appeared to really like it. I put it back on his plate and put it and him at the table. While the rest of us inhaled our food, Cashel complained that he wanted bread and that he didn’t like “yucky stuff” (referring to the turkey salad). Finally I put the sandwich over by Riesling and Cashel grabbed it and started eating it. Joe teasingly said that he was going to eat the sandwich if Cashel didn’t. Cashel picked the sandwich up and cocked it back over his head and I said please set the sandwich down gentle and he threw it across the table, hitting me in the side of my head. My oh so supportive husband attempted to stifle his laughter with I picked celery out of my hair.
Joe cleaned up after dinner and they watched another old video or two. Something about when Riesling first learned to wink after she ate a lemon.
I snuggled up with Cashel and read Ten Apples up on Top by Theo LeSieg (Dr. Seuss) and The Sneetches and What Was I Scared Of? by Dr Seuss. I also read Owl Moon by June Yolen and a couple of captions from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary.
He took nearly an hour to go to sleep (with parachute man), thanks to his afternoon nap.
Meanwhile, Joe played with Riesling. When Cashel was nearly out, I could hear them doing rock, paper, scissors. When I was able to join them, Riesling had the game down pat. Riesling and I played Chess and Battleship. Joe did some puzzles and then “social networked”.
Finally it was nearly 10 and Riesling’s bedtime for the coming week had arrived. Since she will be in rehearsal every night until around 9 and then on stage until 9:30 or so on Friday or Saturday, we thought it would be good to try to move her sleep schedule so that she is used to staying up late on the nights of the performances. I hope it works so that she is well rested.
Joe got up with the kids and made their smoothies so that I could sleep until about 9. I was grateful. They said they watched some more old videos of Daddy and Uncle Ryan acting silly!
We resumed our quest to get the tree decorated. Cashel thought that a Christmas kaleidoscope was really interesting.
Riesling danced and posed while Cashel played with a train and an airplane ornament for quite some time, zooming and flying them about and around. Then he sat down and clinked together 4 porcelain snowmen ornaments for amusement. I had been trying to get his snowman sweater on him and took this opportunity to sneak it over his head and pajama top while showing him that the snowman on his sweater looked like the ornaments. His parachute man was at his side through out his adventures.
Riesling took the tree skirt and decided it was a cape. She danced around while Cashel ball ornaments to the tails of the kitty cat ornaments.
There was a knock at our door. It was mail delivery with a belated birthday gift from Aunt Beth, Uncle Joe, Colleen and Joseph. Riesling opened the box with her safety scissors and unwrapped her gift. Cashel really really really wanted to help her. I tried to gently restrain, tickle and distract him. One of the gifts was Twister Hopscotch. They began to set that up, but didn’t quite make it to playing a game.
When the tree was finally done we ate a very late lunch which lasted through snack time. Of course there was a dining table science project. Joe whipped together a squash seed “Operation” game. The objective was to take the sterilized tweezers and pick up a squash seed from the aluminum foil, with out touching the foil. If contact was made with the foil, the buzzer would sound! Riesling recognized that a complete circuit was made when the foil was touched. Joe then demonstrated how this didn’t work if you put the seeds on a paper towel.
While I made little frozen blobs of kale/mustard greens for their smoothies, the kids played with the miniature porcelain Christmas village. Their imaginations were on full speed ahead as they made believe all kinds of scenarios.
Riesling sat and looked at her picture Bible for a long time.
Then they decided to put together a wall with our quart yogurt containers, effectively blocking the end of the hall from all intruders.
After dinner and a special snowman ice cream treat, compliments of Joe, it was the usual bedtime routine. I read Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg (Dr Suess) and Clifford’s Happy Mother’s Day by Norman Bridwell.
It was late and they passed out, Riesling snug in her bed and Cashel with parachute man (which I removed from his little grasp as soon as I could).
This morning was more of the same. The kids each at 2 waffles in addition to their smoothies. Then they decided to watch Bob the Builder: Pets in a Pickle and The Magic School Bus Gets Energized. My Little Pony Lady Bug Jamboree was up next. Riesling and Cashel got out some of their musical instruments and played along.
The theme of musical instruments continued through out the day. Cashel carried around a metal recorder and a plastic violin bough all day long, reminding me that one was his sword and one was his light saber. He would occasionally squeeze both of them into one hand so that he could pick up his “hitter” (my wooden spoon) as well. I was grateful that he didn’t hit Riesling with any of the mentioned items.
Cashel kept attempting to hijack the belt that closes my pink bathrobe…again. I had just retrieved it from behind Riesling’s toy box last night. I was happy that I had kept it in it’s place when I hung my robe up in the closet. Hours later I found the belt on the floor in another part of the house.
The kids marveled at the huge snowflakes that fell before lunch. Riesling told Cashel all about how it was frozen rain falling from the clouds.
The kids sat on my lap and looked at e-cards from Joe’s Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob Jacquie Lawson’s on the computer for at least 40 minutes. They both practiced navigating with the mouse using the touch pad on my computer. We also played Square Pairs, which is an object recognition game.
(So I can’t remember what happened for the rest of the day because Cashel woke up as I was blogging on Tuesday and I had to lay down with him. He didn’t do so well on the next two days either. It’s now Friday and I’m waaaayyyy behind…I’ll see when he wakes up tonight to determine whether I can get anything done.)
I do remember that Cashel snuggled up with the violin bough and quickly fell asleep….for a while.
Cashel and I got up and left a sleeping Riesling in the bed. She joined us in the kitchen a few minutes later. They both ate frozen bananas while I made their liquid breakfasts.
They changed into their first costumes of the day and danced to some Christmas music.
Then they got out some Easter baskets and spread the grass far and wide. Once emptied the baskets were used for a picnic.
After the picnic, Riesling requested some chalk. They used it to draw on 2 chalk boards. Actually, Cashel laid the chalk down on the board and made a “jail”. Riesling drew spirals and a completely discernible rocket ship. All this ended with Cashel trying to make all of the chalk shorter. I managed to pardon some pieces and he voluntarily put them in a box for safe keeping for next time.
Despite our thermostat being set at 65 degrees, the children still run around in next to nothing. I reminded them that their bodies are more susceptible to germs when they are cold and if Riesling was sick next week she would not be performing on stage in The Nutcracker. She put on some clothes. Cashel kept asking me to snuggle him up to keep him warm. Finally I convinced him to put his PJs back on.
And so our day went.
Riesling and Cashel got out the playdough and enjoyed rolling and cutting out shapes.
Suddenly Riesling felt the need to get down and gyrate to some techno. (Benny Benassi)
I got some lunch together and was excited that Cashel ate almost a whole avocado while Riesling ate leftover stirfry.
Then we made dark chocolate chip cookies with whole-grain organic spelt flour and molasses to sweeten. The kids decided to divide up the ingredients, one group for each of them to put into the bowls. Once they were in done measuring and dumping the ingredients, they left me to mix and put the dough onto the cookie sheet by the teaspoonful.
Meanwhile, they sat on the floor next to the kitchen with the magnetic letters and numbers. Riesling patiently showed each letter to Cashel and asked him or told him what it was. Then she tried to get him to match it up to the corresponding letter on a magnetic board.
The cookies turn out great! Riesling and I ate at least 2 batches of the bite size treats (that’s 40 cookies!). I tried to express as gently as I could that she could have as many as she would like, but she needed to make herself stop before she got sick, because eventually, that is exactly what would happen. Thankfully she did stop before she barfed.
When the cookies were done, the kids decided that they wanted to “do my hair”. They brushed, styled and barretted until Joe got home and then it was his turn
Joe and the kids played hide and seek, doctor and some other games until dinner.
Directly after dinner, Riesling ran and got my make up and her lipstick that is reserved for on stage performances and applied it all herself.
I got the kids their bath and read them 102 Dalmations by Disney and Tonka’s Working Hard with the Mighty Cranes by Justine Korman. Cashel got his drink of water and Riesling found her way to her bed.
Since I slept until nearly 10AM I will tell you what I was told happened this morning.
Well, I know that Riesling and Cashel were up before 7 and waited patiently for the magic numbers to appear on the clock. Joe got up with them. Then I hear that he made them (and me) a smoothie. They helped him make eggs and toast with jam. After eating was done, Lego playing began and continued past when I woke up.
Riesling and Cashel both built jails and Joe worked on his rubber band launcher through out the day until it was nearly dinner time.
For lunch we had a picnic in the living room while we ate our leftover beef stir fry. We would be Joe, Riesling and I. Cashel was so glued to Toy Story that he didn’t take one bite. When the movie was over, they all popped some corn only after carefully measuring its temperature and weight. They watched Bob the Builder: Pets in a Pickle. Cashel did eat lots of popcorn. When the bottom of the bowl was in view, the unpopped kernels were counted and recorded near the temp and weight in the lab book. This continued the ongoing experiment to determine which kind of popcorn is best and what temperature is best for it to be popped at.
After the TV was off, both kids donned Christmas dresses and danced around the living room.
Then they played sword fighting and also did some non-play fighting.
When Joe was finally ready to quit his Lego marathon, he played with the kids and their dollies. Cashel did his best with Dressy Bessy and her many fasteners and Riesling made sure all dollies were dressed for the chilly evening.
Joe also decided to take apart one of their fire trucks to see how it works. Riesling correctly told him what she thought would be inside to make each of the parts work. Cashel liked playing with the screws.
For dinner we all sat down to a Harmony Chicken Soup. Cashel really liked the beans, chicken and carrots. Riesling seemed like she really enjoyed it and ate quite a bit. Joe and I had to force ourselves to stop eating!
The second they were done, I hustled everyone toward the bathroom to wash up and then to get pjs on. I quickly read Cashel a tractor board book and Bunny’s House by Ronne Randall. He fell asleep in less than a minute after climbing into bed.
I came out and Joe and Riesling were putzing around with the dismantled fire engine. Joe remarked about how fast Cashel went to sleep and I remarked that they were exhausted. He rapidly got Riesling into her bed and sang her some stories for a quick goodnight.
The kids woke up a little before 7 so we had the countdown until it was time for me to joyfully make their breakfast. While I did, they watched Bob the Builder: Pets in a Pickle and Riesling starring in The Very Hungry Caterpillar when she was 3!
They played with the Firestation and then we drove to EMU to visit their recycling facility. The kids really wanted to get out and run around on the tiny bit of grass in front of our van. We saw Leyland there by chance. It was 33 degrees out and he didn’t have a coat on. He said that he was cold and wished he had put it on when he got out of the car. The babysitter stated that she had suggested that he do so, but he didn’t want to. The babysitter took off her sweatshirt and wrapped him in it and carried him back to the car. We also went back in the van because the kids were cold.
Soon after many of the other Funschoolers arrived. We went in and Jonathan talked about what’s recycled and how and showed us the bicycles that had trailers attached that are ridden around to gather the recycling. Riesling seemed mildly interested, Cashel not so much. They ran around quite a bit with Murphy. He’d hold his hands out with thumbs up and index fingers out at Riesling and she would reach for the sky! The other kids seemed quite interested and Clint asked quite a few questions regarding how recycling happens.
When we were done, Alice went and picked up the Funschool newspaper and then met Janell and I at Harrisonburg Children’s Museum. There Cashel played with Murphy for a bit at the garden and market with Alice. Riesling and I played doctor and looked at the x-rays to find one of a hand and a leg, which Riesling determined were broken. After bandaging me up and Riesling played with Clint. He patiently tried to show her how to use some remote control trucks enclosed behind some plexiglass.
Cashel then began playing with the marble runs intermingled with an occasional putt with the provided golf club.
Then we all ended up at the Little Grill for lunch. I really enjoyed talking with Janell about food and nutrition. Riesling and Cashel decided that they wanted to sit at the other table with Alice, Clint and Murphy. So I set them up and they ate their lunches without to much commotion. When they and Murphy were done, they all got out Mr Potato Head and spread him out on the table. Lilly joined them and the played and played.
Riesling decided to spend her $2 on a giant chocolate chop cookie, which she then shared with Cashel.
When we got home, they immediately inflated the Fire Station. Then they asked me to play ABC Bingo. I suggested that we play inside the Station. Cashel played calmly for a while and then decided he’d had enough and began to turn on and off the blower so that the Fire Station would collapse around Riesling and I. This was still managaeable. However, then when he tried to walk on top of the deflated Station, it messed up the game pieces. So Riesling and I tried escaping out the side and letting Cashel know that we would be going into her room if he didn’t want to not mess up the game that we wanted to play. He got upset. After a few iterations of this, we all tried to work it out. We didn’t end up getting things resolved because Joe came home and their focus was diverted.
Joe played with them and they did some dancing. While I got ready for a freeze your buttooti off in 26 degrees, felt like 13, Mom’s Night Out, Joe gave the kids their dinner and then a bath.
When I got home he said that they had all fallen asleep in our bed watching this color changing ball that Joe picked up at the Goodwill.
