Last night when I got home all kids were actually up. So I had the chance to hug them, hold them, read to them, talk to them, and watch them as they endlessly showed me all of the great toys they received over the weekend. There were a lot of “Mommy look at this…”. It was so cute. I had to hold each child for a while.

Twin Husky had a hard time going to sleep which is VERY unusual. So I sat with him in the dark and told him that he came back to me and that it was OK. We sat in silence and then he was OK to go to bed.

Twin Crazy needed help with her nose – which means I had to put Aquafore on her chapped nose to make it feel better. She seemed satisfied with that.

I had to hold Red and read her The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

I had to sit with Tyler and listen as he told me all about his new legos.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

I took no pictures this morning. I just wanted to soak in the moment with the kids. It was great to see them sitting in their breakfast stools this morning. It was chocolate Tuesday so all kids were excited.

Twin Crazy let me pull her hair back so she could better eat. She kept spilling her oatmeal and would tell me about it so I cleaned it up and pushed in her seat. There. All better.

Twin Husky wanted “more chocolate” in his deep, husky voice. He spent the rest of the morning strolling around his tigers, and also walking around with Big Bro’s yo-yo.

Red was doing really well. We only had one issue with one sock this morning. I think I’m going to try to find seamless socks for her. I think that will help.

Big Bro was great. He was very cooperative. Except that he was missing his backpack. I told him that going forward ALL of our things for the next day NEED to be put in their right spot so we can find everything. Shoes, jackets, backpacks. I really try to stick to this routine but it doesn’t work when we all don’t do things consistently. Going forward we will.

I dropped off Twins and Big Bro – I barely made it to the ferry. I had literally one minute to spare.

Now I’m on the ferry and it is cold. I have a large coffee with me. I am hungry and have no make-up on (back to the normal routine!!). I will need to work on the presentation for our proposal meeting tomorrow, and will also need to start to prepare for two planning meetings for our forums in April. I also need to start the outreach to potential guests to get them to attend. And I have a lot on my mind on personal matters. Somehow I need to get to some of that today too. It will be busy for me. I’m going to buy myself a breakfast sandwhich on the way into work.

Highlights of My Working Day:

I grabbed a big breakfast sandwich on my way to work. I didn’t bother to put on make-up or doing anything with myself. I felt like hunkering down in my office and getting shit done.

I organized discussion materials for our proposal meeting tomorrow. We will present our project objectives and approach to our potential client. It will be me and one Director going. I get to wear a suit!

I got my schedule mixed up and wound up missing a meeting that I lead. It is a standing sales meeting related to a forum we are launching and I moved it up so someone in the U.K. could attend. Well, I missed it. Shit. So I sent out the materials late, and we will [try to] meet again in two weeks time.

I had a feedback session from one of our meetings in October. I hear the same things from each of these meetings, yet always something a bit different… interesting.

I organized the notes from one of the meetings back in October. We collectively decided that we would not send out minutes to ANY of the forums since we were all so late. It would look ridiculous to send them out now. But we do need them for our files, and to help us prepare for the next sets of meetings in April. So, I got one finished off, and I have one more to left to do.

I spent time working on personal things as well. A lot of writing. Thankfully for this blog, I think I’ve gotten much faster at putting my thoughts to paper. It didn’t take me long to clean up what I had written over the weekend.

Dinner and Bedtime:

I talked with a neighbor on the way back on the ferry. I am in good spirits. I will be on my own tonight with the kids since hubby will not be there and since our Mother’s Helper cancelled on us. So, I was actually looking forward to being there with the kids, solo.

I picked up Red and she was excited to show me her sparkly hairbands. She let me wear one.

I ordered a pizza on the ride over to Big Bro.

We picked up Big Bro and then he started a crying/whining episode about Lego pieces. Unbelievable. Why is this kid always so hard to handle at these times of day? I think we need to pack more food in his lunch or something. I’ll do that as a test tomorrow to see if it makes a difference.

Twin pickup was so cute. They were inside, playing with blocks. Twin Husky made a road with his blocks and was driving a car down the line of blocks. Twin Crazy built a very intricate wall with her blocks (apparently with the daycare provider) and was very proud of it. Then Twin Husky came over and knocked it down. Twin Crazy pursed her lips and held back a laugh. They were way too cute.

At home, we organized our shoes and jackets. They are all in one place so we know where everything is tomorrow.

Pizza came right away! All kids ate well – particularly Big Bro.

I couldn’t believe it, but it was only 6:20 PM when we finished dinner!!!! We had lots of playtime. I also couldn’t help but get some cleaning up done. The place was a disaster. I also did some laundry, but then spent the rest of the time playing with the kids.

Big Bro was playing Legos.

Twin Crazy and Twin Husky were playing with milk and blowing bubbles through a straw. They both wound up drenched in milk. I tried to reprimand them but they were too cute that I needed to take a picture.

Red was helping me clean up. She was also busy with her Princess stickers.

I spent time tickling Red, Twin Crazy, and Twin Husky.

Twin bedtime was fast; they both need vaseline on their noses now before bed. I guess it makes them feel better.

Bedtime with Red and Big Bro was really cute. We read 1/2 books since we were tired. We researched Lego directions on my iPad since Big Bro does not know how to put one of his hand-me-down Lego trucks back together. There was lots of potty time. Me: “OK go back to bed now Miss Poopy.”….. Red: “OK I’ll go to bed now Miss Cleans My Poopy Butt.”

I asked them if I told them yet how much I missed them over the weekend. Of course they said “No.”. So I squeezed both of them as hard as I could and said “This much!!!” I then started to blow them kisses, they wiped them off, and I said that they just rubbed them in further in their skin. Red told me that I’m funny. I wanted to scoop her up just then and never put her back down.

After they got to bed, I cleaned up a sink-full of dirty dishes, took out the compost, cleaned up more crap, folded clothes, got stacks of clothes ready for the Twins, got clothes out for Red, for Big Bro, organized a pile of jackets, and organized a pile of shoes. I will be solo tomorrow and I want to do as much as I can tonight to make it easier on all of us. I also pre-programmed the coffee machine for tomorrow AM.

It’s late – but I had a GREAT time with the kids. We had so much play time. And while I was busy bustling about and talking to them, I was also getting things done around the house. They were all either busy with themselves, or with each other. There was activity in all directions, but there were no fights, no tantrums, and no drama!!!! I loved it. It was actually very relaxing.

So I’m sitting here in my bed with my bedwarmer on and feeling really good about the day. I had a busy day at work and a busy day at home. And good conversation in-between.

Til tomorrow,
– Mama K