Our Five Ring Circus: Weekend Things

Monday, April 18, 2016

Weekend Things

Can I get a day to recover from this weekend?  I really do think that should be a thing.  Who's with me?

Gone are relaxing weekends.  Instead, the mom taxi is in service, and we spend our weekends racing from activity to activity. When we're not in the car or wherever else we need to be, we are at home attempting to tackle all those projects that get pushed aside during our busy weeks. I always try to remind myself: It's just a phase in our lives!

We're in the sleepover phase with our three older kids.  On Friday night, Dylan had a sleepover with his cousins at their house and Lily had a sleepover at my parent's house.  The next day, Lily arrived home in the afternoon and we immediately jumped in the car to pick Dylan up from his sleepover and drop Lexie off at her sleepover.  Then, a friend of Dylan's slept over our house on Saturday night, and I had to pick Lexie up from her sleepover on Sunday afternoon. See what I mean about the mom taxi?

I didn't take a single picture with my fancy camera this weekend, which is unusual, but we were too busy enjoying the gorgeous summer-like weather (and driving around)!

Our weekend kicked off on Friday at lunch time.  I had to read to Lily's class because she was Star Student of the week, and, well, I had to read with Liam strapped to my back. It went much better than I expected, and Lily's class loved Press Here!

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From there, we headed over to my parent's house for lunch and dinner! My sister joined us for dinner, and my mom and I played Quiddler for a few hours after she left.  My Friday nights are nothing like they used to be, but for some reason, they seem so much better!

Dylan is starting to send me selfies from his iPod. This #brothers selfie is too cute!

Just before I headed back home with only half my crew, Lily decided to become a cat.  With a sharpie.

While visiting her grandparents..."Look! I'm a cat!" A cat with a sharpie face, of course. Thank goodness she stayed over there tonight!  #adventureswithlily

I'm glad my mom had to deal with the aftermath of that one!  ;)

Saturday is my sleep in day.  Grant always wakes up with the kids while I stay in bed until late morning.  I always get such a small amount of sleep during the week, so it's exactly what I need!

Saturday involved many miles in the car driving kids around and a very expensive trip to Costco. (Is a trip to Costco EVER cheap?)  It ended very well, though.  We went over to my best friend's house and just sat outside while our kids played, and ended the night around the fire.  Not only did it feel like a summer evening, but it was so great to spend time with them.  It has been far too long!

Sunday was a gorgeous 80 degree day and was spent outside...and shopping!  Liam and I picked up Lexie, bought some outdoor furniture at Lowe's, took Lexie shopping at TJ Maxx for the rest of her summer clothes, and we did the grocery shopping for the week.

Lexie is a mini-mommy! ❤ I'm spending this gorgeous 80 degree Pittsburgh afternoon shopping for summer clothes with 2 of my 4 kiddos!

When we got home, Grant sprayed all of our kids with the hose, then they played in the little pool while I tackled a huge project: turning our sun porch into an outdoor playroom for the kids! Mainly for Liam, AKA my toddler tornado!

It involved carrying everything into the backyard, sweeping out months of sensory play materials, and swapping the winter gear and toys for all the summer stuff.  Once it was completely empty and clean, I put down an outdoor carpet, and brought everything back in and organized it all.

It was a lot of work, but I didn't mind.  I got to work while my kids played just outside the sun porch, and the weather was perfect.  And my hard work paid off!  Liam LOVED it.

Today's project was turning half of the sun porch into an outdoor playroom for the toddler tornado. He's a fan!

We now have a space where Liam can be "outside" but still contained.  The kids ended up coming in from their little pool party and they spent 2 hours playing on the sun porch, which never happened before.  It's amazing what an outdoor carpet can do!

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We ended our night with grilled turkey dogs and an episode of a show on Netflix before rushing into our school night routine.

It was a busy weekend, but the beautiful weather made it perfect!  I can't help but feel really excited for all the summer weekends ahead of us!  

How was your weekend?

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15 comments:

  1. What a fun, but busy weekend. I love that Saturday mornings are yours to sleep in. That's awesome. The sun porch looks awesome and yay for the kids all enjoying it. Have a great week.

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  2. How fun to read to her class! Glad it went well!
    www.amemoryofus.com

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  3. The outdoor playroom turned out awesome! So nice that the kiddos can be outside, but still be contained. And what an amazing idea to put down a carpet... that is brilliant! You never have to worry about scraped knees!

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    1. I think that's why they didn't really play in there before. It was just a cold (painted) cement floor! I'm so glad they are enjoying it!

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  4. I am TOTALLY with you on needing a recover day. Maybe if we had one Mondays wouldn't be so awful? Looks like you had a fun and eventful weekend.

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  5. Cat with a sharpie lolol.

    You look like supermom + supermodel in that first picture!

    I love your new playroom/sunroom! It looks absolutely perfect and so awesome!

    And oh yeah, the sleepover stage....I'm definitely not ready for that one!

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    1. I'm glad my mom had to deal with the cleanup!
      And you are too sweet! I was sweating by the time I snapped that picture of the three of us. Liam is squirmy!
      That sleepover phase will be coming your way soon. Enjoy the calmness while you can. XOXO

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  6. I want your playroom! So fun! What a great idea to use a kiddie pool as a ball pit. And gold stars to your hubby- so sweet he gives you a sleep in day! You definitely deserve to be well rested, even if it is only one day out of the week ;)

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  7. What an inviting spot you made for him to play. I bet he'll get a ton of use from it this summer!

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  8. Can you believe we're having summer temps already? It sure looks like everyone is having fun, especially with the new play area you made. I love all the pictures, and I'm glad to see that you're usually in one or two of them too! :)

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  9. It's so nice to have an outdoor play area! What bliss! And no, there is no such thing as a cheap or quick trip to Costco. Never! HA!

    Katie @ Cup of Tea

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