Our Five Ring Circus: Weekend Life

Monday, April 30, 2018

Weekend Life

Life with Kids

Happy Monday! Is anybody else in disbelief over the fact that it's the last day of April? Where did the month go?!? We had yet another busy weekend, and didn't get much time to recover before getting into school/work mode. Let me be honest: lazy weekends are a thing of the past!


This weekend was pretty much the "laziest weekend" we've had in weeks, and I use the term lazy very loosely! Every weekend in May is completely booked, so this weekend definitely seemed quiet in comparison. Our May weekends will be full of birthday parties, my brother's wedding, my cousin's wedding (all of my kids are in it), along with soccer games every Sunday. There will be no relaxing for us, but at least the month is full of special occasions! (Our weeks will be just as busy with end of the school year events, soccer practice, dance, basketball, and appointments!)

Here's how we spent our last "lazy weekend" before the chaos begins...

FRIDAY


Friday is always my house cleaning/laundry day. Since we have friends over almost every Friday and Saturday evening, I like to kick off the weekend with a clean house. And I save up all of my laundry for Fridays, which means I have 10 loads to conquer. (I no longer enjoy laundry!)

Almost every Friday, some of my kids (whichever ones don't have plans) and I visit my parents. And now that we have a puppy, she comes up with us. I never thought I would be THAT person, but my parents love their grandpuppy!

English Mastiff

While we were visiting, it stormed, but the evening ended with a double rainbow!

Rainbow

After dinner with my parents, my mom and I played a few rounds of Quiddler before I loaded up my crew to head back home. Each weekend, my parents keep one of my kids overnight, then take them somewhere special the following day, so it was Lily's turn to sleep over that night. When the rest of us got home, my house was full of friends, so I finished up some chores (like the dreaded task of putting new sheets on my bed) before sitting down to watch a show with them. We're currently taking a walk down memory lane and making our way through My So Called Life!


And of course we had to kick off the weekend with some bathtub fun!

Down syndrome

Down syndrome Blog

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Down syndrome blogger

Down syndrome

Down syndrome

SATURDAY 


Almost every Saturday morning, Grant and Dylan leave early to go for a drive. It's their father/son bonding time. They try to go somewhere different each week, and this week this week they ended up browsing thrift stores (where Grant bought a pair of mint condition British Knights that he was ridiculously excited about), picking up a few things at Ross, and buying snacks at Trader Joes.

British Knights


Now here's the lazy part of the weekend...Lexie, Liam, the puppy, and I slept in, then watched a few shows together in our pajamas, while drinking hot tea. It was so nice! After that, we got to work on putting away laundry, packing up Winter clothing, and re-organizing kitchen drawers. We found a few treasures along the way...

Down syndrome

Meanwhile, Lily spent the entire day with my parents. She ended up returning home that evening with a fairy door playset and a new Barbie set. Yay...more toys!!! And just in time, because...

While we worked IN the house, Grant and a few of his friends went to my sister's house to take down her full-size trampoline that she graciously offered to us since it wasn't being used anymore, and brought it to our house. 

The backyard is a current work in progress thanks to the removal of the swing portion of our swingset (it was really starting to warp badly after over a decade of use), the cutting down of some trees, and the new trampoline, but it'll get there...when we actually have a weekend to work on it! And the kids LOVE the new (to us) trampoline! (We kept Lily and Liam's small trampoline, too, but that might be going up to my parent's house since they are there every week.)

Weekend Life

Weekend Life

We thanked our friends for their help by ordering pizza for a very late dinner. Once we all came indoors, the girls ran off to play, Dylan went down to the basement to hang out with his friend who was sleeping over, and my husband and his friends played some tunes (Grant plays guitar).

After I got done with my Liam wrangling for the evening, we decided to watch Rent with Lexie. Lexie is very into musical theater (like her parents!) loves the Rent soundtrack, and has been asking to see it for a few months. (I know some people are thinking WHAT?!? but Lexie is very mature for her age, and thanks to the fact that she is surrounded by a diverse family and group of friends, she is a very open minded and compassionate person. She loved it!)

It was very late when our friends went home, and we were exhausted! Everybody else in the house was asleep, so Grant and I headed right to bed!

SUNDAY


Everybody slept in on Sunday, thanks to the late Saturday night. When I got out of bed, Grant was already jumping on the trampoline with the girls and Liam! After they came in, Dylan grabbed Liam, and headed back out!

Brothers

Down syndrome

Despite being the end of April, it was SO cold outside! I tried to take comfort in the fact that it's going to be in the seventies all week, and that signs of Spring ARE popping up in our yard.

Spring

Spring

We only had a little bit of down time before travel soccer consumed our day!

Pittsburgh Blog

Because it was so cold, we had to alter our plans for the rest of the day. Typically all of our kids would come to Lexie's soccer games, but her game was over an hour away, in Ohio. We knew Liam wasn't going to handle a two hour round trip or sitting at a cold, windy soccer field for two more hours, so we asked my parents to watch him. It ended up being chillier than we expected, so Dylan and Lily stayed with them, too. (Weather this cold at this time of the year is very unusual!)


Even though it was just us and Lexie making the trek to Ohio and back, it ended up being very nice. We were able to spend time with just her, focus on her soccer game with no interruptions, and we stopped for dinner together before heading back to my parent's house to pick up the rest of our crew.

The soccer field was in the middle of nowhere (literally), and it was very chilly on the field. It said it was 50 degrees, but the wind was blowing so hard that it felt painfully cold! I'm not going to lie. I wore my winter coat, winter boots, boot socks, a cable knit turtleneck sweater, a hat, gloves, AND wrapped a blanket around my legs! Next Sunday's 70 degree game will feel MUCH better!

Soccer

Motherhood

Back at home, the school week/work week prep immediately commenced. We left our house at 3 and didn't get home until after 8, so it was a whirlwind of an evening! (WHO hosts an out of state soccer game at 5 PM?!? JUST saying!!!) And just like that, the weekend came to an abrupt end. I wish we could have an extra day to recover!!!


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14 comments:

  1. I love Rent! And My So Called Life?! Memories!

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    1. I do, too! We've been singing songs from it since we watched it!

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  2. Sorry I got your kids names mixed up in my last comment! Of course Dylan wasn't wearing a float it was Liam!! Sorrrrry! I tried so hard to read through and get the right name! Liam is so cute - his animations remind me of Caspar as a littler boy - especially the mustache fascination! Love your dog - what is he called? Joanne x (I won't get the dog's name mixed up with the kids' a=names, honest!!)

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    1. Haha! No worries! Our puppy's name is Ella. She'll be 5 months old this week...big girl!

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  3. I cannot believe today is the last day of April!! The time is flying and before you know it Summer will be here.

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  4. I can't believe it's still so cold for you guys! And yes...I can hardly believe April is over! I really do think sometimes the people planning these sporting events could not possibly be a mom. Between the crazy schedules and the miscommunication ( or lack of communication) it gets me all worked up sometimes. ha! Hope you have a smooth week!

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    1. Would you believe that it was 80 degrees today? Haha! Hopefully the warm weather stays now! And I completely agree. I thought it was a bit rude to schedule an out of state game so late on a Sunday evening!

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  5. So glad I found your blog! Sounds like one of our weekends here- I am impressed!! Holly @ Pink Lady http://holly-pinklady.blogspot.com

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    1. Life just keeps getting busier as our kids get older! One day the time will come when I will miss days like these!

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  6. That's exciting about the trampoline! Hand me downs are my favorite! :)

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  7. I really enjoyed reading about your weekend; it sounds similar to ours and yet we only have one kid! Now-a-days I get super excited about "lazy" weekends, which are never "lazy," but at the very least, they aren't "crazy" either. We had some seriously cold temperatures followed by some seriously warm weather here, too. I pretty much bundle up the same way you do--I don't like being cold! You are amazing. I still don't know how you accomplish so much in one day!

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    1. I think weekends just keep getting busier as your kids get older!

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