Last week:
Sunday
Busy, busy day. First, Cait took the kids to the zoo for trick-or-treating which ended up being a disaster because it was a long bike ride and it was simply a bunch of long lines for a few pieces of candy. Later, we had a pumpkin-decorating party at Tallulah's school, where the kids had a blast carving pumpkins and playing outside on the playground. I really love her school. We got home in time to start some taco soup for dinner since our friends were coming over for dinner. They are probably our coolest friends ever... they moved from NYC where she was an theatre/operetta actress and he was a tech guy. They just bought a house with land for sheep and chickens. We can't wait to go out and visit their new homestead.
Monday
We cleaned up after having our friends, the Lonsdale's, over for dinner. They just moved here from the Big Apple. Krystal and I teach our Children's Religious Education class together. Their kids match up perfectly with ours in terms of temperament and personality, so we had a really good time. Unfortunately, Monday morning, when we were going to try to get out to help them move into their new home, fell apart, mainly because we left all of the cleanup from dinner the night before off until the morning.
After playing catchup for a few hours, Cait took off to school and I took the kids up to the community center. There is free play time there where they have lots of little cars and scooters for the kids to ride on. Usually, they are all about this, but today they played for 20 minutes while I did some work, and then they lost all interest. Luckily, a school group of older kids came in just about then to buddy up with the preschool kids that have their school in the community center and do some activities together. We were invited to join in, so the kids got to do some artwork, join in a sing-a-long to "Yellow Submarine" and play some games. We milked it for all it was worth because Atticus suffers from school withdrawals on Monday when he used to go to school but now doesn't. Maybe we'll write a post about how complicated his preschool schedule is, but it would be boring and complicated. Right now, he goes Tuesday-Friday afternoons to his phonology preschool and Tuesday and Thursday Morning to UHP, his regular preschool. After this six week period is over, he switches to everyday mornings at UHP. I guess that is it. Not so complicated actually.
The kids mostly missed lunch, so they came home hungry. We had an early dinner and left nothing for Mom. Sorry Mom. I tried to lay down with the kids and watch baseball, which sometimes works to get them to sleep and let me watch baseball, the only sport I really like watching anymore. It didn't work. So we went for a walk together and they fell asleep rather early, which was good, because they've been pushing their bedtimes back as Cait and I have both been sick.
Tuesday:
Long school day for the kids. Cait hit the books all day. I worked in the morning and then ran errands in the afternoon. After that, I borrowed a Community Car Prius and went to pick up a twin bed for Atticus, that is our latest solution for getting him in a good sleeping situation. It took some work to break it down enough to get it in the Prius, but we got it. Came home to delicious stir-fry that I ate up before Cait got any. Sorry Cait. Cait and I assembled it. I had to run the gas card back up to the Community Car because I accidentally took it (you don't pay for gas in the car, but put it on their credit card, which I did, but then pocketed the card). I totally just could have waited until the next morning, when I was taking the car again, because it wasn't running out of gas anytime soon, but better safe than sorry, I suppose. Then, because he fell asleep on the way home from phonology school, Atticus stayed up really late. Oh well, hopefully the bed works better in the future.
Wednesday:
I took the kids to the dentist in the morning in the Community Car Prius (I love that car) where Atticus had an appointment. As opposed to his appointment 6 months or so ago, Atticus did great. Tallulah was actually a lot more scared, because she had been to the dentist a few weeks before and didn't enjoy it, although she had been cooperative. But once she realized that she wasn't going to have to do anything, she was fine. We really like Dr. Amy, our dentist, and all the nurses are really nice. The appointments are short, because they see a lot of people, but I'm fine getting out of there quick. All the teeth are good, by the way.
Then we dropped Atticus off at school and then Tallulah and I went home. I left her sleeping with a neighbor while I returned the car. When I picked her up, she was awake, so short nap. We went back home and laid down together for a while in bed. I'm not sure if she fell back asleep, but I did.
Atticus came home, and we all hung out on what turned into a rainy day. The kids engaged themselves in some of their favorite activities: pull everything out of the wallet and brush teeth. Because Atticus got a new thing of toothpaste, we let him put on his own toothpaste from the old tube, as long as he promised to spit it out. This kept them occupied for a surprisingly long time.
We had stuffed acorn squash for dinner, and then put the kids to bed. Then Cait and I had a nice in home date night. We watched an Austin City Limits episode with the Lumineers and a Frontline about the legal process of a prominent rape case in Pakistan, which was summarily depressing. But at least we were together in our newly child-free bed.
Thursday:
Halloween!
Like all holidays seem to be, this day was a combination of nostalgic satisfaction mixed with a little bit of anti-climax.
The kids both had full days of school, and they both reported having a lot of fun Halloween activities. Both of the kids wore paired down versions of the Halloween costumes. I spent the day writing articles, in preparation for NaNoWriMo, when, I imagine, I will be writing less articles, although I have hopes of my enthusiasm for writing a novel translating into enthusiasm for being awesome at the rest of my life. Cait spent the day at school.
Atticus came home, a little grumpy after falling asleep in the BadgerBus that takes him to and from Phonology school. We played for a while, then I coaxed him into the stroller to walk up in the rain to get Lulah from school. We came home and I started dinner, beef stew, which is apparently a Carroll family Halloween tradition. It took longer than I thought, so we were a bit rushed eating and getting out the door, but once we made it outside, we had a blast.
We trick-or-treated along the road leading up to where we collect our CSA. Both the kids had a lot of fun. It was probably a little long for Lulah and a little short for Atticus, but both seemed satisfied when it was done. Atticus wore Lulah's cat costume, because she doesn't seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for it, which is understandable. She had a great time going with brother to collect candy. Because we were later than most other people on a street that, because its an older, fairly wealthy, neighborhood, probably didn't see a lot of treaters, most of the people were generous with candy. Lulah was fastidious in making sure she only got one piece of candy, but brother seemed confused when people weren't excited for him to reach in and grab three or four.
We made it all the way to the CSA drop off point, and by that time, Lulah was cold and hungry enough to need to go home. We took baths, ate some food, and then Atticus dropped off to sleep watching the Lumineers PBS concert that Cait and I watched the night before. Lulah just suckled.
Friday:
The first day of NaNoWriMo. I got up early and got some written throughout the day. I got ahead of my needed total, which is nice, without pushing anything else off. My freelance writing job has really sped up my typing speed and helped me to find quick bursts of time to crank out a couple hundred words. Although I didn't get out shopping to get something for dinner, so we had leftovers and a salad.
Saturday:
A family day at home. Cait took Atticus to pick up some clothes for the kids off Craigslist while Lulah napped. And then we met up at FUS where the sermon was about the history of our local congregation, which was really interesting.
The kids were beasts to get to sleep tonight, but we got them still pretty early and we were able to watch some documentaries while I canoed.
Sunday
Busy, busy day. First, Cait took the kids to the zoo for trick-or-treating which ended up being a disaster because it was a long bike ride and it was simply a bunch of long lines for a few pieces of candy. Later, we had a pumpkin-decorating party at Tallulah's school, where the kids had a blast carving pumpkins and playing outside on the playground. I really love her school. We got home in time to start some taco soup for dinner since our friends were coming over for dinner. They are probably our coolest friends ever... they moved from NYC where she was an theatre/operetta actress and he was a tech guy. They just bought a house with land for sheep and chickens. We can't wait to go out and visit their new homestead.
 |
| Atticus was a Chinese firefighting cowboy... he picked it out himself. |
 |
| The pumpkin he carved |
Monday
We cleaned up after having our friends, the Lonsdale's, over for dinner. They just moved here from the Big Apple. Krystal and I teach our Children's Religious Education class together. Their kids match up perfectly with ours in terms of temperament and personality, so we had a really good time. Unfortunately, Monday morning, when we were going to try to get out to help them move into their new home, fell apart, mainly because we left all of the cleanup from dinner the night before off until the morning.
After playing catchup for a few hours, Cait took off to school and I took the kids up to the community center. There is free play time there where they have lots of little cars and scooters for the kids to ride on. Usually, they are all about this, but today they played for 20 minutes while I did some work, and then they lost all interest. Luckily, a school group of older kids came in just about then to buddy up with the preschool kids that have their school in the community center and do some activities together. We were invited to join in, so the kids got to do some artwork, join in a sing-a-long to "Yellow Submarine" and play some games. We milked it for all it was worth because Atticus suffers from school withdrawals on Monday when he used to go to school but now doesn't. Maybe we'll write a post about how complicated his preschool schedule is, but it would be boring and complicated. Right now, he goes Tuesday-Friday afternoons to his phonology preschool and Tuesday and Thursday Morning to UHP, his regular preschool. After this six week period is over, he switches to everyday mornings at UHP. I guess that is it. Not so complicated actually.
The kids mostly missed lunch, so they came home hungry. We had an early dinner and left nothing for Mom. Sorry Mom. I tried to lay down with the kids and watch baseball, which sometimes works to get them to sleep and let me watch baseball, the only sport I really like watching anymore. It didn't work. So we went for a walk together and they fell asleep rather early, which was good, because they've been pushing their bedtimes back as Cait and I have both been sick.
Tuesday:
Long school day for the kids. Cait hit the books all day. I worked in the morning and then ran errands in the afternoon. After that, I borrowed a Community Car Prius and went to pick up a twin bed for Atticus, that is our latest solution for getting him in a good sleeping situation. It took some work to break it down enough to get it in the Prius, but we got it. Came home to delicious stir-fry that I ate up before Cait got any. Sorry Cait. Cait and I assembled it. I had to run the gas card back up to the Community Car because I accidentally took it (you don't pay for gas in the car, but put it on their credit card, which I did, but then pocketed the card). I totally just could have waited until the next morning, when I was taking the car again, because it wasn't running out of gas anytime soon, but better safe than sorry, I suppose. Then, because he fell asleep on the way home from phonology school, Atticus stayed up really late. Oh well, hopefully the bed works better in the future.
Wednesday:
I took the kids to the dentist in the morning in the Community Car Prius (I love that car) where Atticus had an appointment. As opposed to his appointment 6 months or so ago, Atticus did great. Tallulah was actually a lot more scared, because she had been to the dentist a few weeks before and didn't enjoy it, although she had been cooperative. But once she realized that she wasn't going to have to do anything, she was fine. We really like Dr. Amy, our dentist, and all the nurses are really nice. The appointments are short, because they see a lot of people, but I'm fine getting out of there quick. All the teeth are good, by the way.
Then we dropped Atticus off at school and then Tallulah and I went home. I left her sleeping with a neighbor while I returned the car. When I picked her up, she was awake, so short nap. We went back home and laid down together for a while in bed. I'm not sure if she fell back asleep, but I did.
Atticus came home, and we all hung out on what turned into a rainy day. The kids engaged themselves in some of their favorite activities: pull everything out of the wallet and brush teeth. Because Atticus got a new thing of toothpaste, we let him put on his own toothpaste from the old tube, as long as he promised to spit it out. This kept them occupied for a surprisingly long time.
We had stuffed acorn squash for dinner, and then put the kids to bed. Then Cait and I had a nice in home date night. We watched an Austin City Limits episode with the Lumineers and a Frontline about the legal process of a prominent rape case in Pakistan, which was summarily depressing. But at least we were together in our newly child-free bed.
Thursday:
Halloween!
Like all holidays seem to be, this day was a combination of nostalgic satisfaction mixed with a little bit of anti-climax.
The kids both had full days of school, and they both reported having a lot of fun Halloween activities. Both of the kids wore paired down versions of the Halloween costumes. I spent the day writing articles, in preparation for NaNoWriMo, when, I imagine, I will be writing less articles, although I have hopes of my enthusiasm for writing a novel translating into enthusiasm for being awesome at the rest of my life. Cait spent the day at school.
Atticus came home, a little grumpy after falling asleep in the BadgerBus that takes him to and from Phonology school. We played for a while, then I coaxed him into the stroller to walk up in the rain to get Lulah from school. We came home and I started dinner, beef stew, which is apparently a Carroll family Halloween tradition. It took longer than I thought, so we were a bit rushed eating and getting out the door, but once we made it outside, we had a blast.
We trick-or-treated along the road leading up to where we collect our CSA. Both the kids had a lot of fun. It was probably a little long for Lulah and a little short for Atticus, but both seemed satisfied when it was done. Atticus wore Lulah's cat costume, because she doesn't seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for it, which is understandable. She had a great time going with brother to collect candy. Because we were later than most other people on a street that, because its an older, fairly wealthy, neighborhood, probably didn't see a lot of treaters, most of the people were generous with candy. Lulah was fastidious in making sure she only got one piece of candy, but brother seemed confused when people weren't excited for him to reach in and grab three or four.
We made it all the way to the CSA drop off point, and by that time, Lulah was cold and hungry enough to need to go home. We took baths, ate some food, and then Atticus dropped off to sleep watching the Lumineers PBS concert that Cait and I watched the night before. Lulah just suckled.
Friday:
The first day of NaNoWriMo. I got up early and got some written throughout the day. I got ahead of my needed total, which is nice, without pushing anything else off. My freelance writing job has really sped up my typing speed and helped me to find quick bursts of time to crank out a couple hundred words. Although I didn't get out shopping to get something for dinner, so we had leftovers and a salad.
Saturday:
A family day at home. Cait took Atticus to pick up some clothes for the kids off Craigslist while Lulah napped. And then we met up at FUS where the sermon was about the history of our local congregation, which was really interesting.
The kids were beasts to get to sleep tonight, but we got them still pretty early and we were able to watch some documentaries while I canoed.
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