Halloween Fun at Camp!

What a fun weekend! I didn’t mean to turn Halloween into such a big thing, but all through October, everyone I asked already had their own plans. Halloween is SO much more fun with more kids, so I wanted to find some friends. Luckily for us, Sarah and Greyson have a family cabin near camp and they were planning to go there and agreed to meet up with us for a day of Halloween fun. The last time I was at camp was in August, and I have been trying to get back one more time before the snow falls. Our board president was the last one there and so camp was in good shape, which I knew, but I still wanted to check in once more before winter. So this was a weekend of business and fun. And then somewhere along the planning of this, Danny and Heather decided to join in, and the boys were thrilled to spend the whole weekend with them. 
We picked up the boys after lunch on Friday. Getting to skip rest time is always special for Xander and he was bouncing off the walls. We stopped for treats at Tobie’s- kicking off our weekend of anything goes! 

I think Xander said, “where’s Danny” every SINGLE time he wasn’t within sight. They are Pokemon Go buddies and Xander was thrilled. 
  

Buddha was not real sure about his cousins….
On Saturday, Xander was awake at 6am, and bounded out of his room after he woke me up to ask he if could go wake up Uncle Danny. 
I had theme meals planned for the whole day. We started out with skull eggs and skull blueberry muffins. 

For lunch, I made mac and cheese and served it in carved orange pumpkins. Mummy dogs and oranges to look like pumpkins. Danny kept giving me a look and shaking his head and calling me “extra” but I love a theme! 

Dinner I made skull pizzas. I had seen a video of these last year and I’ve wanted to buy a special pan since then. When I saw the video again this year, I decided to go for it. I am glad I did! They were quite tasty! 

After lunch, we got dressed in costumes. We’ve had family theme costumes every year, but this year, Xander was set on being a ninja and Augustus was intent on being a hot dog (I have no idea where he came up with that, but he did- all on his own!). 

Sarah and Grayson brought Oliver and Elliot over to camp and we were ready for modified Halloween. The weather was a bit windy and kind of chilly, so luckily we had a large dining hall to socially distance, but still be warm and inside away from the wind. We started with a few games and a punch a prize (which was way more important than the actual games). 

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After the games, the boys had to search for little goodie bags that I hid all over the dining hall. Each boy had their own color to find and the bags were filled with candy and little toys. When I asked the boys what their favorite part of the weekend was, Augustus said searching for the treat bags was his favorite. 

After that, we went outside for some camp trick or treating. I had buckets of candy for each adult, and luckily there are MANY doors (all within sight so we could see them at all times). The adults were stationed at the doors and the boys were able to run around, knock, say “trick or treat” and fill their buckets with candy! 

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After trick or treating, we headed back to the dining hall to let the kids run around for a while longer. They came up with the idea to turn Uncle Danny (and then everyone) into a mummy. When I asked the boys what their favorite part of the weekend was, Xander said, “turning Uncle Danny into a mummy and playing with Oliver”.


After the Halloween fun, we headed back to the house for dinner and then the boys made worms and dirt (pudding, crushed oreos and gummy worms), ate lots of treats, ran around, and played “the floor is lava”. It was a FABULOUS (and treat filled) Halloween!  

The night ended with a little more excitement as one of the bedrooms (the one that the boys were sleeping in this weekend) got locked. We tried popping the lock with a paperclip and with a screwdriver. Danny and Nate attempted to drill it out. In the end, we smashed the doorknob with a hammer. 


Gussie fell asleep while we attempted to get the bedroom opened back up. 

This morning was another early start to the day, but since it was daylight savings, it was a little better. We spent the morning playing, cleaning up, Danny and Heather went for a run. I was sad that we weren’t staying longer. We had such a fun weekend and I hope to make another trip back to camp before it’s SUPER snowy. 

A Big Change For the King-Whited Family!

We’ve got some exciting news!! The King-Whited family is moving! 
Nate and I have been talking about a new house since I was pregnant with Augustus (who just turned 3 for reference). I’m on some kind of list and get regular calls from realtors, and one in particular calls me every other month or so. At the end of August, we had a few small projects done on our house and while we had a handyman hanging around, we decided to call the realtor to see if he had suggestions for projects we needed to do before selling our house. Somehow it went from, “give us a list of updates and improvements to do over the next few months” to, “let’s just go look at houses to SEE if there’s anything interesting”. We figured it wouldn’t be worth it to even think about buying a house if there weren’t any good houses out there to get excited about. 
We went out to look and 35 minutes into it, the third house we walked into, I looked at Nate and the realtor and said, “this is it. Make an offer.” Not only did the house check every “must have” on our list, it also checked every, “would be nice, but not necessary”. 
We made a contingent offer, which meant we had until October 12 to sell our house. Our house wasn’t even for sale yet. Over Labor Day weekend, we packed half of our stuff in a “declutter and get show ready” whirlwind. We painted the basement, fixed a million little things, and on September 1, our house went on sale. 
Yes, it’s a seller’s market. And I’ve heard approximately 1000 stories from friends and friends of friends who have sold their house in 23 hours with 5 offers. But our house is on a busy street. And we knew it would take the right buyer. 
October 2007
I LOVE our house. I bought this house when I was 25 years old and single. Danny and Heather moved in and we learned about home ownership (entirely the hard way). We turned into adults. We adopted 3 dogs. I started working at CYC. Eventually they got married and bought their own house, and then Nate moved in, we got married, and then we brought home our 2 babies. I remember sitting in the NICU when Xander was 3 days old, telling him about our life and our house and that his room was waiting for him and he should hurry up and get big enough to come home because he was going to be happy. And now our babies are 3 and 5 and have so much stuff this house is bulging. Xander has been speaking passionately about wanting his own room. Selling this house is bittersweet for me, and over the last few years of talking about a new house, we’ve also talked about KEEPING this house and just remodeling or adding on or something to change it. But ultimately, we knew it was time. And when we walked into the new house, we were very sure. 
Selling a house with 2 small children was not fun or easy and I don’t recommend it. Despite packing most of their toys, keeping our house neat and ready to show at all times was a daily challenge. Nate was constantly calm, cool, zen-like, and a cleaning machine. I was a tightly-wound, ready to snap, on- the-verge-of-tears-at-all-times ball of anxiety. I called our realtor every day on my way to work. My mom and Christine and my co-workers got daily ranting updates. Most showings happened right before or during dinner time. I am NOT flexible when it comes to dinner- we sit down to eat between 5:15-6 EVERY DAY and every time there was a showing, it caused me actual physical pain to adjust our schedule. We had an open house every Sunday for the entire month of September. We spent so much time neatening up, killing time staying out of our house during showings, and holding our breath in anticipation. Nate and I looked at houses online nonstop- comparing our house with every house for sale nearby. It was an agonizing month for an uptight, type A, control freak, super planner and probably even worse for my very patient, easy-going husband.  
As September came to an end, we started to make peace with the fact that our house wasn’t going to sell and that we were going to have to let go of the new house. So the third time someone told me to buy a St. Joseph statue and bury it in the front yard (he is the patron saint of selling houses and that is what you are supposed to do to sell), I decided to try it out and went on amazon to order one. When I went to check out, with tax, the total price ended up being $6.66, which seemed like a bad omen, but I bought it anyway, buried it in the yard and said a prayer to please help our house sell within the next week. 
 

 

On October 12, the day our contingency ended and one week since I buried the statue, we got an offer on our house. We didn’t celebrate- it didn’t quite feel real. We didn’t want to get excited. We just kept looking at each other, saying, “so? ya think..” After such a stressful month, it was kind of anti-climatic.

There was some back and forth with our realtor and the realtor of the house we’d made an offer on… he wanted us to sign a new contingency, giving up our earnest money. We said no. And the next thing we heard, we’d lost the house, despite selling ours within the time. Our realtor convinced us to look at more houses, assuring us there would be something bigger, better, cheaper, nicer… 

We hated everything. I was in tears. Nate was mad (which is RARE. My husband is unflappable). After we’d been to the new list of potential houses, Nate announced, “I’m going over there”. We drove to the house we wanted and the sellers happened to be there. And they were the most lovely, sweet, wonderful couple. They invited us in. We all chatted and all agreed we were surprised and didn’t really know what happened, but that our realtors didn’t seem to like each other and weren’t communicating well. And with that, the deal was back on. We were so happy and so relieved and it started to feel like it was going to work out. My husband saved the day and is our family hero!

Our inspection went well. We scheduled a closing date. And now we have a sold sign in our yard. We haven’t cracked open champagne yet, and the St. Joseph statue is staying buried until the final paperwork is signed and keys have been exchanged. In addition to all of the good stories I’ve heard about selling houses, I’ve also heard several disaster stories. However, after the initial challenges, everything is going smoothly and it seems that we are moving! 

Our new house is .7 miles away from our current house. Our close date for both selling and buying is November 12. 

We’ve hired movers and I’ve bought several children’s books about moving. We’ve been collecting boxes and we’ve got a packing plan. The King-Whited family is moving! 

A Milestone

At Edward Jones, when you start out as a new financial advisor, you are a “level new” and then you move up from there to levels 1-10, depending on the amount of assets you manage. On Friday, Nate hit level 1! Exactly a year ago, Nate was 3 months into his new career and he was stressed, anxious and nervous he’d made the wrong choice. Over the next few months, business picked up and he found his rhythm and he realized that not only did he really like his job, he’s good at it! I had 100% confidence in Nate all along and it’s exciting to see him doing so well. I am so incredibly proud of him and know we will have more celebrations in the future. Last night we went to Handsome Hog for a celebration dinner. I snuck away before our food came to ask about desserts (warm chocolate chip cookies is one of Nate’s favorite things in the world) and if they could put a #1 somewhere and they totally delivered! Not pictured- glasses of champagne that they also included. Chocolate chip cookies and champagne is a combination I didn’t know I needed in life! 
Aside from date night, we had a pretty low key weekend. I made homemade big pretzels for Hawkeye football. Xander and Augustus have been talking about crepes since they saw them on some random cartoon recently. So Sunday, we had crepes for breakfast. 
My mom brought over new pjs for the boys because next week there is a pajama day at school. 

A few other random pictures from last week- the boys looking cute before school. 
On Monday, we went to Playground Plaza to run off some energy! 
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We’ve got a busy Halloween themed week ahead. 

Star of the Week

This week Xander was Star of the Week in his class. He worked very hard on his poster last weekend and was very excited and proud to present it to his class. He got to bring show and tell items, be the line leader and a few other jobs throughout the day. 

After a normal at bedtime on Wednesday night, Augustus woke up late that night with a cough and stuffy nose. We spent Thursday and Friday at home, resting and napping (and a short project of painting a pumpkin). He got unlimited popsicles and ipad time, and he was quite content despite an enormous amount of snot coming out of his nose. 

Saturday Nate took the boys to the park and in the afternoon, we painted more pumpkins. 

Today the boys spent the day with Grandma Debbie. 

The weather is starting to get chilly and we even saw some snowflakes on Friday! Hopefully there are a few more warmish fall days left before the winter! 

October is here!

October is here and that means Xander’s birthday on the 2nd and our wedding anniversary on October 4. A great way to kick off the month! 
Xander’s birthday was on a Friday, so he brought treats to school and got to wear a birthday crown. He was excited about it for days leading up to it. Even more exciting was a surprise early pick up to go pokemon hunting with Uncle Danny. Xander has recently started playing Pokemon Go, which is an app that has virtual pokemon show up all over (our neighborhood has many!) and then you can catch them. It is more detailed than that, and luckily Uncle Danny is an expert. I picked Xander up from school and told him Danny was taking him out. He was SO excited. Danny brought him a Pokemon sweatshirt and hat and he could not have been more thrilled. I wanted to go with them and he was quick to let me know I was NOT invited. 

  

After pokemon hunting, Grandma Debbie came over for dinner and ice cream cake. 

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Dance class is going well for both boys and they are learning lots of moves. 
Last weekend was a bit chilly, but we headed to the apple orchard anyway. Last year we went to the same orchard when it was raining, so I guess that’s how we do the orchard. It was good though- a playground, a petting zoo, apple donuts- it was a great afternoon. 

   


Is it even the fall until we’ve had apple cider donuts?!
Our boys went to the dentist- it was Augustus’s first visit and he did great! 


We’ve spent lots of time outside since it has been so nice out all week! 
 

On Friday, Xander got his first ever homework! Next week, he is star of the week and he is VERY excited! He has a huge poster that he has to color and fill out with information. He worked SO hard for several hours of Friday night and Saturday morning. 

Saturday we took family pictures. As soon as we arrived, Augustus said to Nate, “take my picture right here!” so he was ready! 

Today we had a FABULOUS day at the park for Xander’s Pokemon 5th birthday party! The weather was perfect, all of Xander’s buddies came to play, the playground was fun, the games were a hit, and everyone had fun! I made a punch prize board- kids got to punch into a circle to find a tiny pokemon prize inside. I am EXHAUSTED but so happy that he had such a great day. 

 



We’ve got a quiet week ahead, which I am looking forward to! 

A Few Pictures from the Last Week

We’ve been busy! A few pictures of what we’ve been up to the last week. The boys were super excited to receive a very fun package from Angela and Brad- nerf gun blasters and a Star Wars book. Nate was a little jealous and we might need to buy another one so he can battle too.  

School is going so well and the boys come home happy, talking about their friends and Xander is constantly adding numbers, spelling words, and his handwriting is looking really good! 
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Last weekend, Xander and Augustus started dance classes again. Pre-covid, Xander had just started hip hop classes. He’s back to hip hop, and Augustus is taking “creative movement” with 10 other 3 year olds. 

Last Sunday, we met Skylar and Phoebe for a playdate at Hidden Falls. We had a picnic, hiked up to the falls and played for several hours. It was a gorgeous day and the boys had so much fun. 


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On Monday, we went to Silverwood Park to explore. I thought it was magical and loved it. The boys were entirely unimpressed and kept asking me when we could go back to the car. So much for our adventure. 

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I’ve been experimenting with fall flavors of macarons- pumpkin spice latte, apple cider… 
  
This weekend was a WHIRLWIND! Friday night, Renee and Kyle came into town in their new camper and so we headed to their campsite to visit and check it out (it made me think the trailer at camp could use a serious upgrade!). 
Saturday was dance class and Nate was at a golf tournament all day. 

 

After dance class, we headed to Christine’s house for Lucas’s 6th birthday party! He is obsessed with fishing, and Christine went all out with the fishing theme! The boys were thrilled to “fish” over the side of the deck, getting cool prizes on their “hook”. They decorated a fish and then played pin the fish on the hook. They got to eat donuts off a string and then got tackle boxes of candy at the end of the party! They were THRILLED! 



After the party, we headed back tot he campsite to cook hot dogs over the fire for dinner and hang out with the grandparents. It was a VERY busy day! 

Today the boys went back to the campsite for breakfast, while I did some quick cleaning and then I met them there for a little while. Afterwards, we went to Good Times park to play. 

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By the afternoon, we were all exhausted and spent some time relaxing and recovering from a busy weekend. We have a very normal week ahead, which I am excited about. We need a boring, regular schedule for a while! 

A Miracle. A Sign From Above

School is going great and the boys are so happy to be back to a routine, hanging with their friends, learning and spending all day playing. 

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Last week and this week have been stressful for me (and Nate). On Tuesday, I ran into daycare to pick up the boys in the afternoon. From my van to the entrance is maybe 20 feet. I was inside around 5 minutes. When I came outside, Xander noticed some items on the ground and I quickly realized that my purse had been stolen. 
I called Nate (because I couldn’t drive without my car keys) and calmly waited for him to bring the extra key fob. I was the idiot who left my door unlocked and my purse on the center console. I felt violated, but also so stupid for making such a dumb mistake. 
Nate was a rockstar and had our credit cards cancelled immediately (they were at Target within minutes and managed to charge $600 on my business card before I cancelled it). Luckily credit card fraud is pretty smooth and all of our cards were frozen (and the camp card refunded quickly). They turned my phone off right away, but technology is great and I was able to freeze it and turn on an alert in case they turned it back on. 
On Wednesday, we went to the bank to get a new checking and savings account (because they took my checkbook). The bank gave us temporary debit cards, overnighted credit cards and ordered new checks at no charge. Verizon overnighted me a new phone within 24 hours. Nate ordered new health insurance cards. I went to the dealership and got a new key fob (which deactivated the old one). Overall, we were able to get everything back to normal quite quickly. 
But that first night (Tuesday), I didn’t sleep well. They had my car keys, my office keys and our house keys, as well as all of my personal information. I wasn’t sure if they were going to come to our house, or steal my car or go to my office. I was so stressed out and couldn’t stop kicking myself for being such a dummy. 
In addition to my keys, checkbook, credit cards, ID and phone, there were a few other things in my purse that were truly upsetting. I carry my dad’s “Black Hills Prospector Club” membership card. It’s a laminated piece of cardstock, but it’s precious. I like reaching into my wallet and seeing it. 
By far, the biggest loss and what I couldn’t stop thinking about and kicking myself over and over again was my fairy stone. My dad was a treasure hunter in all forms and one of the things he and I found together was a fairy stone. It’s a rock that looks like a cross and the legend says it will keep you safe, so I carry it everywhere. All week long, I kept thinking, “if I had something so precious, why on earth didn’t I lock my car?!?!” I was SO SO upset with myself. It felt like a dark cloud hanging over me. How could I be so careless? How could I lose something so important?


Grief is a weird thing- I’ll never be over the loss of my dad. As of November, it will be 9 years since he died and most of the time, I’m ok. I will always miss him and be sad and there are still times when I am angry he’s gone or deeply sad. But there were a lot of years where I cried about him often and really struggled with his loss, and it hasn’t been like that in a while. Until now. All week long, I felt like I was back in that active grief period. I’ve been so angry and sad and depressed and overwhelmed. I wanted my rock back and the loss of that item reminded me how much I missed my dad. Getting our bank accounts, and credit cards fixed was annoying and inconvenient and in some cases expensive ($300 for a new key fob!) but I didn’t expect to be transported back to grieving my dad because of a stolen purse. 
On Sunday night, I got an alert on my phone that my lost phone had been turned on and was in East St. Paul. Nate offered to drive over to the location and see if he could find it and hopefully along with the phone, my purse. 
I tried not to get my hopes up. But all week long, I had been hoping for a miracle. Dreaming that maybe someone will find it in a garbage can. Unfortunately, it was a cell phone pawn shop and by the time Nate arrived, the phone was off and there was no purse in sight. Even though I’d tried not to get my hopes up, I was crushed. I knew what I had been hoping for was unlikely, but still, I thought…maybe… For the first time in years, I found myself talking to my dad, begging him for a sign. I’m not religious- I don’t think he’s floating around on a cloud. But I believe in energy and souls and spirits and I think he’s here with me- although it’s been a long time since I really felt him. 
“Please dad, if you’re around, can you visit me in a dream or give me some kind of sign that things will be ok?” It’s just a rock. I shouldn’t have been so shaken by a rock. But I was so so upset. I am not superstitious, but I kept thinking that I wasn’t going to be ok without that rock to protect me. I was having bad dreams. I was miserable. I knew I would get over it and everything would be fine. I have a wonderful life. But at the moment, I was feeling despair and hoping somehow, my dad could send me some kind of sign he was around. 
Driving the boys to school this morning, I got a phone call from the police asking me if I’d lost my purse. Someone in Roseville found it in their garbage and the police officer they called found my ID and found me. The first appointment at the DMV to get a new license isn’t until the end of October, so the fact that they found it was thrilling. I was NOT going to get my hopes up about the rock. But any part of the lost purse was a win. 
The phone and credit cards were gone. EVERYTHING else was there. Even the pop up sucker I’d bought for Xander. They didn’t even take sushi gift card I’d had. My keys, wallet, checkbook. My FAIRY STONE. 



I cried the whole drive home. I hadn’t cried yet. But I sobbed and sobbed and I know in my heart that was my sign. My dad is with me and watching and probably shaking his head and using some choice language about me leaving my door unlocked with my purse in plain sight. I am so grateful for whoever found my purse and put in effort to turn it in and get it back to me. They will never know how much it means to me. 

Oh, and for the first time ever, Augustus peed on the potty at school today. He has resisted potty training with passion, and I’ve been assuming we’d be sending him off to college in pull ups, so that was perhaps, even a bigger miracle.  

Back to Normal

Our first week back to school and me back to the office was a success! New shoes, new haircuts and 2 excited boys. I was able to walk both of them to their classrooms for the first day (a change from covid is that they usually get dropped off in the entry and walk themselves). They were both excited and not scared at all! They hugged me goodbye and walked right in with no tears or hesitation! 

School has an app that I check multiple times a day and it was fun to see pictures all week long. They came home each day excited, filled with stories about things they did, things they learned, their friends, their teachers. It was wonderful! 

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I think all of us were the happiest we’ve been in a long time. Our time together was so sweet and the boys were happy and affectionate- sometimes it is good to miss each other for a while to make being together even better. 

This weekend was pretty low key. Nate and I did a lot of work on our house and Grandma Debbie was a rockstar- hanging out with the boys on Saturday morning and then having them overnight on Sunday-Monday. On Saturday afternoon, Xander and I went shopping for pants (he has outgrown every single pair). He felt strongly that he needed a blazer, but ultimately I decided that we didn’t need formal wear for pre-k (even though he looked really cute).  
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On Sunday, the boys went to my mom’s house and they played, had breakfast for dinner, went outside when it was dark and, as always, had the best time ever. 
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The boys are super excited for their second week of school. I have a lot of work to do and really appreciate the ability to sit in my office and get many things in a row completed without interruption. Fall is here and I am so happy! 

The Last Hill

The last 5 months have been like running a long exhausting marathon. And just when I could see the finish line, SURPRISE, there was one last hill to climb. On Friday, Xander got sick, which led to a long weekend. Augustus went with me to Walgreens on Saturday to buy more medicine and a few treats for Xander. He was quite a helper. We relaxed all day on Saturday- the boys had unlimited screen time, lots of popsicles, chicken soup and naps. 

Sunday Augustus woke up sneezing, so we skipped Grandma’s for another long day of screen time, naps and rest. 

Today was our final day before school starts. The boys were feeling much better- a few sneezes, but I think by tomorrow they should be ready for school. We took a short trip to Target this morning, played outside a few times, did a craft project and relaxed. It was a good last day. I thought back to the beginning of quarantine- weekly themes and elaborate daily activities. I should have planned something like that for the last day, but I am drained, completely and totally running on empty. 
6 months ago, the first week of March, I took the week off to prepare for surgery. 6 weeks of recovery seemed like a long time to be out of the office, but I felt mentally prepared. And now it’s September. I can’t believe it’s been HALF A YEAR. There have been lots of wonderful adventures and activities. I have enjoyed spending so much time with the boys. But it has been incredibly difficult to squeeze work into the mornings and evenings and in betweens and days that Nate can take time off. I have struggled to keep up and felt inadequate at my job most of the time. I am entirely sick of dishes, laundry and cleaning the house as the main accomplishments of the day, while my work to do list gets longer. 
I’m so eager for a normal schedule. I am SO excited for the boys to spend time with their friends. I hope that professionals can finally potty train my very stubborn 3 year old. I am excited for all of us to go back to having our own lives. I know that we will be stronger and happier as a family to have a little time apart to grow as individuals. Tomorrow is going to be very exciting! 

Our Last Week

The boys have been home from daycare for 5 months. I have been working from home for 6 months and taking care of children from home for 5 MONTHS. This was our last week at home. 
On Saturday/Sunday, Nate and I went to a hotel for the night and the boys spent the night at Grandma Debbie’s house. They went to Target (twice!) and McDonalds and they had a blast. 
We went out to dinner, sat in a rooftop hot tub, slept in and relaxed for 24 hours. We all had the BEST weekend! 

      
Monday they were back to Grandma’s for a playdate with Cane and Cora. Augustus told me Cora is “so cute” because he is 3 and she is 1, so he’s a big boy who can think a baby is cute. 
On Tuesday we met the Nelson crew at Madison’s Place playground/splashpad. It was SUPER hot and they playground is ENORMOUS. We had a picnic and they played until both moms were overheated and tired and for the first time ever, I led a crying, tantrum-ing child out of a park because he didn’t want to leave. That was a first for me and while Augustus cried, Xander angrily told me to leave him there and then was mad the whole ride home. Despite the crabby ending, they had a fabulous time and I was happy they had so much fun they didn’t want to leave. 

 
  
Wednesday was another HOT day, so we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house to use their pool. Grandma Debbie came with us and it was so fun. The boys jumped in the pool over and over and played on the floaties and we had another picnic. 

 

Thursday was a regular boring day. We were at home all morning and then Nate came home around lunch and took the boys to a park. 

Today has been a productive day! Nate stayed home from work to be with the boys so I could clean. I scrubbed our house, top to bottom. I’ve been meaning to deep clean for a while and I felt great to be able to get everything cleaned and neat before we go back to real life. Nate took the boys out to lunch and then to get haircuts. Nate and Augustus went to the hardware store to buy some supplies for a few home projects coming up and Xander stayed home because he woke up with a runny nose that seemed to get worse as the day went on. When Nate returned home, Augustus was asleep and so for a while this afternoon, we had 2 sleeping boys (a rarity!). I went grocery shopping and the Nate, Augustus and I had dinner. Xander slept most of the afternoon and then let Nate feed him on the couch before going back to bed. I am hopeful he wakes up feeling better tomorrow. 
We’ve got a low-key weekend planned and then it’s back to school and the office! We are all very excited!