Keeping Up With...Family (Weekly Wrap 2/17 - 2/23)

Friday (2/17) Everyone had off from school today and when I asked earlier in the week, no one really wanted to do anything special.  They really wanted to spend time watching and playing video games and playing with their new toys from the birthdays.  They also wanted to go get their donuts from Krispy Kreme for their report cards.  All of that seemed doable...except for the fact that my back was still bothering me.  I rested most of the day and then took them to Krispy Kreme for donuts.  They also had some shopping to do so we went for a quick trip to Target where they each got a toy, a new shirt and Zak got some new pants.

I was in rough shape after all of that, but we had a sitter for the night I did not want to miss out on our first date night in over 3 months.  So I sucked it up and got ready to go out.  We went to Cooper's Hawk Winery for dinner for a late Valentine's date.  The food was excellent and so was the wine!  We joined their wine club so now we will get a new bottle of wine each month.  This month we got a bottle of their red sangria.  Can't wait to try it out!

Saturday (2/18) I struggled to sleep last night and my back is killing me today.  I decided that I am spending the day on the couch resting.  The only thing we had to change was Zak's soccer make up.  He will go next Saturday instead of today.  Adrian took AJ and went to Brain Balance and soccer this morning.  While he was there I stayed home and did as little as possible.  Daniel and Zak were a big help, hardly asking me for anything.

In the afternoon, I continued to rest while Adrian took Daniel to his basketball game.  They played great and won again.  Daniel didn't get a basket this week, but knew his memory verse and helped set up his team mates.  Adrian stopped home for a brief time to swap out kids and then took AJ to his basketball game.  His team lost, but AJ had a good time.  They ran to Meijer quickly after the game to get some Aleve for me and some appetizers for an easy dinner for all of us.

We finished up the night with some video games and TV.  It was a super lazy day for me, but I did manage to get a bunch of things done while sitting.  Plus Adrian and I got caught up on "This Is Us" which is an awesome show!  And we celebrated National Drink Wine Day.  I think all in all it was a pretty good day.

Sunday (2/19) I was still hurting when I got up but we had a party to get ready for!  I finished the cupcakes and cookies for Daniel's birthday party and packed up all of the other snacks and drinks while resting as much as possible.  We picked up some friends and headed over the Engineering for Kids for his Minecraft birthday party.  We had 16 total kids there and they all had a blast!  They played Minecraft together for an hour and a half (which wasn't long enough for most of them!) and then we had cake and snacks.  Daniel got a ton of awesome gifts from his friends.  And when he bit into his cupcake, he lost his front tooth!  It was a fantastic party and we are thankful everyone was able to come and celebrate with us.

 After the party, a few of the kids played out in the parking lot (it was mostly empty since lots of the places were closed on Sun) with their new toys from their goodie bags.  It was gorgeous outside and I enjoyed chatting with the other parents.  Then we headed back towards home, stopping to pick up our dinner on the way.  We finished up the night with some video games and experimenting with coding on our computer thanks to a gift from Daniel's friend Keaton.  Adrian and I were exhausted!!  We had a glass of wine and called it a night.

Monday (2/20) Happy Presidents Day!  Adrian and Zak got the day off and I took the day off since they were off.  Then AJ and Daniel had a two hour delay and we decided to just let them stay home all day and have a family day.  We decided to go see "The Lego Batman Movie" but Zak didn't want to go.  So I took AJ and Daniel and met Carl and Isabelle while Adrian took Zak so they both could get haircuts.

We met up with Carl at Easton only to find out that the movie was sold out!  I guess everyone else who had the day off decided a movie was a good idea.  We quickly ran to Cheryl's so AJ and Daniel could get their free cookies for their good report cards and then ran down the street to another theater to see the movie.  We all really enjoyed it!  It was funny for both the kids and adults, had an OK story line and a nice moral at the end.  Nice way to spend our morning.

After the movie we headed home to get a few things done around the house, including haircuts for AJ and Daniel, and have some extra video game time.  We also enjoyed some time in the yard since it was 60 degrees this afternoon!  My back was still bothering me so I went to the chiropractor for an adjustment.  He said it was really out of alignment and tortured me so it would feel better.  He gave me some stretches, instructions for icing it and an order not to exercise for at least the next 2-3 days.  Boo!!  We finished up the night with Adrian heading to his basketball league while the boys and I watched some TV and had some ice cream.

Tuesday (2/21) started with craziness!  The freezer that we bought way back in Nov and has been back ordered for months was finally delivered.  But of course they delivered it at 8:30am, right in the middle of the school chaos.  Thankfully Adrian was running late for work so he took the boys to school while I dealt with the delivery guys.  I'm SO happy to have the freezer here finally!  Can't wait to start stocking it up.

My back was still bothering me so I took the day off of teaching classes and tried to rest as much as possible.  Zak and I played a few games in the afternoon and watched some TV.  Adrian was late getting home so I had to take AJ to Brain Balance at night, but thankfully it was just me and him.  I ran to the Giant Eagle down the road to grab some basics that we are running out of since I'm laid up.  We ended the night watching my new favorite show "This is Us."  I cried.  A lot.  Big ugly sobs.  It's a great show!!

Wednesday (2/22) I dropped everyone off at school then Adrian and I headed into Daniel's school to see his wax museum presentation.  He was Abraham Lincoln and did a great job with his speech.  He looked very nervous but still basically remembered his paragraph.  It was a lot of fun to walk around and hear all of the other kids' paragraphs as well.  They all did a great job!  And I even learned a few things.  After the wax museum closed, I headed into AJ's class to continue working on the math books.  There were a bunch that were copied wrong so next week when I go in I'll be copying instead of assembling.

After the morning in the school my back was really hurting so after I picked up Zak I rested for a while and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with him.  I'm starting to feel a little better but this pain just won't go away.  The weather is staying pretty warm around here so Zak and I walked up to pick up AJ and Daniel from school.  Then we got some homework done and headed out to soccer for Zak and Daniel.  They both did awesome as usual.  Daniel is really having a blast playing soccer!  We finished up the night with pasta for dinner, ice cream for desert and our Weds comedies (The Goldburgs & Modern Family).

Thursday (2/23) started with everyone in great moods and we got out early to school.  I was finally starting to feel less pain in my back so I decided to run errands while everyone was at school and I wasn't working.  I got a ton of things done in a short time, it was awesome!  I finished up and picked Zak up from school and we headed home for lunch.  It was dinosaur week at school and he made his own dino.  The head fell off so we had to fix it when we got home.  We set up his new dragon race track from his birthday and played with this, watched some TV and got to walk again to pick up the other boys.  We walked outside and he said "It is a beautiful day for a walk!" I couldn't agree more!  I'll take almost 70 degrees in February.

After we got home it was a balance of fun and work.  Thankfully the boys didn't have any homework since Thursday is our busiest night of the week.  We ate dinner in stages and Adrian took each boy (AJ and Daniel) to their basketball practice while I hung out at home and cleaned up.  We finished up the night with more ice cream leftovers (still eating cake from all the birthdays!) and some comedies on our DVR.  I'm so thankful my back is feeling better and I'm looking forward to a few good nights of sleep and getting back to my normal routine!