Whew, it has been a busy week! With something going on every night this past week, I’m feeling pretty wiped out this weekend. It was a fun week, though. I’m slightly irritated that I’ve finally found a good rhythm for balancing kid time and work time, only to have it all change again in two weeks! But at least I know now and can hopefully remember for next summer so I don’t spend two months flailing around and being upset with myself again!
On Monday morning, we went to the Pope Farm Conservancy Sunflower Days in Middleton. I found out about this last year, but too late to go. I’ve had it in mind all summer that we definitely needed to make it a priority this year. My mom came with us. The giant sunflower field was pretty cool to look at! But the boys were not cooperating at all. SO MUCH WHINING. They’ve been whining and moaning and ugh-ing about everything we do these days. School needs to start!
We didn’t spend a huge amount of time here, but enough to slowly walk around the whole field. It looks like a really cool place to check out any time of the year. Maybe I’ll go back in fall to walk the regular trails.
After the sunflowers, we had a picnic lunch in a nearby park. And we finished our outing with froyo at Orange Leaf. Pretty simple day trip, but it was fun!
Late Monday evening, I met up with my best friend Dianne and her husband Jack for ice cream at Dairy Queen (despite getting it twice in one day, these are the only times all summer I’ve gone out for ice cream!). They were visiting from DC for just a couple days and we were trying to squeeze in any pockets of time together we could. We only get to see each other once or twice a year and try to make the most of it. The whole family was originally going to go, but it got to be too late.
Early Tuesday morning I dropped the boys off with my mom and Annie and I met Dianne for a walk. (Her dad still lives right by my parents’ house.) We walked down to the lake. It was really nice! As much as I enjoy walking around Columbus, I really miss walking in quieter and more rural areas. It’s so peaceful. And pretty, despite the green water!
I worked during the day on Tuesday and then in the afternoon, Dianne and Jack came back over to our house for a bit. We went to the dog park so they could see Annie in action! And then I drove them back to Beaver Dam. I’m really glad we were able to fit in three separate get togethers in such a short time frame!
Tuesday night I had obedience class. Just two more left. As always, Annie did pretty good for the exercises, but was so antsy and hard to control while we were sitting down. And there’s so much sitting down while each person and dog has to individually work on their exercises for the class. She wants to play with the other dogs so badly.
Wednesday was a work day. I finished my first batch of Halloween dolls! And I sold all six of them within 24 hours, which was really awesome. Except that it really put the pressure on me to get going on more fall themed dolls as well. I started another batch, but didn’t get very far. Having sales is always so exciting – especially when I’m trying to store up money for Door County and Cranberry Fest next month. But then it’s always a let down to sell all my newest dolls right away and go back to days in a row without sales!
Wednesday afternoon we went to the Dodge County Fair with Steve and Cindy. It was a pretty hot day, but with a breeze cooled off considerably once we got to the fair.
All the boys cared about were sitting on tractors! They could have done it for the entire night, I think. We didn’t really get to much else because they wanted to keep going back to the tractors.
We walked the food aisles a couple of times trying to decide on what to get. Greg ended up with buffalo chicken fries and I had haystack onions, for lack of any more exciting options. Everyone else had hamburgers and hot dogs and slushies and ice cream. We walked through the amusement park section and Grandpa paid for the boys to play a few prize wining games. They LOVED their plastic swords. We were there only about two hours until the rain started rolling in. It was a fun night, though!
Thursday we stuck around home. It was one of those days where I really didn’t want to do anything and was mad at myself all day for it. There are so many things I should be doing that it just overwhelms me and I do nothing.
Caden had therapy in the afternoon. I thought it was going to be our last session, but Greg wants to continue. So I guess we are, maybe on a monthly basis. Afterward we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts to pick up Shepard’s half birthday breakfast.
I spent the evening at the dog park with Annie, desperately needing some quiet. It was raining, so we were the only people there.
Friday was Shepard’s half birthday! Greg had to leave for work in Chicago at 5am. We were in for a long day. After breakfast the boys played video games and watched tv for a few hours while I read and took a nap.
Shepard picked lunch at Culver’s and then we ran some errands. Sometimes I wonder how people ever survive errand running with kids and keep their sanity in check. Surely my kids aren’t the only ones to drive their parents INSANE when shopping! It’s so stressful. I think I’m going to try to avoid it in these last two weeks. My blood pressure can’t handle it!
On Friday afternoon, the boys had their first friend sleepover with Leverett. He came to our house, so Shepard could partake in the festivities. We had bbq bacon pizza for dinner. The boys played all night and went to bed a little bit later than normal. Shepard slept in his own room and the other two slept in Caden’s. He thought they fell asleep around 9:45. Overall, a pretty successful first sleepover, I think. I’m still not super gung-ho about it happening too often, but it’s survivable.
Sleepover breakfast food.
On Saturday morning there was supposed to be this Dog Days Paddle Swim event in Beaver Dam. It was announced as the final event in a summer full of dog related things (like the parade a few weeks ago). But other than the original article about it back in June, no other information was ever given. A location wasn’t given either, other than “the beach.” Beaver Dam only has one “beach” that I know of, so that’s where we went. Nobody else was there. We drove away to get gas and came back, but still nobody. So we went in anyway, even though it was probably technically against the rules. Nobody else ever showed up, but we had a good time anyway. It was super fun watching Annie actually learn how to swim. Once she finally figured it out she seemed to love it! I wish we could have taken her off the leash so she could go further. Maybe someday… (Doubtful). (Speaking of – she ran away on Monday when Shepard just stood in the doorway holding it open and expecting she wouldn’t charge past him. That was NOT a fun afternoon.) Nobody brought swimsuits, but the boys finally swam out in their shorts. It was a really fun family morning! How often do I say that about weekends?!
We babysat Eva for a little bit when we got back home. The boys adore her!
At least somebody is getting some use out of our sandbox!
The rest of the day was spent making cake pops for Timmy’s birthday party today. I ended up not actually fully coating any of the pops because the chocolate melts never really got thin enough, to my great frustration! I thought they turned out really cute looking, but I’m not so sure they’ll survive travel time, plus hot temperatures today.
The boys also had complaints about how they tasted, so maybe it was just a total waste of half my day! At least they look cute. 🙂
This Week
Well, we don’t have quite as much planned for this week, but that’s a good thing. Summer is winding down. The boys have been so whiny lately that I think they just need more rest. I’m not sure how to make that happen when they refuse to sleep any extra. But if we’re at least not running all over the place, maybe they’ll somehow get it!
Today we’re going to Timmy’s 30th birthday family bash. Should be fun! Tomorrow is the solar eclipse and the cats have their annual checkup. I’m hoping to have a date night with Caden at some point this week. I always want to make this a monthly thing and it basically never happens. Mostly because he never wants to leave Greg. Or the house. But I’d like to make it happen before school starts. We might either go on a “hike” or roller skating sometime mid-week. Friday we’re going to the Milwaukee Zoo with Timmy, Brittany, and Hudson. The boys think Hudson loves animals because he woke up during the pig races at the fair. 🙂 Saturday we’re going to Cedar Lake.
My highest priority this week is to just ENJOY the last days of summer. As much as I feel that constant pressure to work every spare minute I have, I want to try and push those feelings aside. Working hardcore will be my top priority once school starts. This is my last opportunity to be lazy, laugh with my kids, make memories, read a lot. I want to enjoy them and not have any regrets about how I spent August.
That’s about it! Have a great week!
