We were so fortunate that the cabin was available for MLK weekend!  Kyla was going to be at Winter Camp all weekend, but I had already been asked to watch my niece and nephew for at least part of the weekend and also was going to take Piper’s BFF to the cabin for the weekend.  So I had 2 of my own, and then 3 extra kids (plus the cabin neighbor girl I would adopt in a heartbeat, who is Wesley’s age and is distinguished by being adored by all my children, even when they don’t adore each other).

The boys shared a room the first night together before Cecily got there, and this is what it looked liked after about an hour of arriving.

Piper and Abs took it upon themselves to clean it up while also minding their 3 dolls.

I got talked into taking all the kids down to “our” beach (again, before Cecily arrived).

Yep, the older girls took off their shoes and rolled up their pants while playing with the beach clay…in January.  Go ahead, you can shiver while you read this.

I tried to read, blog, and prep Math Team that weekend, but that many kids in a small space doesn’t give me many places to hide.  Next cabin project…

My baby turns 9 tomorrow, but we had his party after school today.  When he was younger (and had less than the current 27 classmates), we’d invite his entire class.

This year, I let him invite 8 friends to walk home with him (and the 5th  grade sisters of half of those boys), shoot Nerf guns at each other and eat Oreo ice cream cake for 90 minutes.  No gifts, no fuss,  and the cleaner is coming tomorrow.  Maybe happy unbirthday to me!

And by “stupid tree”, I mean “I don’t want to carry up the ladder from the garage again”.  Luckily, a folding stool atop a barstool—and no one else around to give sounder counsel—let me reach the star on top.  See, this is what happens when I have a chore and no one to supervise.  Or bring me a ladder.

He made his first major goal;  sub 200!!

It’s funny that *I*  get virtual credit for our audible awesomeness.  Since it’s digital, it’s very easy to keep track of how much we read.   All the kids and I use Audible to listen to many books, but Kyla uses it far and away the most often.  [And I have relied more and more on Libby, an app that downloads library books; it’s both easy and free, but you can’t always get the books you want right away.  Being part of the library system, there can be holds and waits.  Still, very worth it, especially for a books I want to explore, but not own forever.]

Books added this year:  64 (for a total of 164 books in our Audible library)

1278 Hours listened –that’s over 53 days! (mostly Kyla!)

From our family to yours!

Dwayne came up with “Three & Me” to claim his time away with the kids—a clever and distinguishing phrase from my “Me & 3” adventures.

It wasn’t meant to be a Christmas present, but I hope we make this a tradition at the end of every year from now on!  He took the kids away Saturday afternoon, and they came back Monday afternoon, leaving me alone with the house. And oddly, it was perfect for all 5 of us!

Dwayne found a hotel room with enough beds—and a pool!—down in DuPont.

We don’t spend much time hoteling as a family, but besides a pool and 3 separate beds, we learned the value of a complimentary breakfast.  It’s a good start to a day for a parent who doesn’t have to quickly get creative first thing in the morning!

I love that Dwayne broke the time away into 3 adventures and 4 restaurant choices, so each  kid got to pick one of each.

Kyla chose the Pt. Defiance Zoo.  I admit, I was a smidgeon jealous I didn’t get to see the new aquarium!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Wes chose seeing the new Spiderman at the cinema after a Pizza hut lunch.

• 

• 

• 

Kyla was excited by her Red Lobster (and crab legs) choice.

• 

• 

Piper picked Chuck E. Cheeses, which Dwayne reported not being nearly as awful as he expected.  He got them each card to play for exactly 1 hour.  Kyla, my darling minimalist, didn’t want any of the cheap junk or candy kids can purchase with their tickets, so she gave all hers to her siblings.  Who bought cheap crap and candy.

I was running errands when they came home from Chuck’s and then McDonalds (Piper’s choice), but it was a happy reunion!  But, please, please, go away in another 363 days!

Apropos to nothing….

I love the look (and taste!) of Christmas tangerines.

I took time last summer to go through all my old teacher boxes.  I cleared out this folder, but I’m fond of the cover. 

There was a great story this year about a breast-feeding mom who was told to cover up.  So she did.  Well played, Mama!

Picture I took before I lost 12 pounds earlier this fall. The chocolate baby was overflowing the jeans a little too much.

 

I wish I could claim this story, but all credit to Island Em.  For the first time, her two girls were off to a week-long summer camp, and Em dared to tackle V’s room.  She found this manual written by V, entitled “How to Clean your House”.

Here’s the kicker.  When she opened it:

Yeah, that would be blank.

Bye, kids!

Bye, Babe! 

I love you!  Don’t hurry back!

Because I have a long “want to do” list, just waiting for a quiet household with no one in my way. I put all the Christmas cards on the wall in new frames that no longer get in the way of the barn door (I love seeing our evolution).

I caught up with a similar project from our Mother’s Day family photos on the dungeon wall.

Christmas filled our recycling bin, so most of the mess in the  office now is bags and boxes of papers that need to be recycled, because not only did I organize what you can see, but I cleaned out papers older than a year from the files.

Christmas Chaos (The Room That Must NOT Be Entered by anyone other than Mama in December) is now back to being a guest room (while also storing a certain bicycle hidden behind pillows for someone’s 9th birthday in a few weeks and a plethora of boxes until recycling day).

Downstairs game/books/video shelf got some TLC and decluttering.

The most important regrouping was for my mini office in the coat closet.  I also mostly caught up with cabin paperwork.  Phew!

I also shampooed the upstairs carpets, and cleaned out our bathroom a bit.  (Anyone need a new-in-box pregnancy test?)

And Kyla often gives me a box of random things to sort and get rid of.  She had some ornaments that  really have no sentimental attachment to her. My only reaction is to keep things with names and dates (Baby’s First Christmas!  Must keep always!), and I love that she knows that this isn’t her style, doesn’t love it on her tree, and can’t see needing this as she gets older.  My only regret is that it can’t really be donated (see “2006”), but otherwise, she’s completely correct.  But she’s the  lucky one—she fills a box, hands it to me, and I’m the one who has to best figure our most appropriate disposal of all the items.  But that’s my job and it’s worth having less stuff and a live in Role Model!

Thanks for the 48 hours at home by myself, Babe! Best present ever.

I took 5 kids to Seattle to see an IMAX, laser show (the afternoon Queen show is not worth it, even free), and a few Virtual Reality experiences.  But the Cocoa Bar was one of our top highlights.  It’s fun to take kids this age!