An Off Week

As far as summer weeks go, it's been a strange one. Instead of day trips and fun outings, we've been mostly confined to home. Our predictable meals and bedtime routines have been replaced with evening visitors and meal deliveries. 

Jackson attended a five day VBS at a local church this week. He was so, so excited about going to "camp" every morning. I dropped him off at 9 am and picked him up at noon. For three hours each day, he played games, sang songs, and listened to Bible stories. This kid loves anything that resembles school!

Monday afternoon my oldest sister, nephew, and niece came to hang out with the kids while I took Jesse to get his wisdom teeth removed. As I've previously shared, his medicated nonsense was amusing to witness until he traumatized the children.

I planned all of our meals to be soft foods, though Jesse had no appetite anyway.

The girls received a few barbies at their party on Sunday, so we broke out the collection of vintage barbie accessories a friend had given us last year.

The outdated toys made me laugh. James thought the boom box was an oven with rolls in it! 

Tuesday evening was another unusual evening. My brothers came over to install the electrical work and light fixtures. I am so grateful they did this, but it disrupted each of our families routines.

They worked until 9 pm, filling the rooms with ceiling debris, insulation, tools, and wires. This meant the kids could not go to sleep until they left. We also had my brother's children, which hyped the kids up. It was really fun to see the kids playing together, but the kids were wide eyed and crazy two hours past their bedtime. We settled them down with a movie and late night snack.

This picture could have been taken at any time throughout the past week. Jesse has spent the majority of each day sleeping. I don't know if this is a result of narcotics or pain but it makes me never want to get my wisdom teeth removed.

Unfortunately, Jesse has been very irritable, yelling at the kids for being too loud. I don't know how many of you have tried to keep four kids ages 3-5 quiet for several hours a day, but it's near impossible. Despite 95 degree temperatures, we played in the shade, painting the fence with water and spraying one another with bottles of water.

Another challenge to the week is a possible potty training regression. Maddie was doing so well with potty training, but she spent Tuesday and Wednesday peeing on herself and not even moving. I would literally pick her up from her own puddle of urine. James still isn't great with potty training, so the two of them made me very nervous to go out in public. Our only adventure for the week was to the museum. We put on training underwear and plastic pants, and spent half of our time in the bathroom. At least there were a few fun moments in between all of the potty breaks.

Wednesday evening Jesse's mom came over with dinner. Apparently being a grandparent gives you the authority to feed your grandchildren ice cream for dinner after they refuse to eat anything of nutritious value. Ice cream and MiMi for the win.

Thursday was more of the same--trying to keep the kids from disturbing Jesse. We played outside for short bursts of time,

and watched a LOT of TV.

I went out with my former 5th grade team, which was a much needed break.

Friday signaled the end of VBS. James and I attended Jackson's closing service. It was good to get a glimpse of how Jackson spent his week. Jackson had nothing but positive things to say each day.

Immediately after VBS the boys and I met friends at the splash pad.

Friday evening was spent with more family. Jesse's brother and sister-in-law brought us BBQ and birthday presents for the trio. His brother set up a small train track that provided great enjoyment for the kids.

Harris Teeter had a buy 2, get 3 free special on ice cream, which was perfect timing for Jesse's soft food diet. We could have opened our own ice cream shop with the variety of ice cream flavors.

I absolutely love having company over, but family visiting 5 out of 6 days is a lot! Add that to the fact that Jesse was a miserable, lethargic version of himself and we are still in the throes of potty training hell, you can see why everything felt off. For a family that thrives on schedules and predictable routines, it was a very unusual week indeed!