Just a little ray of sunshine : March 25th - 28th, 2021: I want a tornado to come now!

I didn't write on Thursday because we were all too busy crowding into our utility closet that night because of a tornado warning. 😱 It was a rainy and stormy day and Maeve actually ended up getting dismissed from school 2 hours early because of it. Adam worked from home that day as well, although he ended up only working a few hours because he wasn't feeling great. It was a pretty lazy day for all of us after Maeve got home.

Once the storms started rolling through in the late afternoon, Rowan said, "Come on! Let's get in the closet!!" When we told him that it wasn't time yet and that we didn't get need to get in unless an actual tornado was coming through, he cried and said, "I want a tornado to come NOW!!!" 😂😳 So don't worry, I proceeded to pretend a tornado was coming through about 15 times in a row and hopped in the pitch black closet with a flashlight with Maeve and Rowan time and time again and it was the best game of their lives. 😂 Doesn't take much with these kiddies! I also got a good kick out of the fact that before the tornado came through Rowan asked, "Is it gonna break our toys?" 😂🥺 I'm here to report no toys were broken.

Since we were feeling super lazy, I threw the kids in the car while Adam had a zoom lesson with the missionaries and we went to grab some Taco Bell for dinner before the storms ramped up. We did see some lightning and hear loud thunder once while we were driving, which spooked the kids a little bit, but then Maeve said, "It's okay! God is with us." 🥰❤️ It was a proud, tender mom moment for sure. Such a sweet, smart girl.

Luckily all was well that night and we remained safe from the tornado. The kids secretly loved it and Nolan was a champ being woken up from bed for a few minutes, and luckily went right back to sleep just fine. 🙏

Friday was an asynchronous learning day at home for Maeve so she just had her packet to breeze through. She was so excited about that and for the chance to play with Rowan most of the day since her packet does not take her long to do. Of course Rowan loves to sit with her and watch her complete her packets on all these learning days at home, and I like to think he's only getting smarter because of it. It was also a major win because she got sent home with a sack lunch for that day and it was big enough to feed both her and Rowan, so he was overjoyed that she split it with him and I was overjoyed I did not have to lift a finger. 🙌

I had my first private coaching session at 11:30 that day to get coached through my fear of throw up. It went alright, although it wasn't the most profound experience and I feel like mostly I was told to do things that I kinda already knew I could do. The problem is that it is hard to do said things, but I guess I need to consciously work harder to do them. We shall see if over time I can get better at changing all my negative thoughts that just make me spiral. I'm hoping and I'm praying. 🙏🙏

The kids also had a major dance party in the living room with the blinds closed and the lights on party mode. It was pretty fun, but the kicker is they were rocking out to Kidz Bop Christmas music. 🤦🤷Whatever brings them joy is all I have to say sometimes.

I also had a lady text me on Friday morning that we had previously done some dog sitting for back in October 2020 asking me if I could dog sit again for the weekend. So she dropped her dog off Friday afternoon and now I'm $100 richer. Ka-ching. 👊After she dropped her dog off, we went out to run a few boring errands, which I don't normally drag the kids through. We went to home goods to look for a soap I wanted that is THE BEST smelling soap I've ever encountered, but they didn't have more. I did end up scoring a cute hamper though that was meant to be in the kids room, so still a win. We also stopped at Petsmart to return some special dog food Zoey didn't need all of when she sick and then also popped into TJMaxx to try and find a hair product that I wanted, but failed to find. Shockingly the kids did great almost the entire time, but then Maeve lost it in the car saying through her sobs, "It's my favorite day of the week and we haven't done anything fun and now we won't have time to do anything else besides have dinner, screen time, and go to bed!!" What a rough life for a 5 year old, I'm telling you. Lucky for her, we ended up going to Culver's for custard after dinner. I realize that maybe sounds like she got rewarded for talking like a spoiled brat, but in no way did I make it seem like we would do that to appease her. Some time had certainly passed between that little meltdown and us going and the meltdown was short lived too.

I'm trying really hard right now to get back into making time for reading for pleasure, so I got a bunch of book recommendations on Thursday and really got into a book on Friday night that I had started a while back and never finished (story of my life). Between Friday night and last night I have already made it through 70% of the book and it has been pretty good. It's called When Breath Becomes Air and is about a guy in residency to become a neurosurgeon who gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Pretty depressing, but for some reason I can't get enough of books that pull at the heartstrings.

Yesterday (Saturday) was another stormy day. It honestly poured rain and was stormy off and on all day long. We made it to and from dance class for Maeve without getting too wet though luckily. She's got a new teacher now and actually was the only one that showed up to class that day so she got some one on one instruction. Not too shabby. 👌 Adam was committed to getting his project done of adding framing around our master bathroom mirror and the kids bathroom mirror, so he made a trip to Home Depot with the kids that afternoon while I stayed with Nolan napping, and then we all made one more trip before dinner when he realized he needed one more thing. He finished up today and the mirrors look SO much nicer now that they're framed and it totally changes the feel of the bathrooms. So awesome for only $30. I'll have to take a picture the next time I clean the bathrooms and they're in perfect shape.

While Adam was working on that project, the kids and I were downstairs playing a hide and seek game with sticky notes. Maeve wrote "Mo" for Mommy "Ma" for Maeve and "Ro" for Rowan on a bunch of sticky notes and they would hide them together around the living room and then we would all find our respective sticky notes. Eventually she told me I needed to hide my own, and when I acted confused by that, she said, "Yeah, sometimes I hide yours and mine and I forget where they are by the time I'm looking for them..." 😂🤔 Maybe that works for a 5 year old, but I wasn't as successful at really stumping myself when I hid mine and 2 seconds later turned around to find them. But I'm just here to nod, pretend, and go along for the ride so 🤷.

Today I woke up with a pretty bad headache, so we opted not to go to church and just watch the meeting from home instead. It was a pretty low key day at home. I got a call from my sister a day early for my birthday, which is tomorrow, so we had a good chat for a bit. Among other things, we talked about Rowan's potty woes. I told her how yesterday he started peeing on the floor in the bathroom when I pulled down his pants and thought it would be fun to move his body around so that the pee sprayed all over the place. I was pretty mad he was making a game out of it and stuck his little booty in time out. Then today he was losing his mind saying he needed me and when I went over to ask what was up, he was sitting on the floor in his own pee with a smile on his face, saying, "I peed" 😩😩😩 Kill me now. So after I got off the phone with my sis, I was brainstorming on how I can motivate him to want to get all his pee in the potty from now on. I had the thought that maybe each time he successfully goes to the bathroom all on his own without my help and gets every last drop in the toilet, we'll pull his bat out and I'll throw 3 pitches for him because he's 3. I presented that idea to him and he said, "hmmm, how about 5 because Maeve's 5?" 😂🤦 He's not stupid and knows how to logically request more. I settled for that so we'll see if it helps. He was successful 2 times before bed with that and was pretty happy to earn some batting. Let's hope it sticks and he continues to have success all on his own, because that independence is something else we need to solidify before he's 4. 🙏

While I was on the phone, Adam had the kids watch some church Easter videos and that got Maeve going on drawing pictures of Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb. It was pretty cute. She is so excited for Easter. She is also SO excited for my birthday tomorrow and told me before going to bed, "I can't sleep, I'm SO excited for your birthday!!" I think she might be more excited than I am. 😂

I think that's about all I have to say about this weekend, other than a few more laughs:

~I ordered a couple new bibs for Nolan and Rowan has been calling them boobs. He asked me, "Do Nolan's boobs fit him?" 😂😂

~As happens quite often, the kids forgot to close the baby gate behind themselves downstairs when coming upstairs once and Adam called them out on it. Maeve responded, "We're just kids, we don't know how to do that stuff!" 😂🤦 Nice try, sister.

~The kids ate a bunch of fruit tonight as a bedtime snack and Maeve told me she ate a blackberry that didn't taste good. I asked what it tasted like and she thought for a minute and said, "A diaper" 😳🤦 Then of course Rowan soon followed that up with, "I just got a blueberry that had a diaper in it. And I ate it." 😂😳 That gave me a good laugh for sure!

~I just ordered Doctrine and Covenants Stories, Book of Mormon Stories, Old Testament Stories, and New Testament Stories. All the beginning reader illustrated versions. We have been reading a chapter or two from the Doctrine and Covenants one each night this last week and Maeve calls it the Jesus book. 😂

Now for some pics!

😂😂

😍

Sweet boy loves his daddy

Huddled in the closet!

She drew a picture of herself at the dentist - gotta love the teeth!

This little boy is allllways sticking his tongue out randomly now 😂

Maeve brought it upon herself to write "Remember to not hit" on a sticky note for Rowan to wear in hopes it will help him be better about not hitting her. Nevermind the fact that he can't read. 😂 When I pointed that, he said, "it's okay, I'll just know that's what it says!" 😂🤷 He loved the idea and was excited about it - too funny.

I laughed when I found more sticky notes all around the house. Apparently he needs lots of reminders. The million dollar question is, will this eliminate all hitting?! 🤔