Busy Friday - an update on the week

This week flew by, wow! I can't believe 6 days ago we got back from Albia. I feel like I just finished putting laundry away from our trip. Maybe I did...a week later, haha! Life with our dog is beginning to feel like routine now, even though it is still a little crazy. He's much, much better with pottying outside but some times has accidents if he gets too excited or we wait too long to take him out. Usually he will sit by the deck door if he has to go potty outside, so we have to pay attention to his cues. He still has a desire to chew on everything in sight...so we constantly have chew toys for him available and need to distract him when he's chewing on something he shouldn't be chewing on...like Calvin's feet or Violet's arm. Solomon can get a little nippy with the kids - so he is in his cage a lot of the day and especially when we are eating at the table, right where little feet are more available. He's still a 4 month old puppy so he does take many naps a day. I frequently hear him snoring. Today was a very fun, but busy day. We invited over my friend Kelly (who I met through ICAN) and her two kids, Renee (4) and John (8 months). They came over after Renee got done with preschool at 11:25 so I had prepared lunch for them. We had (according to Violet's menu planning) strawberries & bananas to start, macaroni and cheese for lunch, and brownies for dessert. I made that for the kiddos in addition, the adults enjoyed BLTs and chips. I put Calvin down for a nap, and Violet and Renee went outside with Kelly, myself, Vanessa, and John. We got John occupied in the jumperoo and Vanessa snoozed in her bouncy seat, while the girls and Kelly and I played with trikes in the driveway and drew a "whole white (wide) world" (says Violet) with chalk. We drew a house, the store, a restaurant, the library, a museum, a park, a coffee shop, a church, a garden, a mailbox, and little roads to connect all of them. The girls had a lot of fun riding their trikes all over "town" and of course, going as far as they were allowed to ride up and down the sidewalks as fast as they could pedal. It was a VERY sunny day so we all got very hot quickly, had lots of cold water breaks, and then we decided to inside. The girls watched Word World, then decided to have a tea party (with just water!) on the deck and occupied themselves for awhile. They went home around 3. I tried to get Violet to rest for awhile so she could muster up some energy to play hard again the rest of the night, but it didn't go over well. She first started out laying on the couch, but she kept telling Calvin and I to stop whispering so she could sleep. She got up and set up her Dora blanket on my bed but that didn't last long either, she said it was too dark. Oh well. I talked with her at length about her behavior and said if she started whining and crying she wouldn't get to read any books at bed time. Dave had plans to go catfish fishing with his friends (Dennis and Jason) so Trisha (Jason's wife) decided to have all the families over for supper, which was a collaborative effort on all our parts. Jason grilled a ginormous pork loin, I brought mac and cheese and brownies, Selena brought a yummy ramen noodle/cabbage salad, and Trisha baked a broccoli casserole and banana bars. The kids had a really, really fun time playing. Total there were 13 kids present...that includes the babies. Calvin preferred to play inside with the trucks and trains, Violet preferred to kick off her shoes and run around barefoot with the big kids, they did all sorts of things, I don't even know, but I know hide and seek was involved. Violet was extremely happy to be playing independently of her brother for once, and she told me she had a lot of fun on the way home, and she loves her friends. So Dave and his buddies took off for the river and I headed home to get the kids in bed. Praise the Lord, Solomon and Vanessa were both sleeping the entire time I got Violet and Calvin to bed. They took a long time to get calmed down, they were practically bouncing off the walls. They crashed quickly though, after such a fun day. Calvin insists on us leaving on the hallway light so there is light under the crack of his bedroom door. Even an hour after he's gone to bed, if we turn it off, he will notice and scream hysterically. He is scared of the dark, I think we should get him a night light. Once we go to bed though, the light goes off and we hear nothing, so he must be sleeping soundly. Violet, of course, knowing that Calvin likes the light under her door, will insist on having the crack under her door completely blocked off by light so nothing shines through. She prefers a towel over her crack "so she can sleep better". These little phases are so short lived, but at the time, its like life and death to these kids to have their preferences made known and carried out. I just go with it, doesn't really matter much. Vanessa has not been sleeping all that well lately at night. The whole week, almost every single night, she wakes up at 1 am, 4:30 am, and from that point on through the night, she is restless, squirms, and fusses from 5-7 am. I nurse her to get her to relax and zonk out again...but it doesn't last long. She seems to be working on a big poop for those few awake hours and around 7 am it explodes and fills her diaper from corner to corner. Poor kid...just now I realized it might benefit her to use some gas drops before she goes to bed. Maybe the huge serving of broccoli I ate on Thursday night affected her negatively. I'll never really know...I just hope she starts to sleep better because I am feeling the effects. I am dragging myself out of bed in the morning feeling half dead and cranky, not ready to start my day. When mommy is in a bad mood, nothing seems to go right that day. I really need to work on improving my mood in the morning when I see the kids for the first time and not see them as nuisances that prevent me from sleeping. Violet starts her 2nd year of preschool on Monday. She is really looking forward to going back and starting school "in the BIG kid classroom" as she calls it, with the 4-5 yr olds. She will go Mon, Wed and Fri 9-11:30.