Life is a Blur - Emilia can Ride her bike & Eva told her first joke

Alright, life has been a blur this week. More work, more commitments, less overlap with Dave, etc. etc. All good things. Just busy!

Every night at bedtime Dom plays hockey with his 3 mini retro hockey players, a Pokemon card tin as the net, and a Lego Storm Trooper helmet as the puck. He does play by play and is very competitive with himself haha!

Last Saturday I got the privilege of taking Dom to soccer. The group is supposed to be 5.5-8 year-olds, but there was one boy there who was at least 5 feet tall. I suppose he could have been 8, but he was way bigger and more advanced than the younger kids. He and Dom started feeling each other out right away by watching each other, making eye contact, etc. It slowly became more competitive until they were pitted against each other in the game at the end. At that point there might as well have been no other players. In their minds it was just them against each other. That boy was a much stronger player, but it was cute watching Dom make this little relationship and be competitive.

I've been desperately trying to be more intentional with giving the kids each quality time. On Saturday afternoon that meant asking Emilia to help me cut some carrots for our soup for dinner.

Jesse got Dave some beers as a thank you for some work Dave did and when we saw these ones we just knew they had to be shared with Scott & Ash. We hired a babysitter and went to their place for some games and beer on Saturday evening.

For the record, I won.

Sunday morning I woke Eva up at 8am and found she had a very snotty nose. We were planning to go to Agassiz for a family brunch, but given that situation I decided to stay back with snot-fest here.

An hour or two into the visit in Agassiz, Dom tanked. Shoot. Dave came home earlier than planned with the big kids and Dom slept away most of the afternoon on the couch and in bed. Finally we got him to take some Advil chewables and then he was up til 9pm playing in his bed with all the energy in the world. Amazing what a bit of fever-reducing meds will do!

With Dom being sick and Dave being out for the morning, it was a down day at home. Movies, rest, etc. I had this time on my hands, so I worked on my budget, I organized some cupboards/clothes/toys, etc., I planned my week, I waxed my legs, I did my yoga, etc. Later on in the day I stumbled upon this graphic on IG about Self Care for an Enneagram 1. I laughed as I realized I checked every single one of these boxes organically with my free time that day. And it felt so good! Self care. Looks different for everyone :)

Excuse me, child. She is threatening to jump off the edge here instead of climbing back down the steps.

Monday we kept Dom home from school and had another quieter day. I was on an organizing/purging spree and re-did our front broom/coat closet. Some day we'll take out the shelves, move the hooks and make it a bit more user friendly, but for now this is a vast improvement!

Eva played with the yarn bowls/balls I made! Every colour is yellow according to her.

Cheers to two exhausted parents watching a movie in the theatre after bedtime.

On Tuesday both the kids were back to school. I found a bucket of Emilia's old size 3T fancy dresses in a cupboard and knew Eva would be all over them. She was obsessed. "ELSA! LET IT GO! LET IT GO! UNKNOWN!" She spent the whole morning trying on dresses and dancing and singing.

So fancy

When they were both home on Monday they decided to build one of Emilia's Lego Frozen castles.

A week or so ago Emilia asked us to take her training wheels off her bike, completely out of the blue. Okay? Then on Tuesday she asked Dave to take her riding and suddenly she can ride a two-wheeler on her own! Love celebrating these milestones with them!

What Dad & Dom's quality time looks like. Sorting hockey cards.

Tuesday night we had small groups. Some people couldn't make it, so it was just going to be Dave, me, Brent & Steph. It was a mutual understanding that this would turn into a games night and we also added some hot tub time in there!

For the record, I also won this game of Settlers :)

Wednesday morning I went to spin, despite really not feeling like it. When I was done and came to work I realized it was light out at 7am! I am so excited for Spring!

After work I picked Dom up from school, grabbed some groceries for dinner, and then came home having to make an early dinner, and having two little girls BEGGING to spend time with me. I have such a hard time juggling all these hats and being needed/pulled in so many different ways. Alas. Emilia desperately wanted me to paint her toes, so we did that while I was waiting for the rice to cook. Then Eva ran up and said, "ME TOO! ME TOO!" I couldn't think of a great reason not to (other than the fact that I knew she couldn't sit still while they dried), so we painted her nails with some of Emilia's kids nail polish.

Nice, mom. I totally missed the point of the "take a picture of my toes" request.

Thanks for the proof of mom, Dave :)

Dave went out to basketball on Wednesday evening so I was on bedtime duty. Dom was watching the hockey game and I had the girls upstairs singing and dancing and playing in their room. They are so different in so many ways, but they both do love to sing and dance <3

Apparently Eva flosses on her own now. Sold!

For good measure, a picture of Dom haha. 

Thursday during the day Gramma and Grandpa came out to watch Eva and pick Emilia up from preschool so that I could go to spin and go into work a second day. Thank goodness!! I'm finally starting to get my feet under me again after a year and a half of treading water. 

After school we picked Dom up and headed to my parents' for dinner. Eva stayed with Mom while Dave, Emilia and I took Dom to his second week of basketball. That poor boy was so tired! his attention span was about zero haha. He had fun though so that's what matters <3

Today I have a NORMAL day! It's been a while it feels like. Getting some stuff done around the house and making my get-shit-done plan for the weekend.

Found this little lady playing Pee-mee-mohl quietly on her own. A Christmas miracle! 

While I do yoga and finish the blog today Emilia is working on her Valentine's for school

Speaking of school, we've had a bit of a breakthrough for Emilia! She's been really struggling at drop offs lately and has been crying and clinging to me and not wanting to go to school. I touched base with her teachers and we've been working together to ease the transition. Emilia didn't have any friends in class, but had told me about a boy she's been thinking about being friends with. I told her teachers that she's interested in playing with this boy, so they facilitated them being together at the beginning of the day yesterday and she came home happier than I've seen her in months. She was so excited to have played with her friend all day, she ate EVERY MORSEL of her lunch, and was disappointed to learn she couldn't go back to school until next Tuesday. I really hope this is a turning point for her <3

I also really appreciate the teachers working with Emilia and I to figure out what's best for her.

Oh Eva told her first joke the other day. She was sitting on the couch and randomly blurted out...

Eva: KNOCK KNOCK!
Me: Who's there? *not at all expecting a follow-through*

Eva: Chicken

Me: Chicken who?
Eva:... Cow!

She is very proud of herself and thinks she's hilarious.