what's up weekly.

Well, that was a quick turnaround.  It feels like I was just writing one of these posts.  Partly because I was just writing one of these posts, and partly because the big girls have been at my mom's this week, and I feel super weird and disoriented.  I'm ready for the girls to come home and life to return to its glorious normal!

Last Friday, we were all still together, and we got to celebrate Callista's third birthday!  It's hard to believe she's three - sometimes she acts like she's about 19, and I honestly don't know how I'm going to hang onto any level of authority over her for much longer.  (Haha, as though I had any in the first place.)  Other times, I look at her and her giant bald baby head and wonder how she's already three.  Kids always throw you for a loop.

She is electricity.  She's sharp and bright and energetic and a bit dangerous.  She is sassafrass.  She knows her own mind, and she has her own voice.  She is an absolute force.  She spends most of her time pretending to be a kitty, or swaddling her babies, or cooking me pretend food and forcing me to eat it, even when I'm not even pretend hungry.  She loves brushing my hair and "painting" my face with dry paintbrushes, and she's super gentle.  She hates seeing anyone get hurt.  She loves playing outside for hours on end, and dancing her own brand of ballet.  She is so affectionate, and so very gentle and kind with Juni.  The two little girls will often go off and play quietly together for an hour or more.  She is a full-spectrum person, and I just adore her.

After pizza and ice cream (our traditional Friday night routine), we all hopped into the van to drive up to Iowa to spend the next day at my parents'.

On Saturday, the kids played on the new playset in my parents' yard, and we had a birthday party for Lissy - an AC/DC birthday party, to be exact.  Because AC/DC is her favorite band.  (Every time they come on the radio, she loses her ever-loving mind.)

This was the face she made opening EVERY present.

She received the ballet leotard from me and Todd, and the unicorn shoes from Laurelai.  She got these on Saturday - it is now Friday, and she has not yet changed outfits at all.

On Sunday morning, we loaded back up into the van to head home, but Penelope and Laurelai stayed behind to spend the week at my mom's.  I am so glad they have the opportunity to have so much fun - I've heard they've been to the zoo, to the beach, out for ice cream - but they're coming home tomorrow and I could not be more excited.  We don't typically spend much time separated from each other, and it feels like I'm missing my arm or something.  Like, I can function without my arm, but why would I want to?

In the afternoon, I put together Lissy's new trike.  I had an excellent helper.

  

The rest of the week has been kind of a blur.  I've spent much of it applying poison ivy remedies (including one I made from plantain leaves and salt, which has proven shockingly effective) and hunting the yard for poison ivy.  (It's everywhere.  Everywhere.)  I haven't really let the kids play outside much, even though it has been nice much of the week, since I can't stand the thought of them catching it or tracking it into the house.  However, we did go out for a bit one morning so I could finally get the compost bin finished up.

On Tuesday morning, a friend came over whom I hadn't seen since before quarantine - she had a newborn the last time I saw her, and now she has a twenty-pound five-month-old.  HOW WARPED HAS THE PASSAGE OF TIME BECOME?!  That night, we headed to another friend's house for a pool party with a couple of families.  That's pretty impressive socialite behavior coming from an introvert facing a second-wave lockdown.  (Or perhaps you think I'm irresponsible?  That would be the first time in my middle-aged life that anyone would have charged me with that, as I've always been a Type A firstborn control freak - so maybe I need to feel honored!  Irresponsibility does seem to be a virtue these days.)

On Wednesday, it was storming in the morning, so we waited until late morning to head up to the Amish.  Because I can't call to let them know when plans change, they just have to guess why I'm not there on time.  This time, my friend Irene said she was pretty sure I didn't show up because I had landed in the hospital from the rash on my legs!  Apparently that's how bad they looked.

Luckily, most of it is finally beginning to clear up.  My skin is still dry and itchy, and I'm still getting small new patches many days, but nothing like the initial contact rash.  And it doesn't appear that it will scar, which is a major relief.  I'm also starting to sleep better - last night I didn't take Benadryl, or need to get up in the middle of the night to ice my legs.

Yesterday, we just laid low around the house.  The boys are experimenting with stop-motion videos, so I got to spend my morning filming a Lego police chase for them.  In the afternoon, I organized my deep freeze.  Thrilling, thrilling stuff - and I don't mean that sarcastically.  It actually feels really good to have spent some time with the boys on a project, and I'm ecstatic I brought a little bit of order to a messy corner of the house.

So.  Poison ivy, missing my kids, being socially irresponsible for the first time in my life - it was a weird week.  Luckily we had big things to celebrate, and fun things to do to anchor us in joy.