what's up weekly.

You guys.  This week was nuts.

Last weekend, we drove up to Iowa to celebrate the birthdays of Rocco and my niece Hyler.  We had a quick pizza and ice cream party Friday night before loading into the Kraken for the drive.  Traveling has gotten SO MUCH EASIER since the kids have gotten older - about an hour from the time we needed to leave, I just told the kids to grab a clean outfit, a couple pairs of undies, and some jammies.  I threw it all in a laundry basket, tossed in our toiletries and dumped it in the back of the van, and presto: we were Go-ready.  (It helps that my mom keeps a pack and play, toothbrushes, and diapers on hand so I don't have to pack that stuff every time.)

On Saturday morning, we partied like it was 1991.  (The year I turned five.  Come on, man.)  Rocco's face in almost every picture was one of pure amazement that this was his party.

Not in this picture, though, obviously.

...Or this one.

There it is!  See the face?!

Let's just zoom in on that face for a sec...

THERE IT IS!

I found this old Cub Scout shirt at the antique mall, and it looked like something Opie Taylor would wear, so I knew Rocco would love it.

Huntin' the bad buys with his new nerf gun.

It was a beautiful day, so the kids spent most of the afternoon outside.

Sunday morning, we headed over to my sister's for my niece's birthday party.

THE NEW BABYYYYYYY NIECE, CORA!!!

Atticus got to be the official Second Shooter of the party.

Just call him Austicus.

  

(That's a mildly funny joke if you know that my brother-in-law's name is Austin, and also that this guy is Austin.)

Is Hyler not just the prettiest little doll?!

After the party, the kids played yard games while I stayed inside holding the baby and not ever wanting to hand her back.

Look at Juni, holding her own (and holding her own stick).

We headed home in the afternoon, and here are the highlights: we all missed our Sunday naps, I had to pee like a mofo for the last hour of it and I swear to you my bladder still hurts from holding it, and we grabbed pizza on our way into town (we eat a lot of pizza, did you notice that?).  Then we watched Shaun the Sheep, and went to bed.  Spicy stuff.

Then the week got really juicy.  We were on break from school, so I was on a mission to get some stuff done around here.  It also just so miraculously happened that Todd lined up a free piano (and the six grown men he needed to help him move it) AND a new treadmill to replace the one we have that is on its last leg.  So our house is looking dope.

But in order to make space for the piano in the basement, I needed to find a permanent home for all the kids' clothing bins that I had piled up at the back of the room.  (Storage in this house has been a creative challenge so far.)  So I spent Monday cleaning out the garage and making room for all the bins, and then I moved them all out there.  The piano was delivered in the evening, and it looks so much better down there already!  Plus, the kids are loving having a piano they can play any time of the day, not just when the stars align and my nerves can take having them play the one in the living room.  (I'm noise-averse.)

Since then, I have kept the energy level high: after cleaning out the garage, I realized with a few more shelving units out there, our house's storage issues could be almost completely solved.  So I ordered those, and one has already arrived, and been assembled and stocked. 

This week I have also:

- moved our stored furniture to the laundry room.  

- hung a new clothing rod for our church clothing.  

- gotten totally caught up on laundry.  

- put in grocery orders and picked up from Walmart, Aldi and Lowe's.  

- cleaned out the fridge and the fish tank.  

- cleaned out all three of the kids' closets.

- ordered almost all of our Christmas gifts.

- painted the basement wall behind the treadmill.

- measured our basement windows for new curtains and made a crafting plan for December.  I'm hoping to take the kids to Hobby Lobby in Jeff City soon - it will be their first foray into a public establishment since July.  We're all preternaturally excited.

- finished the Maria Von Trapp autobiography.

- started a book of Reagan's speeches.  (I am constantly amazed by how much history has always seen us coming.)

- took down the pack and play in the girls' room, and now Callista is sleeping on a toddler mattress!  It may not seem like much, but this is the first time in 7 years that we have not had at least one pack and play set up as a permanent fixture somewhere in our home.  In true 2020 fashion, I would like to describe this as unprecedented!  

Yes, I own four pack and plays.  Look at them all, standing at attention and ready to serve at a moment's notice.  They're such loyal attendants.

And Todd moved the old treadmill out to the curb, helped a friend install a new-to-us treadmill, and hauled our broken dehumidifier to the curb.

Today, I have a college gal coming in the morning, and a friend coming in the afternoon, and I'm hoping to make a trip to Goodwill.  I also really, really need to get last term's papers checked and filed before we head into Term 2 on Monday, but I'm largely starting to suspect that all of this activity was a desperate attempt to procrastinate on that.

Whew!  I feel so good about this week.  I got so much done, and am really excited to finish up getting our storage issues finally sorted out and resolved.  I'll have to post pictures in December when it's all done.

Speaking of which, I did take some updated photos of the house this week, and plan to post a mini, casual home tour next week.  I haven't really shown you the guts of our house in a while, partly because our house is underwhelming, partly because my motivation to blog is underwhelming, and partly because I've been a bit embarrassed.  I mean, storage bins in the middle of the family room?  Come on, man.  (That never gets old!  2020 has been good for almost nothing, but at least I've gotten a new catchphrase out of it.)  But I thought it would be fun to give an honest glimpse of things, for posterity's sake.

Honest glimpse: I didn't even remove the pullup bar from the shot.  That is where it lives, so that is what you get to see.  Also notice the hole in my coffee table, and the stuffing bursting out of the arm of my couch.  Welcome to my home!

Juni's room.

Like what you see? There's a lot more where that came from if you go to the dance with me.  (I mean, tune in next week.)  Yours Truly, Paige Van Voorst.