I love this. Since we got a handicap sticker, I've been thinking of printing this and handing it to anyone who comments that we shouldn't use a handicap sticker. I don't use it very often, just when I'm by myself with both kids and Liam's having a rough day. Well that doesn't really eliminate very many days but I tend to stay at home on those days anyway. But just a thought.
So Grandma and Pops came in last night and we were all so excited to walk Liam to the bus this morning. Since I now knew where the spot was, this should be easy peasy, right?! We were told the bus would be there around 8:10 but to get there 10 minutes before and wait up to 10 minutes after. So we got there at 8. All of us. At 8:17 I called the bus company just to make sure they weren't coming as I assumed they weren't. She said, "Oh they've already been by and they couldn't wait." Me: "But we've been at the bus stop since ten minutes before the estimated arrival time as we were instructed to do." Bus Lady: "Let's see. They came by at 7:55... were you out there?" Me: "No. Ten minutes before the ETA was 8:00 so we got out here at 8:00." Bus Lady: "Oh. Well. Hmm. Oh I see! There's been an adjustment to the bus schedule. His new estimated ETA for your bus stop is 7:55."
Me: "Awesome, thanks so much." [Hangs up] Remember even though this is crazy and the third time in a row I've had to deal with this bus not doing what it's supposed to do, I have no idea what anyone involved is going through and so I should just be nice. "Alright gang, we're driving Liam to school." So we all packed into the Sienna and took Liam to school. But then we went to Breakfast Shoppe so it was all worth it. Here's Liam getting off the bus. That's right, ladies and gentlemen [I'm 95% sure there are no gentlemen reading this but, ya know, let's be inclusive], the bus came when it was supposed to. Hallelujah!
Later, we all went to a USNA soccer game. A couple of girls from Zachary's company are playing- one is their star player.
So the application was not easy but we put this up today:
The idea is, since it's right next to our front door, we won't forget as much. I am forgetting stuff all. the. time. So maybe this will help. Probably not but the effort was there. Malia is really into these cushion forts:
I had sent the picture of Malia to my dad because he loves getting pictures of the kids during the day. He asked what was Liam was up to since I hadn't sent a picture of him. So the bus was supposed to come this morning. It's a normal school bus except it has harnesses just like in car seats on the bus seats. So we sat outside this morning waiting for the bus. It never came. So I drove him to school. I asked the teacher if I should pick him up or if the bus would definitely come to the house. "It'll definitely come to the house." Cool. Just kidding. I sat on the front porch for 20 minutes and then got a call from the bus company that the bus had come and waited as long as it could but since I wasn't there, I needed to go to the school to pick him up. So I tell her I've been sitting on my front porch for 20 minutes, there's no way it came. So she calls the bus driver and we find out that the bus stop is not in front of our house but at the end of the street. No one decided to inform me of this before he started riding the bus. So I went to the school to pick him up. I had been texting my family about my frustration with the bus situation and so I sent them this picture to show that I had him and he was safely in the car.
We had a really busy day today! First we took Liam to the bus stop and then we went to the MOPS Registration Playdate. Malia wanted to dress for the occasion:
Other moms (not this one because it takes all I have to get us fed, dressed, and out the door) brought extra riding toys so the kids with moms like me could have something to play with. Malia took advantage:
Later, it was time for Malia's first soccer shots... I don't even know what to call it... practice? gathering? I don't know.
Here's a video of Malia participating fully in the... gathering. I'm going with gathering.
And hugs for her friend, Evie:
Liam was not a fan of watching from the sidelines so he and Zachary found some other trouble to get into:
Every school day, Liam's teacher writes in this little chart that's stapled in his communication notebook. Every day so far, he's gotten a smiley face for behavior. Not today. We need to work on sharing toys and waiting our turn. Oops. There's that oops again.
After lunch and a much needed map, we played outside- look how cute these two are together.
Oh Malia. Zachary went to the Nationals' baseball game today with a bunch of midshipmen. He was on the task force so he was in charger of making sure everyone was safe and didn't do anything stupid. So things happen when there's one adult and two children. Here's one of them:
She went upstairs by herself, got in her room, somehow got the wipes off her dresser and picked one out- brought it downstairs and asked me to help her get the marks off her leg. How smart is she?? She also made this cushion fort:
Here's another one of those things that happens when the number of children is greater than the number of adults, artwork from Liam:
Zachary wasn't home and today was the first Sunday of football. I was so disappointed because I had been looking forward to watching with him. But I also saw this and sent it to him in case he wasn't aware:
He did make it home for the night game and when he saw this (Patriots' player, Danny Amendola, helping hold the flag during the national anthem), he had a new favorite player.
My parents came to visit this weekend. We're having them take this hideous pink mattress home with them so it'll be there when we come to visit. Malia decided to have some fun in it before it was packed up:
So I'm more of an individual NFL Player fan but I've decided to adopt the Packers as my team. I love Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews... and Eddie Lacy. And Julius Peppers and Jordy Nelson. And now I love them as a whole even more because I saw on FaceBook today that they donated $200,000 to enhance community-police relationships. I am really torn on the issue that's at hand right now- Colin Kaepernick (which I spelled correctly without cheating. I googled it because I was sure I misspelled it but I was actually right- go me) has recently started protesting during the national anthem being played before football games because of race relations in our country- namely, unarmed African Americans being shot and killed by police officers. I believe he has a reason to protest. I just don't know how much good is being done by him sitting during the national anthem. And now that September 11th is tomorrow, I'm feeling more uneasy about it. What the Packers did though I think is great. So just thought I'd share because this is the only picture I have from today. Oops. I've been saying oops a lot lately.
I wonder how many blog posts are titled "Chickfila Day." More than I'm comfortable with. Anyway- when I picked Liam up today from the bus (which was supposed to drop him off but went to a place they didn't tell me they were going and then acted like I was crazy because I didn't know to go to an undisclosed location) at school... as we were walking to the car he started requesting lunch at chickfila. I have a problem and now I've passed it on to my son. Oops.
Well the title of today's blog post is misleading because I didn't actually go grocery shopping but Malia and I accompanied our friends, Amy and Evie, on their grocery shopping trip. I met Amy at the gym and there wasn't enough time to go home before picking up Liam but it was too early to head to the school so we tagged along as she went to the commissary. The girls enjoyed each others' company!
We picked Liam up from school and on our way in, I was cleaning out the car so the kids sat just like this while I did:
Also, saw this and laughed out loud:
School wears Liam out- here's his post-school nap:
I'm trying to surprise Zachary for football starting up this week. So I looked at our fantasy teams and made two shirts for each of us so we can show our support for our players this week. The Jets and the Broncos shirts are for me and the Giants and the Panthers shirts are for Zachary. Hopefully, he'll wear them and I can make some more for future matchups!
Also, here's a text from Zachary:
And I have a story to tell. Zachary took Liam to the gym tonight and while he was there, there was a bug in my bathroom. So I do what I always do, put a container over it. I couldn't find one without holes in it so I was just hoping for the best here:
I took a picture to send it to him to let him know he had some work to do when he got home and then I remembered I've sent that same text to him twice before yet these are still in the same place in my bathroom:
So he came home and took care of the, what he informed me was a, grasshopper. And because he knows I don't like killing things, as icky and jumpy as they are, he released it back into the wild. What a good husband I have!
So I feel really guilty. It's Liam's birthday and I have virtually no pictures. We celebrated more last weekend than on his actual birthday but today started with Chickfila, duh.
And then we did all the normal things we do except Zachary was with us. We went to the gym. Played with some toys. Went for a walk. Took a nap. But one exception was watching a movie and eating popcorn. Both the kids were into it:
I did back to back yoga classes this morning. It was glorious. I did vinyasa from 9:30-10:45 and then yin from 11:00-12:30. I'm not usually able to do this because that's three hours and the kids can only be at the gym for two. So I left the kids with Zachary and Matthew and Rachel and went to yoga with my friend, Amy. It was so, so good. And I came home and took a nap. Also so so good. And then I saw this and thought it was so accurate and it's my only picture from the day:
Matthew got home from deployment recently and he and Rachel came up to see us this weekend! They have a concert to go to tomorrow but we're happy to have them here today and some of tomorrow. I was so excited they were here that I forgot to take pictures. I have two pictures to show you today and one of them, I didn't even take. Here's Malia coloring with these super cool markers that only mark on this special paper. Not on skin, walls, clothing, nothing! It's a miracle.
And Rachel took this picture of her and Malia- how cute!!
