This weekend was different in every way, shape, and form, from last weekend. Instead of maximizing time at theme parks, we didn’t do much of anything. This is starting to be more tolerable as the little guy can play independently or with his siblings for longer periods of time.
A highlight for me included running the Frostbite 5-miler in Ambler with my running buddy, Jane. She wore a penguin costume for the entire run. Our time was 50:53, so roughly 10:10/miles. I think this would have been measurably slower if I were the one in the penguin costume.
I finished a whole book (The Secret Garden). I did some reading early Sunday morning while the 4-year-old watched YouTube. With my coffee, this was a fairly pleasant way to spend 45 minutes. I also read in my car in the church parking lot for 15 minutes between choir practice and the service. I seize what time I can!
I spent some one-on-one time with all the kids. I took the 11-year-old shopping for pants at Old Navy and some tops at Target. I wouldn’t mind finding somewhere else to shop for pre-teen boys, but he grows so fast I feel like spending bigger amounts would probably be unwise. I threw a baseball with the 9-year-old in preparation for Little League season. I worked on some academic stuff with the 7-year-old. I played with the 4-year-old and took him for a stroller walk. He’s big enough to walk, but sometimes he still likes to sit in the stroller! We saw a forsythia bush budding as the snow patches are receding, so that was nice.
I made two hotel bookings for our end-of-summer vacation. It feels crazy to do this so soon after Disney but it needed to happen — that national park thing again. I also signed up for a week of camp for 3 kids at a place that just opened registration. I spent Friday evening dialing in to a board meeting for a non-profit (I couldn’t make it into NYC).
My husband made a major Costco and Wegman’s trip, so we won’t starve for a while. Our local grocery store (the one we could walk to) just closed — sadly — so we’re trying to be better about making lists and stocking up. We cooked lamb with asparagus one night, and dry-aged steak with carrots and potatoes the second night.
And….that’s about it. We are coming into soccer and Little League season, so I’m trying to enjoy the lull!
Photo: Current favorite reading chair. The fact that I can sit and read for 45 minutes without anyone interrupting me is just crazy — a milestone! Big kids rock!
Laura, it may not be super relevant to this post, but i always wondered when do you shop for the kids clothes? Do you have any general rule of any kind? like once a season, twice a year, etc? It would be interesting to know how you approach this task with 4 kids!