Our house has been very quiet the last two weeks with the older kids in Virginia visiting their mom. I feel like I am in the eye of a hurricane, just calm and quiet after a few weeks of crazy go-go-go and ramping up for the next go-go-go weeks. I know the older kids have had a slew of adventures while away, we have seen videos and pictures and can't wait to hear about them in person but here it has just been quiet. We asked Matt what he wanted to do while the older kids were gone and he picked movies and games, I guess when you are number 4 of 5 you don't usually get your choice of movie, he also played with friends and that was fun, they had the run of the house- something Matt loved. We've also been playing the Hamilton soundtrack at least once a day, Matt likes to sing along and ask questions about Hamilton and Aaron Burr. He also had a conversation about the difference between Abraham Lincoln's death and Alexander Hamilton's (I don't know where this kid gets all this).
We missed the older kids, the house has been too quiet and I think the dog has gone stir crazy, attention from Matt and me is not enough to get him through the day. But we did find some ways to fill our time....
Disney Movie Extravaganza
We realized that Matt doesn't remember a lot of the Disney movies and we decided to rewatch a few. Matt would pick one or two movies every day and we would watch them. We made it though all of the Toy Storys, Bambi, Tarzan, Nightmare Before Christmas (nope Mom, I still haven't watched that one) Monsters Inc., Babes in Toyland, Finding Nemo, Princess and the Frog... I am sure that there were a few more, I just can't remember. We also got a babysitter for Abby and went to see Finding Dory. It was nice to sit in the nice cool basement and escape from the 99 degree temperatures.
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| Abby thought Finding Nemo was the best movie ever. It was like her own large fun aquarium. |
Cooking lessons for Matt
After cooking for seven, cooking for four is a whole new ball game. I had to rethink my shopping strategy and still ended up overbuying on meat for the week. Matt thought it was fun to have some one on one cooking lessons. He learned how to brown meat and we even let him season it himself, we might have let him watch one too many Food Network shows, he also sauteed some veggies and now believes that he is a professional.
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| Matt and his taco meat he added ranch and taco seasonings...oh and three pinches of salt. |
Snuggle time
Most mornings I head to the gym about 6:15 so I can get a work out in before the kids wake up and the day gets rolling. On Friday I was just exhausted so we had a snuggle party instead, teddy bears were invited too. Then we went to the gym after, one of Matt's favorite places.
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| Abby is still not quite sure how to hold still for a picture |
Craft projects
Having only 2 kids instead of 5 meant I had a bit more time for myself and I spent it crafting and organizing! I had been looking for a fun beach frame for our pictures since we visited Newport last November but in December and January beach frames are rather impossible to find. Even with summer starting I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so we made our own. I like the way it turned out.
I started making a jean quilt before the kids even left, it is such a large project that it took me a few weeks. Matt enjoyed this week when we had a "fortress" set up in the living room and I enjoyed being able to work on this project and take time to listen to the Alexander Hamilton biography (It's been a Hamilton summer) I have been trying to get through. But now we have an awesome quilt to use for our park visits this summer.
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| Matt was the big helper on this one. He helped me pick out the backing for the quilt as well as the binding. He also laid under it while I tied it together. |
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