Vance Palace Tales: DAY 4 with lots of pics: playdates, wrestling, Mary and more

I got to bed a bit too late last night, and so I was VERY thankful not to hear a peep out of ANY of the kids during the night. However, Robyn woke up bright and chipper at 5 AM. I nursed her and put her back to bed, but she was WIDE WIDE WIDE awake and babbling away in her bed. I tried going back to sleep, but gave up and got her up shortly before 6. We hung out before the other monkeys joined us after 7.

Daddy called us while we were making breakfast, and it was so nice to hear his voice. We are all missing him. Janna burst into tears today and when I asked her what was wrong she said, “ DADDY!” And Jesse has been mentioning wanting daddy home several times during the day.

I thought it was a good morning to have some bacon! WE don’t eat it too, often, but all looooove it! Toward the end of our meal, Jesse asked the unfortunate question of where exactly bacon came from. He kept laughing at me when I said it was from a pig, as If I was telling a joke. And when I told him it was from the pigs behind, he was even more giggly. He truly thought I was pulling his leg. Janna was listening very intently to the conversation and as soon as soon as a quiet moment presented itself, she broke out into a wistful and high pitched song that went something like this, “ Baaaaacon Bummmmmmm” and then at a lower pitch, “ Baaaaaacon Bum” Repeat 85 times. It cracked us all up, and she just continued singing with such serious passion, ignoring our giggles. Of course, as soon as I got out the camera to start filming she stopped.

I got Robby back down for an early nap, and the kids were playing so nicely with each other as if I didn’t even exist. I took the opportunity to get the bathrooms cleaned up as well as the kitchen, and our bags all packed for our morning outing.

Today we went to the Potters to play and for lunch. These are some of our best buds, and we have been noticing lately how the boys and girls are starting to have more fun playing with their own gender despite the age gap. Here we have Janna and Naomi dressing up as princesses.

Nice Janna. You pick that nose.

Having a little dance

And then Jonah and Jesse playing some Woody and Buzz!

Of course, Gideon and Robyn are just happy to be in the middle of it all. Here they are bonding together.

At one point the older 4 kids were upstairs playing, and Rebekah and I were reminiscing about how we used to have playdates when it was JUST Jesse and Naomi. I had to dig up a pictures of them several years ago. Here they are!

We had our classic-makes everyone happy-lunch of grill cheese, fruit and cucumbers. Seth even popped in on during his lunch break at work and joined the party. We gave Robyn’s seat to Seth, and she was happy on the floor.

After some more playing and a quick clean up we headed home. I was fading from my less than 5 hours of sleep, and so got an iced coffee from Tims. I was so excited they are on for only 1 buck. Of course, I had to get the kids each a tim-bit. We came home and ate them on the steps. Robyn was THRILLED to have a paper bag to play with. Oh the third child....

It is super hot today, and I wasn’t planning on letting the kids out to play with the humidity being at 38 today. But, it wasn’t quite that hot by noon and in the shade it was bearable, so we played out front for a while before nap time.

I really wanted a nap today, but Thursday is the new house clean day for the summer. Dave and I came up with a summer schedule for house work. We want to get it all done during the day times- so kid sleeping time is TIME OFF for us! So, while I have breakfast and supper clean up, Dave has lunch clean up and laundry. I hate laundry. I’m excited Dave is going to take it over for the summer! Aside from the daily musts of dishes/laundry/and a before bed tidy, we are leaving the dusting/sweeping/mopping and bathrooms to just twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays we’ll tackle the house top to bottom, and neglect it otherwise! If I let myself, I can feel like all I do ALL DAY LONG is tidy up and find things to clean. I want to enjoy the summer- but not let the house turn into a pig pen- so I think our schedule will offer just that. We’ll see. I got things finished up just as Jesse was ending his nap time.

Once Jesse was up, I woke up the girls and we relocated to the basement to play and read and snuggle. I have been sort of "saving" the basement for this time of day mostly. The first part of our days are spent on the main floor eating and getting dressed and cleaning up and ready to head out. It's nice to get out in the mornings before it's too hot, and then have the kids come home and crash. I don't usually feel like packing them back up after they wake up, and so the basement filled with their favorite toys and comfy pillows is the perfect thing to do between naps and supper. It stays nice and cool down there too!

Today the kids had fun playing with some silk scarves. The kids have been having so much fun with this simple piece of fabric. It serves as capes, hats, blankets, carries, scarves, sleds, etc. Today we fashioned pirate hats and the kids had fun playing pirates.

Janna got a bit distracted from Jesse's sword fights and started humming sweetly and stroking flowers. I'm not sure if she's meant to be a pirate...

Jesse felt sad that Robyn didn't have her own hat, and so he pulled out the cow girl hat for her! So cute.

And then of course since I was making such a fuss over how cute Robyn was wearing it, the older 2 needed their turns. Robyn was given a "pirate hat" to "play with"

Finally after lots of make-believe, playing catch with the dog, Jesse layed on the floor and asked Janna to wrestle. Awwww...he's missing his daddy! Janna came and piled onto him, and Jesse put her in a gentle little head lock, and made the EXACT growls that Dave makes.

It was so cute, I was watching a mini-Dave on the floor. Next Janna did her pull up and push down and pull up and push down routine that she usually does with Dave.

And then they just layed there for a while snuggling. How adorable!

I tackled some laundry while the kids were happy and my friend Mary,who so kindly offered to watch the kids for me after work today, showed up. It was so great to skip out on the process of supper, clean up, PJs and get out on my own for a bit. I got the errands done that I had missed out on from getting lost yesterday, and went to subway for supper. I loooooove subway! I was planning on getting my hair cut. It is TOO long, and hasn’t been cut in ages. But- Robyn is at this stage where she likes to grab and twist and PULL my hair. I have to wear it UP all the time, and so while I really wanted a cut, I felt it was smarter to keep it long so it’s easy to pull back. It needed a trim, but I just couldn’t fork out the money for something I could do myself in ten minutes. So, I did my errands and went to get a few new tops. My mom sent me 30 FUN BUCKS this morning to spend in Dave’s absence. My mom is always surprising me with these great little monetary gifts out of the blue with the instructions to spend it on myself for something totally unnecessary. So, I picked up a couple summery tops. Thanks ma!

I got home and Mary had the house tidy and kids in bed aside from Janna. We chatted for a while, and it was nice to have a grown-up to talk to after being with the kids all day. Janna didn't want Mary to leave and asked her for a snuggle and kiss. And then as mary was getting her shoes on, she asked ME to leave again! She wanted Mary to stay and mama to leave. What a funny girl. Perhaps she is a bit sick of me. I don't blame her. I love my kids, but I would totally have sent Janna out of the house to have a less interrupted chat with Mary if it were possible, too. We need Daddy to come home.

So, our pictures for Daddy today are making sad faces, because we miss Daddy.

MAKE A SAD FACE FOR DADDY JES!