Artemis

I could back track over my long weekend to catch up because I'm sure each day had stories to tell. But I won't, that's too much work. But I will go back to yesterday with a few of my favorite quotes from the kiddos: Greysen walked in the door and let me hold him for a moment (which he never lets me do, there are toys to be played with) and he said, "Cassie's back!" Sweet boy. Bennett sat down in his time out spot and said time out. I asked, "Why are you putting yourself in a time out?" He responded, "I keep throwing toys." Parker had finished eating applesauce at snack and I asked if she wanted some cookies (what I call animal crackers) or raisins next and she said raisins. I doubted this answer and asked her, "Are you sure you want raisins? Or do you want cookies?" She said raisins again. As I was pouring them on her tray, she said, "I don't want these."

This morning, right in front of my parents house, they were finishing up some road repairs. Which meant BEEEG trucks. So Greysen was in heaven. And who am I kidding, to him they aren't just BEEEG trucks anymore, he was watching an "excavator with backhoe," a "dump truck," and a "ment truck" (cement truck). It amazes me what this kid can say now, he just turned 20 months yesterday. He sat on the stool in complete awe for well over a half hour, only getting up to get his elephant, telling me, "Elephant see it too!" He later added in the lion and green car, also saying, "Lion see it too! Green car see it too!" And he made sure all of their eyes were facing the window so they could "see" the machines. Once they finally left, Greysen got down, sat the elephant, lion and green car on the floor, bent down, looked at them and said, "I read books. I play with toys." Then he walked away. I'm pretty sure he was letting...

* I wrote this yesterday, but forgot to publish it when I went on a search for a photo, oops. When nap time hits at my apartment, I lay the kiddos down, but don't usually get a chance to sit down and relax until a half hour or so before nap time is typically over. I have a ton of dishes to do, then I eat lunch, often still standing because I'm doing other things at the same time, then I clean a bit, my apartment or the building's common area (for rent reduction, sweet deal). Sometimes I get to sit and Skype with Sam (and Jessie obviously, Sam can't turn on the computer... yet), which I love. But I never quite feel relaxed by the time one of the kiddos wake up. But nap time hits at my parents' house, dishes are in the dishwasher, someone has made me lunch and there is no cleaning to do. And dare I say, I'm kind of bored after a couple hours of nothing to do. I know next week I will be wishing for this quiet time, but today, I wish one of them would wake up.

Today went just as I had hoped. Tomorrow I am getting carpet on my stairs (because I am a klutz and fall down them often) and the kiddos and I can't be at my apartment. So I took this as an opportunity to change things up a bit. Lately, the kiddos have been kind of, well, awful. Not all the time, but at the end of the day, bad enough to the point where some days I wished for a speedy career change. The cold and snow has brought out some very restless kids. And when parents come to pick them up, they've been throwing some epic temper tantrums and they feed off of each other. And the worst part is that they even tell me they are going to break the rules when parents come ("We will run when mama comes"). I was at my wits end. So when I was told I couldn't be in my apartment tomorrow, I asked my parent's if we could be at their house for this 3 day work week (thanks Mom & Dad!). I was hoping the change of scenery would help all of us feel a little less restle...

We celebrated Thanksgiving today since my Mom and I are going to be driving to Bismarck on Thanksgiving Day. We went around the table to say what we are thankful for and I said family. But the two things I am really most thankful for: This guy: And this guy:

This morning I was shoveling the very large driveway of the house where I'm dogsitting. I was just finishing up the steps when I noticed this doe staring at me. After I took the photo, I looked to my left and there was also a buck staring at me. I was about to take a photo of him, but before I could, he started slowly walking towards me while still chewing whatever he was eating. Clearly he was telling me, "Back off, bitch." So I did. Since I still had a lot of shoveling to do, I tried to scare it off (while standing safely in the doorway), but finally the dog scared him off and I got back to shoveling.

Meant to write this yesterday. At snack time, the two remaining kiddos were eating mini animal crackers. Since they were small and all the same color, it was difficult to figure out what any of them were. One vaguely looked like a horse... or cow... or sheep. Not really sure. But the kiddos held up each shape (often the same one over and over) and had a conversation about what they were: B: "Neigh!" E: "Lion!" B: "Sheep! Duck!" E: "Zebra!" Zebra was my favorite since there is no way to actually tell if it was a zebra. Except for in E's imagination.

ZIP That's how many things I could think of to write about for the letter Z. And with that, I finally finished this after more than a year. Just in time to start a new challenge.