Chores

 It has come to our attention that the kids are very capable of performing chores around the house.  We've known this for a while, but recently the development has occurred that they either ask to help, or just do it themselves.  Above, Molly offered to peel the carrots for lunch the other day and she did a pretty thorough job.

 Yesterday morning, I went to get the milk out of the fridge, but was attacked by a waterfall of orange juice as I opened the door.  Naturally, I was not a happy person facing having to clean up a sticky mess first thing in the morning.  However, Dom quickly came in and asked if he could help (we have told him that he needs to do this more often...particularly if he is also going to ask for something).  In a typical motherly fashion...I told him to get the heck out of the way.  However, after some deduction I realized that Dom had to be the one who had placed the orange juice precariously on the edge of the fridge shelf.  At which point, I told him he was going to learn how to mop.  Which he did without a single complaint.  Appears he has a new job.

Finally, William has taken it upon himself to sweep the laundry room.  This room gets neglected quite a bit because it is just a pass through area.  However, dirt does accumulate because it is also the shoe depository.  Will on two occasions this week just got a broom and swept up the dirt.  The second time, he kept up a commentary questioning where all the dirt came from and expressing a bit of annoyance since he just swept up in there.  I know kid, I know.

The Week Mitzi Came to Town

My sister, Mitzi, came to town last week.  As Dom put it to a friend who called:  We have an aunt here.  Only it sort of sounded more like we had an ant problem than a relative.  And for the first time, I understood why people would call a mother or father's sister "Aunt" in that posh sounding way at which I have previously scoffed.  Naturally, I will not change.  And naturally, I will now refer to all female siblings who come to visit as an aunt infestation.

 It turned out that Mitzi just happened to visit during a week we actually had planned events.  On Thursday, Molly had speech therapy and Will had an eye appointment.  We all went to the park afterwards for a couple of hours and John did the most walking up to that point he had ever done.  The fact his hands and knees would bet burned the second he tried to crawl probably had a lot to do with this.  The older boys hooked up with a group of boys playing with light sabers and blasters.  They were in intergalactic heaven.  And Molly made besties with everyone she met.  Including a little boy with glasses.  But, no numbers were exchanged.

 On Friday, we got up at the crack of dawn (about 7) in order to make it to a homeschool sponsored field day.  I had no idea what to expect which did not sit well with a couple of my offspring, but they got over it once the events started. 

 The events included an obstacle course (everyone's favorite), water balloon toss, tug-a-war, hula hoop contest (Mitzi captured a hilarious 5 second video of Will.  Let's just say...he was not impressed with the hula hoop), jump rope contest, limbo, and long jump.  The kids had fun, but there was a lot of sitting if you happened to lose in the first second...which my kids did. 

 But, after lunch, they had 5 races set up that you could do over and over and over again.  Which our kids loved. 

 These included a 40 yard dash, potato sack race, egg race (carrying plastic eggs on spoons), and racing back and forth to fill a bucket of water.  There was also a three-legged-race, but none of them chose to participate in that.  And I don't blame them.  That race is lame.  Or it will make you lame...because you twist an ankle as your friend drags you across the finish line...

 The weekend we just went to the grocery store, painted nails, and took Mitzi to the beach.  All the time constantly keeping tabs the temperature difference between here and Milwaukee.  It was hilarious every time.

 I have a few pictures that I have posted on facebook, but I wanted to keep tabs of them here as well.

 John is quite a bit different from when Mitzi saw him last at 5 weeks.  He's got personality, he eats table food, he toddles.  He is a really good toddler.

 Mitzi could have actual conversations with Molly and understand 95% of the words. Maybe higher.  Mitzi helped out with Molly a lot and took control of the hair situation.  So, for a week, Molly looked presentable to the public.  Speaking of words, Molly is very excited that she can now correctly say the word: Chocolate. 

 We were pretty active during the days of Mitzi's visit, so by 9 most nights, she and I were falling asleep on the couches.  If not earlier during the nightly viewing of some Star Wars themed film.  Phineas and Ferb Star Wars is pretty great...fyi.  I stayed awake for at least 2 of the 5 showings.

 The last night we did stay up and play Skip-Bo and had great conversations throughout the visit. 

It's always nice to have company, but a sister's visit is pretty special.  For just a short time, you get to time travel a little back to when life was simple and the only thing you had to worry about was not fully waking up to deliver papers.  Or, in Mitzi's case, having green beans served at dinner.  Which I did not do on this trip.  But, we did have Enchilada Pie, Pineapple Margaritas, and Mitzi's Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies.  #win/win/win