It has been a good week but got increasingly busy as it went on. Every morning I took the girls to their Fancy Nancy dance camp, dropped them off, and then walked around the community center walking path, sometimes half a mile and Wednesday a mile.
By the time I got home, there was just an hour or so before I picked them up, so I didn't really get much done.
I bought groceries on Wednesday and got back a little in my groove of couponing (digital) and buying only what's on sale. I spent $111 and had $53 in savings, and even the checkout girl was impressed. I also added another 20 cents off a gallon of gas, so that too.
Yesterday was a killer though in terms of running around and trying to get it all done. I went over at the usual time to get the girls ready, and while they're adorable and I love them more than life, I felt like I spent my whole 15 minutes reminding them to stay on track and hurry and we're going to be late and think about what you're doing. They will both take an article of clothing and act like they have no idea of what to do with it and carry it around until they see something they like better and end up having to match that with something else - or maybe I just give up and let them decide.
This is so us.
Once Graysen settled on this outfit (and the sweater was perfectly appropriate for the weather), we talked about this being a good school outfit and taking pictures for when school starts so she won't be wondering what to wear. She liked that idea, so maybe we will use our free day today to put together some outfits. They're so ready to be wearing their school clothes, but we have another month before school starts.
The "recital" was yesterday afternoon at 3:30, the absolute worst time for it since the Si View Farmer's Market was setting up and taking every available parking place nearby. I managed to get them out early though, and as an added bonus Elise decided to go with us, so she was a big help in herding them around. We were early enough to get a semi-close parking space and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the vendors setting up their booths. I was really sorry I forgot to bring any cash because the produce that we saw looked amazing.
I think Elise got some better pictures, so I'll try to get some from her when it's not the middle of the night.
Every morning we would pass by these cute little kids doing their thing. Not sure what, but the girls were really interested in it, so we stopped to watch a few times. I guess this was their end-of-the-week performance for the parents.
Luckily, there were only two classes to perform this week, and the girls had 3 dances. It was really cute, although I don't think my pictures are that good. Neither girl was nervous about it and acted like they had a good time. Katherine wasn't sure about being on a real stage, but she really hammed it up and got into the spirit of things.
They made their own accessories except for the sunglasses and were totally Nancied up. Both girls love the Fancy Nancy stories even though they are not "fancy" dressers normally.
Getting their last-minute instructions.
Bonjour!
I guess your positions determined which teacher you were looking at.
Then we got to watch the next class, a Disney characters group. This little boy was hilarious. He completely did his own show and sometimes came up to the edge of the stage and chatted with his mother.
They loved having Aunt CeCe there.
It was a fun experience for them. Emily is trying to get Katherine enrolled in a ballet class for the fall, but it's looking like it might not work out with the school schedule. Graysen chose soccer instead of dance, and her week has been interesting.
She is totally into her outfit and fascinated by the idea of playing, but she had a hard start Tuesday since she's the only girl on a team of boys. We're guessing it's because of her name, but all the other teams are mixed about half and half.
The first practice, she refused to participate unless Emily was on the field with her, but then when Ryan took his turn with her, it turned into a lot of fun. He was running up and down the field with them, cheering her on and really getting into it. So well, in fact, that he was recruited to be one of their coaches.
Dad looking pretty proud of her.
I haven't been to practice, because that 5:30 to 6:30 time has been a little late for me this week. Emily sent some pictures from last night but no comment, but it looks like she's doing just fine.
She enjoys playing with the boys at school (but not ONLY boys) and prides herself on being able to run faster than all but 2 of them. I'll go watch them next week. They're all so cute. I was asking her to help me understand the rules, and she said, "There is only one rule. Have fun!"
On the creative side, I've finally brought out the second of the two girl's quilts. I have the first top finished except for the borders and took out the other pieces to get started, only to find my white sashing and border fabric didn't actually match the other one well enough. It gave me a chance to go to the quilt shop in Issaquah which is under new management, and I found a good match and came home and cut it all out. I'm still working on finding my machine under all the stuff that's collected there in the last couple of months, but this weekend, I'm going to work on that.
I made Graysen a tooth fairy pillow, but I'm not happy with it. She loves it and now has one in case that tooth comes out this weekend, but I think I can do a better job with it. No pictures of anything and now no camera to take any. I think it's either in the car or in the bag with all the Fancy Nancy articles.
We made soap this summer, and I thought about making slime since that seems to be the trendy thing, but I'm glad I didn't. I bought a set of different colors and textures and some glitter and beads and stuff for putting in them, and that was stressful enough. We tried to go outside and play, but we got too cold. Yeah, in the middle of August at 2:00 we were too cold. The play mat was being washed, so we just used a towel inside.
It was good for hours of play though, and glitter and sprinkles vacuum up nicely. Just a minimal amount ended up in hair and on our clothes. Luckily it washed out nicely, and the carpet is just beyond worrying about.
No wonder I can't stay awake past 8:00, but I'm just where I want to be, right in the middle of the lives of the people I love. It's kind of exciting thinking about school starting next month and having all day to do what I want to do, but I can't think of much I want to do that I'm not doing already. I plan to walk at one of the walking paths when I get them to school in the mornings - some mornings and only until it gets too cold to be fun - and I considered going to the really nice senior center in North Bend, and I might do that, but I am selfish with my time. I know how nice it's going to be about November to come back into the apartment and settle down by the fire with a cup of coffee and a good book.
If I can find a good book. Two of the books I've read this week are just okay. I made myself finish the first one because it's so in demand (43 people are waiting for it), but it wasn't good enough to make me read more than a chapter or so at a time. It was Drawing Home by Jamie Brenner. It just missed being a "beach book" by a little bit. Sag Harbor versus New York with the usual characters you knew were going to pair off in the end if they could get over not liking each other. But one character, a teenage girl with OCD, made it more interesting, and the author made me keep going back to finish it.
I wasn't so lucky with Normal People by Sally Rooney. I only got it because it was on someone's bestseller list, but it was slow, and I just about had all I could take about halfway through. I began to not care anything about the characters, so I read the last chapter and was no better off for having done so. I now have White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf ready to start - and I dunno. We'll see. People are waiting for this one too, so I only have two days to read it.
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