Last week was a crazy week — in part, because we were preparing for a busy weekend this past weekend with friends, parties, dance recitals, trick-or-treating, etc — but also because we were still “recovering” from our first mini vacation as a family of 5.
We were only gone a few days (and it was only about an hour away) but there sure was a lot of planning, packing, unpacking, and laundry to do! I’m certain we will try another mini trip sometime soon… practice makes progress, right 🙂
On Monday, Nora got to wear her Halloween costume to our weekly story hour at the library… and honestly, you would have thought it was Christmas morning by how excited she when she bounced out of bed!
I had been inquiring about this Cinderella costume on Craigslist for several weeks… and we finally got it the Saturday before story hour. And yes, it was totally worth $5 (and many emails) to see her face when I showed it to her!! Also, as you’ll notice by the pictures in this post, she wore the Cinderella dress almost every single day last week.
Monday was a GORGEOUS fall day, and we spent several hours outside playing and doing yard work.
We had lots of fun plans on Tuesday — but Nora woke up screaming that her leg was “broken” and she literally refused to walk ALLLLLLLLL day! I had to carry her downstairs, and then she spent the entire rest of the day sitting on the couch in her PJ’s.
I had to cancel all our plans, she missed school, a fun play date with friends, and one of her favorite weekly pastimes — getting groceries with mom.
We’re still not sure what was going on. My theory is that it was either growing pains or a really bad cramp in her leg. She is VERY sensitive to pain, so it would not be unlike her to blow the whole thing out of proportion… however, I still can’t believe that a 3 year old could lay in the exact same spot on the couch from 8:00am – 9:00pm and never move except when I carried her to the bathroom 2 times.
She’s stubborn to a fault, but something must have actually be hurting, otherwise I don’t think she would have been willing to skip so many fun activities that day.
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On Wednesday, my schedule was “full” of fun activities at home… I put the finishing touches on a Prince Charming costume for my sister’s husband (Dave will also wear this for Nora’s upcoming birthday party!), did a couple craft projects with Nora, and a bunch of baking for our Fall / Halloween party.
It was super cold and rainy on Wednesday, so Nora and I had plenty of “bonding time” while the boys napped. We’ve been reading the Little House Chapter Books (it’s a special early-reader series). We finished the 2nd book on Wednesday and started the next one.
Nora has an amazing attention span when she’s listening to stories — and I LOVE the Little House stories, so we are both really enjoying these books! Thankfully, our library has a bunch of them, so hopefully we’ll be able to read them for another month or so!
Oh, and in case you were worried, Nora miraculously recovered from her leg “injury” 🙂
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Thursday was a LONG day because Dave was gone all night for parent teacher conferences. I felt like my main goals for the day were to make it to nap time and then bedtime… we made it 🙂
Thankfully, my parents came over for a bit in the evening (and brought a freezer meal for supper!) so that made the day a little more bearable!
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Friday was the “big day” of our party (Nora was super excited).
I got up early, hauled out my slow cookers, and started cooking and baking away. My sister took Nora to run some errands in the afternoon while the boys were napping, so I had a little extra time to cook and bake (see below for our menu).
It was a last-minute party, but a fun opportunity for the kids to wear their costumes and get some candy without being outside in the cold and rain (we don’t go trick-or-treating yet!) Plus, it was actually fun for us adults too… and we all enjoyed the candy!
Oh, and my sister and her husband won the costume contest for their couples’ Halloween party 🙂
Friday was a good “mail day” for me too!
I got my Blue Apron meal delivery, some free pictures from Shutterfly, 2 paychecks, my 2016 planner from Personal Planner, a new supply of children’s medicine from Maty’s Healthy Products, and a pre-release copy of Crystal’s newest book, Money Making Mom (it’s out on shelves this week!)
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Saturday was Nora’s Dance recital. She said her leg was bothering her again, so she wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about her dance recital as I hoped. The pictures below are blurry because I was rocking James to sleep and trying to zoom at the same time — but the overall ‘cuteness’ is still there 🙂
It rained ALL day Saturday so we put our yard work on hold and did a bunch of housework instead. Then Dave’s parents came over for pizza.
After the kids were in bed, I worked on my October photo pages for my digital photo album, backed up both computers and all our pictures for the month, and then sent out all my October invoices. Then, Dave and I went to bed WAY too late… but at least we got an “extra” hour of sleep 🙂
Our Menu Plan:
MONDAY
- Porkchops (with this marinade)
- Mashed Potatoes
- Broccoli, corn, and zucchini
- Applesauce
- Crescent rolls
- Chocolate zucchini brownies
TUESDAY
- Baked Puff Pancakes (recipe coming soon!!)
- Bacon
- Fruit
- Apple Zucchini Bread
WEDNESDAY
- Stromboli
- Salad
- Scotcharoos
THURSDAY
- A freezer meal from my parents
- Steamed broccoli and cauliflower
- Peaches
- Chocolate cake
FRIDAY
We had some friends and their kids over for a little Fall / Halloween party. Here’s what I made to eat:
- Meatballs
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Cornbread
- Layered Lettuce Salad
- Caramel Apple Salad
- Candy Corn Mix
- Apple Crisp
- Pumpkin Pie Delight Dessert
- Cream Cheese Chocolate Brownies
SATURDAY
- Pizza with Dave’s parents
- Leftover salad and dessert from Friday’s party
SUNDAY
- Leftovers for lunch
- Potluck at church for supper
A few more pictures from last week:
Stacey B. says
I love these posts! 🙂
MomofTwoPreciousGirls says
My youngest gets a “broken arm” sometimes. The first time it happened she was 18 mos old and woke from a nap at daycare screaming so loud and refusing to move it that they thought she dislocated it. They called and we brought her to urgent care. The way she wouldn’t move it made them want to X-ray it. There was NOTHING wrong! It happens every so often so my trick is I use my “mommy magic” to cast a healing spell. Then I wrap it in gauze, give it kisses and she rests it to a twenty minute timer. At the time my magic has worked and she is all better.
Basically it just gives it time to feel better but a set point where she needs to move it and stretch it out!
Andrea says
Thanks for the tips! I kind of did something like this — by giving her “medicine” and a special snack along with extra rest on the couch in her sleeping bag 🙂
Julia K says
Just looking at the photo of Nora with the fingerpaint reminded me of a fun activity I used to door when my kids were little. It’s best done outdoors (so summer for you guys) – ICE-BLOCK PAINTING. Basically you freeze poster paint in ice cube trays and then the kids finger paint with the ice cubes – it gets messy as the paint cubes start to melt – but it is loads of fun.
Andrea says
this sounds like SOOO much fun! Thanks for the idea Julia, I’ll save it for next summer!
Kristen @ Joyfully Thriving says
Andy had teacher conferences after school on Thursday too. It’s amazing how your perspective really changes to get through naptime…and then bedtime…when Daddy doesn’t come home! 🙂 Time change threw us off so we’ve been having some early mornings. I’m hopefully tomorrow will be better but should probably still head to bed soon just in case. Relax a bit now after your busy week, Andrea! 🙂
Andrea says
We thankfully didn’t seem to be too affected by the time change. The kids woke up just a little early yesterday, and by today, they seem to be fully adjusted — I’m SO thankful for this!
Good luck getting Nathan back on schedule 🙂
Kristen @ Joyfully Thriving says
I’m glad your kids weren’t affected much. Nathan got up at 5:20 this morning…which is better than the 4:30 on Sunday morning. I’m just trying to get him adjusted before we travel to my parents in Texas next week and have to switch time zones again! Lol.
kathy w says
You rock! I am so glad you will be taking more trips. I know it is a lot of planning but so worth it if you are able to do it. You are amazing all the things you get done with 3 kid, and you are such a good mom too. My older son had growing pains in his legs when he was Nora’s age and the
Dr. said he would grow out of them and he did but it bothers you when your children hurt.
Andrea says
Thanks Kathy! Yes, we’ll definitely be taking more trips — maybe even going to a local hotel for a couple nights over Christmas break. We’ll see 🙂
And yes, I am thinking her leg pain is growing pains — hopefully they don’t keep coming back though!
Debbie says
I hope you figure out what Nora’s leg pain is all about. I had leg cramps as a teenager and probably due to growing pains, but I can’t imagine a 3 year old having those yet. For an energetic girl like her not to want to move around all day does mean she must have been in pain. I love how you did Nora’s high hair buns. How did you do it with her not having such long hair? It’s pretty cool how you remember everything that happened in your week and the menus you prepared. I often can’t even remember what we did in the weekend come Monday morning at the office.
Andrea says
Thanks Debbie — Nora’s hair is actually pretty long (it’s past her shoulders) so it was very easy to do the bun. I just did a high ponytail and then used bobby pins to tuck the hair under. Also, I write a little of this post every night during the week — that makes it easy to remember 🙂
Michelle says
I hope Nora gets to feeling better. Our daughter had mysterious leg pains a couple times around that age. She would wake up with pain and not want to walk. Once we could get her walking it would pass. The doctor said it was something in her hips that would happen in her sleep and walking is the cure to realign things. It happened twice and has never happened since.
Michelle says
The pain was felt behind her knee by the way.
Andrea says
Hmmm… that’s weird. I just assume they are growing pains or some type of leg cramp. She seems to be doing fine now — but if the pains continue to return, I’ll have to look into it more.
Michelle says
Yes it was totally weird! I think the dr called it mild hip dysplasia/subluxation. It still means next to nothing to me but I’m very glad it’s never happened again. I think it’s because kids are so lax and bendy. Now that she’s older she does get growing pains. Magnesium oil helps with those quite a bit. Good luck to you and little Nora!
Kathleen says
I love your style of clothing! Where do you get most of your clothing?
Andrea says
Thanks Kathleen!
Believe it or not, almost all my clothing is used — often from Thredup.com or a thrift store 🙂
Ashley says
Thank you for these posts! I’m a very organized, type A personality like you and your posts keep me motivated. I also have 3 children close in age (my middle child was born the day after Nora!) so it’s nice to see how you still strive to get things done. Lately, we’ve been VERY busy and I’m feeling like it’s time to say no to a few things and refocus! Thanks for all your inspiration!
Andrea says
No problem — glad to be so “inspirational” for a fellow Type A mom 🙂