Linewife: Keeping Busy

      Two months is an eternity to be out if work! I'm use to coming up with things to keep the kids busy and look forward to but my new job is to come up with family activities to keep us all busy. I'm sure it's going to be an adjustment when Ian does get "the call." Who will help with the laundry and dishes . Ian has taken on the task of organizing.... everything. Something I will never be able to keep up on. It's true what they say, "many hands makes the work load light " and due to this we've had extra time on our hands. Our first adventure started with the best of intentions of my husband. I have been complaining about my jogging stroller tires being flat since October. I tried repairing it myself and lately I've decided just to upgrade and find something on Craigslist . After going to several bike shops though, finally someone offered some help on upgrading the tubes and Ian got to work on it. I was so happy to get my stroller back and wanted to show my appreciation. It has been in the low 40s and they kept saying it would snow but it wasn't coming. So I bundled Waylon up in 2 shirts and a snow suit. ( let me reiterate , the skies were clear and had been for days) We started out on our run and he had a warm bottle , a pacifier and a blanket, just for comfort . Everything was great for the first 25 minutes, but then the wind picked up. Waylon started crying and the blanket kept falling off. I was so close to home, I couldn't see calling Ian. I figured I could run home in the time that he loaded the boys into the car and found me. So needless to say, I started running (faster) , the temperature dropped a bit and my fingers were freezing so I can only imagine poor little Waylon's. We lost the bottle and the pacifier. I think it was the fastest mile I've run yet . We got back to the park and I couldn't unbuckle my screaming child because my frozen fingers wouldn't work. So I pounded on the trailer door. Ian pretty much laughed at me and told me I was insane. He said Waylon wasn't cold to the touch , he was probably just scared. I promptly shut myself in the bathroom and cried, until I realized that Waylon wanted me! What a gift that children trust their parents. A gift sometimes I feel I don't deserve . So we bundled him up in a blanket and gave him a warm bottle because I was convinced he was freezing. He went right to sleep. At that moment, Ian opened the front door and we saw quite a snow storm hit. In only a few minutes the jogging stroller was covered in several inches of snow. We have had the nicest weather but it can change very suddenly. As this story shows. It felt like a huge momma fail.
    On Monday we celebrated Houston's 7th birthday. Yes, all of our birthdays seem to be around the same part of the year, we're almost done with birthday season over here, just have to celebrate mine at the end of the month and then we'll be good til November. We wanted to make his birthday special but being on a budget we were kinda winging it. We decided to get him a new bicycle because the one he had was way too small and it's a great activity to do when you live on the road. It could hardly have been a surprise to him, because we took him to bike shops all weekend long having him try this one and that one. So Sunday night, I decorated the trailer with party decorations and he woke up to his favorite breakfast, buttered croissants on angry bird plates and his new bike! We finished our school work and then decided to go to an indoor rock climbing gym. Houston is a spider monkey. He was up and down the walls like a pro. Were looking at a future lineman in that boy.Wrex went up a few times just to prove he could, but he wasn't that into it. This gym was no joke, they gave Ian and I a tutorial on tying the knots and all of the proper procedures (I didn't climb but I learned all the stuff so I could be at the bottom with the ropes. (Sorry I don't know all the terms, I was just happy to be there and learn a figure eight knot.) Houston went up so many difficult wall climbs that I'm pretty sure he pushed Ian to do more than he would've done. You can see a friendly father son competition budding between the now seven year and his dad. After that we grabbed some In N Out (birthday boys choice) and we went home to play some new board games. We had a great, corny, old fashioned birthday dinner . We ate homemade fried chicken, again not my choice to make in a trailer, but it was the birthday boys request. We ate chocolate cake and played cards. All in all it was a really fun day .
        We were lucky enough this week to have a friend watch our kids for us so we could have a date night . We went to see "Silver Linings Playbook " which I enjoyed but the movie theater was something I had never experienced . First of all the movies were way cheaper than back home but once you're inside they have restaurants ( that's right several) and you could take a meal into your movie. How cool is that ? We had fun and got some great grub at Cafe Rio. Which is outside of the theaters. I wasn't ready for that whole eating in the theater experience. Next time we'll have to get there a little earlier. A big thanks to my friend Jen for making that happen. .
     We also found a neat little skate park near us. Perks of being home schooled is that it was pretty much empty and we are now declaring that our official spot for PE. I think it was just as good to get my husband out and moving as it was for the little boys
     So you see, we've been keeping busy. Ian gets really antsy if we don't keep our day filled. Poor guy is bored out if his mind. Hopefully I'll be posting that we're back to work soon, but until then, here are some pictures from our week.