Monday, November 26, 2012

Day in the Life

A typical Monday for us as of November, 2012!

Miles wakes me up at 7am by bursting into the bedroom with his arms full of stuffed animals. He throws them into bed with me and climbs in after. We snuggle for 10 minutes and I try to make my eyes open.
 Day in the life, Nov 26 2012 

 We make it out to the living room and find Atlee by the bookshelf, reading.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles pees on the potty and gets an M&M!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

He heads to the patio door to see if Venus is still out.  

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

No luck, so he turns to his Lego workbench.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

He made a Curiosity lander, apparently!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Breakfast!  Oatmeal bar, pears with cinnamon, and almond milk.  Note that Atlee isn't at the table with him.  She's....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

.... still reading.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Things are quiet enough for me to check the computer.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles finishes breakfast and wants me to read a space book.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

And then he wants to wear his "space-ball cap".

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Back to the Lego workbench!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee finally gets her nose out of a book and starts to practice ballet on her way to breakfast.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

 She helps me cook some scrambled eggs for us.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles is still Lego-ing.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Yum!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

JJ's home!  It was a rough night, he's super-tired.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles is.... well, we're not quite sure.  We *think* he's pretending to be a Saturn V rocket in the display building.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles cleans up his breakfast plates.  Careful!  Careful!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

I head off to take a shower and, while I'm back there, I manage to catch our semi-feral cat, Gandalf, who desperately needs his nails clipped.  He disagrees.  I get it done, but my shirt -- and skin underneath -- suffers for it.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Such a shock!  JJ's gotten Miles dressed, and he's back to Lego.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

 Atlee wants her hair in a bun for ballet.  This is probably my best one yet.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Now in her leotard and with hair up, she starts sashaying about the house.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

We get JJ off to bed but have a few minutes before we have to leave.  The kids play vet....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

... and pond.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

At ballet class, Miles and I curl up in the lobby....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

... while Atlee starts in on crafts.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles looks at a Lego Star Wars book....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

... and Atlee works on ballet.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles works on Starfall (a letter sound learning app)....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

... with some help from a friend.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Now tap!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

After dance class, we head to Wendy's for lunch.  Their toys are awesome!  Miles gets a robot who he quickly names "StarQuester" (after a character in a show at Kennedy Space Center).

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee got a neat stencil activity.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Across the street is K-Mart, so we stop to look at Christmas trees.  As is usual in department stores, we spend way too long in the toy department while the kids look at EVERYTHING.  I find a good price on a stocking stuffer for Miles, though, and enlist Atlee to help me sneakily buy it.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Back home, Atlee wants to play "dance class".  I'm wiped and the kids are a bit snippy, so I gently insist on quiet time.  Atlee retreats to her room and reads an entire Geronimo Stilton book with her doll, Jenny (my favorite doll when I was little).

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles want to " 'nuggle" on the couch with me and Guy.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles heads into the bedroom to wake up JJ.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

And then settles into his own book.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

But he can't stay still long!  This was some crazy game that involved swinging wildly on the glider ottoman.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

I work on a grocery list.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee finds an ad at the back of her book that you can write and request a toy from Geronimo Stilton himself, so she writes her information down.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles and JJ curl up with a book.....

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

... and Atlee sashays some more while I head out to grocery shop.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Ahh.  Quiet.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Back home, Miles helps me unload the groceries and stock the pantry.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee is happily carrying around her Jenny doll.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles is Curiosity.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

But now it's dinner time!  Mondays are always pizza night, and we decide to go to Winter Garden Pizza.  JJ always has a baggie of Lego to distract the kids while we wait.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Look at this!  Miles is getting quite good with his Lego skills.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

YUM!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Dinner talk turns to pixels, and we demonstrate on the placemats.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

It's a nice stroll around downtown Winter Garden after dinner.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

We check out a new natural foods store.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

And climb up to the caboose.  Miles freaks out at the top of the stairs and doesn't want to go any further.  Fear of heights?

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Now the kids know we're going to the ice cream shop, and they're off like a shot!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Ooo, they have her favorite, cotton candy ice cream!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Miles can actually eat ice cream by himself not too messily!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

There's a chessboard and pieces on each table.  Miles stacks his and calls them rocket stages.  "Second stage... third stage... escape tower...."

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee gets a quick chess lesson.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

When we come out, the Christmas lights are on!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

When we get home, Miles wants to look at the moon and stars with JJ.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Into the bath with you!

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

I read Miles a story and tuck him into bed with Buzz, Guy, and Space Shuttle.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Atlee works on some homeschool.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

And I braid her hair for bed while she reads me "Little House in the Big Woods".  Then I tuck her into bed.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012

Now it's just JJ and I.  He's a tired zombie and does weird things like wearing the Curiosity hat.

Day in the life, Nov 26 2012