.jpg)
New Arrival
The new year started off with a bang for us. Kira, Avey, and I had all settled into our movie (re-watching Infinity War), and just about halfway through, all the power in the house shut off. We were left in complete darkness, and suddenly without our entertainment on one of the only nights of the year that are supposed to be full of fun. We lit some candles and chatted for a while before it was clear that the power would not be on for some time, so we went to bed. The power came back on just before midnight, but of course, we had all been in bed for some time.
We had a better Wednesday, as we continued to prepare for my sister to move in, and my little brother was also going stay over here a few days after helping her to drive out. I was still hopeful to find a suitable dresser for her room, and happened to find a decent one at a nearby re-purpose place. They also had a great loveseat for cheap that will go great in our bedroom, but we are keeping it in our downstairs for now until we find something to put there.
My siblings arrived just before midnight, and we helped them carry a few things inside and chatted a little before they got to bed, exhausted from the very long drive.
Thursday was a bit of a recovery day for my siblings, but we all went to the library to get her a card while the kids played, and then my brother and I took the boys to a park so that my sister and Kira could nap. We all enjoyed a movie that night.
Friday was a fun day. We found a bowling alley with cheap games during the morning, so we went and bowled a couple of games. Naturally, the kids all said they wanted to bowl the second game, and then immediately lost interest after we’d paid for them. In any case, we adults had a good time.
We then went home for a lunch of shrimp scampi, and then washed my sister’s car to get all of that road grime off. The two youngest boys were a “big help” as they got quite wet and sprayed almost everything except the car.
The weather was relatively pleasant, so we all spent the afternoon in the back yard, jumping on the trampoline, tossing balls around, and chasing Merritt while he played keep-away.
My sibs, Avey, and I were then off to Chicago. I had a student this semester who was in a play version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is one of my siblings’ favorite movies. She offered us free tickets for the show after the semester had ended, and Kira and I figured that we could go the night of the 4th, so that my brother could be here for it. We drove about an hour and a half to get there, and then found and paid for parking, but when we approached the theater, all the lights were off and the doors were locked up tight. I looked up the times for the show, and it said there was a 4:00 show that day, but the 7:00 show was no longer listed. When we picked the date, there was no 4:00 show listed—I know, because that would have been a much better time. We stood there like idiots for a few minutes, when a guy came out of the theater and then locked the door behind him. I asked him about the show and he said that they had to cancel their 7:00 show because there was not enough interest, but they had emailed everyone who had purchased tickets. We slowly pieced together that when we had seen the schedule to pick our date, there was only the 7:00 show, but by the time my student had reserved the tickets, they had changed the time to 4:00, but we never knew that.
We walked around the neighborhood to see what else we could do, not wanting to waste the entire evening. We found a little pizza place and split a few slices before heading back to Indiana. My student is going to see if she can switch the tickets to this coming Saturday, but we’ll see. It had better be worth all of this trouble…
I begrudgingly drove my brother to the airport on Saturday morning, wishing he would stay a few days longer. Alas, he has a job and friends expecting him. We then spent the afternoon with the ladies shoe shopping for Avey, and the boys and I all went to a hardware store to find some masonry anchors so that I could hang our address plaque that finally came:
We then all enjoyed a park before it got too cold and we got too hungry.
Today was the first day of shorter church, but still held the usual chaos of the morning as I tried to get all of the kids fed and clothed and they tried to resist every step of the way. Then I tried to squeeze in as many projects as I could, including hanging a tennis ball for my sister’s parking guide, mounting the address plaque, and painting the bathroom cabinets finally. It’s going to take some getting used to having everyone back home before I’m ready for them…
The kids start school on Tuesday, so they’re clinging onto the vacation minutes for dear life.