A day in pictures

It's been a while since our last day in pictures. In fact, last time I did a post like this, we were still living in Wuxi. 

 So, here's our Friday in pictures. 

6:45 am- I woke up and showered before the kids got up. Hooray for getting in three showers this week!

7:15 am- time to pack Sal's lunch for school and warm up everyone's morning milk. I prepare lunch the night before and just throw in a juice box before putting it all in his backpack. These Sistema brand boxes are perfect for preschooler lunches. No baggies or Tupperware lids to waste and lose. 

7:45- breakfast. Today they chose toast. After breakfast comes brushing teeth, taking our vitamins and getting dressed so we can get out the door and get Sal off to preschool. 

9:30 am- Sal is safely delivered to school and the little kids and I are off to the gym. This is MY time. Weights, then cardio. Thankfully my kids love the gym daycare. 

10:45 am - back home with the little kids for an hour before we meet Nick and his dad for a Friday lunch date. I spent the better part of the hour trying to keep this little guy out of my appliance cabinet. Anyone know what kind of locks work on corner cabinets? 

11:45- Gino passed out on the way to lunch. I hate waking sleeping babies...but tacos were waiting. I can't pass up Mexican food. Ever. 

3:30 pm- little kids are napping and Sal wanted a snack. Is it bad the first thing I thought of when I opened the door was if it was too early to crack open my Mike's?  I even texted NZ and he replied with " Well...it is the afternoon". 

4:00 pm- Gino is up and I need to tackle our pile of laundry. I turned on a cartoon for the boys while I started folding. 

4:05 - Carla is awake now. In a matter of minutes, my living room has become a jungle gym. Our sofa cushions are on the floor and I'm throwing in the towel. (Edit: this turned out to be a good thing- Sal vacuumed under all my cushions and I was able to wipe off the snot trails and ground in goldfish crackers that had accumulated)

4:30 pm- Amanda is home! The kids love our neighbor/ babysitter and they saw her car parked in the driveway and ran out to greet her. They also begged her to see our new kitty (yep, we are getting a new kitten in a couple weeks), to which she obliged. 

5:00 pm- the kids came back from the neighbors and I talked them into doing a paw patrol puzzle versus watching Shimmer and Shine for the second time. 

5:45 pm- the big kids help me separate a head of cauliflower into pieces and put green beans into a steamer. Dinner prep is under way and they love helping. 

6:00 pm- in an attempt to keep this one out of my appliance cabinet and off my sofa, I carry him EVERYWHERE. I love this crazy boy even though he wears me out. 

6:30 pm - NZ is home and dinner is on the table. Caulifredo and green beans tonight. And finally.....my Mike's. 

8:00pm - kids are asleep and it's time to play our "Life Below Zero" drinking game. We drink every time Sue says "predator", Jessie talks about his dogs, or Chip says "my wife" as well as anytime one of them talks about "subsistence". This leads to lots and lots of swigs of beer and cheersing between us-and usually an early bedtime because we aren't as young as we once were. 

And there you have it. A day in the life of our crazy circus.