April 2

Sometime last year, Chris and I started keeping track of our schedules with Google calendar. With the kids getting older and having more things to do, it has been so helpful to have our schedule always at our fingertips. This week, I added in Caleb's baseball practices and baseball games, and then added twice weekly swim lessons, and all kinds of other stuff. Suddenly I realized that today was the only Saturday we will have free until sometime in June. Yikes!

Ever since we moved Caleb and Daisy into a shared room, I have been planning to install an Ikea-hack wall of built-ins around their window. I've done copious amounts of research, pinned all kinds of ideas, and even created a scale drawing of the wall with specific model numbers of items we needed. Chris was on board, and we were ready to go... we just needed to go to Ikea. We were planning to go a month or so ago, but then everyone in our family got a stomach bug. So today? Today was our day.

Thankfully, my mom was free and willing to watch the kids. (Side note: when I told Lily this morning that Grandma was coming over, she was so excited she couldn't even get words out. She squawked a few times before she finally yelled, "I LOVE GRANDMA!!!!")

I intended to get up at a normal time and go grocery shopping before our big trip, but that husband of mine let me sleep until nearly 8:30. It messed with my plans, but I can't say I was disappointed. Especially when he had breakfast and coffee from Panera Bread waiting for me. (He took all four kids to Bread Co. by himself. What a man!)

While I ate my breakfast, the big kids did this:

Caleb read a book to Daisy, and Lily grabbed a book of her own (a Lego Star Wars encyclopedia!) and climbed onto the couch to read next to them.

I love that we have a big ol' couch, but they choose to sit all squished up next to each other, just because they like to be close.

I love that they choose to read together.

I love that Caleb is eager to share his reading with Daisy, and that she wants to be read to.

I love that I got to eat my breakfast and drink my (hot!) coffee in peace.

I might not love that they're reading a Captain Underpants book, but whatever.

I got dressed, put Eli down for his morning nap, my mom came over, and we were off!

You know we had to take a "first ever visit to Ikea" selfie!

Also, you can't tell in this picture, but I was wearing my skinny jeans for the first time in nearly two years. Hooray for results from all of the hard work I've been doing!

Ikea was insane, but we knew exactly what we needed, we didn't have children with us, and we were even able to enjoy lunch there! All in all, a great trip. We left with almost everything we needed, aside from a few items that were out of stock. We also left with several items we didn't know we needed, like a whole bunch of picture frames (the gallery wall is going back up above the couch!) and some lamps for Caleb and Daisy's bunk beds.

Back home, I put Eli down for a (much too short!) afternoon nap and Chris and I put the lamps on Caleb and Daisy's beds and unloaded the 14 boxes of materials for the wall of built-ins. When Eli woke up, we tried out Day 2 of our 30 Days of Wraps challenge: Semi FWCC with a size 3 Yaro Yolka. I'm rusty on the slip knot, and Eli gets annoyed being on my front now because he wants to look around at everything. Still, it was a solid carry and I liked it a lot. Just need to practice my slip knots. Also, you can kind of see the skinny jeans in the picture. Yay!

I did bath time, while Chris worked at pulling up baseboard in the kids' room in preparation for the built-ins. 

All four duckies in the tub! I had to take a picture because Caleb and Daisy are getting old enough that I never know when the last time they will all fit in the tub will be. (Also, Chris normally does bath time, and he is smart enough to never put all four kids in the tub at once. I wasn't that smart. It was a splashy mess. But they were so happy!)

And then, bedtime. When I finished putting Eli down, I peeked in Caleb and Daisy's very quiet room to find this: 

The kids love their new lamps! Chris and I both gave them explicit instructions that the lamps needed to be off at 8:00. At 8:04, I peeked in and found a completely dark room. I gave each kid a kiss and praised them for being so responsible, to which Daisy proudly replied, "I told Caleb how many minutes we had left, because I know my numbers."

Sweet girl. Love her.