Catching up on life and sea life!

I would best describe this week as a catch up week for the Nutt House.  It seems as though for a while now I have not been on top of my game, my life, my to do list, etc., etc.   As a friend put it tonight, welcome to parenthood!  Oh so true, so very, very true!  Well, this week I took a few more steps back toward catching up on life – in between helping at the elementary school and kids activities this week I managed to squeeze in enough time to catch up on laundry!  Don’t get me wrong, there are of course some dirty clothes, but, everyone has more clothes clean than dirty, no laundry basket is overflowing with clothing either needing to be washed, waiting to be folded or put away, and no laundry is anticipating my return in either the washer or dryer.  And wait… there’s more!  I managed to catch up on housework!  Every room in the Nutt House has received some long overdue attention.  Nothing fancy mind you, but some good ol’ every day cleaning has taken place.  Each room has seen some dusting, vacuuming and mopping floors, wiping down light switches and door knobs and such so that the rooms are truly livable again.  While this may seem foolish, especially as the opening highlight of the week, but it’s been a big one for me.  Now, just to stay on top of it all!  (This statement is typed and read with fingers crossed!)

In addition to catching up on household duties, the Nutt House of course found time for fun and excitement.

Monday Kaden and I trekked out to east Mesa to help celebrate pie slice day at a favorite pie restaurant.  We picked up a strawberry rhubarb pie to bring home to the family in addition to what I know will be a delish chicken potpie.  We couldn’t make that long journey to east Mesa without a little self-indulgence so we enjoyed a couple of slices of pie as a treat to ourselves. 

 

There should be no doubt or question
that he chose chocolate cream pie

Along with the household duty catching up I found this week provided the opportunity for me to start staying and observing dance class like I have not been able to do for several weeks now.  It felt good to be there supporting Kara as she pushed herself with the skills and routines she is constantly working on.  **Kaden’s My Gym class was only missed because I found myself sitting in a dentist chair at the time of his class.

Of course I made swim lessons where I watched my two little fishes
swim their hearts out!

Leaping the way to her dreams

I think she loves this move just because it's called the "mermaid"

Oh the dentist!  I am not the greatest fan of visiting anyone who I need to refer to as Dr. and so going to the dentist regularly has been a challenge for several years now.  I’m very particular in what I want out of a dentist and just couldn’t seem to find the right one for me.  But, after chipping a front tooth so that I either went around looking ridiculous for the rest of forever with a piece of my tooth missing or I’d have to bite the bullet and find someone to at least fix the tooth.  Well, last week I discovered a dentist close to us… like 3 minutes away by car and right next door to the dance studio close and oh my heaven!  He’s amazing, absolutely what I look for in a dentist!  I am so happy!  Sadly, so happy that after he fixed my front tooth Wednesday evening and I was eating dinner (chicken noodle soup and left over strawberry rhubarb pie) I managed to break another tooth!  This time in the back at least, but bad enough that I get to go see my new found dentist friend again this week to assess how bad the damage is.  (Ugh, my teeth are nothing but problems, I swear! *at least I’ve found someone I feel comfortable having fix them up again)

Anyway, side topic over and back to all of our Nutt-y lives!  The Nutt House found enjoyment in many a simple moment this week, whether it was out riding bikes or scooters in the cooler afternoon weather. Or, story time which has taken a turn at the Nutt House as Kara now insists on doing as much reading as the big Nutt’s do! And of course, Lego building, because how could we go a week without Legos.  Kaden used some Christmas money to buy a Darth Vader Lego set, which arrived this week.  He was so excited that he would carry the box around with him until there was enough time for him and Brent to sit down together to build out his Darth Vader character that upon completion he took to school for show and tell.  He is so delighted with his new toy that he has spent an impressive amount of time playing with it, recreating scenes from Star Wars and more.  

Nothing like being a kid and going bike riding

Unless it's going for a scooter ride, that's pretty cool too

My heart is warmed at how exciting books are
to our family.  These little Nutts will drop
just about anything to hear a story read to them

Not only did the Nutt House make a dent in catching up on things around the home front and find time to enjoy the little moments in our days but we also managed to make the time for a family outing on Saturday.  Now that we have been doing this full time school thing for almost a year we are starting to get the hang of it.  At least in regards to making time for family time on Saturdays since if it didn’t happen on Saturdays it sadly wouldn’t really happen at all.  The adventure we enjoyed together this week was a family trip to the Odysea aquarium.  Thanks to our lifetime membership, this isn’t the first time we’ve been there.  It is definitely a place the Nutt House enjoys going and I have to say, this was the best we have ever seen the aquarium.  Each time we’ve gone, we have noticed little improvements from when they’ve opened which has been refreshing, but this time… wow!  It was so much better than even the last.  It’s the crazy little things, like steps to some of the tanks so kiddos can see the sea life on their own, the touching stations where the kiddos could sea creatures, they brought back the jelly fish which had mysteriously disappeared after our first trip and finally the octopus was there!  This experience will help me more easily recommend the aquarium to friends and eagerly anticipate when we can go back out there. 

He was trying to smile, he really was... Just too many things
to look at that were more exciting than mom's phone

Mom, take a selfie with us, please!

Who knew the starfish had an eye at the end
of each of it's 5 points!

Yay that they are bringing more things back to the
touch pools!

My little emperor's are too close together in height!

He enjoyed this new addition

The monster sized lite brite!

They were both still excited to play in this, their
favorite water toy

Kara is not so much a fan of the feel of an
out of water sponge... "too rough, mom, too rough"

So many clown fish!

My favorite peeps in the entire universe right here

I AM smiling!

Adorbs!

Love that they love and like each other!

Poor Boudreaux, a rescue turtle who lost two of his flippers

The jelly fish are back!!!

After some quality family time with our time at the aquarium wrapping up we headed next door to split a couple large ice cream sandwiches before heading back towards home.

So much ice cream

But, ohhh so good!

I think we would have stayed longer exploring as a family – maybe visiting Butterfly Wonderland, which is adjacent to the aquarium, but Brent and I actually managed to finagle a second date for the month!  With the time looming to pick up the kid sitter (because mom, we aren’t babies so it can’t be a babysitter!) we rushed home to get ready for a magnificent evening at the temple!  Not only did I get to spend some quality time with my main Nutt alone for the second time in less than a month, but also we were fortunate to do it at the temple – in a beautiful sealing room no less!!!  After a good couple of hours inside the breathtaking piece of heaven that is the temple, we wrapped up our evening at Waffle Love.  Where we discovered just how good a grilled cheese waffle with a tomato soup dipping sauce really can be.  *we also discovered if they say your order of chicken and waffles will be out soon, the chicken is almost defrosted to not eat the chicken as it won’t be cooked all the way in the middle… yuck!  **at least the service and other dishes were great enough to compensate for that discretion

What a perfect way to end a very successful and always Nutt-y week!  Now, on to all that this week has waiting for the Nutt House!