I made lists of the girls' morning and afternoon responsibilities and had them laminated. It's so hard to figure out a system that gets the little people to do what they need to do. This one didn't last too long, but there was initial excitement over lamination and check boxes.
Our Chrysler Pacifica minivan had all sorts of problems right off the bat. I had to take it into the dealer repeatedly, and they always kept it for at least a week and sometimes a month trying to figure out what was wrong and to get the go-ahead from headquarters or whatever to fix it. I asked about the defrost and was told it works fine, even though it almost always does absolutely nothing and instead makes driving unsafe or even impossible. At one point, the car started doing these crazy alerts (a sound and a big notice on the screen in the dashboard) saying to turn off the car because it was about to shut down. That was terrifying. When it happened while I had kids in the car and was heading to soccer practice, I went to Robert, my contact in the service department at the dealership, and got emotional and told him sorry, but I was sort of having a breakdown and this was scary. He immediately got on the phone and arranged for a rental, even though he initially told me they didn't do rentals. So then they got me rentals every time I took the car in. I gave up trying to fix the defrost. Other things about the phone/car interface and the electronics drive me absolutely insane (like how the radio turns on AFTER YOU TURN THE CAR OFF), but I figured there was nothing they could do about it. About a year and a half in, the transmission had to be replaced. Jim complained, and some customer service person from Chrysler kept trying to contact us to make things OK. Except finally he told me that I should be happy that it lasted that long before the transmission went out because some people had theirs go out in less than a year. WHAT? I Googled and found people complaining about the transmission thing.
In other news, Ever got her cast off.
Tiny gives the best full-body snuggles. It is so wonderful that as old as she is (nine as I write this; nearly eight in April 2024), she still climbs aboard.
I made cinnamon rolls for conference weekend. Jim had to disassemble the bread machine, order a part, and reassemble it at one point. It was amazing that he got it working again. But since it broke, it moves so much while operating that it will walk right off the counter every time. After having it crash to the floor a couple times, I finally remembered that I had to leave it on the ground. I tried to put heavy objects next to it, but it didn't work. I had to keep pushing it back into position, lest it pull the plug out of the wall. The cinnamon rolls remain delicious every time, though.
Sunday we did a little walk on the trail between sessions, and it was glorious.
Tiny lay down and fanned herself in a little area by the trail where she and the boys (Nathan and Noah) had made some sort of circular stone creation.
We had Tiny's BFFs, Kaia and Maya, over for a playdate. The girls jumped on the tramp, did perler beads, and ate crackers topped with peanut butter and a drizzle of honey (somehow that's become the meal they always eat when they're together, which is particularly weird because Tiny otherwise does not eat honey with peanut butter). They were playing outside on Cikaneks' swing when Tyler (Kaia's dad) came to pick them up. No matter how many hours long a play date is, they never get enough of one another.
We did another Sunday afternoon walk to McAuliffe Elementary and played a little handball.
Tiny came home from soccer practice and went straight to the grass by the driveway to read (and finish the food she had taken with her). I once thought that Wren and Ever read a lot, but no one in the entire world has ever read more than Tiny. Can't stop, won't stop.
I wrote this on April 7, 2024, thinking that I wanted a record of the girls' nicknames:
"I heard Ever calling Wrenzy 'Goggy.' I asked about the name, and Ever said, 'It's what I use when she's being annoying.' Wrenzy clarified, 'Like when she's not actually mad at me, but...'
Tiny's new name is 'Totsy.' Sometimes 'Hotsy Totsy.'"
Now that it's been a while, I can say I have heard Goggy used periodically, although it has mostly fallen into disuse. I don't think Hotsy Totsy ever really took hold; at least, I don't remember hearing it after that. Tiny became Chubby and Chubbers, and those have stuck. Jim tries to call Berry "Chubbers," but nobody else uses that for Bear. Tiny really gets all the chub-related names.
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