Sheep Guarding Llama

Dominica worked today so it was just dad and I at home taking care of the girls.  Mostly it was me working in my office and dad playing with Liesl and Luciana.

One of their fun projects today was for dad and Liesl to take a cutting that Liesl had accidentally knocked off of one of our ivy plants and another ivy plant that has been growing in the kitchen for a long time and to transplant them into a new, nice, large planter for Liesl’s room.  So they did that for a while then we took it in and hung it up in her bedroom.  This is Liesl’s very first plant of her own.

This evening Dominica picked up Panda Express on the way home and we ate dinner while watching episodes of Are You Being Served?

Today is dad’s halfway point through his Texas trip.  The time really flies.  Although being down here with the little ones really wears him out too.  They have so much energy and are so excited to get to see grandpa.

Liesl decided to name her new plant(s) “Planty”.

This morning we got started a little slowly and then decided that the best thing to do was to pack up the girls and all drive down to Brookhaven for their Sunday brunch.  That made for a nice start to the day.  Dad really enjoyed the food.  It was pretty busy there as the weather is excellent and people were out golfing and the Grille was full too.  It was a lot more carb heavy than we should have been eating but the change was really good.

On the way back we went to Home Depot and got five bags of sand for Liesl and Luciana’s new sandbox that Grandpa bought them the other day.  We also bought some bags of mulch to test out in the back yard.  We decided to try some red rubber mulch that is supposed to last for twelve years.  That seemed like a good investment in general and rubber mulch is so clean and pleasant to walk on.  So we got four bags to test out.

We got home and the girls wanted their sandbox set up right away.  So I set about moving the sand up to the patio.  Dominica had decided to have the sandbox actually sit on the patio so that she could easily watch the girls from the play room.

The mulch looks great after I put it down.  We have such an awful mess of a yard.  The mulch really helps.  We have tons of mud and grass-less areas that need to be covered.  Both to make the yard useful (not getting mud all over ourselves) and in making it look nice.  It will probably take thirty or more bags to really do it any kind of justice, but we can see that this new mulch will work so we plan to buy more soon.

We sat outside for a while with dad and the kids playing in the new sandbox.  I went and got all of the space rubber tiles that we have had sitting in the atrium since Art installed them there and took them out and put them up against the patio to kind of extend the patio out into the yard to cover the dirt area up against the patio where Oreo used to pee and no grass will grow now.  That looks pretty good and we hope will make a difference with tracking dirt into the house from the lawn.

We spent the afternoon working on plans for the living room theater.  Dad is working on a way to mount our new screen in front of the fireplace so that we can start using it.  We are very anxious to have some sort of a theater again.

Finally the weekend.  It felt like it would never get here this week.  Now I finally have some downtime that I can spend with dad.

Early this morning dad and Dominica took the girls out to Toys`R`Us to go shopping for stuff for the girls.  I stayed at home so that I could use the time to be productive and get work done.  That was a good decision as I got a lot done while they were gone so that I could actually spend time with the family once they were back.

Dad likes to wait on Christmas until he can be with the girls so this was their Christmas shopping trip with him.  Luciana’s big present was a pink “car”, like a foot-powered Flintstones’ car, that she can drive around the house.  Liesl’s big present was a big Lego set.  Then the big, joint present for the girls was a sand box for the back yard.  We are actually going to put it on the back patio.  Perfect for watching them from the play room.

Liesl and Dominica had a ton of fun putting together the Lego house today.  Liesl loves to see the structure come together but then she loves to just play and play with the toys that she builds.  I never did that even though I was really into Legos as a kid.  But I was really all about building them.  I might play with them a little, but it was very little.  It was all about modeling something in Lego bricks and then having something to display.  Closer to model railroading.

Both girls really liked playing with the pink car.  Liesl barely fits into it but she makes due.  Ciana mostly just likes to sit in it and hang out.

We watched the fifth Harry Potter movie this evening.  Dad watched the first four in the series last time that he was down in Texas.

I did some more work this evening.  Overall today was a more relaxing day.  Finally starting to get on top of things.  I have another project due on Monday, though, so I can’t really slow down.

Today is Friday.  Dad ended up watching the girls mostly on his own today because Dominica ended up just being really busy and needing to work much of the day.    I was in the office all day.  I actually got up nice and early and got into the office pretty early.  I am feeling good today as my workload, while heavy, is coming along well and I should have no issues wrapping up my first big block of work by eleven tonight which is my deadline on it.

I had to talk to my adviser at RIT today.  I am hoping to get everything underway for the next quarter so that I can wrap up my degree program.  Fingers crossed that that will work out.  Very anxious to get that completed.

After work, as she often does on Fridays, Dominica had me go to Rockfish and pick up dinner.  I was out at a moderate time for a Friday getting home around seven with our food.

We ate dinner and watched some more of Are You Being Served? which Dominica and I have been working through for the last few weeks.  We are nearly done with all ten seasons now.  Every few years we watch through the entire series.  It is one of our staples.  I have been watching that show since mom and I used to watch it together when I was probably around middle school age.  That’s the show that I used to watch and eat chocolate chips in peanut butter like my girls do now.

Dad took off shortly after dinner.  He needs his rest.  I worked until eleven, finished my project and was ready for bed myself.

This morning is dad’s first time being alone with the girls.  Dominica was off to work early, as she usually is on Thursdays, so dad came over to take care of the girls while I am at the office.  My Thursday morning call that I have weekly has been moved to nine o’clock rather than eight thirty so it is easier for me to get out the door and make it to the office for the call rather than doing it from home before going in.  I got Luciana’s diaper changed and Liesl dressed and I was out the door.  Dominica is just up the street so if dad needs her, she is only minutes away.

Everything went well, though, for dad and the girls.  They did a pretty good job of wearing him out, though.

I have tons of work that is due tomorrow so I came home and got right to work for the entire evening working at Dominica’s desk.  We had stayed up last night too late as well.  Well I had, Dominica had to go to bed early because she was going into the office this morning so I had stayed up until about three getting work done.  Tonight I was beat so I went to bed at nine, just a little bit after dad had headed back to the hotel.

My work is going well and I should have no problem getting it all completed for tomorrow night’s deadline.  Boy am I ever busy these days, though.