Around Here: Week 1

Top Nine posts from my Instagram
2016 was definitely the year of "Carly"

 

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Watching... the series finale of Burn Notice, and moving on to The Crown with Josh.  I loved Burn Notice, and The Crown is fascinating.  I also watched the Call The Midwife's Holiday Special.  It was so good!

Traveling... through crazy weather to get home from our trip to Vancouver. The Columbia River Gorge was icy and frozen, and for some of the trip there was snow falling.  I'm grateful our neighbor called to let us know about the crazy weather.  Because of her heads up, we left bright & early Monday morning and were traveling in complete daylight, which made everything easier to navigate. I'm also grateful for our neighbor's husband who shoveled & cleared our entire driveway and front walk in anticipation of our homecoming. It was so selfless & very much appreciated.

Opening... our Christmas gift from Wyatt (school was canceled the last day before break, so his gift just came home) and loving his kindergarten handwriting on the card.  The backward S's are killing me dead.

Writing... more in my journal & gratitude journal this week.  The beginning of a new year always leaves me reflective and more introspective than usual.  I'm writing down all the thoughts that flit through my mind.  ...what I've been through; how I've grown; what I want our life to look like... I love it.

Making... goals for 2017 (more on these soon to come)

Taking... a break from Facebook.  I wrote a little post about it, but basically I was spending all my free time on my phone scrolling, and it wasn't making me happier.  It was making me less productive & I hadn't realized it.  I'm hoping a little break will clarify whether Facebook is good for me, and will allow me to be more in control of my time.  (I read this post about social media/screen time and it has me contemplating what I want screens to look like for my kids as well.)

Choosing... a word for the year. I'll be sharing it with you next week!

Freezing... inside our house and out.  It's been as cold as fifteen below zero with wind chill here, and you can feel it!  The boys even had two hour late start twice this week because of cold weather.  It's leaving me wishing our house had newer windows and a fireplace!

Missing... the men in my house as they all head back to work and school.  We enjoyed our time home together and as usual it went really fast.

Feeling... inspired by Tabitha's 100 Small Things list.  Thanks to her, I'll be watching TED talks, documentaries and doing monthly family game nights.  

Considering... buying a bunk bed so Wyatt can join the twins in their room and Carly can cry herself to sleep if need be.  She did better last night (finally!) and Wyatt never had to leave the room.  She'd cry a tiny bit after each nursing session, but it never lasted long, and a handful of times she woke up and would soothe herself back to sleep without me. Yay!

Loving... our bedtime routine. After months of change (me parenting without Josh, me parenting without Josh with the addition of Carly, parenting with Josh at his parents house, and finally both of us parenting together at our new house) we have settled into a rhythm that feels perfect. Dinner, baths, jammies, bedtime stories and then the "divide & conquer" part of our nights.  I take the younger two into their bedroom and Josh takes the twins into theirs.  The twins do their silent reading for 20 minutes with Josh while I nurse Carly and do bedtime prayers with Wyatt.  We end the night usually watching an episode or two of something together, before heading to bed ourselves.  It's a nice mellow evening for all of us, and I love it.

Decorating... the living room with the new art my sister-in-law made for us. I just adore the scrabble words she made with our kids names. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Reading... Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty.  I am devouring this book and I'm so happy to be reading so much!  I'm also reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey with Josh.  We are hoping it helps us make smart financial decisions in 2017!

Weekly Goals:

1) Find a dentist & make appointments for the whole family

2) Find eye doctor for the boys

3) Make homemade bread & Special K bars

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