Around Here: Week 9 2023

 {February 26-March 4th}

"My Nanny (which is my mom) IS COMING! 
I did all capitals because..."

"I am sooo excited for her to come. Eek!
Because she is so sweet and kind and fun! She is the best!
I love her so much! I am so lucky to be her grandkid."

Shower Messages: "Just a whole class 100!"
(I got a perfect score in one of my classes)

A perfect score.

Her self portrait? In a heart dress? WITH MUSICAL NOTES?
Are you kidding me? I cannot!!!

Brand new cleats for Jack's giant feet. 
Thanks nanny!

Loving... the notes I get from Carly (she started writing me notes when Josh puts her to bed and I find them when I check on her before I go to sleep). They are usually so sweet.  But this week they escalated quickly and she wrote me one asking "How do you get pregnant?" Oh lord send me strength. She also asked, "What does it mean if your water breaks?" Bahaha!
I am also loving her songs.  She writes songs all the time, wandering around the house singing them, often jotting the lyrics on her white board or printer paper. Her writing in general just brings me joy.  Her "best guess" spelling and her little ideas just do me in. 

Finishing... The Hunger Games book with the twins and Wyatt.  We all enjoyed it so much and I'm super grateful because I was honestly a little jealous of how much they loved Josh reading Harry Potter to them. Hehe!

Pre-purchasing... a book about hospice by a hospice nurse I found on Instagram. Her name is Hadley and I can't wait to read her book! (For those interested, it's called The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos and can be found on Amazon.)

Reading... Damnation Spring and enjoying it so much.  It has a slow pace and is a little on the sad side, but I am loving it. 

Dealing... with very stressful parenting. Do I say that every week? It's gotten harder as they've gotten older because I don't want to share things that are private or that they may not want the world to know. It's also gotten harder because it's true what they say, when they're little, their problems are little. And easily solved.  The older they get, the less control I have, and the harder it is to help them solve their problems. 

Facing... more snow on Monday. We are all honestly over it at this point. 

Attending... our EF Tours meeting for Jack's and my trip to Rome and Greece this summer. I can't believe it's coming up so soon! 

Telling... Jack the Theodore Roosevelt quote about being the one in the arena (see below) and encouraging him to ignore any negativity or trash talk happening around him.  He is the one in the ring, trying out for the baseball team, putting everything on the line. I am so proud of him. And he should be too. 

Watching... The Murdaugh Murders and feeling mindblown by all the "coincidences" that were just accepted. I also watched the Lisa Ling episode on Alcoholism and was fascinated by all the statistics.  For example, it's estimated that a person who gets a DUI has usually driven, on average, 80 times before getting caught. What?!? That's crazy.  She said shame and secrecy are part of the disorder and that 1 in 10 deaths between the ages of 20-64 are due to alcohol abuse. 10% of people who die as adults (basically) are dying from alcohol. How are we so casual about drinking? I will never understand it. 

Getting... good grades on my classes and feeling so proud of myself. Going back to school as a forty year old mom of four is no joke!

Taking... Piper to the vet and laughing at her. She is just a giant baby.  She would have liked me to wear her in a Baby Bjorn if that was an option. 

Considering... whether I think phone addiction is a real thing. Do I have it? Do my kids? What can I do to combat it? I don't have any answers, but I'm definitely thinking about screen time and what we can do to make sure we're living our best life. 

Sending... Carly on a playdate with her friend Charlotte and feeling so grateful.  She got pizza and cookies and they painted the cutest birdhouse Carly got to bring home. So sweet!

Laughing... at Carly making a Youtube video (just her recording herself, we don't actually share or post them anywhere) and asking for votes and for her viewers to "like and subscribe" haha! She video'd our bedtime routine, asking them to vote on books, and recording herself brushing her teeth and cleaning up her room. 

Playing... Word Find with Carly before bed on my phone. It gives us six letter and we have to make as many words from it as we can. It's really fun. The hard levels sometimes require help from Josh or Wyatt, but we get it done!

Grateful... my kids have such a good dad.  Josh spent two days this week making a balloon powered car with Logan for his science class.  I loved watching them bounce ideas of each other and work on it together. 

Morning... snuggles with Carly are both our favorites and I'm so grateful she is still such a snuggle bug. I'm the luckiest.

Seeing... Magnatile buildings all over the house and in Carly's room.  They are her current obsession. She builds shelves and walls and dance floors... it's so cute. 

Picking... up Jack and Ainsley from baseball practice everyday and sending Josh out to the land (kid-free) for a much needed break.  Sometimes we gotta step away from being "mom" or "dad" and just be "Josh" or "Shelly". 

Loving... Wyatt playing so nice with Carly. That's not always the case and she often tells me she wishes she had a sister close to her age. So when they play well it makes my mama heart happy. 

Thrilled (!)... that Jack made the high school freshman (C) team for baseball! He did it! Oh gosh I am so proud of that kid! 
But I have to admit, that times like these, having twins is hard. Logan wasn't able to try out for the high school team because of his broken collar bone. And watching him watch Jack go to practice everyday and make the team has just about broke my mama heart in two. Both/and. Happy, sad. Proud, upset. 

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