Around Here: Week 32 2023

 {August 6-12th}

Sisters * Cousins * Friends

Oh Archie Ray! What a cutie pie you are!

Eggs from Josh's mom & raspberry jam I made with my mom!

Carly playing teacher is my favorite.

My Grandma's dahlias are amazing!

I love her white one with the purple edges. 

So pretty, Grandma!

Celebrating... my little brothers birthday by meeting at my sister's and my favorite ice cream place in Vancouver. (Ice Cream Renaissance)  Turns out, however, that the place isn't nut-free and Dallas couldn't even eat anything there!!! (He has a peanut allergy) Oh  my gosh I felt so bad! But he was so sweet and said it was fine, it was a good place to meet as it made the kids happy and let us catch up. My nephew Isaiah (how in the world is 24?) came, too, and it was so good to hug him and talk to him. I'm so proud of him, working hard and living with his girlfriend and just having his life figured out. Blows me away.

Watching... my mom's joy as she was reunited with her son and grandson melted me. She was just beaming the entire time. I can't imagine how hard it is for her to live away from them.

Attending... my cousin's baby shower which was just the sweetest.  Baby Alanna is going to be so loved and she is so lucky to have Savanna and Deric for parents. They are so ready for this. It was also nice to see my aunts and uncles whom I haven't seen ages. We chatted with Savanna and Deric about mental health for like an hour after the baby shower and it was so eye opening to hear about what they've gone through and how they've grown.  We talked about how we want mental health in our country to change and how we hope our kids are raised.

Grateful... for my brother-in-law Blake for taking all the kids (his four, plus my two) to the "jumpy place" (trampoline park) so my sister and I could stay longer (kid-free) at the baby shower. It was so nice of him and such a luxury to hang out without the children.

Driving... all of us home on Monday and talking over with my mom what amazing hosts Michael & Alix were.  They fed us the most amazing meals and were so patient with our kids and our messes. They definitely are #hostgoals!

Arriving... home, dropping my luggage, and taking Carly with me to book club where we discussed Ella Enchanted (which I read, but didn't love) and then watched the movie version of it. The movie was pretty cute and Carly had fun. She especially loved holding my friend Crystal's baby Archie Ray.  I was blown away at Christy's hosting skills- she had all kinds of drinks, popcorn and candy. She spoiled us for sure. I have never seen Ella Enchanted and it was a pretty cute movie. Carly loved it.

Happy... to be home for the rest of the summer.  We have one trip planned (as a whole family) over Labor Day, but that's not for another month. 

Celebrating... twenty years married to Josh.  We have been through it all together: pregnancies, miscarriages, babies, health scares (asthma, mastoiditis, seizures, gallbladder attacks, shingles and even Bell's Palsy), moves in Vancouver, Moses Lake, and most notably to a tiny village in Alaska.  We have had pets together (Sukie & Margilo, our first cats; Ramona & George; and our first dogs, Grady & Piper) and suffered losses together (two this year- my grandpa Jerry and Josh's dad Carl); we have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, vacations together; and gone through all kinds of parenting ups and downs; we have enjoyed baseball games, swimming and kayaking together; and we have supported each other through lots of college- associates, bachelor and masters degrees. 

Reading... Ella Enchanted (meh) and The In-Between, which was okay, but not as good as I had hoped it would be. I also finished Every Summer After which was sooo good.  Such a fantastic summer read. 

Taking... the twins for their yearly Well Child Checkup and wondering at their identicalness as I walked behind them. For the most part they are just "Jack" and "Logan"... but every once in a while they hit me with the "TWINS!! IDENTICAL TWINS!" feeling and it's so fun. 

 

Noticing... that Carly's big teeth are really growing in.  Our girl is growing up! Also noticing that our girl is reading just all the time. It makes me so proud of her. She's also been playing teacher to her American Girl dolls and it's just the cutest. She wrote the cutest little teacher letter (her teacher last year wrote the class a letter everyday) and it just melted my future-teacher heart.

Dealing... with some anxiety from Carly about starting second grade. She has been next level clingy and said to me randomly one day, "I, like, don't even know how to start second grade." Haha. So I talked her through what the morning would look like and where she would go and all that. 

Teaching... myself how to curl my hair with my straightener.  Now that my hair is longer I want to be able to do more with it. So I watched a YouTube tutorial and voila! I can do it!

Enjoying... the dahlias I have that grew despite not getting them wrapped for the winter last year and not planting them in pots in the spring. We still had quite a few pop up (that we planted at Josh's encouragement- thanks bab!) and they are gorgeous. 

Doing... homework in the morning, in the afternoon and sometimes at night. Just figuring out whenever works to get it done. 

Seeing... the Barbie movie with my mom and sister, as well as Wyatt and his cousin. I was, honestly, not impressed.  It was kind of too "artsy" for my taste. I liked some of the message, but didn't love how it was executed. After that, my nephew Milo stayed over for a sleepover while my sister and mom took the twins in Wenatchee.  My dad took them swimming at the river and Milo and Wyatt swam in our pool here. Everyone had fun and it was nice to break up the dynamic. 

Dealing... with lots of panic/anxiety that I think is stemming from the upcoming back-to-school madness and all the emotions that brings. Getting back in a routine is always a bit hard at first and the kids' anxiety also impacts me emotionally. So just feeling a bit overwhelmed in general. 

Grateful... for late nights staying up talking with Josh. It's hard to have older/bigger kids because a) they are always listening and b) they never want to go to bed. So it's rare for us to have  long conversations because the kids are always around and always asking for details of what we're talking about. It's so funny, I can scream for them to do the dishes and they hear nothing, but I whisper something to their dad in the kitchen and suddenly they have bat-like hearing. 

Hosting... a family get together for Josh's cousin's family.  We spent the day barbecuing and swimming and laughing. Carly and their son Gabe showed up in the same swimsuits from Old Navy (so cute, matchy-matchy!) and had so much fun swimming together. Carly had visits from multiple lady bugs that day and I told her I think it was her Papa Carl coming to the family party. I was teasing Jack for taking selfies and then polled the group to see if someone else taking selfies makes them uncomfortable. We were pretty mixed in our feelings on it, but Cousin Nathan started instantly making fun of me, taking constant selfies that continued for the following two weeks on social media. Oh my gosh, the laughter we had.  I love a good inside joke and this one has kept us laughing for weeks. 

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Is it weird to say I am proud of an adult woman I don't know?
I follow Enjoying The Small Things on IG and she's recently broken up with her husband,
and watching her create a new life halfway across the country with her three children 
has been so insipring. She is amazing and I'm so proud of her.

I am always inspired when I read my friend Ashley's blog:
thebigwhitefarmhouse.com
Her quotes are always especially amazing. 

This poem.
All the heart eyes.

I love reading this kind of stuff since I'm out here at 40 finally pursuing a career.

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"If you're at rock bottom, or a messy middle, or a scary beginning, there's a future for you that you don't know the story of yet. I know it's terrifying to take that deep breath and commit to the thing that you don't know for certain how it's going to go, but I also know you're capable of it. You're smart enough for it. You're deserving of it. 

Don't write yourself off yet. How it is today, doesn't have to be how it is going to be forever.

Your story isn't over yet."

-Ashley LeMieux

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