Around Here: Week 45 2023

 {November 5-11th}

Carly may not have sisters, but she has these cousins,
and that is everything to me. 

"Take a picture mom!
I'm holding it in my mouth like you!"

My honorary son Ainsley

Sending... Carly for a playdate in Wenatchee with her cousins, Aunt Roxanne and Nanny.  She had so much fun, watching a movie (complete with movie tickets) and the cutest charcuterie board that Carly helped create. She even got to feed my sister's baby and when she got home she told me to show her brothers' the picture so they'd know she really did feed the baby. (They didn't believe her last time she told them she'd fed her.)

Setting... clocks back an hour for daylight savings. I think that as I get older daylight savings bothers me more and more. I for sure hated it when my kids were little, but I hate it now for myself. It's just so damn dark.  5pm, haven't even eaten dinner and it feels like midnight and we should all be in bed. 

Working... the book fair one night and being pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. The next morning I took Carly in before school to shop, and she got a huge stack of books.  The joy that books bring her (just like her mama) makes me so happy. 

Setting... up a fun virtual field trip for my third grade class at Fort Vancouver (which is in my hometown) as a follow up to their Washington State unit. 

Attending... Carly's parent/teacher conference and being so damn proud of her. She's reading past a fourth grade level (she just started second grade) and is doing well in math. Our goals walking away is to increase her non-fiction reading, and work on memorizing her math facts to ten. 

Hosting... Carly's friend Kamden for a playdate. Carly and Kamden have known each other since they were 8 months old and thier little friendship is so tender to me. I love that they enjoy each other so much!

Plucking... my eyebrows in the parent pick up line which is so indicative of where I'm at in life right now.  It's just chaos.  Early release this week, no school Friday, homework for days in my double classes.  Oof. It's a lot.

Hitting... our grocery goal of shopping and back in the van in an hour.  Wyatt and Carly are getting to be champion shoppers just like the twins!

Snuggling... everyday with my sweet girl. She will approach me or Josh multiple times a day asking, "Snuggle?" and then she climbs in our laps and snuggles in. 

Loving... how Carly has started trying to write "and" with an ampersand. It's just the cutest thing ever. Also loving how she always makes bar graphs out fruit loops cereal. Haha! Cute girl. 

Cracking... an egg and getting a double. My mother-in-law (who supplies our eggs from her 50+ chickens) said that her new layers tend to lay double yolks in the beginning. She's unsure why. I personally love it because it reminds me of the amazing thing my body did 15 years ago making my twins. 

Being... treated to a spa, courtesy of Carly, when I finished my homework one night. She painted my finger and toenails, did my hair, and even got us both some cream soda in fancy glasses to do cheers with.  (She accidentally broke one glass, but that is why I buy our "fancy" glasses for $.99 at Goodwill.) My nails were inspired by mermaids, one hand purple and one hand irridescent blue, and my feet were a raspberry color. I wonder if I will ever get over having a daughter to do fun things like this with. Carly is such a treat.

Taking... two hour-long tests for my classes this week.  Timed tests are not my favorite, but I managed to get above 80% on each, which was my goal. Woo hoo!

Opening... a surprise package for Carly from Aunt Julie. She sent Carly the most beautiful, fun, colorful sparkle markers. Carly immediately got to work coloring some pictures with them. So thoughtful!

Reading... Catching Fire with the boys at bedtime and forgetting how good this book is. We are all enjoying it. 

Laughing... at George who is obsessed with our water dispenser downstairs. He sits near it and sometimes even on top of it. He loves when the dogs drink out of it, and then air bubbles up into the container. What a goofball.

Grateful... for my amazing husband who hung our Christmas lights this weekend! He's seriously the best. That is a HUGE chore that he does solely to bring me joy, and I'm so thankful.

Shocked... at my honorary son Ainsley (the twins' best friend) getting his license. How in the world are these boys already old enough to drive?!?

Working... out everyday so far in November. I am so proud of myself, and amazed at how good my body feels. 

Hosting... Carly's adorable little friends for a playdate and loving hearing their laughs & giggles down the hall as I did homework. 

Listening... to Glennon Doyle's podcast episode with Oprah and loving every bit of this letter from Glennon to Oprah upon Oprah's mother dying. I'll share the letter:

“‘Hello my friend, my sister, my example, I’m sitting on a balcony on Cayman Island and right at this moment writing an essay about the word mother, what that word really means, how it’s less to me a fixed identity we can be or not be and more an energy we can offer or not offer. The essay is about how some of us who can check the box mother never really learn how to offer mothering love and how others of us who don’t check the box, harness it and offer it widely and wildly. The essay is about how much better off the world would be if we gathered up mothering love and used it like a floodlight instead of a pointed laser aimed only at the few we’ve been assigned.

As I’m writing this essay on the balcony, my sister just sent me a text that says, ‘G, Oprah’s mother died. She was 83. I wanted you to know.’ I just got that text a minute ago. I would never presume to guess what your relationship was like, how complex it was and is to be your mother’s daughter, what your feelings are this week, what your feelings have been or will be. I just wanted to say that you are my example of how to gather up mothering love and use it as a floodlight to illuminate and warm the world. You are my and the world’s best example of grace, which means that we can somehow give what we’ve never even received. I don’t know much, but from everything you bravely say and kindly don’t say, I’ve gathered that you didn’t get the mothering love you deserved and needed as a little girl and a grown girl.

To me, that is what makes you a miracle. It is a miracle that somehow you took the broken pieces that she put in your hands, all of them and you spun them into gold and opened your hands wide and offered that gold back to the world. Which is not just a gift to the world, it is a gift directly back to your mother, because you worked with what she gave you, ensured that her legacy through you is gold. With your help, your mother’s legacy is gold. What a gift. If there is a Heaven, she can see that now. She can see that her miraculous daughter somehow, somehow turned her offerings to gold. God, bet she’s amazed and grateful. Well done, good faithful, miraculous, badass, servant. In your corner forever.’

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