Around Here: Week 7 2024

 {February 11-17th}

My Valentine since 2000

This just made me so happy. 
Unfortunately there was no credit given.

Our Valentine art project + the alphabet one student wrote for me.

My sister's cute Peeps!

Thankful... Josh is so handy as he hung new towel hooks for the boys this week and fixed our broken ceiling fan. You're the best, Cunningham!

Also thankful that Josh has been such a supportive spouse as I've adjusted to working outside the home for the first time in 13 years. I worked late Wednesday working on lesson planning and he took the kids to the library and the eye doctor to get broken glasses fixed. It felt like I cloned myself as I was able to know the kids' stuff was getting done AND my lesson planning was getting done. 

Driving... Wyatt to his first dance. I got to feeling so sentimental as his brothers' helped him get "fitted" in Jack's Carhart sweatshirt and Logan's Dunks.  I was so surprised Wyatt wanted to go and so proud of him for going. He tends to be really shy and withdrawn so seeing him go to the dance with his friends made me so happy. As I dropped him off, though, all I could picture was my sweet toddler Wyatt with his adorable lisp. Gosh, time, you are a thief. 

Finding... out some disturbing news about some of the twins' friends and feeling the effects of those bad choices rippling out.  We are feeling sad and heavy about all of it. 

Celebrating... Valentine's day with my kindergartners.  They were so adorable and excited. Then I came home to my family (I got all the kids m&m's) and Josh had brought me flowers & chocolates.  We made pizza and watched Planes Fire & Rescue and it was just a really lovely night with each other, feeling grateful for all the love (and craziness) we share together. 

Registering... Wyatt for baseball.  He'll be our only one this year as the twins have opted not to try out for the high school team and they have aged out of the city league. It's bittersweet.  Thankfully Josh knew it might be their last year and he attended nearly every single game, even those that were out of town last year. 

Picking up... Starbucks for me and a coworker Friday morning after what was a long teaching week for him and a long emotional parenting week for me. It was just the pick-me-up we needed to get through that last day. 

Relishing... a half day Friday where I got out of school, dropped Carly off at home with Josh, and headed to Wenatchee for a girls night with my mom and sister. I listened to Dani Austin's Deinfluenced Podcast (it's mostly her and her husband's fun banter) while I drove and it was so lovely.  Then when I got to Wenatchee I visited with my mom & sister and got to see my nieces.  Then just us three grown ups headed to Costco where my mom treated my family to some easy meals since I'm working (student teaching) now and I've never been so grateful for pre-cooked chicken and tiny microwave pizzas.  Haha! Thanks mom!  Then we got to go to our favorite places- Inspirations Art Studio & McGlinn's Pub.  We painted the most fun pottery at Inspirations- my mom did a dotted spoon rest for her kitchen; my sister painted Peeps with colors that represent each of her five kids; and I painted a giant rainbow bowl that I will use for fruit. We love doing pottery because we can visit, but we can also tap into our creative sides, which sometimes go dormant while we're busy life-ing. Dinner at McGlinn's is ALWAYS delicious- I ordered the pulled pork as always- and the conversations are priceless.  Laughing, crying, sharing, I just ended the night feeling so, so blessed.  

Enjoying... Saturday morning snuggles with my girl + all the animals. We loved on Piper, Grady & Maggie the most, but later George and Hadley made an appearance as well. It is total chaos with this many animals and humans living together, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love them all!

Realizing... that the bad things that happen are rarely what I worry about.  Instead what I worry about generally ends up fine. And the bad things that happen are a complete surprise. It's a good reminder when I find myself ruminating about something.  I can let go and move on. What's coming will come, and I'll face it when it does.

Taking... Logan to the skate park again this weekend and loving that he's getting back into it. He loves it. 

Lesson planning... this weekend as I get in the groove with mapping out the week ahead. I am hoping to get faster so that I don't bring my work home, but I am giving myself grace as I figure it out. 

Ordering... pizza Saturday night and feeling so grateful to not have to make pizza from scratch like we usually do. We even had it delivered. Living large!!! Hah!

Doing... homework this weekend as well and getting most of it done on Friday so that I could have the full President's Day weekend ahead.

Happy... that George (our cat) is doing okay. His vestibular disease seems to have healed. He doesn't have the strange head shakes anymore and his eyes aren't doing that back & forth thing they were doing.  He's not 100%, but he can walk around and jump up and down off things and seems happy. So we are content. We had been so worried. 

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This is so real. 
I lost my mind.

This makes me want to paint some swimmers.

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