Around Here: Week 49 2020

{November 29-December 5th}

{pc: Carly May}

{2020 Christmas Card: front}

{2020 Christmas Card: back}

Wishing... for snow.  It snowed a little bit one morning, like a tease, and it made all of us wish for the real deal.

Using... my Stress Away roller to get rid of a migraine that was starting, and it worked! Hallelujah! I am up to my full dose of blood pressure medicine, which is supposed to help eliminate migraines (and as an added bonus, it might reduce anxiety as well!) and I can't wait to see how many I have during the next month. 

Breaking... the wish bone a few days after Thanksgiving.  It was Wyatt vs. Carly and Carly won!

Hosting... Alvin for a game of Monopoly with the twins. Some days they walk, some days they shoot hoops and some days they play games.  Checkers is a particular favorite.  It's a nice way to break up the day. 

Heading... back to (online) school for the kids after our long Thanksgiving weekend. The break was much needed and enjoyed, and now it's back to real life. Just a few weeks, though, until Christmas break. 

Enjoying... pizza at my parent's house during the Seahawk's game Monday night.  I was desperately needing to get out of the house (something I don't usually experience when I'm home for days on end) and this was just the ticket.  We enjoyed an evening with my parents, celebrating the boys' amazing report cards (all A's & B's for all three of them!) and watching the game. 

Playing... guitar with my dad for the first time. I have no talent... but I'm trying and it made me excited to learn! My first goal is to learn how to play the chords to Bill Gorgan's goat. 

Grateful... that my mom bought the kids Advent calendars this year. It has made every day of December so exciting for them.  The Advent calendars along with our Elf on the Shelf Dashy has made the start of our countdown to Christmas very festive. (They all got different Advent calendars- Jack chose a Funko Pop Harry Potter advent; Logan chose the Lego City advent; Wyatt chose the Hot Wheels advent and Carly chose the Littlest Pet Shop advent.)

Listening... to Ordinary Grace on audio and loving it. It's such a beautiful tale, and reminded me a lot of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. 

Getting... school lunches everyday with the kids and stocking up on little milk boxes.  It is saving us so much money, I'm sure, and it ensures we get out of the house (even if it's just for a minute) everyday.

Taking... Logan to the doctor to get a fresh cast (the other one was funky!!) and having Carly get her flu shot at the same time. She was so funny, very nervous, but when it was over she said, "Owww! That didn't hurt at all!" Hahah!

Logan has just two more weeks with his cast. His break is 80-90% healed, but I don't trust that he would (could) be careful, so we're keeping it on a little longer for complete healing.

Sending... Christmas cards, which is probably my favorite Christmas tradition. I write a yearly Christmas letter, which feels so good- to look over the year and remember the ups and downs- and we usually have my sister take family pictures (thank you Roxanne!) which I then turn into a Christmas card on Shutterfly during one of their 50% off sales around Halloween. I really love when I choose a card that has a matching return address label. So cute!! #nerd

Thankful... that school is going really well right now with the kids. It is not my favorite, and this obviously isn't how school was meant to be... but we are doing well.  We are in a good routine and the twins' teacher is working really hard teaching them math at a distance, and Wyatt's classwork has simmered down some, so I am overall really pleased. 

Seeing... Logan's neurologist via Zoom and telling her that he is two years seizure free. What an amazing thing to say out loud. The next step is to have a sleep deprived EEG for him and see if he is seizure free during that. If he is, then we can try weaning him off his medication and see how he does. Fingers crossed that it all goes well, and that this means he has outgrown his seizures. 

Organizing... the pantry & the garage which is so helpful when we are all home (and usually in the house) during winter time.  The space suddenly feels so much smaller now that we aren't spending all our time outdoors. 

Obsessing... over Harry Potter alongside the kids. I still haven't read the books, but Josh is on the third one with the boys and they are loving it. It's so cute to hear them talk about it and to have them look forward to bedtime reading the way I do. 

They have been watching each movie as they finish the book, and that's made it really exciting as well.

Ordering.... things for pie making (a pastry cutter and a crust cover) to make it easier. I enjoyed making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, but realized that some tools might make it easier, and make me more likely to bake when it's not a holiday. 

Those items along with all our Christmas gifts started rolling in, and the empty boxes stacking up in the kitchen are quite ridiculous. 

Cracking... a twin egg while making breakfast one morning this week and calling all the kids to show them. It always blows me away that my body did that same thing. 

Watching... Carly dance to the music and pretend to snap her fingers. It's currently my favorite thing, and I really need to video tape it. You can tell she really feels the music in her soul. She closes her eyes and furrows her brow, and it's just the best. 

Coloring... while the kids do school in my new beautiful color book by Katie Daisy. It is so happy. 

Wrapping... up a good reading month. I read 8 books, hitting 99/100 on my yearly goal (wahoo!) and getting rid of 7 books off my Unread shelf, bringing my Unread Shelf down to 121.  I am toying with not buying books in 2021, in an effort to reduce my Unread Shelf... but the idea makes me kind of sad... so I'm not sure I'll do it. 

Reminiscing... this time three years ago when Wyatt was hospitalized in the PICU in Spokane for status asthmaticus (asthma that is not responding to treatment). It was a very scary time, and I am forever amazed at how his body eventually recovered.  And now, with us being home full time, he doesn't seem to have any asthma symptoms at all.  It feels like a miracle. 

***

Week 44 Around Here {2019}

Celebrating... one year seizure free for Logan.  It's completely surreal to me that he hasn't had a seizure in twelve months after how many he had in 2018.  I remember thinking this day would never come.  I couldn't imagine him going a month without a seizure, let alone an entire year.  It took five medications to find the one that has worked for him long term, and the one he is on now took a leap of faith to put him on.  These are scary, serious medications.  Used for many different things with many different side effects.  We've been blessed and I don't take it for granted, these worry free days.  I know that at any point his body chemistry could change and throw us back into the ring, so for now, I just take it a day at a time, relishing the peace that comes with knowing they are currently controlled.  Grateful doesn't begin to describe it.

Grooving... in our morning routine.  It feels so good to finally feel like this is our new normal after weeks of scrambling every morning to get all three boys out the door.  I am absolutely loving that the twins leave a little before Wyatt and get home before him.  It's nice to have their departures and arrivals staggered.  It helps me to spread my attention amongst them.

Loving... our snuggly Saturday mornings, and just the weekends in general.  Friday nights Josh and I have date night after the kids go to bed (he makes pizza and we watch Game of Thrones- we are in Season Five); Saturday he generally takes the boys to the land to ride their four wheelers or hang with Grandma & Papa while I spend the day at home with Carly, and then Saturday night we have family movie night.  I make the kids' pizza and cookies and we watch a movie together.  This weekend we watched Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, which I have to say, I thoroughly enjoy.  We've watched it a few times, and I love it.  Then Sunday all the kids have to pitch in and help clean house- bathrooms and vacuuming are their big jobs, plus any homework and extra chores they've earned from misbehavior throughout the week.  I love starting the week with a clean house, and I think it is an important skill set to know how to clean a house and to know you are part of a team in this family. (Plus, it makes them extra grateful for all the things Josh and I do around here that they don't have to do. Bonus!)

Carving... pumpkins with the kids and cracking up as Jack continually gagged from the smell and refused to dip his hands into his jack-o-lantern to empty it.  The other kids didn't seem to mind, but Jack just can't handle it. I remember feeling the same way when I was little.  The smell and the feel in my hands made my stomach feel so queasy.  So I helped him out and we got the job done. 
Doing stuff like that, carving pumpkins and other holiday traditions, are sometimes hard to make time for, but once we are doing them, I am always glad we did them because the kids are so into it, and so grateful. 

Painting... the upstairs kids bathroom, which means I have just one room left to paint!  I did it Monday when Josh's mom had Carly for the day, and I am so happy to have it completed.  I meant to do it a few weeks ago, and then Wyatt got sick, so it got moved to the back burner.  That bathroom has been dismantled for weeks now, so it's really nice to have it all painted and put back together!

Giving... haircuts to all the boys in my life- the twins, and Wyatt, as well as Josh and Samuel.  I don't enjoy the process, but I do love how fresh everyone looks when it's done!

Suffering... four migraines this week.  It sucks so much to have these.  And this week, along with the migraines came a lot of emotions.  I'm not even sure from what, but I kept bursting into tears randomly.  Not cool.  Hopefully next week gives me some headache respite.

Trick or treating... with my mom who came to town for the day, much to the delight of my children! She is also the one who sprung for the boys' costumes (thank you, Nanny!) the week before Halloween (thank you, Amazon!) because it wasn't in the budget and their mom had yet to take them shopping.  (We made it to the pumpkin patch much earlier this year, but costumes slipped my mind.  I just can't win at everything!)
Before the kids got home from school Thursday my mom and I were able to enjoy lunch together,  just the two of us, and it was so nice.  I was also able to show her what we've done to the house thus far and finish all my sentences and thoughts. That never happens! Hah!
During trick or treating the twinss were great brothers, making sure Carly got the right amount of candy and used her manners, and everyone LOVED Wyatt's amazing Lego costume.  Every time he put it on, I would crack up. It was just so real. We all loved it!  I felt surprised and honored that Jack & Logan still wanted to trick or treat with us and it didn't escape me that it might have been the last time.

 Sharing... on social media that Jack stayed up past his bedtime to work on his homework Tuesday (end of term) and was surprised at how strong people felt about our 7:00pm bedtime.  (I mentioned he was up at 8:45pm doing homework, which was well past his normal bedtime.)  Just to clarify two things- I know I don't have to, but I would like to- 1) I do NOT judge people whose kids have later bedtimes, and 2) this bedtime WORKS for us.  I know that a 7:00pm bedtime wouldn't work for many families, and I totally get that.  We are super lucky that Josh is a teacher, which means while he is gone early in the morning, before 7am, he is almost always home before 5pm in the evenings.  So we are able to have dinner between 5 & 6 and get the kids in bed very early.  I also know that some kids internal clocks would not go to sleep that early, but our kids do.  They are EARLY risers who have to be told to "stay in bed!" until 6:30am. No matter how late they go to bed, they almost always wake up between 6 and 6:30am.  This early bedtime ensures they are getting the rest they need despite their early rising.  Mostly, though, what I got from this interesting discussion on Facebook was a sense of awe for mothers who somehow tolerate their children for two to three hours longer than I have to.  You have my total admiration.  I'm not worthy.

Taking... my Unread Shelf from 131 to 120 by reading some and unhauling others.  It feels good to be heading in the right direction finally!

Reading... 17 books in October, which blew.my.mind! I read 6 audio and 11 physical books, taking my Total Read for 2019 to 80 currently.  This week I was listening to The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, which is read by Tom Hanks(!), and Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler.  I also read The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg and started O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.  I'm hoping to read 10 books in November, but I'm off to a slow start and I'm not sure I'll make it. We will see.

Hearing... the quote by Doris Lessing,

"Whatever you're meant to do, 

do it now. 

The conditions are always impossible."  

And taking it like a punch to the gut.  There are so many things that I am always waiting to do, waiting to start.  Exercising, losing the weight I put back on since last year, writing a novel... When really, truly, there is no time like the present. Now let's see what I do with that information.

Bundling up... every time we go outside.  The cold weather has set in, and boy does it have a kick!  We found and sorted our box of hats & gloves this week, and I hung up all my scarves.  I had the boys try on their boots and coats to see what fits and I am wondering how much longer until our first snow.  Here we go, winter!!

Ridiculously... grateful for some taco seasoning my bestie dropped off when she Boo'd our house this week (dropped off candy & goodies for the kids).  I usually buy the little packets, which can be up to $.75 each, and after having this discussion with me, she bought me the huge container for less than $5 at Costco.  If that's not real love, I don't know what is.

***

{just breathe}

 ***