Around Here: Week 26 2021

 {June 20-26th}

Celebrating... Father's Day this month by spending the day with my parents in Wenatchee.  We met at the waterfront so the grandsons could all ride the electric scooters my parents bought to have at their house for them.  We sat on a picnic blanket and visited while the kids rode as far as they could down the way. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Then we went to my parents house, where Blake (my sister's husband) joined us, and we played a hilarious game of Never Have I Ever in which I learned my dad has been to jail.  Hah!  We laughed and took turns coming up with ideas, some of which had us cracking up. 

Taking... the twins to get their second dose of their vaccine and feeling so grateful that they are now protected.  

Talking... to my counselor about how wonderful it is that it's summer time and school is done.  We talked about boundaries and how important it is to listen over fixing or helping.  She reminded me that worrying ahead of time is not helpful.  What's coming will come, and I'll face it when it does. 

Hitting... 90 days for Logan weaning off his seizure meds.  He made it three months without medication and no seizures.  Oh I cannot even tell you how many days and weeks I dreamed of this day, not really believing it was possible.  Yet here we are.  He has officially outgrown his seizures.  Thank you, Lord.

Cleaning... Carly's room after neglecting it for a while.  I did a time lapse of her and I working, cleaning and folding laundry. It was fun to watch it all come together. 

Loving... our pool so much.  I am so grateful for it.  Sitting on the back patio, sunning and reading, is just the perfect summer activity.

Working out... with a friend multiple times a week.  It's HOT but worth it.

Reaching... the halfway point of reading for the year. I have read 29 books, 20 physical books and 9 audiobooks.  That is remarkably less than last year, but I am okay with that.  

Putting... together my summer stack of reading and sharing it with my Instagram followers. I love compiling the stack and dreaming of all that I'm going to read through the summer.

Listening... to JJ Heller's "I Dream of You Volume II" album and loving it so much.

Noticing... how long Carly's hair is suddenly! It's grown quite a bit since this time last year. 

Prepping... in the wretched heat in our garage for camping.  We borrowed a tent from Josh's sister and some other things from my parents.  It takes a village!

Reading... Good Company and listening to Good Morning Monster.  Good Company was a four star book for me.  I loved the drama of the family, and the setting.  But it wasn't exactly "un-put-down-able".  Good Morning Monster is an audiobook Josh recommended about five patients of a therapist.  Their stories are enthralling and entertaining.  It was also a four star read.

Dropping... my book in the pool when I took it in with me while I sunbathed on a floaty.  I was bummed that I dropped it, but was grateful it wasn't a borrowed book or a library book. Oops!

Learning... Grady is 100% German Shepherd.  My mom was so curious about his age and heredity that she ordered a DNA test.  Turns out he's a purebred! Who'd have thought? And he is three years old, which means he was a puppy when we got him.  We laughed about this, because we thought he was so big!  But looking back, he was pretty small compared to how big he is now. 

Receiving... a letter in the mail that let us know Wyatt has been accepted into our school district's excel program.  I am so proud of him! 

Also receiving... the twins' grades in the mail and feeling inordinately proud of us.  Jack got a 3.2 GPA and Logan had all A's, B's & C's.  I am so relieved (again. still) that school is over and the boys were successful.  What a long ass year that was!

Learning... so much about addiction as I listened to the We Can Do Hard Things Podcast with Glennon Doyle, episode 5.  The best piece of advice I walked away with is that your job as the person supporting the addict is to keep boundaries in place that protect the relationship so that when the person gets sober there is a relationship to come back to.  If we don't uphold good boundaries, it would be easy to burn out and have nothing left to return to.  Such a good listen if you have anyone struggling with addiction in your life. 

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around here: week 25 2020

{Logan's scene from Moana}

Witnessing... two rainbows this week.  They never fail to make me smile, reminding me of the storms I endured before Carly arrived in our lives. She is such a bundle of sunshine.
I also learned this week that when Jack sees a rainbow (he is colorblind, like my dad) he only sees yellow and blue. None of the other colors. He and Logan have what's called red/green deficiency, and for them it manifests such that when you add red to a color, they can't see it. So if you have blue and add red, you get purple. They still see just blue.  If you have white and add red, you get pink. They still see just white. If you have green and add red, you get brown, they still just see green. 
Their colorblindness fascinates me. I wish I could see through their eyes for just a few minutes!!

Stealing... two of my sister's kids for the day to give her a break on Monday (the 15th) which was also Wyatt's birthday.  Carly got to play with Erika and Wyatt got to play with Milo. They were both super happy and I felt like a good sister.  (Although I don't think one day was nearly enough!)
Wyatt and Milo are so creative together, I can't get enough of them. They built magic tracks and stacked all the chapter books on the stairs for some reason- I'm not sure why. They're so sweet together and play really well.
Carly and Erika had tons of fun as well.  I think their favorite was sharing Erika's microphone that they brought and convinced Wyatt to put batteries in.  Little rock stars.

Celebrating... Wyatt's birthday, just the six of us, with a "game" themed night, including a pinata and a pretty serious Cornhole Showdown where Josh thumped on me despite my trash talk (hah!) and Logan beat Jack despite previous games usually being won by the latter. Then Josh and Wyatt played and Wyatt won, so it was down to Logan & Wyatt... It was intense! In the end, Logan won, but gave his prize to the birthday boy, which made my mama heart so proud!!
As we went to take his picture with the Cornhole Score board, he leaned on the front door, which wasn't clicked shut, and he fell into the house. Goodness did we all have a laugh (Logan included)!
The kids loved the pinata- I had ordered candy and prizes from Amazon- and for a cake Wyatt wanted a cake that looked like a cupcake. It was really fun to try and make!  It's certainly not professional, but Wyatt loved it, and it tasted great, so it was a win in our book!

Letting... Wyatt stay up late on his birthday to play one more game with Josh and I.  We played Jenga with him.  It is one of his favorites, and he was so cute about it. Him and Josh are masters, but amazingly, I was NOT the one to knock the tower over. Hooray!

Loving... how Carly uses her hair pretties and jewelry to "dress up" her bubbas (what we call stuffed animals).  She puts the bracelets on her kitties as necklaces or collars and uses the hair pretties on their ears to make them fancier. She's just so much fun.
Lately when I go to check on her before I go to bed (to see if she needs to be covered up or anything) she has her glasses on and is surrounded by all her fancy bubbas.  Such a silly girl.
I am loving also that even though she has switched from saying "lellow" to "yellow", she still says, "Yet's go!" instead of "Let's go!" and I am savoring it every time she says it.  Because I know it all goes far too quickly!!  I still tear up when I hear videos of Wyatt's lisp. I didn't even notice when he stopped having it, it was so subtle as he slowly outgrew it. It just wasn't there anymore one day.
Oh why do they have to grow up?!?

Seeing... the endodontist for a root canal and finally having no more tooth pain.  The relief of that pain being gone is indescribable.  I am light without it.  Joyful. I don't think anyone has ever been so happy to have a root canal in their lives.

Letting... Molly start sleeping in the main part of the house downstairs with Grady instead of locking her in Logan's room at night.  She was waking him up and just being a total nuisance during the night. So we watched her and Grady for a few days really closely and I decided I felt comfortable having her left alone with him.  They've been doing great and Logan is a much happier camper now that he's sleeping again!

Worrying... over Josh when he suddenly got very sick one afternoon.  Thankfully it only lasted about 12 hours and we now think it was food poisoning, but in the moment it was hard not to freak out, especially since my aunt who had COVID had some of the gastrointestinal symptoms which can happen in less severe cases.
Eek! I feel like we dodged a bullet. But Josh kept reminding me that the likelihood of him having it was so low.  He only goes to store when necessary and only sees his brother and parents.  He hasn't gone anywhere else or done anything else that would really put him at risk. But I am SUPER good at worrying. Hah!

Taking... the twins in for their annual check up after they turned 12.  They needed one shot and to get their school forms signed to participate in sports (if there are any???).  Poor Jack hadn't been out since the beginning of quarantine, so he it was his first time in a mask and he was not a fan. I felt awful for him. He seemed to feel really claustrophobic in it. 

Wanting... to update you a week after we have allowed Fortnite into our lives.  The boys are doing really well with it, and I have been impressed with them.  They play in the mornings when they wake up (because #summer and #momsleepsin) and I give them a warning so they have time to finish their match before they  have to log off.  Then they have to complete their list of chores (I'll share these in another post, but basic stuff like- get dressed, brush, unload the dishwasher) in order to earn their afternoon screen time which goes from 1-3pm.  They love it, but it's not the only thing they do during screen time.  I still find them watching their favorite YouTubers or Netflix shows.  So it hasn't taken over their lives, which is nice. 
All that said, however, I am really glad we waited until we did for them to have it because I could see how losing, getting killed, or whatever could result in a legitimate tantrum for a kid who was a little younger emotionally than the twins are.

Reading... Beach Read and enjoying it. It's not the BEST book ever, but I did enjoy it.  In addition to Beach Read, I am listening to two books.  One Hit Wonder has been a slow start for me, but I love Lisa Jewell, so I am going to stick with it; and the other I am listening to is Clap When You Land which is SO, SO good.  Highly recommend.

Watching... so much Grey's Anatomy.  I am seriously addicted. I don't want to do anything else. Can Meredith and McDreamy just get together already?!? (I am only in Season 2)

Sending... Josh to Vancouver to help his sister with her final move to our town! I still can't believe she's going to live here, and in our neighborhood!! I am so excited!
While he was gone we played outside, making up a ball game and having a super fun chalk competition (the winner got a Hershey chocolate bar from our smore stash), plus we had movie night and played lots with the kitten. Logan won the chalk competition with his rendition of a scene from Moana. I was blown away!!

Beaming... with pride as we got the boys' grades from the second semester.  For the first time in middle school, Logan got all A's, B's and C's; Jack got A's and B's; and Wyatt passed with flying colors.  Homeschool during quarantine was rough, friends, but I am really glad we stuck with it, and that our hard work paid off.  The boys are so proud of themselves and so are Josh and I!

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