Around Here: Week 51 2020

 {December 13-19th}

Making... sugar cookies with the kids for movie night.  They had so much fun decorating, especially Carly.  I bought two tubs of vanilla frosting and split them each three ways, so I was able to make five colors (plus one white) for them to use. I have to admit, I also had fun decorating my cookies. Is there anything happier than a rainbow cookie with sprinkles?  I also made muddy buddies, which the kids and I devoured, and cake & cupcakes for my mom's upcoming birthday party. Carly gasped as she saw the cake, covered with sprinkles. I love her zest for life. 

Cutting... out tissue paper snowflakes to decorate the back door.  We did the same thing last year with my sister and her crew on Thanksgiving, and I loved how it made the dining room feel so festive. So we did it again. Last year we used coffee filters, but I didn't have any this time, so we made do with regular old tissue paper, normally used for wrapping gifts. 

Feeling... so good as I wrapped gifts and gave two of them to our doctor and nurse. This year I have really been feeling the joy of giving, and I could hardly wait to get my presents to their recipients.  We were able to deliver the doctor's on Tuesday when Logan (finally!) got his cast off and Jack (finally!) got his flu shot. Jack was the last of the kids who needed theirs, but he hates needles, so it was hard to convince him to do it. Logan was thrilled to have his cast off, and I'm glad to be done taking him in every two weeks for a new cast. 

Laughing... that no matter the weather, my boys wear shorts and go outside barefoot.  Josh and I are constantly telling them to go put on pants... a jacket.... socks... and shoes... It's exhausting and ridiculous.

Pausing... every time I see Molly snuggled up sleeping somewhere. There's something about a cat curled up on a cold winter day that is just so cozy. 

Cleaning... the oven and the fridge this week.  Holy rewarding!! The oven was really gross, and I still need to go at it again, but the first pass was incredible.  I used Easy Off, letting it sit for twenty minutes before using a bucket of hot water to clean it out with a sponge. It is so pretty in there now!

The fridge was also rewarding, but so hard to do! About two weeks ago it developed a smell, and whoo-whee! it was not fun to clean! I still have no idea what the smell was, but the fridge is scrubbed clean and smells great now.  Phew!

Sending... the boys outside to play basketball every day and feeling so grateful our neighbors don't mind if they use their street hoop.  

Acquiescing... when Carly asked if she could turn on the Christmas lights on her bed and read "like brothers" after I had tucked her in one night. It was so cute to see her sitting there, "reading" to herself and her stuffed animals.  

Finding... pictures that Carly took on my phone of her favorite stuffed animal, Lollipops.  I also found some of the Christmas tree and her toys. They always make me smile. I love seeing the world from her perspective. 

Creating... art with the kids to hang as decorations for my mom's birthday next weekend.  My sister asked us to contribute this way, and I'm so glad. We had a great time!  I forget how much fun I have drawing & painting until I'm doing it. (That's not to say I'm super artistic... but I have fun anyway!)

Reading... and finishing My Name is Mary Sutter.  I then started Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery, which has been the coziest Christmas read. I've really enjoyed it. It's apparently the third in a series, but I didn't read #1 or #2, and didn't feel at all out of the loop. I listened to Weapons of Math Destruction, which is blowing my mind (the way that numbers are used to manipulate us... it's crazy!) and started Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with the boys.  I bought the whole series to read with them as Josh and I alternate readaloud at bedtime with them.  

Totaling... my reading numbers for November and hitting 99/100 on my yearly goal. I am so excited that I am going to make it this year! Whoo hoo!

Discussing... black holes at the dinner table with Wyatt.  That kids' scope of knowledge is truly incredible, and it's a rare conversation where I can just answer him without turning to Google. #smartypants

Feeling... the freedom of school being done for two weeks for Christmas vacation. I am so incredibly grateful (and ready) for this break. So are the kids. There were some things that the teachers mentioned we could work on over break if we wanted to, but I assured them (and the boys) that we needed each day of this respite and we would not be doing a drop of work.

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Loving... this picture my mom shared of the time we had four cats growing up. My sister acquired two kittens over quarantine, and that makes for a total of four cats for their family.  She was telling her boys that she had four cats growing up as well, and that they all liked to sleep on her top bunk in our shared room. 

The black cat is Wolfgang; the orange cat is Blade; the white cat was my cat, Bianca; and the grey siamese was Rex.  Wolfgang was the sweetest, laziest, chubbiest cat I've ever had. I loved him!  Blade was a big boy, a hunter, who would often bring my mom choice treats (lizards, mice or rabbits) and leave them on the front patio for her. Rex was my sister's cat, and Bianca was mine.  I had Bianca until after Josh and I were engaged. Some 14+ years.  I loved her something fierce. 

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Around Here: Week 18 2020

 

 

Starting... the week with a terrible migraine on Sunday and suffering a migraine hangover on Monday.  It was so miserable. I had to ice on Sunday and didn't get any of the things done that I had hoped to. The rest of the week my head ached off and on. 

Joyful... that the ukulele that the kids got from my Grandma Pansy came.  It's blue and so cute.  They love it.  Logan learned how to play in fourth grade with his music teacher, and he's looking forward to brushing up again now that we have one here.  The other kids want to learn as well.  My personal favorite is watching Carly play- she closes her eyes and you can tell, she really feels the music. It's so precious.

Finding... my keys that Logan lost while getting the mail a few weeks ago.  It happened sort of by luck- Logan mentioned to our neighbor that he had lost them, and Jaime said that he had seen some keys with a pink keychain posted on Facebook as found. Turns out, one of our neighbors had found them and picked them up near the mailbox.  I was overjoyed to have located them.  It saved us so much work- getting a new key fob for the van, new house keys, a new mail key, etc.  So grateful for good people!

Sewing... all the things while sitting at the table while the kids did school work this week.  I sewed two of Carly's stuffed animals, one of Jack's sweaters, and Wyatt's blanket. It felt great to fix things with my own two hands. 

Hanging... my art as soon as it came this week and feeling so happy I spent the money on it. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile and reminds me that no matter what's going on in the world around us, we can control what happens in our home.  We can keep this a beautiful place, full of light & love, and that feels pretty good.

Struggling... with my emotions for most of the week.  It was like I hit a wall- six weeks doing just fine and then BAM! I was grouchy, irritable and impatient. It wasn't good. For any of us.

Breaking... down Wednesday when I woke up with a sinus headache and felt like I just couldn't face another day with a headache.  I cried (and cried and cried) for over an hour that morning, the tears just continually flowing, like a faucet that had been left on. 
Every emotion that had built up for the last 40+ days came spilling out and when my tears finally dried up, I felt so much lighter.  I guess I just needed a good cry.

Sleeping... all night long Wednesday night and waking up early Thursday morning for some "me time".  I listened to the Holderness family podcast about change and why we might be experiencing a roller coaster of emotions (sometimes in a five minute span) when it comes to quarantine life, and I felt so heard and validated.
I also think I zeroed in on two of the most important things for my  mental health right now: sleep and alone time. So I am going to make sure those happen next week so that I can come at life from a more even place.

Coloring... my "We Can Do Hard Things" printable (that I got free from Glennon Doyle's Untamed website) with the kids.  While we were coloring Jack asked me if a grey crayon was pink.  Sometimes their colorblindness takes me by surprise (his and Logan's).  I just wish for two minutes I could look through their eyes and see what they see!!
When we finish our coloring pages, I plan to hang them in our front window for the neighbors to see when they walk by our house. A little encouragement for all of us to get through our days.

Placing... flowers from Logan & Carly into a vase in the kitchen and smiling at them each day as I did the dishes.

Roasting... marshmallows for smores in our new fire pit (that Josh found at Costco).  We had so much fun, and the smores were delicious!  I think this is going to be a really fun activity for our family throughout the spring & summer.

Attending... book club via Zoom and catching up with my girls.  We discussed this month's book, Sweep, which I read super quick, and really enjoyed. I think it would make a good read aloud book for moms of middle school age kids.

Reading... The Untethered Soul, Who Was King Tut and Anne of Avonlea.  I started listening to Getting The Pretty Back by Molly Ringwald but quit when it started to feel  more like she was preaching at me (and making me feel really ugly and unsophisticated).  Not cool.
Anne of Avonlea has been a lovely escape.  Anne is so full of joy and lightheartedness, but also worldly wisdom, that I find reading her books very fulfilling right now.
Who Was King Tut was a fun, supplemental read for the boys and I.  We are reading The Story of the World, and it touched on King Tut's life, so this little chapter book was the perfect addition to our morning reading.  We got to get a little more info on King Tut's tomb, how it was discovered and what his (very short) life looked like.  My kids love all the "Who Was" books in that series.  We are almost done with the first 'Story of the World' book, and I'm excited to move on to the second one.  We've read all of the first one (years ago in Alaska) and some of the second one. But in March I got the third and fourth used from Powell's and am hoping we get through all four in the series before the fall. (fingers crossed!) I am really enjoying them.

Loving... Jack's freckles & beautiful eyes, and the way Carly pretended to write "gummies" (meaning Paw Patrol fruit snacks) on the grocery list for Josh.  Glad I can still find joy in the little things, even during the hard weeks.

Enjoying... our gorgeous front porch, which Carly has continually been helping Josh with this week. One day she asked where Josh was and I said outside and she said, "Planting WITHOUT me?!?" and ran to put her shoes on.  She is his little shadow, and it's the sweetest thing I ever did see.

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