Around Here: Week 16 2023

 {April 16-22nd}

Ecstatic... that spring has sprung! I swear that while we were sick, the weather turned and flowers popped up and I am sooo excited!

Doing... yardwork with Josh, planting our dahlias, new peonies, ranunculus and pansies. We got the dahlia bed in and the fence along it in the backyard to keep Piper and Grady out of it. 

Getting... on a homework routine to get caught up from sickness. Having only one class for a week has been so lovely.  I feel like I got so much rest. My second class joined the first later this week, and I really need to stay on top of the work with two classes. Thankfully, this is my last set of doubles before summer. Woohoo! 

Watching... Love is Blind and Love Island. Wonderful trashy TV.

Reading... again after quite the break! Yay! I am reading Hello Beautiful, Anne's House of Dreams and The Body Keeps The Score. I am so happy to be reading again. I hate when I don't make time for it. 

Attending... Carly's school spring concert and loving how her precious little face lit up when she found me in the audience. Oh man how I love that girl. 

Sending... Josh to cheer at Wyatt's baseball game, followed by Logan's baseball game. Josh said it was so cold! In fact Wyatt just hid with his phone under a blanket in his chair. Haha! 

Dressing... Carly up cute for class picture day, letting her pick her outfit.  She did so good, wearing a little rainbow dress with a jean jacket. Totes adorb. 

Wondering... which baseball player hated mothers so much that he thought white pants should be a part of the uniform. Sigh. The laundry alone is killing me, not to mention the insanity of the schedule!! (Moms, what do you use to get your white baseball pants clean? I've had okay success with Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Stain Treater and Tide Rescue but I think it could be even better.)

Laughing... at the pencil text Josh sent me. He used a pencil until he could no longer fit it in the pencil sharpener. It made me so proud of him! Haha! 

Running... errands with Carly and Wyatt, picking up cleats & pants for Wyatt and tennis shoes for me (Saucony's) at Big 5 and then grabbing some necessary groceries at Winco. 

Loving... that Carly always gets the mail for me.  I used to have Wyatt do it. Then he went away to middle school and I had to do it myself. But now she's started doing it and it makes me so happy.  She loves getting it as well. 

Doing... early morning fibromyalgia stretches every morning and really feeling the difference. 

Shaking... my head at the crazy dogs who are always underfoot or fighting. They're lucky we love 'em!

Adoring... these handsome twins I'm raising. They are so fun and funny, and sometimes I look at them and I swear I can see the men they're becoming. The other day they wore these matching sweatshirts (seen above) and one of their friends at lunch said, "Aww! Did mommy dress you today?" Hahaha! 
I also love how they discovered that Logan's sweatshirt's Nike has a backwards k, but Jack's doesn't, so they are mirrored just like the twins themselves. 

Listening... to Carly read "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" to me, which is a fourth grade reading level! What?!? She blows me away!

Playing... Twenty Questions with Wyatt and Carly and laughing so hard. It's always an adventure to play games with Carly because she's not sure of the rules or spelling of things all the time. This time however she kicked our butts!

***

Around Here: Week 15 2023

 {April 9-15th}

Carly saved our Thanksgiving wishbone to break with her cousin. So cute!

Dad shared this photo of my brother tattooing him. So cool!

My nephew Isaiah and brother Dallas

Celebrating... Easter at my mom's house with my sister's family.  The kids and I took off mid morning, leaving Josh on his own to enjoy some quiet time, and headed to Wenatchee.  We were barely on the freeway when we heard this terrible sound coming from the front passenger side wheel. Thankfully it was just the car skirt, easily removed (by Josh when we went back home) and then we got back on the road again.
Then we had pulled pork and cousin time and it was so fun! My sister has a friends' baby she is watching named Perla and she is absolutely scrumptious. 

Sending... all four kids to school Monday and deciding I can't take our messy garage for one more minute. So I spent a lot of time doing that. 

Taking... care of Carly and then Wyatt and then Logan and then Jack, who all got violently sick within four hours of each other. It was the most intense divide and conquer Josh and I have ever managed.  In the end, he was downstairs with Carly and I was upstairs going between the twins' room and Wyatt's room.  Those poor kids.  They were so sick!! Pained and pale and so so sick. 

Grateful... that Josh stayed on top of the laundry while he was downstairs with Carly.  They got sick on so many blankets. Went through so many clothes. It was mind blowing. 

Seeing... my counselor and feeling grateful that I have her to validate my crazy life and help me straighten out my thoughts and feelings when it all seems nuts. I was struggling over what to do about my last two assignments in my classes that I wasn't able to get to because of our sickness. My counselor encouraged me that if my grades were good enough, it was okay to just not do it. I struggled with that because it goes against my natural tendency to do EVERYTHING I am asked to do.  So then we talked about how maybe giving my full ass is too much sometimes. Maybe I could work on half assing some things. "Half ass is better than no ass" is my new motto. 

Forgetting... it was our 23 year dating anniversary (on April 11th) in the midst of all the sickness.  Unfortunately I got sick as well after the kids, and it was truly awful. I ran to the bathroom shouting, "No! No! No! No!" haha! I was so upset I was going to be sick. Thankfully Josh didn't get sick at the same time (praise the lord) and Jack was well enough to go to his away game for baseball on Wednesday. While I was sick, Carly and I slept in my bed together, taking care of each other and mostly doing a lot of napping. We also watched Love Island Las Vegas, which is so entertaining!

Beginning... a new class, Political Science 500: Arizona Constitution.  It is really hard because law is not my strong suit, but hopefully it will be interesting learning about education and the law. 

Sending... Josh back to work for a late half day Thursday (because of parent/teacher conferences) after him being home to take care of us all week. What a week it was!!!

Feeling... 100% by Friday, with all the kids at school except Wyatt who still wasn't feeling great. 

Doing... all the laundry again, wanting to be sure we got rid of all the germs.  So I worked my way through every blanket, pillow and bubba in our house.

Ending... the week with practice for Jack and Wyatt and a game for Logan. It just never ends!!

Having... a weekend with no sleepovers and it was kind of lovely. Just very quiet and slow paced. 

Tackling... homework Saturday while Josh was at Jack's game in Warden.  I am seriously so grateful for his support in doing laundry, making dinners, and going to games, knowing that I have homework I need to attend to. I couldn't do this without him. 

Saddened... that our vacuum died. Wahh! I am excited to get a new one, but sad to spend money on that. I did find a great deal, though, for only $120 and it's one that Sarah from @gocleanco had listed as a top vacuum! 

Purchasing... water park passes in our city for the summer. I think it will help Josh pass the time with the remaining three kids while Jack and I are in Rome, and we have missed it. We went religiously 2016-2019, but then COVID hit and we haven't been back. I think it'll be really fun.

***

Sweet memory of Papa Jerry reading a book to Carly May

Hard to believe they are 11, 11, 14, 13, and 14 now. 
This camping trip feels like a minute ago.