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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