Seriously the worst.

There should be an award for worst blogger. I would win. Seriously, the last post was October 2015. It is now January 2017. Wow. So..to continue..here's a short and sweet post (for the year, ha!).

• My girls are still the best. They are 14 and 9 now, and growing so big but still little, you know? The 14yo isn't yet interested in her drivers' permit, which is fine with me, but makes her dad a little crazy. The 9yo still loves minecraft and softball, the 14yo just performed (flute) in the NEIBA Honor Band in December which was really wonderful. We're looking forward to more camping again this year with them, before we probably lose the teenager to a job or omg-camping-with-parents-ugh attitude.
• The dogs are still insane. Both fluffy and cute, but complete idiots.
• Families are doing pretty well I think, holiday season was full and crazy but also fun and relaxing. The kids all had 11 days off in a row and we tried to fill them as best we could around work and other things.
• Softball kicks in for the 9yo next week, so we'll be busy with practices for the winter and games will start in the spring, hopefully we'll be able to camp those as well to make it easier to make it to games on time and be ready to play. She's a slow starter, so we need to be nearby and start early :)
• The 14yo has a band concert coming up as well as a Solo/Ensemble performance piece she's working on. She really does seem to love the flute and the better she gets at it the more annoyed she is by those that don't work harder at it or understand the basics at this level. Which is frustrating for her and both frustrating and entertaining for me.
• Our 20th anniversary was in May 2016, so we'll be coming up on year 21 before too long. It sounds like forever but doesn't feel really all that long.  Which I think is good, right?
• We also paid off the house this summer, which is super awesome. Not to have to worry about the mortgage payment is a huge relief. We can focus on other smaller debt (camper) and start to consider some home improvements (hardwood floors? new paint, baseboards? remodeled bathrooms...yes please.)

That's it for now I think. Maybe I'll post more as the kids are getting older and less reliant on me, but let's not pretend - we all know that most of the time i'll decide to watch TV vs write a blog post. 

My girls are the best

Seriously, these kids of mine are just fantastic. As they grow and get older and less baby-ish and more independent, they're just becoming awesome. I know, I know, your kids are great too. Whatever.

Conferences for the oldest were last week and she's just a great student. She really loves changing classes this year, having different teachers for different subjects, different students in each, so she's not stuck with the same....kids....every hour. She loves most of her classes and tolerates any others. The school grading system is still crap, but she's doing well enough I can overlook it mostly. Conferences for the youngest will be the third week of November and I expect the same sort of report from her.

Saturday we went out to a local RV place (that we've been talking to etc, this wasn't spur of the moment) and finally decided on and bought a travel trailer. We plan to camp as much as possible over the next two years or so. We ended up getting a Jayco White Hawk 28DSBH which has all the things we need (bunks, queen bed) and most of what we want (solid surface counters, outside tv mount, electric stabilizers, etc) and we're super excited to start camping in the spring. The girls are super excited too, partially because we'll stop dragging them to RV places, and partially because they're really looking forward to having their own spaces in this camper (vs camping with the grandparents).

So we were sitting around on Sunday with not much to do. Laundry was done, homework was done, no obligations. Bored really. So it was sunny, not windy, and the fall leaves are falling so we took advantage and headed out to a state park for some family pictures. The dogs were super nervous in the car - is this a vet visit noooo - but loved it once we got there, walking everywhere, leaves to sniff and they sacked out in the car on the way home. The girls were super cooperative and smiled pretty and we got some really great photos.

Family Photos

Sunday we headed out to Palisades State Park for our annual family photo session. It was preceded by the same whining and complaining as every other year. Then we said we could take the dogs with us...and they suddenly thought it was the best idea ever. We took some pretty great pictures, in spite of not being allowed to go near this particular tree with a giant knob on it - the 5yo wouldn't get near it. The girls posed on the railing in the park and we all sat in some leaves. I even walked in dog shit on my way out. Who does that..leaves their dog's poop in a state park for someone else to walk in, jeez. Anyway, we then headed over to Navajo park in town, to take some pictures of the girls on the playground equipment. Then we headed home and they jumped in the pile of leaves until the husband sucked 'em all up.

The wedding

My brother got married this weekend. We've been planning this...ok, they've been planning it for a year, but we've been planning how to get us there, what time to leave, are we staying over, etc etc, for a few months now. I've been obsessed with the logistics. The kid gets off the bus at 415...how fast can I get her in the car...can we pick up the husband instead of him coming home, shaving off more time so we can try hard to make it to the rehearsal before we've missed it entirely. We did and I think we got there just in time, the pastor was quite chatty so we missed most of that and were able to do an easy walkthrough of the ceremony. Then we headed off to dinner and the hotel.

The 4yo caught something at preschool. So she was..off...on Friday. Not hungry, but still wanted to play with the kids...so my goal was just to make sure she drank as much liquid as possible all weekend. Friday night she was up at midnight and 3am, dry heaving, sort of throwing up. I think it was our warning shot that she's caught something, but luckily she's sort of outgrown the actual throwing up part of catching a cold now. Which is awesome, that side effect is no fun at all. So Friday night, she and I slept together in the hotel bed, sitting up, propped by pillows and towels so she could breathe well enough and sleep well enough. I slept some. I got up at 645 to get ready to head to the salon..figuring I could lay the kid down and she'd keep sleeping. It was a rough night, so she needed a bit more sleep, I think she slept until close to 9 and I got back at 930 hair all perty. And then we began to get ready. The 9yo in her dress for passing out programs and bubbles, the rest of us in our regular clothes to head to the church for hair and dressing.

This story is too long. The wedding was beautiful,the bride was beautiful, everything went off without a hitch. They will have some beautiful pictures. And I had the most beautiful flower girl ever.

The hair, another bridesmaid did this, sooo pretty

So very ready for her duties

Blessed

So today is a great day. Other than the part where I'm working of course. No one wants to work, but I don't hate my work, so it's all good.

Two days ago we got emails that our dear friends are finally flying to S. Korea to pickup their adopted son. It's been over a year in the process, and he'll be two in September. It is so exciting that they can finally finish this step of the process and focus on being parents (before they do it again of course). I need to order a piggy bank for him and next Friday we'll meet them at the airport to welcome them home and snap some photos so they can remember (the husband will be the photog, mine are always blurry). Then they'll have the summer (she's a teacher with the summer off) to get him used to living here and used to his new family. Pray for them, it's bound to be a difficult transition for all of them.

Last night we talked to the in-laws as well. They've been working on selling their house and finding a place in town near us. It's been a little slow going, but it seems like in the last week things fell into place. The people that made a not great offer on their house have brought their offer up and proven financials that they can buy their house. So that's considered a sale. They also wanted to move up the closing date to July1 so it moves everything along a bit faster. Luckily the in-laws have a 36 foot really nice RV that they spend most of their summer in anyway, so this all works out pretty well. They'll get their new house building shortly on a lot very near to us (and to a lot of other places here in town, which is excellent) and they'll head down to Georgia in July after they close on their house sale to see the sister-in-law and welcome the new baby. Father-in-law also applied for a bus driver job at Sophie's school campus and got a call less than an hour later to come interview. They're also interested in mother-in-law for a bus aide position. So they're both coming next week to interview. All of this is such excellent news. I'm so very very excited.

Also, it's Friday!

And a long weekend - yay for Memorial Day!

And payday for the husband!

And the pool is nearly clean enough to swim in! in time for the holiday weekend!

And Sophia is almost done with 3rd grade. 3RD GRADE! She'll be a 4th grader..and TEN years old this fall. GAH! Yay for how wonderful she is..but GAH stop growing already!

And I have this awesome list of things I plan to organize and clean and donate this weekend and woooohoo I love it!

God is good. No one else can take credit for all these good things happening in our lives. It's a good day.

I hope everyone's day is great as well!

Baby girls and laptop glare

Well, today was a little interesting. It's rare lately that I have work that keeps my interest so solidly. Ok, that's not that interesting. You're right. So...

I threw a baby shower this weekend for my sister-in-law. It was in Illinois at the great-grandparents house. She was coming into Chicago to take her Boards (Board Certification orals) and visiting the great-grandparents at the same time. So we took advantage and got as many family together as we could and planned her a baby shower. They live so far away that it's hard to see them very often and this new baby needed a shower. It was really great. It was great to see her and her little 7month basketball belly and it was great to see everyone that made the trip to see her for the shower.  She got a lot of really nice and super adorable gifts in addition to some that were sent directly to her from her amazon list and the cake was adorable and it all worked out really well. It made for a bit of a long weekend, but it was worth it and wonderful.

The cake

The spread

The cake and oreo cookie dessert with pacifier favors

It made today sort of difficult, since we did so much traveling and partying, having to get up for work the next day was a little bit ... torturous. It was really nice to be back in our own beds, but it would have been nice to have one more day to decompress. Oh well, and so it goes. There's not much else going on with us, we've made it through most of the wedding showers and baby showers and friends visiting and plans we've had and we're mostly in the clear for awhile. The weddings begin in May, then July, then September and hopefully we can do a whole lot of swimming in there as well.

Speaking of swimming, does anyone have a laptop screen glare thingy they'd recommend? I want to sit outside this summer while the girls swim and I need to be up on the deck with them in case I'm needed for rescuing or toy retrieval...and to tan myself of course. So I need to work outside, in the sun, which is very glarey. So I want to get something like this but I want one that will work at least well enough for me to get work done. The last couple summers I've been putting a beach towel over my head, which works..but it gets really really hot in there and I can't see the girls...so it's sort of...stupid. So..recs?

Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Today turned out to be a pretty great day. The girls woke up and found their baskets and were thrilled about the dry erase boards and decorative foam stickers for those.  They had fun hunting for the plastic easter eggs that I hid filled with m&ms and then we kind of just hunt out for awhile. Got a text or two from my brothers and headed to lunch at dad's house (he and his girlfriend, whom I love, prepared everything). Pork chops were delicious. DELICIOUS. And steamed veggies were excellent, I started smelling broccoli and my mouth watered..so good. And then PIE that my brother brought. It was really fun, visiting, and the kids played with their cousin and we hung out, and some of us napped and we watched the Masters which turned out to be a bit more interesting than we thought it might be. The girls really really had fun running outside with my brother and brother in law and playing hide and seek. And it turns out that the 4yo is much more cunning and crafty than her 8 and 9yo cousin and sister :) She's a wily one, that's for sure.

My original hope for today was to go to church. Honestly, that's my hope for every Sunday, but it just doesn't seem to work or happen for us. We like to sleep in and catch up on sleep from the work week and getting up for church prevents that. Also, the 4yo in particular hasn't been a fan of Sunday school (nor is the husband really), so I've ended up taking the 9yo to Sunday school and the husband brings the 4yo later for big church, and both girls sit in there with us for that. It's an ok arrangement, but I do wish the 4yo would agree to Sunday school and the nursery so I could focus a little better during the sermon. I also really really do not want to be easter, christmas attendees, where we only show up for holidays when we think God is watching. I'm not that person. I believe EVERY day, not just holidays.

Honestly, I haven't been a huge fan of the Sunday school classes I've attended either. I think what I'm looking for may not exist. And I'm a little hesitant to find a new church or anything, because we like this church, we believe what they believe and we were married there, same pastor even. In fact, his daughter is whose shower I'll be attending next weekend...small world. I guess what I'd like from my Sunday school, and I'm probably not being fair here..is to come out of it with clues about how to get through the week. How do I respond to X and do I have to forgive X and what about forgetting X and I guess...real life situations that I struggle with every day. And maybe I just haven't attended enough, or the right class to find that. They do seem to offer more focused classes at Sunday evenings. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for something that fits me in that time slot. Look at that, sorta solved things a little myself.

My future fears about not attending church are for my girls. Not only their spiritual futures, but also for their personal futures. Will they meet the right man for themselves if they aren't regularly involved in a place filled with men that believe what they believe? I met my husband at church...so it's a match I'd sort of like for them to make as well.

Ok enough of that...I exhaust myself sometimes.

I woke up at 6 with a charlie horse in my calf as well. Holy mother of all that is holy...OW. I've sort of changed my running technique lately, to run more on the balls of my feet, it was feeling like less work and less impact than the heel toe stomp. Maybe my calves just aren't ready for that, but I am going to keep trying it. I really need to start doing longer runs so I can make sure I'm ready for my 5k in July.

You know what else is funny...or interesting. At the same that I hope people read my blog, and like what and how I write it, I also hope no one reads it, because its a great way to just blurt and ramble and get what I'm feeling out of me. Huh.

This week can suck it.

No really, this week can suck it. I'm over it, and totally tired of it.

Lice. I hate lice. HAAATTTTEEE. I think we've won the war but I'm still trying to be vigilant and keep an eye out for strays that could repopulate her head. Did I mention that I hate lice?

Bronchitis. So I don't hate it because it's not like it's around all the time, but on top of the lice, she got bronchitis along with some really swollen glands. Sheesh, kid can't catch a break.

Then we missed the bus on Thursday, so I was late to work, and then had to leave again to get some birthday treats to the kid's class since there's no school tomorrow. Holy moly batman, this day and this week has been one big bust.

Also got some news about a family member that makes me want to move far far away.

Please let next week be better.

i suck.

I'm not exercising. Ignore that last post. Instead i've decided to try not to snack so much. If anyone would read this, maybe i'd feel some accountability for that promise. But no one does, so I won't. But i'll try I guess. Exercise class starts up in September again, so i'm looking forward to it. I just wish I had some side passion that I could devote myself to, but then again, if i did, i'd neglect other things like work and my family. I just keep telling myself that when the kids are older, then I'll do all those things, like join the gym and actually exercise and get fit, learn to run (like couch to 5k), write a book (about what? i have no idea), make appointments for the dentist and massages and whatnot - all the things i put off because its too difficult to work around kids and also work a regular work week. Working from home is catching up to me i think. I can do it, and I do it well, but it's starting to take a toll. Jeez I'm complainy.