Category: Uncategorized (Page 61 of 201)

Thanksgiving Turkey Boy

I realized that I never wrote about our Thanksgiving trip.  It was great.

Well, as great as traveling with a 2 month old & a 16 month old can be.  The car rides were hard and Maddie was constantly moving, so it wasn’t relaxing, per se, but it was still a great trip.  Chloe and Josiah had a blast seeing everyone and they even got to have a “sleepover” with their older cousins one night which they thought was AWESOME.  I got to hug everyone and talk with everyone and enjoy good food.   And the house (same place we stayed last year) was, once again, a wonderful fit for the whole group.

Oh, and as an added bonus, it didn’t rain the whole time we were there this time!  Whoo hoo!  In fact, we were able to get a few family pictures outside this year, so that was fun!  Here are our family pictures:

The whole group!

Nathan’s Family

Nana & Bumpa

Luke’s Family

Kylene & Justin

We even have our next reunion already in place and it’s going to be in the summer this year–the kids are going to have so much fun playing outside!!

More pictures to come tomorrow…

So, I’ve been feeling pretty down on myself lately.  That’s why it’s been hard to write.  I feel like I should have it more together.  I’m disappointed that I’m struggling as much as I am, and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t function like “normal.”  After I had Maddie things were so much smoother (but then again Josiah was almost FOUR being the next youngest and this time Maddie is ONE).

Anyway, today Tim found an old post that made me smile.  Here it is:

Frustrated with myself

Apparently I’m not as crazy as I think.   I’ve felt this EXACT same way before.  And the encouraging part of that is that I have confidence that I will make it through this again.

Years ago, I laughed when I read about people who had a hard time getting their clean laundry put away.

“Ha!”  I used to think, “What’s is WRONG with those people.  I can easily wash, fold and put away all of my (and Tim’s) laundry in one day.  They are clearly not organized enough.”

And then I had kids.

I was already struggling with the laundry situation with just 3 kids, and then a 4th came into the picture.  And even though that little 4th addition is tiny, he sure burns through clothes like you wouldn’t believe!  And I look back on how I used to scoff at those who couldn’t get their clean laundry put away and laugh at how I struggle to even get the laundry WASHED!  So, laundry has become my nemesis.

I have decided that we need a new laundry system.  That might be doing one load a day, or maybe folding clothes at the same time every day, or enlisting the kids help on set days… I have yet to figure out the perfect solution to my problem.  The good news is that both Chloe and Josiah can load the washer to get it started (only Chloe is tall enough to reach the soap though) and they can both unload the dryer to bring the clean clothes upstairs, so that’s progress.  🙂

Once upon a time I heard of a Mom who had created a “Family Laundry Room” where everyone kept their clothes.  And I mean ALL of the clothes.  The closests were empty.  There was a washer and dryer and iron in there and the clothes were washed then sorted and set in baskets for each child/adult and then the dirty stuff went back into baskets to be washed and round and round it went.  I though it was really strange.

I don’t anymore.

Somehow the idea of all the laundry being contained in one room is quite appealing to me at this stage of life.  Now, I’m not saying I would actually do this.  I still feel more comfortable with the traditional laundry room and having clothes in closets, but I can see the appeal in it now that I couldn’t before.  No hauling baskets up and down stairs.  No sending piles of folded laundry to their rooms and hoping that they stay folded in the drawers (which they do not).  See?  It’s not such a bad idea.

For now, I will trudge through the laundry dilemma and be thankful that we have plenty of clothes to keep us warm and covered.  And who knows, if I stumble upon the most genius laundry solution to kill my nemesis I will be sure to share my knowledge with you.  😉

It’s been awhile since I did a bullet point post (and actually I’ve been pretty bad at posting much at all recently) so here we go!

• Chloe & Josiah are SO excited about our upcoming trip to Michigan City that they have already started lists of things they want to bring.
• Maddie is finally getting over her cold (that I feel like she’s had for a month).
• Levi is still waking up 1-2 times a night.
• Its supposed to snow here tomorrow, so we need to make sure we pick up the toys outside before everything is covered!
• Tim had his last day of work today.  Hooray!
• We are all still enjoying the Thankful Jar.
• I actually ordered my Christmas cards already.  Look at me.  I’m so on the ball.  At least I was able to get one thing done… Now just to make sure that I address them and actually get them mailed before Christmas…
• Maddie is saying new words daily.  This week she started saying: Hi Levi, Buckle and One more.  Although you should know that they don’t always sound exactly like the words.  🙂
• I dropped the ball on getting my students started on contest music this year, so I’m not going to have many students able to be in it.
• Tim is taking Levi to his 2 month well-child check up as I write this.
• Chloe was placed in a H.P. math class at school.
• I started Josiah in his own Christmas book and he loves it.
• I feel like there is so much “stuff” swirling in my head lately that I keep forgetting (I blame residual pregnancy brain and lack of solid sleep).  So I finally took a pen and wrote down everything that I could think of to remember to do.  There were 43 things.  No wonder I was feeling overwhelmed!  I’ve crossed off 20 things already.
• I’ve been able to play piano again.  I couldn’t when I was pregnant b/c it hurt my back too much.
• Levi is smiling so much these days, it’s wonderful.
• Chloe can read 107 words (outloud) per minute.
• Josiah continues to adore Levi.
• We’ll be just about to Michigan City by this time next week!

(I had a student decide to stop taking lessons who I’ve had for many years, so they bought me this beautiful flower arrangement as a thank you.  Isn’t it beautiful?!)

Levi has started “talking to us” recently.  It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever.  I realize I’m probably partial to his cuteness, and that’s totally fine.  But I thought I would share it with you too.  (Don’t mind my ridiculous high pitched talking.  Remember, babies love high voices!)

We’ve started our Thankful Jar again this year.

Every night at supper we each say something we are thankful for and I jot it on a slip of paper and add it to the jar.  I think this is our 3rd year doing this.  The first year was super hard to remember to do it every day, and then last year we were a little better at remembering, and now this year I think we’ve got it figured out.  In fact, it’s the kids who are most excited to do it every night!  I can barely walk in from teaching and sit down at the dinner table before they are excitedly telling me they are ready to tell me what they are thankful for.

This is a “Fall tradition” that I didn’t actually mean to create, but somehow it’s become our thing.  And I love it.  And isn’t that the best kind of tradition?  The kind that springs up just spontaneously in your family?  I hope we can continue this for many years,  eventually adding Maddie to the conversation and eventually little Levi will get a say too.

And it’s been a good thing  for me recently.  In my overwhelming days (which I admit are outweighing my normal days right now) I sometimes have a hard time thinking of things I’m thankful for.  It’s too easy to complain about what DIDN’T go my way today, or what I DIDN’T get accomplished, or what I’m unhappy about.  It makes me stop and look around me.

So, today I am thankful for the thankful jar.  🙂