End of Year Review: 12 Months of Kindness

It was our 10th year of committing to a year's worth of giving kindness out to others. We put our list together at the beginning of the year, as usual, and attempted to make it more kid friendly and manageable with four kids; two of which had extracurricular seasons to contend with.

12 Months of Kindness 2018
January: sign up to run Dad's team's concession stand
February: surprise snail mail for Valentine's Day to our cousins
March: volunteer at our church fish fry
April: Help at the Johnstown Backpack Project
May: Studer scholarship and give a special thank you to our teachers and bus driver
June: visit the humane society and give a donation
July: 10th (and last!) annual Studer's Invitational
August: surprise our local librarians with a tasty treat
September: Host a big grandparent dinner for Grandparent's day
October: throw an end-of-season football/cheerleading party at our house
November: surprise a family member with groceries
December: deliver cookies and notes to our neighbors

We did some other very small kind things sprinkled throughout the year too. Things that were never on any list, but that presented themselves in moments that we had the opportunity to choose kindness and help the kids choose to do the right and kind thing too -

• deliver cookies and muffins to our bus driver who is so patient with us
• leave cookies & muffins in the mailbox for our mail carrier Karen sporadically
• share our chicken eggs with neighbors, family, friends, and the Home Ec class at my school
• support my students' extracurricular activities by purchasing things from their fundraisers
• take extra money for any other student who forgot on special days (tattoo/face painting)
• attend a memorial paper lantern service for Daddy's basketball players aunt
• attend a memorial balloon release meeting for a former soccer teammate
• Greyson started altar serving at church
• donating to fundraisers in tragic moments for family, friends, and community members
• packing up and sending off clothes too small for Rusty to a family friend with a littler dude than ours
• making dinner for families with new babies

But as is obvious, we experienced a disruption in our lives this summer - the sort that knocks you off your normal path and plans. We got side tracked and distracted and dropped the ball on many things that we wanted to accomplish or do - not only on the kindness front, but on all fronts. 

but then, you know what we got to experience

the most incredible year of kindness received

I cannot possibly express in words the amount of gratitude that we feel from the love and support and kindness we were blanketed with over the course of this year, specifically in the last six months. It is staggering and overwhelming and feels so undeserved. 

• snail mail letters of love and encouragement
• dinners delivered to us and to our family members
• so many prayers and good wishes sent our way
• an entire book series sent for me and my students
• a classroom fairy godmother who sends a surprise each month to my students' and i
• free shipping from an etsy seller who made me something special and custom
• so many open arms for my babies when we needed a babysitter last minute
• calls and texts from friends who have more expertise than us
• calls and texts from friends and family just to say hi and check in
• patience and grace with us: for our lateness, our last minute change of plans, our forgetfulness
• giving space and respect to our privacy

We have a lot of kindness to make up for in the next year, but what an incredible gift it has been to be on the receiving end of so much generous kindness this year.

truly, a reminder of how important small acts of kindness are - how one small kind gesture can transform a lonely or difficult day into one that does not feel so scary or alone. 

we will never be able to thank you all enough. Even if it was a random moment in which you thought of our family and sent a tiny well wish into the universe - we felt that. thank you. 

we move into 2019 with a renewed sense of commitment to sending love and kindness into the world. 

with all our hearts.

'Because I have been given much
I too, must give' 

Around Here Week 51: December 16-22

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our house just this sparkling, cozy, crazy minute.

took this photo to show him how bad he needs a haircut and he went full Blue Steel on me. LOL

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 526+ hours (of 1000)
yeah, up only about 20 minutes (laughable) but holiday cuckoo madness and freezing temps.

Reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and laughing out loud for real most of the time. Eleanor is so raw and hilarious with her observations of the world. #mood

Crushing on  my handsome husband who stepped out of his comfort zone and agreed to be the conductor for the Polar Express Party that the first grade puts on annually at the kids' school. Gemma was so proud that her Daddy was the conductor and B actually had a lot of fun with the kids, punching their Polar Express tickets and walking them to each activity. (CT Elementary PTA, you are a.may.zang!!)

Trying to get the Rustman feeling better. Aunt Kitty came to the rescue when he needed picked up from daycare one day for diarreaha and a fever and then Daddy worked from home one day because it was still going on the next day. He held it together enough to get through the last two days of daycare, but is still struggling on the diarreaha and sporadic puking front (see below). Poor kid. He bounces right back after an episode (thank the good Lord) but he (and clean-up momma) are very ready for him to be healthy again. Bring on full BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast)

Cracking some next level mom codes on Wednesday night. If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know. Short version - I took 4 kids by myself to Grey's Game, then Walmart 6 days before Christmas (for gift exchange and snacks for school Christmas parties), and then out to dinner only to catch Rusty's vomit IN MY HAND and keep eating. yeah, rocking those low standards like a mom of 4 kids does. My answer always to the question, "I don't know how you do it" is a consistent "lower standards" and my Wednesday evening was a perfect example of that. You just can't get worked up about stuff with four kids, ya just do what you can do and somehow little by little it holds together with elmer's glue and chewed gum. There's no secret, it is lowering your standards as far away from perfect as possible.  HAH.

Receiving incredible, amazing news after a 6month scary, worrisome journey. Brandon and I have repeated over and over that we want not a single thing for Christmas - we are so grateful and relieved to finally exhale after it has felt like we've been holding our breath- that who needs gifts when health is the only thing that matters.  Thank you so so much prayer warriors who have had our family on your list. Please continue, we still need them as the road is still long and challenging, but it has a light at the end of the tunnel now and we know that it is in large part to the support and love and good vibes that have been sent out by you. thank you so much. best Christmas gift we could receive by far.

Celebrating the Winter Solstice at Uch and Kevin's official housewarming party. It looked so lovely in the glow of the season and I felt so proud of her for how beautifully decorated and welcoming she has built her home. #bigsisprobs  Winter Solstice might just be my secret favorite day of the year - I am definitely ready for a little more daylight everyday - YES PLEASE.

Feeling shocked and overwhelmingly relieved that I passed the Spanish Praxis on the first try! Especially considering I was wholly prepared to take that thing again because of what a disaster of the day was and feeling sick (and being out of school for 11 yrs!...it is quite common to fail it at least once because it is such a beast of a test, the online stories are staggering, hah) But I got the news Friday afternoon and literally googled again the PA passing score because I didn't believe it (HAH). You can bet my score report is currently displayed proudly on the fridge. Now it's time to apply for some online grad classes (bleh) to get this certification wrapped up finally!

Enjoying seeing Violet in her own element at her bestie's birthday party (Grady). She is almost always just carted around wherever anyone else in the family needs to go - but she got to go all.by.her.self to Grady's birthday party and have fun! #thirdchildprobs

Christmas'ing at Abba and Chum's house on Saturday. We are blessed with a big family who all wants to properly celebrate and be grateful for the year - so my Mum and Dad opt (thank you) to have a special Christmas day at their house so that we don't have to rush-rush too crazy on actual Christmas day. We had a scavenger hunt orchestrated by the two best aunts on the planet, delicious food, gift opening, boxing (per usual), and many a dance party.  Even Santa on the back of the local fire department's truck drove by and handed out candy canes!

Getting holly jolly with Marco's regular antics; he hung snowflakes above our kitchen table, replaced the tree angel with himself, and 'peed' in a cup! We also put some work in for our Christmas cookie baking - the kids helped make peanut butter blossoms, thumbprints with cherries on top, and those pretzel/hershey kiss/m&m little delights that get eaten up in about 30 seconds. I finally got all our Christmas cards out in the mail (LOL, sorry if you get them after Christmas!) and we gifted cookies and cards to our mail carrier and our busdriver Rob. All four kids had Christmas parties at school on Friday while the whole week was themed dress up days for the big kids and for me at the high school. I saw this hilarious meme on instagram this week and started cracking up, because SERIOUSLYYYYYYYYY.  Silently thanking the Amazon Prime gods for supporting and having all the procrastinators' backs (ahem, me). I pressed 'buy' on a dollhouse that was guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve (LOL) - call me a risktaker - and it arrived on Dec 21 - way to come through, Prime!

Basketball season'ing with three games for Brandon this week - to which NONE of them I made because of distance or Grey's teams (hah!) Violet needed some extra cuddles once this week because she said she only gets to see Daddy for like a minute a day, I reminded her that this happens every year during basketball season and we have to help his team by giving Daddy lots of hugs when we can. PSA: Remember to thank your kids' coaches (and be kind and patient with them), they do not do it for the money - and many days they see your child for more hours of the day than they see their own. We love Coach Daddy and Daddy's team, but that doesn't mean we don't struggle to get through the season. -- Grey had practice three nights this week and two games with Duke Andrews. He is getting a better feel for the game and we are working through his frustrations of taking constructive criticism with grace.

Teaching about La Navidad in Spanish 1 (Musica madness tournament) while also administering interpersonal interviews in Spanish 1. In Spanish 1 Honors we took our Capibara con Botas final test and learned about Las Posadas. Spanish 2 worked on Somos Unit 6 and we played Gimkit to study for our body part quiz. Spanish 2 Honors learned about tradiciones de la Navidad using the Martina Bex unit including Los Pastorales y el día de los innocentes (they requested to play Gimkit too one day - seriously, we're all obsessed). Spanish 3 Honors learned about el tió nadal and finished a Navidad worksheet using Tweets. Then we had a Navidad fiesta including a white elephant gift exchange and our very own diy'ed tió nadal who they named Jerry. #whytho . On Friday, our school had a volleyball tourney and I played again on the teachers' team.

Making hamburgers in the airfryer, 2 ingredient orange chicken in the crockpot over rice, and sloppy joes. I made banana blueberry muffins for breakfast and a cranberry, walnut, and banana bread for Brandon's work Christmas luncheon.

Around Here Week 50: December 9-15

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

 

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  526+ hours (of 1000)
Ugh, up about 20 minutes in a week. It has been so cold and wet that there is little motivation to go outside except to take care of our chicken girls. Actually the biggest detterant from getting outside after the school day is that it's so dark so quick - by the time we get bookbags unpacked and an afternoon snack in and put dinner on, it's basically night time outside. hahah.

Reading and finishing Juntos by Ally Condie. It was very cute, I tried to see if they have a movie/series about it (would be perfect with that YA dystopian theme we all love) but it looks like it was caught up in production awhile back. I started into Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman which is our current book club read. I'm just a few pages in yet and already loving it.

Thankful for grandparents as it was all hands on deck on Monday so that I could fi.na.lly. go grocery shopping with no kids (!!) My mom stayed home with the girls while my dad carted the boys all over the creation for Grey's two basketball practices that night. Fridge & pantry stocked and fully prepared for cookie baking - thank you Abba & Chum!

Cheering on Gemmi Roe as she did her (one line) solo this week at her Christmas concert. The song was "What do you want for Christmas" and Gemma answered back "I want a piano" (ya hear that, Santa?!) She did a great job and overcame some initial nerves. The babies and I went to the concert (Grey had a basketball game and Daddy had practice). My mom and sisters were there, Mimi came, and even Miss Hannah came out to watch the concert. She was so proud - and so were we!

Meeting with Rusty's speech therapist for our first visit at our house. It went so well and we all liked her so much. Even though it was Rusty's special visit, obviously all the other kids sat around and wanted to play and watch (#bigfamstruggles) Rust did good and really tried his best, Ms. Kristin was so encouraged by his mimicking and I feel like I learned a lot of great strategies to help him at home. She will see him once a week at daycare, I can't wait for him to continue to grow in confidence - he is going to be so happy!

Celebrating birthday parties - Grey had a nerf gun birthday for cousin Caleb and Gem had a swimming party for her friend Mya - such fun winter birthdays! I'm inspired!

Getting holly jolly. The big kids had santa's workshop at school which meant we had to open their presents they picked for us immediately upon their arrival home from school (LOL). We hosted our annual Polar Express viewing & popcorn party with the Fiores at our house, and Marco continued with his antics including wrapping up the tv, taking selfies on the ipad, and wearing wrapping paper stilts.

Basketball season'ing as B had two games this week and Grey had two games at Duke Andrews and two nights of basketball practice.  We made it to the very tail end of Brandon's home game because #latetoeverything It's going to be a challenge to get to games this year, with Grey playing basketball himself - but we're going to try our best to cheer on Coach Daddy and his boys!

Teaching action verbs to Spanish 1 including a spirited game of charades and preparing for their interpersonal interviews one on one with me next week. Spanish 1 Honors finished Capibara con Botas and got to work on their Final RAFT project. Spanish 2 finished Somos Unit 5 and started in on Somos Unit 6 including body part vocabulary (always a joy to teach to immature tenth grade boys #sendchocolateandprayers). Spanish 2 Honors Read One Whole Novel in One week! I am so proud of them, and it was so inspiring to see how they could handle it. We read Tumba and mostly followed MisClasesLocas plans for it. Spanish 3 Honors worked through the preterito super 7 verbs and they interviewed me. Ugh, the first steps into the preterito vs. imperfecto can be so weird and scary but I know by the time we get to our next novel Robo en la Noche, they will be ready to swim! I learned about and then introduced Gimkit into my students' lives for review and O.MI.GOSH. we all have an obsession. Every student is 100% engaged and so intense about it. It took a few minutes for them to start to realize what works and what is the most efficient way to rack up their 'money' (some of them still learning) but it is amazing and I can't promote it enough. (here's a great description of it). We had a mini fiesta in Spanish Club and B and I also got doll'ed up and chaperoned the Winter formal #highschoolsweetheartsFOREVER (thank you Miss Hannah for babysitting!)

Making creamy Italian chicken in the crockpot, frozen pizzas, mac and cheese, and Christmas colored and shaped Spritz cookies to kick off my holiday baking! We enjoyed a great soup and sandwich lunch at the church hall that was put on by the ninth grade CCD class. Grey had just been officially inducted into the altar servers and then spending the afternoon chatting with some of our besties at the church luncheon was a perfect mini celebration!