A weekly review of what it feels like to live in our home right this minute.
Intentional Hours Outdoors: 5.25 hours (of 1000)
I did a little better this week with my outdoor hours, but I still found myself some afternoons during naptime choosing chores and laying on the couch (ok fine, half asleep) instead of stepping outside. Can I blame it on the baby I have brewing? please? hahhaha.
Reading the first few chapters of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Workbook and listening to Tell the Wolves I'm Home on audible. We finished up Big Magic this week in our Inspired Readers Book Club. I really loved the book and I'm finding a lot of inspiration and comfort in the last part about how so often in life the things we defend as being sacred turn out not as important as the things we do every day, or have the creativity to make new and change. I've slowly been discovering this myself in lots of different lens, but it seems even more so recently with studerbaby4 on the way. The concept in my mind isn't clear enough to write down, but it's starting to come together in my heart and it finally feels like maybe I'm understanding something I've really fought hard to struggle against.
Saying aloud to the kids on repeat this week (but also for my own benefit and reminding), "For your whole life, there will be people that choose to be mean to you; who try to hurt your feelings and make you feel bad. Do you know what are family does to people like that? WE KEEP BEING NICE. We don't get to choose how other people act, but we do get to choose how we act. and WE are kind."
Digging out of the snowstorm Jonas this weekend. We got about 18 inches in a matter of 12 hours and we were straight up snowed in. Our driveway is about a quarter of a mile long, so it took Brandon seven hours to get us all dug out with our tractor - and it was only that quick because we had help from our neighbor Mike for the last two hours! The kids were so happy about the snow and luckily for him, Grey had spent the night at my parents' house right as Jonas was arriving - so he had full attention and reign to spend tons of time outside. The girls and I did the old outside for 20 minutes, back in to thaw for an hour before going back out again dance and it suited us just perfectly. We got some rain later this week and temps in the forties that really melted a lot of it, but there's still enough now that the kids can enjoy some outdoor shenanigans. (update: it's actually snowing again right now).
Receiving the kids' Valentines books that arrived this week to add to our previously very limited collection. I love having holiday-specific books that only come out during certain times of the year and we got some new goodies. We also put out the few valentines decorations that we own. The girls and I will be making some new decorations in the coming weeks on Make Something Mondays to make the house extra 'lovely' (one of Gem's favorite words right now).
Feeling proud of Gemma at gymnastics this week. It was the first time after she's moved up to a bigger girl class (she's the youngest by two years!) that she 'allowed' me to sit on the bleachers with all the other parents. Up until now, she was getting really intimidated by what the other girls could do and she'd get so flustered that she'd start crying and has asked that I 'sit close by.' Thankfully, her sweet coaches have agreed since she is only three and half and despite being strong enough to do the stuff, she's not quite emotionally mature enough. But she did it this week all by herself!
Smiling about the kids and their funny little ways and descriptions of life
Greyson: "Are the Blue Jays playing in the regular gym tonight? Ya know, the one where Daddy's name is on the wall?"
Gemma: "Momma, that shirt looks so fablious on you."
Violet has taken a huge leap into toddlerdom this week and it's blowing everyone's minds. Just this week we've had three different people ask us how old she was and were shocked when we told them she's 16 months. It really is a third child situation in which she just copies everything her siblings do and also she's fearless when it comes to climbing. She added "Go!" to her vocabulary this week and learned what the point of a path in the snow is after she walked straight into the snow piles face first twice. I think maybe she thought it would just move away (like a cloud?) but she figured it out finally.
Greyson gave me a 'One-er' when I asked him for a high five on the way home from the bus stop (he tapped one finger on my palm) and when I shouted "Nooooooooo, not a one-er!!" he died laughing and proceeded to give me also a 'two-er, three'er, and a four'er' until finally bent in half laughing hysterically gave him a high five. He's been doing weird big kid stuff like that and cracking himself up and I love getting to know this bigger kid and laugh with him over goofy things that are funny only because he is laughing at himself so hard.
Gemma keeps asking everyone to come to her birthday party or her house sometime to sleep over. This is slightly normal for her to ask our family members (grandparents, aunts), but this week with the knowledge that we are planning her birthday party, she's also asked some of the Blue Jays, our friends at the basketball games, and yesterday, complete strangers outside of a store. I told her, "Sweetheart, we have plenty of people coming to your party who are our family and friends, we don't know those people." to which replied, "Well I was about to ask them their names, MOM!"
Violet was sitting on my lap as I was reading aloud a blogpost to catch errors and when I stopped to correct something, she started babbling in the same rhythm and loudness that I had just been reading, like it was just her turn now to read aloud.
Wondering frequently this week about how long phases will last in our home in a way that has had me feeling prematurely nostalgic. Little things like the stuffed animal Belt (from the Croods) has been stuck in the tree outside since summer and first we kept forgetting to bring it in the house and then it sort of turned into a little reminder of beautiful chaos and there he was still hanging after snow storm Jonas and I was all emotional about him in there. #blamethepregnancy And then what about Grey playing basketball in the kitchen with this little ball and hoop anytime I'm in there cooking or cleaning up. And how long will he keep asking Brandon to play P.I.G. with him during breakfast? Is there an age cut off to when that little ball and hoop will stop being fun, or maybe the cut off is when Grey decides to sleep in instead of playing in the kitchen early in the morning? Gosh, life is so long and also so short and it stretches my poor little mumma heart so.
Digging out of the snowstorm Jonas this weekend. We got about 18 inches in a matter of 12 hours and we were straight up snowed in. Our driveway is about a quarter of a mile long, so it took Brandon seven hours to get us all dug out with our tractor - and it was only that quick because we had help from our neighbor Mike for the last two hours! The kids were so happy about the snow and luckily for him, Grey had spent the night at my parents' house right as Jonas was arriving - so he had full attention and reign to spend tons of time outside. The girls and I did the old outside for 20 minutes, back in to thaw for an hour before going back out again dance and it suited us just perfectly. We got some rain later this week and temps in the forties that really melted a lot of it, but there's still enough now that the kids can enjoy some outdoor shenanigans. (update: it's actually snowing again right now).
Receiving the kids' Valentines books that arrived this week to add to our previously very limited collection. I love having holiday-specific books that only come out during certain times of the year and we got some new goodies. We also put out the few valentines decorations that we own. The girls and I will be making some new decorations in the coming weeks on Make Something Mondays to make the house extra 'lovely' (one of Gem's favorite words right now).
Feeling proud of Gemma at gymnastics this week. It was the first time after she's moved up to a bigger girl class (she's the youngest by two years!) that she 'allowed' me to sit on the bleachers with all the other parents. Up until now, she was getting really intimidated by what the other girls could do and she'd get so flustered that she'd start crying and has asked that I 'sit close by.' Thankfully, her sweet coaches have agreed since she is only three and half and despite being strong enough to do the stuff, she's not quite emotionally mature enough. But she did it this week all by herself!
Smiling about the kids and their funny little ways and descriptions of life
Greyson: "Are the Blue Jays playing in the regular gym tonight? Ya know, the one where Daddy's name is on the wall?"
Gemma: "Momma, that shirt looks so fablious on you."
Violet has taken a huge leap into toddlerdom this week and it's blowing everyone's minds. Just this week we've had three different people ask us how old she was and were shocked when we told them she's 16 months. It really is a third child situation in which she just copies everything her siblings do and also she's fearless when it comes to climbing. She added "Go!" to her vocabulary this week and learned what the point of a path in the snow is after she walked straight into the snow piles face first twice. I think maybe she thought it would just move away (like a cloud?) but she figured it out finally.
Greyson gave me a 'One-er' when I asked him for a high five on the way home from the bus stop (he tapped one finger on my palm) and when I shouted "Nooooooooo, not a one-er!!" he died laughing and proceeded to give me also a 'two-er, three'er, and a four'er' until finally bent in half laughing hysterically gave him a high five. He's been doing weird big kid stuff like that and cracking himself up and I love getting to know this bigger kid and laugh with him over goofy things that are funny only because he is laughing at himself so hard.
Gemma keeps asking everyone to come to her birthday party or her house sometime to sleep over. This is slightly normal for her to ask our family members (grandparents, aunts), but this week with the knowledge that we are planning her birthday party, she's also asked some of the Blue Jays, our friends at the basketball games, and yesterday, complete strangers outside of a store. I told her, "Sweetheart, we have plenty of people coming to your party who are our family and friends, we don't know those people." to which replied, "Well I was about to ask them their names, MOM!"
Violet was sitting on my lap as I was reading aloud a blogpost to catch errors and when I stopped to correct something, she started babbling in the same rhythm and loudness that I had just been reading, like it was just her turn now to read aloud.
Wondering frequently this week about how long phases will last in our home in a way that has had me feeling prematurely nostalgic. Little things like the stuffed animal Belt (from the Croods) has been stuck in the tree outside since summer and first we kept forgetting to bring it in the house and then it sort of turned into a little reminder of beautiful chaos and there he was still hanging after snow storm Jonas and I was all emotional about him in there. #blamethepregnancy And then what about Grey playing basketball in the kitchen with this little ball and hoop anytime I'm in there cooking or cleaning up. And how long will he keep asking Brandon to play P.I.G. with him during breakfast? Is there an age cut off to when that little ball and hoop will stop being fun, or maybe the cut off is when Grey decides to sleep in instead of playing in the kitchen early in the morning? Gosh, life is so long and also so short and it stretches my poor little mumma heart so.
Your "wondering" section, especially the last line, sounds like it should be an excerpt from "Our Town"... <3
ReplyDeleteLove this post.
ReplyDeleteI've been feeling the same way as your "Wondering" section too. There was a smudgy handprint on one of our walls and I grumbled and grumbled about messes and cleaning up after kids. BUT, as I went to scrub it off, I got all nostalgic about little fingers and the day I blink and all these boys are MEN. Such a mom moment, hah!