Amy Scott's Thoughts

Lots of big things going on over here in my little corner of the world. I’m going to start with Owen’s preschool graduation because it was the most recent event and it’s currently what’s on my mind.

Yesterday Owen “graduated” from preschool with a little ceremony. The kids said a group prayer, sang some songs, got up in front and told everyone their name and what they want to be when they grow up. The class even walked in to Pomp & Circumstance. It doesn’t get anymore official than that.

Owen showed a great deal of enthusiasm throughout the ceremony. He narrated the entire class slideshow by yelling out the name of each child featured. My introverted self was mentally willing him to be quiet, but I have to realize that just because I want to blend into the crowd, doesn’t mean my son will blend in or even want to blend in.  I am not him. It’s good realize our differences so I don’t get hung up on trying to make my kids representations of me. They are not.

The graduation celebration ended with bounce houses, snow cones and cotton candy in the gym. The preschoolers went wild with excitement. It was fun to see them all running amok together. There were lots of photo opportunities and hugs and congratulations shared.

For part of Owen’s preschool class, today is their last day of school. There is an option to stay in school until June 13th which we decided would be a good fit for Owen since he loves school so much. However, part of the class will be gone now, including his two best buddies. I’m not sure if he’ll want to continue through the 13th with the classroom dynamic changing. I took a “last day of school” picture today, just to be safe. We’ll see how things pan out.

Monday is Owen’s kindergarten screening. I’m unsure of what to expect even though I’ve done some research with friends. Seems like different schools do different things for kindergarten screening. The answers I got varied considerably. I’ll be intrigued to see how things go. This whole kindergarten scene is new to me. I feel like I’m on a wild ride right alongside Owen.

I’ve been so focused on kindergarten readiness that it only recently dawned on me that Owen’s preschool years are finished. I think the graduation mixed with his best buddies moving on to a different school district made me more aware of how this current season is ending. I will admit that I am sad. While I am so excited for my big kid to take on kindergarten, I am sad that things are changing. Our schedule will be different next year. His friends will be different next year. A whole chapter of his childhood is ending and a new blank page is set and ready to unfold.

I saw an article shared on Facebook that said something along the lines of “I don’t want more kids, I just want more time with the kids that I have.” I didn’t read the article, but the statement resonated with me. I wish I could hit pause on this season where I have preschoolers. While I’ve dreamed of the days of having school aged kids so I could reclaim my life, I’ve found great joy through the preschool years. I’ve loved watching Owen learn and grow. I’ve loved nap time and flexible schedules and play dates. It’s been a good season. I feel the need to honor it and bless it for what it was. The next season might be even better than I can imagine (I hope so), but for now I will acknowledge the sadness mixed with gratitude that I feel for this ending.

Okay… on to the biggest BBQ ever. I mentioned in my last post that we were hosting a BBQ for my MOPS & MOMSnext group on Memorial Day. If everyone who RSVP’d showed up, we would of had 90 guests at our house. As it stands, I believe we had 77 people at our home on Monday. The weather was great which meant we were able to put our yard to good use. We had stations set up all over the yard for games and water play. Our long driveway worked well for parking all the vehicles without incident. If I was ever curious how many people we could host at our house, I now know we can host 80 comfortably (outside). I was nervous about preparing for 90 guests and then having no one show up. I figured that we were set with yard play and enough hamburgers/hot dogs to last us the summer. Even if no one showed up, we would have used all the items we bought in preparation of the event.

Now that Memorial Day & Preschool Graduation are behind us, we are looking forward to summer. I’ll be wrapping up my current MOPS & MOMSnext year by the middle of June. I want to finish strong so I’ll be focusing intently on this group while I continue to prepare for the new year ahead. The role of a MOPS coordinator really means I have no summer break from leadership. I’m already getting next year’s team lined up. We’ll have a leadership retreat at my house in July which also needs my attention. We’ll also have summer play dates each month. The first one is at the end of June. We’ll be having ice cream while playing at the church playground. Good times ahead.

It feels like summer is officially here. If my kids are home and awake, they are outside. Owen was given some sidewalk chalk by his teachers and he is excited to put it to good use today. We have bubbles galore on the back deck and plenty of space to run and play. Not to mention, we have chickens to check on and treats to feed them. We are ready for what’s next and excited for the future. Especially the immediate future – hopefully filled with lots of summer fun and family memories to be made!

Play date and dinner with the cousins over the holiday weekend.

Good old PNW tree huggers

Add bubbles and it’s instant summer time vibes!

Our MOPS & MOMSnext BBQ!

Flowers from a lovely friend!

Graduation Day! 

Owen’s diploma and picture scrapbook

My sweet preschooler!

Owen and his buddies! The three amigos! I’m so grateful that Owen had such wonderful friends to spend this school year with. They will be missed! Luckily, we have a summer of play dates to keep the fun going. 

Meet Foster. Our rooster.

We have three Buff Orpington chickens that we’ve been watching closely to see if we can figure out there gender. Jeremy keeps comparing pictures and videos online with our own flock in hopes of identifying a rooster. Or two. Or three. We are confident that our Novagen chickens are ladies, but the Orpingtons have been harder to tell. I’ve been pushing for genetic chicken testing, but Jeremy tells me that isn’t a thing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

This week we had our first “cock-a-doodle-do” confirming that Foster, one of our Orpingtons, is a rooster. But apparently according to the internet, hens can also make this sound. It’s impossible to confirm anything with all the information we keep researching. However, we are fairly confident that Foster is a rooster. He also happens to be one of our friendliest chickens. He is the one who likes to stand on the ramp and either keep the flock in the coop or keep watch over the flock on the ground. While I said no roosters would be kept at the beginning of this endeavor, I’m okay with keeping one friendly rooster who looks out for the flock. If Feathers or Buffy, the other Orpingtons turn out to be roosters, we’ll have to have some discussions. We do not need three roosters, no matter how friendly they might be.

On to chicken names… Foster (the confirmed rooster), Feathers, and Buffy are our Orpingtons. We were supposed to have four Orpingtons and four Novagens, but I think we have three Orpringtons, four Novagens and then one mystery breed. Perch is Owen’s favorite chicken and while Perch (or Perchie) looks more like a Novagen in size, the coloring on Perch is different than the Novagens. Perch lacks the white feathers that the other Novagens have. The Novagens all look very similar. We have one we call Brown Beak because… it has a brown beak. But Brown Beak reminds me more of a pirate chicken and not a little lady, so I’m hoping to call her Brownie instead. That leaves three unnamed Novagens. I would like to name one Nova and Genny, but I can’t tell them apart right now. And that leaves one unnamed little lady. I thought naming kids was hard. It turns out naming chicken is also challenging.

Okay. That was a lot about chickens. But truthfully they are a big part of our day to day life now. We let them out in the mornings. By “we”, I mean the boys and Graham will only go if the weather is nice. The boys check on the chickens multiple times a day and give them treats to earn their love. The flock races to the fence when the boys come over. The boys have been excellent helpers with Jeremy. The chickens have plenty of food, water and attention. And the chickens have proven themselves to very friendly. Foster (our rooster) loves to be petted.

Last weekend, Jeremy went out of town to a men’s conference. Whenever Jeremy is away we fill out days with activity. On Thursday, we met friends at Burger King for lunch and play. Friday was spent with my parents and sister exploring Portland. We tried a new doughnut place called Pip’s. Last year it was Blue Star. I think each year we will now explore a new doughnut shop on men’s conference weekend. We’ve started a tradition. We went to Powell’s City of Books and played a park before doing some shopping. We are stocking up on outdoor toys for a BBQ we’re hosting this weekend. I hit the jackpot on yard toys at the dollar bins at Target. I also got a laundry detergent sized container of bubbles! Saturday was a day around the house. The boys bounced between home and the grandparents. Grandpa was burning and Owen was determined to be his helper. He felt ownership of the project since he had helped my parents limb the trees and make the piles to burn.

Now we’re at Memorial Day weekend. The month of May is flying by! On Monday, we plan on hosting a big BBQ for my MOPS & MOMSnext group. The RSVP list is longer than I expected, but I’m taking that as a good thing and trying not to stress about what everyone will do. We will talk and eat. The kids have bubbles, yard toys and water activities to keep them busy. It should be a fun gathering and the weather looks like it will be nice.

Next week Owen has preschool graduation (even though he plans to go to school through the middle of June). He got school pictures taken this month and his cap and gown picture was the one that turned out the best. I’ve never been one to make a big deal of preschool graduations. I’ve also found the caps and gowns silly for this age. However, as I start to dwell on the fact that his “preschool years” are almost over, I can understand better now how it really is a transitional season. He will be in elementary school in the fall. A whole season of his life is almost behind him. He is no longer a baby or a toddler and soon he will no longer be a preschooler. Yikes!

We’ve been working on our summer plans. I’m excited for all the fun we have scheduled in the near future. We will do a Great Wolf Lodge stay before the end of the school year. We want to hit the water park before everyone else is out of school. Nana & Papa gifted us this trip at Christmas time and we have been patiently waiting for the right time to use it! We can’t wait! We also have a trip planned to see the Redwoods in Northern California and then we’ll spend some days driving up the coast. I’m looking forward to showing the boys some new places. They have never been to California, so they’ll be able to add a new state to the list of places they’ve visited! Woo hoo!

That’s the update for now! I’ll keep you posted on other two Orpingtons and the rooster status. I know you’re on the edge of your seat, just like me!

I brought the car seats in to be cleaned and this how my kids decided to eat their snack and watch their show. 

Pip’s Original Doughnuts

Pip’s Original Doughnuts

Pip’s Original Doughnuts

Pip’s Original Doughnuts

Pip’s Original Doughnuts – apparently Owen is in a tongue out selfie phase.

Powell’s City of Books

Washington Park Playground

Washington Park Playground

Taking care of the chickens while Jeremy was away

Helping the grandparents with yard work

Break time

Walking home together

Gifts from my boys

My baking buddy

Strawberry goodies have been the theme of our week! 

New book – while Graham plays in my bedroom. The floor guys were back out this week to continue working on our mystery floors.

Not only did my guys buy me an Instant Pot, they also made me dinner with it! It’s like the gift that keeps on giving! 

Not only did my guys buy me an Instant Pot, they also made me dinner with it! It’s like the gift that keeps on giving! 

Not only did my guys buy me an Instant Pot, they also made me dinner with it! It’s like the gift that keeps on giving! 

We’ve been enjoying some sunshine and warm weather here in SW Washington. These days that feel like summer are a spring treat. The boys have been outside every second they can be. I’m happy to report that the chickens are alive and well. The boys have held up to there end of the bargain. They are taking wonderful care of the chickens. We are still having daily conversations about whether two of them are roosters. We are also trying to decide if we keep any roosters. Originally the plan was no roosters, no matter what. But now we are more attached. Sooooo… as long as they don’t wake me up, I might allow roosters to stay. If we have any. I’m sure it will get clearer with time.

Mother’s Day was a drawn out celebration over many days. Owen invited me to muffins with Mom at preschool on Thursday. We went quickly to school before jetting off to the dentist. It was a special morning for me to take Owen to school by himself and then even at the dentist Jeremy was in with Graham before us. Owen and I hung out in the waiting room together. Jeremy and Graham exited and Owen and I went back for his appointment. We all met up again at the park nearby to celebrate no cavities with donuts. Seems fitting, right?

Friday, I got to have lunch with my dear forever friend, Maggie. It was the perfect way to kick off the weekend. When I got home the boys were too excited about my gift to keep it a secret until Sunday. I was presented with an instant pot, flowers, cards, candy and an Amazon gift card for books. It was a very thoughtful gift. I’ve already purchased two new books with the gift card. I look forward to using the instant pot soon. I told Jeremy that the first couple times I use it, I want him there for moral support. I’m a little scared of pressure cookers, but the shortened cooking time is so intriguing. I can’t wait to see what meals we decide to create together.

On Friday, we received a package from my niece, Brinley. She had created a “Flat Stanley” and mailed him to us as a part of a geography lesson for her school. The mission was to have Stanley take pictures with us throughout the weekend and then share about where Stanley visited with her class. The boys loved being a part of this assignment. In fact, we loved Stanley so much that he was cloned twice so each boy could keep a copy of Stanley. We mailed Stanley back to Brinley yesterday with photos and tales of our weekend adventures.

Over the weekend, I got to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom, grandma, and mother-in-law. I am thankful that I get to share this holiday such wonderful women in my life. I know that Mother’s Day can be a hard holiday for so many and with good reason. My heart goes out to those who ache on Mother’s Day. I don’t take for granted the moms that I have in my life. I am blessed to be a mama to my wild boys. I am blessed to have so many lovely mom friends who keep me going and make me a better person. It was a great weekend to be surrounded by so many important ladies in my life.

Muffins with Mom at preschool

Apparently, I’m 52… I also find it funny that he said I make good rice and love apples. I feel like it would been more accurate to say cookies, cake or brownies. 

Graham & Daddy at the dentist

Owen looking like one cool dude

Meet Stanley

Lunch with Maggie May

Stanley and the chickens

Playing on tree pieces in GG’s backyard.

My Grandma and Mom! Love these ladies!

Stanley came to dinner at Nana & Papa’s on Mother’s Day

How is this for an accurate Mother’s Day picture? Nothing sweet or sentimental here. Just us nuts. 

I was away at a conference when the calendar slipped from April to May. I feel a bit stalled in April even though we are on to May. I actually just changed the calendar over in my bedroom and on my fridge to reflect the new month. Hopefully all these visual reminders of the date will help me get more grounded in what day it is and what I’m supposed to be doing. Fingers crossed.

I’m back after seven days of travels all over the PNW. Our annual ladies retreat was last Friday through Sunday in Cannon Beach, OR. Sunday night, I came home with enough time to do my laundry, repack my suitcase and pack up the boys’ suitcase. Monday through Thursday were spent in Coeur d’Alene, ID for NWMN Network Conference.

Ladies Retreat was a good time away at the beach. We had a small amount of rain, but for the most part the weather was nice – just a bit windy. The beach in the rain isn’t nearly as fun so I am always thankful for good weather. I ate yummy food, did some shopping, read a little. I also stayed up way too late and enjoyed the gathering times of worship and hearing from a fantastic speaker.

Network Conference is one of the few times a year that Jeremy and I get away overnight kid-free. The boys spent the days with Grandma and the evenings with Nana & Papa. They thoroughly enjoyed their time with grandparents and we thoroughly enjoyed our break from parenting. I love Coeur d’Alene, ID. I just wish it wasn’t over six hours away. The drive there and back is not my favorite. At the conference we got to connect with our own pastoral team as well as friends from our network. We celebrated the network becoming debt free with a desserts and fireworks at sunset. We also got to see the new Avengers movie. Jeremy got to golf on Thursday before heading for home. It was a great trip.

After a week of living out of a suitcase, I am happy to be home. I spent yesterday doing laundry and reclaiming my house. Last night was a dinner out with MOPS & MOMSnext friends. I was hard to eat out again after a week of doing nothing but eating out. However, it was fun to dive back into life with my local friends after traveling. Today we have friends coming over for dinner. Tomorrow is our church vision lunch (aka business meeting) and our growth group. We jumped right back into life with our people.

However, the days have been quieter since we arrived home. Jeremy has been out in the yard. The boys have played outside while Jeremy hops from project to project. The chickens survived our absence thanks to many check-ins from Grandma, Papa and the boys. Jeremy was shocked to see how much they had grown even since we left on Monday. We moved the chickens outside into their coop last Friday. They were too big for garage. I am grateful to longer smell chicken poop when I load up into the van. It’s the small things in life that make you thankful.

I’m going to go read a little bit in the quiet of nap time before we have company over for dinner. We have pizza and yard games on the docket for tonight. The sun is shining. Should be a good evening.

The little ladies have moved outside because they are not so little these days.

Always one of my favorite places. 

Enjoyed time around the table with these ladies. 

The boys appreciated that I came home with treats from the beach.

The view from our room in Coeur d’Alene. 

The Gooey is a signature dessert at our hotel. Jeremy and I shared a cookie themed one. It was so yummy! 

The lake at sunset. Waiting for fireworks.

Avengers movie night.

They say April showers bring May flowers. I wonder if that is a metaphor beyond the weather. I shouldn’t give the month of April such a hard time. It’s been a weird month for me. I’m not a huge fan of busy weekends. I’ve compensated with quieter weeks. But even the quiet weeks and busy weekends can be interrupted. This last week hasn’t been my favorite and I am glad to put it behind me.

Last Wednesday we had flooring installers come out to “fix” our floors. It was stressful to me handle this process while Jeremy was at work, but he needed to be there for a meeting. I prayed over and over again I wouldn’t miss an obvious sign and give the okay for the installers to do something totally insane that would upset my hubby and damage our house. I felt the pressure. Long story short is the installers can’t do much. They tired to fix a few areas of our floors, but left the less noticeable spots alone. There is something very stressful about having people tear up your floors. I had no clue if the whole floor was going to be torn up or part of the floor or what condition it would all be put back together. The floors aren’t greatly improved, but they didn’t make things worse. More conversations are going to need to be had about this situation. Construction stuff is not my cup of tea.

On Thursday, my husband came home from work an hour earlier than usual. I was delighted and surprised. Turns out his stomach had been bothering him and thus began The Great Tummy Bug of April 2019. Thursday and Friday were rough days for Jeremy. He thought he had food poisoning from leftover potato salad until Owen started throwing up as well. On Saturday no one was throwing up. I thought we would be in the clear for our Easter plans on Sunday. And then Owen woke up with pink eye on Sunday morning.

We’re not really sure how Owen got pink eye. But alas, I stayed home from church and sent Graham off with my parents to celebrate Easter up north with my family. It was such a weirdly quiet day. Owen was a trooper. He handled missing the egg hunt at GG’s like a brave solider. We spent our Easter evening at the walk-in clinic and getting antibiotic drops at the pharmacy.

Just when I thought we were all in the clear, I started to feel sick yesterday. I never threw up like my boys, but I was so nauseous. I was told to stay home from MOPS & MOMSnext by my co-coordinator. It was hard for me to stay home because I am the type of person who likes to push through the pain. Okay. Maybe I don’t “like” it, but it’s my MO. I barely slept last night and I’ve been a bit of a zombie today. I want to eat, but whenever I do my stomach tells me that was a bad choice. Overall though, I got a much milder bug than Jeremy and Owen did.

Graham is great, by the way. He is living his best life. His weekend was full of Easter activities and he loved every minute of it. On Saturday when Owen was starting perk up from the tummy bug, we did an egg hunt around the house for the boys. They had a blast. It was so much fun to listen to their joy as the hunted for the eggs. We also gave them their Easter baskets on Saturday since Sunday was supposed to be a full day. Graham exclaimed and made the best happy-surprised face as he opened his basket. Graham might have hated the rain and cold of Easter Eggstravaganza the weekend before, but this last weekend was his jam. Easter was good to him.

Each month takes a different turn than I would expect. And that’s okay. You can’t plan for illness and it seems to find it’s way to our family regularly. I would love to have a two month break from someone in our household throwing up… one can dream.

There are plenty of things to be thankful for though. I used the Walmart pick up at our local store this week. It was amazing! No more long drives for grocery pick up. I am thankful that for the first time our doctor’s office was open on Easter and that we have one pharmacy in the area that is open on Sundays. We were able to get Owen’s pink eye under control quickly. I drove through Starbucks yesterday morning on my way to set-up for MOPS & MOMSnext. One of the employees there works at our church as well. She wrote Jeremy & I’s names on top of our drinks to personalize them. It’s the little things in life. That hot chocolate actually felt good on my stomach and my name on top reminded that I am known. And we finally got the windshield on our van fixed so at the moment it’s crystal clear. Lots of things be to be thankful for.

This month might be a little off, but that’s okay. It will pass and we’ll move back in our usual flow again. Owen has one more month of preschool before summer break. How did that happen? Jeremy was talking to me about details for preschool graduation. I know that is a “thing” now. And it will be here in a blink of an eye.

I’m preparing to head out for the weekend to our church’s annual ladies retreat. My usual peeps aren’t going this year, so I’m forging a new course. Instead of tagging along, I’ve had to reach out make plans with other ladies. I know that it will be a good weekend. I have an opportunity to go deeper with friends that I don’t get to spend a lot of time. I’m hopeful and optimistic that a different year might just mean a better year.

Well, that’s about all the energy I have for this post! I’m going to head back to reading in bed. Jeremy felt spunky enough to run errands with the boys so I’ve been resting in silence. I tried to not blog tonight, but writing is my thing. I felt drawn to my computer, so I thought a quick update couldn’t hurt! Until next time…

Some say Peeps are the best Easter candy. For me, it’s all about the chocolate bunny! 

Getting ready to dye eggs

Our around the house egg hunt! 

Letting the chickens have some free range moments. They are getting so big. They are close to moving out of the garage and into their own home.

Easter baskets this year included: a Lego set, book, pajamas, Hot Wheels and a chocolate bunny in a Frozen Fever basket. These boys were thrilled! 

Look at that face! It’s the best! 

Grateful I took our Easter pictures at the beginning of the month since Owen woke up with pink eye on Easter Sunday.

Spending Easter at the walk-in clinic

Two big April weekends are in the books with two more big weekends still to come. This last weekend was Easter Eggstravaganza which is our biggest event of the year. Friday we spent a good part of day at the church working. I collected baked goods for our MOPS & MOMSnext bake sale. I also helped Jeremy and the boys set-up for the event. Graham and Owen rode their bikes around the church and would hop off to help when needed. It was such a sight seeing Graham on his little balance bike around the hallways. Owen kept his bigger bike to the gym. I had to explain this was a special treat. We don’t get to ride around like this on a regular basis. The boys were so great helping on Friday. Easter Eggstravaganza is turning into a family ministry event for us. All members of the Scott family pitch in.

Saturday was a cold and wet day. Owen had hoped to stay for both hunts but the weather was too yucky. Graham did not enjoy the weather. As a result, he didn’t touch a single egg on the field. A few relatives threw a grand total of 6 eggs into his basket. Owen did a great job hunting. This was the first year that parents weren’t supposed to be on the field with the hunters for his age range. I was nervous that he would get lost in a sea of kids, but the rain meant the crowds were slightly smaller. Luckily for me, Jeremy is in the middle of every field to blow the horn, so I knew Jeremy was close by. I gave Owen a pep talk about finding me after the hunt. I would stay put and be the home base to return to. Despite the weather, the day overall was a big success. Our MOPS & MOMSnext Bake Sale did well. It was nice to wrap up our last fundraiser of the year.

Usually the Sunday after EE, we don’t do anything after church. It’s a recovery day. This year we got invited to a birthday for a family friend. I didn’t promise Jeremy’s attendance, but he decided to join us despite the big weekend. After that we ran into Safeway to get food for having company over on Monday for lunch. It was a big day, but running the errand on Sunday meant we didn’t have to go anywhere on Monday. Jeremy took Monday off for working on Friday. He finished his chicken coop while the weather was nice enough to paint. All he wants now is a weather vane to stick on top. I’m impressed that made the coop from all leftover materials from our building process. The coop matches the house perfectly.

This last week was monumental for Owen. First, he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Jeremy set him up on a bike without training wheels and to our surprise he just took off. I was expecting this to be a skill that he would learn over the summer, but he beat my expectations. I’m super impressed and proud of him. We also registered him for kindergarten on Thursday evening. We have kindergarten screening scheduled for the beginning of June. It’s crazy to think that kindergarten  is right around the corner. I’m excited for Owen to go to a beautiful new school. I have so much hope and anticipation for him. I know that life is not without it’s challenges, but he is ready for this next season. He is helpful. He is a great pal. When he walks into the room at preschool, multiple kids run up to say hi and ask him to play. I have a feeling he is going to love learning in kindergarten.

I have a feeling that Graham will have a harder adjustment to preschool than Owen did. Graham is less social than Owen so I don’t think school will have the same draw for Graham that it did for Owen. I do think preschool will be a good stretch for Graham. Not only will he learn, but he will have friends outside of Owen. He has a couple friends at church, but for the most part Graham’s friends are Owen’s friends. It will be interesting to see his social circle grow. Graham is still my quirky kid who could mac and cheese for every meal and plays happily on his own. He has been such a buddy to me this last year. I will miss him being home with me most mornings. It’s good thing I’ll still have Mondays and Fridays for solo Graham time.

With Easter Eggstravaganza behind us, we are looking forward to Easter weekend. We will do all the traditional Easter things. We have eggs to dye and plastic eggs to hunt around the house. We will have family gatherings and church. The weekend also includes a bridal shower and a birthday party. This will be three weekends in a row of attending birthday parties. We sure do know how to party. After Easter is a weekend away for ladies retreat and then our Network Conference with the Assemblies of God. With the weekends being full, I’ve been trying to keep my week day commitments low key. I’ve scheduled less play dates in the last month, but I’ve done what I’ve needed to do to make it through all my commitments.

Finally to wrap things up, here is a chicken update. The chicks look more like chickens everyday. They aren’t full grown, but they are a few weeks away from moving into their new home. When we come into the garage, they jump up on their feeder to say hi. I often see a chicken head popping out from the container. In a new development, they now jump up on the edge of the container in hopes that you will pick them up. They haven’t jumped out yet. I feel like we’re close to hearing pecks on the garage door asking us to come out and be with them. Jeremy told me he got friendly chickens. I just didn’t realize that they would be this friendly. And no, I haven’t touched one yet. It’s okay. Jeremy makes up for it. He snuggles them. They are well taken care of. The boys race to feed them and get them water. These chickens have the potential to live quite the good life with us. Oh and we have tadpoles that hatched in an aquarium in front of our house. Some people have cats and dogs. We have chickens and tadpoles.

Lunch after the work party at church. The boys wanted to look like Dad.

Saying hello to chickens after school.

Waiting in line at kindergarten registration.

The perks of being a PK. Testing out the cotton candy machine the day before Easter Eggstravaganza.

MOPS & MOMSnext Bake Sale

MOPS & MOMSnext Bake Sale

Waiting for Graham’s field to go at EE.

As you can see, we had two very different egg hunt experiences.

The view out of my window when I pulled into the garage.

Helping to paint the coop.

The completed coop. Minus the sought after weather vane.

We’re on spring break this week. I didn’t know that spring break was coming. We had less than a week notice. This is one of the downside of having preschool at a learning center where childcare is the top priority. The preschool program is great, but because the preschool only kids are a small amount of the kids, we don’t always get preschool only news in a timely manner. Partially due to a bummer weather forecast and a mom with limited time to be creative, our spring break hasn’t been too  busy. The good news is my boys are in a season right now where they enjoy playing together. The best part of this week has been having Owen home to play with Graham. They wake up in the morning and they are excited that they don’t have to be parted for the day. I have no clue how long this window of happiness will last, so I’m enjoying it.

Last weekend, we had a MOPS & MOMSnext outing at our church. We inflated all the bounce houses and set up tables with board games. They gym had balls and hula hoops to play with. The kids ran around at top speed all morning with their friends. They even tried some new games – Hi-Ho-Cherry-O, Twister, and Slap Jack.

We’ve also had a couple families over in the last week. One family is thinking of building a house with Adair. They wanted to pick our brains over the building process. It was nice to pass along the knowledge had gained and give the inside scoop. The other family we had over is one that we’ve been having dinner with once a month. We switch back and forth which house we meet at. One family cooks dinner and the other brings dessert. We’ve never had a pattern of meeting monthly with a family. We’re enjoying it a lot. I love the relationships that we’re building. Friendship is a gift.

Spring break week has looked like this – Monday: train park, Tuesday: children’s museum, Wednesday: baking, cleaning, crafting around the house, Thursday: dinner out to Chinese and a run up to Costco. Now it’s Friday and we’re enjoying a day around the house to tackle some projects at a relaxed pace. The boys are on a Home Depot run to return some items we won’t be needing for the chickens. Tonight have I have hang out with my MOPS & MOMSnext steering team. I’m loving the laid back vibes of day. The weekend is packed full so it’s the calm before the storm. Well, not really the storm. Tomorrow will be a work party at the church in the morning to get ready for Easter. The afternoon will be a birthday party for a friend. Sunday will be church in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon to discuss a book with leaders and then home in time to host growth group at our house. I have a feeling I’ll be tired by the time my head hits the pillow on Sunday.

Our chickens are still alive!!! All eight of them. Jeremy and the boys have been taking great care of them. We’re starting to see their personalities come out. One likes to peck at Jeremy’s ring. One likes to perch on top of the water bottle. If we’re not careful, the one that likes to perch will soon be figuring out to escape containment. Jeremy has been working on the chicken coop in his free time. It’s really coming together. We plan to paint it to match the house. The little ladies as I call them aren’t so little any more. They are growing and their feathers are coming in. They are starting to hit the awkward stage between chick and chicken.

We are in Easter prep mode hard core. My next few weeks are majorly Easter focused with the big community egg hunt, a MOPS & MOMSnext bake sale and then the holiday weekend which will feature three church gatherings and two family gatherings (not too mention two non-Easter parities on that Saturday). The good news is I’m as prepped for Easter personally as I possibly can be. I have eggs stuffed already for the boys hunt at home. I filled them with left over birthday candy and spare change from the van. I’m awesome like that. I have the Easter basket items all purchased and ready to go. I even took the boys out earlier this week and we did our Easter pictures. Game on, Easter. Here we go! I’ll try to find time to share updates over the next few weeks, but I also might just see you after Easter.

Listening for thunder and watching for lightening. 

MOPS & MOMSnext Outing

Celebrated one year in our house on March 31st! What a blessing! 

The chicken coop in progress

Not a bad way to wrap up church on a Sunday 

Train park

Train park

Train park

Hands On Children’s Museum

Helping me clean

Excavating dinosaurs 

Excavating dinosaurs 

Excavating dinosaurs 

This last weekend was spent celebrating Jeremy’s 38th birthday! His actual birthday was Monday, but he had to work and I had MOPS & MOMSnext in the evening. This meant we celebrated all weekend along to make up for the fact that we had to be responsible grown ups on Monday. Saturday was a special fiesta themed dinner with Jeremy’s family. Sunday, I took Jeremy to the movies as my birthday present to him. We make it to the movies once or a twice year, so it’s always a special treat. Jeremy loves all the Marvel movies so we went to see Captain Marvel. I’m sure our second movie of the year will be spent seeing the new Avengers movie. These movies and Star Wars movies are the only ones we make it to the theater for. My parent’s watched the boys so we could go and then we had dinner with them. Despite Monday being a work day, the boys and I were able to go to lunch with Jeremy and then we did some chicken research. Which leads to our next new adventure…

Jeremy has always talked about chickens as a possibility when we moved into this home. The last home we owned didn’t allow chickens since it was loosely a “development” which meant it was against the rules of the homeowners association. The house two doors down had chickens and it always drove me nuts that they were breaking the rules. We’ve been in this home almost a full year (this Sunday will be the big one year anniversary) and apparently that is how  long it takes to make Jeremy’s chicken dreams come true. The hypothetical situation became reality on Saturday when Jeremy went out to “evaluate” what he had saved from the construction process. Evaluating his materials turned into actually building a chicken coop with the help of the boys. At this point, the boys knew the coop was for chickens. There was no going back. On Monday, during our lunch time chicken research we bought containers for feeding and watering chickens as well as a bag of chicken food. While I was at MOPS & MOMSnext, the boys bought the chickens and a container to keep them in. When I got home, there were feathered friends in my garage hanging out under the heat lamp. Because these little ladies (we’re hoping they are all ladies) are only a week old, they will be living in the garage for some time. Considering Jeremy tore down his first chicken coop structure and started to build a different design, it’s a good thing the ladies have some place to stay warm and grow until their permanent home is complete.

I’ve been very up front with Jeremy from the beginning. Whenever we talked about chickens, I reminded him that I am scared of birds – chickens included. I plan to be hands off with these birds. Jeremy and the boys will take care of them. Jeremy is excited for eggs and the chance to teach the boys responsibility. Owen is in love with the chickens. He is thrilled they are here and they are ours and they will grow up to be his pets. Graham isn’t sure about them, but he will pet them if Jeremy holds them for him. We’ve been without a pet for two and a half years and I’ve really enjoyed the freedom of not having animals to care for. I’ve been told by many how easy chickens are and I’m hoping that is true. Jeremy selected breeds that were known for being friendly and docile. If they are true to their description, I’m sure the boys will view them as pets more than a food source. Time will tell. As long as they don’t wake me up while I’m sleeping, I think I’ll be able to handle them at a distance.

I’ll keep you posted as these little ladies grow up and we learn all the ins and outs of chicken ownership.

This boy loves his mac & cheese! 

Lunch date with my Maggie May

Dinner with MOPS & MOMSnext friends

My dad was on a business trip last week to Minneapolis MN and he was a mile away from the college I graduated from. I have never been in person, but he blessed me with some school gear! I’m happy to represent NCU. Hopefully, someday I’ll be able to see it myself! 

Taco Bar! I tried to provide all the options I could think of! I had a ton of leftovers which I turned into a casserole and got into the freezer for a weeknight meal. Saturday might have been a big day of cooking, but we’ve been living off leftovers all week. It’s been nice to not cook all week! 

Blowing out 38 candles

Funny guy! 

Riding the burro

Movie date

Birthday lunch date

Birthday lunch date

Chicken adoration

As close as Graham will get to the chickens.

This boy is in love! 

After a week solid of fevers and lethargic boys, we were able to rejoin the outside world on Friday. Even then it was a bit iffy on if we should have been out of the house. We were only about 22 hours fever free with Graham. We rested all day in the hope of attending a staff bunco night at the church. Our staff is doing fun activities outside of work to promote relationships and bunco was the first activity scheduled. The boys knew bunco night was coming and were greatly looking forward it. They recently played bunco at GG’s house and had fond memories of the experience. They were set on playing bunco and having pizza at church. It was special and not to be missed. Usually I might have of struggled with heading down to the church on a day off, but since I’d been home almost all week with sick kiddos, I was ready for a change of pace, no matter where we went or what we did. The boys loved the bunco night and Owen won candy for dropping the dice. He took it as a real badge of honor to win that handful of candy. Graham started to pretend sleep at the table while playing so the night out was probably about all his little body could handle.

Due to strategic planning, Saturday was already on the calendar as our home day for the week. The bunco outing was enough of a first step into the real world. It was nice to have Saturday as a slow day. I cleaned the house and did projects. Jeremy rested since he caught the same cold I had the week before. The boys played and we just enjoyed the fact that they were feeling well enough to be off the couch.

The continuing theme of my life is slow and go. I just got off a week of serious down time with sick boys. I got out for three quick outings while the boys were sick. Other than that it was all home, all the time.  Once the great illness was over, it was back on the busy train. Sunday was a full day of church in the morning, nap time/prep time in the afternoon and then growth group in the evening. Growth group nights equal a later bedtime for us. By the time we all settled down, we were spent. Monday was a busier than usual morning. Jeremy had to leave for work early to attend an out of town prayer meeting with the staff. I was on Owen drop off and pick from preschool. After a week of being out of school, drop off was dramatic… I wasn’t surprised since getting him into his class at church on Sunday was equally dramatic. Poor Graham was tired from the night before and still getting his energy back from the illness, so Monday was a bit too much van time for him. He went to preschool drop off and we got gas in the van and then headed home for a half hour until our local pregnancy center opened. Once the center was opened, we loaded up again to deliver 14 boxes of little boy clothes ranging in size from newborn to 2T. Since my mom joined us as a helping hand on our outings, we ran to Safeway quickly for her and then dropped her off at home before turning around and picking up Owen and then heading to a play date across the street at Burger King with a friend. The whole morning Graham kept saying he just wanted to be home snuggling on the couch and I was driving him all over Lewis County. The poor kid sat in my lap through the entire lunch date and didn’t join the other boys in the play place.

I broke my “one thing” a day rule on Monday by scheduling both a play date and a dinner out with a friend on the same day. The play date was a rescheduling from earlier this month when our friends were sick. The month was already filling in and I had to double up. I try to stick to the one thing or one person a day rule so I can give the person of the day my best self. I can give them my best words, thoughts and attention. I find that if I double book my days, by the end of the day my introverted self is spent. Luckily dinner  was low key and my friend didn’t get too much of a zombie Amy. We have a very understanding relationship. We’re both introverts. We get each other and don’t judge when someone is drained from a tiring day or week or month. We understand and sympathize.

This last week I had a friend ask if she could buy some of our baby gear since her granddaughter is moving into the area and she plans on watching her at her house. Jeremy and I talked about it and we felt like it would be good to help this friend out since the gear she was looking for was just sitting in our garage collecting dust. Lots of dust. I took the items in and gave them a good cleaning until I was proud of the condition they were in. We have slowly given away baby items over the last two and a half years. The biggest thing we had a kept storing was the boxes of baby clothes. I’ve been looking for years for the right person to hand them down to since I know what a blessing hand me down clothes can be. The right family has never appeared. While I was giving my friend the baby gear I was explaining my desire to give the baby clothes away but I didn’t know who needed them. She suggested I contact the local pregnancy center and that is exactly what I did. They said they would be happy to receive the clothes. When I delivered them on Monday they were shocked that I had sorted through all them to ensure they were in good condition and they were all in boxes labeled by size. I could tell it meant a lot to them. And that made me feel good. I explained to the boys that we were sharing the clothes we had outgrown so other kids could get to use them too. It’s important to share usable things that we no longer need. I’m trying to raise kids who are generous with their items and don’t hoard a lifetime of things that just sit in a closet. Despite the good lesson and the warm fuzzy feelings of donating to a good cause, I will admit that it was sad for me to part with a good chunk of baby stuff this last week. For some reason it just solidifies that the fact that my boys are out of the baby season. A part of their childhood is done and finished. I’ve been living with these preschoolers day in and out, so I am aware that they aren’t babies, but passing along their stuff made it feel more final, more true. I’m sure as the items move more and more into my distant memory, the sadness will fade. This was bound to happen eventually. I wasn’t about to sit on all those boxes of baby clothes until they were 18 and moving out of the house.

I’m still experimenting with having a home day each week where I don’t go anywhere. Tuesday was the home day for this week. We had the installer of our floors come out to check out some problem areas that have formed. We weren’t sure if that meant the whole floors would be torn up. For all I knew the house was going to be turned into a construction zone. The installer was surprised by our issues and had a couple different options for fixing it. The actual fix date will be set in the future now that he knows what he is working with. Instead of having people tearing apart my house all day, the installer turned out to be a small part of our day so I was able to relax in my space more than I expected. Which was needed since the Sunday/Monday were busy and the rest of the week is a set to be busy too. I would really love to get off the flip flop of nothing going on because we’re stuck at home to extremely busy to make up for the stuck at home time. I wonder when things will balance out. April tends to be one of our busiest months of the year. My hope for finding balance might still be months out.

I’ll leave you on this bright note from my weekly observations. On Sunday Owen was given three plastic coins as an visual aid for his Bible lesson. Since he had three coins, he shared one with Graham who had none. The next day, Graham shared his cookie with Owen (mostly because he didn’t want it). It was sweet to see them each share something with their brother. Moments like that are worth celebrating and I made sure they knew I was proud of them for giving freely with each other. Moments like this keep me sane when they are fighting over the same Lego train for the millionth time.

Bunco Night

Bunco Night

Bunco Night

For St. Patrick’s Day the boys each got a pack of green Legos. 

My green contributions to our growth group meal. 

Dinosaurs attacking a train. No big deal in our house. 

Owen has discovered the joy of roasting marshmallows. 

Dirty face! 

Helping Dad with the raised beds. 

Gathering tadpoles. 

Graham felt the tadpoles needed a boat. 

My recent reads: these books have been a box since I moved out of my parent’s house. They came inside with my other childhood books when I got the new bookshelves. I loved the Sweet Valley Twins in middle school. It was fun to re-read something I loved as a kid. 

¹³ Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” ¹⁴ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. ¹⁵ What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 NLT

Okay, I’ve never made plans that involved going out of town for a year, but I make plans all the time. I could be a professional plan maker. I fill in the days, weeks, months and years like a champ. Give me a blank calendar and I’ll change that in a few texts. However, true to Mom Life, plans often don’t pan out. You can never predict when things are going to go down hill and this was one of those weeks.

As I was teaching my Wednesday night class, I noticed my throat hurt. No big deal. Push through it. It’s all good. But on Thursday, I had to admit that I was sick. And I had a book party that night. I needed to access brain cells that I hadn’t used in months. I needed to be on my game. On top of being under the weather, my computer decided to freak out fifteen minutes before my party. I had ten minutes of sheer panic before I was able to reclaim things five minutes before the party started. I felt behind from the beginning. Lucky for me, my hostess was on top of it. She commented on everything and kept the party active. Despite the rocky night for me, the party was a success. This party was in my top three for sales. That made it was worth it, for sure!

I’ve been processing my thoughts about book parties now that I’ve had a small break from them. I don’t mind doing them occasionally.  Especially if it’s just once a month. This way parties don’t overlap and I can focus on one party at a time. The downside of book partying is that it tethers me to my phone. I have to keep up with comments and posts meaning I have to be online more than I would like. While I don’t like being attached to my phone, I do enjoy getting a paycheck. It was good to have this experience after taking a break. I don’t plan to seek out parties, but if someone asks me, I would be more than willing to do one.

I was completely spent after my book party on Thursday night. I was sick. I was tired. The party was hopping so my brain was mush. And then at 11:00pm, Graham threw up. And Owen woke up at the same time, with a fever… Friday was spent with kids throwing up and cleaning up puke and washing nasty laundry and movies playing as the boys slept on and off all day. The weekend morphed into fevers and lethargic kids who just laid around like bumps on a log. This is where “you make a plan, but it might not pan out” verse I shared at the beginning of the post comes in. We had a packed weekend planned. On Friday, I was supposed to drive up north to have lunch with a friend. I was supposed to come home in time to take the boys for a sleepover at Nana & Papa’s house. Jeremy and I were supposed to spend Friday night and Saturday at a marriage conference. None of that happened. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the boys had been sleeping at night, but the fevers have made them restless and sleep has evaded them. Our nights have become like keeping up with two newborns on alternating schedules. One sure fire way to make daylight savings irrelevant is to not sleep the three nights prior to it. At that point, time looses all meaning.

Yesterday, we called the nurse at our doctor’s office. We wanted to know if we should bring them in. After talking with her, we determined this sounds like a virus and it could take seven days to run it’s course. Today the boys woke up with no fevers. The boys even sat up to watch part of a movie. We’ll take baby steps back to health and celebrate the small victories.

Sometimes the show must go on despite illness. For me that meant MOPS & MOMSnext still had to happen last night, no matter what was going on at my house. It was Spa Night and a huge success. We had a Mary Kay consultant do Satin Hands (a two step process to treat your hands and make them soft). We offered a station for moms to paint their nails. This is a special treat they don’t often get to do uninterrupted. We made DIY car fresheners with essential oils and leather. And my favorite part was the s’mores station that very much fit with our Find Your Fire theme. I found these cute little indoor s’mores kits that use Sterno cans for the heat. I had fears of ladies burning marshmallows, setting off the smoke alarms and having the fire department come. Thankfully, that was not the case and the whole thing ran smoothly.  I had a bunch of moms tell me both before and after the meeting how much they needed a spa night. It was perfectly timed – thank you, Jesus – for a day when so many ladies needed a little extra TLC and relaxation. Definitely God’s timing there!

The final part of this update is after purchasing five vanities and returning four of them, we finally completed our half bath project! We switched to looking at smaller vanities that were a slightly higher quality then we’d been looking at. The vanity we picked isn’t a perfect color match to our other cabinets, but it’s close. We like the counter-top color and it’s a better product, so it shouldn’t chip as easily as the other ones we’d been getting. The door knobs that came with the vanity were not our style, but we had two knobs left over that Jeremy had saved from our cabinets, so now the knobs match perfectly with the house. This vanity project has been a dream of ours for a year. I am so blessed by a husband who powered through frustrating circumstances and was able to conquer the vanity project. I love it and every time I use that bathroom, it makes my heart happy!

On Thursday before the illness hit, Owen had a snow day. The boys had such a fun day together that I was shocked when they got sick because they showed no signs during the day. 

Our new vanity! So thankful!!!

Sleepy, sick boys

Despite sickness, Graham had a few perky moments.

My next read! 

He said he wanted pancakes so I made them look like Mickey in hopes that he would eat more. He took two bites, but the smile was worth it. 

The s’mores station at MOPS & MOMSnext!

Yummy goodness! 

Nail painting station! Love seeing moms connecting and investing in themselves! 

Proof that the boys are moving in the right directions! They are sitting up and smiling.