Amy Scott's Thoughts

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. 

Let’s start with what makes me happiest – my new bookshelves. I don’t know how long I’ll be riding the new bookshelf high, but for now it’s one of the things that is bringing me joy daily. My hopes of shopping on Friday were rewarded. Between Hobby Lobby & Michaels, I was able to get 4 picture frames, 3 decorative signs, a fake plant and two photo boxes. The bonus was all the items were 40% off, 50% off or on clearance. I got all my new decorative items for under $54. I was very impressed with those bargain finds. And now my bookshelves look complete. No more empty space! I love it. Every time I walk by my books, I smile.

I was able to run all my errands on Friday, so Saturday was a full day at home. Week one of March has had a successful day at home! Woo hoo! Tomorrow is supposed to my home day for week two. A friend had to reschedule with me so we are hanging out at my house tomorrow. I’m also hosting a book party tomorrow night (more on that in my next post). The level of put-togetherness I need to host company and work might cancel out the benefits of staying home all day. We will have to see how this experiment goes.

While we are talking about home, Jeremy and I dove into another home improvement project this week, but were met with much mishap. Ever since we realized that the pedestal sink in our half bath isn’t big enough to hold a soap dispenser, we’ve talked about putting in a vanity instead for counter space and storage. We found a vanity we really liked online and purchased it in store on Monday. After ripping out the pedestal sink, we realized that the vanity was damaged. Lesson learned – check new vanity before ripping out pedestal sink. Oops. We have now purchased three vanities – all having to be returned because of damage. We are still formulating where we plan to go from here. Despite the rough look, the pedestal sink has been reinstalled until the mythical perfect vanity is found.

On to the big screen time update. We are a family that allows screen time. We keep it under 2 hours daily. We use kid-friendly apps to make sure the content is appropriate. And then the news blew up about YouTube kids… While one of the new stories turned out to be a hoax (I learned after research), it has become apparent that people are trying to send harmful messages to kids and YouTube Kids isn’t doing a sufficient job in my opinion to make sure their content is safe.  This led to us deleting the YouTube Kids app off of my phone and tablet. We still have the YouTube app on our TV in the living room where it can be used with parental supervision – my kids love watching videos of trains too much to cut all YouTube. The boys got Amazon Fire tablets for Christmas with the FreeTime Unlimited subscription. Web videos are available through that program and I learned after doing research that Amazon and an outside organization called Common Sense Media previews all web content before it is available to kids. This makes me feel safer about the videos they are viewing. While we always had good intentions with screen time, we have really locked down the “rules” now. Time limits have been set, screens are only allowed in the living room and within ear shot of a parent. The boys have responded well to the increased security. We took time to explain to them the reasons why. They know to not watch anything that is mean, scary or makes them uncomfortable.  I can already see how this is a positive change, for Graham especially. He is playing more games instead of watching videos. He isn’t watching as many videos of kids playing with toys – these kinds of videos make him want us to buy him the same toys as the kids he is watching. Videos like that feed consumerism and discontentment. Overall we feel like we’ve landed in a good place. I’m glad we were able to have the conversations now and set healthy boundaries at a young age. Media will be a factor in our boys’ lives as they grow up into adulthood. My hope is that we can give them a firm foundation to use technology for good and that they would know how to have healthy safe guards in place to protect their hearts and minds.

This topic fits well with the latest book I’ve been reading called A Practical Guide to Culture. It came highly recommended from a friend/mentor and it was on sale for $0.79 on Kindle. I downloaded right away. Later our lead pastor recommended that Jeremy & I read it and attend a group discussion on it. I finished it yesterday and it hits so many important topics for parents to be aware of and shares how to have intentional conversations with kids. It was like a Biblical college course on culture. There was a lot to unpack throughout the book. It is a great resource to encourage parents to be proactive and also a helpful reference for when situations come up that might catch you off guard. Kids are exposed to all kind of things way sooner than we experienced as parents. We might not be ready to have tough conversations, but we need to be aware that they are going to happen. If we’re not willing to have these conversations with our kids, they will go to someone else for the answers. This is a resource I will return to many times over the next few years.

Okay, way to end with the heavy topics, huh? The pictures below might help to lighten the mood. I look forward to next week’s update. Who knows, maybe we’ll actually have a vanity we like and isn’t damaged installed in our half bath? Or not! Life can be a great mystery! I’ll just look at my bookshelves and soak up the happy vibes if things get too intense around here.

Graham discovered the fake fruit aisle at Michaels

Color coding my Food Network Magazine collection

Top: Before my shopping day, Bottom: After with my bargain finds! 

Decorations for bookshelf #1

Decorations for bookshelf #2

The Complete Before and After

The boys even got something out of the Hobby Lobby outing

Graham had some great time this week tracing his numbers and working on scissor skills. I’m thankful for times like this when my schedule allows me to sit down with him and get hands on with his preschool skills. 

I showed Graham our wedding photo album after he stared long and hard at a wedding picture we have up in our house. 
He asked if I was a princess and I explained that I was the bride and Daddy was the groom and this was the day we got married. 

On to my next read!

Making train tracks out of cardboard

Train bridge

Note: My kiddos got new pajamas a week or so ago. Now if we are home, they are in the their pajamas. That is why they are in their pajamas in almost every picture. And they are washed daily… and put back on promptly. This is my life.

There are so many exciting updates and photos to share with you today. The biggest for me is that I have two new bookshelves in my bedroom! Jeremy put them together last week and I am in love with them. I was able to take back some of the books that I had been storing in Jeremy’s office. I now have room to grow my library again. That feels good! Also in an attempt to decorate, I’m planning on going shopping for new picture frames and some decorative items to dress up the bookshelves a bit. My current picture frames are all black and they blend with the shelves. I’ll be looking for some frames in gray, white and wood to make the pictures stand out. I’m also determined to find some kind of fake plant to add green to our room (I don’t do real plants, I keep tiny humans alive, that is it). I’ll be hitting Hobby Lobby with a mission this Friday. I am excited for the challenge. After reading The Cozy Minimalist, I’ve been trying to add style to our house in practical ways. I added a new blanket to our couch in the living room. It’s a small item, but it brings more of my favorite blue color to room and makes the space feel cozy with another dimension of texture. I claim no brilliance in home decor, but I am having a lot of fun attempting to style my house in a way that feels homey and simple.

We are currently winding down the busy end of February. My March is filling in, but I’m already being intentional with setting days in advance that will be home days once a week. Saturday is our home day this week. Jeremy and I keep talking about it in sacred and protective tones. We will be home this Saturday or else. The following week, I have Thursday protected on my calendar. While I do have a book party (more on that later) scheduled for that evening, I don’t plan on leaving my house that day. If I’m not intentional with claiming these “home days” then they won’t happen. I am very determined to have one day a week that I am home for each week in March. Wish me luck with this endeavor. And yes, I am book partying… I had a past hostess ask if she could have a party and since I haven’t made a big deal on my VIP group about not doing parties, I figured why not. If I book some parties out of this party, I’ll do them too. I’ve had a few return customers order from my website, so right now I’m feeling very good about my scaled back book business. It’s very manageable and still allowing me to do something I enjoy.

The end of February has looked like lot of social engagements. I’ve had friends over to the house for coffee/play dates. We’ve had dinners with family and friends. It’s been a big week for MOPS & MOMSnext with a steering team hang out on Friday night, an outing to the fire station on Saturday morning and a regular meeting with a special marriage panel on Monday evening (special shout out to my parents for being a part of that panel). While I can get peopled out and tired from constant social interaction, I am so blessed by the people that I have in my life. Each day I have been able to sit down and enjoy some of the most wonderful people on the planet. Even as introvert, I understand the importance of community and I am beyond thankful for  awesome people I get to be surrounded by.

The fire station outing was one of the highlights of the last week, for sure. The boys made cards to say thank you to our local firefighters and then we made brownies together to bless them as well. Our MOPS & MOMSnext group was encouraged to come with a thank you card or goodie, so the fire station has quite a few treat options and cards to enjoy. It felt right to be thankful not only for their service everyday, but for also taking the time to open up their building and show us around. Owen’s favorite part was the medic unit and Graham said he wished we could stay at the station forever.

This month has been unique with all it’s snow and slow/fast pace. In fact, I still have snow in my backyard that hasn’t melted. Most of this morning was spent with snowflakes falling outside my window. It’s been a chilly, snowy month. March holds the promise of spring. It also holds daylight savings, but I’m trying to block that out. Anyone else get super messed up by the time changes? My body hates them. But I know longer days are coming and then hopefully warmer days as well. I have high hopes for March as I continue to keep the goals set in January alive and well. So far my “not going into Walmart” goal remains my crowning achievement of 2019!

Using my old bookshelf for tablet time before it was gifted to some friends.

Flowers from Jeremy as an apology for losing his Valentine’s Day card for me. I didn’t need an apology, but flowers are always appreciated! 

The new bookshelves –  I’ll post another picture after my hopefully profitable trip to Hobby Lobby! 

Eating his snack in a Target box! 

Working on cards for the firefighters to say thank you! 

Picture time with Firefighter Kyle

MOPS & MOMSnext outing to the Fire Station

Getting to operate the jaws of life

Playing with their favorite toys at GG’S house. 

Family Bunco Night! Jeremy and Owen ended up winning! 

It would have been easier to leave them at home, but these boys begged to come to MOPS & MOMSnext with me on Monday night. They love their friends, teachers and the chance to be my special helpers before & after the meetings. 

Reading Barbara Brown Taylor for the first time. I’m really enjoying memoirs these days, so Leaving Church was very interesting to hear about her journey in and out of professional ministry.  Learning to Walk in the Dark was my favorite of the two. Her insight into how darkness serves a purpose was powerful. Reminds me of the Starry Eyed theme from MOPS a few years ago and that there is good in both the light and dark parts of life. 

At the beginning of January, I was thinking about words that I wanted to be true of this year and two came to mind. They were simplicity and focus. These are my ideals, my goals, what I’m striving for. While I want these words to be true more than anything, I feel like “slow and go” or “go and slow and back again” better define my start to 2019. I went from racing in January to make up for “lost time” to slowing down due to sickness and snow in February. Now to make up for the time that was slowed down, I find the calendar speeding up again. Why does this cycle happen? Go fast, wear down, go slow, and feel like you need to compensate for going slow by picking up speed. I don’t enjoy it. I’m definitely keeping track of the time. Finding a balance is a work in progress. Here is my evaluation of the 2019 goals and ambitions thus far.

Here are the things we are rocking right now:

• Chores – the boys have kept up on their chore chart. They are helping out like everyone in the family. No payment given. They seem to be okay with just the appreciation they receive. This addition to our household routine has been a win!
• Reading – This category is on the chore chart to make sure it happens every day. Our nighttime routine had morphed and books had fallen by the wayside. Now they are a priority again. Also, I’ve been reading more lately and exploring new authors. Reading books makes me happy and I can feel the benefit of prioritizing reading in our house.
• Not going into Walmart – I can’t tell you the last time I went into Walmart. I’ve been using their grocery pick-up option and it’s been life changing. My frustration level rises when I’m in the store with my kids, so this saves time and sanity. This is one category that would for sure count as a win in simplicity and focus. By ordering online, I don’t get distracted by items I don’t need in the stores. I also save time by adding these pick-ups to outings I’m already making. Right now the only stores that offer grocery pick-up are 30-40 minutes away. This means that I’m super strategic about when I schedule my pick-ups so they fit with out of town outings. I’m told that our local Walmart is adding grocery pick up soon. That day can’t come soon enough!

Here are the things that need improving:

• Focused learning time with Graham – with preschool right around the corner, I want to set Graham up for success. I would love to focus more on working on his letters, numbers and tracing. Owen got this kind of attention from me and I want to make sure that Graham gets it too.
• Having one day at home a week – I do best when I have one day at home where I don’t go anywhere. This can still be a productive day at home, but I need to have one day a week where I don’t have to be presentable and out of the house interacting with people. My introverted self craves this one day.

Life is an ebb and flow. I get that. I don’t love the full speed ahead and then peter out cycle. I’ll keep striving for that simplicity that allows rest and keeps the schedule from being overly complicated. And I’ll try to stay focused on the top priorities and things that matter most. I can’t do it all, so how do I want to spend these days? What things are a must? What things can be scheduled further out in the month so I can spread out the commitments? These are important questions and I’ll keep working on them.

My parents needed to transport something to my sister and it would only fit in our van. So the boys rode with the grandparents while Jeremy and I got an hour alone in the van. It was practically a date!

Book of Choice: Alfie & Bet’s ABC

Book of Choice: Cinderella

Graham is a silly snuggler

Filling Easter eggs with candy for Easter Eggravaganza with our growth group.

A fun way for the whole family to participate with this community event.

Squinty IKEA picture! Jeremy and I got a date day to go shopping in Portland! Thank you, Nana & Papa!

New bookcases! I’ll show you the finished product once my home library has been relocated to these shelves!

Loving our new Nibbles calendar! We talk about the date, the days of the week, the weather and our emotions using it! Such a great resource and very fun!

We love Nibbles the Book Monster!

I don’t know how you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Some people make a big deal of it. Some people think it’s a Hallmark holiday made up to get Americans to spend more money. I fall in the middle. I’m not against the holiday, but it’s not a super huge deal. Most years Jeremy and I just exchange cards and small gifts – like this year Jeremy got me a Kit Kat bar. It was a small gesture that was greatly appreciated… especially since he lost the card that was supposed to accompany it. I, on the other hand, got him a card from me and helped the boys get him a card, but we didn’t get him a gift. It all balances out.

During our great snow storm, I turned to Valentine’s Day as a distraction to break up the time at home. We worked on Valentines to give to Owen’s preschool friends and Graham worked on Valentines to give to family members since he isn’t in school yet. Then we moved on to Valentine inspired crafts and then we gave the boys their Valentine’s Day presents early.  It seemed like the break in the weather was going to be perfect for getting Owen back to school in time for Valentine’s Day and his class party. However, going back to school/church on Wednesday meant that Owen picked up a tummy bug. No one but Graham slept Wednesday night. We woke exhausted on Thursday and then the puking started. Instead of sending Owen to school to party, he stayed home on the couch surrounded by towels with a clear path to the bathroom.  I felt a bit blue that my plans for the day had changed and that Owen wasn’t able to experience the fun of Valentine’s Day at school. Instead of resting during nap time, I decided to make my favorite butter cookie recipe. What is the point of owning a heart shaped cookie cutter if you don’t use it for Valentine’s Day? My social media feeds had been filled with cookies made by friends this week, so I felt inspired to make pretty cookies too. I needed to add something pretty and special to counterbalance the sick day vibes.  Our dinner out plans changed to dinner in, but it’s all good. Owen perked up by the end of the evening so overall; it wasn’t too shabby of a Valentine’s Day.

On to today’s adventure… I opened up the next size up box of clothes for Graham. It was time to take stock of what survived from Owen and what gaps needed to be filled in. After sorting through the box of clothes and washing them, I decided I would use the KonMari method to fold them and put them away. I’ve been watching “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix this last month.  I am a tidier by nature. I found it interesting to see how she does things. I love using drawer organizers like she does. I have the strong desire now to get pretty baskets to store all my bedding sets in my linen closet. She’s inspiring and adorable. I wondered as I watched the show if her method of folding clothes was really helpful. I set out to discover that today. Here are some of my findings – the KonMari method of folding saves space. I was able to empty an entire drawer in my dresser by using it. My dresser is completely KonMari at the moment. I’m not sure I like the socks and underwear set-up, but I’ll give it a shot. I do like that this method saves space and allows you to see all that you have in a single glance. The boys’ dressers got a KonMari makeover as well, but theirs is more of hybrid. Since their drawers would have been too empty by completely going KonMari, I used the folding style for their pajamas, but laid the pajamas out in sets instead of a row. Also, I struggled with their pants folding properly, so I left them folded as I would have normally. We’ll see if this style of folding the clothes sticks, but I was intrigued and thought why not give it a try.  Have you tried something new just to see if it’s better? We usually think we’re right or we’re too stuck/lazy in our ways, but I really enjoyed learning a new method for folding my clothes and I see great value in the whole KonMari method.  Marie Kondo talks about sparking joy through the process of tidying and I agree. Tidying does spark joy, but this isn’t new for me. This is a truth that natural “tidiers” just know. It why we do what we do it. It feels good to see a tidy space. It sparks joy! I’ll keep you posted if my newly organized dressers continue to spark joy or if they revert. Time will tell.

Ta Da! Graham helped me put sprinkles on cupcakes for my Wednesday night class. 

My Valentine’s Day view… Graham needed a couch bed made for him just like Owen. 

Our backyard this morning. Apparently it takes a while to make 11 inches of snow disappear. 

The pile of clothes that inspired me to try to the KonMari method. 

All of Graham’s size 4/4T options all sorted and waiting for him.

My shirt drawer

Here is where I made extra space. I combined my pants/leggings/pajamas into one drawer! 

My hybrid KonMari in Graham’s pajama drawer. The footie pajamas are lined up in the official KonMari method. The pajama sets are laid out in shirt/pant pairs. True to the KonMari method, you can see all your options in one glance. 

My last post was about how I had over scheduled my life. I was feeling the effects of that decision. I was tired. I was weary. I was grateful to be home in my pajamas as I typed that post. I was ready for a day of relaxation. Then that afternoon I came down with a cold. It’s not surprising since my boys had been battling colds all week. Getting whatever the kids have is just a part of mom life.

I kept my plans with my sister the next day. I wasn’t feeling too bad… but by the time I got home from my short morning outing, I was spent. Graham was still battling snot, so I stayed home from church with the boys on Sunday. Monday, I went to my MOPS & MOMSnext steering team meeting. There was some drama with the weather and half the team was sick making them unable to attend and the meeting was almost cancelled about 5 times throughout the day, but in the end, we met. With a smaller group and a light agenda, we got to talk about the bigger picture stuff which was fantastic, but all that talking left me with no voice. Until Wednesday… Again, Graham had too much snot, so I stayed home from church. Jeremy took Thursday off as a comp day for working at the Home & Garden Show the previous weekend. We didn’t send Owen to school and we ran some errands. While I enjoyed being out of the house, I was again spent by the time morning was over.  And that was our sick week.

The following day ushered in Snowmageddon. The snow started on Friday and didn’t turn to rain until Monday. The snow was even back for a good portion of Tuesday morning. We ended up with 11 inches of snow grand total. Jeremy borrowed my parent’s all-wheel drive vehicle to get to work on Sunday and Tuesday. School was canceled on Monday and Tuesday was a two hour delay, so Owen hadn’t been to school in a week at that point. Maybe I would have sent him to school on Thursday if I would have known how much family time was really in store for us. Thankfully, he is back to school today! We are all ready to be back to routine and structure.

The combination of sickness and snow means that I’ve spent 10 of the last 13 days at home. Considering how packed January was, February seems to be the opposite extreme.  Our family loves the snow and we greatly enjoyed our daily adventures outside. Owen especially is like a dog who would roll in the snow if given the chance. He would often just face plant into it. The first day it snowed, it was too powdery to make a snowman, so Owen made a host of snow angels. Graham doesn’t like being cold. His tolerance for snow is short in comparison. I’m okay with that. I like one good snow walk a day and then I mostly just enjoy watching it from my window while I’m inside – warm and dry.

Going forward, I am ready to get back to structure. No more endless days of play at home. The family time was great, but cabin fever did occur. I like a good mix of out & about and chill & relax. Both are good. Both are important. I wonder if I’ll be able to achieve this balance in 2019. We’ll see how the rest of the month goes. And if I can’t seem to get this balanced routine thing down in the next couple of weeks, there is always the hope of March. Maybe I’ll get it right then.  It’s yet to be seen but each day is a new opportunity and a new adventure. I wonder what tomorrow will hold.

A Saturday lunch with Auntie while Daddy worked the Home & Garden Show. 

A Saturday lunch with Auntie while Daddy worked the Home & Garden Show. 

Monday morning puzzles and books – then the power went out and Graham and I walked over to Grandma’ house. 

First snow day! 

Snow Angel 

Snow cutie! 

Jeremy made a snow bear. 

Owen made a snowman and we named him Snowen. 

Frozen movie night 

Doing “Andy Church” with Grandpa & Grandma. 

Walking the trails behind our house. 

Loving snow days with Jeremy home! 

Making Lego Town to keep the days fun and active. 

Our last snow walk on Monday morning. 

Working on Valentine’s for school. 

Working on Valentine’s for family. 

Pinterest craft to fill the long days. This would have been better if I had un-sharpened pencils… no one was injured in making this craft! 

The dried hearts! 

We gave the boys their Valentine gifts early to make the snow days more interesting. Meet Chef Graham. 

New Hot Wheel track pieces. 

Between the sick and the snow, I’ve been able to slow down and read a bit.