L O V E

Have I mentioned before how much I truly love and appreciate my parents?  If not, let it be known: I have the best parents on the planet!  I love them.  With my whole heart!

The Montessori Elementary School Concert

Friday night, we had the privilege to attend The Montessori Elementary School Concert.  I was reaffirmed as to my decision to send Edward to public school.  Each grade level took a turn in either singing, playing the violin, cello, or viola.  It was incredible!  The little kids all walked on with confidence and no one acted out on stage.  These 5 year olds could teach a few professionals a lesson.  HA!  (Myself included).  The performance was split in to two groups and we only stayed for the younger group.  It was so much fun to see Edward on stage an performing. 

Afterward we hung out with his friend from school, Ethan.  They are the very definition of best friends.  They are interested in the same things and love to be goofy together.  I am so glad they found each other. 

 

 

A long day grows longer.

You might be wondering if that is even possible.  I can assure you, friends, it is.  I won't bore you with the past few weeks but just today. 

 

6:00 Wake up.  Not pleasantly either. I realize I am not going to fall back asleep so I might as well get up and exercise because, face it, there's not much else to do at 6 AM.

So I plod downstairs in the hopes that I will find some miraculous energy.  I don't.

I ride the bike 5 miles and then do my whole upper body routine.  

7:00  Yes, that only took one hour.  Ugh.  My boys weren't even up by then.  I waste some time looking at Facebook before I decide I have had enough of the MMRV talk and close it down for the day.  Good thing because Facebook is a giant waster of my time.

7:25  The boys wake up.  Their hungry and ready to play.  I remember that I haven't been grocery shopping in three weeks, so I have zero food in the house to feed them.   I usually make a delicious smoothie for breakfast every single morning.  No strawberries today.  No blueberries.  Nothing. So just like yesterday, I get the boys dressed and we head off to "juice it up" for a smoothie.

8:30  Oh, I didn't mention this, but maybe it goes with out mentioning, in that hour, I did take a shower.  Anyhow, I text Stephen to remind him that he needs to take Nolen to therapy today because, well I have a long day planned.  He met me at "juice it up" and took Nolen to therapy.

9:00  Drop Edward off at school and realize I am in too much pain to wait out the 30 minutes until his therapist shows up.  So I drive home fast.  Get pain relief and drive back to school.

9:30  Let Edwards therapist in to his school and help her get settled before I head off to my rehearsal.

10:30 Arrive at rehearsal early with the intent to warm up and practice.  I didn't.  Sometimes talking with friends is much more therapeutic than singing.

11:00  Sing.  Terribly.  Learn another very valuable life lesson: ALWAYS, ALWAYS show up with your part learned.

1:00  Zoom home because Stephen has to go to work and Nolen's therapist is coming over for ABA therapy.

1:30 Write out my shopping list and eat lunch.  Let's face it, a smoothie can only last so long.

2:45 Pick up Edward from school.  He proceeds to tell me for the hundredth time he can't remember what he did at school.  Another stressful story for another day.

3:30 Drop the boys off to get haircuts and beg my friend to watch them while I do some much needed grocery shopping. (Remember the breakfast story)

4:30 Pick up the boys and head out to find white gloves for Edward. 

5:00 No white gloves anywhere in town.  Stop at the health food store and buy another 5 gallons of goats milk.  Yum!

5:30 Arrive home.  Finally.  I'm starving.  I eat the cold pizza in the fridge.  The boys eat gluten free snicker doodle bunnies for dinner. 

6:00 Start to think I am just about to get comfortable when I get a text message that a friend really needs to talk.  Talk for an hour.

7:00  Tell the boys it's almost time fore bed.  Call my parents.

8:30 Realize I have been on the phone dealing with another stressful situation for another hour.

9:00  Put the boys in bed. No bath.  Who has time for that anyway?

10:00  Type out long winded blogpost as I wait for another round of pain killers to set in.

10:02 Stephen's home

 

Good night.  It has been a long day. 

"It's been a long day"

*As sung by Matchbox 20

 

Today, we sold our dog, Oliver. 

We bought him with the hopes of adding to our family and for him to be Nolen's companion dog.

Alas, it did not work out for many different reasons.

I can't help but feel like a bit of a failure. 

I learned that I am still not a dog person. 

Dogs take just as much time as a child.

Time is something I value above most things in my life.

Oliver pees when he meets new people.  A therapy dog is not allowed to do that.

Oliver was too big for Nolen, and he was afraid of him.

Thus ends our time with Oliver. 

 

Our Growing puppy!

Oliver is huge!  So big.  Almost too big for us now.  He jumps up on the boys and nearly knocks them over.  He needs a lot of love and attention.  I am always asking myself if we can handle the dog and our everyday regularly scheduled lives. 

Amanda's Senior Photos

 

My niece is beautiful!  She asked me to snap a few pictures of her for her Senior pictures.  We tried two different days and I think we ended up getting some stunning shots.  Amanda spent the summer with us last summer and I learned so much about her.  She is confident and strong.  She will be a wonderful mother and care taker some day.  She wants to go to college to become an Occupational Therapist.  She loves people and playing basket ball.  She truly has an amazing spirit. 

 

Happy New Year!

We, unintentionally, spent the New Year holiday in Kingman.  The snow kept us there until Saturday when the roads opened up.  This left us with a lot of time to snow tube and play Carcassonne.  The boys had a blast with their cousins and stayed up late just to wake up super early the next day.

Both boys had ear infections and a cold while on our little trip, so it did make for an interesting holiday.