Not Quite a Year

I have been looking back on previous posts and it seems the general theme is how busy our lives are.  We run from one activity to another and never take the time to stop and smell the roses.  That is what I want to do.  I want to slow down enough that I can enjoy what the Lord has blessed me with.  Today is an absolutely gorgeous weather day.  The sun in shining, the sky is clear of any cloud, the thermometer reads in the upper 70's.  I can think of at least 10 little things I should really get done today while there is no work or seminary.  Instead, I seem to get caught up in "procrastination". 

In the grand scheme of things, is it really going to hurt for the laundry to sit clean in the baskets?  Probably not, but my problem is that the baskets of clothes have been there for 2 weeks now.  Is the house going to fall down because it is not spotless?  No.  Maybe procrastination isn't my problem.  Maybe my problem is laziness.  I have a lot of excuses as to why nothing is picked up and why the laundry isn't put away and why I don't want to get up out of my chair.  I don't want to be lazy.  I desire the laundry to be done and house clean but I don't want to work for it. 

How do I get past this?  How can I be a better housekeeper?  It seems so overwhelming right now.  I want immediate results.  Instead, I will be patient.  My goal:  be a better housekeeper, one room at a time.  Utilize the tools (ie. the kids) I have on hand to help me accomplish this goal.  Don't be way laid and distracted away from my goal.  Starting tomorrow.

Sleep? What's that?

I was eagerly anticipating the start of summer vacation with dreams of lazy mornings and sunny skies. Boy was I dreaming! So far this summer has been a whirlwind of activity that has left me exhausted!

We did manage to take a 2 week trip out to Utah. The kids all had fun especially at my cousin's house in Southern Utah. It was good to see all the kids reconnect and enjoy the time spent visiting, riding ATV's, and eating. I enjoyed the time visiting with my parents although it was hard to adjust to their work schedule. I wish we had more time to play but they needed to take their vacation time to visit my brother in AK.

When we got back from UT, Connor, Bryce, and Hunter began their raspberry picking jobs. Shortly after they started, Keith and Hunter left for a week at Boy Scout Camp. They had a good time and Hunter even earned a few merit badges. Once they came back from camp, I decided I would pick berries with the boys in the morning. I grab a different boy's punch card every time I fill my half flat. I'm not making huge amounts of money for them but I figure every little bit helps. Keep in mind that we leave the house at 6:30 AM. So much for sleep in time!

Friday night I helped the Band Booster club work at the Tacoma Dome during a concert. Our group gets a certain percentage of the profits. Since Connor is in band and Hunter will be in the fall, I am trying to help out where I can. I thought the night would never end. I couldn't understand why people would pay that much for a cup of beer. And it wasn't even one cup. They would come back multiple times. Good thing I don't drink. I could never afford it! We didn't get home till midnight and I was up the next morning for berries.

I am not the type of person who can go back to bed once I am up and running but Saturday, WHEW! After berry picking, I went back to bed and managed to crawl out around 1PM. I would have slept longer but was having a guilt attack. Berry season is almost over so then maybe I can get those lazy sleep in mornings I dreamed about at the end of the school year.

There are still a number of things on the calendar for the rest of the summer. Connor, Bryce and Keith are going to the San Juan Islands for a biking High Adventure. Connor and Bryce are headed to AK to spend a couple of weeks with my brother. I have also promised the 3 youngers a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge when the boys are gone.

Not to complicate matters, we added another member to our family. Daisy, the puppy. What was I thinking???? It is like having a baby in the house again. We have to take her out in the middle of the night and again around 6 AM. Hopefully she will start sleeping through the night soon. I know I can use the sleep!

It's About Time

Wow! I really stink this year on the blog front. You would think from the lack of posts that we lead a boring and mundane life. Not so!

This Spring has really been trying. The weather has been awfully rainy and cold. If the calendar didn't say April, I would think it was January. Last weekend we did finally see some sun and what a difference! I am hoping for more bouts of sun and less of rain!

Since I haven't been keeping everything up to date, I'll have to give a quick run down of what has kept everyone so busy.

Connor - still really into shooting and has had some really successful matches. He is shooting well enough now that he has been moved up to "Expert" class. He's not happy about the move as it puts him at the bottom of his class. He is still young and has time to work his way up the ladder. He also joined the biking club at school and is looking forward to biking adventures with the group.

Bryce - joined football. Here they play middle school football in the Spring. He is having a great time and is really committed to the team. As a side bonus, his grades have been really good since joining and the missing assignment problem that has plagued him most of the year has all but disappeared.

Hunter - surviving middle school. I think the favorite part of his day is running home from school and beating Connor who rides a bike. Currently Hunter is not involved in any school activities but he is enjoying going to Young Men's.

Lauren - still dancing! She is wrapping up her year of ballroom dance. She only has a month until the end of the year recital. She plans to try out for the older performing group in the fall. She is also trying out with a couple of friends for the school talent show. I think they are doing a Taylor Swift song.

Kiersten - growing and learning so much! She is really becoming a good reader and I am impressed with how well she can sound out words. She has learned to ride a two wheel bike and loves to ride around the neighborhood. She is also in swimming lessons. I may try and put her in a session or two this summer. I haven't decided yet. She also had her first "wiggly" tooth. Not bad enough to fall out yet, but she keeps wiggling away.

Keith - working hard. Even though Keith gets to work from home a lot of the time, I try to keep him busy with "Honey-Do" lists. The last stretch he was home was spent building trellis frames for garden boxes, procuring soil for the boxes, trying to get the lawn looking better, fixing the lawn mower, and adding to our growing collection of camping gear.

Me - counting down the days till summer vacation! (Which are 34!) I have also been busy building our food storage. I have spent many hours since the Fall canning oddball stuff. My friends and I have canned chicken, butter, cheese, and hamburger. I love learning new things! Our next venture will be butchering chickens for meat. One of our friends is keeping 3 chickens for us that should be ready for butchering the end of May.

As you can see, our life is never dull. Most nights I go to bed exhausted and hope that dumb cat, Morgan, doesn't wake me up with his meowing! One of these days, I will actually post a picture or two on here even if it means making more than one blog post every couple of months. That's about it for now. Here's to more sun in the upcoming weeks!

Lost and Found

Sometime back in August Keith lost his keys. For those of you who know Keith, this is nothing unusual. He was on his way to work and realized while he was on the train that he didn't have his keys. He called the Transit Authority to see if his keys had been turned in with no luck. He checked the parking lot the van was parked in, no luck. He checked with businesses around the parking lot, no luck.

Under normal circumstances, losing your keys means getting copies made from the other set. The keys Keith lost were to our cars, one of which is a computer chip key. To replace that key was going to cost $80. We decided to forgo that expense and make due with switching keys back and forth between the 2 of us. We did make a copy of the van key which somehow I misplaced as I was headed out of town. We made another copy and everything was going almost as before.

Several times Keith called the Transit Authority to see if his keys had been turned in. Each time he was told no and they only keep keys for 10 days before throwing them away. A couple of weeks ago, Keith stopped by a King County Library to check out a book. They told him the Transit Authority had reported to the library they had found his keys. Keith called again and was told they didn't have his keys but then he mentioned the library said they had his keys.

Finally, that triggered a memory of his keys and YES! they did have them. This was almost 5 months after he lost them to begin with! The employee said usually they throw keys away after 10 days but since this key ring had 2 car remotes attached to it, they were sure somebody would be looking for it. My question is why every other time he called and described his keys was he told they didn't have them?

In any case, I am thankful Keith's keys were returned to him and we didn't have to spend the $80 on a new car key. I'm also thankful he had one of those annoying key ring bar codes attached to his keys that was his library card. I am convinced without that library card, we would never have seen his keys again.

December Already?

Every time I look at the calendar, it seems like weeks have slipped away without my knowledge. I suppose we are keeping busy enough that we aren't marking the passage of time.

Thanksgiving week we had a snow storm that closed the schools for a couple of days. Fortunately those days off fell before Thanksgiving. I was so thankful for the extra couple of days even if it means we will be making them up later this year. I was able to sleep in most days and prepare ahead of time for our Thanksgiving feast. It was also nice to be home bound. Every "normal" day involves running here and there so it was a blessing to be forced to stay home.

The tree is up. The cats have pulled ornaments off the tree. Keith's Christmas village is set up. The lights are up on the house. Most of the Christmas shopping is done. Only 7 more days of school till a 2 week break. I don't think I would be very sad if we had another snow storm that closed everything down again. Slow life down again.

Life as we know it

Every week I hope it will be slower than the last but it only seems to get busier. Between work and managing the kids schedules, some days I think I am going crazy! This week has been especially hectic. It is Parent/Teacher Conference week and the kids are expected to attend the conferences so they can be accountable for all their work. So far I have been to 2 conferences. Fortunately, both conferences went well and I am proud of how hard Hunter and Lauren have been working in school. I have Connor and Bryce's conferences tomorrow and Kiersten's on Monday. I am sure those conferences will be good as well.

Yesterday while I was still serving lunch, I sent Kiersten to the library to check out the book fair. She would come tell me how much the book was and I would send her back to find a cheaper book. Finally she settled on a book that I agreed on based on the price. I only had a $20 bill, so I sent her back to the library to pay for her $4 book. She came back so excited and said, "Now I have lots of Park City money!" I told her it was my money and she said, "But they gave it to me in my bag!" Of course it looked like a lot of money too because they gave her change in all $1 bills. It was so funny and just goes to show how much this girl loves to shop. She is saving her pennies for Utah this summer and shopping at the outlets in Park City.

The kids are excited for Halloween. Any excuse to dress up and get candy is a winner in their book. I will have to post pictures later when they are all in costume. Hunter is reusing Bryce's costume from several years ago. Not sure what it is but some sort of spook. Lauren is going to be a vampire. We talked Kiersten into wearing Hunter's old undead pirate costume from a couple of years ago too. She went from wanting to be a fairy princess to a pirate. I'm glad she could be accommodating. I'm not sure if Connor and Bryce will dress up.

I am headed to bed. Lucky for me and Kiersten, we don't have school again until Monday. I am really looking forward to sleeping in! The older kids have half days the rest of the week but still have to get up in the morning. I hope they are considerate and leave me to my slumber!

Reflections

I am always amazed at how quickly time passes. When you are in the moment, it seems to take forever to get through the day, the week, and even the month. Afterwords, you look back and wonder where the time went.

I have spent a lot of time thinking today. What is special about today? Connor and Bryce turned 14 years old. On one hand, it makes me sad that they are getting so old; but on the other, it is rewarding to see them grow and develop their unique personalities.

When Connor and Bryce were born, I was so overwhelmed with the thought of 2 babies. Due to their prematurity, they had to remain in the NICU for a couple of weeks. From the beginning, Connor was the stronger of the two, a definite leader. I never worried about Connor while he was in the hospital. He did everything he needed to do as a premie, he just needed to gain more weight.

Bryce worried me from the beginning. He had to be placed on a ventilator for a couple of days. Then his sucking reflex wasn't working right. Finally it all came together and he came home two days after Connor.

I still see some of these traits in the boys. Connor is still very much a leader. He is ahead of the game and school is a piece of cake for him. He is still skinny but is starting to "grow" muscles. Connor has been very involved this past year in competitive shooting. He has won many matches and plans to continue improving his scores so hopefully he gets invited to the Olympic Training Center. Also he wants to earn a college scholarship with his skills. He is also trying to get an online aquarium store going. He sells aquarium supplies and just received the first order from his website today.

Bryce is a follower. School isn't easy but the social aspect of it makes school bearable for him. Bryce has tried many different activities and just can't seem to settle on one that makes him happy. He is hoping to take up archery and wants a bow for his birthday. Bryce is very much in the "now". He doesn't want to think about the future, the everyday stuff is enough for him.

No matter what happens today, next year, or 10 years down the road, Connor and Bryce will always by my sons. I will always be proud of their accomplishments, big or small. I will always love them.