Catching Up Daybook Style

For today...March 31, 2014

Outside my window...it's cloudy and a little cool this morning, high today is 76 so it's going to be a perfect Florida spring day!

On my mind...today...lots to do and we're all having trouble getting started.  I'm so happy it's Monday though and especially happy for a Monday after Spring Break.  I can only take so much of Spring Break (and Christmas break and summer break...).  I guess I'm a routine kind of person, I end up in such a funk after too many unstructured days out of my normal routine.  We had a week off from school, theatre, and soccer and it all starts back up today!

In my prayers...praying for many families impacted by cancer and death, praying for my kids and praying that God would be real to them, always praying for my marriage, and praying for peace to reign in my mind--I feel so crazy sometimes when my thoughts are all over the place.

Over Spring Break...we had a good spring break.  I decided to take the whole week off from school so that we could enjoy family time and so that the kids could hang out with friends too.  This mostly worked except that two of Grace's virtual school teachers needed her to do a little work since the week before she had turned nothing in.  So, she spent a few hours doing school but Hannah and Joe had the week off.  We had a good balance of home days and doing fun stuff.  On Tuesday we went to Sanibel Island.  I had always wanted to go there and it did not disappoint.  I just wish we had longer but that didn't work out this week.  We spent the afternoon there, having lunch with friends and playing on the beach.  It was relaxing and a beautiful day!  On Thursday we spent the morning kayaking and had a great time.  We kayaked on a lake and it was a lot of work, I'm thinking kayaking on a river would be easier.  We'll have to try that next.  The rest of the week we did some home projects, relaxed, kids went to friends' houses, etc.  It was a good week!

Theatre...the weekend before Spring Break was Music Man.  Six shows over four days and it was busy but lots of fun.  It was a great show!  Pictures and videos coming soon!  Peter Pan and Senior Tour start this week.  My kids are loving Peter Pan so far, they've read the scripts, chosen parts that they want, and listened to the music and are already practicing.  Everybody's excited to start back today!  Auditions will be next week so tensions will run high until then.

Soccer...Joe kicked the soccer ball around a lot this past week but didn't have normal practices due to spring break.  He got some tips from our friend that we visited in Sanibel while they played on the beach.  He has practice today and two games on Thursday and he can't wait to get back to it!

Reading...I read Sailing to Capri by Elizabeth Adler this week.  It was a good book, not amazing but did keep my interest.  Now I'm onto the second book in the Divergent trilogy.  I think I like it...I definitely want to read it but I'm sort of not in the mood for the Dystopianness right now...I'm still reading it though.  On my nightstand I have Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson, it has been highly recommended and I loved the last Eva Ibbotson book I read.  I have two more but can't remember what they are right now.

A quote that made me think..this is what Glennon from Momastery wrote after her little girl told her that all of the little girls in her class wrote that they want their  moms to be happy..."Holy crap, you guys. We’ve got to get our joy back. We think it’s love to allow our roles –mother, wife, volunteer, career woman – to consume us like a fire until we can’t even be seen anymore – but that’s not love. I think our kids want to really see us. They want us to leave a part of ourselves unconsumed so they can see us. I think our kids want to see us come alive sometimes. Our kids never asked for martyrs. It is not love to allow yourself – your spirit – to be buried and then fade away."  I am TOTALLY guilty of this and have been struggling lately as a result.  I have felt wrung out and grumpy as I live my life for everyone else but myself.  I am struggling with the balance of the "selflessness" that the Bible speaks of and following the idea of "J-O-Y--Jesus, Others, Yourself."  I really have no answers about how to find this balance.  I just know that I want and need to have joy and for my kids to see that their mom is happy and content with life.

On that note...I need to go get started with my day!

Seven Quick Takes

1.  Remember this--scroll down through the post--last June I had a chalazion removed from my eye and it turned out to be quite an ordeal.  Well, at the end of November my chalazion returned...once you get one of these you are forever prone to them...yay me.  Anyway, it came back right in the middle of the crazy show season for us and I didn't take action soon enough.  By action, I mean doing warm compresses regularly.  One thing I stink at is self-care.  Anyway, I eventually got better about doing the warm compresses but I guess it was too late and they were completely ineffective.  So, I went to the eye doc today and had it removed.  I am smarter this time and was prepared and asked for extra patches for my eye so I don't need to resort to the pirate patch.  I also have a plan for not getting another one--warm, moist compress for a few minutes a day and then scrubbing my eyelid with an expensive, fancy eyelid scrub wipe.  Every day.  I'm trying to make flossing every day a habit too so I'll do these two things together.  I will take care of myself.  I will take care of myself.  Maybe I'll do a breast exam while I'm at it.  :0)

2.  I bought myself a few new songs the other day and loaded them onto my phone as well as my iPod.  I'm enjoying listening to a couple of Newsies songs, Let it Go, a song from Shrek the musical that ends in a farting contest, a new Danny Gokey song, and a new to me Sarah Groves song called Just Showed For My Own Life.  I also downloaded an app that plays podcasts and downloaded a bunch of different podcasts.  As with my tastes in music and books, my taste in podcasts varies wildly--I got a few from a homeschooling mom, Heidi St. John, one Church Planter broadcast by Peyton Jones, a Through the Word by Chuck Smith, two from This American Life (Ira Glass), and two from Radiolab.  I plan to listen to them and see which ones are worth subscribing to.  I have no idea when I'll have much time to listen to them but I do spend some time in my car alone and I do have an adapter to play my phone through my speakers.  The Busy Mom ones (Heidi St. John) are only about 5 minutes (perfect for a busy mom) and I listened to a few of them the other day.  They were good and I'll probably subscribe to her.  At the eye doctor today I brought in headphones and they let me listen to my music while she did the procedure.  It was fast--fast enough that I only listened to one song--Seize the Day from the Newsies.  I focused on every word of that song and it made the whole experience easier.

3.  Joe is absolutely loving soccer.  He scored a goal tonight at practice.  They had split up their team into two teams and had a scrimmage.  There wasn't a goalie so it wasn't that hard to score a goal except that he had to get the ball away from another kid and kick it into the goal.  He's only had four practices and gets better and better.  I don't think he really has much idea of the rules of the game yet but he knows enough to play--get the ball, get to the goal, kick it in, don't use your hands.  He has to miss his team's first game next Thursday for a performance of Music Man and he's super bummed.

4.  Music Man is next weekend.  There are 6 performances over 4 days and Grace and Joe are in all 6 shows.  Hannah is in 4 of the shows.  If you're local you should come see it!  It's going to be GREAT!!  I've watched lots of rehearsals and this is one that shouldn't be missed (I know, I always say that...).  They get a week off after Music Man and then start Peter Pan.  The first couple of weeks of that will be stressful.  Hannah and Grace both have specific parts they really want and of course they are the same parts that every girl in theatre will want--Wendy and Tinkerbell.  So, hopefully they'll have good auditions and hopefully they'll both get the part they want.  :0)  Senior Tour rehearsals also start up after Music Man so it will be a busy couple of months for us theatre-wise.

5.  We are cruising along through school and it's going really well.  I know a lot of homeschoolers aren't fond of Florida Virtual School but I LOVE it.  We haven't had a bad experience (except with spanish but that was when Hannah was in 6th grade) and my girls have learned so much.  This year they are both taking Science and English.  Yes, the science teaches evolution, and yes they believe in a creator God.  Not a big deal.  It's good for them to hear both sides so they can know why they believe what they believe.  I plan to have Hannah do almost exclusively virtual school next year.  The only thing she won't do through virtual school is history.  I'm even having her do math on virtual school which I thought I would never do.  But--she's taking Geometry and that's not my strong point and she does so well with virtual school.

6.  I've been reading a ton--I have read everything by Rainbow Rowell and loved it.  Her books aren't "clean" and there is definitely language but I love them.  I also read a couple by Jojo Moyes that were excellent.  The Rosie Project was one of my favorites told from the perspective of a man with Aspberger's.  I also read Divergent and LOVED it.  Very Hunger Gamesish but a great story.  I can't wait to get the next two from the library.  I'm on a pretty long wait list for them though.  I just started A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson and so far I really like it.  It's set in Europe right around the beginning of WWII at a boarding school.

7.  I taught the K/1st grade class in Sunday School last week and as usual I was completely unprepared.  I had to get there an hour early though so Grace could rehearse with the worship team and so I prepped.  Then a little while later I taught and as often happens....I was taught by God himself.  First of all, I was reading out of The Jesus Storybook Bible, reading about Jesus choosing and calling his disciples.  It talked about how Jesus didn't need the strong, the mighty, the intelligent, mostly he just wanted men who NEEDED him.  How beautiful is that.  The rest of the lesson focused on obeying God as our master and not having any other idols before him.  I fail at this a lot.  I often battle against a daily quiet time and instead want to get on FB.  I fill my every hour with activity or reading or the computer and struggle with being still and letting God speak.  I started Sunday morning out all grumbly about having to teach and ended it feeling loved by my God and blessed to be taught by Him while I was serving Him.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

So many books, so little time....it's my hobby to go to the library and check out books, lots of books.  Books for me, books that I think the kids will like, just books.  Hannah volunteers at the library and she always comes home with books.  There are always stacks of books in my house and I love it.  I would say only about 25% of these books actually get read because really, who has time to read that many books??  My dream has always been that my kids would love to read and as they get older I'm seeing that dream come true.  They are busy with school and theatre and spend too much time on their iPods but they all read regularly and for that I am thankful!

 A few weeks ago Grace read a children's book at a local bookstore for a Skippyjon Jones book party.  Skippyjon is after my kids' time so I hadn't heard of him but I listened to Grace read two of the books and I think everyone with little kids should read Skippyjon.  What a funny cat!

 Below--Joe reading on the couch.  Love the way he chose to sit and how oblivious he is to everything else.  A good book will do that!  I especially love that he reads because he also plays hours of video games a day.

 Speaking of Joe, he turned 11 last Thursday!  We had a full day of celebrating.  We went out for pizza for lunch and then later picked up two of his friends and went out for ice cream and spent a few hours at the park.  They had a blast and are great friends for Joe.

 After the park it was home for birthday dinner.  I had prepped it earlier and the girls finished cooking it for me.  We had mustard dill salmon (Joe's favorite way to eat fish), garlic mashed potatoes, corn, and brussel sprouts.  Yes, he chose this meal--weird, I know.

 Then for dessert--peanut butter and jelly pie made by his sisters!

 On Friday we left to spend the weekend at Disney.  Fun times were had by all as evidenced by the pictures.  We stayed at the Boardwalk and as soon as we got our stuff put away we jumped on one of those Surrey bikes and nearly killed ourselves pedaling around the Boardwalk.  We even had to be PUSHED up a hill by some bystanders who felt bad for us.  It was great fun and Uncle Billy and I only suffered with sore leg muscles for a few days.  On Saturday we spent the day at Epcot and had dinner in Germany.  GREAT food and fun entertainment.

 Joe went to the store with me and joined me for a little coffee date.  He loves iced chai tea.  Below is a picture from the semi-dress rehearsal at theatre.  Music Man, Jr. coming soon!

 And, in other news, Joe started soccer on Monday night.  He loved it and can't wait for his next practice tonight.

 These pictures require a rant...I have not been hanging clothes out to dry lately because I've just been too busy but honestly, hanging out clothes is one of my favorite household chores, weird, I know.  Anyway, so on Monday I hung out clothes, it was a nice warm day and I had time (relatively).  Here's the thing though, I got them out but they didn't come back in until Tuesday when it started raining.  This picture was taken Tuesday morning before it rained.  And, the rain was incredibly short lived, just long enough for me to panic and grab all of the clothes off the line and then it stopped and the sun came out and I could have left the clothes out to dry...

Living the Dream

I am spending my morning like I spend most mornings, drinking coffee and surfing the internet reading blogs and checking FB, yep, my fast didn't last long but I have reigned in my FB time considerably and feeling better overall.  Part of that is that life has finally calmed down as much as it's going to.  As in--we have no travel plans looming, we didn't just get back from a trip, we have no guests, we don't plan to have any guests, and my kids are in only one show.  It's still crazy and this week seems especially busy but compared to November, December, and January it's really not that big a deal.  I often start to feel guilty about "wasting" so much time in the morning but the truth is that once I put my bra on and start my day I really don't slow down or stop until at least 8 at night and sometimes later.  I have consistently been getting up and reading my Bible and listening to the Thru The Word message for the day (loving this app!!) before having my coffee and computer time so it's not a completely wasted morning.  Three mornings a week I tutor at 9:30 and at 9:15 I'm usually flying around fixing Joe's breakfast and getting my bra on and brushing my teeth before my student gets here.  Today I have to do all of that early because I have to go pick up Hannah and Madi from the gym and take Madi home before I tutor.  I've encouraged Hannah to get to the gym more (not because she needs to but because we are paying for it!!  Her too...she pays half) but that means I have to get to the gym more too to take her or pick her up.  I'm okay with it though, it's part of this season of life as a taxi driver.  We get about 15 minutes of alone time in the car and it's good to chat.

....almost a week later....

I think I started that post last Wednesday.  Crazy how fast time flies by when you're living the full life.  There has been a lot of talk amongst my group of lady friends lately about how time is going to fast and our kids are growing up too fast.  We have had such a good time looking at old pictures and remembering.  Time has definitely flown by and I miss the days of having little ones around but I can look back and know that I truly lived that life and embraced that time with my kids.  I have no regrets about not spending enough time with them.  I spent all of my days with my kids and we did so much and I have poured myself into them.  I still do but in a different way.  In some ways, I spend much less time with them but I am still living life closely with them.  I drive them places, I spend time doing school with them and talking about school, we eat dinner together almost every night.  But, I can also spend 4 hours on a Saturday with my nose buried in a book and I refuse to feel guilty about it.  I had a good mom/bad mom thought today.  I know most moms do this---I feel like a good mom when I feel like I've spent quality time with my kids, met their needs, made sure their teeth were brushed, made sure they ate something healthy.  Then I feel like a bad mom when I realize Joe hasn't showered in a week, or I forgot to feed him lunch, or haven't looked Hannah in the eye and given her my full attention all day, or let something else take priority over teaching Grace her math lesson and the list goes on.  After having a good mom moment and thought I decided that I'm done with this pendulum...I AM a good mom all of the time even when I have done a "bad" mom thing.  It's time to stop being so hard on myself and just relax and be happy and thankful and embrace this blessing of this crazy life I lead.  When all is said and done, I'm living my dream!