Here we go again (and a goal for March)

When I get this far behind I dread doing “catch-up” posts because those tend to be boring and lacking the realness and fun of more frequent posts of everyday life.  However, the fact is: I’m behind (Hello, ZERO posts in February!?!?) and I can either allow myself to get further and further behind (or gasp! stop blogging completely!) or I can attempt to “catch-up” and try to get back to recording our everyday.  I’m choosing the former.

Actually, as I type this and realize it is March 1st – a new month – I’ll set myself a goal to post daily this month.  Hopefully, this will also give me a bit of a nudge to pick up my good camera and take some pictures!

Sports, sports, sports… 

Abigail has been busy playing middle school soccer.  Unlike volleyball and basketball where they dominated the opposing middle schools, her soccer season is thus far without a single win.  No wins, means no pictures.  Kidding, I’ve actually only made it to one game this year and didn’t take my camera.

Abigail finally officially wrapped up her fall soccer season in January when the team gathered together for a team party and recognition.  Her last game with the team was back in November, but they went on to win district in December.  Because the end of the season placement/championship games were all on Sunday Abigail missed the last month of practices and games.  Even with that she scored more than half of the teams goals – 26 goals during the season!  That’s my girl!

Carly has one more week of basketball.  She continues to be a strong and competitive player.  At this age they can now take the ball from the opposing team.  In years past I’ve been frustrated they couldn’t steal the ball, but now after watching the kids fight over the ball all. the. time. it seems ok to wait until the kids are older.

The wife of Carly’s basketball coach asked Carly to play lacrosse this spring.  Practices started this past week and we are excited to experience our first lacrosse season this year.

Justin and I tested out our racing skills with some friends.  Turns out I pretty much stink at racing and landed in second to last place in all three races.  It was a fun date though and I’m sure I redeemed myself in the games that followed later that evening.

School…

The Seahawks once again headed to the Superbowl.  It’s so fun to live in a community that supports their home team in a big way.   The kids’ schools have done some fun pictures in the past – this year they went BIG and combined both the elementary school and middle school for a picture.  

Last month Jason kept coming home with wet socks – apparently his shoes had a hole (or two or three).  Nothing a little duck tape couldn’t handle until we could get him new ones.  That combined with pajama day, made for quite the outfit.

Carly’s 5th grade concert was last month and she was excited to play the African drums during one of the songs.  How my children have musical talent amazes me.

Because Justin was working from home last Friday I was able to attend my first middle school awards ceremony.  This is Abigail’s 6th term of middle school and her 6th 4.0GPA.   She also received an award for athlete of the week.  This girl is amazing!

I am grateful that Abigail has so many wonderful friends!  It’s so funny to me that even from toddlerhood Abigail seems to always have a close friendship with someone MUCH shorter than her.  I don’t think she thinks anything of it (she still loves being tall), but it makes for some fun pictures.

Household Happenings…

Our house is undergoing some exciting changes.  In January we finally got around to painting our bedroom.  I posted a picture on Instagram of my painting outfit with the caption, “Putting on my hand-me-down, floral maternity capris can only mean one thing.”  

Hours later, when I finally stopped painting and picked up my phone, I had missed multiple phone calls, had several text messages, and many comments on Instagram.  Never had I thought so many people would interpret that to mean I was pregnant!  The comments were hilarious and some even super sweet.  I immediately posted the following picture with a much needed clarification.

In addition to adding some color to our bedroom, after 10 years of wanting a beautifully organized office, my dream is finally coming true.  It’s taking lots of coordination and time trying to make sure it all comes together and looks great.  I pretty much came up with layout and design of the cabinetry so it’s all on me.  We’re currently working on getting the office painted – and wowzers!  We are going BOLD!  I posted this sneak peak yesterday on Instagram.

I knew it was going to be bright, and would likely time some time to get used to, so I promised myself I’d give it six months to grow on me.

We took a mini-vacation during mid-winter break (post to come), but when we got home we got to work (mixed in with a little play).  Turns out my kids like checking off boxes much like their mom.  After their normal chores they each had some optional chores they could earn beads for.  I suppose my bead system requires a post of it’s own, but in summary – I’m not a fan of allowances.  My kiddos are required to work, clean and babysit without pay.  Anyhow... we got quite a bit accomplished and I think the kids are actually excited to do something similar for spring break.

In other news…

We got together with one of our favorite families in January to bid them farewell see-you-later as they move to Eastern Washington.   When we met the Andros family only three of these kiddos had been born.  We will miss them!

Our community holds a Daddy Daughter dance each February.  Justin took Abigail and Carly for the first few years we were here.  I think we skipped last year.  But we knew Katie would be thrilled to have a special date with her Daddy and boy, were we right!  The evening was themed around Candyland and each daughter was sent home with a big swirly sucker.  She sure LOVES her Daddy!

Had I been home when they were getting ready I’m pretty sure I would have done something with Katie’s hair.  Still a cutie!

We  give out handmade Valentines cards every year – I’m not even ashamed to admit that we saved just enough Halloween candy for Jason and Carly’s.

When I was young I remember checking my bed at night for spiders.  I’d look under the sheets and brush my hands across to makes sure I wasn’t crawling in bed with any creatures.  One morning during mid-winter break last month I ran with a different partner at my fastest pace.  Boy was I ready for a nap…

Can you see all five kiddos under there?  No nap for the weary!

Last weekend we broke all records and experienced all five children puking within a 24 hour period.  I can’t even remember having two kids sick like that.  When Justin and I got into bed at 10:30pm Saturday night we counted over 15 vomiting episodes in the following two hours.  It was actually a little humorous and thankfully the messes were kept to a minimum as buckets were constantly kept within reach.

A protective path from Katie’s room to the bathroom.  We had a similar path from the bonus room where Jason was sleeping.

Our Sabbath

Not much change several hours later…

Thankfully, everyone was feeling better quickly and back at school Monday morning.  The weather has been wonderful lately.  We had more than our usual amount of sunshine and it’s been great to see the kids outside playing again.  Jason has several buddies in the neighborhood.  Saturday they got our ball stuck up in a tree.  It was so funny to see the three of them trying to figure out how to get it down.

Phew, did anyone make it this far?  If so you are much more patient than I.  Here’s to shorter future posts and the start of my March goal.