Levels and Travels and Bursitis, oh my!

It's been a whirlwind of a fall and winter so far. When we turned the calendar to October, we were looking forward to pretty average fall and winter. The biggest "stuff" on our radar was all the "lasts" of life with Jacob still living under our roof full time. But shortly thereafter, things got crazy.

We took on this major addition/remodel/house project. It will be so, so wonderful once it is finished, but it most certainly throws a wrench into regular family life!

Then a couple weeks later the two older girls and I were offered the opportunity to spend Christmas in Cebu at CSC. We gave it only a few minutes of thought before we were in. So there were passports to get. And tickets. And plans to be made. And packing to do.

Then in November I was diagnosed with bursitis in both my hips. It was good to have a diagnosis and to know what was going on to cause all my hip pain. So that started a journey of PT to work on healing and diminished pain.

What was looking like a calm season took a turn. A crazy turn, but a turn that would lead to lots of fabulous destinations. Life is nothing if not a crazy ride!

Hello. Hello.

I miss writing! I'm not sure if there are any readers left out there, but I'm going to try and get back at it. So, if you are still there, thanks . . .

multitude monday {evening edition}

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts":

1800. book club
1801. lots more christmas crafting
1802. buying myself a christmas present
1803. helpful, knowledgeable friends who can help you make decisions
1804. our advent reading each day as a family
1805. being introduced to a wonderful ministry :: 3seams {fantastic company & treats at the same time made it a nearly perfect evening}
1806. no school on Friday :: a family fun day!
1807. Soul Surfer {a miraculous story made it to a great movie!}
1808. a little more friend time and a movie on a snowy Saturday afternoon {unless I counted wrong it was my 2nd time in a theater in 2011 :: I know, I live quite the charmed life!}
1809. my gracious, loving husband who puts up with me when I'm a maniac {and when I'm not}
1810. my wonderful mother!
1811. the long-awaited appointment with the shoulder specialist and the fabulous news that my shoulder does not look like it will require surgery {praise God!}
1812. a working camera again, after it wasn't working {if you turn it off and on and take out and charge the battery and take the lens off and put it back on again and take out the memory card and re-insert it, one of those might fix your problem :: it worked for me!}
1813. a beautiful Christmas tree in my living room
1814. our new {fun} Elf on the Shelf family tradition

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

thankful thursday

Today I'm thankful for a week that's {so far} pretty much normal. Without the extreme amount of drama and tension and anxiety and tears and lamenting as last week. {Don't get me wrong, our week has held all of that, but not as disproportionately as last week -- and for that, I'm thankful!}

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34 (MSG)

what's new?

Joey lost his first tooth!

after a month of wiggling::

Anna was so wiped out she fell asleep sitting up::

the view from up here::

what's new with you?

It takes all kinds . . .

I love to people-watch. The variety of people in the world -- heck, just in my neighborhood -- is amazing to me. Some so very much like me and some very, very much not!

• We took the family to The Mall of America {or "The Mall of The Merica", as Joe calls it} the other day and I saw at least 4 or 5 heads full of really bad 80's hair. What's with that? Please tell me that's not coming back!
• I was watching Rebekah at swim practice yesterday morning {while also working on a little project}. Now, in the vicinity of the outdoor pool at 9 am there isn't the variety of people that there is at, say, 3 in the afternoon. You've got the swim team kids at practice, a few lifeguards in red suits and a half dozen or so lap-swimmers {the pool isn't open for general, fun, playful swimming in the morning -- only lap swim, swim team practice and water aerobics}. If it's a water aerobics day, you can add to that about 20 ladies {I'm not being sexist here, it's just quite rare that you find a man in a water-X class} in sunglasses. Occassionaly, there's a swim team parent or two {like me!} watching practice in shorts and a t-shirt, often looking like they maybe brought their kiddo to practice straight from bed {I often fit in this category!}. Practice starts at 8:30. So, as I sit in my chair yesterday morning watching my little fish in the water, out walks a surprise: an overly-perfumed woman in a bikini with a pink bag with "Victoria's Secret" written on it in big letters made from sparkly silver sequins. Now, most lap swimmers wear one piece Speedo-type suits {or if you're a guy, usually tight-fitting trunks}, a swim cap and goggles. There are a few exceptions, but 99% of the adults you see in the pool in the morning hours are pretty much "in uniform". So, this lady didn't quite fit the mold. {I'm reminded of the Sesame Street jingle, "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong."}. I thought she was going to get in the pool and start swimming laps, so I watched and waited . . . Turned out she just wanted to "lay out" {at 9 am?} and work on her tan and read the newspaper. You see plenty of that at the Y, but not usually at such an early hour!

summer list::

I've mentioned it before and some of you were curious, so here's a little more info on our "summer list" tradition. {better late than never, right?}

For the past few years, we sit down as a family near-ish to the beginning of summer and brainstorm our "summer list" for the year. Anything that is spoken will be written down. If Jacob says he would like to "go to the moon" this summer, I'll write it on the list . . . although the chances that we'll take a summer trip to the moon are pretty much nil! Then, as we are looking for ideas of what to do with our days during the summer, we consult our list. Often during our list-making, one idea leads to another which leads to another. Many times we do really fun things that weren't even on the list {like last Saturday when we went to Split Rock Lighthouse and visited Duluth, or the weekend before when we went to the Kelley Farm}. Many things on the list remain undone by summer's end. But, we like having the list to consult from time to time. I try hard to write down dates of things from the list that we've done, so we can remember that, contrary to what the kids often say and think, we do do fun things. Things they wanted to do in the first place!

Here is our list for the Summer of 2010 {click on the pictures to enlarge them so they are big enough to read}::

How do you decide what fun things you will do with your summer? {We do a similar -- although abbreviated version -- for other breaks too::Christmas winter break and spring break, for example}

You'll notice there's still lots of stuff that we haven't done yet this summer that they kids would like to do. Hopefully we'll get around to a bunch more of them in this last month of summer break {we will go to the State Fair, no question about that. It's a given. You just can't go until the 2nd Thursday before Labor Day, so we still have a few more weeks until we even have opportunity to check that one off!} We never intend to do them all, but it's fun to dream big. Also, some of them are givens that we do very often, if not every day::play outside, family walks, etc. I don't even bother writing dates on those usually, but, trust me, they're getting done! So, yup, we do eat supper {which was an item someone wanted added to the list!} . . . most every night even!

Here's to a fun last bit of summer for us . . . and for you. Enjoy!

Thankful Thursday

Last night was a good night!

I said yesterday that I feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water lately with the adjustment to the new school year, new job, new schedule and all that jazz. Plus I just have about a million things to do {like I always do}. Not to mention all the normal, day to day stuff that has to go on to keep this place runnin': laundry, homework, clipping 50 fingernails and 50 toenails that get disgustingly long with incomprehensible speed, packing lunches, paying bills, bathing small people, cleaning, feeding people, buying groceries, changing diapers and on and on. A big part of the problem is that our evenings have been insanely busy and scheduled the past 2 weeks. We have discovered that that is NOT a good thing {we've been a little slow to catch on to this lesson}. Even though we are passionate, and often gifted, at the things that are taking up our evenings, they are often not the best choice for our family. I think people might have the impression sometimes {wrong, though it is} that we parent our 5 kids rather effortlessly and can take on one more "little" thing without it effecting our family too much. That is just NOT true. It's a lot of work for us to parent the kids and often stresses us out. We adore our kids and, I think, handle having 5 kids better than lots of people would, but it still is LOTS of work! We need to re-evaluate some stuff and prioritize our family a little higher once again. {I feel like this is a never-ending cycle in our lives. We get to this "valley" point and re-evaluate and cut back. Then we cruise along nicely for a while. Then we forget how bad it really was and, a little at a time, add "small" things back in that bring us back to point A again where we start the whole thing over. The whole process is emotionally draining and stresses me out!}

Just a little side note: I have not read more than 3 consecutive pages in a book of my choosing or made even 1 card in weeks and weeks. If you know me at all, that is a BIG deal. Also, it makes me a little less fun than usual when I'm deprived of these "me" things in my life!

Ok, so back to the "thankful" part {you thought I forgot and was just going to gripe the whole time, didn't you?} I am thankful for our evening yesterday! All 7 of us were home. We sat down to a non-rushed, yummy dinner together. Homework got done, for a change, without much complaining or procrastinating. We took a walk and played at the park. It was a beautiful late summer night!! {I hope you were outside too!} Kirb did have to be gone for a little bit, but it was after Anna was already sleeping and the other kids were getting ready for bed . . . and, he returned before they were even sleeping. Amazing! I can't go anywhere "quickly"! So, I know that, technically, we weren't ALL together for the ENTIRE night, but it was WAY, way better than we have been doing at being all together for an evening in a really long time!

On top of that, we {Kirb and I} were in bed by just after 10, which is also kind of unheard of around here. Often, I'll fall asleep on the couch around 10ish while Kirb keeps working or watching a movie or something. Then he'll wake me up, I'll brush my teeth and get into bed. But that's really not the same AT ALL as being in your own bed kind early. On top of getting into bed early, I also got to sleep all night long. Anna has been sick the past 3 or 4 days and has NOT been sleeping well. She did wake up once last night and needed a little more Tylenol, but Kirb took care of it! {Honestly, I didn't even hear her or notice that she needed anything until I felt Kirb getting back into bed.} Ahhh. What a difference all that makes when it comes time to get up in the morning.

Have a great day!

A fun evening as a family. A good nights sleep. I am thankful!