Reflections on 2023 Goals

 Goals for 2023:

- Complete the Love & Respect workbook with Doug, there are 52 chapters so should be able to do 1/wk (I have seriously had this book back from Andrew days, never did it, and think it could only benefit us) - We did about 15 chapters.

- Complete a Parenting from Surviving to Thriving workbook together, 12 chapters, so 1/month - We completed 2 chapters. This workbook was pretty intense with each chapter being about an hour of reading/questions/reflections on our own childhoods and it was a good reference, but took a lot of time and thought. 

- Date nights 12x a year, finish our dance lessons CD together, and attend a marriage conference - We probably had about 6 date nights. We were doing good with our date trades with another couple friend until some issues came up, so we need to get back to hiring babysitters. We did some of the dance CD lessons, did not finish. And did not attend a marriage conference. We DID go on one short getaway cruise alone together for our anniversary, so that was great. 

- Purchase a new rental property - Nope. The still high Seller's market, 8% interest rates, etc were just not in our favor again this year. But our rental property is still going well, so we are thankful for that. 

- Use my harp lessons gift certificate Doug got me when I turned 40 - No, still need to!

- Make a school decision for our son, keep him in school or move to a hybrid/homeschool option - Yes. We made a decision to do the hybrid/homeschool option this year. I think we are mostly pleased with the decision? Some of the pros and cons are exactly the same thing. Pro= he's at home more; Con= he's at home more (lol)  = more work, more fighting, less time to spread between 3 kids. I do feel he is learning well. He obviously likes being home more having more time to play and more flexibility. The teaching him to read has been really hard. Next month we are going to hire a weekly tutor to hopefully help jumpstart his reading  a little better. It will be a whole new world when he can read. When we ask him if he likes this school option better, he says no, but always like something "I miss the playground" (the hybrid school meets in a church with no playground), or he misses his old friends. We have noticed that last year he would very very frequently ask strangers if they believed in God (his old school's motto was "share Christ's story with love") and we've noticed that settling down, which is a shame. I think the Wednesday chapel the old school used to have can be livestreamed, so I've been thinking about having him watch that weekly so he can still have that Godly aspect of school. The hybrid school is mostly ran by Christians, but since it is state funded, it is a neutral school. So we definitely miss that Christian aspect. But overall we do think it is working well for our family, so we plan to continue on next year for him as well as for our new kindergartener. 

- Complete the 10 minute plan (I did her 12 week postnatal plan pretty much on repeat all of 2022 so I'm ready to move to the next level) - I'm 1/3 done! I still ended up repeating the postnatal plan almost most of the year. I had some Diastasis Recti, even 2 years post pregnancy, and I was so afraid of moving on to her new program and maybe making it worse. So over the summer I did about 10 weeks of Physical Therapy to get that closed. When I finally got it good enough to "graduate" I started the new plan. I'm in phase 2 now, and I do like it, altho it's actually not as challenging as the prenatal one believe it or not. But she says phase 2 and phase 3 will progress, so maybe. I've already bought her Firm30 series to try after I finish this one. 

- Read through the pile of books that has been on my nightstand for years now

- Another year, another no. BUT I feel like I have to stop being so hard on myself about this one. Every year I read at least 10 books for book club. And I've read 3 of the Narnia books with August. And I know I've bought/been gifted prob 4 or 5 other books that I'm trying to work my way through. I was thinking about it, a fiction book I can just slam through in about 3 late nights on the couch, but these non-fiction, life changing books, just need so much thought and reflection, they are a slow go. 

Books (parenting) I did love this year:

30 short chapters, and helpful. I keep it in the bathroom for quick moments of "alone time" lol. Definitely worth the continual re-read. 

Only halfway through this one, but LOVING it. 

This was one I was surprised I liked so much, but it might be my favorite mothering book I've read. 

- Complete this prayer journal (I like it's weekly and not daily, seems more attainable) - I made several weeks in, I liked it, just couldn't make it a habit I guess. 

- Transition the girls into sharing a room (after 15+ months, we need the baby out of our room!) - Yes! Once we finally made the switch everything went fine. This was one of those things that I just was so anxious about forever, but when we finally just made a decision and did it, it was a lot smoother than I'd imagined. There was a little difficulty because I still nursed her at night, but she was starting to finally slow down at that point anyway, and was done nursing altogether a few months later. 

The room before:

Jeanie got a new bed, I found it by the road in our neighborhood. I knew it was a Grandma's house and she'd only used it for watching her granddaughter for sleepovers. I painted it white for my girl. 

Lucy's side got decorated for her. 

The girls' growth pictures, bookcase, and little collections. 

A room for 2 little girls:

- Get Jeanie potty trained - Yes! She's been most of the second half of the year accident free and that has been great. She goes without even telling me, or needing help, so that's been great. 

- Think about a job/career switch - Thought about it. Deciding to stay in my spot. I think I'd like to go to Mother/Baby, but would have to work midnights. I can't even fathom that logistically now, but maybe could revisit this when all the kids are in school, even the hybrid school, but we are about 3-4 years away from that anyway. But who knows, if we lose our parent babysitters at some point, we might have to make some sort of changes before then anyway. 

- Find some way to streamline cooking/cleaning/laundry??? - I know what works best is to have a list of 10 meals and just always have the ingredients to make them. I've had a big tupperware of fresh veggies that people grab from for lunches/snacks. But I do get annoyed that it's 99% me peeling/cutting/chopping those biweekly. Doug is a great help with grocery shopping tho. The second half of the year we have hired someone to come clean once a month. So at least once a month I have washed floors. Which is a lot more frequent than I could say before that. We got a cordless stick vacuum that I love and even August can use it to zip around and clean up after meals. And we got a very expensive new vacuum for the carpets, which even though it does a good job, unfortunately I hate it and wish we wouldn't have gotten it. It is so heavy and so loud I wear the kids ear protectors, and it has a dual motor so it's powerful, but that makes the vacuum part thick so it can't go into small spots like my last one. And I hate I'm stuck with this thing for like 10 years till it dies. Laundry, meh, no way to streamline that I've found, but sometimes I get the girls to help me. They love to put the stuff from the washer to the dryer and then can pull things out one at a time for me to fold. They love to match socks. But 5 people means laundry several times a week. 

2023 has been a really great year overall. We are blessed with healthy, happy, lively children. We were able to take a trip to Louisiana and Mississippi mid- February, a road trip to Vermont and New Hampshire and Niagara Falls over the  summer, we went up to Bois Blanc Island Labor Day weekend, and we did our kid-free Bahamas cruise. We enjoyed a 2 week long visit this summer with my brother and his family, spending lots of time together. We celebrated the birth of my sister's baby after YEARS of praying and waiting and hoping and praying some more. We've weathered some concerns with our parents' health, my mom's new knee early winter and Doug's dad's cancer scare. We are THANKFUL for all God's goodness in 2023 and hope and pray and continue to follow Him into 2024. 

Christmas festivities

Our friend's annual Elf party, a lot of last minute sickness cancellations this year, here are the elves that were there, growing up!

Went to a Nativity play and outdoor activities with my parents.

Took my kids to a ornament craft making event at the library. 

Holding my baby niece Rose at my parent's Christmas choir concert.

August at school (it was pizza and pajamas day)

It was my turn to work Christmas this year, so I worked my weekend Saturday, Sunday, and then Christmas. I missed my family, but we had potlucks everyday with my co-workers, and saw Doug's family on Friday and my family on Tuesday, so it was kind of interesting to spread it out like that. 

Christmas songs on the piano

August had 2+ weeks off school, and we took a break from Jeanie's homeschool program too, and have been having lots of free play at home, library books, sorting old and new toys (my job!), and playdates and it's been a nice break. 

work fun

 Our secretary at work has been having too much fun with an Elf on the Shelf. Everyday she does several poses for him, some elaborate, we've been laughing so hard. Here are some of the (mostly) appropriate ones ;)

And one of the night nurses bought every single other nurse a Christmas present. So sweet!

This mug was my present. Coffee?, naaaah, its gonna be my new icecream mug :)

The one that got away

Doug and I have been trying to get a new house. We walked in to a fixer upper on 4 acres and it just felt like "home". There were beamed cathedral ceilings, gigantic windows, built in bunk beds, built ins in general like you wouldn't believe, including a bench seat surrounded by a built in bookcase. It had a barn for storage and even a second level for whatever we'd want, kids' playhouse maybe someday. Every window I looked out of I saw green trees. It even had an old apple tree on the property. 

I've been thinking about this property non stop for 3 weeks. Talking to inspector and contractors, planning, dreaming.  I've imagined our family in every nook of that house. Doug talked to the neighbor to get a feel for the neighborhood and to sleuth some stuff out since it is now bank owned. 

Long story short, the bank rejected our first 2 offers, and since it is uninhabited and winterized you can't test things like the water, well, or septic. It's from 1955 out in the country and they had oil heat. Which you can't test since everything is off, and what we read about that it may or may not be a nightmare. Just too many unknowns, and the bank wouldn't budge. So we had to walk away. We have a reno budget, but not enough to rebuild this house from the entire inside out. 

And I am super disappointed about it. 

I think actually overly disappointed about it. And so here I am, after crying for a couple hours, and saying stuff to my husband I'm not even sure I mean, and here I am trying to work it out "on paper". 

We said we'd live here 5 years and then move, and here we are 9 years later and I kinda feel "trapped". And some that is I haven't wanted to leave our neighborhood which I do love... but there's been nothing to "make me want to move" ... until this house. 

Everyone just keeps saying "oh they'll be another" and it just makes me feel so alone like, no that house pretty much was made for me, and I just feel so unknown when they say that. (Which I know is stupid because a house is not my identity.. but here I am crying sitting on the couch thinking that anyway). 

It just makes me question like does God even have good things for me? Which I KNOW is not true, look how MUCH He's given me. And my mom had even prayed that God would either give us this house, or save us from it. So He could quite literally be answering her prayer. And I know He is good, THIS VERY DAY we got news that the tests Doug's dad had to look to see if he had some cancer somewhere came back good. We'd been praying so hard about that!!!! God is SO GOOD!!! But yet here I am on the couch with my pity party. I don't understand. 

My daughter's ABC Jesus Loves Me 4s homeschool curriculum has a weekly character to learn and this week's was "contentment". And I read that at the beginning of the week and I wondered to myself if that was going to be a foreshadowing. To learn to be content in my small, but paid off house. To be content with my stressful, but bill-paying job. To be content with the constant meal-making and cleaning up/ laundry folding/ argument breaking up/ cleaning/ being needed and instructing/ always interrupted phase of life because I am BLESSED to have a family to care for. 

I'm pretty sure that's it in a nutshell. Thanks for listening. 😌

Book Club Girls' weekend getaway

 Last weekend got to have one of my favorite times of the year, the annual Book Club Girls' Weekend Getaway! And since no nursing babies this season in the group, and ability, we were able to go for 2 nights!!! One of our former "members" (aka friends) had moved to Chicago several years past, and she had invited us to stay at her house for the weekend and go see Hamilton which was in town. I was the only non-theatre person in our group, but was up for a group outing, so that's what we did this year. A bit different from our usual going to the coast and enjoying beaches and small town shopping, but it was really fun. 

Before getting ready and going out to the show we did walk around the Morton Arboretum, it was beautiful and could've spent a lot longer there walking all around. 

Then we got ready, had an amazing dinner at Gio Mia in my friend's suburb, and then went down to the show. 

(that's a light reflecting purple on my friend's hair, but it looks pretty cool :))

So apparently Hamilton was started in 2016, and I'd heard of it before, but really had no desire to see it. I have to say it was pretty good. My friend and I had watched a bit before on Disney + to prepare and we didn't like it, but it was pretty good in person. (And I think our friends playing it in the car nonstop on the drive to Chicago helped a little, lol), The music is really good, and I am amazed the whole thing was written by one man. Wow, such talent!

The next morning after a nice breakfast we walked in Waterfall Glen and then began the trip home (listening to Hamilton most of the way home again, I have to admit a lot of those songs are pretty catchy!)

Such a great getaway, a time to talk and have fun together, so thankful we can do this every year. 

long time no see

 

This is what seemed appropriate after googling "keeping my head above water". 

That's me, right down to the extra flubb. It's been a busy summer, but a lot of goodness. I did an 8 week summer nature curriculum with the kids to get us ready for homeschooling this fall. It was fun. 

Beaver dam cookies

window suncatchers

Ocean slime

Making blueberry pie. 

Painting constellations. 

It was really a wonderful program by this homeschooling mom I follow on Instagram.

We went on an out East road trip to VT and NH that was really a nice time.

stop at Niagara on the way home

We visited for 2 weeks when my brother and his family were in town

I turned 42 and we had a gender reveal party for my sister

Had a baby shower for my sister

These 3 are growing up

made lots of goodies with the kiddos

These 2 had a 3 day nature class at the nature center nearby

A Labor Day mini trip to Bois Blanc Island

This precious girl turned 2

And then last week, August started his Homeschool hybrid program, Jeanie started back to speech therapy, and my Bible study program started up again, all on the same day. 

And I just feel that I haven't had a moment to myself that isn't folding laundry, washing dishes, cleaning up someone's mess. Not to mention my garden and side yard are out of control, but I either 1) have no time, or 2) the mosquitos are OUT OF CONTROL all of a sudden. Oh and my car has been in the shop 3x in the last 3 weeks for the same exact thing. And I've been doing PT for my diastasis recti I've had for 2 years now since Lucy's birth so I have to add in an additional 20 minutes of exercises each day for that. My precious new niece was born, but is going on her 3rd week in the NICU. Our hospital merged with another one and they don't realize it takes people to take care of people, and have been firing people which makes everyone's jobs harder. I've gained 8lbs since I finished up breastfeeding in the spring. And I am just OVER IT all. 

Ok, breathe, breathe. 

I know in a month or so we will be in a groove and it will be ok. A lot of the stuff we are doing is fun stuff, like this weekend we are going to the apple orchard and zoo, and today we did a family swim at the kids' swim lessons. Its fun stuff. It just is always very busy. 

There've been many times where I've thought about blogging about something or other. But it just doesn't seem to happen. 

Part of it is this STUPID blogspot website. It always takes several times to log me in, and when I upload pics it usually puts them in chronological reverse for some reason so then when I try to drag it to the right spot it inexplicably deletes it. I really hate it. 

So anyway, that's what's going on. I'll pop in when I can, this blog was supposed to be enjoyable for me, and not just something to check off a list.