5 on a Friday: Things I Love About My Teens

 1. One kid gave us a very traditional Homecoming experience last weekend. He went to the dance with his smart and funny friend group. They went out to dinner first. He bought a new fancy outfit. They took pics together. It was darling, and I loved it.

2. One kid went a very non-trad route. He didn’t want to go to the dance because it was only open to kids from our high school— no dates from other schools. Instead, he planned a night in with a person he likely would have taken to the dance, and it was also darling, and I loved it.

(No pics of either of these because these people are very much their own people, and it’s not really my story to overshare anymore, you know?)

3. Harry is 7/8 with college acceptances— just waiting on UW, and since he did not apply early decision, he will be waiting until APRIL. It is so fun to sit back and watch him enjoy his senior year with college stress not at all a part of his life. 

4. Jack is so fun to be around these days. He is kind to the little kids, engaged in current events, a fan of the same TV shows I am and just a person I like hanging out with who happens to live in my house— how great is that?? We can’t wait to see his fall play at the end of the month

5.  Both boys are SO EASY. No drama, a good mix of nights in and fun with friends. Harry has a job. Jack saved tons from summer, and they both fund their own social lives and part of their wardrobes. WE GOT SO LUCKY, you guys.

FALL!! It’s HERE!!

 It’s so delightfully chilly this week that I cannot even get mad about putting last year’s body in this year’s jeans! (Not trying to be eating disordered. I cannot replace everyone’s wardrobe this exact second, so I am just going to have to make do with snug pants because I have several children who literally outgrew all their clothes overnight).

I have made chicken and noodles, a chili, cut out sugar cookies in Halloween shapes, and also pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. IN THE LAST 3 DAYS. Like, that’s how excited I am to see fall starting to appear.

Minnie looks like a teddy bear in her tight little fleece jackets!

And she is getting TONS of wear out of her Halloween clothes

The Paw Patrol movie? Was terrible. When Minnie told me she was ready to go 15 minutes before the end of the movie, I did not think twice about packing up our stuff and heading home. Also, I packed her a lunch instead of buying gross movie food, and this was 100% the right move.

Inspired by Lisa playing games with her preschooler, I scoured our shelves for new-to-her tiny kid games and found ONLY Busy Town Eye Found It (which was still sealed in its box!). Goodness knows what happened to the rest of them, but yay for easy Chrismukkah gift ideas! Anyway, she LOVED this game and played very seriously twice then just played with the pieces and the board making up an elaborate story about sharks in the water, etc. She has a couple HABA board games that you can play with rules or as free play, and I think that has framed the way she approaches games in a really helpful and creative way.

FALL, though, you guys. FALL!!

Routine Wishes

 I am having SUCH a hard time settling into a routine this semester. I was pretty easy-going about it all through September, but now we are MID OCTOBER, and the semester is going to be over before I know it. AND! I have some time intensive meeting commitments coming up during prime work time, and UGH YOU GUYS. I do not have the luxury of settling in slowly, and yet. HERE WE ARE.

Does this ever happen to you?

Changing everyone's sheets is the canary in the coal mine for me. Like, when I don't have the sheet-changing schedule down yet, it's a sign that other areas of my life are not really squared away either.

Whatever it is, I am starting to get stressed about some long-term projects still hanging out there that I thought I would be farther along on. Bah humbug, for sure.

We have a fridge dry erase calendar that I update on Sunday, and this is helpful for seeing the week at a glance-- I wonder if I need to make a better effort to keep my own calendar current too. I have been defaulting to to-do's for each day in my Moleskine (which I love), but my weekly planner could probably do more for me, too. Our big kid commitments are standard week-to-week, but hockey varies, as does Harry's work schedule, the boys' high school club commitments, etc. Also! Ben is home 2 days for sure and sometimes one other day, but I never know when that day is on the table. And! I have some home or work flexibility, too, that I should/could be better about claiming at the beginning of the week. because if I want to stay home and bake stuff and do some leisurely work on Fridays, I should let myself know that on Sunday night. AND THEN I CAN FIGURE OUT WHEN TO CHANGE THE SHEETS, at least.

The big question is will I ever cut the shame spiral/procrastination step out of my work process? Because I think I could come up with better ways to fill my time, you know?

Dorothy’s friend gave Min a tiara and a couple of cool art books, and Minnie could not even come all the way inside the house before she started playing. I love her enthusiasm.

I need a new lipstick. Any colors or brands or textures you are loving lately? I have been using my lip mask and then forgetting to put any color on.

Hilariously, we were early for The Little Gym last week, and Minnie DID NOT KNOW what to do with herself. I think it was her first experience with early, and she was BOTHERED.

Maybe if I had a better handle on my routine, the poor baby could be not-late on the regular. 2024 goal, perhaps?

5 on a Friday: Joyfinding Edition

 Thanks to Elisabeth (whose new blog is certainly a joy) for the happy post inspo. Here are 5 things that brought me joy over the last week: 

1. This lovely bouquet of wildflowers that Dorothy and I picked on our Saturday morning walk

2. These darling Halloween mugs from Walgreens of all places. They are making my early mornings a complete delight, and I am already on the hunt for Thanksgiving mugs to replace them on November 1. Also, I only bought 6 because my mug tree has 6 branches, so I guess we’re playing musical chairs.

3. This video of Dorothy living her best life posted on her jazz team’s practice page

4. Tennis shoes and dresses (with bare legs, although that moment is passing as we speak *whomp whomp**)

5. Minnie, making herself at home while we wait for Dorothy’s dance practice to be over. (Why yes, she did immediately take her does off. Also, she is on a valentine kick (ONLY 19 WEEKS TO GO), so I brought a V-day coloring book, and it was a YUGE hit).

Baseball! I always almost forget about baseball!

I would say of all of the things all of the kids are all actively doing right now, I tend to forget about baseball. I think this is because Coop's travel team does not practice super often (which I LOVE-- do not get me wrong) and also because Ben does not coach the travel team (just the spring Little League teams), so it does not take up the sheer AMOUNT of time that dance, diving, hockey, speech team, drama club, etc, do. But then! When Coop has a baseball tourney, it takes the ENTIRE FREAKING WEEKEND.

Last weekend, his team went to IL (second weekend in a row), and the girls and I tagged along to a double-header Saturday. Ben and Coop went solo Sunday morning because the rest of us needed to stay home and scramble for fall family picture clothes in the face of an 88-degree day on tap (CLIMATE CHANGE! YOU ARE EVEN RUINING MY FAMILY PHOTOS..) 

The tl; dr is that baseball is indeed a time consuming sport. MY GOODNESS. We were gone for NINE HOURS on Saturday. I felt bad telling Ben and Coop they could only stay for one game Sunday because pictures, but then the team lost on Sunday AM and they were kicked out of the tourney anyway. I feel like I jinxed them or something, and I hope I can channel that game canceling power come hockey season.

Dorothy, cartwheeling because THE SECOND GAME WAS FINALLY OVER. (Also, Coop's team won, and Cooper smacked his way out of a batting slump-- finally)

Minnie, enjoying one of several excellent playgrounds.

We packed a huge picnic basket, LUCKILY, because the park had NO FOOD to purchase.

Great playgrounds, though

Srsly

Minnie is not a fan of shoes. Because her feet are so fat? Because she is a feral pandemic baby? Both?

Lots and lots of attitude but she looks so darling.

I also packed so many toys. (Note the tea set scattered on the edge of the grass)

Aaaaand we got ice cream between games

We went for a bear hunt on a cute little wooded trail

No bears. Phew!

Really though? I love baseball because we could have a picnic, take walks, have a tea party in the grass, play at the park, etc, and still know what was happening because the games are interminable. In the best possible way.

FAM PICTURE SUNDAY!

Minnie fluffed the collar of her dress in the mirror and said I LOOK LIKE A GRANDMA. (I think because her version of Little Red Riding Hood features the wolf as grandma in a plaid nightie with a similar collar).

Case of the Mondays

 So, like, after last week and our ludicrous Wednesday, I was all OMG the secret to my success is PREPARATION, and I am going to make sure I head into every weekday morning with all of the things prepped and ready. 

Then the weekend happened and never let up for one single together-y second and YIKES I fell asleep on the couch Sunday night at like 8:30, waking up to be made fun of for snoring and eat some peanut M&Ms (I often take a couch nap, wake up like Yogi the Bear and then stumble to bed immediately post-binge) and shuffle off to bed by 10:30. It wasn't until my Monday coffee kicked in that I realized I was supposed to make a freaking chicken tortilla soup for the slow cooker on Sunday night. Plus pack myself a lunch and several snacks. Plus get my work bag ready. And then Cooper popped into my exercise dungeon to remind me that he was changing our routine to Starbucks Monday instead of Tuesday because he and Ben do takeout Tuesday after diving and before hockey, and he wants to spread the treats around. Erm. That was too darling to quash, so, I just... did everything.

5:15-5:40: Do laundry, drink coffee, do Connections and Wordle**

5:40-5:45: Wipe down the boys' bathroom and empty the humidifier in the storage room

5:45-6:30: Exercise

6:30-6:45: Plug in my hot rollers, put Dorothy and Coop's lunches in their bags, fill their water bottles, drink my pre-filled Stanley and refill it for work, wipe down both of the upstairs bathrooms and take out the bathroom trashes, make my bed and switch the laundry

6:45-7:08: Walk with Dorothy

7:10-7:25: Tidy the rest of my room, wash my face and moisturize, brush my teeth, put my hair in hot rollers, figure out my outfit and find my earrings, throw Airpods, Kindle, phone, wallet, and my favorite lipstick in my work bag that was mostly still packed from last week.

7:25-7:35: Get Dorothy physically out the door, kind of a pain in the ass since her class has a bike unit in gym, so she has to ride her bike and that affects her hair choices. Also, she had terrible breath from her retainer, so I had to remember to toss her retainer in some Polident and nag her to brush her stinky teeth (WHY DON'T MY KIDS LIKE TO BRUSH THEIR TEETH??) I also had to get her dance stuff out and prep her dance bag since I won't be home before she goes and she's particular.

7:35-8:00: Tidy Minnie and Dorothy's rooms, pack myself lunch and snacks, and make a freaking soup. Minnie helped. Honestly? So did the bag of frozen diced onions I bought randomly-- this is a genius timesaver on par with those little frozen cubes of minced garlic from TJ's. I also forgot to buy a jalapeno, so I used a whole bag of mini sweet peppers and some jarred tamed jalapenos I had on hand. Minnie LOVES to  add chopped veggies to a recipe, and this is the kind of helping that is actually helpful. She threw anything I chopped (well, just pepper and the leftover farmers' market corn I cut off the cob) into the slow cooker. and stirred a lot.

8:00-8:15: Unroll my hair and clip some of it up in a messy bun, do my makeup, order Starbucks on the app, and put on the outfit I thought about, with the addition of a chunky necklace because it is a dress that I also wear for cocktails and is kind of low cut (LOL)

8:15-8:20: Look for my left Tiek. I COULD HAVE LIVED WITHOUT THIS HICCUP

And bam! Out the door with dinner prepped and lunch packed, in plenty of time to sugar my kid up and drop him off

Yes, we should have left the house by 8:15, but he was on time, and so was I, so WINNING all around, I think.

(Ben is in charge of Minnie on  Monday AM, and the boys take themselves to school although Harry woke up briefly and we saw him and noted his attendance, but then he fell back to sleep, and I think they were tardy but **shrug**, and I will do more to remind myself to look for him in the early 7's.)

**On Sunday, Minnie was in Ben's bed with him while he did the Wordle, and then she came over to my bed, and I started doing Wordle. She goes OH IT STARTS WITH A B. And then she said THE E GOES THERE. AND ANOTHER E. AND IT ENDS WITH THE T. She forgot the r, though. (No, seriously, Ben and I looked at each other with mouths agape. Like, that's really smart. Also kind of annoying because we definitely cannot do Wordle in front of her anymore LOL).

September: What I Read

 I feel like I have barely read a thing this month, and yet, I am going to the library and moving my eyes over (some) pages. I am trying really hard to love my Kindle, but I am not there yet. Did anyone else feel this way? Every month, I swear I will read 3 books on it to make my Kindle Unlimited worth it, but then I don't, and then I feel bad, and for me, feeling bad (about anything, really) leads straight to avoidance, and BAH. 

As I begin writing this post (mid-September), I have a library hold, 2 Amazon early releases, and 2 KU books lined up. WII I READ THEM BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH? The suspense is killing me, you guys.

Another reason I feel like I have barely read anything in September is that I have been OBSESSED with Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series. OMG I love these books SO MUCH. And they are like 16-24 hours long, so I was OCCUPIED, ok? (I should clarify now, at the end of the month, that only the first 3 books are great. Then there’s a Christmas-themed novella which is funny as a trope but also weird in the middle of a fairy action/romance, and then the last book is just weird).

Anyway, on the the TL;DR (but I DID read these LOL LOL LOL)

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sara J. Maas: This book sets up the end of the series by establishing Feyre as a lady who lunches and wants to give birth to a mythical fairy/human/winged-fighter baby. Erm. DID NOT LIKE. But so weird that this author had to bow to the Xmas romance tradition in the middle of a fantasy series— I liked the trope on trope mashup. **Audio

The Vampire's Promise by Caroline B. Cooney: Somehow I never read this one as a kid-- it gave me the closure I have been longing for all of these years (I really hope the sarcasm comes out here).

One of us Is Back by Karen McManus: I would have probably really liked this a few years ago when I read the first 2 books in the series. But right now? It was really hard for me to remember all of the characters and their stories, even with the helpful guide cleverly formatted to look like phone contacts. It was just meh for me.  **2023

A Court of Silver Flames by Sara J Maas: Some of this was great and very Hunger Games-y, but most of it was bad erotica with disturbing patriarchal themes. ** Audio

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano: This was not my favorite book in this series, but it was still a quirky little delight. **2023 **Audio

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman: This delightful series is chugging along, and I hope to read the last one next month.

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun: This is just about the most adorable romance I have ever read. And Christmas-themed!  **Audio

Speech Team by Tim Murphy: I mean, as a speech team member myself, I wanted to love this, so I got through some really awkward, boringness, and I am glad I did because the emotional payoff was worth it. **2023

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas: This second book in the series was even better than the first. **Audio

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas: How could this series get any better after this book? SHE MIGHT WANT TO STOP NOW. **Audio

Yours, Truly by Abby Jimenez: Contrived but darling. **2023 **Audio

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister: OH YES! She is SUCH a good mystery plotter. I loved this one. **2023

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell: I could not put this down. I have not loved her last 2 books, but this one might be her very best. **2023

Search by Michelle Huneven: YES. I LOVED THIS BOOK. Even on my Kindle. It’s about a UU minister search committee, and it is a delight.**Kindle

This Month:

13 books

6 books published in 2023

6 print, 1 Kindle, 6 audio

This Year:

166 books

85 books published in 2023

89 print, 10 Kindle, and 67 audio