Weekend of something

Ever have one of those weekends that were packed with so much to do that you almost dreaded it?  A Saturday packed full and almost more than you can do in a day?  That was what we had this week.  Sure, some of it was fun and some was even enjoyable but there was just so much. 

Unfortunately I didn’t get to go snuggle a cute little baby.  That makes me sad!

We did have to clean the church, our last weekend to cover that for now!

We had a Mother’s Day/women’s appreciation breakfast for Evelyn’s class.  They served pancakes and sang a song. It was very nice. 

We attended a memorial service for my mom’s brother.  He passed away a couple months ago.  My uncle Marc was not a person who I saw a whole lot in my adult life.  Our relationship mostly consisted of chatting on messenger about politics.  I do feel bad for his wife and my cousins. And my mom who has had enough loss.  I miss the political banter and his insight on how to look at things a bit differently.  

We had to leave the memorial service a bit early.  Harper wanted to attend a birthday party for a friend of hers.  Harper rarely asks to go anywhere.  I was happy to drop her off on my way to set up for Saige’s 8th grade party.  

Couple of things about this party.  First - I find it odd that the school wants this party done, they basically beg for parents to host it and then they make sure we understand it isn’t hosted by the school, they are not responsible, and there is no money for it.  But also, they are going to micromanage it and basically tell you how to run it.  And 2- with the exception of Quincy, whose 8th grade party was cancelled by Covid, I have hosted this party for all the kids.  And every single time I leave there thankful for my own kids.   And 3- we are 10 school days away from having all our kids out of grade school.  I feel like I should be sad about this.  I am not.  I am not sad.  Thinking of this being my last 8th grade party to host made me almost giddy with happiness.  Is it horrible?  No.  It isn't.  It was a nice party, and a lot of kids showed up and had fun.  But....I just cannot contain my disappointment in certain things. For example - there are 76 kids in this class.  Eight parents volunteered to help.  8!  A couple others expressed their opinions on how we should do things, but when it was all said and done they were nowhere to be found.  Some did donate food/drinks, which helps, but I always flash back to "many hands making light work" and the disappointment gets me every time.  And what if nobody did it?  There would be a huge bunch of people whining about that as well.  About how bad the parents of this group of kids has.  But the 8 of us got it set up, nobody got hurt, nobody got in trouble, and most importantly, nobody got pregnant during the party, and we left the school as clean or cleaner than we found it.  I guess it was a success.....and for me another crazy thing checked off of my to do list.  

Saige said she had fun, so that is a win.  

When it was over, I went home, dropped in a chair and wondered what I forgot to do!  Thankfully, Jim picked up Harper, so I believe we got it all done! 

Cameron sent me some photos from the 5K he ran on Saturday morning.  He did not place, but he did not have a heart attack, so that is a sort of win!  

On Sunday, after church, it was a race to get some stuff done before we lost the entire weekend.  We had a hot dog and ice cream sundae bar for Sunday lunch.  Jim started mowing while I used our new tiller to plant the plants I got at the plant sale a couple weeks ago!  Side note - Friday night, Jim and I ran to get groceries, and he talked me into buying a battery operated tiller.  Against my better judgement, I consented to it, figuring it wouldn't work very well, not enough power. However, since I broke my shoulder, and honestly even before that, I have a very hard time pull starting anything.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well this thing works.  Sure, you can only till for about 40 minutes before you have to recharge it, but who tills for longer than that at a time anyway?  It is light weight, easy to use, had quite a bit of power,  and best of all, I don't have to beg Jim to help me get it running!  Definite win!  

We got everything watered, got Saige to her ball practice, wormed goats, and turned our billy goat in with the does....hoping for fall babies!  

If you look close, you will see Saige's 4-H goat on top of their little house.  Wrenley was not  amused! 

 

We survived the crazy weekend, and the upcoming week isn't looking too much better on the scale of calm and free.  

Maybe next time!

 

April = gone

I can't believe how fast April flew by.  It was a complete and total whirlwind.  I always say I hate this time of the year because it is so busy.  Some of the busy is just a transition from being holed up in the house away from the cold,  to wanting to be outside more.  Flowers and gardens, mowing, pools and patio time all call to me.  But also, the school - why?  Why do they do every single field trip, activity, party, reward day, field day, spirit week, community service activity day, appreciation breakfast, project finale day, movie watching in your pajama while eating snacks provided by the parents all while trying to juggle fire day in the last month?   Seriously who can keep up?  Who wants to keep up?  And the kids are like little Tasmanian devils on crack.  The very idea of the last month of school makes me exhausted.  I have lists to remind me of my lists.  I am now living for May 19, just to eliminate part of the insanity. 

Shout out to these 2 girls.  Jim has been in a town far, far away this week.  A town that he has told me the name of 110 times and I still cannot remember.  A town called McSomething that I have never heard of before.  He has been driving back and forth, it is a 3 hour drive, and he has been leaving way before early, and returning way after late in the evenings.  He seems like he is enjoying this - seriously - he is being asked to help people.  To come and fill in when a position was vacated.  To help people adjust their usage rates, and to fix stuff.  Which is right up his alley.  

Back to these 2 girls.  They have gotten up early to help with chores, managed to get themselves out the door on time, helped me with baby chickens, bottle goats, and baby rabbits being born.  They have helped with mud removal and cooking and dishes.  They have been incredibly busy with last of the year stuff, projects, state testing, final group projects, due dates, field trips, state contests, and year end concert practices and Saige started summer softball.  And yet, they have still been incredibly helpful and amazing.  I appreciate them more than they know.

Added into the already insane schedule, the 4-H was gifted a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of flowers for the pots at the fairgrounds.  Knowing that every single person is busy, I decided the best course of action was to plant them myself.  I have now established a watering schedule for my 4-H families, and hope that they will be beautiful during the summer farmer's markets, and fair.  Fingers crossed.  

It has been crazy enough, that I haven't gotten to see my little buddy.  Which makes me sad.  I am thankful to Colin and Spencer for keeping me in the loop!  Yesterday, Easton had his 4 month check up and he weighed in at 14 pounds 3 ounces!  I also happened to notice his head circumference was in the 92nd percentile....a true man of this family!  

He is seriously the happiest little man.  I think it is awesome how he always has a smile on his face!

Reminds me a lot of Colin - happiest little babies!

He looks so big!  And Colin looks so happy!  I am carving out a visit time no matter what implodes while I am gone.  I miss this little family!

Cameron got to go to a Royal's game with Tatum.  I am glad he is dating again, and seems happy. As a mom, all you ever want is for your kids to grow up, be good people and build a life that makes them content and happy.  If you get to witness it, that is a genuine heart filling pleasure!

Speaking of pleasure, Mallory had to work late, so I had to run in to let the dogs out.  I took them giant bones....because I want to be their favorite grammy.  :)  

The insanity continues.  Stay tuned!

 

Garage sale and craziness

The 4-H does one major fundraiser a year and perhaps a few smaller ones.  Mostly though, the garage sale funds all of the kid’s needs.  Harper’s CWF group sold concessions.  Evelyn had her first official fundraising event as a 4-Her. 

Wrenley also worked - she worked at finding garage sale bargains she needed.  She was pretty proud of her new bus and paw patrol dog.  

I have been a leader for the local 4-H for years.  Knowing that Saige is our last kid, and she is only a few years away from aging out, I started hunting for a new co-leader. Someone who can take over when I retire. And I found an amazing woman. She loves 4-H, has a myriad of children and is the most organized, calm and thoughtful person.  I am very blessed to get to work with her.  She was in charge of the garage sale this year.  It was organized, set up and taken down with some sort of military like precision and there was zero drama.  And the kids made quite a lot of money.  Claudia for the win. 

And Harper sold out of her breakfast burritos.  The CWF girls made some spending money for their trip.  We left there exhausted but happy it was successful.  

I came home and filled all my pots with the plants I got at the plant sale!  Still have tomatoes and peppers to put in the ground but it was so muddy from the recent storms we didn’t work in the garden much. 

Sunday was supposed to bring Saige’s first ball practice.  So we had Sunday lunch instead of dinner.  The girls wanted to walk their goats. And they had fun playing let’s dance and eating burrito bowls. GG stopped by to look at goats and baby chickens.  We heard from Colin and Spencer who sent me some cute photos of my little buddy, who is officially 4 months old now! 

Everyone left and we were gathering up ball equipment when the storms hit.  I had planted some potted plants downstairs and went down to set them on the ground so they didn’t blow off and break and then I was planting some seeds. It was sort of heavily sprinkling.  I came in the basement door to find Mallory wearing her “storm panic look.”   She was like what are you doing?  We are in a tornado warning!   Jim had decided to take a nap, so I ran up to tell him to come downstairs and as I came up the stairs I could see the funnel cloud out the kitchen window.  Not a sight you really want to see.  So we all sat downstairs for a while.  Saige’s practice was cancelled.  We didn’t have a tornado touch down thankfully but we did get a whole lot of rain and some hail.  

We had another storm this morning. No tornados that I’ve heard of but we sure did get a lot of rain and some hail.  The school is on a 2 hour delay. Something I have never seen this district do before.  Carbondale was out of power so I think that’s why.  I was glad it gave the storms a chance to pass before I had to go drive the bus.  Jim left at 5 to go to southeastern Kansas. I am hoping he made it ok and didn’t have to drive in this mess the entire trip.   Spring in Kansas is always an adventure.