Me and my Loggy...and Shelb and Academic Super Bowl in Paoli

A nice, lazy-ish day at home. I had a ton to do, but instead, I just snuggled up next to my little guy and we chilled....with chips and cheese, of course!

We did do a little bit of work....he has been working on his numbers and letters bc sadly after almost a year of double preschool he knows none of them. How can this be?  I don't know, but I am considering pulling him from church preschool and teaching him myself.  Would save us a lot of money and also allow him more down time!  Ash told us we could use her learning board to help him. So nice of her!  He liked it.

We meant to spend more time outside bc it was nice, but we were just too lazy.  We had about 15 mins before school pick-up to play ball...he HAD to play with this badmitten racket and this whiffle ball.

Then it was off to Paoli (over an hour away...where we ski)...to watch our Shelb at her math competition.  We were sad D and daddy couldn't go, but D had running club and Daddy had taxes. So, off we went without them...

She was all smiles when we got there :)  Ready to compete!  Their Academic Super Bowl tshirts didn't come in on time so they had to wear other BMS attire.

The happy/oddball Shelb math supporters :)

Math competition was first...this was good bc otherwise we would have had to sit through 4 other competitions (science, language arts, social studies, and a combo one)...I was worried at first bc she didn't go sit at the table, but halfway through the 30 mins they rotated.  Can you spot her? No way.  She is the far right back table...black shirts nearest the screen.

Still prob can't see her...but you can see if you can figure out the math question. Most of them were beyond me.  Math is my weak point.  I am a language arts girl. I give my Shelb credit for doing this.

Then the computer broke...great.  Can you see her glaring at me?!

Still glaring at me...

We moved from the bleachers to seats right by her...and she was mortified....see her hiding from us?!

High fives for the right answer. They did pretty good!

LOL...getting squirrelly, but still being a good boy. You can see the scoring system behind here...interesting.  In the end they came in 5th out of 15 in Math, I think.  Not too shabby!

Those girls blew right by me, so this was the best pic I could get :)  We headed out after bc Logan was done...and I wanted to get home before dark.

We made a pit stop for treats...yummy!  I was so happy they still had the Shamrock shake!  "Lucky" me!
                                                 
I didn't see Dylan all day...not even this morning...so I had to hear all about this thoughts on the big game last night...thumbs up for Caroline winning!  He wished he could have stayed up and watched it with Pops!

And Kev's evening...of taxes...still not done.  And me trying to find outfits for Easter and our church directory pics...

Tired, very tired.  Midnight bedtimes and early wake-ups are getting to me/us :(

And God sent rain.

 Well, it was Monday. Enough said.  The morning was not great, the day was not great, but the night got better...except that we are still up and it's almost midnight. :(  Loggy had a rough morning at preschool. He didn't technically have a bad day (meaning he did not get a red slip with a frowny face), but his teacher did talk to me about how aggressive he was and how she had to speak to him about this.  He promptly got his lunch treat taken away, which crushed him.  He almost didn't want to go to the park with me bc he was mad at me...but I talked him into it and he snuggled up next to me and smiled a little :)  He definitely was not himself today.

 We played hide n seek, but it was a little soggy to find good hiding spaces (in slides at least, which is where he wanted to hide :))...so we played I-spy :)  He was confused by some of mine :)

 But he is a smartie and guessed them right away!                       

I think the culprit for the craziness was pure exhaustion. He went to bed late last night and even on the way to school in the morning he was asking to go back to bed and sleep til "8, 9 or 11".  He begged to go to sleep at lunch time...and then gave up on the way home from old school with daddy.  He very rarely naps anymore after school, so you know he was tired.  Daddy says he hasn't napped in the car for him since the first week of new preschool.  Wow.

 I spent most of the day shopping. My least fav. thing, but trying to get holiday stuff done before Hays gets here so I can rest more then.  I think my new motto is to just go to Amazon. They have the best deals and so much more time-efficient.
And then...the rain came....well, it actually didn't rain too much, but it did rain at exactly the right time (or wrong depending on how you look at it). I was happy. I was not in the mood to really sit through a track meet and soccer...sorry.  So, here's the happy/sad gang chowing on dinner. It had to be rushed pancakes bc we thought we had to leave pronto...but turns out we didn't  Thumbs down from Dylan who was really excited about his first day of soccer at the YMCA (trying a new place...much cheaper and his best friend is doing it).  And track was canceled. I think Shelb was happy about this. I got a scathing text from her at lunch time that she was unhappy about only being in long distance run. She thinks she should have been one of three long jumpers bc she is better than who was put in that event.  Can't confirm or deny this, but she was worked up.  So it was a good thing she could come home and de-stress :)  Ash was happy bc GS was still on...and Lo was happy bc he got choc. chip pancakes. :)

 So since soccer was called off D focused on bball....he had been itching to call Pops and hash out March Madness stuff, so that's what he did.  He was showing Pops all his old predictions, which ended up being incorrect.  And I think Pops gave him some pointers on his bball game.  Good.  We need an expert bball-er to help D!  Goodness knows I had no skills and Kev might have less than me!

 Ash loved her time at GS tonight...it was an extra long meeting and they made their own mini lights out of batteries and duct tape, and robots out of toothbrushes (Bristol Bots?) 

 Very cool!

 Possible future electrician?

Not sure what the Playdoh was about...           

She really loved making these.  She has a very inquisitive mind.

 Here they are up close lighting up/bouncing around her desk :)

Joking with Pops!  Always a fun pastime :)

Teaching Pops a little bit about electricity :) :)  And I should have showed Shelb talking to Pops too about how unfair it was she was not in the long jump and how awesome she is at it!  She definitely is not afraid to speak her mind!

And we let him stay up just a little bit to watch the final game.  He had testing tomorrow so he'll have to wait til the a.m. to see the score.  He was pulling for NC (at least I think that's who's in it)...but I think the other weird-named team was winning. 

Anyway....a long day.  I have realized the more I have on my brain, the less I remember...I forgot I had GS snack and only remembered bc I found an old calendar by mistake.  Would have totally showed up with nothing and those girls would have been starving since most did not eat dinner.  Also forgot I had to make a lemon pound cake for a teacher lunch today.  Meant to do it yesterday.  Thankfully I got it done while making lunches this morn.  Phew.  Not doing good on memory lately.  Need to be more organized and probably say more "no's" next year.  More sleep would help...zzzzz

Created for more (or less?)...

Well, as many of you may have guessed, I am going through a catharsis of sorts lately.  Some might call it a mental breakdown, but honestly I think sometimes we need to sink a little to get back up to the top.  I know this from experience.  These types of roller coaster times have made me who I am today (for better or worse :)).  I have been really sitting back and evaluating life. (well, not really sitting...but thinking about it as I run!)  And in those fleeting moments I have realized I want less in life. I always thought I wanted more...more time, more this, more that....but I realized lately that I want less...and I want it in all areas.  Don't get me wrong...I am quite content where I am in life. I love being a mom, love having 5 kids (though I am still trying to find the humor and reasoning behind God thinking I could parent this many successfully!)...but that aside...I love my husband, I love staying home and getting to enjoy all the blessings God has laid at my feet. But I am finding lately that I am robbed of my joy.  Maybe I have been for a long time.  But it's really starting to irritate me lately.  I don't want all this.  By all I mean the "fluff stuff". I don't really want this house...(don't get me wrong, I appreciate it and it's great)...but I actually would love less of a house...maybe some land and less of a house.  And obviously you know I want less stuff going on.  That is totally in my control, I know.  But how do you go for where we are, to where I want to be?  I almost want to be forced to do it...to have to move (not that I want a job loss or anything drastic like that), but it does force you to change your lifestyle a whole heck of a lot.  I don't know.  I am just getting these thoughts out there.  And oddly enough as I was thinking about this I got an email today from some person I must be following unknowingly on a blog...a "simple as that" blog.    She was forced to make a journey to a simpler life.  I love that.  I think she lives on some island now. I didn't have time to read the whole journey, but it definitely fascinated me.  I actually had a dream when I was a kid that I would be a missionary like my Aunt Nee.  I thought that would be the coolest job.  To live a simple life in many respects, but to bring God's Word to those who wouldn't otherwise know it...now THAT'S greatness!  I don't know what I'm getting at, but I guess I think I was created for more...in a less-type of way. Does that make sense?  Not sure what God is stirring up in me lately, but I hope I don't miss something if He's calling me to it. I'm afraid I will if I am too busy like this.  Hmm...a lot to think about.  Anyway...I do love this quote from this "simpleasthat" blog..."Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed at how much she had time for".  Amen, sista!

 Here's a few pics from the day...bc I am downloading my phone soon and getting a new (old) one, so wanting to get them up here.  Love my sweet Loggy...always picking special flowers for me :)  He has such a heart of gold :)  He crawled into bed with me this morning and just snuggled up and kissed my nose.  I know I will miss that someday :)

 It was a very uneventful day...we had planned to go to church at the norm time, but when we got in the van we realized church was already starting and we were 20mins away.  We'd miss half the service if we went them. So back inside to do chores and wait to go to church til 11.  Great.  I was at home with the kids alone most of the day....Kev had a big cub scout meeting to hand off his responsibilities (sorta) and he was on violin duty too.  So we had chore-fest.  Loggy was the star...thumbs up for cleaning his part of the room!

 Double thumbs up for running down the stairs and volunteering to do the dishes...it was his brother's responsibility, but he wanted to help. So sweet!

 They were cracking me up.  Ash was doing a writing assignment and she was getting spell check from Siri...every time she ask her a word she'd find one of my friend's addresses and map it out.  Crazy Siri!

 I made a last minute decision on dinner...a new garlic chicken and potatoes in the oven...it was actually not all that bad. I don't do well with winging things usually, especially when chef Kev is gone.  The kids even liked it (sorta)

 He wasn't the biggest fan, but he ate his small pieces, gave me the evil eye and then promptly ate his bribery treat :)

Love this...I never get on facebook, but I saw this on Ashley's class page from February.  Boiler up!  Love her sweet teacher...she's one of the best teacher's we've ever had.  She makes sure Ashley is really challenged and we so appreciate that!  Don't want our Ash getting bored! :)  

Lots of good things in a kinda blah April Fool's day....

 My heart is just not into blogging these days. Burnout and exhaustion can do that.  Case in point.  A nice Saturday...lots of good things in the day (service project for cub scouts at church for D and Kev, helping with an awesome friend's surprise 40th, going to a friend's 5th bday, and spending half the day at church for a party etc, etc)...but at the end of the day it was too much going on and just feeling not filled up by any of it.  Just not in the best place right now...this comes in waves, but I am learning to let things go in those times....I will try to at least get pics up on the blog, but probably won't be posting much til after Hailey is gone in a couple weeks.  Other priorities to focus on....but I am posting some updated pics from the last couple days too...so check back for those.