A Paoli Ski Day (for some)

It was Scout Ski day at Paoli Peaks today in southern Indiana.  You all know it's not my cup of tea (I went skiing once at Keystone in CO and saw my life flash before me as long as many closecalls going over mountains).  I decided that even though life is hard I like it too much to fall off a mountain.  So the warm lodge is my friend.  Daddy was sad he couldn't take the kids.  It's prob. his fav sport and he never misses an opportunity...except when he is post-op.  Sad.  He had to stay home with grumpy Loggy (and Ash who was at a sleepover/friend's most of the day and came home exhausted and cranky and teary...I'd say I got the better end of the deal...even though the lodge was not as warm as I hoped)

 Here's my two skiers for the day.  They loved it!  It was quite cold, but otherwise a nice day on the slopes.  I did laugh that Shelb told the ski guy that she was an intermediate.  Kev is an intermediate so I highly doubt she is! :)  But I do love her confidence! :)
                                                  
 Too cool for ski poles!

 Only intermediates use poles, right?

 Too cool to sit with each other on the lift :)

 The extent of my ski experience...watching them from the deck :)  Can you spot them?

 Nice form!

We had a nice, full day.  And came home exhausted...daddy had a yummy lean chicken meal made for us and then off to bed early in prep for school starting tomorrow. Ugh. The break has been so nice.  We may get a snow/ice delay though. Fingers crossed.                                      

Oh and a pic of our fav. New Yorker...her first audition of the year and final Boston summer intensive audition she will audition for. I think she looks beautiful! :)  Love her/miss her! 

the calendar continues

So....I realized today that maybe we have too many things to juggle.  The calendar struggle continues. 

Here is some of what lies ahead...

Logan only has 2 preschools, church, and Awana...so I'm glad he didn't pick up a sport for now.

Ash has girl scouts, horseback riding, Awana, church...doesn't seem like that much I guess

Dyl prob. has too much...basketball, boy scouts, church, sometimes Awana/choir, strings, Ukelele club, and coin club...and last year he added in running club too....hmmm....a lot

Shelb is in her slow time, but could pick up swimming/diving soon, 3 various violin lessons, strings at school, & church core group, but she always seems to have things going on.

Hailey...yikes, I don't know how she gets all her stuff done...between school and ballet classes and then scholarships and applications for 4-5 colleges (we are dropping one)...and then summer and company auditions, ballet portfolio/pics/videos, etc and all those deadlines and flights here and there for interviews, etc. It's a lot.  A lot.  I am grateful she is so independent, persistent and smart! 

But goodness sakes....I cannot keep track of all these dates and you can imagine the mess our calendar is now (and the continuing conflicts I keep finding between the masses of us 7)...and I believe this is actually less than we were doing last year this time.  Oh and we started selling girl scout cookies today. Heaven help me. I hate this time of year. Who sells cookies in the middle of winter. Indiana GS, that is.  Grrr. I need a tropical vacation to get me back on track.

the calendar

I stink at organizing the Steg calendar. 

I have put off filling out my 2018 for 5 days. I should not have.  Today I realized we missed an orthodontist appt yesterday (oops!...though in my defense, why did they not call to remind me or send a reminder text?)  Also, just realized a couple other conflicts for next week.  It is mighty hard organizing the lives of 7 people. And, yes, right now Hailey weighs heavily in this bc she is flying to and fro lately for college stuff (to CO next week) then back here in less than a month...then to TX and here in April.  Good grief.  Head spinning how much planning and deadlines we have coming up.  I feel stressed and for good reason. Just praying God gives me a clear mind to keep it all straight bc today after working on the calendar half the day I have little confidence I can do this. And I still have a good couple hours to put into the calendar tomorrow.  I wish I got paid for this. But then again, I'd probably get fired if this were my job.  Grrr.

Phew, long day...but Kev is officially drainless!

Well, that was a long day.  And somehow days seem a lil longer when the weather is so cold. 

Off early to get Shelb from a sleepover so she could come home and babysit while Kev and I were off to his post-op appt. Good news....he got to have his sidekick (JP drain) removed as well as all his staples. I think there were like 30 of them.  He was one happy guy when we left there and he did a bit of a happy bagless dance when he got home.  Whohoo!  He is also back on a semi-normal diet, so to celebrate we had pizza tonight...he was one happy camper.  Kinda like the old times, minus a gallbladder.  So, yay for all that!  In a week he sees his real doc (who is on a sunny vacation now)...and hopefully by then he can shower without bandages on.  But so far he is making good progress.  Now if only we could get him driving again....he's getting too used to me chaeuffering him around town :)  After the doc appt we headed to the brake place to finally get the 2-week rattling of the van checked out.  Thankfully they only made us wait 1.5 hours while they discovered they forgot to put a piece in.  And thankfully we had college essays to pass the time.  Poor Hays...had to do 3 essays in one day (all due tonight) for IU.  At least she got a snow day in NYC to do them and as of now they are all turned in.  Good thing she is a smart girl and an efficient well-versed writer. :)  Proud of her. I know she is worn by all this on top of getting her ballet resume ready.  It's a lot to lay on a 17 year old, but she always rises to the occasion.  Just would be nice if God would shine a bright light on her path now so her energy wouldn't be wasted on the other roads.  But life is about trust and faith and perseverance and thankfully she has all those traits!  Love you, Hays! 

Kev goes back to work (partially) and I dread the looming crazy sched!

Today was a small glimpse into the life we will lead next week.  Though still no school and not much activity. But I am worn.   Being up til 2am was prob not the best start to the day.  But this new schedule of sleeping in and being up late is wonky!  Anyway, Kev went into work for half a day today and I tackled a dentist appt, errands, a haircut, chores, wild kids and even though Kev made dinner and we were home as a family for it, we were running crazy after doing shopping, getting kids to sleepovers and a scouting meeting and doing college essays.  I'm just too old for all this.  And all I want to really do is hibernate in this awful cold.  How do people even function when they are freezing their keesters off!?  It just makes me grumpy!  I sure hope next week is brighter and warmer!

I'm getting older! The 4-1!

Well, I survived another year.  Wasn't sure I'd make it thru this one.  Haha!  And somehow 41 feels very much over the hill. I think it has to do with being in this frozen arctic Indiana.  It's not the same as the youngness I feel in Florida.  But I guess subarctic is the next best thing to a beach bday, right?.  I had a pretty good day.  My wonderful friend Rene had me and the kids over for brunch. And surprised me with my friends Jill and Maddie being there.  Yay!  It was so fun to catch up with then all and eat yummy food and see her new house, and the kids all had fun playing.  Then I came home and crashed with my hubby and watched a movie.  We may or may not have dozed off a few times :).  I talked Kev out of making dinner and we got Monroe county pizza (he had a healthy-ish salad) and then we headed to cheddars for a multi dessert night. It was yummy and I'm ready to roll into bed a happy old lady. The kids also made me special gifts and ash did a bday dance for me. Shelb decorated the downstairs and made me special treats with the scarce leftovers in the pantry.  The boys told me bday jokes.  Hays texted me a couple times from the big apple.  It was good times.  I felt loved.  Lots of bday texts and emails. ❤️  I guess it's not so bad being old 😬  Thx, everyone! 🎉

Happy 2018!

Getting up at 3am wasn't the best start to the new year, nor was saying goodbye to our fav New Yorker.  Also not jazzed about the -4 temps.  But it was nice to go back to bed and sleep til
almost 1pm. Then the day just ended up being kinda blah.  I lost stuff and spent hours looking for it and then headed to the store with Kev for awhile--also not my fav thing to do (the shopping part, not being with Kev :)).  I have learned I really want to hibernate in these awful artic months.  But at least we didn't have any big commitments today.  And Kev made another nice healthy meal for dinner, we made some new year's gingerbread houses and we're watching movies now.  Wishing I was going to wake up to palm trees and pools tomorrow for my bday.  But I'll have to settle for subarctic temps again. Oh joy. ⛄️