Big Wheel Turning

Whew!  What a week!

Here are the family member highlights:

Emma – started Volleyball practice; found a club she wants to join that is FULL of creativity; started math tutoring

Lara – tried out for a role in the Nutcracker Dream, and got a demi-solo!!!  Plus another group dance in the production; started math tutoring

Jake – survived being in the parent pick up line - he was convinced he would get left at school!

Finn – weighed in at 16 pounds 11 ounces, and entered a contest (more on that soon…)

Me – worked 14 hours one day and 9 hours the next setting up for (and then SHOPPING) the Adorable Affordables consignment sale!  (The sale is still going on!  Go check it out today and tomorrow!)

Hubby – held it all together while I was off doing my thing, and worked a 9 hour day at the sale as well!

Family – participated in the Chick-fil-a Stillwater fundraiser for our March of Dimes March for Babies walk!

It has been a crazy hectic week – but they all seem to be lately!  I am so proud of my girls!  They are truly shocking me with their talent, level of determination, and willingness to branch out on their own and try new things!  Lara literally made me leave her audition – she wanted to do it all on her own!  And Emma has made great strides in volleyball, and is planning on playing at the college level!  They are growing up TOO FAST!

My latest endeavor is to win Finn some “1 year” pictures.  But not in October when he will celebrate his first chronological birthday, but in January when he SHOULD be one!  So, I got wind of a fun Facebook contest, and decided I wanted to try our hand at it.  Touch of Wonder does AMAZING work, and I love the props over at Shutterfly, so helping them get some likes and showing off one of my favorite Finn Pics is all I have to do to win.  But, I need help.  That’s where you, Finn’s Fans and my readers, come in to play!  This is a 3-click process, and here’s how it goes (all the links are hot links so you can click directly from this post!)

1. Go "like" Shutterfly PropShop

2. Go "like" Touch of WonderPhotography

3. Find the Ultimate Dream-Baby Contest album and "like" this picture of Finn (&tiny Finn) :) 

This weekend we are still chasing the wind with kids activities!  If you need a car wash, come to Richmond Elementary tomorrow morning between 9 and 11 and the Rocketeers will fix you up!  It is a fundraiser for the 4^th & 5^th grade choir.  Emma has first 2 volleyball games of this fall season, Lara has Nutcracker rehearsal, and I have sorority obligations!  This big wheel just keeps on turning!  And we love it that way!

A season of busy-ness

Today is Wednesday. We are barreling at light speed towards the end of another school year. Which means activities are ending and winding down (unless it’s baseball – that that’s another story!) and our schedule is changing. Emma’s 2 reading tutoring after school classes ended last week. The Wednesday night children’s programming at our church ended last week, too. Lara’s dance recital is in a few weeks, and her current gym class ends about the same time. End of school means field trips, end of year parties, school carnival, camp outs, testing, graduation (on so many levels), good-byes and looking towards the long summer. The kids are reacting to the change in schedule as most kids do – just a bit “off.” And bedtimes are a mess – trying to squeeze in all the things we have to do… This time of year always makes me tried, and stressed out. This year is no different, except the reasons are different, more somber.

In our house, it also means illness. Allergies are running rampant. Strep throat, hacking coughs, runny noses, itchy eyes. I have become the queen of medicine dispensing the last few days! Triaminic (day or night?), Zyrtec, antibiotics, cough syrup, inhaler, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and the list goes on. I am lucky that my kids are all “good” medicine takers – never really fight it. And the girls are old enough to swallow pills now, so that makes life so much easier. But, it’s a lot to keep track of! And they all take different doses of everything, so it’s like a crazy math puzzle with no right answer – just a best guess!

So, I’m tired. I’m stressed out. I’m probably over-medicating my children. And I’m sad. I miss him. So many things I want to share, but can’t. Graduation at my office is Friday night – which means I am party planner extraordinaire for 50 people in 2 days (which reminds me – I need to call the caterer…). 3 more weeks of dance class before recital. Baseball for Emma and Jake is in full swing. The events on my Cozi calendar keep popping up one right after another. And here I am, just trying to keep my head above water. I love my family, and I thrive on being busy, but I’m ready for the end of this season to come.

One thing I am DESPARATELY looking forward to? My “Honeymoon!” My husband is taking me on a trip to a destination unknown (by me) for our honeymoon. We got married 28 days after he proposed in the middle of football recruiting (when I was the assistant to the recruiting coordinator in the Oklahoma State University Cowboy Football office), and there was no time for a trip, then we got pregnant, had an infant had a toddler, had a preschooler or had no money. Here we are five years later, and my hubby has planned this secret trip for me. We leave in 3 weeks. It’s a break we are BOTH looking forward to, for so many reasons!