Week 28 & 29: Finished the upper roof, finished and nailed off all the plywood on the first floor, continued working on the lower roof, plus a million other little things.
Didn't get many pictures as it's a lot of odd and end stuff we're finishing up right now in preparation for the electricians who are suppose to come in on the 25th.
Aside from working on the house it was a busy week. On Monday Grammy came over with Tommy and Hadley.
On Tuesday the did their first day of preschool with Grammy. They were pretty excited!!!! Did their own hair for this special day. :)
On Wednesday Wyatt took Blue Silo chocolate milk and cookies for his flight team which meets after chapel.
We also very last minute drove to Eugene to deliver milk and yogurt to Daddy.
Wednesday afternoon I finished up a Blue Silo shirt for Mrs. H. She's the absolute sweetest. Carter is in her class this year and he is so proud of his Daddy and Uncle Robert and their new creamery. He talks about it ALL the time and Mrs. H wanted to surprise him. Hazel of course had to match her favorite teacher the next day when she wore it. Love the way Crosshill teachers support and love on our kids!!!
I was feeling pretty good about all that I accomplished on Wednesday until we got to Sadie's 1st volleyball game that afternoon. It was across town so we raced home after school, did homework, packed up dinner, and got to the game 15 minutes early, or so we thought... As we neared the gym we could tell that the game had already started and thought shoot. So we all hurried to find a seat just to find out it was the 2nd match and LITERALLY 2 minutes later the game was over. Soooooooo frustrating!!!
September 16, 2023
Brandon worked on roofing the small roof over the garage this weekend and we opened up the closet in Sadie's room which will connect the old part of the house to the new.
Sadie wasn't thrilled that the day had come to do this as it's quite invasive to her space but she's being a good sport about it all and it was really exciting to get a better feel of the end product.
Another school year is upon it and this week felt like a pretty huge transition back into the swing of things. The kids all seem happy with their teachers and classes which is awesome. The drop off and pick up wasn't to terrible, but the afternoons were hard. So much needs to happen in such a little amount of time between sports and dinner and working on the house and trying to get back into the routine of reading and normal bedtimes. It feels like any little thing can send the whole evening into a tailspin but I'm trying to do a better job of reminding myself that it will get easier. We will fall back into a good rhythm. It just takes awhile and even if it's not perfect that's okay. While school is important it isn't the MOST important thing and we will all be okay.
Sadie (13) 8th Grade
Wyatt (12) 7th Grade
Cooper (10) 5th Grade
Hazel (8) 3rd Grade
Evie (6) 1st Grade
Aubrey and Maddie are adjusting pretty well to having the others into school. At least for now they're so happy to have ALL the Barbies to themselves. :)
It's our tradition to go out to eat the Friday of the first week of school to celebrate making it through week 1 and to try to intentionally take time together to hear about the kids' first week. This year we went to Turner Pizza which was delicious.
Aubrey
Maddie
These 3 especially are looking way to grown up.
We also made it to our churches back to school event this year.
All in all it was a great week although I in particular was pretty overwhelmed in some moments. There are so many people to think about and it's hard to get everyone where they need to be when they need to be there and with all the things they need. This coupled with the general pressure we as moms feel to make sure our kids are making good friends and wearing nice clothes and have their teeth brushed and their homework done and on and on and on... It can really feel crushing at times. My biggest take away this week was from this well timed post from Jennie Allen, one of my favorite authors and speakers.
"Your kids don't need to be the best. They don't even need to be the middle. They can absolutely screw up. They can fail math. They can forget their uniform 5 times in a row and they can still turn out to be great humans. So don't be so afraid of it all going wrong. Them screwing up their lives completely. The truth is the things that look like they are messing their lives up could be the thing that's making their lives."
It's okay if they're not perfect and it's okay if we as parents aren't perfect either!!!
Week 26 and 27: Roofing: Finished Roofing all but a small section of the upper roof and set trusses for the lower roof. Also the HVAC company surprised us by rolling in on the first day of school to start their work.
And just like that summer was gone and fall was here. I'm sure we still have some warm dry weather in our future but out of seemingly nowhere the air cooled and there was rain back on the forecast and we were super thankful to be a week ahead of schedule. Still, because we had to cut into our existing roof in order to roll trusses it isn't ideal to have rain right now. So Brandon spent all day Saturday roofing and then took Tuesday and Wednesday off from what he now calls his "day job" to get us dried in as much as possible before the rain rolled in Thursday.
September 2, 2023
Brandon finished the majority of the upper roof and set trusses for the lower roof this weekend.
This week the HVAC guys showed up and began phase 1 of their installation.
Funny how summer goes isn't it. By the end of it the kids literally cannot stop fighting. They're ALL bored and EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is irritating to EVERYONE!!! The house is a mess and I don't even know where to start and I just keep thinking a couple more days and they'll head back to school and we'll start to gather ourselves again. Discipline, house cleaning, laundry, electronics, literally everything needs a complete overhaul.
And yet the minute I drop them all off, I know all to well the house will feel quiet and I'll remember the long days of summer with a reminiscent fondness. I'll remember long days working on the house together, hours and hours and hours of Legos, late bed times, swimming, grilling on the back porch, and Barbie and Baby games that went on for days.
Routine is needed but its such a dichotomy as Brandon always says.
Building Uncle Caleb's old Kinex tracks with cousins.
Helping Grammy clean up her back yard.
Last youth group of the summer was a color war. Wyatt LOVED it!!!
Sadie wasn't quite as sure about it's awesomeness.
May got lots and lots of snuggles.
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT!
Sadie and Wyatt are in Jr. High together this year.
Cooper is in 5th grade and the 5th and 6th grade portables moved over next to the Jr. High portables this year which is fun.
Hazel and Evie are together in the main building.
Locals Donuts started carrying Blue Silo's milk this week so we had to go and check out the craze. There's always a line so I've never stopped before but let me tell you, it's worth the wait!!! The donuts were AMAZING!!!
I'm not sure how deserves who more. Hazel can be such a crazy little thing and so is this puppy of ours.
She likes to slap May's belly.
Hazel: "Look Mom I'll squeeze her till her eyes pop out!"
Me: "I'm sorry May!" " I don't know what to tell you."
We stopped in at the grocery store in Jefferson to see and buy some of Blue Silo milk for ourselves. So proud of my brother's and so excited for them!
Also stopped by Auntie Katies for books and produce. It's so great living near family!
From Farm to Table
Fresh tomatoes grilled and topped with mozzarella and basil. Yummy!
