Week 26

 Another week has gone by and it was a full of ups and downs. Monday was Labor Day and since we had had fun all day Saturday, we used Monday to rest at home and get some work done and then we had the Wiests over for dinner. Josh is still playing around with his new pizza oven and I am not loving the pizza he is making in it yet. I don't know why he had to change things but he insists I am going to love it so I am trying to be patient. Sam and Leisa were kind guinea pigs though and the kids had a lot of fun playing and it was a beautiful evening for eating outside. 

Tuesday was a busy but good day with school work and I painted a wall that I am going to turn into a beach wall. I am going to print a picture or more from each year we've gone on a beach vacation and mark where we went and with whom. We have gone every year since 2009, except 2010, so that's 11 years so far. I have been looking for picture frames and going through all our beach pictures and it has been a good stress reliever inbetween helping the kids out with their school stuff. I am going to do some more painting in the hallway and I want to redo the boys room but haven't quite gotten a vision for that yet. I am thinking maybe gray walls with a LEGO border, either painted or real LEGOs around the middle. They also want a desk and maybe a LEGO storage area but I haven't found anything yet. I never painted their bathroom either so I want to do that as well. I also taught two piano lessons, one of which was to a new kid (my neighbor), and that went well. Then it was off to baseball practice and Josh came home to take the girls to dance. It was a busy night but it felt good to be in a routine and to have the kids busy doing good things. 

Wednesday was a rough day. We had some tech issues and I was feeling really stuck by my kids' schedules. All I wanted to do was go get peaches to can but with all their meetings and the help they needed on their other stuff and then we had to go to school to pick up materials and it got to be a bit much. I am just needing to readjust my mindset that for the next few weeks until they go back to school for two days a week, I am just not going to get anything else done really. My list is on hold for a few weeks while I am a school teacher, mom and piano teacher. Even when they are in thier meeting with their teachers I feel like I am on call in case they get kicked out and need help logging back in or something. The two older kids are super independent but Brandon needs my complete attention and Emma needs it pretty regularly so I will be thrilled when he can go to school even for just two days a week starting in a few weeks. It rained a lot on Wednesday too and that made the basement a stress. Stanley Martin is being a bit difficult but Josh is so good in these situations and I think it will work out in the end. We have a professional engineer coming tomomrrow to do a report and if necessary, we'll go to arbitration because two huge cracks in the foundation of a five-year-old house is just not okay. By the way I am also very grateful to have knowledgable friends in Sam and Tony who have talked with Josh a lot about it so he can be educated and prepared. 

Thursday was a better school day and I taught three piano lessons in the early afternoon that went well. Lily had dance and Josh worked late and picked her up on his way home. Baseball was cancelled because of the rain and Curtis was pretty disappointed; even more so on Friday when his game was cancelled because the fields were still too wet to play. But Friday was a pretty good day otherwise. I went for a bike ride, the kids did school work  and then we went to get peaches. While we were out we grabbed lunch from one of the schools and actually ate at the tables in front of the library. We got a ton of books from the library and then went home so Curtis and Lily could finish up some school work and then Lily had dance.

Yesterday I spent all morning trying to find lids for my jars and after six stores, was left empty handed. Apparently this is a nation-wide problem because my mom and sisters have had similar difficulty. After digging around I found enough to can my peaches but I am going to have to order some before I do my applesauce in a few weeks and hope they come. Lily spent all day with her friends and had a great time and I took the other three to pool all afternoon where I chatted with friends and the kids played. It was a bit cool but they all had fun and it was great to be with friends. I really wanted to go on a date but there isn't anyone who can babysit for us right now so we took the kids and went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was so tasty (breadsticks and the alfredo sauce, man!) and the kids were good so it worked okay. We went to Hobby Lobby to get a part to fix my clock and ran into the Tripps who said they had been at the church and it smelled like urine. Fantastic. Like Josh needs something else to worry about. Luckily the other ward met today so hopefully they can figure it out before we go next week. Then I got canning and unfortunately I had everything set up and ready to go and all my pots boiling when I realized the peaches weren't quite ready. I am going to try again Monday but that was frustrating after I stressed about it all day. I talked to my parents for a little while (it was my dad's 82nd birtthday) and then Josh and I watched a new show on Netflix that I am really enjoying called Down to Earth. Zac Efron goes to different places around the world and is just kind of exploring different ways to think about energy and water and food. It is low-key and interesting. We have been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs and while I like basketball, it was a nice break. 

Today has been another lovely Sunday of home church, including a great discussion led by the Wiests of Elder Renlund's talk from General Conference, and I am hopeful that this will be a good week. I love to plan so much and be in control and the past six months have been tough for  me that way but maybe it is good I am learning to take things one day and no more than one week at a time. I am going to try to pay more attention to God's goodness and greatness this week. I have been keeping a gratitude journal for a few months now and on hard days it can be tough to think of five things I am grateful for but I think as I pay more attention to the bigger things instead of getting wrapped up in my small things, it will help. 

I am also so lame that I didn't take a single picture this week except for this cake Lily made last Sunday. She has been on a baking kick and made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies that were amazing, this apple cider doughnut cake and a lot of mug muffins lately for breakfast.