Dancing with Daffodils

 I keep trying to decide what to do about this blog. When I started it, I inteded it to be an outlet for me to write. I had dreams of writing a weekly newspaper column or contributing to a magazine and thought a blog would sharpen my skills or force me to focus. My goal was to have a friend share something I wrote on facebook and that never happened so I felt like I was missing the mark. Then covid happened and I turned it more into a journal, for me but also to connect with friends I wasn't seeing. Now we're in this strange in between of not normal life but getting closer and I just don't know if I want to keep this up or if I should go back to my original idea or if I even want to write anymore.  In the meantime, it was a challenging week. I last wrote on the 14th so that weekend was actually pretty good. I spent a lot of time at soccer practice, driving my daughter to dance, and we also had a few soccer games that were fun. Saturday night I surprised Josh with an early a...

 It was a very busy week but a good one. My parents got here last Tuesday and we spent a nice afternoon and evening talking and just being together. Josh has been crazy busy at work and didn't get home until 11:30 pm that night (after working until 11pm the night before) so I especially appreciated their company.  Wednesday they all went off to school and I exercised then my parents took me out to lunch and we picked up some groceries. It was relaxing and nice to just hang out with my parents. They have always been so good to me and every time they visit they make me feel like a good parent, a wonderful daughter and so loved. Mom and I took Curtis to soccer that night while the others stayed home with my dad and Josh did church stuff. Thursday was Josh's birthday but he made it difficult to celebrate much because of work responsibilities. I made him his favorite doughnut muffins the night before so he had those for breakfast but then I didn't even see him until we met at Ni...

 Well, I went into spring break cautiously and not all that excited. We didn't really have anything planned and I figured it would be hard to keep the kids busy doing good things. I am happy to report that for the most part, I was wrong. We had a great week! Monday I taught a few piano lessons and then while the big kids were off playing with their neighborhood friends, I convinced Leisa to come with me down to our school playground so the littler kids could play together for a bit. It was such a beautiful day and so we talked and the kids played for about an hour and it was really nice. Then I made dinner and we went to soccer practice and when we got home we had dinner and family night.  Tuesday the kids all did a job (a great part of spring break is each day they did a cleaning job!) and then we went to the park to play with the Ainas and Rays. It was another beautiful day and my ear and forehead got sunburned after sitting out in the sun for a few hours. The milkshake plac...

It hasn't been a very interesting week. Monday after I got the kids off to school and spent all morning birthday planning, then I went for a bike ride and then I read for a couple of hours. My book was dark and heavy and I was glad to finish it. It felt indulgent just reading in the afternoon but it was wonderful and I look forward to more of it.  In the afternoon I taught four piano lessons and then Curtis had his first soccer practice in two years. He hasn't been making healthy choices lately so I am really glad to have him get out there and exercise and socialize. We had a late dinner and family night and called it a good day. Tuesday I did laundry, helped Brandon with school, and lots of other things before making dinner and taking the girls to dance. Wednesday I got everyone off to school and then I posted a bunch of stuff to facebook to sell and then I tried to log in to my body pump class but their internet wasn't working so I found a workout on youtube and did that....

 Well, it has been awhile. I feel like nothing too exciting has happened. Last week I spent a lot of time painting the boys' room. It is a nice gray (like the lego board gray) and it took me awhile to do the whole room. Usually I am anxious to just get things done but I took my time and I have to say it is my best paint job in the house. I also did their bathroom and that was a pain in the neck and took two more days but it looks great and I am happy. Their room has been in upheaval for awhile now with all the books out in the hallway so I could move their shelf around and toys all shoved to one side and their bunk bed in the middle of the room.  Once it was painted I moved thier bed back and then the wallpaper came so that was my project this week. This wallpaper was more of a nightmare and made me appreciate how high quality the other stuff I worked with in the basement is. It didn't overlap well and that caused a lot of issues and it was hard to get the bubbles out and then...

 Well, it finally happened. After 12.5 years I spent a day home alone! I've done kid swaps in the past but there was always this pressure to use such precious time as best as possible since it was so valuable. I felt a bit of that on Monday but it will be a regular thing now where I will have these days to myself so I was able to relax and enjoy it. My kids all made fun of me because what I did was clean my bathroom and then do our taxes. It felt good to get things done without interruption and it was so quiet and peaceful and I could do whatever I wanted without having to factor in the needs of my kids. It was heavenly and went by so fast. Then I taught piano and I was so on top of dinner and had everything ready and then family night was good. I even considered making cookies for when my kids got home but ultimately decided against it since the kitchen was clean.  The kids all had a fantastic day at school and were so happy to be back, Curtis especially. Even Lily was happie...

 Nothing new to report for this past week. Brandon did get to go to school his two days and he loved it. Emma didn't cry but certainly missed him and was counting down all week until she could go to school too. I did laundry, taught 11 piano lessons, made bread, picked up groceries, took the girls to dance, signed the boys up for soccer, picked up Josh from physical therapy, cleaned, went to BJs, and helped Brandon a lot with his school work.  Friday I finally got to take my new bike out for a spin and I went for a shorter ride around the neighborhood and down to the school and back. I had hoped to go for a long ride today but it is raining so I am not feeling it. Saturday I spent a good part of the day annoyed by how messy my kids are but they pulled it together and got their jobs done so we when we went to pick up Josh from the church after a baptism, we stopped by Sweet Frog and used my mom's Christmas gift card. We were the only ones in there and it was a fun treat since i...