Julaugtember

Well, I shouldn't have bragged about how easy my kids are at this stage. Because the next day, one of them was having a rock-throwing contest with the neighbor kids (always a good idea) and managed to break a window. Not ours. Awesome. They are all getting older now, and they care about what I tell people so they shall remain nameless =) But is it a real childhood if you don't break someone's window? I remember hitting a baseball with my Louisville slugger and breaking a window in the apartment building down the street. Not the smartest idea but I learned that maybe I should stick to baseball fields =)

And as I write this, another kid is grounded for tripping their sibling on the stairs and causing them to fall down a few steps. No more broken knees please, ugh. What is happening.

Winter managed to fracture, tear and dislocate her knee just by falling down in a weird way whilst playing tag in flipflops on the 4th of July. We're really hoping it heals completely and there are no long term effects. She missed out on some fun things this summer including Forest Home Camp & horse camp but true to form, she's had a great attitude about it all. Winter is such a delightful young lady. And both camps gave us a credit to use at another time when she's all better. Oh and she can hitch a ride with Dan to PT! 😂

I can't believe how fast time goes. We've been to Newport, Mom came into town and we're back to school. I'll do a separate Newport blog of course. It'll look pretty much like all of the other Newport blogs but the kids will be a tiny bit older haha.

Heard around here lately:

Angus: Being a criminal sounds really fun but jail does not.

Angus to me: So when I'm 25 you'll be like...94? (Math isn't really his thing)

3 Things that are making my life better right now are: 

1. Audiobooks. 

I've mentioned this before but having something fun to listen to while I do things that aren't exactly fun is the best thing ever. I drive a lot. I'm pretty much a taxi. I'm by myself half the time. Listening to a good book makes me a more patient driver. I'm lost in the world of the story. Also, I do a lot of laundry. Obvously. Laundy is so much more fun while listening to a good story. I walk 4 miles to audiobooks and go to sleep to audiobooks. It takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes so it's nice to pop an earbud in and drift off that way. I use the Libby app. I know that there are others but that's my favorite. It's free and easy to use. I'm connected to several other friends who are on the app including my librarian and bestie, Elizabeth. She sends me recommendations and puts holds on the app for me =) I love her.

2. Another thing that I just started doing might be something everyone does but I never used to. Snoozing emails. I know. Ground breaking. It's just so nice to delete, handle or snooze an email. I mostly do it for work but it also works in my personal account if I don't have time to answer the email. It comes back a few days later, unread so you don't miss it. Why can't I just leave it in my inbox you ask? I'm a minimalist who hates clutter. Do you snooze?

3. Colorblocking my week in my google calendar. 

There's no other way to explain this other than to show you. See below. I just did Monday. I usually do this on the weekend. I'm not that scheduled of a person, but it helps me to lay out my day so that I touch on everything I want to like groceries, shopping, exercise, my admin work, etc. I'm very visual so just seeing what I have that day in the morning helps me remember my priorities that day. It's not for everyone but I thought I'd mention it since it's super helpful to me. Many things repeat daily and you can set them to repeat in your calendar, so just a small tweek each week is necessary when changes come up. Take it or leave it, obviously.

And here are the more exciting photos for this blog.

Winter lived on the couch for days when she hurt her knee. She was in heaven. She cried when I told her it was time to get up and eat dinner at the table with the family.

This is the picture the kids chose to use for my Netflix account. Nice. They took the time to add my name and a pic and no one else's. 🙄

She's off the crutches now and the knee is doing much better.

Dan made steak. They're like seagulls. Just hanging out in case he leaves a bite unattended =)

Often in the summer when they weren't in the pool or at camp they did this. We have lots of couches. But they have always clustered together like this. 

We went to some weddings this summer. This one was super fun.

And on our way to the next wedding, we got to visit my adorable niece and her babes. So fun to meet my new great nephew. I love them all.

This one loves me. Don't be fooled by her coy expression haha =)

It was a lovely wedding 💕

The back of my dress broke, unbeknownst to me but from the front I think we looked very nice.

Angus is in love with Spanish. It all started with the song, Despacito 🤣. Then he learned some words in summer school. I told him about Duo Lingo. He's obsessed.

Waiting for Angus to get out of Spanish class. They offer it after school on Tuesdays. He was like umm obvisouly I'm doing that.

I took line dancing classes in July. It was a blast. I learned a handful of dances and I think I can actually do two of them to the music the whole way through without getting lost. It took lots of practice. Our field trip was to Montanas. It was the most fun.

We took Aunt Terry out for her 76th birthday. We talked her out of McDonald's and took her to Islands. She was okay with it since they had cheeseburgers and lemonade. 

We got our doggie fix at a friend's house.

Angus helping the girls pick out some good underwear. "These look comfortable."😆

I love Mya. She planned her whole birthday party, decorated it and ran it. She had her friends over for swimming, an ice cream bar and painting. And some slept over. The perfect day.

Dan is constantly trying to get Winter to wear longer shorts. Since they don't make shorts the length that would make them both happy. I had to buy some extra long shorts and cut them. 

Mya's 2nd day of school. On the first day, they all have to wear the same T-shirt so she likes for me to take a 2nd day of school pic =)

Mya is not big on animals so she has made plants her babies. She got this giant thing for her birthday. She named it The Hulk.

We went to a 90s bday party. Since we we all went to school together in the 90's it wasn't hard to come up with something.

Some firefighters and their wives all went to the magic castle. It was magical! 😍

I took a little getaway with my Karlita at the house she's staying at. It was so lovely.

And we found a giant pot!

Addie still sits where she wants on whoever she wants.

My mom came in to town for a few weeks. We miss her already.

I'm very slowly learning how to play the guitar. It has been my dream for as long as I can remember. Chords are really hard for me because I have a really short pinky and short fingers but I'm determined. 

We have decided to pay Addie to help Angus with his homework every day. Angus struggles with math and it has always been easy for her. She's doing an awesome job and our sanity is totally worth it. She's the cheapest tutor ever and she thinks she's getting a ton of money because she's 10. It's a win for all of us.

Dan has been doing Addie's hair in the mornings since Mya has zero period and is gone before she wakes up. He does a great job.

We hung out with some puppies yesterday. They were beyond adorable. We might have some doggie news soon but I'll save that for next time.  =)

Happy Sunday All! 

Next up, Newport pics 💙