Saturday, May 21, 2016

Did You Know Our Kids Play Sports and Do Other Stuff? TToT Week 153

As I drove to the volleyball game this morning, I was pondering my thankful post. I came up with a great intro to it, too.

Unfortunately, that was 6 hours ago. My brain is only capable of holding onto information for 3 Mississippis.

You get no great intro.

Maybe next time.

So, the thankfuls...

If you recall, last week I asked you to cheer Phoenix and his volleyball team on to victory in the state competition. Friday night, they played beautifully and won in only three sets. (Each match is best out of 5.) This morning they played the number one team in the state. It went to 5 games, and they ended up losing by 2 points. I feel awful for those boys. Seven seniors have been on the verge of winning the kit and kaboodle four years in a row. Each year they have lost in 5 sets, and by only 2-4 points in the fifth set. This was going to be their year. Ugh.

I am thankful that Phoenix had the opportunity to play with such helpful, generous, fun ballplayers.

Pregame introductions. My boy is #10.

I am thankful that my kids go to a school with such great fans. There were 2 matches going on at the same time in the same gym, (so four teams playing at a time) and our fans took up half the stadium. So many non-volleyball-playing students and parents came out to root the boys on. It was nice to see. (I know the gym looks empty in that photo above, but from where this is taken, all the way down the left sideline and a full section to the right of me, the stands are full of fans from our school.)

With this, volleyball season is over. While I do like watching them play, I am glad that I no longer have to drive to the high school to pick up Buttercup and Star after school anymore. Phoenix won't be going to practice and will be able to bring them home again.

Giant finished his career at the elementary/middle school. The last day was Friday. He and the rest of his class are ready to head out to the high school. It will come quick for Giant, seeing as how high school soccer practices start May 30!

The rest of the Coop kids will be done with school on Thursday. The teens only have finals left, so half days for them, and the two little boys will be having nothing but fun for most of the last few days.

The sun is currently shining. Sure, there are nasty looking clouds surrounding the bit of blue, but this is more sun than we've seen in a long time.

Turken is having a great time playing baseball. All the kids are improving by leaps and bounds thanks to 3 fabulous coaches. Out of the blue, Turken asked if he could pitch an inning (At this age, the first two of the six innings are kid-pitch.) and his coaches let him give it a try. His form leaves much to be desired, but he did so well, they let him pitch in two different games.



I am thankful for the sweet little boy (Cuckoo) who loves to pick "flowers" for all females who happen to be in our house at any given time.


I am thankful for the planners of downtown Indy. There are so, so many fun things to do. Last night most of the family went to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game. After school but before the game we had time to just hand out at White River State Park (also downtown).

I love that my kids can enjoy themselves in just about any situation.

There is a small area in the park that has all of these limestone benches laid out in concentric circle formation. They spent half an hour jumping from stone to stone, and then a rousing game of Camouflage. 
 Alrighty. That's it for today. Let me know what you've been up to this week. Do tell, for what are you grateful?

Have a lovely day!




Ten Things of Thankful


 Your hosts


Sunday, May 15, 2016

We Have May Flowers, Despite the April Showers Overrunnething Their Month, TToT 151

8:11.

Plenty of time to get a thankful post in...

First and foremost, I am most grateful for my lovely husband. He's awesome in general, but last weekend the man went all out. Since Mother's Day happened to be the day after Turken's First Communion, we had a crowd. Besides me, there were three other mothers here to celebrate and pamper. Bryan got the kids up early to set the table, including vases of flowers at each place setting. They made waffles with hot cinnamon apples and whipped cream, giant cinnamon rolls, eight different fruits, freshly squeezed orange juice, and skillets made to order, with hash browns, eggs, and all the veggies. I have never been more impressed, and the mothers (and my dad, who stood in for my stepmom) were thrilled to be treated to such a feast.

Star finished his first year of track with a great finish. He had so much fun throughout the season, meeting new kids and trying a new sport for him.

Phoenix's volleyball team is going strong. They just won Regionals quite handily, sending them to state quarter finals on Friday. For the last three years, the 7 seniors on the team have made it to state finals but have been unable to win. Always close, always going to all 5 games, twice losing by less than 5 points. THIS has got to be their year. Do us a favor and cheer them on Friday night at 8:00 from wherever you are.

The weather has basically been miserable for the last many days. I am so glad Phoenix plays a sport that takes place in a gym. Bryan got to be the one sitting in the cold for most of the soccer and baseball games this week.

Speaking of baseball, Turken is loving the sport again. Back in November, he told me he didn't want to play baseball again. He was still riding the high of soccer season and couldn't remember how much he liked baseball. I didn't listen to him and signed him up anyway. The other day he told me, "It's weird how when I'm playing soccer, it's my favorite sport, but when it's baseball season, that's my favorite."  Phew.

The animals have seemed to come to an agreement. Kinda like Zootopia right in our own backyard. The chickens are all over the property, but as long as they stay more than 10 yards away from the house, the dogs don't bother them. The cat is basically allowed anywhere he wants if the dogs are lying down, seeing as how they don't find it worth the effort to chase him anymore. If the dogs are already standing up, they might put on a half-hearted show of chasing him for a few feet, but there's really no fear of them catching or hurting him. It's quite pleasant around here these days.

The rain stopped long enough for the ground to absorb most of the water. Everything but the driveway has been mowed. The driveway is still quite squishy and must continue to grow unchecked.

The spiderwort my friend Donna gave me last summer is blooming beautifully! The spindly little plant I put in the ground back in July now looks like this...



I have also found a way to ensure that the dogs don't dig up flowers in the front of the house anymore. I don't know why I haven't thought of this before.

Flower pots!!



Even better when the flower pot is in a cute flower pot holder I found for $15.


Turken was home from school on Friday because he was up for much of the previous night coughing up a lung or two. I am very happy to say the cough is gone and he is back to normal. 

It's 9:11. 

My hour is up.

Gotta get this sucker posted and added to the link up. Feel free to join me!

Have a lovely day!




Ten Things of Thankful


 Your hosts


Monday, May 9, 2016

Well, I Didn't Set Out to Get Contemplative, or What We've Been Up to in 5,000 Words or Less

Remember back in August when ALL of my kids started school and I was at a loss as to what to do with all of my alone time?

(If you don't, read this. Ranks up there as one of my favorite posts I ever wrote. I still laugh just thinking about it.)

Well, I think I've come up with an answer.

I want to be a hermit.

In all my years of motherhood, I never had more than an hour or so at home by myself, and that hour or so was only on an occasional Mother's Day when Bryan took the kids out to find something for me.

Who knew being at home in a quiet house could be so nice??

I am actually hunting out reasons and ways to stay home as much as possible during the day.

You need thousands of Coke rewards (made up of 16 characters each, written on the tops of seriously hard to read bottle lids) entered into the website? I'M ON IT!

You need food for this, that, and every organization/family/group? I'LL MAKE TWO TIMES MORE THAN YOU NEED!!

You need someone to wash and iron all of the linens for church? SIGN ME UP!!

I could not be more shocked about this turn of events.

I like people. I like being around people. I like doing things with and for people.

And yet.

I'm actively searching out ways to help without coming face-to-face with a single person.

Mind-boggling.

But there you have it.

Also, I'm coming up with extra work for myself as far as taking care of the family goes.

For example, I made the executive decision to no longer buy packaged junk food. I have always limited the intake of junk food by my kids, but I've never banned it. I always had some candy or Little Debbies or some such thing in the cupboard for them to have after dinner. Well, during Lent we gave up those things, and after Lent, I just kept it going. Instead, we only eat desserts that are made in this house. In my mind, I think of it as healthier. Less preservatives, more love and all that jazz.

This means that I have to actually make the desserts, and a lot of them, seeing as how we in the coop have needy sweet teeth.

For weeks now, I have actually been planning dinners a week at a time (never, ever been done before!) AND the dessert to go with each meal.

You know what else has happened for the first time ever in our married lives?

We have a legit bit of landscaping. And flowers. In pots. On the porch. Never, ever have I "decorated" the porch like grown adult people do.

I don't wear pearls while I do all of this cooking and flowering, but you can still call me June.

And then, from 2:00 on, my butt is in the driver's seat of the van or on a bleacher watching one of my kids hit a ball, kick a ball, spike a ball, or run a race.

I am feeling the pressure of my kids getting older. I physically hurt from the knowledge that Phoenix will be turning 18 in September. It's weighing on me that all of that talk about one day all four of the big kids will be in high school at the same time is no longer sometime in the distant future. In less than 2 weeks, that day will be here. Every year for the next 4 years, one of my kids will move off to college. In the blink of an eye, I will have only two kids left at home.

So, whenever a teen wants to go somewhere, do something, or chat about something, I'm all in. I am encouraging it as much as I possibly can. I want these last years of getting to see these beautiful people every single day to be spent the best way possible.

And of course, there's always the little ones who want to cuddle and be read to and be watched while they do some normal but amazing feat of daring. I'm not about to say no to that either.

We had 30 minutes to kill between practices. Thankfully it was during one of the few bright spots of good weather we had last week. 

This time of year, there's always some special occasion going on, too. I'm doing my best to let the worry about the logistics go in order to simply enjoy them for the special events that they are.


May Crowning is a big day for the 8th graders and their parents.
Not as big as my sweet 8 year old's First Holy Communion, though, which also happened this week. 
And then there's the mundane, must-get-dones. Like follow-up root canal appointments and the dreaded cleaning of the bathrooms.

And there will always be the expected but unexpected dilemmas. Like a teen unfamiliar with the sucky, sinking nature of mud trying to drive a Dixie Chopper through it.

It took the two of us 45 minutes, as the sun was setting, to get this sucker unstuck, and in the end I didn't go backward, but forward into the trap of thorny, low branches trying to take my head clean off my neck.
In short, I'm busy.

Such a cliche. Such a stupid word to describe all that is going on. And so completely normal for just about everyone.

I miss my friends I've made in this blogging world. I miss reading posts they've written. I miss joking and having fun with them.

And yet.

Here I am, not writing and reading most days.

Here I am, trying unsuccessfully to live the life of a hermit.

Well, a hermit with a husband, 6 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 14 chickens.

Hermitish.

What's been keeping you busy?

Have a lovely day!