When last we left off, we were anxiously awaiting news of our car's status. What I discovered during my Google research while waiting, is that even though the bent axle and dent in the side of the car wouldn't be all that big a deal or too expensive to fix, the airbags going off pretty much sealed our Odyssey's fate. Apparently, airbags deploying almost always results in a car being totaled because they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive to fix/replace. SO. That was our news last Thursday -- our van was declared a total loss. Boo! I was pretty bummed because I really loved our Odyssey and it was still relatively new to us (we'd only had it for about a year and a half). Nevertheless, the show must go on and since the insurance was only paying for our rental car until this Tuesday, it really put our feet to the fire to find something new before then. Luckily, we found the perfect car at a local dealership and by Saturday evening we were the proud new owners of another Honda Odyssey. Hahaha. Cliche or not -- I wanted to stick with what I know and like.
But that's enough about that. Here is what everyone else has been up to for the last few weeks...
- Ethan
Ethan has been winning all the brownie points lately for being consistently the only child to mostly get chores done and take care of other life responsibilities. We're winding down to the end of the school year here, but I have been so grateful that this kid gets himself up for early morning seminary every day on his own and gets his own breakfast and lunch made before heading out the door -- all without me (or Scott) having to wake him up and get him moving. He hit a momentous milestone yesterday when he read the VERY LAST chapter of his American History textbook and is almost officially done with American History AP. It's been a challenging year academically, but I'm proud of him for sticking to it and probably being the only kid in the class who actually read every single word of every single chapter all year long.
- Grace
Grace has been keeping up with her soccer practicing for tryouts at the start of next month, and in addition, she's also been keeping us in the running for some Parenting 505 awards with the number of full-blown "negotiations" that have occurred over the course of the last month. She's certainly going to be captain of the debate team whenever she decides to join that club next year. In all seriousness, though, I can't decide if toddlers or teenagers are more exhausting. What I can tell you that having both at the same time has been something else. ;)
- Sophie
Sophie's biggest and most exciting news this month is that in addition to making it onto the yearbook staff for next year, she's also made it onto the 7th Grade Junior High Dance Team! To say that this is a dream come true for her is an understatement. In addition to dancing, she's been honing her skills for her "Triple Threat" status and after practicing almost non-stop for WEEKS now, she killed it on-stage with her rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" for her middle school talent show last Friday. It was held during the school day, but thankfully, I was able to make it to watch even if I did have to bring Dumplin' Buns along for the show.
- Jane
Jane, Jane, Jane. What can I say about my little moonbeam? Honestly, I can't think of a single thing. Yikes. Hashtag parent fail. As I think about it, though, it's possible that she has officially grown out of waking up in the middle of the night and then waking US up as she climbs in bed with us. So that's pretty awesome. Yay Jane!!! Hahaha. Other than that, she continues to love arts and crafts -- especially at super inopportune times -- and she continues to make me laugh on the daily with her hilarious facial expressions and retellings of daily anecdotes.
- Alex
Alex prayed for and was granted a small miracle a couple of weeks ago when he went to the dentist for his first checkup since we've moved here. {Yikes, I know.} That morning at Scripture Time, he prayed that he'd only have 2 cavities when he went in, and even though in my head I was thinking there was no possible way that was going to be the case -- you know, because of his history of needing excessive dental work and all -- I was put in my place when he finished up his cleaning with a diagnosis of only ONE cavity for the visit. He was pretty ecstatic about that and so was I. :)
- Isaac
Isaac's biggest and best news of the last week is that he's finally potty trained! YAY!!!!! This kid is such a nut job and I love him so much. I knew that if I tried to push it too much, he'd resist and dig in his heels even more. So, instead, I left it totally up to him for when he wanted to try potty training again, and a couple of Sundays ago, he announced that he wanted to wear underwear instead of his Easy Ups. And since that time, he hasn't had a single accident while he's awake! {Asleep is another story. Hahaha.} I'm pretty sure his motivation stemmed from wanting to fill out his chart so that he could pick out a transformer at the store, but no matter what it was that got him moving, I'm just happy that it didn't involve a battle of wills.
{He also experienced his very first trip to the dentist.}
- Scott and Jessica
And then there's us. For an early anniversary present this year, Scott got tickets to see "Waitress" at the local theater and last Saturday night, we made it in the nick of time after spending most of the afternoon and evening at the car dealership finalizing the purchase of our new car. Neither of us had seen the musical before, but I've had the Sara Bareilles soundtrack for a couple of years now and LOVE the music, so we were excited to check it out. And even though I feel a bit in a bind as to what I thought about {I really enjoyed it overall and thought it was funny and the music was great, BUT there were a couple of overly explicit scenes/musical numbers that I really wish were not part of the show -- so I'm hesitant to recommend to everyone I see}, but I'm still glad we went.
Other than that, the only real update on me is that I've been a bit obsessed for the last couple of months with learning all about plants/flowers/landscaping, so that I could finally get started on OUR landscaping for my 40 before 40. As I've attempted to start executing it, however, I've quickly realized that I will need to proceed in phases. Even with doing everything myself (and by myself I mean I've roped Ethan into helping me and Scott when he can), landscaping is kind of expensive. SO. For this year, I'm focusing solely on the front of the house. {Along with the side where it wraps around the porch.} I'm super excited with how everything is turning out, and I'm in love with the flowers and plants that I've bought for this year. Hopefully, I'll be able to tackle the backyard NEXT year.
This year's haul includes a couple of forsythias (which I absolutely adore in the spring time), some English roses, creeping phlox, King Ostrich ferns, hostas (I'm weirdly obsessed with ferns and hostas, just as an FYI)...
...more daylilies, creeping Jenny (I'm obsessed with it's bright chartreuse-y green color), a couple different varieties of peonies...
...some Lily of the Valley, butterfly bushes, pincushion flower...
...a lovely burkwood viburnum, a boxwood, some gold bar maiden grass...
...some more English roses and finally, some Carolina Jessamine to crawl up a couple of trellises. And yes -- that is a LOT of planting. And also yes -- you can probably see from the pictures that I'm breaking new ground to extend the garden bed to wrap around the side of the house. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this project before the flowers have lost their bloom. ;)
And that's a wrap! Now you're all caught up. Hahaha. Until next time...
