1) orchestra things
My teens have amazing opportunities to attend and/or participate in extraordinary arts experiences. Corbin and Quincy both were given “optional assignment” to attend very cool non mandatory orchestra events this week. Reese also attended one on a date with a cello playing friend in our ward, and since I was there with Quincy (and my sister Amy who is in town, hollah!) I obviously did what any creepy stalker mom would do and texted her from a few rows back where I was sitting.
2) speaking of dates, the social lives of my teens is picking up speed and every weekend is now a scramble to see who has plans abc where everyone needs to be. Reese bravely went to the Bella vista haunted house with Bradley last weekend and survived. This girl does not do scary stuff and has never even been in Bradley’s own backyard haunted trail. Taking her to be chased by creepy clowns Weil sing chainsaws was probably like the episodes of Ellen where she sends her producers through. ππππ
You bet I snapped a pic of her at the concert, too.
3) soccer season is in full swing! Mondays, Thursdays Saturday mornings AND evenings are all devoted to soccer games for Corbin and Soren. Soren is loving his season. Corbin’s coach is a screamer and I fear he will have a coronary during a game. Surprisingly, the screaming is well received by the players parents—they are screamers, too. They take notes abd faithfully deliver them to coach after the game, man-splaining to each other where each one of their kids went wrong and failed the team. The team has not only nog won a single game, but they are getting destroyed by the opposing teams every time with scores like 2-12. Corbin is mot loving the season because it takes the fun out of it to be so focused on wins that you lose sight of the game. Hopefully the boys will rally some friendships together and start working together as a team to enjoy the game a little more.
4) I grew these gorgeous bell peppers!
5) Adrian’s fire truck of the day. “That’s grandpa hal driving and me sitting behind him”
6) we thought our annual foster care re-evaluation meeting was last month, but apparently that was just a quarterly resource worker visit and they scheduled a separate eval for today at 1pm, along with a monthly caseworker visit with the twins at 5. At 12:40 the 1pm appointment canceled. The 5pm visit was the worker who has also been doing the quarterly visits AnD supervising our weekly court ordered sibling visits for the twins. It’s overkill abd everyone knows it. But here we are, asking “how high” when someone holds up a hoop in front of us. Today I asked the 5pm worker if she could just hand deliver our mountain of forms to the resource worker and save her a trip.
The response wasn’t because they also have to do a or of the home.
“But you did a tour when you came a couple weeks ago for a quarterly. And you are here now.
She needs to do the tour.
Whyyyyyyyy
Why the tape measure? The dimensions of bedrooms had not changed in the last year. It had jig changed in the last 5 years we have need doing this. The distance from the entrances of the bedrooms to the smoke alarms has not changed. The house burned to the ground and the dimensions did. Not. Change. This is not an efficient use of time or government money. Take my forms. Spend 1 hour searching for a managing children with aggressive behavior workshop for me. Take 10 minutes and search court connect to see if the appeal has an opinion posted yet. That’s what I need. Resolutions. Not tape measures, 5pm visits that trigger the children and canceled mid day appointments that I’ll have to reschedule by next week and sweep my floors again. The weeks of a foster parent are long right now. This is a tough season.
7) this was a cute father son moment. Aaron is such a wonderful father.
8) good homemade salad alert. Wild rice, rotisserie chicken, romaine, and homemade Dijon vinaigrette.
9) mother daughter book club is the best! We read Scythe this month and it was very different (dystopian) than most other books I’ve read lately but I really liked it! We FaceTimed Delaney for a minute (she is now off at BYU) and Finley won the door prize—-a handmade Harry Potter quilt that katie just whipped up in her extra hours of the day like it’s no big deal! The coolest!! We also geeked out over her adorable book cover edible cupcake toppers! So fun!
10) the hay is in the barn! I snapped this pic during the longest training run last week. 12 miles done. Now short mid week runs and an 8 miler and taper off for the Bentonville half marathon in a week and a half! This will not be my fastest race. It might be my slowest race ever. But I’ve powered on through flare after flare of swollen adrenal glands and extreme fatigue. I’m slower than ever but I’m still moving so that is a huge win. Training for this race was about perseverance. I kept thinking that running in this crazy summer heat would get easier or I would get faster. Neither happened, but I’m proud of myself for just slowing up to train again and again. Especially without the training group and running coach. I meet up with friends for some runs (y’all know who you are and I am so thankful for you!!), but 90% of my miles have been alone, this time. It’s different and difficult and I’m doing it.
11) thank you, Sully Shaw for the new to us favorite sweatshirt! He passed it on to Corbin, who also outgrew it over the summer. Reese and Quincy have also taken a liking to it and the sweatshirt (and it’s red look alike) are in high demand.
12) when your best friend teaches seminary, you get to have a lot of awesome gospel discussions! Kasey thoughtfully drops off little props or handouts and shares ideas and printables with the Willy kids and I love it! Her enthusiasm had taken our come follow me game to the next level, lately! Thank you, K! Here are my boys “girding up their loins”.
13) I surprised my parents before they came back to town by giving their flower bed a makeover. I moved the stone edging to make a little retaining wall, and filled out with favorites like cone flower, mums, blueberries and blackberries, then spread 6 bags of mulch in there. The result is so fun and colorful! Hopefully the flowered will spread abd come back bigger and better every year!
12) when your best friend teaches seminary, you get to have a lot of awesome gospel discussions! Kasey thoughtfully drops off little props or handouts and shares ideas and printables with the Willy kids and I love it! Her enthusiasm had taken our come follow me game to the next level, lately! Thank you, K! Here are my boys “girding up their loins”.
13) I surprised my parents before they came back to town by giving their flower bed a makeover. I moved the stone edging to make a little retaining wall, and filled out with favorites like cone flower, mums, blueberries and blackberries, then spread 6 bags of mulch in there. The result is so fun and colorful! Hopefully the flowered will spread abd come back bigger and better every year!
14) why does Soren look like a teenager all of a sudden?!
15) I was charged with creating covid-friendly healthy snacks for a yw boating trip. I made mini snack trays for all the girls and they were a hit, I also added cookies, chips, and sodas to each boat because balance.
16) I’m on week 4 with a broken dishwasher. T minus 8 days until the new one arrives. I broke down and bought disposable bowls and plates to survive the hand stretch. Hand washing dishes is the worst.
17) I took this pic of Sloane on 9-11. I love the juxtaposition and I think the future is in bright hands.
