Monday, March 30, 2015 at 11:53AM Still working my way through my 40 before 40 list. Today, I finished a 30 day hula hooping challenge!
Woohoo! It wasn't anything fancy or exciting, but I'm happy to have finished it. :)
(In case you're wondering, I purchased this years ago from this site and have been quite happy with my hoops, though I don't use them nearly as much as I could.)
Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 01:07PM I haven't really joined the Throwback Thursday bandwagon. It's been on my mind, though. I've been walking a lot more lately and thinking about, well, everything. :) One of those things has been just how much difference a year can make. For instance...
One year ago (roughly)...
House: We had just finished our master bedroom project, which was a solid month full of work that I'm still so very grateful for every time I walk into my bedroom. :) We hadn't done any outside work at all and had just started talking about actually removing bushes in the front. But nothing more, we said. Ha! Funny.
A year later we've...
I'm exhausted just thinking about it. ;)
Work: Nathan had just started this new self-employment venture and had happily put his 50 minute commute behind him. It took a bit of adjustment to have him home all the time, but it's working out pretty well now and, fortunately, the contracts continue to sustain us. (Plus, we've replaced his commuting car thanks to last summer's hail storm.)
Education: I was still homeschooling three boys...enjoying the flexibility but not the battles with certain oldest sons, lol. Having Noah in high school now is going pretty well and is a good fit for him. It's still taking a little getting used to to stick to the school's schedule, but the homeschooling is smoother. ;)
Other: As far as boys' extracurriculars, some things have simply progressed...like archery (where both Micah and Noah continue to participate on their JOAD team, though both have gone up a division and changed their equipment) and karate (where Micah's gone from a blue to a high blue to a red belt and is now on the demo team and where Asher's gone from a high red to a brown to a high brown belt (and is still on the demo team)).
Other things have changed altogther...like Noah no longer doing swim team and Asher stopping clarinet lessons and Asher starting gymnastics.
So. Yeah. Not really an overly exciting post, and I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out. Just rambling and musing on the past year. :) Here's to a less eventful year to come?
Monday, March 23, 2015 at 11:24AM Last Saturday, my bookends and I journeyed down to Denver for yet another JOAD tournament. We stopped for brunch first, to fuel them up for the afternoon. The place we normally go wasn't open yet (we usually shoot the later session rather than the first one but were trying something different this time), so we ventured up the block a bit and found a lovely bakery. We all enjoyed our meals, but Micah REALLY enjoyed his:
That's the kids meal French toast, people. Apparently, it was awesome. I didn't get a bite because the boy pretty much inhaled it and had a huge smile for the next hour or so.
After that, we headed to the archery range to check in for the tournament. Can you spot Noah and Micah's bows? ;)
Both boys had pretty good tournaments! Not only did they both set new personal bests for total tournament score (at their current divisions)...but emotionally they both did a considerably better job at holding themselves together than tournaments past. And. Noah managed to place third again! (No picture of him receiving his award because we left before those were finalized after the later shooting session. He prefers it that way, lol.) Woohoo!
Whew.
And then we went home to have dinner with Nathan and Asher to celebrate a good shoot. During the meal, as is nothing new, I mentioned to Asher that perhaps using the napkin was better than wiping his hands on his pants. At that moment, he came up with a brilliant new invention idea: napkin pants! Seriously, folks, how useful would that be, right?! And, while we're at it, how about snot sleeves? Take note! When someone else actually markets these, I want it known that I said it here first. :)
And then, on the way home, very full from all the yummy food, the boys were insisting that they needed to simply sit and be lazy for the rest of the night. Nathan mentioned that perhaps being "lazy" wasn't the best word. He suggested "relaxing, recuperating or recovering." Noah, without missing a beat, explained that those words were too long and, thus, too much work, lol.
Sigh. ;)
JOAD Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 07:01PM Happy Pi Day to all! Today also happens to be the 23rd anniversary of the day Nathan and I first met. :) Nathan was telling the boys about this earlier today, to try to freak them out about how old we are, lol. Then I chimed in...pointing out to Noah that perhaps he'll meet the person he'll spend the next 23 years with in just two years. Oy!
Anyhow, we didn't do much to celebrate this year but did all go out to a lovely lunch and then over to Village Inn to grab some pie. Because it felt necessary. ;)
Yeah. This was too much pie. Asher's the only one who actually finished his slice. (We really should have just gotten two slices, lol.)
So. Here's to another 23 years together...and maybe a little less pie. ;)
Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 11:44AM So proud of my boys! Last night Micah promoted to red belt and Asher promoted to high brown!
Both boys participated in both the promotion and the demo team performances throughout, so were pretty busy and sweaty. ;)
For Asher, this is the last belt before black belt. He's stoked and appropriately apprehensive. I'm so proud of the time and effort he's invested...in the confidence he's gained (and continues to gain). I'm looking forward to watching this next leg of his journey...
