Where to begin??? Life is speeding by at about 1,000 miles per hour (of course an exaggeration). But I am stuffing as much as I can into each day and I still don't get it all done, something has to give. It can't be a clean house, that would drive me crazy. It can't be family scripture study, that only takes 10 minutes, anyway. The list of can'ts is so long, I'm starting to wonder what it can be. We all need clean clothes. Some people need birthday parties. Everyone wants to go to Disneyland. I finally fit going to the temple into my schedule (when Ryon was in morning kindergarten), even though it only took 2 hours, I don't know if I got anything else done that day. I've tilled and planted our fall garden...we'll have more beans than we know what to do with in a month or so. I still need to plant broccoli and lettuce, and spinach. O.K. I suck at figuring out what I don't need to be doing right now. (I did figure out there's really no time for blogging...but I'm still trying to do it for you mom.) There's so much that seems like it's mine and mine alone to get done. Driving the high school kids to school every morning, making dinner, maintaining the pool chemicals, cleaning the suburban, making sure the kitchen it always clean, maintaining bicycles so the younger kids can get to school alone, making 12 loaves of bread a week, taking photos so I can some day look at life slowly and savor what happened when it was speeding by at 1,000 miles an hour (that's supposed to be funny in a sad sort of way). I'm definitely feeling like I'm not doing this quite right, yet. Breath, smile, keep going...A quick summary. The boys had their first 2 real football games (taking for 5am to 5pm every Saturday from now until the end of October). Eli is doing great this year in football! He's not loving his offensive line position, but he's doing a great job! Nathaniel is tall for his team, even though he's a year younger because of skipping a grade in school, he's really good at his position. Zach is awesome! He's a receiver and also a guy who tackles receivers...should I know what that is called? I'm sure by the time my boys are out of the house I will know all football rules forward and backward. Andrew is loving football. It's crazy to me to think he can run a mile after practice every night, which includes about 4 miles of running. All the boys are in great shape. O.K. that's not such a quick summary...a quick summary.
Ricky was asked to homecoming in a very cute way involving a heart, candy, and some fishing line. Ryon lost 30 pounds and is looking great and feeling great! School started (a month ago), everyone is doing better in school than last year (which can be hard to do with these kids). Eli is speaking Mandarin. Ry Guy likes to do science "experiments" on the back porch and has grown some beautiful crystals. I'm enjoying my mornings alone, although they speed by very quickly! Ricky had an allergic reaction and her face swelled up (huge)...a bit scary (no one would accept her travel insurance), but she's o.k. now, and we think we know what caused it (my fault), sorry!!!! (I'd post a picture, but I was banned from my camera for 48 hours by Ricky.) The summer temperatures seem to have passed the peak heat, I'm so glad! Bea had her first swim meet, but she missed her heat...oops, next time she'll have a guide. I'm not doing a good job of exercising (I thought I'd get some cardio done when the kids were all at school, but I've found so many other things to do. Priorities!)
I'm feeling like life is changing. I'm no longer the mother of just toddlers, I'm the mother of teenagers. And that requires a different skill set: time management, realizing that my needs are more important than a teenagers wants (that's hard for me to implement sometimes), boundaries (for myself), and an even heightened awareness that it's important to do what is right all of the time, and a desire to make sure my priorities are correct (good, better, best).
I'm guessing by now you are way done reading, but if you aren't...just wanted to let you know, I'm still loving life. It's a grand adventure, and I'm feeling quite honored to be taking part in it! Especially being surrounded by 9 of the most wonderful people I have ever met. All Glory be to God, I truly am grateful to Him for all things.
.jpg)
1 comment:
I love it, Jeanette! You are doing a great job! Travis says Zach is probably a corner back and/or a safety on defense. I'm trying to help with the "can't list" so if this helps, great, if not, just ignore it: Can you car pool with other parents to get the kids to school? Can you buy bread instead of bake it? (There are homemade style loaves for 50 cents at Alpine bakery on Southern West of Country Club) Can the kids help plant the garden? Can you swap with another mom babysitting for the temple? Can a teenager be in charge of doing pool chemicals (my brother did ours at that age)? Can some kids do their own laundry? Alright, enough questions. Just don't worry. You're doing a great job and it all will work out!
Post a Comment