Long-range plans and goals

I guess an alternative title could have been "What our lives are like now." I love how my Jones soda really summed it up for me last week with this bottle cap advice. This is truly where we're at. As you know, the littles went to public school last year, and I went back to Grad school.

It has all gone swimmingly. The littles have done a great job with the transition. It was a strong move for all of us. While I miss the early days of homeschooling, I do not miss what it turned into for me. In the last year that I home schooled everyone, it became a huge source of failure and frustration for me. There are some things even I am not patient enough to muddle through. I thought I would miss it more, but I think we were all ready for a change. We moved forward and haven't looked back since.

I am 20 months away from obtaining my masters in nursing as a clinical nurse specialist. It is hard. It is stressful. But I also feel like this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm so excited about my options. I'm so excited about doors that are opening for me. Hopefully, I will have my dream job anytime between now and graduation. I've worked night shift weekends for the past 9 years because it met the needs of my family and supplied our family with a nice paycheck. I did this willingly. Now that I know there's an end in sight, I suddenly can't WAIT to be off weekends and specifically night shift, which I believe is slowly killing me. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me that I will have a normal life soon!

She's serious about the environment

This is a public service announcement from the youngest bee. She wants to remind everyone to reduce, recycle, and reuse. She takes this serious.

So serious in fact, that's she's made her own Environment Club. She is the president, treasurer, and secretary of the club. She's in charge of production ideas as well as creative director.

She has made badges you can earn for activities such as recycling, reusing items, planting and working in the yard. She's advertising for new members and already has a pretty good following.

Oh, how I love this girl. Her passion. Her creativity. Her obsessive nature. I love it all. I truly think God gave me this child because he knew I would need to be entertained later in life.

Karate Kid

OK. So actually it's Taekwondo. But whatever.

Jus has been begging for Karate class since last year (around the time the bully appeared... a post for another day). She has been so patient while we've taken everyone else to and from soccer practice, to and from football practice, English tutoring, etc.

I feel like we often put our entire lives on hold for this soccer thing. I'm not saying I don't want them to play, but it's very expensive, involves a lot of traveling, and someone has practice every single night of the week. Add in games and we spend the time equivalent of a full time job every week on just soccer. And poor Justine gets drug along as the sibling cheerleader.

And she didn't want to play soccer. She wanted mixed martial arts.

And tonight, I delivered. Adorable, isn't she? Of course, as soon as I got home, I choked on a slew of phrases I never thought I'd have to say...

"Put your sister's nunchucks down. NOW."

"Now punch your brother."

"Show Daddy how you punched the nice man."

Street Soccer and a Magical Surprise

One of our favorite things to do is play street soccer at night. Our neighbors probably hate us; we get a little loud. We stay out a little too late. I'm a big fan of making magic. Magical memories. Street soccer for us is one of those things we do to make magical memories. The kids get to stay up late. We get to play with them. We live our lives in a way that we are running from one soccer practice to another; one activity to another. Jeff and I have to work long and hard hours to make all of this happen. But for a few hours, we can be silly and crazy and magical. And not worry about schedules and chores and cleaning up after this mass of people.

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed a brief interruption in the 100+ degree weather. The boys moved out a few chairs we had been storing in the garage. White trash? Perhaps. Mine was a recliner... yeah. That's right. A recliner in the drive way. It's OK, you can judge. I don't mind.

People would drive by and stare at us, but honestly, we're used to that. People stare at us no matter where we go. On this specific Friday, a familiar car drove by VERY slowly. As I approached the passenger side, the window slowly rolled down, and I saw a familiar face. Jordan's smile illuminated through the dark, and I think I started screaming. My parents and Jeff had flown Jordan in from Chicago for the weekend to surprise me. My dad drove all the way to Kansas city to pick her up. What a surprise. And this, my friends, is the best kind of surprise EVER.

I'm in a better place than I was last year, as far as missing her and dealing with it. I think because we chat or text or talk just about every single day. And I'm busy. I don't have time to spend much time feeling sorry for myself. But oh Lord, how I miss that girl on a daily basis. It literally was the best night ever. Poor Jordan. As used to this group as she can be, being away for months at a time makes the masses crazy. The kids were absolutely ALL over her. Two words: overwhelming and personal space. Oops. That's three. Once we finally got the kids settled and in bed, Jordan crawled in bed with us, and we chatted about her life until 2 am. It was the way life is supposed to be. Thank you to my mom and dad, Jeff and Jordan for making it happen. And this night was definitely magical.

Afraid to blog; Afraid to not blog

After a nearly year long hiatus from this blog, I have occasionally felt a yearning to return. In a way, I've been afraid to even type those letters into the address bar. Afraid my blog, which I loved so much, would be gone? A fear that it would bring me back to times that were bittersweet. This blog represents times of complete happiness and utter despair for me. Returning represents an embarrassment of my year long absence.

But I'm back.

I will hopefully find a few minutes here and there to document our lives in this strange forum. I'll need somewhere to document how I survive Jordan being in Egypt for a semester this winter. A place to focus my angst of having 4 teenagers soon. A place to document and photograph my muse, Justine. An arena to document my last 20 months of grad school and hopefully the beginning of career advancement. Who knows? I guess I'll give it a try.

More to follow soon.

Hugs.

I've been thinking...

After a year hiatus and at the pinnacle of business, I've been thinking I should start blogging again... You know, just to share the craziness of our lives! We'll see. I don't know if I have anything interesting left to say.