WITL 2016 - Weekend Edition

Here we go jumping back to May for the final time.  I can tell I was pretty burned out on the project by then because of how few pictures I have and there's NOTHING written down.  I think it's still worth including the little I have in the final product though, so here it goes.

Saturday
Saturday got off to a chilly start.  My alarm went off at the normal 4:30am, and I was up around 5. A friend and I had made plans to go for a run on some of the Rochester trails.  She picked me up at 7 and we drove to town for a 4 mile run.

A pretty typical Saturday morning sight.  The kids sprawled around the house in their "comfys" playing video games and watching TV.  You will not, however, find them sleeping in.  Up with the sun every day of the week.

Saturday was a pretty typical day for me too.  By that I mean I had a list  impossible to complete in the time allotted.  Somewhere deep down inside I'm sure I realize this, but I'll never admit it...not even to myself.  So I start with the best intentions and do what I can.  Today that included shopping for groceries and typical weekend errands, picking out and buying flowers for the front porch, buying planters with flowers to fill them, and picking up paint chips for the front door decision. That should leave  me with just enough time to plant said flowers, decorate the porch, and make a salad before heading to a birthday party for Luke's mom later that afternoon.  Ha....right, but I did at least get most of the things purchased off my list.

 Of course I don't want just any flowers.  As usual I have a very multicolored variety in my head and wander the aisles thinking "too boring, too green, too monochromatic, not bright enough, not enough variety", and on and on.  You can see why Luke opted to stay home with the kids to work on garage projects and tilling up the garden.  When it was all said and done I ended up with a bright and colorful variety that made me smile.  Which is really the test when it comes down to it.  I have a hard enough time keeping anything alive, if it doesn't look happy and fun it doesn't stand a chance!

 On the way down to Iowa I continued to pour over the paint chips I'd collected earlier in the day.  Including, of course, a Christmas red and Evergreen color just to make sure the front door color would pass the Christmas test.

We ended the day with birthday celebrations, food, fun, and my personal favorite to-do list silencer....wine.

Sunday

That brings us to the final day of this years Week in the Life week....Sunday.  Our calendar was jam packed for Sunday.  In a nutshell it looked like:

                                                  10:00am Church

1:00pm   Scouts Graduation

4:30pm  Cora's Dance Show

5:45pm  Beau Soccer Game

7:00pm  Cora's Soccer Game

It was one of those days where, looking back, I was there, but not really being present for any of it.  This is an ever present challenge for me, and even more so on busy days like this.  Even as a kid my mom was constantly telling me "don't wish your life away".  It's something I'm always striving to be more conscious of and improve upon.  Now, as a mom myself, I'm always amazed how I can be looking ahead to the next thing and simultaneously be panicked over how fast my kids are growing. On this particular day, our schedule was so tight that I spent much of the day anxiously preoccupied with how we were going to get ready for, and make it to the next event on time.  We have had a few of these "crazy" days over the last year, and they have really prompted us to reconsider whether we want to continue with some of our commitments.  It's a constant struggle to find the right balance.  We want to give our kids opportunities, share experiences as a family, and live life to the fullest.  Yet, I've found that often it leads to memories (the real life honest memories, not the "facebook photo" memories) filled with stress and anxiety.  Sometimes it causes me to look back and realize that we were so "busy" life passed right on by.

The day started slow enough, chilly, but at a relaxed pace.

I try to keep my same morning schedule on weekends with my alarm still going off at 4:30am.  It does tend to take me a bit longer to actually roll out of bed, but I find that I still need that quiet time before the rest of the house gets moving.

Late getting home on bath night means baths and showers have to be taken before church this morning.

The hangers are still a little tough for Cora to navigate, but we're getting there.

Pretty girls all dressed for church.  90% of the time my kids choose their own clothes.  All three were very opinionated about their wardrobe from a very early age (like 2).  It usually starts out when they're little that I get to choose their clothes for school days and they get to choose on the weekend, unless we're going somewhere special.  As they have gotten older it has evolved to Mom chooses church and special occasion clothes, and they pick everything else.  It's just not a battle I have the energy to fight every day.  With that said, they would all wear "comfys" (aka glorified pajamas) every single day, so I do try to get them to limit the comfy wear to the weekends.  This has a varied level of success, so I just tend to make sure I limit their options based on what I buy.  One or two pairs each and that's it.  This allows me to be strategic with the laundry and it turns into a non issue.

Once the sun is up I take some paint chips out to the front of the house to try and settle on a shutter color.  I wonder if the neighbors are amused by the new crazy lady standing outside in her pajamas staring at paint chips taped all over the front of the house, coffee mug in hand.  

My flowers have all made it to the porch, but will have to wait for another day to be planted.

Luke showing the kids his heel clicking skills, because what else are you going to do while waiting for church time.

After church it's a Subway dinner, quick change of clothes for Beau and off to the Scouts graduation.

Once Scouts is over there's just enough time to head home for another costume change, this time for Cora.  We curl her hair, add a little lip gloss and we're off again.  We're really loving our new in town location today.

Next up was Beau's soccer game, which I left my phone (which means my camera) in the car for.  Mom/WITL fail.

 I did remember to get it out for Cora's game.  Sylvie is starting to enjoy getting in on the pre-game action.

And with that we wrap up another year of Week In the Life.  So glad to have the project, yet so glad to have it done.