Work

I just had a realization about work and getting things done in general...when I make a huge "to-do list" (usually on a Saturday), my goal is generally to get all those things done before I go to bed. No matter what I put on it, or how many things, I won't feel happy unless I finish them all. So I'm usually just setting myself up for failure since it would generally be impossible to finish everything.

Today I am home with Janie (who threw up this morning, and then pretended it had never happened and asked for food and has been happily playing all morning...) and started thinking about all the extra things I could accomplish on a day when I usually would be at school. I could catch up and actually be ahead in some areas of life. I could prep all the dinners for the week, plan for thanksgiving, do extra laundry, do, do, do... But what is the point? So for a few days I would have slightly less work to do, at the expense of a whole day slaving away to get ahead.

I don't think it really matters if we're slightly behind or slightly ahead. The point of work is to take care of ourselves, take care of our families, and our belongings. It will always be there- work will never completely go away. It is meant to be done, every day (except Sunday) and that's all there is to it. If we get ahead one day, we'll just find more to do the next day. If we stress about how much work we have to do, we'll just stress some more the next day.

I am going to try and do my work diligently, without dawdling, but also without hyperventilating because of the massive amount of work I think I have. Yes, during some periods of life there is more work to do than others, but I just need to acknowledge that...and JUST DO IT.

God grant us all peace and joy as we complete our God-given tasks:)

September Update

Sorry, no catchy titles and no pictures right now. But I did want to post something! I was asked two weeks ago to be a "real" preschool teacher at the school we were last year, and we had a week to get the classroom ready. It's been a whirlwind since then. This was our third day of school with the little ones, and it's been really great, and really overwhelming at the same time. Everything has gone really well so far, much better than I expected, but I have a lot of ideas and no time to think about them or implement them. Fall is always a busy time for our family, but this is insane!

So...we'll see how it goes. We're trying not to schedule anything extra right now, and do the bare minimum around the house. But here's what's on our plates for the next couple months:
-I leave the house (with kids ready for school) at 7:15 every morning
-come home (with Jane) at 1:15.
-our neighbor Michael comes over two afternoons a week for preschool at our house (which I'm loving- he's such a great kid!)
-one afternoon is for errands (so we don't go home right away)
-pick up big kids at school (leave house at 3, back at 4:00)
-then an hour to unwind, which is filled with emptying backpacks, sharing stories from the day, etc.
-dinnertime comes all too soon, then the bedtime routine starts. Kids in bed by 7:30ish, then lunch-making and catching up on stuff.

Plus:
-Brendan is training for the Chicago marathon in October, so he's going out running about 4 days a week.
-I am in charge of registration for the women's retreat at our church, which is coming up in a month. I have not done registration before, and probably wouldn't have volunteered to do it had I known I'd be teaching. But I did, and I am, so I'll just see how it goes...from different sources it's "not that bad, kind of enjoyable" and "crazy hectic". I'll take the former, please!
-Jane's birthday was a few days ago, and she's having a little kid party soon (again, planned before the teaching job)
-there's a whole bunch more, but those are the basics.

*Sorry to bore you with our schedule, but that's how it is, folks. I haven't taken many pictures recently, but I'll try to post some soon and get back to our "pictures with a few words" type posts.

Mid-summer

At the beginning of July, Brendan competed in the Ann Arbor Triathlon, and we all came to watch. Gene and Lucy were so excited to be going, they promptly fell asleep in the car on the way there...


Jane wasn't sleepy, so she worked on curling her tongue.


The weather was great, there were a lot of people there, and the horn sounded for the start. Swimming is first.


Brendan didn't want anyone to see him in his swim cap, but I got most of him as he ran up to get his bike.

And then he came it toward the finish...still running!


Afterward, everyone jumped in the lake because it was so hot. We had forgotten the bathing suits, though.




Then we had some normal summer days at home. Wearing sundresses...

Lucy practiced tying... (and Jane's getting in on it, too)


Geno mowed a few strips of the lawn (!!!)...



And chopped some nuts...


And in really random news, a cutting board toppled over one morning and smushed the butter, and broke the butter plate. It was worthy of a picture, we thought!


In mid-July, Lucy went to Safety Town with with some friends who had also signed up. Just great! I forget the name of this bear, but he had something to do with safety...


Aunt Reenie had a party, because the VANDERVEENS WERE BACK IN TOWN!! Jane was so excited to see Ellie, and we were all happy to see everyone:) The girls started out eating their dinner sitting inside the wading pool, but then moved out so it could be filled up.


Then we went on vacation! After a five-hour drive up north, we were all glad to get there.



What were we going to do now?


Well, climb on the bunk beds...



Take a bath in the foot-rinsing bin...


Do art at the beach...


Pose for pictures...



Throw water balloons...


And relax...


It was so hot that week, we pretty much lived at the beach. No complaints, here. Lucy also got some practice on her 2-wheeler, Hannah got some practice on her road bike, and Brendan played a lot of volleyball and swam across the lake. Gene played tennis and shuffleboard, and Jane played with whatever Ellie was playing with.

Then we had to come home...

But we have visited Grandma's pool many times since then. That kind of made us feel better, since it was (still) very hot.



All the kids like the rafts, and Jane wears her waterwings from the moment we get there, till it's time to go home.


Snack at the pool...




It's been a great summer so far! Here's to a few more good weeks before school starts.

July update

We went strawberry picking toward the end of June, and Lucy and Gene were pretty helpful...





The child not pictured was not helpful. End of story. (Well, actually, the real story is she was almost falling-asleep tired and just couldn't be bothered to stoop down and look under the leaves like the strawberry-field signs said. She didn't even want to exert a little energy so she could pick one to EAT! She fell asleep two minutes after leaving the field.)

We did end up making a year's supply of jam out of our meager pickings, though:)

Here's one of Jane's favorite activities lately... giving her animals a bath in the sink. She's not supposed to use the soap (they don't need a real bath...) but it looks like maybe she was sneaking it here:


Jane and Lucy play with our blocks and animals every day, generally multiple times every day. I had to snap this picture because...look who decided one day to join in. And wasn't Jane jealous! But the carpet is so small that I decided she could do something else for a while, and let her two older sibs have fun together. Gene had a great time...but hasn't really been back since. Blocks are a girl toy, right?


Jane really likes puzzles, and can do anything under 50 pieces no problem. We've been trying 100 pieces lately, and she's doing okay...with a little help. But once she get's going, she's great! She does have some Donahue (Grandma Hendricks' family) blood in her (well, if you couldn't tell from the hair!)


Gene and I have been playing catch with the girls...after realizing they were growing up under a baseball star, and had no ball skills whatsoever. It's been fun, and they are getting really into it!





Speaking of balls, the girls have also discovered the joys of blowing up things. I mean, with their mouths, or a little pump we discovered somewhere. Lucy spent about a whole day blowing up a beach ball with the pump, squeezing out all the air, and blowing it up again. Of course Jane, the resident copycat, had to do the same. Then they started using their mouths as well...


Oh, and here's our door. A nice, regular door. We hadn't touched it since moving in, except to put up the lovely door knocker the first year. I think it has our last name engraved on it. Last year, we started to notice various houses with painted front doors in strikingly bold colors. And Brendan assured me there were a lot in Birmingham, which seems to be a trend-setting city. And maybe we were feeling trendy... so we decided to be bold and cover up all that whiteness...



The girls helped. I think Gene helped too, but he didn't make it into a picture.


There is no "finished" picture yet, because the third coat hasn't exactly been completed yet, but I will finish the door after we get back from vacation. And if I remember to take a picture, I'll probably post it. But here's an "in progress" picture, to give you the general idea:


I really like it:)

Ok, to finish up here...we had some really nice, not so hot weather...the girls had reading time outside for a couple days. We've devolved from a strict "nap time" 3 years ago, to "room time" the last couple years, to "reading time" this summer. No one naps, no one needs to (really!), and they get bored and restless up in their rooms. Since we signed up for the library reading program this summer, and some days reading was the last thing on their minds (well, for some of them) we instituted an hour every afternoon for reading. It will be really great once the third one can read. Right now, she is limited to looking at books, doing a puzzle, or coloring a picture. During that time, I also read her one book of her choosing, and work on some phonics with her.


Oh, one more picture that is completely random. The girls helped peel eggs for egg salad one day. It's so nice to have kitchen helpers! And to know that one day I can say to someone, "Please make some egg salad for lunch." And they can call me when it's ready:)