Happy Monday, friends!
This weekend was so busy. Friday night, I had rehearsal for our Christmas cantata at church. I ran into Target to get a few things before practice, and was Thankful that I got in line before the big crowd. I think I’ll hibernate until after Christmas. This time of year is bonkers.
Saturday, I worked a good portion of the day, which was really nice. A steady stream of patrons at the library helps time pass quickly. Plus, my co-workers are great. When I got off, I called my mom and asked if she would watch the girls for us. I wanted to take Scott to the cemetery to “see” his dad. These visits are hard. We’d give anything to just be able to talk to him again. My mom-in-law has it decorated beautifully. The sun was almost down completely and it was freezing, so we didn’t spend much time there. We were getting dinner after we left, and Scott decided to go to his dad’s favorite pizza place. Somewhere along the way, this happened..

Honestly, it wouldn’t be December without some sort of car troubles. This is the THIRD time we’ve had a nail/screw in our tire in December. Thankfully, that washer sealed the air in and it didn’t deflate. We were 45 minutes away from home, and the only place with tires would not repair it with the location of the screw, and didn’t have the size of tire we needed. So, we drove home and prayed that the tire wouldn’t explode. Ok, I did.. irrational fears… or maybe rational. The Walmart in our town also didn’t have our size of tire. UGH. It was still nice to have a date alone with my husband, even if it was a little stressful. haha!
Sunday, we drove the van another 30 minutes to church. Scott taught Sunday School and I had rehearsal. After Scott was done teaching, he left to get the tire looked at. Thankfully, someone let us know that Sam’s club will plug a tire for free if you are a member. They fixed the tire for us and it didn’t cost us a penny. We were feeling so frustrated that we were going to have such a big expense right before Christmas, and God provided.
The Christmas cantata was beautiful. I woke up on Sunday morning with my throat feeling dry and scratchy; not ideal when you are about to sing. I made some hot lemon ginger tea and drank as much as I could before singing. I am so thankful that my voice held out. It started to go as soon as church was over, and I felt really drained. I had been taking an antibiotic, and it took everything out of me. It didn’t do a thing for the sinus junk– and it made me completely miserable. I finished the 10 days, and am still trying to get back to normal. I crawled into bed after church and stayed there until dinner. I got our homeschool week all planned and set up, and then got back in bed.
You can tell Christmas is near. The kids are in a flurry of excitement. We have a Christmas countdown going, and they squeal with delight when they talk about it. The book Finding Christmas is such a beautiful book, and a great reminder for young and old alike to remember the spirit of the season is giving and not receiving. This is one that I want to add to our collection!

Hi, friends.
It’s been a while. I’ve just been trucking along. We went to Boo at the Zoo on Friday even though it was so cold and drizzly. We actually had freezing rain in the afternoon. We told the girls that we could go on another day, but they really wanted to go. So, we bundled up and went. No crowds. Imagine that.

Let’s just ignore the mess that is my house. I clean and clean and clean. But, it seems to be fruitless.
Saturday I got to help my niece get ready for her first show choir performance. I was standing outside of the hospital room when she was born. Now, she is this beautiful thirteen year old girl doing something that I loved when I was her age. I cried. I fought tears every time she was performing, and when all of the show choir groups sang “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman, I lost it.

I don’t even know how she got so grown… or how my own daughters are so grown. Time is such a bitter enemy.
Sunday, we took it slow. Church, rest, choir practice, and church. My mom-in-law drove over and had lunch with us. I didn’t get any pictures. I think I was a zombie by that point.
Monday, my mom invited my older sister and I over for a craft night. It was so much fun. We made Christmas crafts and, yes, turned on Christmas music. (Pandora’s Hipster Holidays station is the best.) We ate snacks and chatted.. it was perfect.

I felt pretty miserable yesterday. I haven’t been eating the way I know I should, and I’m paying for it. As soon as Scott came home, I laid down for the rest of the evening. It doesn’t help that Harper has been waking up at 4:30 every morning when Scott leaves for work. I have horrible insomnia, and only get a few hours of sleep a night if I don’t take something to help me sleep. I only take something on nights that Scott doesn’t work the next day; so once a week usually. The exhaustion paired with a terrible diet (terrible for my needs) has been a pretty rotten combination.
I rearranged Harper’s room this morning in the hopes that she won’t hear all of the noise in the driveway. What kind of person builds a house with all of the bedrooms over the REALLY loud garage doors and driveway? A cruel one.. that’s who. (whom?) She has a sound machine in her room. I just don’t get it. She can sleep through her sisters’ obnoxious noises, but not Scott leaving for work. If you have any tips to keep me from losing my mind, I’m all ears. I can’t take much more.
I hope that your week has been wonderful and you are getting wonderful autumn weather wherever you are!

Happy Monday!!
Scott had to work this weekend. I was really bummed because there were several fun activities going on around town on Saturday. When he works, I am without a car unless I want to wake our kids at 4 AM. Uh, nah. My brother-in-law was awesome and brought his truck over for Scott to borrow so I could have our car.
I was so excited to be able to get out of the house. Then, Friday night came. I laid down in bed and I heard it. The bark. Just one. I let it go and laid down. I have insomnia, so I toss and turn FOREVER. After an hour or so, Harper started crying and “barking” a ton. I jumped up and threw my robe on. I turned the shower on as high as it goes and rushed into her room to bundle blankets around her. Outside into the cold air I went. No slippers or socks, in my bath robe. Thank goodness it was dark. I stood outside with her for about 10 minutes while she laid her head on my chest. Then, I took her into the bathroom so she could breathe in the steam. I put some eucalyptus rub on her, filled her diffuser with some RC and a little eucalyptus, and put her bag in bed. She  was really restless and took a long time to get back to sleep. She was up and down all night. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep total. I wanted to cry.
If you don’t know what bark I am talking about, I’ll tell you. When kids get croup, their cough comes out like a seal barking. Their airways are constricted, so air coming out sounds super weird. Harper got bronchitis when she was three months old. We had to do steroids and breathing treatments. It was awful. They warned me that she was going to be susceptible to lung infections since she got that at such a young age. Thankfully, the only problem is that she gets croup frequently. I know how to treat it, and I know when I need to get her to a doctor or the ER. Only once have I told Scott we needed to call an ambulance. We lived close to the hospital and it was faster for him to drive. Most of the time, I’m able to treat it at home, and she only struggles for one night. No matter how many times you have been through it, it’s a terrifying sound.. hearing your child struggle to breathe.
I always think of the parents of medically fragile babies. That is their every day.
Anyway, I knew we shouldn’t go traipsing all over town. Harper was running a slight fever on Saturday morning. I decided that I would go for coffee, we could grab lunch and sit in the car by the lake and eat it.

Our Starbucks drive-thru is ridiculously busy every time. This was after 10 minutes of waiting..
I took the girls to the little park where Scott proposed to me. We rolled the windows down while I finished my lunch. The big girls inhaled theirs on the way, and Harper didn’t have any appetite.
I decided that since no one else was there, we would get out of the car and I would take them over the hill to see where Scott asked me to marry him. They are at an age where they love hearing these stories. I hope they remember them.

Even though we didn’t play much, it was still really nice to get some fresh air and sunshine.

I have been wanting to get my hair chopped for quite a while. I have been letting the platinum grow out for quite a while, and it was looking pretty trashy. I sent a message to a friend that cuts hair and asked what her schedule was like at the salon. She said she had some time that day! What?! She squeezed me in after Scott got off. I was able to donate my hair, and I feel so much lighter. My head doesn’t hurt. Ahh. I love a fresh cut.

That is the best picture you are getting. My skin is stressed out; adult acne is the worst. I have huge bags under my eyes. I’m working on self-love, y’all. But, I’ve self-hated for so long that its a hard thing to overcome.
Harper slept really well on Saturday night. Scott went to morning service with the big girls at church. We did some yard work while it was warm out, which was really nice. We are working on removing a lot of the rock from our back yard. It is in random places, and gets drug all over the place. When we pull that out, we’ll put some now soil down and put grass seed out. I need to go out and take some “before” pictures. After a few hours of working outside, I went to choir practice and evening service. It’s nice that we can take turns right now when a kid is sick instead of me always having to be the one home.
Unfortunately, Harper had a rough night again last night. It wasn’t as awful as Friday night. We actually got some sleep. I’m hoping it will be over soon. She’s not grumpy at least, but it’s really hard to hear your kid struggling so much at night. Croup is the pits.
I hope your weekend was full of love and family.