Sweetest Seven

Tomorrow morning this girl will wake up a SEVEN year old! 

And just like I've said every year...I'm not sure how that happened. Because seven years ago tonight I was nine days past my due date and HUGE and 100% convinced I would be pregnant forrrevvvverrrrrr:) 

And now she is seven. And I'm very much not pregnant;-) I loved looking back at these birthday celebration pictures but more than that I really enjoyed celebrating Charlotte today as a family. 

Because of Joe's trauma schedule we did not have a party but instead chose to have a family fun day! It started with donuts for breakfast followed by gift opening and an hour of jumping at an indoor trampoline place. Which Charlotte deemed "the best birthday ever - even without friends". Then we had pizza and ended our day at the beach with our residency family. 

P.S. After every last morsel of those birthday donuts were consumed Charlotte decided to inform that she doesn't like sprinkles on her donuts! Say what?!? That information would have been hugely useful years ago considering 3 of her 7 birthdays have included SPRINKLE donuts. 

We did. We finished the 2016-2017 school year!!! One in public school. Two in homeschool. And one just causing trouble. It was quite the year. 

I'd be lying if I wrote we ended strong. We limped and puttered to a crashing stop. But we made it! And to be completely honest the girls' homeschool ended weeks ago but today was the end of year party for our co-op. So I'm calling today the last day;-) 

Next year school will look different once again. (Three in public school...I think.)  But I'm so glad we had this year. We were stretched and learned and grew together. It was a good year. I gained confidence in deciding what is best for my children and taking action regardless of what others thought. And my children - ALL of my children thrived this year. 

I know I'm going to look back on this year fondly for years to come! Plus it was (supposedly the hardest year of residency or so we've been told) and we are a month away from finishing that too!!! 

P.S. While I was taking these last day of school pictures Levi was playing quietly in the other room...

I should have known he was being TOO quiet! This doll got her teeth and hands and feet thoroughly brushed with an entire tube of paste! That stinker. 

Dance Recital: 2017

This little dancer rocked her 3rd dance recital! She may be one of the littlest dancers on the stage (still) but she is in her element up there. All smiles. Absolutely no hesitation. She loves it. And we love watching her do her thing.

Framily

Yesterday a group of us resident spouses and residents went horseback riding on the beach. With Joe still on MICU that meant I had to line up a babysitter. (Which is something I never do!) But I moved heaven and earth to make it happen or so it felt. And it was so completely worth it! 

I have always LOVED horseback riding. And it was so fun! I mean riding a horse in the ocean?!? Come on! But the best part was spending an uninterrupted afternoon with friends. These ladies have basically carried me through residency. They have hung out with me at all hours of the day and night. They've played with my kids. They've listened to me laugh, cry and complain. (I've done too much of the last one lately). They have supported me through some of the longest, hardest and loneliest months (almost years!) of my life. I'd be lost without them. So horseback riding with them on the beach was pretty much a dream come true. (Except in my dream my horse was talking to me and in reality Roman did not speak;-)

Goals

Lest anyone think I've got this life thing figured out I'm here to set the record straight. My lack of posting doesn't mean I've finally got my act together. Quite the opposite actually! On Wednesday I was having my very own pity party (for no apparent reason other than the fact that Joe is on MICU and that makes life plain ICky...terrible pun intended). So Thursday I woke up with a fresh sense of ambition. Thursday was going to be my day. I was going to be productive and happy. 

My goals for the day were simple and completely reasonable:

1. Drop Isaiah at the bus ON TIME and with a packed lunch. 

2. Finish folding the laundry. (I had half a load left and I would be all caught up!!!)

3. Make two returns at stores before zumba. 

That's it. That's ALL I wanted to accomplish in my entire day. Well that and keep the tiny humans alive. But that's kinda a given, right?

If you count chasing the bus down to the bus stop as "on time" then I totally accomplished HALF of my first goal. Thank goodness for school lunch because that lunch did NOT get packed...yet again. Sorry kid. After our mad dash to the bus stop I sat down to fold that laundry. I was SO close to finishing when Charlotte announced she spilt her milk....INSIDE the fridge!!! On the top shelf and it had dripped down onto ALL the shelves and inside each drawer. Nothing was safe from that milk spill. As I was emptying and scrubbing my fridge Levi walked into the kitchen and announced that he had gone "pee pee in his undies". Which meant I had to stop that clean up job to clean him and throw in a load of potty laundry. Just as I was nearly finished scrubbing the fridge Levi announced from the living room that he had pooped in his undies! And like the novice mom I still am I "checked" BEFORE moving him into the bathroom. Bad move. Very bad move. The mess was no longer contained between the living room and the bathroom. (I will leave it at that.) And so I threw in yet another load of laundry and bathed Levi and bleached most surfaces of my house. All of this happened before I was even able to get myself dressed or eat my oatmeal! We did eventually make it out the door only to have my van overheat in the Wal-Mart parking lot. 

And THAT is my life in a nutshell.