Life is good--busy and exhausting--but GOOD. Jeff and I are doing something we love, together. When I look back at our busy busy summer of travel, I miss having specific events to write about and exciting new places to describe and relive as I write about them. Reliving a week of grueling bus rides with the cross country team and housekeeping and kid-driving and grocery shopping is more wearisome than rejuvenating. So I shall resort to the weekly blog blender this-and-that mix to avoid the straight exhausting re-living, even if it is not the satisfying single-topic interesting writing that I prefer to do. Allowances must be made for fatigue and good ole real life has plenty of that! Even though everyday life may not be quite as exciting as climbing the Eiffel Tower and touring chateaux, it is still important and real and happening right now.
In classic tired-Shaina blog-blender style, here are a few journal clips from this week:
Monday, September 16th
I was so productive today! It was intense, but worthwhile. I managed to get Jay and Rose to do the dishes (with a little help) before school today, and that got me on a roll. I did all of the hand wash dishes that I've been putting off (muffin tins are of the devil). Then I started a double batch of bread, went on an hour-long walk with friends, and made two pasta sauces for our pasta dinner: peanut sauce for me (dairy free) and cheese sauce for everyone else. In and out between all of this kitchen chaos, I was doing three loads of laundry and cleaning up an unusual amount of spills and splashes. I was extra clumsy today and every other time I stirred a sauce on the stove, it splashed out of the pan! Then when I turned away to rinse the dishrag after cleaning it up, Amber stirred the pot and it flooded over the side again! It was a miracle that any sauce was left for us to eat! I was proud of myself for making dinner early today though, because I never want to cook when I get home at 5:30pm after cross country practice and last week we lived out of the freezer.
Amber had preschool this afternoon. While she was gone, I was determined to have some me-time after my busy morning of work and activity. I sat down to some fresh hot bread with honey and started reading a library book called The Miscalculations of Lighting Girl. It is so good! I was absorbed. I read for the rest of Amber's preschool time, even though I had planned to play the piano during that time too.
I picked Amber up from preschool 20 minutes early and took her to her friend Sam's house while I went to cross country practice. We rode a school bus to Prosser and ran up Lincoln Grade, and it was a super fun challenge (3 miles up a steep hill). I love seeing what those tenacious teenagers can accomplish! The kids who care and try really gain so much noticeable, measurable fitness from their efforts. There were also plenty who didn't try quite so determinedly, but oh well. I ran up front with our #1 girl today and it was great! She pushed me to run my fastest Lincoln Grade ascent ever! We kept it steady and controlled on the way back down and it was smart but a tad difficult for me because my legs are nearly twice as long as hers. But we made it and I'm optimistic that my soreness will be minimal tomorrow.
On the bus ride back to Sunnyside, the team randomly started calling out "mine! mine! mine!" like the seagulls in Finding Nemo. It sounded hilarious, cawing all over the bus, like we had a pack of seagulls instead of runners. The bus driver was cracking up. They started and stopped the seagull caws off and on for the entire 20 minute bus ride. Jeff and I attributed it to either a runner's high or "they should have run harder/we should have found a bigger hill."
We did CFM (Come Follow Me) during our dinner tonight! I shared the scripture that stood out to me in 2 Corinthians this morning, about giving gifts willingly with love rather than grudgingly. It was 2 minutes long but we had an actual mini discussion about what it means to give good/willing gifts. It felt good to succeed after last week's exhaustion and feeble scripture verses. Hopefully we can manage it again!
I was feeling the least-drained this evening that I've felt since cross country started. I read the girls four stories at bedtime and I enjoyed it! It's been a while since I actually enjoyed reading stories. All of our books are quite familiar and I am usually so worn out at bedtime that if we read a story it's usually quick and maddening. It was nice to snuggle up with a stack of stories and read together.
Amber had fun playing at Sam's house for 2.5 hours and his mom said Amb didn't fight/injure Sam, so that's a definite plus. It was so nice to have a good place for Amber to go while I was at cross country practice! Peace of mind and a good run: no wonder I was happy and at ease tonight.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
I'm tired enough for it to be 10:34pm, not just 8:34pm. I finished reading the cutest book today! The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl was a joy from beginning to end. I kept reading in bed after Jeff fell asleep last night, and I started laughing so hard at the book that I woke him up! Haha. It was refreshing to pick up a random library book and love it so much. It was also fun to read an actual paper book. I read so much on my kindle, but it was nice to have an actual page turner.
Today: piano lessons at 7:35am in Prosser. We were late because Rose couldn't find any pants that fit (it got cold enough for pants!) She grew out of all of her pants. I made her wear shorts and promised to get her some more pants today.
After dinner and cleanup, Amber was singing the Greatest Showman songs, so Jeff turned on the music. Rose and Amber danced and sang to the entire soundtrack (minus one song). It was an epic 30 minute dance-a-thon. They kept running out and getting costumes on and returning to dance and sing more. Jay, Jeff, and I sat on the couch watching while they danced. Eventually we had family prayer and got those girls into bed.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
So so tired. This morning Amber and I postponed all responsibilities and enjoyed two hours of September sunshine in our favorite, most magical place. The willow tree by the irrigation ditch behind our house grew extra long arms to welcome us.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
9:32pm. Tonight was a cross country league meet in Yakima. I left home at 1pm (bus left at 1:30) and got home at 8:40pm. Whew! It was a good meet. I took it easy and didn't sprint around too much so I wasn't as exhausted at the end of it. That was nice, because Saturday will be twice as long and I will be racing as well as coaching. So I'm resting up.
This morning and all day before the xc meet, I was in such a weird funk. I couldn't settle to anything and I just felt so apathetic and antsy all at once. It was a byproduct of a busy week with lots of social time and not enough quiet time I guess. I played some hymns and other pretty piano music for a long time and that helped me feel a little better. I Marco Polo'd my friend Danae several times and she is such a genius at diffusing introvert anxiety! It helped.
Grama Leslie watched our kids while we were at the xc meet tonight and it was very helpful. Jeff and I even kind of had a date-- when we stopped for dinner in a parking area with several restaurants after the meet, we chose a different restaurant than the rest of the team so we ate alone together and it was fun! We joked that we were basically getting paid to go on a date together...although we bought our own food (and as high school cross country coaches we only get paid for 10 hours of coaching per week, so technically everything outside of practice is on us anyways...haha).
Friday, September 20, 2019
8:40pm. The calm between the storms. I'm halfway caught up on sleep after last weekend's meet, but tired from yesterday's meet, and waiting with trepidation for the chaos, sleepless, exhaustion that tomorrow's meet will bring. This morning I spent 2 hours reading Sammy Keyes (a beloved old favorite series) in an attempt to find my center. It helped a lot. I was exhausted and frazzled and in need of some quiet me time, and reading was it. I love Sammy. Amber was surprisingly cooperative during my lounge-and-read, bless her.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
10:28pm. An Instagram summary is all I've got for tonight: Today's trip to the Fort Steilacoom Cross Country Invitational required a 3:30am wake-up, 4:30am departure, nearly 8 hours round-trip in the school bus, and my awesome parents, who helped keep track of our 3 kids at the park so we could help keep track of 35 of our other kids in their races. Jay also ran: the kids 2k race in 10:32! Also, 25 people on our team ran PRs! Somehow in the middle of all that, Jeff and I ran the open 5k race (18:04--him and 21:51--me). My Dad ran it too! Family and running GO together. Now, how about some sleep?
(We got home from the meet at 9:30pm. Our poor children are so utterly exhausted. Me too.)
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Stake conference was so good today! It was extremely difficult to GET there. We were exhausted from our long day at the cross country meet yesterday and we could barely peel ourselves out of bed and drive the 45 minutes to the Yakima stake center, but I'm glad we did. The talks were powerhouses, and all of them seemed like they were written just for me. I felt the spirit so strongly and felt incredibly grateful that we had made the effort to be there. It is always worthwhile to go to church on Sunday. There is power in choosing to be in the right place at the right time, even if metal folding chairs are agony to sit on (especially after all those hours running and riding school buses). We are not the only people ever to feel tired on Sunday! We had the usual picnic at the park with friends after stake conference today--such a fun tradition to get the kids invested in stake conference!
Two thoughts that struck me during stake conference today:
- From a New Testament verse: Jesus Christ is the vine, we are the branches. From the speaker: Branches that are removed from the vine never bear fruit. Stay connected to the vine.
- From a speaker: All Heavenly Father wants from us is for us to do our best every single day. From the spirit: My best is not always the same every day-- sometimes I can do more, sometimes less, but even if the quantity/intensity is not the same day to day, doing my best with what I have each day is what matters.
[end journal entries]
Well that is one big blog blender-full! If I mix all of this up I'd say the resulting flavor of this week was happy with strong secondary undertones of tiring, uplifting, challenging, and fun.
Ian (Jay's next door neighbor-best-buddy) joined us for Sunday night crepes on Sept. 17th.
One more reason we love Ian: he is awesome.
My first challenge of the week came bright and early Monday morning. Amber tried buttering her own toast.
Our kitchen's dish situation was desperate on Monday morning.
Making bread with my Ambuddy.
She's always busy busy busy.
Jeff running downhill with the front runner boys at xc practice on Monday.
Kaylee and I at the top of Lincoln Grade--she was the only girl on the team to make it to the top!
Evening dance-a-thon with The Greatest Showman (Rose was off getting a costume when I took this picture).
The Jay-monster, practicing piano in the chilly early morning.
Amber got all ready for preschool five hours early on Wednesday morning.
Our first country ramble of the season was beautiful.
Long legged morning shadows.
Little girl, big world.
Eventually she found some mud and started quoting one of her favorite books about a girl-power mud fairy. The book is called Bloom and we recommend it.
Portrait mode on a cell phone is astounding. So is this bright fierce little curly haired daughter.
She cut her hand on a sharp edge and refused to smile for our selfie.
On our way home, we stopped at the big dirt hill and lingered another half hour. The joys of a steep dirt hill caused Amber to forget about her cut hand.
Thursday morning I made the mistake of peeking into the DISASTER ZONE (aka the playroom). My blood pressure spiked and I had to DO something about it. My plan is to slowly ciphon off toys until there are hardly any left and hopefully nobody notices. All they really want to play with are old cardboard boxes and legos anyways.
Reading.
Post-cross country meet dinner date at the Kebab House Mediterranean style food. Their falafel is delightful, but I needed about 3 times more of it to fill my hungry belly.
On Friday morning, Amber made a picture frame and demanded pictures.
Pink shirt, pink shorts, pink boots, pink grocery bag, homemade bead necklace and bracelet, massive rainbow hairbow: Amber at Walmart on a Friday morning.
Friday night we enjoyed a spectacular sunset with the canal in front and Mt. Adams on the horizon.
I slipped out of the house alone and soaked it in.
Saturday morning: about two hours into our bus ride, sunrise began. Jay sat with the ten gallon water jug, listening to audiobooks and playing on the iPad.
School bus movie time! We got a headphone jack splitter so they didn't have to share earbuds this weekend. I think they liked it better. Amber heard Jeff and I getting ready at 3:30am and popped out of bed with a chipper "Let's go to a cross country meet!" She faded fast throughout the day, but she was so excited to get going in the dark predawn hours!
Jay and I jumped out of the bus and dashed to the registration pavilion while the school bus slowly crept up the long line off drop-off vehicles. We arrived 10 minutes before the start of Jay's race and 25 minutes before my race started. It was crazy and stressful, getting the team situated, watching Jay's finish, retrieving and attaching my timing chip and race number, and then toeing the start line without a warmup. I ran a 6:32 first mile of the race on cold muscles and then my whole body wanted to be done. I managed to squeeze the last 2.1 miles out of my legs, but it wasn't comfy.
My Dad ran the 5k too! We ran together for the first 20 seconds. I love him.
Grama Meri and her two tallest grandkids.
Rose loves big hugs.
Rose also loves climbing. She kept showing us various ways to climb the playground that was at the park. (that's her face peeking out of the castle window up top)
Our girls JV team, ready to race!
Amber loved this rock so much and when she dropped it she was devastated. Jeff was rushing her to move to the next race viewpoint, and she sobbed about that lost rock. A nice boy from another school saw the whole situation, found the lost rock, and gave it to Amber. She was so happy and I was touched at his noticing and kindness in a seemingly insignificant matter. Ten points to teenage boys.
That rock. Amber wore her backpack and purse the entire meet and refused to take them off. At the end of the meet, Amber had filled her purse with rocks and acorns. With the help of my parents, we did not lose Amber at the meet for the first time all season! When we got home that night at 9:30, bleary-eyed and exhausted, Amber went into her room but when we went in to help her into bed, she was GONE. Jeff and I were baffled and searched the whole house in confusion. Finally Jeff opened the door and found Amber carefully planting and arranging her rocks and acorns in the flowerbed. We made it the entire day without losing her until we got home!
The three coaches White. Amber can shout louder than me, so I've started feeding her phrases. "Keep running!" and "Run faster!" are her two favorite go-to phrases.
This poor little girl passed out hard with a half-eaten apple in her paw, about 10 minutes into our bus ride home.
On the way home, Jay sat with a friend who ran the middle school race.
SUNDAY MORNING: Miracles happen--we made it to stake conference, and on time! We had to sacrifice bathing Amber (eek) but we got there before it started.
Stake conference arrival triumph picture. I had to.
Self-posed sisters outside the stake center.
Ambored on the drive home.
French toast for dinner! We got 6 loaves of bread, 2 jars of peanut butter, and 3 bottles of squeeze jam for the cross country team to eat at the meet on Saturday, but I guess I didn't tell enough people where the food was, because we left the meet with 5.75 loaves of bread. So we made French toast for Sunday night dinner and I'm planning grilled cheese for another night soon. And our freezer is crammed with bread.
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