Shaina Day!

Sunday, June 12th was the second annual Shaina Day, observed by my husband and kids. Shaina Day is a day that is completely my own. It is not a set date; it comes in June when the time is right. In other words, even though the day itself is mine, I let Jeff choose when it happens because that's the way to secure his presence (physical and mental) on my day. A quick review, since this is still relatively new: I share my birthday with Amber, and I share Mother's Day with track season/all mothers everywhere. Apparently I am selfish enough to want a day that is entirely my own, so we created Shaina Day.

Shaina Day is a combination of a birthday and mother's day celebration. My family gives me gifts and writes me notes and I don't have to cook or clean. For my Shaina Day dinner, I couldn't think of anything and I hadn't been to the store in while, and the point was no stress, no work, so I chose to have pre-cooked frozen hamburgers. I keep a Costco box of these quick-heat-and-eat burgers in the freezer for emergency rations (especially handy on Friday nights when my family is indulging in cheesy killer pizza that I can't digest). The kids were overjoyed to be eating my secret stash of hamburgers on Shaina Day, and I love a good juicy burger, so everyone was happy. 

Forty

 Jeff turned the big 40 on June 1st! He is rather birthday-neutral and merely requested brownies for his candles and curry for his dinner. We gave him his birthday presents before school: Jay gave him some new Darn Tough socks. Rose gave him an electric kettle. Amber gave him a velcro ball catch game. I gave him some bluetooth earbuds that he picked out. Our parents and siblings on both sides of the family sent Jeff well-wishes in card, visit, or text form. After school on his birthday, Jeff went on his first real run in four months since battling long Covid: it was a 30 minute jog with Jay and a few kids from the cross country team--a double edged sword of a birthday gift to himself. (Based on Jeff's report, it was a combo of "Yay, I can finally run again!" and "Ugh, I'm so out of shape!") 

April Books

I read seven books in April. I got totally sugared out on the Kindle Unlimited clean romances, so I turned back to some more tried and true faves that I already own. My fiction books were all re-reads, but I branched out into new territory on the non-fiction, and struck GOLD. I savored Untamed by Glennon Doyle and Bittersweet by Susan Cain. Wow. They captured many nebulous thoughts and feelings that I've had and converted them into beautiful descriptive language--pure alchemy. 

The end of track and May

What a week! Jay had a band and orchestra concert on Tuesday. Jeff left on Wednesday for the state track meet. He was gone from Wednesday through late Saturday night, so I was flying solo at home. I missed my husband! Now he is home and track season is officially over. I need to write those blessed words again: TRACK SEASON IS OVER. Whew! Jeff is exhausted, and for good reason:

• It was his first season as head track coach. The track team is over 50% bigger than the cross country team, so it was a big jump in overall workload. 
• He took over for the former head coach, who passed away at age 42 from aggressive cancer a few months ago, which added an extra emotional dimension to his role. 
• He managed six assistant coaches and 100 teenagers on the team, some more dramatic than others. 
• Practice was 5 days a week after Jeff had already spent all day teaching high school classes starting at 7:50am.
• He was a teacher for 40 hours per week and did his head track coach duties for another 20-30 hours per week, for a total of 60-70 hour weeks (for 40 hour pay).
• Jeff gave up 85% of his/our Saturdays for 3 months to go to track meets. 
• Even though he has never pole vaulted before, he got certified to coach pole vault because nobody else knew how either. 
• This was the coldest spring ever of all time, and there were only one or two track meets where Jeff was comfortable wearing short sleeves outside, which is insane--the weather was rough on the coaches. Standing outside for long hours in the cold/wind/rain/hail/snow is extremely draining.
• He did it all while battling long Covid symptoms and managing his usual mental health status quo. 
• And he did it all extremely WELL. I am in awe of Jeff's abilities.

The teenager

Jay's 13th birthday fell on a Saturday this year. He was a good sport about dealing with all of the non-birthday things on his day. Jeff had a track meet (day two of the district meet), and had to leave the house by 8am. I figured 7:30am present opening would suffice, but all three kids were up and raring to go an hour before that. I told Jay that I wasn't sure if he was really a teenager if he was getting up before 7am on a Saturday, to which Jay responded that he had been up since 4:30am unable to fall back asleep. He said he decided to read his scriptures "to start off my new age the best way." 

The birthday interview. I made him choose a favorite superhero and a princess, allowing female superheroes in the princess category, haha. When asked "what is scary?" Jay said "moving and change--I like stability!" Classic Jay. He is so totally related to me.

Mellow Monday

Monday evening (May 16th) was breezy but mellow, with golden sunlight bathing the peaceful fields behind our house. After dinner, I suggested that for family night we could go on a scooter ride together. The kids  rushed to get ready. Jeff was away at a coaches meeting, so it was just me and my kids, passing the golden hour outside together. We have had so few days with nice weather this spring (wind, rain, wind, snow, windstorms, hail, wind). Even though the breeze was a bit stronger and brisk-er than my ideal, it was still wonderful to just BE outside together. 

We scootered the entire length of the paved pathway behind our house, for a total of one mile. Amber chose to ride her bike. When we arrived at the grassy field at the far end of the path, we stopped to explore, play, and bask in the sunshine. Rose scampered off to climb her favorite tree. Amber started collecting pinecones. Jay walked around, plotting ways to tease his little sisters. I sat down in the plush green grass and took it all in. 

Savannah Finale: A Tour and Tybee

Friday, May 13th came in two parts: a tour of a historic building in the morning and an afternoon on the beach at nearby Tybee Island.

On Friday morning, we ate breakfast together at the darling Mirabelle Café (where I discovered that lavender and lemon curd topped waffles and fresh strawberry lemonade go surprisingly well together). After breakfast, we walked to the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, where we split up. Em and Dani went shopping while Alivia, Mel, and I took the 45 minute guided tour of the historic house. 

The Owens-Thomas House

Sisters in Savannah: walk, talk, eat, repeat

We started our first full day in Savannah with one of my favorite activities--a sister run! Mel, Dani, and I ran a few laps around the big, beautiful Forsythe Park. The air was humid and the breeze was gentle. The sun was dappling through the trees and we were feeling that special brand of euphoria that only a glorious morning sister run can create. We ran 3 miles and walked the 4 blocks or so back to our apartment to get showered and ready for a day of exploring.

The first order of business once we were all dressed was to find a cafe for breakfast (or second breakfast in my case--I brought several packets of instant oatmeal to eat first thing in the morning because my stomach is high maintenance like that). While we were running, Alivia and Em researched and selected E. Matthews Cafe, so we all headed thataway mid-morning (thank you, Google maps). I had my favorite meal of the entire trip there: eggs benedict with crab cake instead of ham and a fluffy biscuit instead of an English muffin. Yum.

Sisters in Savannah!

My four sisters and I have been trying to plan a sisters trip for years, and we finally made it happen last week! We pulled off the massive feat of coordinating five different schedules and booked a trip to Savannah, Georgia for May 11-14th. On Wednesday, May 11th, I got up at 3am and drove to the Pasco airport to catch my 5:20am flight. I met my sister Mel during my brief layover in Denver, and we took the same plane to the Savannah airport, where we met up with Em and Dani. The four of us took my very first-ever Uber ride from the airport to our 3 bedroom VRBO rental apartment on East Gwinnett Ave in Savannah. It kind of blew my mind that the airport was only a 25 minute drive from Savannah. Alivia's flight ended up getting delayed for six hours, so she got it close to midnight that night. 

Mother's Day 2022

Mother's Day 2022 Highlights: 

• Jeff was present and healthy in both mind and body, all day long. 
• Jay gave a very sweet talk in sacrament meeting at church.
• We didn't have time to take my traditional mother's day picture before church, but Jeff remembered and volunteered to take it after church. I slimmed down my mother's day requests to just this one picture, and I verbally asked for it rather than hoping it would happen on its own. 
• Amber and Rose gave me kind cards.
• My family said thank you for the dinner.
• I did not have any expectations for the day, and I felt at ease all day, not angsty or unloved. I did get a tad grouchy in the evening, but it wasn't mother's day grouch; it was a tired grouch. There's a big difference, haha.

Five for Five

 Last week we had a combined five track meets in five days:

1. Monday, May 2nd was our home middle school track meet, with over 200 kids from five schools participating. Jeff hosted set up, and timed the meet. I was his assistant clerk at the timing table by the finish line. Jay ran the 1600 and the 400 in the meet, and Rose and Amber played on the infield for four hours during the meet. We were all so tired when it was over!
2. Tuesday, May 3rd was a high school JV meet. As the head coach, Jeff did not have to attend this meet, but he did have to prep all of the gear and paperwork, etc. that the JV kids needed for the meet. (The eight track coaches divide up who goes to each JV meet, and it wasn't Jeff's turn this time).
3. Thursday, May 5th was a high school league meet in Wenatchee (2 hours 20 minutes from home). Jeff got home after 10pm.
4. Friday, May 6th was a middle school meet for Jay in Naches, WA (55 minutes from home). I took Rose and Amber to watch Jay run.
5. Friday was also a high school distance festival track meet in Issaquah, WA (3 hours away). Jeff drove a school van with the top six distance runners to the meet. He got home after midnight.

Piano Ensemble

 Saturday, April 30th was Rose and Amber's piano ensemble recital. Activities of the day:

• I ran a satisfying 10 miles during the only rain-free window of the day. Some runs everything just clicks, and this was one of those runs: good weather, good music, good shoes, good route, great pace. 
• The kids played Catan, which is a long haul of a game.
• Amber's piano ensemble rehearsal was at 3-3:20pm.
• Rose's piano ensemble rehearsal was at 4:20-4:40pm.
• The piano ensemble recital was at 7-7:45pm.