the weekly recap {August 17-24}

This post is going back a bit to August 17th. This was the day after C Girl's birthday. It is also Tim's sister, Karen's birthday!!! I went to eat lunch with my newly 10 year old girlie!!!

She was also "celebrity of the week" at school. This is student of the week, but with a cool name change.

That week, I had a painful cold sore, crazy allergies (ended up having to go to the dr and get a steroid shot) and I had to get an old filling replaced. Some weeks it all falls apart!!!

 However, the weather has been AMAZING lately. We are used to hot and muggy August weather and it has been cool at times and so nice to be outside!

We started doing a Bible devotional at night when we have the opportunity. I've really enjoyed this family time together. It definitely makes bedtime go smoother and calmer. I love watching C Girl get her Bible, journal and pen out! She started this for camp this summer and she has continued using it!

I had meeting with my mentor and we always have such a good time visiting! I also visited the older gentleman from church that I visit. He will be 99 years old in October and still goes to work at his jewelry store everyday!

The kids have had a great first few weeks of school!

 On Friday night, we went to pick up a desk, try out Moe's southwest grill and visit Cavender's for the first time. I amazed by the sheer number of boots there! Tim ended up getting a pair!

He got them just in time. Aunt Karen came up to watch the kids on Saturday so he and I could go see Hank Williams Jr. in concert. We also stayed the night at Embassy Suites and had a nice little night away!

We had a really yummy dinner at Carrabba's!

.38 Special opened for Hank Jr.!

On Sunday, I attended the Northwest Arkansas Women's conference at Cross Church. Margaret Feinberg, author of Fight Back with Joy was the speaker.

I enjoyed hearing from her very much. I'm currently reading Fight Back with Joy and it has been great so far!

On Monday morning, B's class led the weekly Rise and Shine at school. He had speaking parts and did so good!

On Tuesday evening, B Boy had his first fall baseball practice!

It is boy pitch so that will be something very different than what he has done before!

The first week of school {and the weekend}

Well, the first week of school has come and gone.

I cannot believe that I have a 3rd grader and a 4th grader!

They had a great first day and they both love their teachers!

  C Girl has really been in to fashion this year. I bought her this sleeveless cardigan and she loves it!

 On Monday morning, I went to my friend, Kelly's house for her 2nd annual back to school brunch. It's always fun seeing friends and getting to catch up. There were several this year who had kids starting kindergarten.

Tuesday morning, I had my bi-monthly meeting with my mentor. It was nice catching up after our summer break!

Our church had our annual clothing giveaway this past Saturday and on Wednesday, I went to the church to help put clothing out on the racks.

Tim had to hire 2 new assistant principals this summer. One is now a principal at one of the middle schools and the other relocated to another state. It has been super busy and stressful for him this summer. He has basically been doing the job of 3 people. We will be so happy when he can be home with us more and be less stressed!

On Thursday, C Girl got back to piano lessons after a short summer break. We also had back to school night. Each teacher goes over classroom and parent expectations, curriculum, schedules, etc. We are very excited about this school year! Both teachers seem very organized and both are very big communicators and proponents of technology!

We celebrated the end of the first week with slushes! 

It was SO HOT this week!

 For dinner we decided to try Chipotle again. Apparently, our local location is just very "meh." I would possibly eat at one somewhere else, but we have so many other great food options that I'm not going to waste my time here again.

On a side note, I've made some BIG diet changes to try and help me feel better. My Humira makes a big difference, but I've still been struggling even with cutting dairy out. I'm doing a "low residue" diet. It basically an extended version of the BRAT (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. It is food that is extremely easy on the digestive system. I have been feeling GREAT so far! I haven't been able to say that in a loooooong time.

Friday night, I had the chicken burrito bowl. I had chicken, rice, lettuce, guacamole, and pico de gallo. Everything was great except the chicken was too spicy so I avoided it.

We went to the downtown square for First Friday. It was the back to school theme. The kids got free cotton candy and we got to watch kids perform martial arts. We also listened to the music for a little bit. We didn't stay long because it was so hot!

 He can barely pick these big kids up anymore!

 Saturday morning, we got up at 5:30 so that we could be at the church at 6:45 to help with the clothing giveaway.

I posted this on FB after we got home:

When I tell people that I LOVE my church, it's because I really mean it. These are the people who have made Bentonville home for me. This is the place where I learned and keep learning the depths of God's grace and mercy. This is the place that is teaching my children about God and Jesus.

Today is our church's annual clothing giveaway (until noon! Free clothing!) 

People bring clothing donations and then people from our church spend MANY hours sorting, washing, hanging, folding, organizing and planning for this event. A few people got up before dawn today to hand out breakfast to the people outside waiting to come and shop. I'm so thankful for a church filled with people that have a desire to bless others and expect nothing in return except to share Jesus with them. I'm thankful that our church encourages kids to come and help throughout the week and at the event. My kids are seeing people in our own community who are in need and they have the opportunity to help them.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the people who have spent many hours at the church this week to make this event happen.

(C Girl and her sweet friend, Emily)

 I went shopping and got started on birthday party planning! I have 3 parties to plan for this week!

I took the kiddos to church Sunday morning. They had their last lessons in 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday School. Tears.

After eating lunch, we ran to Target to get a few clothing needs and then I took the kids to Amazeum to play.

 They LOVED the Tinkering Hub!

 They were playing with circuits.

 One of the teachers at Tim's school volunteers at Amazeum and she sat down and demonstrated some new materials they are going to start using soon in the Hub.

They had such a fun time!

We are out of school today for staff development and had plans to go to a local water park, but it's RAINING! I may take them later if the rain clears out!

Happy March!

Happy March!

Well, I sure have missed being here lately. I only posted 4 times last month! That is one of the smallest number of posts in a month since back in 2009 when I started blogging and thought you should only post when something monumental happened, lol. 

These last 2 weeks have been terrible. I'm just now getting to where I feel human again. I still do not feel great, but I know I'm getting there. 

I'm not going to lie, though. This has been very hard on me. I always seem to have a very rough time during the late winter months. When you mix sickness with snow days on end, it's just tough. I have felt like a terrible wife and mother. I haven't felt well, so I haven't cooked, cleaned, or wanted to do anything fun with the kids. I know that I can't help that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling guilty. I can't remember a time when I was ever down for this long. I have had periods of health issues, but I always seem to still be able to function through most of it. This time, I have been just completely worthless. It's amazing that your ear can cause so much havoc.

I just feel like I have been home-bound for too long! I'm longing for sunshine and warmth in a way that I can't even explain!

 I think we all are dreaming of spring time!

 I'm so thankful that we can watch our church services on LiveStream when we have to miss.

 This was leftover snow from February that had not melted last week. So dreary!

Last Tuesday, I saved up my energy to be able to go to my hair appointment. A girl needs her hair done even when she feels bad! I think it was the first time I put on makeup in over a week at that point.

Last Wednesday, we got another winter storm. It started with this layer of sleet.

 And then, huge puffs of snow began falling.

 At one point, it looked like a blizzard outside!

Alas, this caused us to be out of school on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

 C Girl and I did some coloring though! I find it so relaxing!

We did get out of the house on Thursday afternoon to take me to a follow up appointment about my ear. The doctor said that in all, this infection will be a 3 week ordeal. I am at a little over 2 weeks now, so hopefully this week will be a huge improvement. I went to see him on Monday last week as well. At that appointment, he had to drain my ear. If you are not sure what that means, he had to basically cut a hole in my eardrum that had ruptured. It had healed and fluid was bulging behind it. It was extremely painful until he was able to drain it. It is still draining now, thankfully. I will be so ready when all of this is behind me!

 On Friday, I went to lunch with some friends at the Wooden Spoon in Gentry. We mainly go for the dessert. That my friends, is a yummy bread pudding swimming in a bath of butter sauce. Oh, it was so good! It was so nice to get out of the house and visit with friends, but it exhausted me. I spent the rest of the day/evening laying on the couch. I cannot believe how tired my body gets!

 Saturday morning, we headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It has been a long time since we have went out for breakfast. We love us some CB pancakes!

 B Boy had his first baseball practice that afternoon! He was actually supposed to have soccer practice as well, but it was cancelled. It was the 3rd soccer practice that has been cancelled due to the weather. We haven't had 1 practice yet! Hopefully, we will on Thursday evening. It is going to be a busy spring with both of these sports going on!

The baseball fields were still wet, so they had practice at a batting cage. Tim said that B Boy did pretty well!

The Razorbacks played LSU at Bud Walton Saturday afternoon. The Hogs are No. 18 in the country and are going to be in the NCAA tournament this year. I cannot wait! Sadly, we lost at the buzzer for this game. They have played so many games down to the wire this year. It's exciting, but very stressful!

This boy is COMPLETELY obsessed with the Harry Potter series. He just finished the 4th book this morning. He is constantly telling me about what he is reading and pretending to be Harry Potter. It's so fun! I remember reading these books and how much I loved them!

So, it's Monday. 

C Girl has the PARCC test this week. They only test until 10 am everyday, but I know that it's not fun to have to go to school and take a standardized test.

This girl of ours is something else.

I'm always so proud of her. She is super independent, smart, and tries new things, which is something I used to think would never happen.

On the flip side, she is super independent and wants everything to be done/go her way. 

It can be very tough dealing with that. I know she is on her way to becoming a "tween," and to be honest, I'm not real excited about that. 

I can already see things in her attitude that she is picking up from other girls. I know it is completely normal, but it means that things are different now.

I'm trying to learn how to teach/discipline her without doing it constantly. I don't want her to feel like that is all I do. I know that she needs lots of my love and support right now. 

That is so easy to say, but way harder to implement when you are dealing with attitude.

Pray for us!

I am trying to catch up on things around here, but I can only do so much before I am tired. I know it will all get done eventually, but I hate not being able to do everything that I normally do. I also hate sounding like such a complainer!

So, happy March! it is the month of spring! Flowers, sun, and warmth!