First Day of School 2018

Another summer is gone. Another school year is here. The years just keep going faster and faster! This year all my kids are in school! I can't believe it! Grace is a junior. Kate is a sophomore. Rebecca is in jr high, 7th grade. And Britten started kindergarten.

The girls were happy to start, but Britten sure beat their excitement. I was nervous how he'd adjust, but he got in the car and shouted, "Mom, it was great!" Here's to another school year! May it be better than last!

Proposal

My son, Aaron, proposed to his girlfriend, Angel, on Monday, August 13th. He came home and didn't say a word to us! We got a text the next afternoon telling us that he was engaged...I was mad! Mad about the whole situation, yes. But more so that he chose to tell me through a text message. If you get engaged, you dang better tell your mother in person!

My Aaron suffers silently from anxiety. As a child it manifested in forms of OCD. But once a teenager, it crippled him from speaking and interacting with others. He wouldn't talk to people unless they spoke first. And then it would be one word answers. He hated going into the cafeteria because it was too overwhelming for him. He only started his junior year because I basically threatened him. I know that doesn't sound very motherly, but sometimes we have to do hard things and what was I teaching him by allowing him to always run away. He went into the cafeteria and he found friends and never had an issue after that! 

So. was I really surprised that he text us? No, but I wanted to think we earned a little more than that. 

Anyway, I'm done being mad. Now, I'm just scared for the both of them. They just graduated high school! I was hoping he would go off to college, find out what he wanted to make of his life, and accomplish it. Sure, marriage was in there somewhere, but this came too early for me. I have also come to realize I am mourning my plans for Aaron. I am slowly getting excited for him. I see how happy he is. And how comfortable he is with Angel. That is a good thing. So, it may not be what i envisioned for my son, but i do know he is here to learn for himself and that his journey is absolutely his own. My job is to be by his side cheering him on and helping him when I'm needed. It's been a hard lesson to learn. I had my choices to make my life what I wanted. He definitely has the same right!

Congratulations, Aaron and Angel!

First thing on my list will be to get a better picture! Haha!

Bucket List

It's taken my years to write a bucket list. I mostly live from day to day, so trying to think bout the future is often overwhelming for me. But I really wanted to have a list of "to dos" so I can do things that are important to me. When you're a wife and mother, it is really easy to make put your aspirations on the back burner.

Now, not that my bucket list is full of aspirations, but they are things that I would like to accomplish. I haven't completed it, but I went from a list with 4 items, to 12! So I'm thinking!

Learn to sew, learn the piano, read books, and going to Germany have always been on my list. I can sew a straight line, and I did make skirts for my daughters one year. I would just like to own a sewing machine so if I ever have free time, I can choose to sew something if I wanted to.

I taught myself to play the piano when I was younger. We had a piano and I played the viola. the problem was that viola is alto clef, and piano treble. It took a very long time to learn a song because i had to "translate" the notes. I got pretty good at it. I was just never really fast and could not just sit down and recognize notes.And my finger positions I made up. I would really like to own a piano and learn the right way. 

Reading. I hate reading. I always have hated reading. My mind is never calm enough to read. I get distracted easily, and the authors always take so looong to explain themselves. So many descriptive words! It hurts my brain. I am making a list of 10 books I want to read. An it will probably take me a lifetime to read 10!

I learned German in high school. I was president of the German Club. And I honestly could speak it fairly well. The summer between my junior and senior year I had the opportunity to raise money to go to Germany. I ended up being $500 short of my goal. My German teacher begged me to let her donate the money, but I couldn't let her. I ended up not being able to go. I would really like to go there and experience the culture and atmosphere. It would be a dream come true!

Anyway, here's my whole list, so far:

First Week of August

This week Ryan got to start his 100 day countdown until he comes home. He's scheduled to return home on my birthday this year!! Talk about a birthday present! He made a shirt marking the occasion:

We're all pretty excited about it! I can't believe 2 years have gone by!

This week also marks the last little bit of summer. Summer always comes and goes so quickly. I really hate it. I wish we had more time and money to make each summer more memorable. But, really we do enjoy just being lazy, going to the library, hanging out in the front yard. Of course we watch TV and play video games too. I managed to get the girls out on Thursday to go to the park. Poor Britten doesn't get to do all the things my others did. He really enjoyed this park. He loved the swings. And do you know what they put at this park? A life size video game. The kids loved it!! We grabbed lunch after from Wendy's. Also a favorite!

On Friday, Grace got to drive.

I'm really not a huge fan of this "kids getting older" thing. I love seeing them hit new milestones, but my heart breaks a little each time. So, the first week of August brought fun, excitement, and a little heart break, but it's been good!