Weekly: January 8-14

And almost as soon as I typed those words last week, all the snow melted, and in fact it got even warmer! I still have some winter decor up in my house and I really feel like it's time to put it all away! As I sit here, the sun is shining in, the window is open... and the Christmas lights just turned on outside. I should definitely take those down at this point. Actually Todd and the kids are upstairs taking down the second Christmas tree finally. It's SO WEIRD to have weather like this compared to this time last year when we were still under like 2 feet of snow - and considering the forecast/expectation that we would have another winter like it, or worse! Liam played basketball outside today in shorts and a t-shirt. We went for a walk on the greenbelt yesterday, without jackets. I'm not a bit sorry about it. It snowed on Christmas Adam, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day - it was God's way of saying "Merry Christmas" to us I think. And now the holidays are over and the winter weather is too! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for tulips at the grocery stores.

The week was good and went by very fast - now we have a 3-day weekend and 2 half days next week! My students were all very sweet this week, I think they missed me :) I got another new one (I'm the revolving door this year) and he is going to take some work, but it will be fine.

Todd's job is going really well. He definitely likes it, has become the administrator, and likes the responsibility and value of his job. They even had him doing household chores, and handy-man type activities - which I love! He's been more confident about taking on tasks at home that he's never done before (like fixing our toilet!) Thankfully we didn't take a pay cut when he switched jobs, and amazingly we get all afternoon/evening with him unless there are emergencies at the home. The only downside, and it's kind of a big one is no federal holiday or 3 day weekends, sick days are a really big deal, and vacation time is strict. This one hurts me. I know that it should be a trade off that he's home at 3 every day so no days off is fine but we love going places and that makes it more difficult / less likely for us. Of course in January I start thinking of vacations for the year - planning out where and when to go. It makes me feel a little claustrophobic to feel stuck, even though I like it here. So - I'm still thinking he should someday get a Masters in Education so he could teach... as of right now he is the only one in our whole extended family that has to work in the summer. He plans to not make any decisions about the future until he's worked there for a full year, which I think is a good idea. At any rate he, and therefore we, are in a MUCH better place than we were a year ago... his is happier, healthier, his anxiety has scaled back, and it's a good thing.

Lots of big things are in the works for this year - lots of planning and conversations happening. Liam started basketball and the first game is next weekend. Our first "FFN" (family fun night) went well, the kids chose movie night and helped make tacos to eat the living room - we also did a family devotional and prayer time (that will be a non-negotiable part of the night). The word FOCUS has been kind of helping, but kind of frustrating me (but, I think because I'm not good at it, and so it frustrates me that I'm not doing as well as I would like to be). But I glad that I focused enough to get a few more blogs in, and stay on top of chores, and did a better job of ignoring my phone more - so it's just a work in progress.