👋 This week

Both of my kids had Christmas concerts.

I missed one because

I drove my car into a ditch going 5 mph trying to find the lot entrance but it was too dark 😵‍💫

And had to wait an hour in the cold for a tow.

It was more of into a rocky culvert and the back left end of the car was in the air 🥴.

Came out unscathed 🙌

My older son passed his learner’s permit test this week and yesterday had his first lesson with dad.

They don’t have drivers ed in school here but he needs 60 practice hours before he’s eligible for a license.

I just got a huge task done for work so I’m pretty happy. I have this program of literally 3000 lines of code which writes out a ~ 100 pages report we publish every year which each year requires a lot of finessing before it comes out 100% correct and looking decent. 😅 Whenever I get this done every year, I’m like woooo I still deserve to be employed and get paid 🥳

I decided sort of last minute to take a vacation day today 😍. My work meeting was cancelled because my boss is in other meetings all day. I wanted to take the kids hiking while the weather is nice and I knew school wouldn’t be a problem because vinny got a wild hair last night and started on today’s school work.

This morning I opened a dozen packages and wrapped the gifts inside 😁. Then I made two pounds of meatballs. After lunch we went on a short hike at the local place 😍. It was 67 degrees. And we got back by 2 for F’s band lesson. 💯

10 days ago, the day we went hiking, it was 68 degrees. Since then it’s been 55 or below. Yesterday it was snowing big flakes half the day but melting as it hit the ground. Today it’s freezing 🥶. The kids still wore shorts for their bike ride 😬. Every year I hate the shorts to pants transition battle with the them so this year with no school it’s like 🤷‍♀️

Today we made our second trip to this hiking spot 😍

Cross country really is over now. Vinny and I had a nice walk during practice yesterday. Frank did well at the meet today. He got his second best time and the course was tougher. The weather app says it was 65 but i would’ve guessed 75. I was very warm in my tank top. It was 36 degrees when I left for the gym this morning. 🥶 We turned on the heater for the first time the night before last.

13 years. Feels like forever and no time at all 😭❤️. Teen years begin. ❤️

Tree on my block 😍. I still have decision paralysis on what tree to plant but one helpful reply on Reddit listed this as a “low maintenance shady boi.” Another choice was a tree better to plant in spring but this one is good to plant in fall. It may be the most basic choice but it’s clear why. Low maintenance pretty shady boi 🍁

Today has been their best at-home school day so far. They both needed a little help with math, and that’s pretty much it. No complaining or crying. And they are both done already (it’s 2:30). I have been able to get lots of work done. If every day was like this, the hybrid school life would be pretty good 🤣 

Yesterday Jason took F to cross country practice and Vinny and I went to our old hiking trail. 😊 It wasn’t crowded and it was hot but not humid which is how the weather has been all month.  😊  I worked yesterday, but the kids didn’t have school. 

Friday the weather was perfect for our walk during cross country practice 😍. Today the coaches are getting everything ready for the meet next week and I went for a little while for them to tell me my job as a course marshal 👩‍⚖️ lol. It was really hot 🥵. Hopefully it’s a bit cooler on Thursday afternoon for the meet. They’re having to do a lot of extra work because of Covid to make sure everything is safe and they’ll be approved to do future meets.

Today we gathered up some of the kids’ toys they never play with anymore to take to goodwill. Imaginext etc 😢. And set the toy box out. We’ve had this for over 12 years. Im not really one to hang on to things for sentimental purposes. We have a small house (I know it’s relative but 1500 square feet for 4). But sometimes it does hurt a little to say goodbye. I have my pictures though ❤️. They pull at the heartstrings too when they pop up in my memories.

Some great news is that our school system qualified for a grant to get all students free breakfast and lunch this year! They will bring home food for their distance learning days on their in-person days. Virtual academy students can pick up all of their meals for the week on 1 day. It has been hard to keep food in the house this summer with 2 tween boys LOL. I know those with larger families may be like “oh you don’t even know!” 🤣 It will help us with money quite a bit. I think it was $2.25 each, so 2.25 times 2 times 5 per week = $22.50 per week so more than $90 per month. Very grateful. 

Oh yea one more thing. Jason was telling his boss about how stressed we are about the back-to-school decision and his boss said if we’re so worried about it we should just “join one of those free home school things.” 

LOL. It’s me. I am the “free home school thing” 🤣🤣🤣😣😣😣

The superintendent replied to my email. It was a long reply with a graph and table. 😄 I’m guessing he copies and pastes replies for if someone mentions infections rates ➡ insert this paragraph, and so on. But I appreciate that he read my message and that he replied. The district also announced that the school board will meet on Monday evening presumably to vote on what to do so I’m going to try hard not to stress too much until then.

Maybe i’ve gotten this many steps on some of my other morning walks but I don’t think so? I guess I was really zipping along today 🤣. I almost always listen to podcasts while I walk. Today was Pod Save America. Which got me a little more amped up about Harris 😊. Def recommend. Today was F’s 20th day of practice (4 days per week for 5 weeks). I have taken him 19/20 times because Jason almost always needs to be to work at 8 am and practice ends at 8 am, and of course I like the exercise