Ordinary Days and Some Books
Layer upon layer, but they are slowly being peeled away-can’t wait to see brown cork!
Oh geez, May is busy. Blogging has taken a back seat, far far in the back. And the more I get behind the more I feel like “why catch up?” and then I just decide to not even try.
I hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day-it was beautiful here, and busy, and it was just like every other day. We went to church, even though Abbey came a little late because she had a very early ACT class, it was SO nice to have everyone together in one pew. That was what I really wanted more than anything for Mother’s Day!
In the news:
Poor Andrew is on the mend from a broken wrist-we bought a slack line for the kids this Christmas, and it was so fun-until this injury. This puts a damper on the beginning swim team practices and he is very disappointed. Patrick lost another tooth in a soccer incident. He wrote a cute note to the tooth fairy, telling her to please leave his tooth, he wanted it as a souvenir.
I am SO enjoying sending boys outside to play though, injuries or not!
We are doing a house addition/renovation. We have thought about doing this for years and years and finally decided last fall to go for it. I love our neighborhood, I love our neighbors, I love our house, I love our yard. I want my grand kids coming to visit me here one day in the future, so we decided moving was out of the question. And Abbey said it best, “If we move, I’ll leave for college and I will have to come back to a house that never even felt like home.”
I wish I could say it was fun and exciting but I just want to pretend the extra space all magically appeared one day. No endless decisions (I know some people think this is fun, I don’t), no hassle, no inconvenience, no worry, no pounding, no strangers in your house all day-that is what I look forward to. Six more weeks. They promised. I remind the contractors of that every single day. I can’t wait till it’s all over!
Here is the best thing I ever found on Pinterest by the way:
Isn’t that true? The stars make me feel small and make what’s most important in life stand out. Usually I find the time to gaze at them for about 60 seconds between parking the car and walking in the house after picking some milk up at the grocery store, but that 60 seconds makes all the difference in the world.
May Crowning was so beautiful.
So is this little girl. She is getting too big though isn’t she? But I have the whole summer to say she is just one. And her legs still have chubby rolls.
Isaac is home from college.
Some good books I’ve read lately:
This is excellent. If you have a pre-teen or teenage girl, this book is so informative about the real struggles are girls are facing with our crazy culture today. I ordered Dr. Sax’s other two books right after I finished this one.
I think this book should be a textbook for a mandatory class in high school. It’s really really good.
I loved this book! Honestly, I could not put this book down-well I had to of course, but the whole time I wasn’t reading it, I was waiting till I had a chance to sneak away and pick it up again. If I could have put toothpicks in my eyelids at night to keep reading I would have. I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes to finish a chapter. It was so so good.
I wanted to attempt this book but my May brain won’t let me right now. I’m going to save it for later-like September later.
Oh my goodness…in your blogging pause Janey grew up! And she is still as darling as ever! But she still has baby-ness to her (to put your mom heart at ease 🙂
I'd love to see your new area when it's done. I'm the same way…I despise my house being under construction. I need to snap my fingers and go straight to the finished project!
I really enjoy your "Ordinary Days" posts. I love reading about your family adventures!
It's so nice to hear from you Sarah!! Please don't ever stop blogging!! You are so real!! Janey is getting so big!!
I can't wait to see your remodel/addition. We are due again in September and we are running out of space but we love where we live, but need more space. Bummer on the broken wrist. Thanks for your posts, inspiring as always.
What a whirlwind! Such a busy schedule with all the kiddos, and taking on a home renovation project. Girl, I would escape to the bathroom to read/finish a book too!!! I know you would not have it any other way. We are enjoying having our #2 home for just a bit before she heads back for a summer session. It is gonna be a very quiet June in our house. Care to send some of that chaos my way???
love your church~ it's beautiful!! Janey IS NOT getting that big?!! I won't allow it. Screwtape letters is FABULOUS!!! I think it should be a must read for all professing Christians! C.S. Lewis has such a way of bringing things from the Bible to light in such a new way….not condemning or judgmental..just very thought provoking and real. I love all his books….hang in there~your house will be done soon and we will all look forward to oohing and aaaahhhhing with you.
I read girls on the edge and really liked it. Boys Adrift was even better though. It was the kind of book that changes you forever. I didn't know he had a third book. I can't wait to check it out!
Love the update! You are such an inspiration! Can't wait to see how your renovation turns out! I just love that you are staying put in the home that your kids are growing up in and making it work for you rather than just going off and buying a new house. Thank you for the book suggestions as well!! I always love your suggestions 🙂
Glad you are doing well, Sarah! I am also looking forward to the arrival of summer and things slowing down a bit! I'm in the middle of Jennifer Fulwiler's book and love it also…can't wait to pick it up again tonight.
And good luck with the reno project! I was at a home show this past weekend and loved seeing all the beautiful kitchen spaces. It seems like kitchen design is very family functional now, which I love. Can't wait to see your after shots…I love your taste and know it will be beautiful! Have a nice week…Janie is getting so big! 🙂
I loved Jen Fullwiler's book, too, and I also picked up The Screwtape Letters this weekend to start reading! Glad all is going well- sounds like a lot is going on in your household!
That picture of Janey – wow – so precious!!!
I have not read Sax's books. I did read Meg Meeker's "Boys Should be Boys" and Peg Tyre's "The Trouble with Boys" (notice a theme here?) Perhaps it was just a section in one of these books and my over-50 mind can't remember, but I think I read a book about a teacher in CA who teaches his students how to score baseball, which helps build math skills and attention skills and at the end of the year he takes them to a ball game. Maybe you or one of your readers knows if that is from a separate book because I can't find it on my book lists!
I started listening to Screwtape but got lost and did not finish. Maggie loved it, has read quite a bit of Lewis and took a Lewis course this past semester. She bought Joey "A Grief Observed" and he is reading it. She said Lewis is not always easy to read, but thinks he'll learn from it. I read Surprised by Joy. It was biographical, which was interesting, but I don't think I fully took in his message about Joy.
So glad to see your post and darling Janie. We put a large addition on our house last year, a kitchen and master suite; it took five months but was well worth the wait and mess. Had to laugh out loud at the picture of Isaac's stuff–brought back memories of my three sons who are not in their thirties.
So glad to hear from you again here! Janey is just adorable (and I so love her name).
Thank you for the book recommendations, Sarah. I've just begun Screwtape Letters and it's so good, but requires slow and thoughtful reading which is hard for my brain. I recently read Kelly Corrigan's memoir, Glitter and Glue and it was SO fantastic. A memoir about a college girl learning to love her mother when she accidentally became a nanny to two small children who had recently lost their mother to cancer. I think you would love it.
Thank you SO MUCH for this post!!! I have really, really been missing your posts (that YOU write!). I love reading about your family and your projects. I love the Calvin and Hobbs cartoon too. I feel exactly like you do about that. Janey looks like your tiny twin. She is so sweet! Glad you can be with your whole family this summer and I am looking forward to more posts like this one! 🙂
Yeah!!! A post from you!!! May IS nuts! Baby John arrived healthy, beautiful and perfect (9lbs, 5oz on May 17) and now I need to write you an email on all my bfeeding struggles. I am SO discouraged!! Wahhhh…all these kids and ages and a 9 day old baby- gulp! God has given me way too much credit. I will email you soon. Thanks for updating us. Miss you and your sweet family. Janey is WAAAY too big but oh so cute. xoxo
Thank you so much for your posts and I hope you will continue posting into the future. Our daughters (your youngest and my first) were born just days apart. Your post about motherhood have helped me tremendously over the last year
I just read Something Other than God a few weeks ago, and loved it too! I actually loved it so much that I ended up reading most of the book out loud to my husband I have to admit though, I was scared to read much beyond the scene in the airplane when he then boyfriend (now hubby) said why her atheism didn't bother him. I didn't think that would end well. haha
She is getting so big! What a doll! Love the curls!