Hello from the aptly-named Maycember where there are a zillion things going on and we all talk about how crazy it us but none of us take any action that would actually reduce the crazy. Modern parenting! Yay!
A short list of the things that have happened and/or are still to come in the last month of school: Fine Arts Night (pics below) which included a choir performance for Emma; a district-wide book-themed event that included a Spirit Squad appearance for Charlotte; STAAR testing for Emma (i.e. end of year standardized testing); end-of-year parties for Spirit Squad (Charlotte) and Art Club (Emma) and TV Club (Emma); 1st grade Mother’s Day concert; field day and water day; choir field trip; 5th grade pool party; 5th grade talent show; end-of-year parties for both kids; 1st grade awards ceremony; and 5th grade graduation and clap-out.
Y’all. Y’ALL. What is even happening. The end of school is essentially a giant weeks-long party.
Also, swim team started up so there’s evening swim practice on the schedule now, in addition to twice-weekly martial arts. Obviously we can’t do all of these things, so we have “scaled back” to once a week martial arts this month, 3 swim practices, and 1 evening off.
There have been birthday parties, and last weekend we invited a couple of Charlotte’s friends over for a play date. She has been begging me to do this for over a month, and I kept putting her off because I really don’t even know — some combo of social anxiety and overwhelm and blah blah blah. I LOVE hanging out with friends and seeing the kids hang out with friends, and yet I am always SUPER HESITANT to invite people over to our house out of fear that they will be bored and/or judge my housekeeping and/or decide they don’t want to be friends with me/us anymore.
(YES I know this is ridiculous.)
Anyway, I finally acquiesced and forced myself to text the other parents, and Charlotte had 2 friends over for a playdate. She was SO excited, and planned a bunch of activities, and afterwards she told me I was the best mom ever. It was really cute and I pledge here and now to try to not be so weird about having people over in the future.
And in non-kid-related activities, I did a lecture and workshop for a quilt guild in England, have been in the middle of hosting the Pantone Challenge with my friend Elizabeth, and am working through an influx of tech editing requests.
Also, we bought a car! This was on our to-do list for spring — i.e. before the summer heat truly arrives, since the air conditioning in our 11-year-old Toyota Highlander was barely hanging on, despite an expensive attempt to repair it last year. When we found ourselves with a free Saturday at the end of April, Jose and I decided to take our figurative medicine and face the rigamarole of buying a car. We went to Toyota first, but didn’t love the current Highlander model. It felt somehow huge and cramped at the same time.
A couple years ago in Colorado we had a Subaru Ascent as a rental that we liked a lot, so our next stop was the Subaru dealership. We all felt better in the Ascent than the Highlander, and they happened to have one on the lot that fit what we were looking for, so we ended up driving away with a new car that same day!
It was surprisingly emotional to say goodbye to the Highlander, which we bought when I was ~6 months pregnant with now-10.75-year-old Emma. (Bonus — here’s a photo from back then!) But we are all very excited about our new wheels. It’s crazy to realize that this will probably be the car that the girls learn to drive, and that we use to take them to college. Whew.
Also notable is that the girls were with us that whole day as we car-shopped and were pleasantly patient with the long, drawn-out car-buying process. They are still kids who get bored and whine and argue on the regular, but it was nice to be reminded that they can also be really good. (I know this, but let’s be real — it is easy for forget when they are bickering!)
Here’s hoping the rest of Maycember passes…well, not uneventfully. It will be very eventful. But in a good way. And here’s to me forcing myself into bed at a reasonable hour so I’m not a walking zombie at all these activities. Right. Maycember. Let’s go.
We said goodbye to our 2007 Honda Odyssey last week. Surprisingly emotional! Our kids were 2 and 4 when we got it. Haven’t replaced it yet; don’t know what to get.
Also, I totally relate to not having people over. I find it stressful and hard to enjoy, even though I know that people feel more relaxed coming to a “lived-in” house…
Thanks for your posts!
You’ve been busy busy busy! Great kid activities. We love our Subaru’s. Hubby has a 2016 Outback and smaller me has a 2021 Crosstrek. Congrats on the car.
Maycember! yes! When we sat down to plan weekends out back in April my husband nixed some things I wanted to do on weekends because of how busy it was going to get! Congrats on the new car and wow, you have a middle schooler soon! Time flies! Hope your sanity returns in a few weeks!
I guess I just needed to read your blog to figure out Maycember.
A friend of L’s totally judged my housekeeping. She commented on how messy / dirty my kitchen was and asked why I didn’t clean the handle of the refrigerator. Her mom was a trauma surgeon in Iraq – I’m guess they run a much tighter ship than I do. Oh well.