Quick Update

Still alive. It’s been months since I’ve updated anything on this sucker. Been a bit busy. I still don’t know how we survived the fall. But I’ll leave that for when I ramble on about all the things when I eventually get to making a fall post. Hell, I haven’t even made a summer 2023 post. It’s closer to June 2024 than June 2023, I’m that behind.

We’ve been up to some stuff.

Birthday season ended right before Halloween, after Laine kicked it off last July. September gave us a teenager, it’s been fun (really). Maive is no longer a toddler; she’s a full-blown four-year-old dictator. I’ve never understood why they call it the terrible twos?! Two is easy. It’s three and the first half of four that’s challenging. But at this point—after dealing with four mini-dictators—a fifth one doesn’t faze us in the slightest.

School started. Including public school, meh. Laine switched over at the start of the year. Blaise followed mid-October. Middle school is going well. I’m not sure about the education (or lack of) but both kiddos are still in the honeymoon phase. And the whole public middle school thing has grown on me. Saige decided to try out glorified babysitting public elementary school mid-November. Don’t get me started. One thing I’ll give her school, is that she has an amazing teacher. But they’re bound to policies and requirements that aren’t in the kiddos’ best interests, in my totally biased opinion. We did end up putting Saige back in Frog Hollow weekly, so she only goes to elementary school four days each week (four days too many if you ask me). Baby is the holdout; she has absolutely zero interest in changing up things. And, Maive. Maive will definitely not go to the public elementary school when she starts kindergarten in fall of 2025. She has another year of outdoor preschool, which she loves.

A few trips were taken. All seven of us went down to Napa for Aunt Courtney and Aunt Mary’s wedding. Blaise, Laine, and I went to the Bahamas, and Courtney met us there. The Bahamas was a bust but it was fun to hang out together. Now the State Department has issued a travel advisory for the Bahamas. Not surprised.

All the holidays came and went. No big snow event like we all had hoped for but we did have a freeze fest, complete with ice galore and school closures.

Now we’re in the thick of gymnastics meets and soon all the things start. Baby is playing spring soccer. Saige’s dance team has weekend competitions coming up. Maive is still loving preteam gymnastics, but we had to switch up her days which added to our already chaotic schedule. Blaise is going to try out lacrosse on top of riding with the mountain biking team again—and there are five travel weekend races.

On top of all the things, more trips are coming up. Not just travel gymnastics meets and mountain bike races. We have cabins booked with friends, hotel rooms booked in multiple cities, flights booked with different combinations of kids. And I’m crazy enough to consider adding a few more getaways. Family bonding time and all. Even if that bonding includes me losing it after being around all the kids for days on end. Bickering about who sits where during travel and who sleeps where in the cabin or hotel. Ugh. And for someone who isn’t a huge fan of flying, I’m off to Greece in a few months for a yoga retreat.

Until I find time to properly update and document all that’s missing—and all that’s to come—here’s the most recent picture of all five kiddos from Saturday. We went to Kennewick this past weekend for a gymnastics meet and stopped in Yakima—the Palm Springs of Washington—for laser tag. Laine took third in her age group at the meet. Go, Laine!

Tomorrow Saige’s braces come off and Baby gets braces put on. Maive has school and then we head to Great Wolf Lodge later this week for parental purgatory, as Brian calls the place. A tour of the State Capitol on the way home before we need to be back for Laine’s practice, Baby’s soccer, and Saige’s dance. Too many kids, haha.

It. Never. Ends. But it’s all good… at least that’s what I tell myself.