Winter break at home

OK!  I have to "call it" for my blog from catching up from summer of 2024.  This blog year is going to be a hot mess as I want to eventually catch up - but I mostly do not want to get behind.  My number one reason for not blogging - by FAR is not being able to upload my pictures on my computer in a reasonable way.  It takes me over 10 hours to put my photos from my phone onto my computer.  If anyone can help me please contact me.  So for now I am trying to come up with a way I can just do it from my phone.  This is only thinking in the short term, as I still want/need all my pictures on my computer and organized.  But for now I just don't want to keep getting behind.

It is winter break and we are back from Utah and we have one week before school starts.  I made a pretty good "to do list" for the older 4 with very practical "end of semester"/"start of a new year" things to do, like clean out your back pack, deep clean your room, go through your "file pile", catch up on your budget, and then I told them if they get all their things done before school starts they can do what ever they want.  I also asked them to sign up to do something with Dane and Eve for a half hour or so each day.  

While the others have been doing their lists or "what ever they want" Dane and Eve and I have been having fun.  Yesterday we went to Redstone Park (no pictures) and today we spent over 5 hours at the Children's Museum.  It was fantastic.  Yesterday Jason had work off and fixed our fridge that had been leaking and today was his "at home day" so he shuttled kids around.  Megan and Brock went to the library for several hours, Maddie went to the mall with Brailynn, and Noah worked on his room and file pile.  

We came home and I spend the next 2 or 3 days taking down Christmas and TRYING to get some things in the house in order.  I am committed to not spend time really cleaning or "deep cleaning" until the kids go back to school.  Usually I am excited for the kids to be home on a Monday to help with Monday cleaning.  But honestly, I would rather have them spend their time on other things and just do it myself.  But I feel like I am just spinning my wheels, as almost everything I do, gets undone in just a few hours or the next day.  But I am trying to not focus on that.  Oh, how I don't want these years to pass being angry or frustrated that things aren't clean and that "no one helps" or "no one listens to me".  Neither are true.  Each day I do what I can, to both accomplish what I need to accomplish but also to not waste these days accomplishing things.  I want to be present, to build relationships, to teach, to love, to laugh, to have fun, and feel joy and peace.

Last year, winter break was the first time that I felt like I WANTED my kids to go back to school.  It was SO HARD having them home AND Dane and Eve home.  I couldn't balance.  That irritation and frustration continued for almost every break.  But I haven't felt it this time.  I don't know what has changed.  Dane and Eve?  The teens?  Me?  I am not sure.  Probably a bit of each.  But I am so grateful.  

 

River rafting

2 days before we left for a vacation to Utah I still "had" Henry and I wanted to do something really fun.  I really wanted to take Dane and Eve down the platte river, but I really didn't want to go by myself - but the water was low enough and slow enough that I figured that Henry was an extra pair of hands so on a whim I took the three of them.

I want to take a minute to give a shout out to Brock.  He has been my rock this last year and a half since he has been driving.  Now I am getting all emotional because the truth is he has always been my rock - I just didn't need him for a few years I guess.  Since he was 2 years old (honestly) he has been my "other adult".  From the moment that my placenta broke when I was pregnant with Noah when I was 30 weeks along and Brock was 15 months old he has looked at me differently.  He knew that he was in charge of making sure I was ok and all the babies were ok, and while sometimes it has been incredibly offensive and often humorous, and occasionally unnecessary, he has truly made my life not only easier, but possible.  I could recount to you numerous stories of him "saving the day" from ages 3 to 11.   From 11 to 16 we sort of lived separate lives.  I was home a lot with Dane and Eve (it was Covid after all) and he was at sports or with his friends.  He didn't come on a lot of outings with us and I had SO MUCH help around the house with everyone being home and capable.  But since getting his license he has returned to his former position so generously and kindly.  He willing drives everyone every where, runs errands, proactively asks if I need something or asks if he can pick something up, he texts me if he is at the store just so I know.  On this day he followed me down to the bottom of the river, so I could drop my car off, and then drove us up to the top of the river so we could raft down.  Well... that was supposed to be what he did.  That was what I asked him to do.  But it went sideways and random things kept coming up.  We had to pick up Henry, I forgot the life jackets so he went back for them, then the rafts weren't where they person said they would be so we had to get the rafts but they weren't blown up for us like they were supposed to be, so he had to do that and AN HOUR LATER we were now driving to the river.  He never complains, sighs, rolls his eyes, or makes me feel stupid.  He does it.  

He even takes a picture for us before he leaves, but not before checking and re blowing up all of our rafts and getting us down to the river and making sure we are all safe and ok.  He asks 2 or 3 times.  And (Spoiler alert: we decided to float the river AGAIN the next day and he was our ride, picture taker, and safety inspector.)

Our river float was absolute bliss.  The weather was perfect, the rover flow was perfect, the kids were perfect.

I was so glad to have Henry.  He made it so much more fun and I think it forced Dane and Eve to be brave because they wanted to be like Henry.

We had 3 inflatables between the 4 of us.  2 tubes and one raft and we tied them all together and rotated several times throughout the float.

A dad on the  side of the river filmed us going down one of the falls and then text it to me.

We all LOVED it, at the end Henry said, "can we go again".  I wanted to say yes, but we were leaving for Utah (not tomorrow, but the next day) until the end of the summer.  But the moment got away from me and I rationalized that I didn't have THAT much to do to get packed up, so I agreed to float the river the next day.  Henry brought his good friend, Cooper and the 5 of us had an ever BETTER time the very next day.  I hope that next summer we can go almost every week.  It may be one of my favorite activities that I have easy access to (I don't have a boat ;)

We stopped at a sand bar to dump water out of the big raft and they started playing in the sand.  We stayed on the sand bar for over an hour and they built all sorts of castles and I fell asleep in the raft.  It was delightful and almost nearly heaven.

For the last few falls the boys wanted to do them multiple times and Dane even was brave enough to try it by himself.  

Henry flipped.

Dane!