My poor boys are witness to the glories of spring reproduction. You see we have this Robin issue. A few weeks back I heard this rhythmic tap on my bedroom window early one morning. I looked out and I saw this gorgeous young robin sitting on a branch in the cedar tree outside my room. I watched as she (or he) proceeded to jump into the window pane and then back onto her branch. At the time, I thought it was so cute. i like to think of myself as a bird whisperer of sorts. :) But I soon realized she was sharing this admiration with my two oldest boys.
This past weekend, Nolen comes upstairs sits down, takes a deep breath and says, " mom we need to do something about that bird", Ayden, from across the room chimes in " i know, mom she woke me up all night long" So apparently this sweet little lady has affections for my sons ( i mean who wouldn't right? ) but it is causing some interrupted sleep.
So I told them they need to put a stuffed animal or photo in their window because as much as i'd like to think she loves us, I realize she is probably seeing her shadow and trying to protect her nest form " the enemy in the window".
This morning i overheard the boys talking about how long she pecked at their windows last night and how often they were woken up by her, so i guess i should intervene now since it is interrupting their beauty sleep....
I hope the big blue strips of painters tape do not offend our neighbors. it is a bit tacky, I agree, but this little lady is persistent. I like a mommy with a little fight in her....thatta girl!!!
On this gorgeous Saturday, I am inside cleaning out the fridge, the same fridge that stinks to high heaven!! So gross. And I feel like I do this job way too often.
I thought it was just these:
But after I removed everything, I was left with this:
Why is it that the inside of my fridge resembles a port-a-potty...hmmm.
Ok onto my failure:
if you remember right, I was the treasurer at the boys Elementary school for about 6 years. With all the blood, sweat and tears...I found this :
For the love....DON'T THEY KNOW BOX TOPS CAN SINGLE HANDLEDLY SAVE THE WORLD!
A few weeks ago our dear sweet Border collie was diagnosed with Diabetes. She adjusted well initially with the insulin we have been giving her twice a day, but lately she seems to not be feeling all that well. So today I am home with her doing a "curve" which is blood sugars every 2 hours. You can imagine how much she loves this!
Darn it!
She kinda cracks me up though, it's hard to take her too seriously. And her sissy??? so worried ...
In other, totally unrelated news...
last week we had our first high school sports banquet.
Kinda cool, kinda long, but oh so worth it. I love hearing the coaches talk about high school sports. It's just crazy fun.
Each of the kids were recognized. And the coaches spent a lot of time talking about the future of the program. I couldn't help but be listening with a little bit of anxiety.
Ayden is a good basketball player. He was even voted "best defender" by his team
But he has this horrible trait of doubting himself. He can have a fantastic game, but miss one shot and it ruins the whole experience. So I often wonder, as a parent, how do I get him through this? How do i encourage him to look past the little things and see the big picture. i'm sure maturity will help, but we struggle with this.
As the night was drawing to a close, one of the last kids to be recognized was Ketner's Bear Buddy, Trevor.
Trevor is a senior and as I was listening to all of his accomplishments, I suddenly saw this view...
And I was taken back by the sweetness of it. Trevor is a senior and the youngest of 3 kids. I'm sure his parents were listening to the coach but really only hearing, "it's almost over??" in their hearts.
We sign our kids up for sports, lessons, classes...whatever at about age 4-5. For us it was primarily sports. It consumes our calendar. Our weekends are often on the go from 8 am until dark. But as I watched the Houser's listen to the coach, I vowed to cherish it!!! soak it in!!!
All too soon it will be over and we will be sitting at home on a Saturday morning wondering what to do. It confirms my always present desire to document our life. Even if it means piles, upon piles of messes.
Spring forward here in the PNW brings about much anticipated excitement. We live in a region that is about 85% grey and wet. So any opportunity of delighting in a bit more daylight, a bit more time to get things done outside, a bit more color and a bit more added to the never ending to do list. So with that, here's what has been filling my time as we spring forward :
The biggest time sucker has been getting prepared to start another scrapbook. . I have struggled, as most do, trying to "keep up" scrap booking". I let this go a long time ago, but with that, I let go of doing it all together. So the past few months I have come to a new and brighter conclusion. It initiated with my introduction to Becky Higgins Project Life.
I think sometimes it was created for me. So what i have determined is this: The boys do not need individual albums. I take way too many photos to do that. (i can't help it because they are just so dang cute). Initially when I was doing this I ended up scrapping the same event 3 times. this does not work!! SO, this is what I am doing.
1. Christmas Album. I started this early December and had it about 95% completed in 2 weeks. That is awesome. We are talking 1994 (pre kids) to 2011. Amazing!! It is stuffed full with photos, Christmas letters, memorabilia and a ton of love.
2. (My newest album) School days:
This is daunting. But as I have been compiling the years, I realize that I can belt it out as quickly as I did the other albums. Which is so exciting considering I have a Freshman and i just got done registering my middle son for high school. i gotta get this baby going!!
3. Birthdays.
4. Vacations.
5. Sports
Easy enough. It is so great not to have the idea of designing pages, buying more supplies, being creative, mastering digital scrap booking....etc. all of this is what got me frustrated with scrap booking to begin with. Now, I truly am recording memories, not designing pages. That is what I have intended all along!! yeah!!
Speaking of sports...we are at the tail end of basketball. It is lingering on because we have one last tournament for Ketner, Ayden's high school basketball banquet and one more week of school basketball for Nolen. Which i have to say has been quite fun. it is like organized chaos, but i love it. At his last game, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It was the last seconds of the game and Nolen got fouled to 0.1 seconds left! We were down by 1. He went to the free throw line. I tell you, I was so nervous for him!!! His shot would either tir the game, win the game or lose the game...ugh!!! He beautifully tied the game and they went on to win!! Yeah. How cool is it to hear your son's name being chanted by his team in the breakaway huddle!!
And because it is spring, you know what that means...BaSeBaLL. This is my first year only having 2 kids playing. Ayden is not playing baseball this year, first time since he was like 3, so he can focus on riding. But we are making this up by Ketner playing on 2 teams... (gross). But whatever, keeps me busy. SO I have dusted off my scorekeepers handy dandy supply bag:
And as always, baseball, along with football, involves so much clutter!
Thankfully, I got to add to my future OHS quilt supplies after we went through everyone gear and cleaned out the outdated, no longer used items. Always such a trip down memory lane.
I know it is so short lived so i am trying to enjoy it all.
Other things keeping me busy:
my newly diagnosed DIABETIC border collie. Yep, blood sugars and twice daily insulin! Fun!
Filling my calendar with multiple things daily.
I love making girlie reminders for my men!
reorganized our medicines
framed some recent photos. I've had this frame forever, just needed the perfect photos. I'm diggin' it!
Not been the best blog poster lately and I'm sure it has to do with the state I am in these days.
First off, let me say, this is my BLOG, I write it to say what is on my mind, not to be scrutinized or talked about. Privacy is hard these days, but i started this BLOG years ago to document my life FOR MY FAMILY. No one else. I could make this post private, but I am not going to because it goes against the grain.
So here it goes....
Mid january, my routine, my life, my job changed completely unexpectedly. Without warning the on call staff where I have worked for 16+ years no longer had hours for us . Now let me be clear, I knew when I went on call 7 years ago that no shifts were guaranteed. That there was a risk to going on call....MY risk to take and worth every second because it meant I could be there for the boys when needed. But the one thing I didn't expect is to be put aside without warning. I can't say my feelings aren't hurt. I can't say I am not mourning the loss.I can't say I don't feel betrayed. I didn't get to chose to leave there. It was chosen for me. The one thing that makes me so very disappointment is that there were 8 positions available but these positions were not posted in our unit for the on call staff to take....even though I had been routinely applying for any fte that was posted....so now, the people who have been like family to me are no longer part of my daily life. The doctors who have grown to trust me and i have grown to love are now seen just occasionally. Makes me sad.
I am still on call there. And will work as much as I can, but for now that seems to be about 4 shifts a month. The only thing I can do is enjoy the time I am there, cultivate those relationships even from a far, and continue to be the hard worker, dependable, trust worthy, experienced, and reliable nurse that i have always been....some things, to me, are more important than the bottom line...relationships and honoring those relationships.....even when things get hard and change is needed.
And thankfully, I am so, so thankful and blessed to now be working on call at another local hospital. Iabsolutely love the staff!! Our personalities fit like a glove. i am so thankful for the flexibility and the opportunity so i can continue to provide what I need for my family and continue to do the skill I was called to do.
Each time i log into the computer I am reminded that i am so far behind on my blogging. I don't know if it the convenience of face book or what but I have not been diligent about documenting my life. Throughout this time off, i have considered maybe NOT blogging anymore. I went through the pros and the cons, but then realized, I Blog for no one but myself. I enjoy the role of memory keeper for this family. As I work on our scrapbooks it is such a joy to go back through my blog and recall the emotions and details of the event. So without further Ado...here is the past 4 weeks or so in a nutshell....
My last post talked about the snow finally hitting Washington. little did I know, the few days following that first snowfall we would be hit by massive amounts of snow and ice. Causing the power to be out throughout western washington. Some for a week or longer. We were lucky to have only lost it for about 24 hours. It was actually quite peaceful. Our wood stove kept us toasty. The boys are all old enough to understand they have to find ways to entertain themselves. We played games, read, took walks, played with the dogs and cats and just enjoyed this unique weather.
The morning of the big snow, the boys woke up in almost a Christmas morning state. They walked up the stairs and saw the 18 inches of scow that fell over night and simultaneously their jaws dropped and their eyes sparkled with excitement.
{ sweet Nolen, the excitement he had for the snow was contagious}
{taking a walk through the neighbor hood with with Newman's}
{Lily and Daphne}
{sorry for the sideways view at the end, watching Blossom pounce through the snow was hilarious!}
{Since we have a Suburban, we were one of the lucky ones that could drive. Nothing more wonderful for a mom when your teenage boys want to go hang out together and play in the snow}
{Uncle Andy shoveling off his roof. He was concerned with the weight of all the snow}
The next morning, the snow switched to ice. I had actually driven to work that day so i missed seeing the world turn from snow to ice. Driving home, i could tell there was going to be a ton of destruction. Trees and limbs were just snapping. All you could hear outside was quiet because there was no power anywhere and the snapping sound of trees around us.
The power went out at about 7:30 in the morning. Luckily, i have always been into preparedness, so we broke out the candles, lanterns, canned soup, hot chocolate and hunkered down. Santa had even brought us a portable radio/electronics charger that powers by winding a handle. We could keep our ipods and phones charged for entertainment.
The boys missed that whole week of school. But once they returned, we were all hit the floor running. Right now basketball consumes most of our time. Between AYden at the high school, Ketner with his tournament team and Nolen with Middle school ball, we are running around constantly.
Ayden's season is now done.It was a growing year for sure. It was a challenging year for sure, full of ups and downs and lots of emotions and adaptions. Ayden is his own worst enemy and as a mom it is so hard to watch the struggle with his confidence. He has had a coach for years who understood him and new what to say and when to say it. And this year, every game was like the first game. there were 16 boys on the team so if you got a chance to play you almost felt like you were having to prove yourself all over again. Any mistake felt like the weight of the world to Ayden. He is such a hard work and expects only the best from himself and when he feels like he didn't live up to his expectations, he has a hard time moving on. THis, i pray , will resolve with growth and maturity...but oh, it is so, so hard.
Ketner has been competeing in some local tournaments, they have been nail bighters for sure but they came up with the win in both events. So proud to watch these boys play with humbleness, determination and poise.
Lets just say the wins didn't come easy:
{Luke Kiley was fouled hard! His poor tooth was left in the gym floor...luckily they could reattach it the next day but this stud continued to play!!}
Another change for us was having 1 less boy in braces!! yahoo!!!
This same hottie tottie freshman went to the Sadie Hawkins dance this weekend. (not sure what Sadie's is because we never had it but i think it is like informal tolo). His girlfriend, sweet Jessica, asked him at her superbowl party.
so, so cute!!
Honestly, takes my breath away ;)
Finally, i know this has been long and way picture packed but I had many weeks to catch up on so bear with me :) My work has unexpectedly provided me with more time at home so i am taking advantage of this opportunity.
phew! Hopefully I have learned a lesson here, life goes on, but you gotta keep up!!! I will miss this business someday and cherish looking back through the years.
Finally, after the mildest December in history, western Washington got some snow. I could tell it was coming becasue the sky was so thick and pink. Something about the quietness makes life seem just perfect.
I've thought about this day many times...seemed like it was forever away. I'd hear it happening to my friends and it seemed like an impossibility for me...but I have DONE IT.
I have turned 40..today
And although it seems like a bummer, I am spending the day in Seattle with my 15 year old getting his Infusion....it is fine by me. Any time to be with my kids is a gift. So thankful to be 40 and have this life that couldn't possibly be better. While growing up, I never could have known THIS is what God had planned for me. I am so thankful that He has had at least 40 years written into his book beside my name. No way to know what that number is written next to SHannon Nole Young. It was decided long before I was even born (Psalm 139:16) . Becasue of that I am going to chose to LIVE AND LOVE each and every one OF THEM...days or years.
So not only do I have another fresh new year to relflect and contemplate my goals and objectives, but I have the milestone of turning 40. It takes much self control to not look around and compare myself to others, to wish for what they have, or desire their talents or gifts. It is easy to get sucked into wanting to be more like so and so, or setting my sights so far that I don't enjoy today or what I have.
And truthfully, I lack that self control often..but I thankfully, every day is a new day...and if I continue to focus on the Truth and Strength that I know sustains me...I'll be just fine. 40 and all!
up to my elbows in ribbons, bow, photos and glue...
This year I have decided to make a Christmas album. It has been so fun looking through 15+ years of Christmas photos. The boys have grown so big... Putting this together has helped me focus on the now. Life moves so fast. I want to savor all of it.
i love that i have started using products from Becky Higgins: Project Life. I has made a world of difference. I can whip out a page with just some cutting and writing. no worries about all the decorations and designs that got very overwhelming with scrap booking. Love the end results!!
Getting closer to being done...I am starting 2007. Goal is to get to 2011 by the end of the weekend. Love it!!
Also been working on these
130 Christmas Cards addressed and ready to be sent!! Yahoo. Feels so good to get them out.
Feels like Christmas is just around the corner. I am getting a bit antsy because I know I have ordered a few items that haven't shown up yet...this always gets me befuddled.
