Week in My Life 2015: Thursday
Oversharing alert. For the next week, I’m writing about what life is *really* like at Casa Whitaker. It’s likely to include Dr Pepper, sibling rivalry, lots of diapers and some serious van time. If you’re a blogger, I’d love for you to join me (linkup at the bottom) and if you’re an Instagrammer, we’re all over there using #weekinmylife15 You can catch up on the week here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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This morning, we had a “this must go” breakfast (aka leftovers) as we all had to be up and out the door in a flash. While Gianna usually sleeps in until 8:30, I got her up an hour early for a very good reason. But first, the short bus.
After dropoff, Will, Gianna and I headed over to the high school because it was field trip day! A couple of weeks ago, Sister called and asked if I would serve as one of the chaperones. The destination? Their chapel/convent in south Austin. I had heard stories of its magnificence, but boy, nothing prepared me for this.
The kids enjoyed adoration (when the priest/deacon exposes the Eucharist for quiet prayer), confession and a Q&A with a priest and sister. Gianna was an absolute angel – thank you, Jesus. But what struck me the most was the prayer Deacon Ray shared at the beginning of adoration. It was more of a conversation, really, and it had all the feels. I know some people pray formally, but I prefer the conversation. I can tell you with great confidence it was a truly beautiful morning. We beat the buses back to school and saw 85 freshmen devour 25 pizzas in five minutes flat.
Teenagers.
Gianna went down for a nap and I hit the client work, but not before I made a batch of sweet tea. I think my Texas is showing. School pickup time came and we zoomed home for the middle three to make a quick change of clothes, while Will held down the fort with Gianna and Luke. We are preparing for the district 4-H Food Challenge competition and today their teams practiced at a friend’s house. I dropped them off and came home to manage snacktime and get dinner going. On my doorstep I spied this.
I have ZERO idea what I’m doing, but with the allergies, knee pain, belly issues and stress around here, I figured we’d give it a shot. If you’re an essential oil aficionado, teach me thy ways.
Thankfully, Scott came home early today so I could head to physical therapy, otherwise known as the torture chamber. It’s been a really, really rough go rehabilitating my knee after I broke my patella in July. Back then, I really thought I’d be back to 100% by now. The range of motion is almost back (only 10 degrees to go), but the quad muscle is completely non-existent. Today, my therapist hooked me up to a machine that stimulates my muscle. Holy Mother of *****. Um, it hurt. I think it might be time to offer it up for a little redemptive suffering.
While I was gone, Scott graciously finished dinner for us, and took dinner over to a friend who has a sweet baby in the hospital (please pray for Baby Victoria!). That man, he’s a keeper. I often say he’s the better cook around here. We were able to eat as a family for the first time this week. That absence is not normal, at all. We usually eat every dinner together with a few exceptions, but Scott’s fall has been extraordinarily busy at work. Good busy, but still. We miss him around the table. Every night we pull a card from our Christmas card pile and pray for a family (or three). Yes, there’s usually an argument over who gets to choose the card – even after seven years of doing this! You might notice everyone has a different color cup. That’s pretty much how we do everything around here. Every kid has a family color. It allows for quick identification, ownership and accountability. Long live colored everything.
We sent some kids upstairs for showers, some to the office for homework and some to play with Gianna. That is the beauty of having older children. As I was washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, I spied this from the kitchen sink. Melt my ever-loving heart.
I nursed Gianna while Scott got two in bed. Two more wrapped up homework and our lone high schooler finally called it a night at 10pm. All I know is that come tomorrow, no homework or packing lunches for a week. Come on, Thanksgiving break!
Scott and I were able to visit tonight, about the week, life and everything in between. He even had awesome leftover dessert from his business dinner to share. Cheesecake wins me over every time.
Tomorrow, life gets pretty grand. I can’t wait to hear about your day!
I love these oversharing posts… you should do more of them!!
I LOVE that each child has a family color! That is brilliant and an idea I will steal once my little ones are a bit older.
Don’t you just love seeing those tender sweet moments? Golly they make being a mommy so wonderful! I feel my heart expanding with love with every sweet hug or kiss Sue gives me. How will my world be with two? So excited!!
Yes, yes I do.
Oh my goodness, that photo of the girls at the end…so sweet! And the different colored cups! We did that in our family of six kids growing up too. Must be a thing! Thank you so much for hosting!
We color code in our house too. Even down to our Google Calendar where each person’s event is locked in to a certain color. When this baby is born I don’t know what color she’ll get 🙂
Physical therapy is no joke, but good for you for keeping up with it! It will pay dividends in the long run and you will be thankful for the hours and hours you have invested. Keep it up!
Google calendar. I have got to get that going. I really feel like I need a tutorial. Not even kidding.
I thought I would need one, too, but really it’s very simple. And now my husband knows what’s going on, since we synced his phone. I highly recommend!
I love this series and have enjoyed it every year. You have such a beautiful life, Kathryn. Thank you for sharing it with us.
You have no idea what those words meant to me today, Bonnie. I think yours is equally beautiful 😉
Here’s a good site on using essential oils safely.
Oops…hit enter too soon. http://www.learningabouteos.com/
Oh, thank you so much!
Oh, that chapel! So beautiful!
Every day I’m reading these… and I would just be ecstatic if Maria would sleep until 7 every morning! ha!
Prayers for baby Victoria! And now you have me wanting cheesecake…
That sweet baby is home, thank you for your prayers! For what it’s worth, NONE of my other children ever slept like this in the mornings. This is new territory for me.
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