Week in My Life 2015: Tuesday

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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Sleep fast was my motto last night/this morning. Tuesday was full of goodness.

So so much.

Our morning started off early as we greeted our extra kiddo, ate a very cool birthday breakfast (our guest was celebrating his 11th birthday!) of Star Wars pancakes and then we were off to school. In fact, I liked the ride to school so much I did it twice. Will wasn’t ready for the first trip and because it was raining I took pity on him and came back to pick him up.

Scott got a goodbye kiss and I was off to the races trying to finish everything up for the surprise birthday party today. Making stormtroopers, measuring out thermal detonators, tying “thank you” ribbons to light saber bubble wands – you know, the usual Kathryn party prep. I was so grateful to have three sweet moms join me this morning to help. More than the many hands making light work, their presence and their words were balm to my soul today. While I will keep our conversations private, I must share how incredibly important it is to my spiritual well-being to surround myself with women who see the good (and the bad) in their life through a Godly lens. There were some tender hugs and some bittersweet tears shared.

I believe we call that blessed beyond measure.

Gianna happily played and destroyed my kitchen cabinets while we worked. She and I said goodbye to those amazing mamas and ate a quick lunch. She went down for a nap and I finished up some last minute items before another friend graciously watched her until I could get Will home from school to take over.

The next few hours are a blur of happiness. More than two dozen moms pitched in to assist, nearly 100 classmates, teachers, parents and Dominican Sisters attended. It wasn’t even my birthday and I’m not sure I’ll ever forget it. If throwing birthday parties were a love language, it would most certainly be mine. No words can fully capture the joy I saw today. The massive rainstorm we had this morning paved the way for sunshine, no wind and a gorgeous afternoon for a party.

Hat tip to you, Holy Spirit, for hearing my prayers.

We cleaned up the area and rolled right into the house to start homework, cleanup and bedtime routines. This was one of those nights I was grateful dinner was food from the party! About 20 minutes after walking in the door, Will’s fellow 4-H Food Challenge team members arrived and got to cooking.

Think Iron Chef meets teenagers. With knives.

Their district competition is coming up in a few weeks, so we’re doing our best to squeeze in some quality practices. Call me biased, but I think they have what it takes to win and head to the state competition. Either that, or I’m just exciting there’s another cook in the house.

After practice, Will dove into homework, I hit client work and Scott enjoyed some football. It was another semi-late night for me, but I’m hoping that the rest of the week slows down a bit. Tomorrow? Tomorrow I probably break down and go get a Dr Pepper.