Catch-Up Part 1

 Based on what you've seen here on the blog, you'd think that all we've done is travel lately, but in reality we've been home from New Zealand for an entire crazy, busy month now!   I was so determined that I not miss any memory of New Zealand (or Emma's trip to Turkey), that blogging about an "every day" thing just became extraneous to my brain.  

So now our travelogues are finally done...probably for a very long time...and I'm back to writing about life, the universe, and everything else!  

 Here's a glimpse of some of the other things we've done in the last month!  

Virginia Homeschool Conference (3/20-3/21)--We were still super jet-lagged, so we were grateful that my friend Rachel allowed Emma and I to tagalong with them to the Virginia homeschool conference in Richmond.  I had been feeling a little discouraged about homeschooling, so this conference provided a good dose of inspiration for moving forward!  

Pump up the iron--Shortly before leaving for NZ I started feeling a little under the weather, so I went to the doctor the day we got back and in addition to getting chastised for not having set foot in a doctors' office for over three years, I found out that I am extremely iron deficient.   I was so iron deficient that it was causing unpleasant (and kind of scary) symptoms.   I don't like red meat and don't enjoy what iron pills do to my digestive system, but I've learned my lesson and will find a way to keep both in my diet for the foreseeable future.    The doctor also sent me for a whole array of routine testing....thankfully it all came back totally normal!  

Ellie's birthday (3/23)--My baby turned 10 and as per usual Ellie style, she had planned out the details of her birthday months in advance!  Cami made her a caramel cake, she opened presents in the evening, had a crepe breakfast that weekend,  then had a very small birthday party (a couple of weeks late).   It was fun to see how exciting a birthday still can be, even if it is hard for me to accept that all my kids are in the double digits now!         

Teacher appreciation dinner (3/25)--Right after getting back from New Zealand, I dove headfirst into helping pull together a "Teacher Appreciation Dinner" that the youth in our church were hosting.  About 20 teachers from the community came, including Adam's wonderful 2nd grade teacher and Cami's AP Lang teacher from last year.   We served creamy lemon chicken, pasta salad, green salad, rolls, brownies, and ice cream.    We had lots of people helping, but it was still a lot of work and I was more than a  little relieved when it was over (and a success to boot)! 

Adam and Ms. Payack, his beloved 2nd grade teacher!

Teacher appreciation dinner--youth and teachers together!

Teacher appreciation dinner--the guests of honor!

Make-a-Wish walk (3/26)--After having just enjoyed the fruits of a very generous Make-a-Wish trip to NZ, it was the least we could do to participate in this fundraising walk that was a mere two miles from home.   I was too jet-lagged and timid to put on a hard court press for fundraising, but we did raise over $300.  I figure I'll only have to do that about 30 more times and we might have begun to repay the generosity that was so kindly bestowed upon our family.  

Family comes to visit (3/28-4/9)--My mom, Heather, and Tim arrived on March 28th.  Tim and Heather stayed for about a day then took off with Emma and  they were off to Turkey!   Luckily my mom stayed and then Kristina and her family arrived a couple days later.  It was crazy busy, but super fun to have them in town.  My mom helped a ton around the house and my sister, K, got us outside the house and onto some adventures.  The kids absolutely loved all the cousin time and  I loved my sister/mom bonding time.   We are all still in withdrawal with them gone.   

Stay tuned for more normal life stuff coming soon...