“Busy seasons” + good stuff list

As I suspected and forecasted, this is a BUSY season for us right now.

Side note- It annoys me that I just said that. Because I kind of feel like I, or the collective “we”, have all taken to calling every season “busy”. Have you noticed that?

• This current season (April-May) is the busy spring season with lots of sports and end of school events (aka May-hem Season).

• Summer will be the busy season of vacations and outings and summer holidays and yard work and kids are often off to camps OR kids are home and need to be driven places and schedules are all awry and things are chaotic.

• Early fall will be the busy “back to school” season…school supplies and open house nights and parent meetings and fall sports and stricter new routines when everyone goes to bed on time for a while. lol.

• Then we’ll move into the later fall busy “pre-holiday + holiday seasons”, starting with October/Halloween and other “fall fun” events (lots of soccer games, leaf raking, leaf peeping, more yard work) and then morphing into Thanksgiving groceries and cooking and holiday shopping and cards and decorating and school finals and Christmas band concerts and winter sports mixed in and ALL the things.

• I suppose maybe there’s a little lull in January/February, sort of, but I feel like during that phase many of us end up diving into other things we can’t do during all the other busy seasons, like home decluttering projects or new fitness goals or spring break trip planning….

And then we’re back around to April and May again. 🙃

So, I think I need to stop saying “when things slow down” or “this is just a busy season”. Because I don’t actually think anything is going to ever slow down, at least until the kids are out of the house, or we somehow make a drastic lifestyle change (unlikely at this point).

EVERY season is busy, just in a different way.

And I am not sure I’m actually complaining, per se (although I feel like I have kind of been complaining a little lately, sorry…); everything in those lists above is GOOD. Also, all those things combined = MY LIFE. If I took all of that away, well, I guess what would I be doing all the time? lol!

That said, it’s still a lot! So it doesn’t always feel easy or peachy keen 100% of the time, even if in reality I wouldn’t actually want to trade any of it away. 🙂

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Good Stuff

🔷 Asher started his first job this weekend!!

Technically he worked last summer (a temporary job at a seed farm for 4-5 weeks), but I guess I consider this one his first “real” job, as it will be ongoing.

He worked 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. on Sunday at our local Arby’s. 🙂

My mom and I went through the drive-thru (where he was working the window) and ordered some curly fries. 😉

He seemed to love it! The manager seems really nice and super accommodating with his busy sports schedule, etc. Basically told him to just write on the calendar any days he needs off, and he’s guaranteed to have them off. Apparently the manager also told him he did really great for his first day and that he picked everything up super quickly.

Asher’s schedule is extra full this spring with 3 sports going on, so the timing here isn’t “great”; he has rather limited availability right now. But summer will be here in a flash, and he should be able to work a bunch then. Which is FANTASTIC, because he’s pretty past the whole “go to day camps” age.

And obviously just sitting around at home every day is not a great option, either. I mean he’ll have swim practice and will go to gym and has chores at home and will see friends etc too. Not like he’ll work constantly. But this will build in some frequent productive activity- that bonus: he gets paid for!

He’s all set up with his own checking account now for direct deposit, and both boys actually have extensions of our American Express credit card now, too, in addition to their debit cards. Can’t believe they’re both old enough to be earning paychecks and building credit history already!!!

Ethan has been putting a monthly amount into an investment account already, too, so we’ll have to see about getting that set up for Asher as well now that he’ll have income. 🙂

This Arby’s seems really nice, too. He said the other workers are friendly and helpful and it’s a pretty new building with a nice clean lobby, and it’s not nearly as busy as McDonald’s (right next door!) where Ethan works. 😅 (It’s actually comical how close the two restaurants are to each other- Asher could practically lean out the drive thru window and wave to Ethan, if the window were on the other side. lol! They were both working at the same time on Sunday.)

🔷 Speaking of Ethan and work….

He’s still sticking with McDonald’s for now, though he’s getting a little “over it” I think. McDonald’s is BUSY. He’s really hustling most of the time when he’s there.

I think he’d like to maybe look for something else eventually, but job options are pretty limited until you’re 16. (He turns 16 in July.) On the plus side, he started at McDonald’s right after he turned 14. So by the time he turns 16, he will have almost two full years of solid work history on his resume already. I feel like that has to look really great to prospective employers?

He said he will wait and see- once he’s 16, he can also work extended hours (past 7 pm) and can do more, like work the grill, wash dishes, etc. (not allowed at 14-15; he is currently limited to working the front counter and drive-thru.). He said he’ll for sure get a raise once he’s 16, so he wants to wait and see how much he gets and then will decide if he wants to stay put or go somewhere else.

Oh- and something cool: I sat in McDonald’s for an hour on Saturday morning and had tea, waiting for Asher at swim practice nearby. Ethan was taking a guy’s order at the counter, and I suddenly heard Ethan switch into Spanish! The man apparently didn’t speak much English and was really struggling, so Ethan was able to take his order in Spanish. How cool!! He told me that actually happened twice on Saturday!

Great reinforcement for him to see that learning another language can be very useful. 😉

🔷 Asher’s 8th grade graduation is coming up so soon!

Actually, Ethan will be done with school even sooner- he informed me yesterday he has 4 Mondays left until school is out. Asher will be done the following week.

Lots of graduation stuff/fun events on the horizon; can’t believe our family will be done at that school now!

I had to turn in a baby picture of Asher for a before/now poster they do for each 8th grader.

These were some of the finalist options:

🔷 Signs of spring….

I was at a soccer game on Sunday morning with Ethan and I froze my tushy off… this was the weather:

I was cursing Wisconsin and started seriously pondering if perhaps we should consider moving somewhere warmer once the kids graduate from high school. I mean. COME ON. I was wearing a winter hat and gloves. In the end of April. And I was still cold.

On the plus side, the trees are finally budding out and it’s been a bit warmer now the rest of the week:

And the baby geese have arrived! Here is Charlie “on alert” last night staring at the geese, on a surprisingly mild evening walk with some also surprisingly pleasant little rain drops. Smelled like summer, at least. I liked it.

🔷 I just like this picture, and I liked this moment:

It was sprinkling rain outside (after my evening walk, above) and I had the window open. I was laying on the sunroom couch reading for a bit while Ethan was studying for a quiz at the desk. It was a nice, cozy moment and I glanced over and he just looks so grown up!!

🔷 A laugh:

🔷 An EMPTY gym on Sunday evening:

It was much busier this morning when Ethan and I went, but Sunday p.m. is where it’s at!!

Daily Gratitude:

I am so grateful for my blog friends…I feel like I’ve found “my people!” Texting and chatting with them has been a serious joy in my life. ♥