Seeing as I really went down the Colorado/Utah rabbit hole this past week, I’m due for a “regular post”.
Backing up to Mother’s Day weekend! From that long laundry list I wrote on Saturday morning, I guess I did okay. I mean, I’m not delusional- I didn’t think I was going to do all of those things.
I did clean the house! With the amazing weather + windows open, it was actually quite enjoyable (if you know what I mean). Ivan got all the patio furniture out and made some progress on yard work.
I ran a few errands and randomly stumbled across this fun new summery planner at Walgreens!
“Why do you need a planner, Kae? You’re a Google calendar junkie.”
“Yes, friends, I am. BUT…. I have had some recent itches to return to paper! Maybe ”return” is the wrong word. I still want (very much) to keep my Google calendar + Google Tasks systems in place. I just want to supplement with some paper.”
I mentioned recently I’ve been sketching out a brief daily plan in a notebook and am really liking this! Lately I’ve also had the urge at times to just SEE the year (or month) in front of me better on an old fashioned regular calendar. I also like paper for sketching out recurring tasks or figuring out seasonal plans, etc.
It just has these 2 spreads for each month, which is perfect!
Google remains my one-source-of-truth for everything, but this is a nice tool. Also…the summer citrus vibe is adorable. And it’s just the right size for me. And it was $10! 🙂
Saturday night I convinced Ethan to join me for a bonfire.
I sent Ethan to the gas station for Hershey’s and marshmallows (we had a big box of graham crackers)…. only to later find out that the graham crackers were some inedible mix of rancid/stale?! Ew. He refused to go back to the gas station though because apparently the guy checking him out said, while looking at his purchases, “You already got the graham crackers?” to which of course Ethan said, Yup…. hahaha. So now he was embarrassed to go back and say, actually, I do need graham crackers. 🙄 (And I was just too lazy to go myself and was okay just eating a couple plain roasted marshmallows. lol.)
Ivan and Asher were gone all night helping his friend out at the Mexican place downtown we always go! It was UW’s graduation weekend + Mother’s Day, and they were slammed with reservations. They were a bit short-staffed and had pleaded Ivan to come and help!
He and I both were servers in college “back in the day” and Ivan also bartended for a while, so he figured it would be like riding a bike. Asher has been seeking extra $$ opportunities (see previous post about expensive hobbies + many “wants”…) and went along to bus tables!
Mother’s Day was low key and nice! The boys worked etc during the day but we had a lovely dinner out at a local restaurant that is delicious.
Here’s me with all my guys!
Final update- I got Charlie scheduled for boarding in June! It will be his first time. There’s a nearby “doggy daycare/ camp” place that is kennel free (if desired) and has staff that actually sleep there at night, so the dogs can sleep on the couches/ mats/ beds by the staff!
He went Monday all day for a required “trial daycare day” (he passed, yay!) and apparently played SO HARD. He was exhausted Monday night- this is him just a few minutes after getting home:
He slept sooo much yesterday, the day after. Ha. (I may have to tell them to put him in the crate sometimes though while we’re away because otherwise he may not ever nap there!)
I think boarding will be the happier option for him overall- being with people + dogs all the time- versus SO much alone time when my SIL watches him. She works and is just gone so much now and he is not used to being alone so much!
Okay off to the gym! Trying to make Wednesdays (when Ethan has late start day) my “morning gym” day. (But, side note- this is Ethan’s last week of school!! Next week is just final exams only, no regular class, and then he’s DONE!)
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for having Charlie’s boarding situation figured out/ reserved. I had been a bit worried about the whole thing and am relieved to have a plan in place.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Ooh, lots of fun updates here. I love Charlie so much- those photos of him all tired out after his daycare day are hilarious. Yes, that must be a huge weight off your mind. And it does sound like boarding him is the best option. He’ll be having so much fun, he won’t have much time to miss you, whereas if he were home alone for most of the day he might be sad.
That planner is SO CUTE! I actually had a moment’s thought “Hey, maybe I need another planner too- I should stop by Walgreens today.” BUT I DON’T. It looks like it will be perfect for what you’re wanting.
Glad you had a low key Mother’s Day! Sounds like it was really nice.
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Haha, I feel like I maybe just got lucky stumbling across this planner, being May and all… the selection was quite limited! It’s SO cute and perfect though! I may not have picked it out if it were January, with the citrus/ summer theme, but for a midyear pick, it’s great!
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Love the planner vibe!
Look how tall the boys are – super fun to see and compare to the recent throw-back pics from your trip.
Ha – Charlie! That’s how I feel at the end of most days.
Also, love your Mother’s Day outfit. You always look so chic, Kae ❤
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I know, it’s crazy how different they look!! Both of my boys have been on the late bloomer side, and both looked like literal babies for sooo long! Which- actually, I’m glad about. They were so sweet! Some boys in their classes looked like full-grown men by 11 years old!
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That planner is cute and cheap! I am mostly making due with my outlook calendar. That is where all week-day things go, including personal stuff like doctor appts, etc. It’s my one source of truth for M-F. Then our wall calendar in the kitchen is our main source of truth for weekend activities. I’m just using the notes section from my 2024 W222 planner. I rarely used the planning pages in it so figure I will use a notebook when I run out of pages in the planner. But someday I would like to get back to using a planner, like when work is not the dominant force in my life… so maybe in 8 years when I hopefully retire!! The wall calendar will probably not work super well when the boys are in more activities. But for now since it’s only Paul’s activities and he just done one sport at a time + swimming lessons, it’s working ok.
Your Mother’s Day dinner sounded nice! And that was nice of Ivan and Asher to help out at the restaurant. I also waitressed for years and really loved that as a college job!
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Definitely adding in lots of kids activities makes planners/ calendars more challenging, in my opinion! Especially like for Asher’s swim practices- they are at different times every day (in some seasons) and also sometimes there are TWO options per day (am and pm) and I don’t always know which one he’ll go to that day until it gets closer…. That’s where Google Calendar/ digital is a life saver. My paper calendar would be insanely cluttered up if I had to list all of them, then go back to when he was doing 3 sports at the same time plus Ethan’s schedules… then imagine if more kids?!? haha. But I couldn’t NOT have it all listed on a calendar somewhere or we’d never know what the heck we were doing!
Now my current calendar challenge is that the boys are managing more of their own things- for example, Asher’s lifeguarding shifts, or Ethan’s volunteering gigs…but they don’t put them on the family Google calendar!!!! So I’ll look and be like, yeah, ok, we’re free on Saturday. And then Asher will say like Friday night, I need a ride to the pool tomorrow at 11. I work 11-4. And I’m like, what?! I didn’t even know this…. ugh. He works different shifts every week, so it’s not something we can just remember as a recurring event. I keep harping on them about needing to put their stuff on the calendar or else I just can’t really keep a pulse on the week as a whole!
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