Week in Review: A Tribute to Ordinary Days

Only the Good Die Young

You know how you get little nudges to do something?  And then you don't?  And then you regret it?  

These past two weeks, I have been thinking about Sarah from the once uber popular Clover Lane blog.  I felt like I should send her an email but instead just checked her blog daily to see if there were any updates.  Ugh, why didn't I just send the email?  I knew she was battling cancer for the second time, and we had emailed and commented faithfully through the past 16 years, so I thought of her as my friend in Ohio that I never met.  She had six kids and used to write beautiful reflections on motherhood, realistic and helpful to so many moms who read them.  She loved being a stay at home mom, and I am so glad she got to spend all those years with her children because God called her home way too young.  I haven't stopped praying for her and her family since I heard the news and I encourage you all to read back through her posts if you get the chance.  Rest in peace, sweet Sarah Turner.  I hope you now know how much you meant to all of us even when we didn't follow the nudge to tell you.

Sarah used to always write about her family's Ordinary Days, and I feel like that's what these Week in Review posts are for me, so *cheers to the ordinary days* as we never know how many we will get...

Just Act Normal for Once

Phil and I were very social last weekend.  On Friday we went to Stations and then out to dinner with another couple from church.  I dubbed it Stations and Libations and I think churches should jump on this bandwagon :)  

Then on Saturday, we hosted a friend of Maggie's family for dinner which was a lot of fun.  It's always great to love your kid's friend, and even better when you love their parents too!  I usually play hip hop or 90s country music when we're in the kitchen, but I didn't want to scare anyone away so I put on Frank Sinatra music instead.  We used our wedding china (shoutout to Laura's post "Life is Short, Use the Silver") and then when everybody arrived for dinner I was like "Ok everybody help yourself, don't be shy, we're not fancy!" and Maggie and Eamon started giggling and Maggie said "Yeah we're not fancy, we just casually listen to this kind of music and use the fancy plates all the time."  Busted!  Just play it cool guys, c'mon!!  Haha!

A Smashing Time

On Tuesday, I went for my annual mammogram after work, and the machine wasn't working properly.  Apparently it got a new $200,000 part that morning and was giving the technician a lot of trouble.  So after I had been squished and pushed into place multiple times, we had to move to a different room and get squished and pushed some more.  The worst part for me is that it hurts my neck.  I can handle the other stuff (I did breastfeed seven babies) but turning my neck to the side 90 degrees while pressed up against a plastic screen is the worst part for me.  The tech told me that a company is designing a mammogram that you can lay down into, but it uses contrast dye, so if they can figure out a way to do it without the need for dye it will be an amazing alternative.  In any case, go get screened regularly no matter the temporary pain.  Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self.

Super Suppers

I discovered videos from Hannah Taylor recently, and fell in love with her like all of her devoted followers.  It must be that Southern drawl, y'all.  She has such a fun, spunky, wholesome charisma and her videos showcase the love between her and her husband that is so adorable.  It's like dinner and a love story every time I watch a recipe video.  I made her Creamy Potato Soup this week, served with some garlic bread, and the kids devoured it.  It's not exactly diet-friendly but it is a hearty and filling warm-your-soul kind of meal:

Also, I never want to forget my two adorable shadows who are always close by if I'm cooking in the kitchen (or anywhere in the house to be honest!):

Mom's cooking, gotta lay down in front of the oven.

Mom's cooking, gotta do arts and crafts at the island and talk her ears off while I have her all to myself.

My bestie gave me this recipe for Instant Pot Butter Chicken (we used chicken breasts as the thought of chicken thighs make us gag lately) and it is a complete hit for every eater in the house.  The only downside is that we typically cook our rice in our instant pot, but since we are using it for the chicken, we make the rice on the stove.  I then dumped all the rice into the finished Butter Chicken and we scooped it out into bowls and added broccoli and cucumbers:

It looks nicer if you keep it separated :)

On nights when Phil is at a meeting, I usually make some kind of salad bar and then listen to the kids ask for more food after we eat ;)  I personally was full after this:

When Phil cooks dinner, he usually makes a more substantial meal, and last night he made Beef Milanesa for the  first time, paired with mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower.  We served it with lemon wedges and a quick gravy:

Spring Cleaning

JP and Andrew and Grace (JP's girlfriend) are coming home this afternoon for spring break (yayayay!) so we were cleaning the upstairs bedrooms and laundry area to get ready for the guests of honor.   Some of us helped more than others:

After seeing this photo, Brendan said "I look creepy!"

Phil spent hours taking an air conditioning unit out of the tiny window in the little boys room, and reinstalling the window that was removed 19 years ago to make room for the A/C unit.  I was amazed that we still had the window and he was able to install it with help from my dad.  Getting the mini split means that all windows can now be opened instead of used for A/Cs and it will be glorious on those spring days coming up!  

Off Season Sports

Our high school held a fundraiser for something, I wasn't really listening to be honest, that included a volleyball tournament where six teams paid to compete.  Eamon was on a stacked team called the "Pink Panthers" who thought they were going to destroy everyone, and Maggie was on a team named "Hawaiian Punch". Maggie's team won!  After just having ended her basketball season with a 0-21 record, that little win was nice to grab.

Even though Swim Team ended for Xander, he still asks to go lap swimming all the time.  He really loves it and we are very grateful.  Xander used to have trouble sleeping at night sometimes, but since he started swimming back in September, he hasn't had any more issues.  I think he needed to workout to actually tire his body out in order to sleep better.  Maggie has also been swimming to stay in shape for the upcoming track season (should she be running?  Yes.  Does she love swimming more than running?  Yes.)  Declan and Brendan take a swim lesson on Saturday mornings right now, and there is open swim right after, so these guys can swim to their hearts' content, or until I tell them it's time to go :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend spending time with your loved ones.  Hug them tight and let them know you love them and every ordinary day you get to spend with them.