Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

We ended up skipping all of the BJJ today so that we could take the kids to the movies in the morning. Ollie so desperately wanted to see a movie during spring break, but it just didn't work out. I'm so glad we were able to do it today! We saw GOAT, which was kind of silly, but it was a kids movie and they always are pretty silly. We ate lots of popcorn and had sodas at 10:30 in the morning, which felt terrible to our stomachs, but it was still fun! After we got home, Ben and I rushed to get changed and then headed to Curtis's mom's (one of the guys from small group) funeral. Truth be told, the small group attendees made up more than 1/3 of the people that were there for the funeral. It can be awkward to go to a funeral for a person you don't know, but it's also hard to host a funeral, in general, and it can feel good to see the faces of your friends. Ben and I felt pretty adamant that the luncheon shouldn't be for people who didn't even know the woman, ...

We all went to Dwell today and I had such a wonderful morning. I got to talk to lots of friends and felt very caught up with people afterward. OH, AND I gave my notice to Nathan!! 😐 On the other hand, Ben said he did not have a good time and felt extremely awkward around everyone he interacted with. I had told him last night he could just take the people who wanted to go to the other church to the other church, but he wanted us to stick together. I get that, but I think it just made it harder on him to be there. He feels like things are unresolved, but he also is unwilling to resolve them, so what's the point of even going if you're not going to talk to anyone?? He ended up getting the kids and waiting in the car for me at the end, and I was still finishing up conversations for 15 minutes! I did a bunch of stuff around the house in the afternoon: laundry, and organizing, and getting presents and Easter basket stuff situated. Very productive! And I was grateful for the time to ...

Today, Ben took a half day and we all went to Daruma and got hibachi for lunch. So yummy! I was pretty worried about the afternoon because Jonas hosted D&D and a bunch of moms bring their littler kids over while the big kids play (which was definitely NOT what I had in mind when I initiated this), but it didn't go badly. I got lots of snacks and ended up just turning on Bluey in the basement and sent the littler kids down there. I was pretty firm about it: basement or outside. They were NOT allowed to hang out on the main floor of the house, and if that was an issue, I invited them to leave...as rude as that is. I am just not going to be the 'destroy all of this shit because it's not ours' kind of house. I hate that kind of behavior and if kids can't be respectful of my rules, they don't need to be in my house. A couple of the moms looked kind of shocked, but I was pretty unapologetic about it. I planned this event for Jonas to connect with kids his age, not...

Jonas went to the spelling bee at CACH today with Jack's family (poor guy was the second one out!) and I took the girls to the zoo with Christina and her kids. We walked around for a couple of hours and had a good time exploring for a while. We headed out around 1:30, exhausted, and when I got here Jonas and Jack were here playing video games! I told them they had 10 minutes and then I was going to play, so Jack just left after that. I feel like that kid is a crappy friend, but Jonas likes him so I guess my opinion on it doesn't matter much. In the evening, Clem and I went to a women's self-defense class at the BJJ gym. It was pretty wild, honestly. I got thrown on the ground a bunch and threw another lady on the ground a bunch too. It's kind of hard for me to be so up close and personal with people I don't know, but it was useful knowledge and definitely is making me think about whether or not I want to try to get into this sport. Clem enjoyed going, but said she d...

Jonas and Clem finally had their speech competition today! I guess it's only been a couple of months, but it has been a looooongggg process, and they are so relieved to be done with it. I thought they both did SO amazingly, but neither of them even placed in the competition. Lunch was good, though, and I got a ton of Panera goodies to take home: three loaves of bread, a half-dozen bagels, a bag of baguette pieces, and two baguettes! Very nice haul! After the competition, we didn't do too much. Clemi wanted to skip her homeschool choir because she's not feeling well, so I took Ruby over to her choir, but I'm not feeling well either, so we also skipped small group tonight. The kids were not happy about it! Jonas was kind of happy, though, because he got to go to BJJ tonight.  The weather isn't good and, honestly, all of my energy is gone, so I did not work outside at all. I'm a little worried I'm not going to go back out there all week!

I skipped Wild & Free today without even saying anything about it or RSVPing at all. I feel bad, but I didn't even realize it until the evening when Anne texted me! I'm still going a little crazy with stuff. I have made some headway with gardening plans and the yearbook and work, but everything is still swirling around in my head, and I still feel so behind! I spent the morning relaxing and then doing productive things. Midday, Jenny came over to read together. We had a really great time catching up and talking, but I just kept crying! I lost it over and over again. So ridiculous that I can't even have conversations with people without crying anymore. I am seriously in rough shape, emotionally.  In the afternoon, I got outside with Ben and we made firmer plans for the garden. It feels like time is already running out to get plants started! That makes me feel really sad because I had such high hopes for this year and here I am, end of March, with hardly any seedlings and...

SPRING BREAK!!!!!! Today was what I needed it to be. Pretty chill, with not a whole lot going on. I got to do some work on the yearbook and catch up on my blog posts. I got caught up with some work stuff too. I'm just so dang overwhelmed, so I need a few days to get my mind together! Life has been way too busy lately. I did take the kids to BJJ midday and that was fine.  I went to HC in the evening and that was wonderful! Brittany was there!!! And I got to sit next to her!!! It was so nice to just be able to have an in person conversation with my friend because it feels like it has been so long. I had a really good time tonight just hanging out and talking with people. I've missed this. 

We decided a couple of days ago that we'd finally go to a Sunday service at Meadow Park. We had convos with the kids yesterday, talking through all of our feelings about it. Jonas, Clem, and Ollie all very much wanted to start going here. It's just crazy to think that even Clem was ready to move. But Ruby really, really struggled with the idea of it. She's really close with her teachers in TNT and couldn't imagine Sunday mornings without them. I understand. Change is very hard! Every time I think about it, I start crying too. I just try not to think about the loss. It's just too heartbreaking. So, anyway, we went to Meadow Park today and it was a good service. The music is still painful and awful. It makes me very irritated, honestly. There's just no reason for it to be that bad. They have a huge team of talented musicians. It's the song choices and the singers! It's just so hard to listen to. And the teaching was pretty basic, but biblical and good. Jon...

Such a busy day! It felt like I was running from sunup to sundown. I had to be at Dwell by 8:40am to greet all of my workers for this sphere meeting. Praise the Lord, everything went really smoothly. Everyone showed up! The kids were chill! I got baby snuggles and one even napped on me! It went as well as it possibly could have. I got one of my new hires trained, so she'll know what to do next Saturday when she comes in. I still have no idea what to expect for the next three Saturdays. 2 kids? 20? Who knows??? I guess I'll hire three people and have them all there, no matter how many kids are coming. If we only have a couple, I'll have less workers next time. *shrug*  I finally got home from work a little after 12 and then Ben and I went out to lunch at the Rusty Bucket. I haven't gotten a turkey burger in a while, so I got one today and it was soooooo good! The fried pickles were amazing too. It was such a good lunch. Ben isn't in a great headspace, which was a lit...

Today was a pretty dang good day! Ben took the day off and we finished up school around 11. Ben and I took the girls out to lunch at Jason's Deli, while Jonas went to BJJ for an hour. We finished up lunch, then watched him do a couple of live matches. THEN, we all went to Rita's for our free Italian ice! We met the McKeans, the Grants, and the Cunninghams over there and had a good time hanging out for 45 min or so. We are literally ALWAYS the first people to leave, but it was cold out there, eating water ice! And we were all done! Whatever. I guess we're just not lingerers. We ran to Target right after that to pick up a birthday present for Iris, then came home and chilled for a few hours! Iris's party was pretty good! We were a little late because Ben wanted to go for a run and then needed to shower afterwards, but I didn't mind that at all. Those parties seem to go on for ever and ever and ever. And, even though we were late, this one did too. We were all so ready...

We had CACH this morning and I was really excited about our project! I'd been saving up jars for months for it and we made these lanterns with battery operated candles inside. We modge podged bits of colored tissue paper to the outside. I was sure it would take at least *almost* the whole class, but 8/10 kids rushed through the project and were done in 20 freaking minutes. So I didn't really have much choice but to let them play for the rest of the time. I was sad about it, but many of their lanterns did look nice! It just sucks to work so hard to prep something and just have the kids rush through and get it finished as fast as possible. Very annoying. I was having a hot flash or something because I was absolutely drenched with sweat and was dreading going into the next class that I'm a helper in because it's so active. I said I needed to get pictures of the other classes, so I did that for a half hour and cooled off before I went into Ready to Rumble and let kids use m...

Whew! What a day. School in the morning, then BJJ midday, then straight over to homeschool choir in Westerville after Jonas's live matches. Thankfully, there was no Carol Choir today, since Upper Arlington is on spring break, so we were able to get dinner made at home and eat before going to small group today. Group was interesting this week. Kyle was leading, but he was an hour late so we all just sat there for an entire hour waiting for him. 😐 Ben and I were like wtf is going on? Are we really just going to sit and wait for him? And then he felt really rushed to finish up his teaching before the sitters needed to leave, so the teaching was really scattered and pretty awful, honestly. It's not like we didn't know small group is vastly different from HC, but this is one of those examples where it's just CRAZY different and not in a good way. 

It was FREEZING today, so no Wild & Free for us. We got to stay home alllll morning and get schoolwork done. So nice! At least for me. :) In the afternoon, we met the McKeans at the library for a little while, which was...fine. Haha I feel like Ollie when I say that. Whenever I ask Ollie how her time was, that's how she answers...at least 90% of the time. It seems like she's having fun, but when I ask, she says, "It was...fine." But I guess I get it. I probably looked like I was having a good time too, when in reality it was just fine. The kids had a good time though! They were very excited to get some extra time with their friends. Clem and the eldest Mckean, Jaxon, have a thing going on between them. Clem says she doesn't know if she has a crush on him, but she texts him all day and lights up when he's going to be somewhere that she'll be. For his part, it sounds like he admitted to his parents that he's in love with Clem and texts HER all day an...

Well, it's another week! Today's schedule wasn't too crazy, once I kind of eliminated HC from the options. I guess a lot of people in the group have been very sick and HC got moved to the admin bldg for the night. I know it's awful, but when Alex said to come at your own discretion, I was just thinking that it was a great excuse to stay home. *face palm* I know. I'm the worst.  We did school today and I felt very organized, finally, thanks to the prep work I did yesterday. I still have a stack of ungraded papers, but I'm sure I'll be able to get to those this week! Things with work are a little crazy and I'm just trying to figure out when a good time to put in my notice would be. I've been so stressed about hiring people and figuring out these Saturday meetings! If and when I do quit, though, I'm not leaving a mess to the next person. I WILL have the recruiting handled so that they don't come in to a complete shitshow like I did. That was jus...

Today was my mama's birthday. I can't say I'm missing her any more than usual, but she has been on my mind a lot lately. I think because I've been feeling some concerns about my health lately, I've just been thinking about how young she died and how I don't want that to happen to me. And it's such a self-centered way to think about my mom, but I can't help it. She died at 53 and it makes me feel like I'm facing a challenge, or something; a challenge to live longer than she did.  I took the day to relax and clean today. To catch up on some things, plan out my week ahead, meal plan, order food, and do the homeschool calendar. Hopefully this week can feel less stressful than last week did.  *Ollie got this "stained glass" art project for her birthday from a friend. She had a good time working on it today!

After the late, busy night we had last night, it was soooo hard to get up and go to the parade this morning! But we made a commitment and we're a part of a team now, so we needed to do it. We got there right on time, which was an hour and 15 minutes before the parade actually began. We all kind of stood around, got some Irish gear on, and took pictures. After what felt like forever, the parade finally began! By this time, Ollie was crying, saying she had a terrible headache and just wanted to leave. I promised her that when we saw dad in the crowd, she could leave the parade and go with him and he'd take her home. So, after 45 minutes of walking in the parade, we finally got to him! She was feeling a little better, but still decided to leave. It's probably good that she did because once we reached the end of the actual parade, we had to walk more than a mile back to the car and it was KILLER. We were all so exhausted and miserable by the time we got back! I can't even i...

It's party day!!! I didn't do school this morning so that I could avoid as much stress as possible for this evening. I also cancelled with Jenny, which was sad. I hate cancelling on her. But it sounds like she might be sick anyway? So maybe I'm dodging a bullet.  I ran out to Costco in the morning and picked up some supplies for the party and our six pizzas. I managed to keep the shopping under $100! That is no small feat at Costco, man. I'm usually up around $300 when I go there. I was focused! After I got back from Costco, I started freaking out about how much tonight was going to suck. Then Christina came over and helped me get up the rest of our decorations and that helped me to reset a little too. Once that stuff was done it kind of felt like, okay, there's really not much left. After she left, I iced the butterfly cake and showered, then waited for the party to start!  It didn't go badly. Ollie had a good time and the kids played outside for a lot of it. W...

Today was just getting school done as quickly as we could and then party prep all day! I made these cute butterfly/chapstick favors with my Cricut and talked to Marme on the phone while I worked on that. Then, me and the kids worked on this balloon arch for a really long time. But not nearly as long as it would have been if I were doing it alone. They rocked it! Everyone had a job and it went really smoothly. I was proud of our teamwork. I did a bunch of cleaning and I'm feeling pretty ready for tomorrow. Not ready for the chaos, of course, but ready with decorations and food prep. Ollie is very excited!

  It's our busy day today! Woo! Jonas couldn't get out of his speech club because it's their competition dress rehearsal today, so Ollie went to her class alone. She, of course, did not mind just working with Lorena! I was so thankful that Ben was able to help me out with some of the pick ups and drop offs today. He went and got Jonas and Clem from speech and brought Jonas to the gym for me, so I wouldn't have to leave Ollie there alone to go get him.  We had a little break between Jiu Jitsu and Carol Choir and I decided we were just going to eat out again tonight because it's so hard to get a dinner cooked amidst all of the picking up and dropping off. We went to DQ for dinner and then headed over to small group after that. Ben was really struggling with his nerve pain, and he didn't sleep well last night, so he left sooner than I did. But, I guess thankfully in this case, we're still driving separately everywhere we go, so that wasn't an issue! 

We FINALLY went to Wild & Free today. It was pretty warm and not too windy. We went to the natural play area at Three Creeks Metropark and it is HUGE! I had no idea. I've only hiked there once before and had never been over to the natural play area. We found a ton of cool mushrooms. I wish I knew more about mushrooms! I could have been foraging! But, as it is, I have no idea what's what. I could potentially eat a hallucinogenic, poison, or a culinary treat! :)  It feels like one of the first nights we've gotten to sit together and have dinner in a while. I know I'm like a broken record with this, but we have been SO busy. It makes me really sad!! I'm so overwhelmed and frustrated all of the time. I feel like I have no space to breathe!!!!! And, while I can occasionally think of something to cut out, it's not like I've found the solution to reducing the busy-ness. I have to figure this out. I'm about to combust.