Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

What can I say about today? It was a really tough one. One of the first things I said today was, "Man, you guys are really yellow this morning!" (Yellow means hyper/excited/irritated) And when they asked what I was, I said, "Blue." I have no idea why I was sad, but dealing with 3 very excited children all day was really challenging. Jonas was just normal. :) We went to Wild & Free and that was a fantastic time for me. We actually got out and hiked for almost an hour! It felt so good to be out in the fresh air, actually getting a little exercise. I've been inside almost all month, it feels like! But when we got back, I quickly turned around to head to my 12:30 eye appt and it just so happened that my appt was actually at 12:10. They called me when I was pulling out of the driveway to see when I would be there, and I was so confused! They finally clarified that I was already late and that I'd have to reschedule. In a way, it was a relief, because who tf ev...

It's the last Monday in January. First month of the year is already gone! It's crazy how fast time flies nowadays. When the kids were little, I'd always be surprised at how long my days felt, but how fast the weeks and months would go by. Now it all just zooms past. Before I know it, I've neglected to do all kinds of things that I intended to do "soon".  School went pretty well today and afterwards I took the girls to the library to play with the new toys they installed there. Of course, those toys are for babies and toddlers, not weird, old, homeschool kids, but whatevs. If you install new toys, the homeschoolers will come. After that we went to Costco and stocked up on some stuff. I spent my lowest amount yet! Only $130! It is hard to get out of there without spending $300. The trick, for me, is to not get many perishables like fruit, veggies, and fresh baked goods. Those things cost a lot and end up going bad before we can use them. We probably wasted $75 o...

The only pictures I took today were for name badges and of the bulletin board I just put up. It's not a bad bulletin board, but not exactly blog material. Here's a flashback to when Ollie was still in diapers and was learning to get herself dressed.  Speaking of Ollie, things are not going great with her lately. She is just fighting, fighting, fighting ALL THE DAMN TIME. I don't know what to do. I'm feeling so fed up! If I scold her about something she says, "Oh, so you don't love me anymore." and walks away. If I ask her to do a chore she says, "Nope." and walks away. When I try to sit down and talk to her about her behavior she says, "Why don't you just spank me and get it over with." I never freaking spank her! Where is this all coming from? Why is she SO mean?? And if she gets in real trouble, like going to bed early or a time out, she sits in her room and bites herself as hard as she can. When I come in to get her out, she show...

Last night was fun! We had communion, played Taboo, and talked for a while. It was a good time. Today was also good, and it was kind of a bummer to have to leave early. Last night was mostly fluff conversations, but today's conversations were a little deeper. I don't really want to put what we talked about into a post, but it was good. (Have I said good enough yet? Let's see if I can add it a few more times.) Today, I actually slept in! And breakfast was so, incredibly delicious. We had a couple of great teachings and talked for a while, ate lunch, and then I got ready to head back to Columbus.  After I got home, I got all of the kids ready to go to their first concert!! We headed out to Winter Jam around 4:40 and ended up getting there an hour before the people we were supposed to meet. We saved seats for them, but it was pretty hard to save 10 extra seats. A very stressful 45 minutes! I thought the concert was awesome, but, predictably, Ben was uptight and unhappy for 90%...

My friend Jillian texted me today and asked if she and a few others could meet in one of the Oasis classrooms on Sunday mornings, before CT, for some singing and worship because the church wouldn't allow them to use the cafe or the auditorium. I told her, of course, yes, but I wonder if this is something I might lose my job over. If it is, then so be it. Here's the thing. I get very anti-Christian music/corporeal worship vibes from our church, but when you ask anyone straight out, they tell you that it is a wonderful thing! Yet, they can't seem to find a space for anyone to do it. It's frustrating to me. So, maybe I'll get in trouble, or they'll be shut down, or whatever, but if people are permitted to use those spaces for group prayer (which they are), then they should be allowed to use them for group praise and worship.  Today has been...tough so far. I hung out with Jenny this morning, which was fun, but then Ruby had a meltdown that lasted for almost an hour...

Today was ok. I don't know. I feel like I'm just existing right now and not really spending much time thinking about my feelings. School went well, but we had to rush to finish up so that we could get to French club. French club was fine. Mostly I just want to hang out with Christine and Jillian! But I guess doing educational things for the kids is an important part of it too. :) And then we had pizza and a movie night, which was fun.  I know it's tough to see in this picture, but all 7 girls from French club were on this couch together! You just can't see Ollie's head, being as squished as she was. 

It's hard to believe that the week is already halfway over! I went to 4th St. and put together the bulletin board this morning. I realized that I forgot to make one of the letters and am just PRAYING I don't forget to make it before Sunday morning! I leave for the retreat on Friday (which I am trying to completely erase from my mind until the last second so I don't get anxious) and then will be going to a concert shortly after I get home on Saturday, which will keep us out until really late at night, then church first thing Sunday! So, really, I need to get that letter printed and laminated tomorrow. Yikes.  After doing the bulletin board, we grabbed some food and headed over to Brit's to celebrate her 36th birthday!!! It was so fun listening to the girls laugh and play while we caught up a little. And I was so happy to surprise her a little with some treats.  Ben went to a happy hour after work, very grumpily, I might add, and I hung out here and cooked dinner for the ...

I spent the majority of the day prepping for doing the bulletin board tomorrow and getting birthday stuff together for my visit with Brit tomorrow. Even though it was a cold, rainy day, and nobody was going to nature group, the kids decided that this was the day of the week they wanted to have off anyway. Seems weird to me, but whatever. We just stayed home for most of the day. I had to go to the dentist at quiet time, which was super sad for me. They did an x-ray and said there was nothing wrong with my filling, but that it's very close to a nerve and it's likely just going to be sensitive for a while. Not very reassuring! But it's not in too much pain, just mild discomfort.  I cancelled both book club and MNO for tonight because Ben said he was going to Alex's to hang out and then his pain got super bad and he ended up cancelling anyway! I guess I can't really leave him responsible for the kids when he's lying in bed, writhing in pain, but I was still annoyed....

I had some kind of supernatural energy and patience today. We did school and then all of the requests came in. Jonas wanted to make his sushi because his avocado was ripe. Ruby wanted to paint her volcano because the plaster was dry. And Clementine was desperate for a haircut. I spent the afternoon doing those things with the kids! Granted, Ruby didn't need much help with her volcano painting, thank God. I cooked up some dinner and that was the day! We went to HC tonight and had a really good time. Ben is in quite a bit of pain today, sadly, but we managed to hang out until 10. We were in a conversation together, which never happens! It was pretty fun. 

Happy Sunday! Today wasn't bad. CT was SO CHILL. Praise God! Anne was out, Leslie was out, and Sarah was MIA, as always, but all of my classroom volunteers showed up and every room did great. I had no drama volunteers there and also had a call out for music, but at least music ended up being covered! It really was just a good morning.  Ben's pain is bad today, so that put him in an off and on grumpy mood, but we stopped at DQ for lunch and literally just let the kids eat ice cream. Parenting win! After we got home, I did nothing for the rest of the day. Ben hung out, pacing around, acting like he had ants in his pants, until it was time for him to leave to play MtG, and he's been gone ever since. It's only 7. I don't mean that to be as dramatic as it sounds.  I decided to take the girls to Target to spend some of their allowance. They were all itching for more LOL dolls, even though today is the first time they've played with them since last November. Alas, I di...

It was a pretty chill day. Not nearly as much drama as yesterday, thank God! We mostly hung out at home. I did FINALLY finish up the grout on the tiles that are currently down. Big step for me! It's like I've had a mental block around that. I took the girls to the library to get a few books, but I couldn't let them play there with all those kids. I know it's ridiculous. They're going to Oasis tomorrow and will probably be surrounded by sick kids, but I just couldn't let them hang out with all of those potentially sick kids in the library. So dumb. Anyway, we went to get the supply bags after that and that was pretty much the day! I finally set up the surround sound I bought Ben for Christmas and it's working well. We spent a lot of time watching TV and movies. Yeah. Not much! And that was perfect for me today. It's all I wanted to do. I am looking forward to it being 10 degrees warmer next weekend. Maybe we can do a hike finally!

This day ended up being a doozie. I've never written that word before. It looks really weird. Anyway, a very emotional and frustrating day for me. The school morning went well and Ben asked if we could take the kids sledding in the afternoon. I knew the kids would be so excited! So, of course, I agreed. Then, he asked if we should invite Kwin, because Hilliard schools had a snow day. I also agreed that this was the right thing to do, although everything in me hated the idea.  ...I think I need to just take a moment to try and explain some of my feelings towards Kwin and Ashley. I DO NOT hate them. They have done nothing terribly wrong. They are decent, kind, helpful people, but I disagree with a few things about their lifestyle. Some of those things are easy for me to dismiss - anti-vaccine, conspiracy theorist, pro-Trump. One thing has been a little harder for me to dismiss and that's weed. I know that weed is not some terrible drug. And they are old enough that I very much do...

What a week! I'm ready for it to be over, honestly. I'm thinking about just having the kids do a few independent things tomorrow and then calling it a day. We'll see!  I spent over an hour tonight going through emails and websites to finally get important dates and appointments into my physical calendar. It's crazy how so many things will fall on the same day. For example, we'll look at next week. I have nothing at all on Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. NOTHING. But on TUESDAY! I have Nature Club, a 2:30 dental appt., CACH mom's night out and Rachel's book club both at the exact same time and ALSO at the exact same time that Ben meets with Alex, so I might not be able to do either. Crazy, right? The next Tuesday is similar. Nothing all week, but on Tuesday the 30th I have Nature Club, an eye appt., and a field trip in the afternoon. Why is everything happening on Tuesdays? Weird.  The day was fine. CACH co-op went well. The cooking class I'm a helper in ...

Well, panic about tomorrow's co-op dance class has finally set in. 😅 I'm sure it'll be fine! There are only five girls taking the class with me and only one other adult will be in there. I don't have to know every dance perfectly, I just have to have fun! BUT. Having fun can be really hard for me sometimes, so....that's not really helping things much. I practiced dances for almost 2 hours this evening and I did set my playlist for tomorrow. I know 4/5 well and can do the other one with some guidance. I'm bringing my computer so that we can watch a tutorial if we have time. *sigh* I'm sure it'll be fine. It'll all be fine. Not looking forward to going tomorrow though!  We had one of our two school days of the week today. It went well, but it was cut a little short because I had a staff meeting. The meeting was ok. Nothing great, but not bad either. I grabbed McDonald's for the girls on the way over, because I always forget about feeding them when...

I so wanted to cancel my plans for nature group today. It’s cold and it feels like we won’t get any schooling in this week with all of the plans we have. But I didn’t! Because I hate being unreliable and I don't want to be the type of person that doesn’t show up. I just hate it. Ben encourages that side of me even more and, while it’s great to know that I get no judgement from him when I want to just cancel life, it’s just plain bad sometimes. SOMETIMES, I just need to do what I say I’m going to do, even if it’s a drag. All that to say, I went to nature club. We went to an event at Sharon Woods and it was really a lot of fun. On the way home from the event, Ben reminded me that I had to take the van for the oil change appt! And it was in like 40 minutes! I dropped the kids off at home and turned around to go to the car dealership. The oil change took an hour and a half, which is crazy to me. It was free though, as part of some warranty package we bought, so we had to get it done th...

Because it’s MLK Jr. day, me, Ben and the kids were all off! We did not do anything. I listened to party line dance songs for over 2 hours this morning, trying to choose which ones I’ll use for my class. Ben puttered around being bored and asked me 20 times if there’s anything I want to do. There wasn’t. Aveen came to visit Jonas for a few hours. I worked on photo albums and played Zelda for a bit. We got takeout from PF Chang’s! And that’s really all. I took some photos today on my camera, then accidentally detected them all while I was reviewing them. I’m very annoyed. It’s not like they were spectacular or anything, but they were memories and now they’re gone. Ollie was eating snow on the back deck and the other ones were of the girls playing inside. I also got one of Aveen and Jonas. 

I wasn’t dreading CT for once! And it went fine. Anne was out, which made me a little worried, but Nathan was there and Leslie was helping out, so it all went very smoothly. Nathan, Leslie, and Julie all seemed very bored sitting around at the booth, actually. After CT, we did a few things to organize the basement at home and then Ben went to play MtG for the next six hours.   I played Zelda for about 3 of them and then worked for hours on a really elaborate dinner. Jonas was at group, so it was just me and the girls when dinner was served. It did not go very well. Clemi and Ruby were crying about how much they hated everything, while Ollie grudgingly tried her food. Someone suggested that they should get ice cream if they eat every bite and I agreed! Clem earned hers pretty quickly, then Ollie a few minutes later. Ruby took AN HOUR AND 10 MINUTES to finish two bites of potatoes and two bites of brussel sprouts. Good God. Happy freaking Sunday. And then! Ben came home, complai...

Today was a fun day! We had plans to go to Yellow Springs and hike nearby, but it was very blustery. Just an absolutely awful weather day. Freezing, snowy, windy as all get out. It was a mess. So, we brainstormed and decided to go to the art museum instead. I knew they had their creativity center open on Saturdays and it isn't open on weekdays, so even though we just visited recently, we didn't get to do that. The kids had a lot of fun and me and Ben joined in on the art too! It was cool. We went into the play area, we looked at some beautiful, incredible art, we did a big table-sized puzzle, and then we headed out! We had a really good time there and the kids were really well behaved.  After the art museum, we headed up to Sawmill Rd. for lunch. We went to the Shake Shack, which is always delicious. Their shroom burger is the bomb. The shakes, though. Darn. Spending almost $30 on 4 shakes makes me want to cry, but it is not something we do every day. Lunch was good and then we...

I met with Jenny this morning and then picked up on the school day. It all went smoothly, thankfully. We’re all ready for the weekend to start! We just hung out at home and did nothing for the afternoon, I made chicken noodle soup for dinner, and then I went to the State of the Church meeting in the evening. I was *this close* to just staying home. It is SO HARD for me to get dressed and head out in the evening. It is literally the last thing I want to do and it comes up all the time! But I went. And I'm glad I did. I did not, however, go to the hangout afterwards. It did not seem like a fun idea at all to go to Roosters. 

Pizza and a movie night! Idk, man, it wasn't actually a great day. It wasn't terrible or anything, but there's some weirdness going on with me and Ben. School went ok this morning and we didn't really do anything else. I ran to Target for a couple of sympathy cards I need to send out on behalf of the CACH group and I made a really fancy dessert for post pizza. I made a thin mint brownie bottom cheesecake! It was very yummy.  We started watching this super weird movie tonight that had a 12-year-old girl as the main character, but it kept talking about sex! Like, trying to keep the girl from falling into the world of sex or something? We were all super freaked out and turned the movie off. That's what happens when you just choose weird ish off of Amazon Prime! We ended up watching a different movie instead and then I thought Ben and I were going to sit down and talk, but I chickened out from initiating the conversation and he went downstairs to play a video game, so I...

Well, school went well today, but I think we're all feeling kind of antsy and lonely. I wanted to go out to the play group this morning, but we really needed to get school going and it was all the way out in Westerville, so I decided not to do it. Plus, Jonas and Clem would have been bored out of their minds.  So, after school I took everyone to the mall. Ruby finally got her old piercings out, after much, much, much drama. The piercer was extremely impatient and frustrated with her, but we did it! We wandered around for a while, went to the play area, went into a couple of stores, and grabbed some pretzels. I was definitely ready to get out of there, but it wasn't a bad time. It just feels like every time we go somewhere, the kids want to spend as much money as possible. It makes me really sad how materialistic they are and how wasteful they are with their allowance. Like, I know the point was that they'd learn from their own mistakes, but it's hard to watch my money j...