Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Man, what a day! I got up early, got dressed, packed lunch, and left at 9:15 to get us to our field trip at the Franklin County landfill on time. It was such a good one! Possibly my favorite field trip of the year. We learned so much and had a really great time. It was just a small group of us, which I appreciated. After the field trip, we drove 40 minutes to pick up Jonas’s friend Elisha, then I dropped them both off at the Karl Rd. library for their game day with friends. I then took the girls to the Polaris Target to grab some gifts for their friends’ birthday party tonight. Once the shopping was done, I drove Clemi to her choir practice, ran to Starbucks for a tea, and waited for Clem to finish, while the girls played outside. Choir ended and then we headed back down to Forest Park to pick Jonas and Elisha up. I dropped Elisha off at his house in Worthington and FINALLY headed home, after the longest day ever. We went for a family walk to the playground with Ben the minute we got h...

No school! Haha such a terrible thing to say, but it’s nice to be done for the week. This morning, Jonas participated in our co-op’s spelling bee! He ended up coming in 2nd for 7th graders and 3rd for his age group (6th-10th). Pretty darn good! It was a 2 1/2 hour long shindig and the girls did so great being patient because spelling bees really are not action packed. We ran over to Chick-fil-A because Jonas earned a coupon for participating and then headed over to Aldi for pizzas…and somehow $40+ of other stuff? The rest of the day was spent selling our old bikes and working on the floor! We watched Mufasa for pizza and a movie night. It was just ok, IMO. * I put up this new swing today. Everyone is very excited about it!

Gosh, I am SO sleepy today! I didn't sleep well last night. My watch says I got seven hours, which should be plenty for a grown woman to get through her day. Alas, it was not enough for me. We did school AGAIN today. haha It's funny that three days in a row is just overdoing it in my mind now. Anyway, we have a spelling bee tomorrow and a field trip Friday, so we needed to get our week's curriculum done ahead of time. And we did! It went well. Ollie really impressed me with her reading progress yesterday, but today she was back to being inattentive, guessing, and rushing. I was so bummed and then she cried because she could see that I was disappointed. I wish I could find a better way! I don't know if she needs a different space, a different time of day, or what. She just always seems to want to get done so she can go play with her sisters. Work in progress!  After school, I decided to lay down for a nap. Then, while I was laying in bed, I thought, 'No. Get your ass...

Another school day for us! I decided not to go to Wild & Free because my period is so heavy. The park we were scheduled to go to today doesn't have a bathroom and I've been having to change my tampon every 2 hours or so. I just didn't want to deal with that stress. We were also warned that it would be muddy, and I am NOT about everyone tracking mud into the van! Also, not about cleaning all of their shoes when we get home from hikes. It was a big nope from me.  Once school was done, I ran a couple of errands, and then we had Ruby's friend Claire over for a little while. They were supposed to be "working on a script", but really they just played the entire time. :) It was cute though and they had a lot of fun. Honestly, having another girl over never seems to be an issue. They just tend to blend in with the crowd of girls and do whatever everyone else is doing. I barely noticed she was here! We'll have to have her over again so they can actually work on...

Today was pretty chill. It was a school day, so we did that. I wanted to start working in the hallway, but my cramps and headache have been frustratingly bad, so I didn't.  In the evening, Ben and I went to HC together. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this post in this frame of mind. I'm very sleepy and a little grumpy. HC was good though! I'm a little sick of Ben rushing me out, but he has been in a really bad phase of his nerve pain and was feeling really awful.  I guess I'm all about the self-portraits lately. I wanted to take this one with my actual camera, but used my cell camera instead. It was supposed to be moodier and more interesting, but it is what it is. I'll have to try again!

Well, I got my period today, which sucks. I'm just super grateful that I didn't get it while I was asleep because I JUST bought new, white sheets, washed them, and put them on the bed. It would have been so sad to bleed on them.  We went to CT this morning, and everyone was in good spirits. Not a single person asked to stay home! The teaching was pretty good. It's kind of a bummer that Ben Foust rotates out now, so we'll have someone new next Sunday and we won't be studying Acts anymore. Sarah Groom is worried she's not going to have me to help her in June and I keep saying I'm going to do an Oasis application, but I'm worried that Alex might still not want to approve it. I just don't know what his thoughts are about it. I suppose I could just ask him, but I really don't want to. I keep thinking I'll give it another week or two and then apply. But I guess I'd rather talk to them in person than have my application rejected. Just not sure w...

The goal today was to get as much done in the hallway as possible! Ben and I got it cleaned and painted, then I worked on the electric for over an hour. The old and new 3-way switches were different designs, so I couldn't just transfer the wires over and something was messed up. It was extremely frustrating! As I was looking up YouTube videos, trying to figure out what the heck I did wrong, Ben mentioned that it must be extra complicated since there are actually three switches for the upstairs hallway light. What. Oh. My. Gosh. It turns out that my big problem is that I was working with a 3-way switch instead of a 4-way switch! Can't wait to get it figured out tomorrow.  Aside from hallway work, it was a pretty chill day. I did lots of laundry, read a little, played a little Mario, and hung out with the fam. I cancelled my hike with Kylienne for this morning and put off a (much dreaded) hangout with Ashley for another week. Of course, I'm not going to want to do either of t...

This school week was weird because we couldn't do curriculum Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday. I crammed a lot into Wednesday and Friday, but didn't want to be overwhelmed, so it was abbreviated. I had to give Ruby a pep talk today about acting a little less young. She's almost 9!!! But she still acts like she's 6 or 7. As much as I want to cherish these younger years, I also don't want her to fall too far behind her peers. The whining and acting like she's incapable of pushing herself have gone on long enough. She handled the talk well and did push herself harder throughout the rest of the school day, but I have a feeling it's something I'll need to keep reminding her of.  After school, I showered and got myself dressed and makeup'd for my date with Ben later, then took Clemi (along with the two girls) to choir in Westerville. The two younger girls played at the church's playground while I sat in the car and read my book. It worked out pretty well! ...

Sadly, the nice weather is over. It's cold and drizzly today and looks like it will be for a while. Such a bummer. We went to CACH this morning and I had a fantastic time. I got out of being in the pre-k class to wander around taking pictures of everyone. :) It made me so happy! Because I was wandering all around, I also got to have conversations with lots of my friends. Best morning at CACH in a long time!  After that, I got home, turned on a video game, then realized moments later that I had to go to the eye doctor! So, I got myself ready and headed out to my appointment. My ophthalmologist's practice is great. I never have to wait and everyone is always really kind and attentive. Today was especially fun because me and my doctor got to gripe about getting old for a while. The changes that happen to your mind and body are just so unexpected that it's really nice to have someone to commiserate with sometimes! Nobody warns you, really. You hear jokes about saggy boobs and w...

It's another beautiful day! We did school work today and read some of our books outside. I started to get a little frustrated about the mess while we were sitting around in the morning, though, and decided that we were all going to spend the day cleaning. Surprisingly, that did not go over well with the kids. I sent all the girls up to their rooms to clean and Jonas, being screen-motivated as he is, worked super hard to do as much as he could and get to his Minecrafting. I did all of the wall scrubbing, fan-blade wiping, dusting, and window washing that I never do, in addition to all of the stuff that I usually do. We were all done around 4:30ish. When Ben got home, we went for another family walk, which was pretty fun. Unfortunately, I was still working off some of my anger towards the kids (mostly Ruby) for dragging their feet while they were supposed to be cleaning, but I put it aside and tried to enjoy our time outside together. 

Today was a blast. Such a great day! We went to Wild & Free and (finally) learned all about geocaching! We had so much fun with our friends. After that, we went to Jenny's and hung out for a couple of hours. Jenny and I had a good conversation about discipling and what direction we want to go in. The kids had a great time with Jay and Andrei...even Jonas did, somehow! When we got home, I decided to forgo relaxation and instead meal prepped lunches for Ben to take to work this week. I know he's been stressing about how he's going to eat healthily when he never feels like he has any time, being in the office full-time again. Between that, some cleaning, some laundry, and some gardening work, it was a very busy afternoon. Ben got home around 4:30 and the whole fam took a long walk to the park. The kids played while Ben and I did a few laps and once we got home it was dinner time! I cooked and then showered, then it was time for book club. I actually had fun at book club to...

More Great Wolf Lodging today, but, thankfully, for a much shorter time. The water park didn't open until 10 and checkout was at 11, so we got all of our stuff out to the car before we headed in to play. We ended up leaving around noon because we were all getting hungry and I was just so done with the deafening noise and crowds. Now, we're all going to be praying that we don't get sick from all of the germs everyone left behind in the water! Ben and I got into a HUGE fight this morning, but it was resolved by the time we drove home. I had a really nice afternoon today, although I always feel this looming sense of falling behind nowadays. I have decided (although my decisions sometimes don't have the longevity I would like them to) that I am going to be a more productive person. There is a time for relaxing and a time for working. I have been doing too much of the former lately!  Surprisingly, the teaching tonight was on the very thing that Ben and I were promising each ...

We went to Great Wolf Lodge today! The kids have been looking forward to this day for weeks and, man, it was much different than I thought it would be. 😖 So freaking packed! I don't want to fill this post with negative thoughts, but there were a LOT of them running through my head. I put on a brave face and did my very best to ensure the kids had an amazing time though! The room was really comfortable, and we had a nice time relaxing in the evening together. 

Happy birthday to my mama. I think your mom's birthday is just one of those dates that sticks with you for life. Maybe it's just me? I'm thinking about her a bit today, but I'm not feeling too sad.  I spent the morning relaxing and then started working on the CACH yearbook around 11:30. I worked on it until almost 4! Crazy. I needed to make the time to progress, but it was still an extraordinary amount of time working on one singular activity and ignoring all of my other responsibilities and obligations. I am excited about the work that I did today, though, and I'm a lot closer to being finished with the design and even filling in photos.  Ben and I went to the sphere meeting at 4th street tonight and I couldn't help but wish he weren't there with me. I'm glad he's trying to show up for things with me (for me? I hope not), but I know I would have had so much more fun if he hadn't been there rushing me to leave. He just had this defensive stance t...

Man, today was a busy day. Not a bad day, looked at in its entirety, but very busy. We woke up and left the house early for LHM. Class time went pretty quickly since we had lots planned, so that was good, but the kids were all pretty hyper. Was it a full moon or something? Goodness. I stayed afterward for a meeting regarding 8th graders, which Jonas will be next year. I was really hoping for some concession to offer him when I tell him that I've decided to not stay in that co-op next year, but it doesn't look like there will be anything great for him. I mean, I think the 8th grade program sounds amazing. He'd do literature and science through them, so I could get Clem a curriculum tailored directly to her, rather than both of them. He'd go every Friday, rather than just two a month, AND I don't have to go. That is the best part of all. :) Sadly, none of Jonas's friends would be in that class. Two of his good friends are younger than him (11/12), so they'd st...

Today was another warm and beautiful day. And, although I didn't have a ton to do today, I felt rushed all day...AGAIN. Jenny came over to hang out in the morning. She was all weird and anxious seeming, and I kept wondering what was going on with her. Well, she wanted to introduce a new discipleship plan to me, and she was really nervous about it. I can't deny that I would have been very annoyed about that a few years ago! But now, I think it's a good idea. I've been in the very fortunate/unfortunate position to see lots more sin issues in myself in the last year and I need help working through them. I'm so ready to put my pride down and be a better Christian/person.  We did school after she left and I ran around doing a bunch of stuff after that, feeling like there's no way I'll ever catch up with all the tasks I need to get done. It was pizza and a movie night, and we watched Turner and Hooch , one of my all-time favorites. The kids cried like crazy (who c...

We did school this morning and I tried to convince myself all day to stop acting like time is always running out. I wonder if other people feel that way. I never feel like I have a lot of time. Like, I wake up thinking about all the things I have to do and end the day feeling regret at not getting all of the things done. I'm rushing from thing to thing and constantly checking the time to keep myself on track. What is the freaking rush? I rush through school, rush to get laundry in and food ready for dinner, and on and on and on. I want to take it easy! I want to feel relaxed!  I ran around and did the grocery shopping, picked up my books on hold, took the girls to choir, and got the car washed. Then I rushed home and started getting dinner ready and got the laundry in. Dinner was really good, though. Totally worth it! We got to eat out on the deck in the nice weather. It was great. 

Such a great first half of the day today. Sadly, I missed my parents leaving, but other than that, it was a lot of fun. I made lunch and we got out of the house and went to Wild & Free at Darby Creek Metro Park. The hike was pretty tough, which was a good thing, and I got to hang out and talk to Claire for almost the whole time. We ate lunch with our friends there and then headed to the dentist, where all four kids were cavity free! Woo! By the afternoon, though, I had kind of lost my patience. The kids had been pretty needy all day and begging for every single thing in the world. I think I just needed a little time alone, but didn't end up taking any. I should have, because I got grumpy. Once Ben was done working, I went out to Home Depot and got my seed starting soil so I could get some of my seeds ready to germinate. It was really nice to spend some time outside and Ben suggested we order food in, which also helped my mood quite a bit. 

Today was a good one! We did school this morning and were just hanging out in the afternoon. I suddenly got a text at 1:30 telling me that the doors are unlocked. OMG! I was supposed to get Jonas to this co-op to present Captain to someone's class as a favor! I couldn't believe I had forgotten. Jonas and I rushed around and got there 25 minutes later, which, thankfully, wasn't too late for him to do his presentation. He really enjoyed that and felt good about it afterward.  In the afternoon, I played a little Paper Mario, then actually went outside and joined Jonas and Ben for pickleball! I probably played for 20 minutes. It was really, really fun. My Apple watch barely counted it as anything, but whatever. After that, Ben and I got to go on a date to Buffalo Wild Wings and chow down on some delicious wings, and THEN we got to go to HC together! HC was so great tonight. Ben and I both sat out by the fire and had lots of good conversation with people. It was a really good ti...

Ben drove out to Marietta today to celebrate his dad's birthday with two of his siblings. He reported that they had a great time. Me, dad, MJ, and the rest of the fam went to CT this morning. For the first time in forever, Jonas actually enjoyed himself at JAM! He brought poker chips and a deck of cards and I guess they all played the whole time, other than the teaching. I'm glad he's finding a way to have fun! We left pretty quickly after the teaching because 1. there weren't many people from HC there, but also 2. it's uncomfortable for my parents to have to sit around with my friends. When Ben is there, it's a little different, because there are two of us making sure they're kept in the loop, but it's a little harder with just me.  We didn't do much in the afternoon/evening! Mostly just chilled out and enjoyed each other's company. I ran out to Giant Eagle to grab stuff for dinner, MJ wasn't feeling well and took a several hour long nap, Jo...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLLIE!!!! She has been the sweetest gift to our family. She's loyal, determined, and helpful. She's intelligent, funny, and gives the best snuggles. She was the piece to the puzzle that I didn't even know was missing! I'm so grateful for the dynamic that she adds to our family. She's taught me so much patience...and it was sorely needed! Today was all about her. Mommom and Poppop got in yesterday evening and we spent today eating Ollie's favorite meals and just hanging out together at home. I made a fancy birthday cake for her and we went to Bob Evan's for dinner. We got in the hot tub and hung out by the fire when it got dark. She said it was her best birthday ever. <3

Ollie turns 6 tomorrow! I decided to skip LHM so I could take her to get her ears pierced and have a girl's morning. However, she decided she wasn't ready for her ears to be pierced after all! She's been begging me for a year, so I was pretty surprised. I got her a cute new dress to wear for our girl's day today and she was very excited to be all dressed up. I took her and the other girls to Le Chatelaine for some brunch and then, rather than going to the ear piercers, we went to the Tuttle mall. They proceeded to beg me for everything and I spent way too much money. I'm feeling extremely stressed about money right now!  I'm feeling a little less paranoid and crazy, but I am incredibly tired and sad. I'm trying so hard not to be! My parents will be here in a couple of hours, so I'm doing this blog a little earlier than usual. I tend to not get much personal things done while they're here. I wonder what this visit is going to be like. MaryJo expressed...

I am just not feeling anything right now. My prescription for the birth control pill (used to control my hormonal surges) ran out and wasn't filled in time for me to restart right after my period. I was really hoping that it wouldn't make a huge difference and that maybe my hormones had settled down. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. I spent hours spiraling today, thinking about how nobody loves me and how frustrated I am that I'm the only person who does anything to contribute to this household. I KNOW those things aren't true, but they felt so true. I'm guessing that this is my crazy hormones talking to me. Fun, fun! It'll be another 2 weeks or so until I can restart the stupid pill. Until then, I'll just keep trying to talk myself out of being depressed and miserable? That should work, right??  We went to CACH today and, again, I was put into the pre-k room. (Probably because they don't appreciate me or care about my preferences. j/k j...

Sadly, I'm lumping basically this whole week together in one post. It wasn't an especially exciting week...just stressing, and working, and schooling. Let's see -  Sunday: Church without Ben because he wasn't feeling well still.  Monday: School, then HC. Tuesday: Wild & Free - had a great time with them! Then Jenny's - also fun. Today: School

Happy Saturday! Today was a super slow, relaxing day. Ben and I did FINALLY install Jonas's fan, so his room is officially done! I'm waiting for him to finish unpacking his boxes to take my final picture of his room. I played lots of video games and read for a while. I did like 7 loads of laundry, because what's a Saturday without a ton of laundry? Ben and I went out to Home Depot and Giant Eagle for some shopping and it was nice to get a little alone time with him. That's about it! Currently loading up Paper Mario for a little more gaming before bed. ;) I don't know what's going to happen with church tomorrow. Ben went to bed at 8 because he feels so sick and Ruby is pretty congested. The rest of us are still doing ok, so maybe the rest of us will get to go? We'll have to see! I'm definitely crossing my fingers for a little bit of a cold so I can skip co-ops this week!! At least LHM.