Our Five Ring Circus: Life Lately & Weekending

Monday, April 16, 2018

Life Lately & Weekending

The Lucky Few


To say that life has been busy lately would be an understatement! The older my kids get, the busier life becomes. And sometimes, nearly a week goes by between blog posts. As much as I wish I could do it all, I simply can't, and my family ALWAYS comes first! 


I couldn't possibly share every detail of our lives, so I'll just stick with the highlights!

LIFE LATELY


🔹 I celebrated my birthday this month! After a rough start, it turned out to be a great day!

Motherhood


🔹 When I'm not taking care of kids, cleaning up messes, driving kids around or attempting to work, I'm busy puppy training! Between the fournado and a giant puppy, I sometimes feel like I'm going to lose my mind. Just keeping it real!

English Mastiff

🔹 The weather finally warmed up, so I'm hitting the trail again! I desperately need to get back in shape after a looooong winter off from running, and I'm excited to have a new partner on occasion!

English Mastiff

🔹 Now that basketball is over, Dylan is taking a bit of a break. He hurt his knee during his first practice of this past season, and it's still bothering him. So off to ortho we go! (You might notice the lack of Dylan pictures. He doesn't want to be on my blog as often, and I respect his decision!)

🔹 The Spring season of soccer started for Lexie! The entire first week of soccer was canceled due to rainy weather. The girls only had one practice this past week, and their first game was yesterday. They did well despite only having one practice together! I'm still shocked that Lexie plays a sport, and loves it. I never thought I would be a soccer mom!

Youth Soccer


🔹 Lily is gearing up for her end of the year dance recital! Her three costumes are in, pictures are this week, and they're finishing up choreography!

Dance

Ballet

🔹 I am still holding onto Liam's registration forms for Kindergarten. I signed the paperwork saying I intended to send him, but I'm still not 100% convinced it's the right decision. We need to make that decision this week!

🔹 Liam had his endoscopy last month, and it was confirmed that he DOES have Celiac Disease. We were expecting that news, but obviously hoping to hear something different. Because it is autoimmune, and eating gluten could cause damage in his body, he has to maintain a very strict gluten-free diet. It's not easy!

Down syndrome


🔹 I can't forget about the newest member of our family! Ella is now 4 months old, and she is doing so well! She's almost completely house trained, she responds to the sit and shake commands, and she is an incredibly sweet puppy. She has moments where she gets hyper, but surprisingly, she is a very good, well-mannered puppy.  We're working on her walking on a leash skills and teaching her how to greet people politely. She loves everybody - literally everybody - and gets very excited when she sees people. And as for size, she's already huge! At her last vet visit almost two weeks ago, she was 54 lbs. She had gained 6 lbs in 2 weeks. Considering I had to loosen her harness twice in the past week, I'm going to predict that she will be almost 60 lbs at her visit on Thursday!

English Mastiff Puppy


🔹 As for Grant, you might notice that he prefers to remain BEHIND the scenes of my blog! He spends most of his time at work, but his hobby is playing guitar, and he's quite good. Perhaps I will be able to convince him to let me share some of his music on here someday!

CURRENTLY


Watching: On Netflix, we're watching Love, after binge watching the new season of Santa Clarita Diet in record time. We started watching Weeds from the beginning again, too. On regular TV, we're watching Roseanne, and we can't wait for the new season of Westworld. We really need to get caught up on the past few episodes of The Walking Dead. I'm not going to lie...I am SO over that show. I'm only watching because we put so much time into it, and I want to see how it ends. On my own, I watch episodes of NCIS, even though I've already watched every single episode. It's entertaining while I work, and I don't have to pay complete attention to it!

Reading:  I've been reading a lot this year! I'm currently reading Origins by Dan Brown. I'm loving it so far!

Listening to: We only listen to Spotify these days. The Greatest Showman soundtrack is listened to the most these days, because Lexie, Lily, Liam love it! (I do, too!)

Wearing: A rain jacket and my new Hunter rain boots. It is raining so much in Pittsburgh right now!

Down syndrome blogs


Eating: I've been trying to make a new recipe each week. Some of our new favorites are Potato Chip Chicken, Parmesan Shrimp Gnocchi, Honey Teriyaki Chicken & Rice Bowls, and Bean Burrito Skillet. I need to do a recipe post soon!

WEEKEND THINGS


This weekend was a busy one! Then again, every weekend is busy these days!

Friday: After a Friday morning well check that I totally forgot about, we detoured for some retail therapy, before I drove Lexie to school. That evening, we visited my parents, and had dinner with my parents and my sister. Lexie spent the night at my parent's house, and Lily went home with my sister for a sleepover.

The Lucky Few

Life Lately & Weekending


Saturday: Saturday was fairly quiet until the evening. We took the girls to see Into The Woods, then had friends over until the wee hours of the morning!

Mom Life

Sunday: Our Sunday started with Lexie's first soccer game! It was a very windy one, but Lexie did great! After the game, most of my family returned home to nap while Lily and I did the grocery shopping. Then it was time for dinner and our school night routine. Why do weekends go by so quickly?!?

Soccer

Youth Soccer

Girls Soccer

Kids Sports

Soccer

THE UPCOMING WEEK


I think this week might do me in! After several days of gorgeous 80+ degree weather, the chilly weather is returning. We have lots of rain in the forecast, and the chance of an inch of snow tonight and snow flurries tomorrow. Noooooooo!

The week itself is going to be extra busy. On Thursday, we have to be three places at once, so that should be interesting! On our schedule, in addition to school and work, is two soccer practices, Lily's book fair, a vet visit for Ella, dance pictures, Lily's school's Open House, a sleepover for Dylan, a sleepover for Lexie, a birthday party for Lily, a get together at a friend's house for Dylan and a soccer game about an hour away. Phew! If only we could have an extra day to recover at the end of this week!

Happy Monday, my friends! Here's hoping that the week ahead is a great one!


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Family dog

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23 comments:

  1. Lexie looks great playing soccer! That picture of Liam on the steps make him look like a model!

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  2. I have so much to say! First off, Lexie looks all grown up in those soccer pics! It's crazy. I swear, she looks so different from a few weeks ago! Lily looks adorable in her dance outfits! My little Eliza is in dance for the first time and I think she's going to be a wasp. LOL! Not the cute tutu/dance costume I was hoping for like Lily's, but I'll take what I can get I guess. Haha! Third, girl, I hear ya' on the running and getting back into shape, although I think you look wonderful! Nothing fits me and I feel blah, especially with this weather. You're so lucky to have a pup with run with - that's a dream of mine! Good luck this week. I'm trying to keep my head above water as well this week. We've got this... I think! ;) Ha! Stay warm, girl!

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    1. I know! She is growing up so fast! That's awesome that Eliza is in dance now. I'm sure whe will be the cutest wasp ever!!! This winter was brutal, and I feel like I lost all of my muscle tone. It feels good to get back at it. I think Ella is only going to be a 1 1/2 mile type of dog, though!

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  3. I think lots of people are over TWD! Brian watches and he's so invested he feels like he has to finish the series even though he's not really enjoying it anymore. And CUTE HUNTERS! I just got some pink ones, too, and I'm ecstatic!!

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    1. That's exactly how my husband and I feel! I had to laugh at the Hunter Boots thing...I clicked on the hashtag earlier today, and it had two of your pictures in 2nd and 3rd in the top posts and my picture from today was in the 4th slot! I guess pink is the hot color! Haha!

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  4. You have a beautiful family! Happy Belated Birthday!

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  5. Love this little update, following from the linkup! Sounds like a busy and exciting week ahead - hoping the snow stays away for you :)

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  6. Happy Monday! My 2 teenagers do not like when I feature them on IG or my blog, they are old enough to make this decision so I respect it...and my husband is a total anti all social media guy, so it's usually just pics of me and my 4 year old sidekick ;) I have been away from blogging for the last year and I'm just coming back to see what blogs in my Bloglovin' are still posting, glad to see you are still blogging! Have a great week :)

    Jen

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    1. I completely understand! My pictures are mostly of Lily and Liam right now!

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  7. About the kindergarten thing... trust your gut. You know him. If you are hesitating then you should keep him in preschool for another year.

    An added benefit will be with his dietary restrictions he'll be able to help participate in making sure he's healthy. My 6yr old is always telling people what she can and can not eat. Her dear teacher forgot and tried to serve her ice cream (milk and ice cream gives her really bad diarrhea) and she advocated for herself.

    My sister ended up pulling my nephew from kindergarten in the middle of the year because he just wasn't ready for it. Just wait the year. He'll be more mature and have more skills when next year rolls around. I'd hate to see you agonizing over the decision in 6 months.

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    1. I feel comfortable with the school, but there are some issues currently with the special ed department that are making me doubt our decision. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do. There are pros and cons to both!

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    2. Oh, and that's AWFUL that happened with your daughter. So glad she realized the mistake!

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  8. Life has been busy, I'll second that! SO glad you had a wonderful birthday and I'm loving all the new puppy pics! Hope he's behaving himself. :)

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  9. Great photos. Have a great week.

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  10. You are such a busy mama! Beautiful kiddos!

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  11. Well you have the best running / trail partner! So glad you had a great birthday! xo,Biana -BlovedBoston

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