Vacation Update and More July Fun

Two weeks after my last update and I'm back again....blogging, for me, may be making a return.  

Ok Lindsay, don't get too ahead of yourself!

I did make it through the 5 days without my family while they enjoyed our family vacation.  Declan missed me and was a bit sad during our nightly FaceTime calls but Connor could have cared less if I was with him.  It definitely speaks to their personalities.  Declan is a bit of a mama's boy who is full of compassion and empathy and Connor, well Connor is just a pistol and typical 2nd child that does whatever makes him happy.  Nothing speaks more to this than their trip to Silver Dollar City too -- Declan was too scared to ride Fire In The Hole and Connor thought it was an absolute blast.  My 3 year old dare devil!

Here are a few pics of all of the fun they had:

Mini Golf

My little dare devil

Lunch at Lamberts

Marvel Cave

Have you seen two cuter firemen?

Ice cream!

What characters!

I was super glad to have FaceTime available to be able to check in and see how the trip was going, but I ended up enjoying some time decompressing, reading, and making a few recipes.  Thank goodness for the technology of FaceTime, Find My iPhone, text messages and cell phones in general so I could check in with them.  I think it definitely helped me when I was feeling sad for not being there.

Now that the boys are back from vacation, we had a visit from D's mom and step-dad last weekend on their way back to Michigan.  They spent Friday and Saturday night at our house and the kids were glad to see them, do art projects and show off their reading skills.

This weekend Declan started his 8U summer hockey 5 week program to get ready for the upcoming hockey season.  A few weeks back we got him fitted for his St. Peter's Hockey jersey for fall league and he picked his number.  Since he was born in an even year, he had to pick an even number for his jersey which was not as easy as you would think because a lot of his favorite numbers are odd numbers -- 77, 23, 5, but he settled on 78 and his reasoning was because it is 77+1 and it's also Crosby's number but backwards.  Late August he will have tryouts and get assigned a team and start his St. Peter's hockey career and we'll have a full fall of hockey practices and games.

My hockey player!

As for what is up next -- we're enjoying the rest of what summer has to offer before school starts in a month.  Connor moves to his PS2 class and Declan starts first grade on August 18th.  Next weekend, I'm taking a 1 day trip with Shell who's visiting from New Zealand to Meramec Caverns.  Our girls trip, which was supposed to be a bit longer, is being cut short by me not being able to take any time off from work and her trying to work remote while visiting the States, but we still wanted to get away for something small.  I threw out the Ozarks, Ste Genevieve and Meramec Caverns as potential trip ideas and we both loved the ideas of the Caverns as we haven't been there since we were much younger.  So we'll visit the Caverns and explore and then spend the night in a hotel along the route.  I'm looking forward to catching up and doing something fun.  And we'll probably spend some time reminiscing about our last trip in our early 20s where we went camping and I accidentally singed Shell's eyebrows building a campfire with kerosene.  I'll never live that down!

That's all I have for now....hopefully I'll be able to check in again soon and update on all of our happenings.

2025 half year update

We're halfway through 2025 and let me say, this year has kicked my butt so far.  Nothing is seriously wrong and we're not in dire conditions but nothing has gone as expected and right now, I'm feeling a bit of pity for myself and the choices I've made this year.  I'll explain more....

Right now, I'm sitting at home while my family goes our on summer vacation to Branson without me and I'm sad.  A month ago I started my new job, a move I desperately needed to make to restore some sanity in my life.  When I started my job, I knew we had this vacation planned and my boss was fine with me taking off a few days as long as we had a stable team in place.  

Two days after I started my new job, the stability fell out and the most tenured member of the team suddenly resigned.  That teammate, who had been there about a year and a half, had the most knowledge out of the 3 of us at that point.  On a positive note, that person leaving actually allowed me to jump in full force and learn absolutely everything I could and as quickly as I could without stepping on toes.  However, it has also been a bit of a negative thing because it's basically me running the show after only 2 days and trying to figure out what the heck is going on without falling too far behind on day to day responsibilities.  On top of it, the other accountant on the team has only been there a month longer than me and from what I can tell, doesn't know much or just doesn't feel comfortable to work independently relies upon me for keeping him on task all day, every day.  I don't like being a micromanager, but with him I have to be and it's wearing on me.  And since we haven't found a replacement for the accountant who left, the only option for me was to opt out of my family vacation and work to keep things afloat at the office so I can keep my job without looking like I don't care.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my new job and many of the people I work with, but in my head I'm thinking, "Did I make the right move by leaving my old job? 

Should I have stuck it out at the old place and just sucked it up even though it sucked the life out of me every day?"  

Honestly, I probably did make the right move by leaving and this is just a rough time where I'm doubting everything since I'm home without my family and missing out on some core memories with my kids.  Plus, I enjoy getting away to the cabin in Branson each year and having fun at Silver Dollar City and White Water as it brings back happy memories for me as a kid when life was much simpler.

Anyway, here's hoping the 2nd half of 2025 brings back some of the happiness I used to feel.  The last few years have really taken it out of me personally and professionally and I'd love to just get through life without worrying about what people think about me and if I'm doing enough for everyone.  Also, I'd love to be egocentric but that's just not in me.

In the meantime, I hope D, my kids and my parents have fun on vacation and I'll just dream and hope that next year I get to be a part of it all.

New Adventures Are Upon Us

What a month May was....I started out the month with a field trip with Declan and I am ending the month starting a new job on Monday.  I wish I could say it has been an easy month; but it has been far from it. Shortly after Declan's field trip, some issues came up at work and I decided it was best to start looking for a new position.  About a week after my initial search and with the help of some good connections with recruiters, I was able to land another role fairly quickly and as a result, my time in transportation/logistics is complete.

A few things I've learned over the years about myself -- I'm my own worst critic and my work ethic is far superior to most.  For months now, I've felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and being in an industry that is 24/7, there never seemed to be a time to slow down, stop or enjoy any successes.  Being in the office, there were always mountains of work to complete and never enough time.  And being out of office for a day, I always ended up being so anxious about all of the tasks that were piling up with no help or backup to step in.  Also, I manage people to a super high standard and being so goal oriented and motivated to be the best, it comes off me being better than others and causes tension.  I've been over-working myself due to others not having that same drive too and as a result, it's taken a toll on me mentally, emotionally and physically.

I'm excited for my new role and the challenges it brings.  I'm having to start over in a brand new industry and learn most of it from scratch, but I'm hoping my years of experience in accounting will help me succeed.  I'm also working to lower my standards (just slightly) with my new team.  Instead of having 16 direct reports, there are only 3 and my goal is to be a mentor and colleague to them.  I still am a controller and still have a responsibility to my employer, but I also get to work closely with other like-minded people, which is something I've longed for over the years.  But overall, I hope this change brings back some of the joy I've been missing in my professional life.

Other than that, Declan finished kindergarten yesterday.  I can't believe that his first year of elementary school is now behind us.  It seems like just yesterday, I was dropping him off for his first day!  He starts summer camp on Monday and is looking forward to his own camp adventures for the next 11 weeks.  Today he started a 5 week 8U hockey clinic to improve upon his hockey skills for landing on a team in the fall.  It's an hour of skills and scrimmage each Saturday morning with his coach from all of his hockey and skating lessons.  He's bound and determined to make an 8U team this fall and be a hockey player when he grows up.  I love his enthusiasm and drive...he comes by it honestly!

Connor has 11 weeks in his current preschool class until he moves up to Preschool 2 in the middle of August.  While it doesn't seem like much of a change on paper, the Preschool 2 class is more structured and follows a stricter daily schedule to prepare the kids for junior kindergarten and kindergarten.  He's thriving academically now but I know the move will make him that much more prepared for his future.  

Anyway, that's all I got for now.  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend and prepare for my new job.  I'm hoping and praying that this change is my "missing puzzle piece."

Winding down the school year

I had the privilege of taking the day off of work today and going on a field trip with Declan's kindergarten class to the Butterfly House and Faust Park.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I can say we all survived and had a bunch of fun and a class of kindergartners is a lot of work!

We left Declan's elementary school at 9:30 this morning and met the bus at the park.  Me and another mom were in charge of 5 of the 16 kids. I had warned Declan ahead of time to be on his best behavior and for the most part he was.  The kids got to ride the carousel first and then we headed to the Butterfly House for a presentation on a butterfly's life.  The kids, who have been learning about butterflies in science at school were so eager to show what they knew.  Then we were able to explore the actual dome and see the butterflies and various plants.  Afterwards, we spent a few minutes in the butterfly garden burning off some energy outside before having a picnic lunch and a short recess on the playground.  Around 1 pm, we gathered all the kids up -- which was a feat in itself with 5 and 6 year olds all over the place on a large playground and we headed back to school.  Overall, it was a fun field trip and I'm glad I took the day off to experience it with Declan.

Other than the field trip today, we've had a pretty busy few months.  We've still got hockey and ice skating on Saturdays, swimming lessons on Sunday and all other sorts of activities and events on random nights of the week.

In early April, we attended the Puck Cancer 2nd Shift at the Centene Community Ice Center.  It was an alumni game between the Blues and Blackhawks and it sure was entertaining.  The boys absolutely love any type of hockey and being able to sit a few rows off the ice is always fun.

Declan had a leadership day at his school also and we got to see more about how they are working with the kids to become leaders not only at school but throughout their futures.  He got to speak in front of the entire school at an assembly and we were so proud of his growth this school year.

At mid-April, we celebrated Easter.  We decided to have a low-key Easter this year and the boys got some small gifts, including some marshmallows and binders for their hockey cards.  They did enjoy finding all of the Easter eggs and have hidden them a few more times since then.  We stayed close to home and just had a family dinner.

That brings us up to May.  We've got a countdown for the end of school and the boys are looking forward to summer and getting some time at the pool.  Declan will be going to summer camp and Connor will be in a summer program at preschool.  It's so hard to believe that summer is almost upon us!  Where has the school year gone?!?  I'm about to have a 1st grader and another one with only 1 year left of preschool...my oh my!

We're trying to figure out a family vacation and some fun things to do this summer and it will be here in a blink of an eye!  I better get thinking and planning!!!

March, here we come.

We're already to March and I've already decided to be better about updating.  Maybe that should have been one of my new years resolutions.....not sure how many I'll push out this year, but we'll try for more than one.

Here we are, beginning of March and I made it through year-end, the craziness of January and even the craziness of February.  So, let's start with the holidays and year-end -- I'd love the say the holidays were great for our family but the overstimulation and travel took it's toll on me and I cracked while we were in Michigan and decided to leave family Christmas to spend time in our hotel room working on my laptop and getting ahead for year-end.  And I will also say, if you don't come visit and don't know about my kids and what they like and what their interests are, you should probably stay in your lane and not tell me that my kids need gobs of toys and trinkets because it's Christmas time.

Anyway, we made it to January and Declan and Connor both had an extra week off of school due to a horrible snow storm that dropped about 9 inches of snow on us.  It made for a great time trying to work from home, do school from home and stay in due to the extremely cold temps.  By the end of the first week of January, we were all ready to be back in our "normal."  Declan started his Intro to Hockey class which was the last class required for him to join a hockey team in August.  Connor started swimming lessons again and was so excited to get back into the pool.  And since that time, we've spent our weekends at the hockey rink and swimming pool among other activities.

At the end of January, I turned 42.  The kids were awesome making it a great day for me and they celebrated me to make me feel like I was the best person in the world.  Connor made me a gooey butter cake, brownies and a Toll House pie, Declan made me a card and they both made me a Hockey Mom tote bag for hockey season.  I also got a Hockey Mom sweatshirt and apron with my initals on it.  I got some new weights so I can enhance my at home workouts from my Mom and Michael and D took me out to nice dinner at YaYa's European Bistro for babba ganoush and an amazing pasta dish.

We had a trivia night at Declan's school on the 30th and while we weren't the smartest team, we had a bunch of fun as a family and learned a few trivia tidbits.

In February, we were faced with two more snow storms and more working from home and school from home over two separate weeks.  To say I was/am looking forward to spring and summer is an understatement.  Honestly, I am on pins and needles waiting for warmer, nicer weather!  On President's Day both boys were off of school for the holiday and D and I both took the day off to do something fun with them.  We took our 2nd annual President's Day visit to the St. Louis Science Center per the boys' request.  They had so much fun throughout the museum and we ended our trip with an icee and lunch at McDonald's, which is always a special treat for them.

We also went to a St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks game at Enterprise Center and Lindenwood Lions-Alaska Fairbanks Nanoks game at the Centene Center.  The Blues were victorious against the Blackhawks in a shoot out and most of us were excited (Declan is our lone Blackhawks fan) and Alaska Fairbanks won in OT.  The boys were excited for Alaska Fairbanks to win since once of their players gave them a hockey puck.

We had STEAM night at Declan's school this past Thursday evening and we enjoyed our time doing activities and learning about science, technology, engineering, art and math.  It's really neat seeing Declan in his school environment and around friends.  His friends absolutely love him and come up and embrace him like they haven't seen him in forever, even if it's only been a few hours.  He shrugs most of it off but I know he's extremely likeable and probably a good friend to everyone he meets.

This weekend, Declan finished his last Intro to Hockey class and we have a week off before starting up some extra lessons to make sure he's ready for joining a team in August.  Connor has one more week of Daddy and me swimming lessons before he officially moves up to a class on his own the following week.  And, Connor finished his soccer lessons at preschool this week.  He's got a few weeks off from that before starting back up.  They also love their monthly woodworking classes at Home Depot with Nana and Papa and look forward to building "something" each month.  All activities that my boys absolutely love and I enjoy the fact that they both want to stay active, be athletic and learn valuable life skills.

Also this weekend, D and I have been hit with the plague that has hit nearly everyone recently. I spent most of yesterday in bed, achy and feverish.  Thankfully my mom and Michael had the boys and allowed for me to get some rest.  I'm starting to feel a bit better today but D has felt absolutely horrible today.  Thankfully, my mom and Michael again stepped in to help us out.  Michael was Connor's swimming buddy today and the boys decided to go spend some extra time at Nana and Papa's this afternoon to allow us to rest and hopefully feel better sooner rather than later.

So that brings us up to this week -- the first week of March and hopefully the first signs of spring, getting outside to enjoy some weather and hopefully feeling back to normal!  I'm sure ready for it all!

As usual, here is a photo dump of our last few months:

Snow day!!!

Two boys who love the snow!

Blues-Blackhawks game

Enjoying the game with mama.

My little Blackhawks fan.

So proud of his brownies.

Making gooey butter cake.

A Toll House Pie for mama.

Building at Home Depot.

More building and learing life skills.

Living room hockey!

Intro to Hockey class.

STEAM night