Anniversaries

What a week this has been! Thursday was our 13th anniversary, but we barely had time to notice with all of the madness going on. 

Avey had an orchestra concert on Tuesday, making for a late night for us all. The songs were great, but to sneak the younger kids out early, we had to sit pretty far away from her. Luckily, she was on the stage so we could still see her. She’s come a long way with her abilities. The torturous part was that we had to sit and wait through all of the other orchestras that Avey is not in, even suffering through the director saying a few words about each of the kids leaving middle school this year, inviting them up with their parents, and then taking a photo with the whole group. I’m sure we’ll care when she’s in 8th Grade, but she’s not, and we don’t know any of those 8th graders…

Otherwise, we had a lot of other appointments this week. I had a follow-up blood draw on Wednesday, and Carver had a doctor’s visit on Friday, so I stayed home to get Avey to school and feed the youngest two.

Thursday was packed to the rim. It was our anniversary, as I said, but it was also my busiest day of the week. The semester is winding down, so I have students in my office every day needing something. After several in a row, I finally left to teach my two courses, and then had office hours, then went straight to a little symposium put on for student researchers. I supervise five of them, four of whom were doing poster presentations, and one of whom was actually doing an oral presentation, so I made sure to go. It was good, but they did it out of order so that it ended late, and I had to leave early to set up for my evening course. Good thing there was food there!

When I finally got to the train station near home at 9:15 p.m., I was relieved to see my bike still locked where I left it. I got my helmet on, put on my lights, and lifted it off of the rack to find that the front tire was flat. I almost cried, I was so tired and frustrated by that point. I walked it to a 7-Eleven several blocks away, got change for the air machine, and tried to pump it up, but it immediately deflated. I had the thought that some psychopath had tried to steal the bike (it was the only one still at the station), but couldn’t cut my $40 lock, so slashed the tire out of frustration. I made it home by 9:45, and tried to put the day behind me. I was relieved to find that the tire had not been slashed. It looked like there was a manufacturing issue with the inner tube, and it was easily repaired with Hakan and Merritt’s help on Friday.

Saturday was bananas. We went to view some houses in Indiana with the kids. When we went in to see the first one on the list, we were all so thrilled to think that we could actually upgrade from our current place, but also do what we want with it. When we finished looking at the first one, Hakan was confused that we were leaving—he thought we were moving in that day, even though we’d explained that we were just looking.

We saw some nice possibilities, each with a lot of pros and cons. Kira and I have pretty much settled on a favorite, but she has some school visits planned for that one’s assigned schools, so she’ll go through with those and then, barring some red flags, we’ll probably make an offer! We will keep you updated on how it goes.

After Saturday’s madness, we hoped to take Sunday easy, but it’s Merritt’s birthday this upcoming week, so we figured this is the best day to do a little celebration. He opened his presents this morning just before nap, but is so excited to try them all out. Honestly, he’d probably be happy just to watch Avey’s hamster for a few minutes, but Kira found him some great toys, and he got some thoughtful gifts from family. We cannot believe that he’s two! Where did the time go?

This coming week will not be much easier, I’m afraid. With Kira’s school visits, and me in the middle of finals week, and then starting the home buying process, we’re pretty booked up. Perhaps we’ll get to celebrate our 13th next weekend…

At least the weather is starting to cooperate!

#Happenings