It is COLD for this time of year!! I filled gas this morning on our way to Nana's house in jeans and sandals, with a light jacket. With the wind and rain I was REALLY cold. The car temp read 39 degrees. Brrrr. (And for the record, I am only wearing sandals because I have this GIANT blood blister right on the edge of my big toe - from rubbing while running the other day.)
Clothing
myself:
Jeans, new sandals, NEW
anniversary black t-shirt. But I would like to add that now I wear A BELT with the jeans. (Baby-steps :)
Around the
house:
We moved the work-out room to the garage. See post about it here. This allowed me to move one of the sets of shelves from the school room (that was really just storage) down to the laundry/utility/storage room. Then we got a new dresser for Miriam so I rearranged the girls' room for it and moved a set of shelves from there up to the tv room.
 |
| The Girls' Room - The lime green dresser is Miriam's new dresser. It is quite an upgrade from those plastic drawers we were using. |
Also, we got another kitchen table. Grandma moved in with my folks. She is fine, but at 90-years-old she decided it was time. We were supposed to get her table, but although it was BEAUTIFUL, it was not so kid-friendly. So my brother got it and gave us his table. Unforunately, his table is a little smaller than our current table so I decided to put it in the study and it has been GREAT to have another table for school work and such.
 |
| New table in "The Study" (or I sometimes call it "the schoolroom") It is a bit tight, but having a table to work and play at is really great. |
The
Baby:
She is just wonderful :) She is fully capable of sleeping through the night and often does. She is getting better at being "calmed" back to sleep (tucked in and hand on the back for a few minutes) rather than nursed. She is eating like crazy. With no worries about introducing this or that food I just give her whatever we are eating and she eats a lot for a baby I would say. Last night she ate an entire, full-size burrito!! I only feed her real food maybe twice a day (not so consistent about it) so I still nurse her a lot and both she and I enjoy that a lot. I think maybe what I enjoy most about her right now is that she is the most petite of all my kids for her age. She has not been to the doc lately, but I can tell that she is not as heavy as the others. I can easily scoop her up and carry her around for large amounts of time with no undue stress to my arms or body. So either I am in REALLY good shape (possible I suppose) or she is smaller than my typical 11-month-old babies.
The
Kids:
They are keeping me in line. I cannot get over their creative play. I'm so glad they enjoy each other.
In the
Kitchen:
I am very pleased with my orders from Azure
Standard. Everything from there has been wonderful. I'm struggling to cook a bit this week as we are running out of meat and I highly dislike buying meat. We had been getting hamburger from Gordie's folks (they had a cow butchered), but we have not been back to their house lately (and I'm not sure if they were planning on giving us anymore anyhow). I need to find some more recipes to try but I just cannot find the time or energy. In any case we are sneaking by.
Crafting:
I finally picked up my knitting needles and worked some more on my mom's scarf for next Christmas. I think I'm about a third of the way done.
Learning:
I started a couple of journals with Rebekah. She is humoring me well for them and I think actually enjoying them! It all started when Nana gave her this saints book for Easter (well, I picked it out, but Nana "gave it" to her). So each day she reads about a saint and then answers the following questions in her journal:
1) Today's date
2) Saint's name
3) Saint's feast day
4) What did the saint do?
5) What is something the saint did that you would like to do? (Basically comment on what you read - applying it to your own life or circumstances.)
6) What is one thing you would ask the saint if you could?
Rebekah also started a prayer journal. She copies down a bible verse and then writes a summary of what it means. Then she writes a short prayer based off the verse.
Samuel is almost done with his math book (the 1st grade book). Other than reading every day that is pretty-much all he has left for school.
I'm planning to have both Rebekah and Samuel do some sort of standardized test that I can send in to be graded, to be sure of where they are at (and to tell people I do so they will not give me "the look" when I tell them I homeschool). I think we are going to go with the ones from Seton Homeschool.
We are still planning to do some school stuff this summer, too. Rebekah only got through four chapters of Spanish, so we will focus on that. She also wants to start piano lessons and I still have the books from when I started piano lessons in third grade, so I think that will be fun. In addition we have some virtues cards I want to work with and of course keep up our bible reading and catechism lessons. I also signed the kids up for activities at the local Rec Commission. The older two (as the others are too young) will do Kids' Yoga (really just stretching - no odd chanting, only animal-named positions, so do not judge me by them calling it "yoga"), Zumba, Tumbling, and Akido. They are also going to do outdoor swim lessons. I would rather do swim team but it is more expensive and indoors. Since we do not really go to the outdoor pool as a family (since keeping track of so many is too much for me and it is only open during nap time) and the kids are ALWAYS begging for it, I figured this was a good trade-off.
Reading:
I honestly have not had much time for reading. I'm trying to do the daily readings and meditation from The Word Among us and then read a few chapters from the bible and some of the catechism. Lately that has just been it!
Bringing
me joy:
+Excitement over Rebekah's first communion coming up on Sunday!! She will be wearing the dress my Aunt Rosie made for me to wear on my first communion day.
+My husband. He is so good to me.
Thinking
about:
All the tragedy's of the world and how the press tells us things are so terrible, but really we need not get caught-up in the fear and worry. God will take care of us. I just focus on doing my daily tasks as best I can. Then I pray about those things that need prayer and let God do the rest!
Bible
verse:
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
(Matthew 6:31-33)
Pictures
to share:
 |
| Crazy-haired-Miriam in the tub :) |
 |
| Miriam enjoying her cereal. |
 |
| Nana and Great Grandma with all the kiddos on Great Grandma's 90th birthday! |
