TODAY
Out my window: Sunny! Warm!! Spring is in the air for sure, you can just feel it now, even when it's cool out. The forecast for tomorrow is a little cooler, but then moderate all next week. For Spring break!! YAY!!!!!!!
Clothing myself in: Jeans and a t-shirt, so exciting.
Around the house: Ordered a new vinyl seat-cover for our highchair. Clem still sits in the highchair, and as love/hate as my relationship is with our highchair, if we ditch it for a booster we have to extend the kitchen table and that is really going to make the dining area feel tight, so I am going to stretch his time in the highchair as long as I possibly can. This will really breathe some new life into it.
In the middle of getting Spring wardrobes ready for the kids. Everything is out now, and more-or-less in closets/drawers. I've taken inventory, the kids and I went shopping yesterday afternoon to pick up some more stuff they needed (got some C.U.T.E. dresses/skirts for Gemma), I've packed away some of the real cold-weather stuff like fleece footie-jammies and sweats and stuff. Getting there. The kids still all need summer sandals, but they can do no-show socks and tennies for the foreseeable future. I'll psyche myself up to get back out and find them shoes soon enough. We'll probably go with Nike sandals again, but I still need to size them. Bluuurrrgggghhh. And speaking of sizes, their clothing sizes are completely schizophrenic this year. Gemma is anywhere from a 5 to a 7/8 with some 6/6x tossed in as well. Kolbe has a few 4's some 5T stuff and some 5/6's, and it's looking like the 18mos stuff may work for Clem for a little while, but then after that we really don't have much 24 month 2T. But that size is huge on him now so I am not really inclined to buy much yet even though I know the 18 month stuff won't last him all summer... Good. Grief.
And I had to come back and add...a word to savvy shoppers, never shop at a Carter's store. Their prices, oh my word. I actually did buy a pair of shorts for Kolbe there, but they are currently sitting in my basement with the receipt because I still cannot believe I paid what I did for them and I am seriously considering just returning them. Seriously, they had "clearance" jammies for $19.99. For real?? I'll choose the leftover VBS t-shirt and $4 cotton shorts from Target please. That said, we went to Children's Place too (I had never shopped there, but we've been given clothes from there before and I've always been impressed by their quality) and their prices were decent. I'll go back.
The baby/toddler: Started saying "more" (instead of signing it) the other day when we were feeding him strawberries. It reminded me of the first time Kolbe said "more" and I remembered videoing it because it was so cute. I figured he was probably about the same age so I pulled up the video and would you believe he and Clem were the same age, to the day (five days shy of 20 months, since I'm sure you care) when they said "more" for the first time. How weird is that?
He has also become one opinionated little dude the past couple weeks. Like, oh my goodness. He ended up sleeping shirtless the other night because I tried to put short sleeves on him instead of his footie jammies. He got so mad that his sleeves were short that I took the shirt off to put on some long sleeves, but then in his anger he wouldn't let me put anything else on him. I even tried to give him a shirt in the middle of the night when he woke up and he grunted at me and shoved it away. Oy.
The kiddos: Have been enjoying playing at the park and in the backyard on these warmer days. Gemma has the bike-riding thing aaalllllllmoooooost down, I really am amazed how quickly she has caught on. The other day she rode from in front of the house three houses down from us down the street and up our driveway all on her own, I wasn't even standing by her.
In the kitchen: Last week we had meatloaf, rice and leftover veggies, Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole, a fish fry, family dinner and some fried meat and veggie burritos. Next week I'm making spaghetti (Gemma's favorite!!) and maybe Chicken Picadillo (although the kids really don't like it a whole lot, I am thinking of leaving the raisins out of theirs and putting it in tacos though and maybe it will be more 'edible' to them??), baked fish and some other stuff. We have fresh asparagus and brussel sprouts in the fridge to be used as sides as well.
Crafting: I renovated the pony house for Gemma, adding a roof, parapets, floor, and bunk beds made of cut apart toilet paper tubes. Seriously, give me some cardboard and my trusty glue-gun and I can make just about anything.
Learning: We'll try to keep up with some school-type activities this week and there will definitely be a trip to the library some afternoon. I've been timing Gemma with her addition worksheet and sight-word flashcards lately, she seems to like the challenge and keeping track from day-to-day. I suppose I should add another dimension and have her chart her times... The older two have been really creative with the pattern blocks lately too. The other day while I was cooking I let Clem play with some chunky beads, he had fun pouring them and trying to string them on a pipe-cleaner. I have our letter Ss week stuff ready to go and will probably pull some of it out this week and then spread it over the next couple weeks. Planning on seed-planting in a couple weeks with our little preschool co-op. Anyone have any cute ideas for decorating little planters?
Reading: We have some good Spring books from the library, check out And Then it Was Spring if you haven't. It's wonderful. In keeping with my better-late-than-never New Year's resolution to order at least one hardcover book a month this year to add to our collection, I ordered a used copy of Gemma and the Baby Chick to give Gemma on her name-day next month.
Watching: Gold Rush finale was last night, always a little sad when one of our shows is over. Will be interesting to see what next season brings. Aaron has his hypotheses and he also thinks there's probably only one season left of this show. Especially if gold prices continue to go down. Time will tell.
I also finally let the kids watch Wallykazam!. They have seen previews for it at the beginning of another show they watch and have been begging, and I finally relented. I should have given in sooner, it is adorable.
Bringing me joy: Shopping with the kids, even if it was crazy and I felt like crying in desperation more than once, we really had a nice time together. And time at the zoo this morning with the kids...there was no desperation and we got to watch them shear sheep! It was our second year to do this, so fun!! This year's weather was muuuuuuuch nicer. Last year I think it was low-40's, cloudy and drizzly.
Thinking about: Lent, sacrificing, the Church, letting go and letting Christ fill me up. I have so much to learn and so much progress to make in this life, in my vocation, sometimes it just overwhelms me. I am a driver, I want to get things done, see outcomes, etc. Sometimes it is hard for me to just wait and let Christ work.
I've also been thinking about looking for a new carrier for Clem on my back. It is kind of ridiculous, I have a mei tai and an ergo and a couple slings, but I mainly just use the mei tai for the first couple months when you can still frog a baby's legs, and the slings are only nice for short in-and-outs. The ergo is OK, I really want to like it but I wish I had researched more before I got it. It says up to 45 lbs, but I do not like how he fits in it at all, and he's only 22 lbs. OH well. Looking at Boba and Kinderpack but not really serious about buying anything too soon unless I come upon a really good deal... Definitely mulling it over though.
Pictures to share:
Enjoying a Spring fishing trip...they were both successful! Gemma even cast, caught and reeled in a few all by herself. She needed a bit of help getting them off the hook.
Clem got his first "big-boy" haircut (IE, first time to have any hair taken off the top). He was not too fond of this procedure, as you can see. He looks so handsome though (as you cannot see, as I didn't think to take an "after" picture. Yeah.) On that note, Happy Spring, everyone!!
