Journal: this and that

TODAY

Out my window: Spring.  Beautiful.  

Clothing myself in: jeans, gray tank, pink T, a trusty pair of Old Navy flip-flops

Around the house: We spent our Friday evening (we are so exciting) hanging the new (bigger) framed family picture and rearranging the other pictures around it.  My hubby is smart and very particular, which makes for well, correctly done projects.  All the measuring and laser levels made my head spin.  I could have figured it out on my own but it would have taken a lot longer.  It looks really nice.  I really like the proportion of the 16x20 frame in the middle surrounded by the four 8x10s.  My MIL gave us an Easter Lily.  I put it on an end table in the living room and Clement insists that it is a Christmas tree.  OK?  I am excited for our Lenten things to be packed away and to get our Easter/Spring decorations out next weekend!  We don't have much, but a little bit goes a long way.

We have a spot that is adjacent to both our dining and living areas (which are also the two areas that we pray as a family) that I would like to start collecting some art which I can rotate (and then, if we ever move to a bigger house, we will have more art for various spaces).  We currently have a Holy Family picture and a picture of Christ Suffering that we hang there during Lent.  I am looking at this print of The Presentation.  I love the events in Jesus' life that point to his (and Mary and Joseph's) obedience to the law.  As a child, for whatever reason, I didn't understand (or really even respect) Judaism at all.  I want for my children to realize that Christianity is the fulfillment of 1500-2000 years of a faith through which our redemption was brought about, and that our roots aren't simply traced back to the time of Christ.  I digress.   I wish there were more places to buy sacred art locally.  We have one shop that has some gorgeous icons, but we already have several in our small home, and as much as I love them I would like to keep things diverse.  We have a large print of Vogelstein's Let the Children Come Unto Me (a great Hobby Lobby score) an icon of The Last Supper and the traditional Guardian Angel image, plus various other small images.  So I am leaning towards The Presentation but have yet to purchase it.  I have heard good things about art.com though and man do they have selection!  Sometimes I get paralyzed by all the analyzing.  Decisions, decisions...  NOW I am rambling...

 

The toddler: His latest thing to say is, "Oh. I fordot."  About everything.  Things he truly forgets, and things he had no way of forgetting because he didn't know them in the first place.  He cracks me up.  He has gotten very talkative at bedtime, which is both endearing and annoying.  I love conversing with him.  He has started going to sleep without someone laying with him on a semi-regular basis though so that has been nice.

 

The kiddos: We had Kolbe's IEP this past week and he will be "graduating" from speech this Spring and no longer qualify for services come kindergarten. I am amazed at the progress he has made in the past two years.  I will really miss his speech teacher, I like her a lot and will be sad for him to lose that connection, even though I know he will make many more great connections with teachers going to school.

Gemma is counting down the weeks to summer vacation...just 8 to go!!!  The change in pace will be nice, even though summer always gets a little long in the tooth.  Can't believe next fall I will only have one at home in the mornings!

In the kitchen:  

Last week:

• Monday: German sausage, fried fish (see picture below) stewed lentils and veggies and steamed broccoli
• Tuesday: it seems like it was a mish-mash of leftoveres
• Wednesday: for lunch we had no more leftovers, so Aaron had picked up some yellow-fin tuna on a really good deal at the grocery store meat-counter a few weeks ago that we had tossed in the freezer.  I pan fried it in coconut oil with some ginger and sesame seeds and we ate it on lettuce/veggie salads (I found this superfood salad-mix at Sams that is really tasty) and oh my.  Best "tuna sald" I have ever had.  Dinner was chicken enchiladas. I always add baby bellas and black beans and this time a bunch of cilantro (good call) and make my own cream of mush.
• Thursday: carry-out
• Friday: smothered tilapia, canned green beans and grapes

This coming week:

• Monday: spaghetti and meat sauce, roasted broccoli and asparagus, applesauce
• Tuesday: honey sriracha chicken, fried rice (aside, I have made fried rice probably a half-dozen times and always just winged it, and it always turned out pretty good.  I finally decided to look up a recipe, and all the recipes I find say use cooked cold rice - I always just steam it and popped it right in the wok - so I will be curious to see if that makes a difference. They also all have you cook the egg(s) separately, whereas I always just toss them right in as I saute.  Curious...), steamed green beans
  
• Wednesday: egg "breakfast casserole" with lots of fresh veggies and b-fast sausage, fresh fruit
• Thursday: TBD, Aaron often cooks.
• Friday: something simple for us since it is Good Friday, and meatless breakfast casserole for the Fathers.

Crafting: The boys and I painted the bulletin board for their room that we have had for several months, for the spot in their room that has been empty since August.  We are go-getters around here! 

Learning:  Getting back in the swing of preschool co-op with Kolbe's friend Levi.  This past week we did a little craft for the Feast of the Annunciation.  The next several weeks we will be talking, planting, reading and painting sunflowers.  I always love an excuse to check out this book.

Reading: Kolbe has been enjoying the Mercy Watson books read aloud immensely.  We have had a slew of good picture books lately.  Trying to be very intentional about reading at the breakfast table each day.  Gemma and I are about to finish Little Farm on the Ozarks and will start In the Land of the Big Red Apple next.  I am keeping up with my usuals.  Reading the Gospel of Mark and enjoying this commentary, chapter by chapter.  I find the commentary (at least this one), helps to not only clarify the meaning of various passages, but is also giving me more on which to pray/meditate.

Watching: not much.

Bringing me joy: Spring.  Family. 

Thinking about: Peace.  Faith.  Trust.  Being refined.  God's love for me.

Pictures to share: Big fish (who became dinner).

Journal: spring break

TODAY

Out my window: Cloudy and light rain.  Tuesday, yesterday and today have been chilly.  The ten-day looks awesome!

Clothing myself in: jeans, pink tank, turquoise T, grey 3/4 sleeve cardi

Around the house:  Getting ready to revamp our family pics on the living room wall a bit.  Currently we have an 11x14 family picture (that's 1.5 years old) and 8x10's of the kids (3) and Aaron and I (I).  We went this past weekend and had family pictures done at Portrait Innovations (which we'd never done) as they were running their free 16x20 special.  We got a picture I was really happy with, so our 16x20 should be in soon.  Which necessitated a new frame.  So I decided to try Hobby Lobby since that's where we've gotten our other frames.  They actually had a frame identical (just bigger) to the 11x14 one I have, so I was thrilled as I really like the frames we had, just felt like we needed something bigger.  There were two of this particular frame, and both were slightly damaged., one worse than the other.  So I grabbed the one I thought was doable and asked the gal about what it would take to hang it (wire kit).  I decided to mention the damage and see if there was any way they could discount it a bit (I would have been happy with 10-15%, and honestly I would have bought it as is, but still it was enough to be worth mentioning).  She said she'd ask a manager, and came back to say they could do a 66% discount if that would be OK with me.  OK?!!  I got a really nice frame for $14.95!!!  Pretty excited about that.  The current 11x14 frame I will use for a wedding picture in our bedroom that has needed a nice frame (for, ahem, almost 9 years).  

With the advent of warmer weather Aaron has been busy with yard projects, and is redoing part of the shed as the siding is rotting.  Our ornamental plum has seen its better days so he is going to take it out and plant a flowering cherry in its place.

 

The baby/toddler: He has started to do this funny stutter when he talks.  I don't think it is a problem, I think his mouth just works faster than his brain.  Lots of, "I want I want I want I want some more milk." etc.  Also, when he wants a lot of something he says I want "a lot a lot a lot a lot" and gets more intense with his voice as he goes.  It is funny.  He still has some funny, random night-waking issues where he gets very upset or has bizarre requests.  Not quite as bad as Gemma's night terrors at that age, but bizarre and sleep disruptive nevertheless.  AH parenting.

 

The kiddos: It's been a nice break in routine having Gemma home for spring break. The kids have been getting along and playing together really well this week, indoors and out.  It has been nice.  Lots of pretend play.  Lots of Gemma-led art projects.  A decent amount of reading.  It has been a nice week.  I will be ready for the change in pace that summer will bring here in 2ish  months.

In the kitchen: This week I made a really tasty stroganoff on Monday, sauteed green beans and applesauce on the side.  Tuesday was salads with crispy chicken.  My MIL bought us a really tasty balsamic vinaigrette from Sams (it is a Panera product) that was just fantastic.  We usually do homemade vinaigrette but man this stuff was good.  Wednesday we had a family dinner, but I was cooking for Father so made a white chicken chili (with enough for us today).  I also tried my hand at cheesecake for the first time and ended up making a regular and a chocolate chocolate-chip for us and Father (I'm just cooking for one this week with spring break) for the Feast of St. Joseph.  For Friday Alton Brown's Baked Stuffed Flounder with cheesy rice and asparagus for us and Baked Flounder in Lemon Soy Vinaigrette with asparagus and couscous for Father.  I need to hammer out next week's meal plan as soon as I am done blogging.  The only thing I've got so far is something with lentils, we have recently come upon an over-abundance of lentils.  

Crafting: Cheesecake?

Learning:  playtime and good books.

Reading: The usuals.  Enjoying Little Farm on the Ozarks (a continuation of the Little House books, following Laura and Almanzo and their daughter Rose to Missouri) with Gemma.  Looking forward to Be Saints!, which I purchased for G for her name-day on April 11.  I've also been getting some good picture book read-aloud titles from these lists from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts.  I've also been listening to some podcasts from The Read-Aloud Revival.

Watching: Finished up this year's season of Gold Rush.  Glad there will be another season!  Les Stroud has more bigfoot episodes coming up on Survivorman, and there is a new season of River Monsters on deck as well.  I'm sure we will watch our share of college basketball these next few weeks as well, and baseball season is right around the corner!!

Bringing me joy: Cooking.  Spring.  Spring break and a break in our regular routine. My dear hubby.  It is so nice being married to someone who I love to hang out with.  Chiminea fire and an enjoyable dinner guest last week.  Snuggling with Clem.

Thinking about: Discipline, of the "self" variety.

Pictures to share:  

This crew is ready for spring.  It's just too bad Clem lost his green aviators at Aldi less than a week after we bought them. :-(

Donuts after family pictures!!

Journal: a very very quick update

I am going to attempt to do this very very quickly, as evidenced by the title of this post.

TODAY

Out my window: Cloudy but sixty-ish.  The weekend was great and the ten-day is amazing.  I'm calling it.  Spring is here.  Amen and that other "A" word we don't use during Lent.  ;-)

Clothing myself in: meh.  Thinking about warmer weather clothes.  Is it sad that my first thought was, "I wonder where I can find some new t-shirts."  Yeah.  t-shirts.

Around the house: Oh man, I rocked the Spring cleaning this weekend.  Got all the cabinets washed and lemon-oiled PLUS did all the blinds and windows.  I have never, EVER (well at least since having kids) done that much deep cleaning in a (mostly) uninterrupted stretch.  I think it is having kids who are a little older and more self-sufficient.  And the nice weather, as they played out back the majority of the time.  Just a few more smaller-ish chores to knock off the Spring list.  I had to pull out bins because the kids were asking for shorts (HA) over the weekend, so I have that process started.  I even made a list of things the kids may need for the upcoming season.  Because ignoring wardrobes and letting them work themselves out apparently isn't going to work itself out.

 

The baby/toddler: Barfed this morning but has seemed fine-ish the rest of the day.  I have heard numerous other people talk about their kids having the same sort of "illness", so we'll see if it makes its way through anyone else.  Still trying to get the puke smell out of his bedroom carpet.  Blurgh.  SO over sickies. OH, and he knows his ABCs and can count to 12.  It is so adorable.  

 

The kiddos: They get along so well when they play outside.  It really is wonderful.  We always get to this part of the year and I wonder, marvel really, over how exactly we survived another Winter.  Seriously...

In the kitchen: Hubby made pulled pork for us yesterday, so that is what the priests are eating tomorrow.  Coleslaw on the side and some tater puffs for us.  Maybe a pizza tomorrow?  Some tacos.  Steaks on Thursday for a guest and a new recipe from Alton Brown for spinach stuffed flounder on a bed of rice and cheese sauce on Friday.  I need to either go find the recipe (since we deleted the show) or rely on my super-awesome memory...  I baked some chicken tonight and am making quesadillas for the kids.  Simple is the name of the game sometimes.

Crafting: merp

Learning: Beginning to think about Gemma's First Reconciliation/Communion prep.  I am looking at using this book with her at home and have had several great recommendations for read alouds.

Reading: Well, the usuals, and then oh my...I picked up a copy of Saints: A Closer Look by Fr. Thomas Dubay last week and I am going to need to bump something from my Top Ten list of books because it is fantastic.  My Theology teacher quotes Dubay quite frequently, and I am listening to some podcasts on the interior life and mystical prayer that are also largely based on his writings and oh.my.wow. Goooooooood stuffs.

Watching: Gold Rush finale.

Bringing me joy: Theology. Breakfast and time catching up with a dear friend. Reading. Family. Prayer. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather. Springlike weather.

Thinking about: Prayer. Heroic virtue. The saints. Co-redemptive suffering. And wardrobes.

Pictures to share:  

Kolbe drew a snowman-pig-alien (and then Clement ripped its head off).

Gemma's train town.

Journal: Hello March

TODAY

Out my window:  Snow.  About 4 inches of it.  Hello, March.  Did you not get the memo?  It is March.  That should mean Spring.  Stat.

Clothing myself in: Jeans, tank, sweatshirt thing, double socks.  And my trusty apron, because I am working on some food prep.

Around the house: Gemma got to spend the night with my parents on Friday, so it was just me and the boys Saturday.  Since I don't do a lot of chores or cooking on Saturdays, I decided to sit down with Shutterfly and hammer out our 2014 photo book.  Whew!  I worked for probably 4+ hours (on and off) but it is finished and ordered!  Can't wait to get it!!  I did a month per two page spread (mainly) and wrote a paragraph of simple captions for each month.  Much more manageable than doing quarterly photo books (which was my original plan).  Now, if I am really on the ball I can start the 2015 one now and just do a spread a month. We'll see...

 

The baby/toddler: He says the "L" sound for every "R" when he speaks.  For instance, today he is wearing his GLEEN shirt.  It is really funny listening to him talk.  He is very articulate for 2.5 (IMHO) and I love conversing with him. 

 

The kiddos:  Well, Gemma woke up and puked during the night and now she has a fever today.  Bleh, I thought we were done with this.  Just kind of waiting for the other shoe to fall with the boys now.  Clem slept late (7am) this morning, and then laid around on his bed for like an hour around 10, but now he is acting normal, so who knows.

Kolbe, oh my it is good to have him back after his little whatever that was back in January.  He is so stinkin' sweet.  He tells me, "I love you," and "I am having the best day ever," and "I am so glad that you are my mommy," dozens of times a day.  It is incredibly endearing.  I got him new underwear this past week and I think he has thanked me for them no less than 37 times.  He has started writing me letters, where whatever he wants to say he just writes the first letter.  Like, for "I love mom," he will write "I L mom."  I remember Gemma doing this (although I think it was when she was four).  So sweet.  He is progressing, even if he is a little behind where she was. 

In the kitchen: Last week we had a pot of chili to share with my in-laws while watching basketball; a leftover night (and the Fathers had some shredded Mexican chicken); beef roast with potatoes and veggies and some homemade Honey Oatmeal Wheat bread; Nantucket baked cod (yummo) with roasted brussel sprouts (us) and roasted asparagus (Fathers) -- see picture...hey! I've got to take a break and do some quality control once in awhile).  This week I'm currently in the prep stages for two big pans of lasagna (one for us, one for the Fathers), roasted broccoli and cauliflower and some focaccia bread on the side; some salads, maybe with crispy chicken; Dijon chicken with wild rice, green beans, and whatever fresh fruit is a good price this week; veggie tortellini soup (thanks Mlada!) with some hummus with chips and baby carrots.  I tell you, springing for the double oven when we redid the kitchen has proven to be a good call.

Crafting: I have decided cooking counts as crafting.  So there.  See above.  And to add to that, I made my first French Silk Pie week before last.

Learning:  Working a little more on handwriting with Kolbe.  I chatted with the OT at the school where he attends Speech regarding his abysmal pencil grip, and after looking at some samples of his handwriting, she has assured me to just let it go while encouraging activities that will build arm/hand strength and encourage a proper grip.  This was relieving.  He writes very nicely, and every time I try to correct his grip it ends in frustration. 

Reading: The usuals, Theology, Philosophy, Confessions.  I am enjoying the Philosophy sooooo much.  It really makes me think, I usually have to re-read every few paragraphs to really wrap my mind around it.  I wish I could take a class, but I feel like I am absorbing enough with the reading to make it worthwhile.  This particular book is incredibly accessible to someone without much prior philosophical knowledge, so that helps.

Watching: Sneaking up on the end of the Gold Rush season, and we saw where there is going to be a season 7 of River Monsters.  Yeah.  We are TV super-nerds.  

Bringing me joy: Kolbe.  Morning Prayer, especially when I can drag my lazy-bones out of bed before everyone else is up.   Coffee.  An evening spent catching up with good friends.  Listening to good music on my phone with my new speaker.  Looking forward to this CD!!

Thinking about: The interior life.  Sin and flaws/vices.  Cooking.  Spring.  I have decided to not think about new-season wardrobes this year, they will just work themselves out.  Really.

Pictures to share:  

Kolbe has been really into dominoes lately.  This is his domino rendering of a robot.

My uncle texted me this the other day and I thought it was funny.