Journal: well hello there

So I took a little hiatus.  See sidebar for the big little addition to our family.  :-)
TODAY

Out my window: Hot.  Summer.  There is a piece of masking tape across the sliding door to remind people to "mind the gap" when they walk out, as we're having the siding redone and there is a plank out of the deck so they can get to the siding below.  No one in my family knows what "mind the gap" means so they look at me like I'm psychotic when I say it.  I think it's funny.  My potted flowers are staying alive as long as I water them, and I really like how they look on the deck this year.  The purslane has gone crazy.  As has the "tiny" tomato plant that our neighbor gave us.  It is almost as tall as the Japanese Maple (which is admittedly a smaller tree) and has started using the deck as a trellis.

Around the house: New siding is the big thing now.  And then Aaron will be painting. Gulp.  We ordered new chairs for the dining table as ours look like kids have been using them for the last 10 years.  Sigh.  We can't have nice things.  Weighing options for bedrooms once the baby gets older.  Right now she's in a bassinet in our room at night and a pack and play in the basement for naps.  She will grow out of the bassinet soon though so we'll probably bring the pack and play upstairs to our room since we have ample space and set the crib up in the basement for naps.  After that who knows.  The plan is to have a girls' room, a boys' room and a homework room.  Still debating who will use what rooms and which beds.  We have a year or so.  I got a new laptop about a month ago, so that's been pretty great (the other one was going on 7 years and, how shall we say, showing its age) and found a new purse that can fit a small diaper clutch and lightweight blanket (which is all we ever need, amazing how much lighter I travel with four than I did with one) along with my things I need.  I have found TJ Maxx to be a great place for quality purses (even nice label ones if you care about that sort of thing) at a fraction of the price. I also got some shoes for work and updated my Sperrys. 

The kiddos:  Not gonna lie, this summer has been kind of awful.  The fighting.  The loudness. (I think it is amplified and I become hyper-sensitive when there's a sleeping baby in the house.) Kolbe broke his arm so that put an abrupt end to baseball and swimming.  And a lot of other outdoor things that require throwing, catching, running, riding or climbing.  Which is pretty much everything.  The fighting.  Did I mention the fighting?  Holy moly, people.  We need the school year.  The structure brings us order and balance.  Or at least it cuts down somewhat on the insanity. Clem recently celebrated his fifth birthday, he had a great day.  He had been gearing up for his birthday for months and it didn't disappoint.

The baby: She's pretty great.  After 3+ months, guilt or sentimentality or something won out and I decided to order a baby calendar like the one I did for Clem.  Not a baby book, but a nice keepsake for milestones and such.  Hopefully I can fill in the holes in the first three months between my Facebook feed (lol) and a few notes I've kept on my phone.  Maura is an easy baby.  She's had some more restless nights the past week or so, but often only wakes up once or twice, which is unlike any other child I've had.  She naps pretty well, nurses well, burps and spits up a ton, smiles all the time, likes her hands, is growing out of the bouncy chair (she wants to sit up. ACK, slow down girl!!) enjoys the stroller and likes being worn.  She is easy-going with all the coming and going and even does decent with the noise (even so I still tend to get pretty psycho when the kids are loud while she is sleeping).  We love her.

In the kitchen: Sushi night (homemade) tonight and steaks out for our 11th anniversary last night.  Up this week: lasagna, hamburgers, some other sort of grilled food, probably a salad night.  I have some potatoes I need to use for a starchy side with something, for vegetables I am so boring and just steam a bag of something frozen nine times out of ten.  I realized how lazy I was when I was towards the end of my pregnancy and absolutely bemoaning the fact that I had to tip and tail green beans.  Hashtag lame.

Learning:  I downloaded summer packets for all three kids from Teachers Pay Teachers.  And that's as far as I got.  Didn't even get around to printing them.  Sigh.  They really loved them last summer and even worked on them some during the school year so maybe I will get around to it?  They have done lots of reading.  It's really cool having TWO very independent readers, and Clem really likes CD books.

Reading: I've been in a rut.  Currently making my way through Chiara Corbella Petrillo and Middle School General Music: The Best Part of your Day as I will be teaching a section of sixth and a section of seventh this year.

Watching: mainly MLB.

Bringing me joy: I am pretty excited about my work schedule this year.  I am still cooking for Father (even though he moved parishes, it was still neighboring enough to where we live to work out!) and I will still be teaching, albeit a scaled back schedule, as referenced above.  I will teach between 2-3 hours on a rotating schedule of two mornings one week, three mornings the following. I think it will be just right, and it brings me joy to be able to keep a foot in the working world (which I LOVED last year) while still being primarily at home with the baby and a half-day kindergartener, and my other kids after school each day.

Thinking about: Paths to holiness.  Keeping my patience in check.  Priorities.  

Pictures to share: 

The family on  July 4, after the annual parade.

birthday boy with his loot

happy girl

monthly couch pic!

Journal: Fourth of July, middle of Summer

TODAY

Out my window: Hot and windy.  The weather for the Fourth was nearly perfect.  Very light wind, not too hot.  It was a great day!  Warmer today, but the ten day is definitely bearable.

Around the house: I went through my closet/drawers and packed away the clothes I don't wear, or that I wear but don't particularly like.  If I haven't missed them in six months to a year I will donate them.  I also went through all our baby/little girl clothes tubs that I have packed away and was able to get rid of three tubs' worth, still saving enough that were we to have another girl some day she would be adequately clothed.  We came into so many clothes (gifts, hand-me-downs, consignments, etc.) with Gemma, and I kept everything.  We do not need everything.  To that note, if anyone knows of someone with a little girl who will be wearing size 18 month clothes this winter, I would love to pass a big bag along to them.

 

The kiddos:

CLEMENT will be THREE this week.  Three!!!  He is obsessed with the word "poop".  He sings it, he says it., he yells it, he whispers it.  At home.  At Church.  And Church.  It is apparently the awesomest word ever.  (See picture below of the firework aptly named "The Poopy Puppy".  So fitting.)  He has gotten very emphatic with his final consonants, especially when he is trying to make a point.  He can't say words with "R" blends at the beginning.  Or rather, he changes the "R" to an "L".  Gleen instead of green, clunchy instead of crunchy.  I may or may not encourage these words by pronouncing them wrong myself, and will be admittedly devastated when he grows out of this speech habit.  He thought fireworks were pretty neat.  We let all three kids stay up last night and they had SO much fun.  Clement thought the big loud ones were pretty cool as long as he was sitting on my lap.  I'm glad he still likes to snuggle with me sometimes, because he reminds me more than once a day, "I are NOT a baby," said in the sternest, most grumpiest tone you can imagine.  He is a funny kid.

KOLBE was our little pyro on the Fourth of July.  I am glad firecracker day only happens once a year.  He was pretty careful though and had so much fun.  He thought lighting things after dark was pretty much the best thing ever.  He seems to have grown out of his food sensitivities.  Back in May we were at an anniversary celebration and he was positively heartbroken he couldn't have a cupcake, so we fudged and let him have one and figured we'd just take the hit, but then he didn't react to it by breaking out.  Since then we have kept up our typical eating habits at home but have loosened up at grandparents', parties, Church functions, etc. and save for one flare-up after a DQ M&M blizzard, he has weathered it fine.  I am so immensely relieved.  This makes school, and all the food that goes along with it, seem much more doable come this Fall.  Sigh.  Thank you God.

GEMMA is having a good Summer, but I can tell some days she's a little under-stimulated.  I have some guilt about not doing enough educational things with them in the summers (oh, I had plans for math and handwriting and phonics lessons...), but then if I offer to go over math facts or something equally "exciting" it is typically not met with open arms.  (Understatement.)  We really have done some cool "out of the box" educational stuff (and read a ton of great books) this summer, so I rationalize that they can do their bookwork from September to May, and focus on some more of the non-traditional learning activities during the summer months.  That's fair, right?  I hope the first semester of school treats her well.  In Kdg and 1st Grade she seemed to really hit her groove...about February.  Sigh.  I am hoping maybe with Kolbe being in school too (albeit half day) it will make things a little easier.  It's not that she dislikes school, she really seems very content with it overall.  Blah, I don't know.  She will also be preparing for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and Eucharist.  It will be a big year.  We got her uniforms the other day.  They are pretty big, so I am hoping we can squeeze three years out of them (at which point she'll switch to skirts).

All three kids recently had doctor appointments, here are their height and weight stats (this is mainly for my record-keeping purposes, you can skip this part).
Gemma: 7 1/2 years, 53 inches (96%ile), 52.1 lbs (47%ile)
Her hair is finally growing and she was so excited it was long enough to do a "star" on the Fourth of July!!
Kolbe: 5 1/2 years, 47 inches (94%ile), 42.6 lbs (49%ile)
Clement: 3 years, 37 inches (46%ile), 27.6 lbs (12%ile)

In the kitchen: Planning to try and get our digestive systems back after the Fourth and all its, um, festive eating.  Ugh.  Grilling today, homemade pizza tomorrow (I found a great new crust recipe), salads, beef stroganoff and ribs the rest of the week.

Learning:  Blah.  See above.

Reading: Check out my latest Read aloud Thursday post for what I'm reading with the kids.  I am almost finished with Happy Are You Poor.  It has been an incredibly impactful read, and I've been discussing it with Aaron quite a bit.  It is a perspective-changer, that's for sure.  I need to get back into Introduction to the Devout Life, and now that I'm finished with Theology, I picked up a copy of Theology for Beginners as a bit of a review, and for some future Theology work I may be doing.

Watching:  MLB mainly.

Bringing me joy: Family.  Friends.  Summer.  The kids and I are visiting area Churches for daily Mass twice weekly this summer, and that has been a really neat opportunity that I am enjoying immensely.  The kids have been doing pretty decent with Mass, and usually there is a fun new playground at which to play...an added bonus!

Thinking about: Always something.

Pictures to share:  

Three (two pictured) of our very favorite readers visited from out of state, so we had to take some pictures for the blog!!!

Read aloud Thursday: summer

It's Thursday somewhere, right?  Oh wait, that only works with 5:00.  Oh well.  Here's what we've been reading...

CHAPTER BOOKS

Still working through The Moffats.  My only complaint about this one (and complaint really is a lame word) is that the chapters are really long.  Like, longer than what one sitting usually is for us, especially as this is a book that I pegged for mealtime/snack-time reading.  But don't let that deter you.  It really is a great book.  Has anyone read the rest of the books in this series?

Gemma and I read The Prairie Skies trilogy recently, which included: 

Pioneer Summer
Cabin in the Snow 
Our Kansas Home

I would highly recommend these books.  They introduced slavery in a very understandable way for their target audience and provided some great opportunities for discussion.  We also read The Sod House, which I thought was okay but nothing special, and to go with it I also checked out Sod Houses on the Great Plains which was a really good explanation of the "why?" and "how?" of sod houses.  These books on the westward expansion have been fun and informative, so in keeping with the theme I think we may read the Latsch Valley Farm series next.  I requested the first two through ILL and you never know with that how long it might take them to come, but I'm hoping it will be soon.  Any other recommendations along that vein?

For Kolbe, we've been reading Leroy Ninker Saddles Up.

FROM THE BOOKSHELF
I was at Kohls the other day to get Gemma's uniform shirts and we stumbled upon their Kohls Cares for Kids display and oh my word did that ever make my day.  For $5 each we got our very own brand new hard copies of A Sick Day for Amos McGee and And Then It's Spring, both of which have been on my wishlist for quite some time.  I'm still wondering if I should have gone ahead and picked up Bear Has a Story to Tell and If You Want to See a Whale...

FROM THE LIBRARY

We've had several Leo Lionni books recently, and Kolbe has taken a particular liking to them.  I pointed them out on the shelf to him last time we were at the library, and the next time I turned around he had chosen one of each, HA!  I enjoy all these books, but my very favorite by Lionni is An Extraordinary Egg.

WEEKLY THEME BOOKS
Currently we have "summer" books in the basket, and next week I intend to toss some Independence Day ones in as well.  Some faves:
When Lightning Comes in a Jar - I can not read this book with out turning into a horrible sappy mess at the end, no matter how hard I try. 
Summer Wonders and Summer Days and Nights seem to make their into our basket every year (probably because I request them every year....)
The Gardener was neat, and would go well with a study of The Depression Era.
Come On, Rain! is so great, I think it falls into the "magical" category.  Maybe not as meaningful when we're not experiencing a drought, but magical nevertheless.
The Watermelon Seed always causes copious giggles and to go along with it we have Watermelon Wishes and Icy Watermelon.
Aunt Minnie McGrannahan was a very sweet story, and while not necessarily summer, it went nicely with Aunt Minnie and the Twister, which is a little more summer specific in these parts.
Adele and Simon in America is one we enjoy every year, and this year we have our very own (former library) copy.  No, I didn't steal it from the library, in case you were wondering.
How to Bake an American Pie is always good
The Star Spangled Banner seemed necessary, and I can honestly say I don't know that we've ever gotten this version.

We have a Ugandan priest visiting our parish, and the kids (namely Gemma) are going to be sending some hand-me-down clothing and shoes with him back to Uganda to share with our brothers and sisters there, so I have a pile of books about Africa (I believe there is one that is Uganda specific) to share with them some day here soon.  I got my inspiration here.
Well, that's all, folks!  Happy reading!

Journal: Fourth of July

TODAY (started Friday evening)

Out my window:  Fireworks.  Gorgeous weather for the Fourth.  It was even prettier yesterday.  Is this July?  In Kansas??

Clothing myself in:  Jean shorts and a t-shirt.

Around the house: Got the furniture (mostly) moved out of the bedroom in the basement.  We are having the ceiling re-blown this weekend, painting it in the next week or so (hopefully) and re-carpeting the basement within the next month(ish) in preparation to move Gemma downstairs and both boys in Gemma/Kolbe's room.  I *think* we're ready for this...we shall see.  Gemma is not a huge fan of the basement, and Clem is not a huge fan of sleeping through the night, soooooooo...  I will be glad to get all the shuffling around done.  We still need to get some odds and ends, this and that, so it will be an ongoing project for the foreseeable future.

 

The baby/toddler:  Our conversations of late go like this:

Mommy: Clement, how old are you going to be on your birthday?
Clement: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

The sad thing about that is that "two" is the one number he knows.  He was playing hide-and-seek with Gemma the other day and they were taking turns hiding and seeking.  When he was the seeker, he would go to the stairs, bury his head and go, "two, two, two, COME!!!" and then run to look for her.  It was adorable.  

He also likes to point his finger at you and make this really weird guttural sound with his teeth and throat.  Boy much?

When he is finished with something (the toilet, a toy, etc.) he will shout from wherever he is, "DONNNNNNNE MOMMY!!!!"  It is so cute.

One of his favorite snack foods is a banana.  When he wants one he will come to my feet and yell, "A NANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

By the next time I blog he will be a two year old. How?

 

The kiddos:  They've been pretty excited about their Fourth of July fireworks.  Kolbe's faves were smoke bombs and poppers (we live pretty dangerously over here) and Gemma is excited because we are letting her stay up late tonight (the boys are in bed sleeping).  She and daddy are currently on a fire-fly walk and then she is going to watch some fireworks with us.  Such a big girl!!  She was pretty excited to get to do something so special!

In the kitchen: Aaron smoked some pulled-pork and it turned out super good.  He's been honing his method for several years now and I think he's really got it down.  Pizza next week and probably more salad and I'm making some honey chicken to celebrate Clem's bday with my family.

Crafting: heh heh, does the basement remodel count?

Learning:  We've been keeping up with daily schoolwork in the mornings 2-4 days a week.  The kids seem to be enjoying it pretty well, Kolbe asked to "do school" this (July 4) morning and I had to remind him it was a holiday.  ;-)

(continued Saturday morning)

I was interested in starting some virtue study/character formation with the kids, and a few of my friends recommended the PACE program.   My friend Michelle was kind enough to loan me her guide, and we got started the beginning of this month.  It is so easy, and so wonderful.  Stories from The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass, recommended picture books, divided by age level, for each virtue, Bible stories and quotes (writing and other extension activities are available as well).  I made a paper with our virtue on it for the fridge so we are frequently reminded of it, and we read a book/story/discussion during breakfast.  Boom.  Done.  Did I mention how easy this all was to pull together?  Mama is thrilled. 

Reading: The kids finished their goals for the Summer Reading Program at the library.  Kolbe and Gemma both did 100 bks, and Clem had 25 on his chart.  We came home with copies of The Mitten, Bear Shadow (I love Frank Asch's bear stories...I may or may not have picked this one out myself for Clement), and Let's Count Goats, plus the assortment of restaurant coupons they give out.  The thing the kids were MOST excited about though was a coupon for a "shopping spree" in the Walgreens toy aisle (up to $9.99 value).   We had a blast spending about 45 minutes shopping together.  It was like our Target runs, only they actually got to buy something!!  They are pictured to the left with their loot, they all picked their things out with no help from mama (besides reading prices...over and over and over ;-)

I have too many books going on at once:
The Hidden Power of Kindness (this is positively wonderful, the kind of reading I consider "candy")

The Book Thief (I am really trying to like it, but the writing style is so odd)

Living Beyond Your Feelings (yes, a self-help book, I know...)

Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence (just started this one, I have super-high hopes)
The Problem of Pain 

Just started The Long Winter with Gemma.

Watching:  Duck Dynasty's current season.  I still like the show, and I think the Robertsons are a great family, but I definitely think the older seasons were funnier and less staged.  Oh well.

Bringing me joy:  Fourth of July fireworks, watching Gemma watch them for the first time.  Kolbe's excitement over buying firecrackers at the local Knight's tent.  Oh my word, that boy! Aforementioned Walgreens trip.  Chatting on the phone with my dad.  Going to the Fourth of July parade in my hometown.  For years, after we moved, I didn't go.  Had no interest in going back.  And while I have zero desire for small town life, I am to the point where I do enjoy going back for the parade each year.  And the kids love it!!  Well, except for Clement, who clearly had better things to do (zzzzzzzzzzzzzz).

Thinking about: Kindness.  Minimalism.  Consumerism.  Electronics.  Balance.  Sibling relationships.  Responsibilities.  Parenting.  Wash machines. The price of peace (which sometimes is very expensive and can involve things like corn starch all over my kitchen floor).  How's that for stream-of-consciousness?  

Pictures to share:  

Cousins at the parade.

And this.  My boy.  My dear little four-year-old first-born son in his ever-crooked bicycle helmet.  I hope that I can always remember how he looks like this, because it just melts my heart every single time.