Journal: a rainy afternoon

The big kids are watching Clifford and the baby is napping on the loveseat (don't judge), so I think I will journal.

TODAY

Out my window:  It is rainy and cool outside, very late Fall looking and feeling.  I like it.  But I still dread winter.

Clothing myself in:  Jeans, tank, Old Navy sweatshirt.  Debating about some socks, it's getting chillier as the day goes on.

Around the house: Kitchen renovation is COMPLETE (aside from sealing the travertine backsplash which needs to be done towards the end of the week when the grout is done curing).  It took about 72 hours from start to finish, and while we didn't do any of the work ourselves Aaron did a great job playing contractor.  Everything went off without a hitch until the very end when Aaron and our tile guy were installing the over-mount microwave (those things are tricky) and one of the brackets fell into the inside of the microwave.  Thankfully Lowe's had another microwave in stock and let Aaron come and switch it out.  Other than that, everything went so very smoothly!  We are grateful and enjoying our "new" space immensely.  We are also enjoying homecooked meals again.  72 hours of carry-out left us with some hung.over. guts.  Oh my goodness...

 

The baby: Is sleeping.  By himself.  I don't care if it is on the couch.  He is NAPPING!  Of course, now he probably won't go to bed so easily or early.  He is a busy boy and likes to keep up with the big kids (a little too much probably). 

 

The kiddos:  

GEMMA has recently turned a corner, and many of the things that were huge struggles with her seem to have ironed themselves out more or less.  I'm not saying she doesn't still have her issues, but oh my we have taken many steps forward in the past month or so it seems.  It is refreshing.  She is really growing up.  I cannot believe she will be six in a couple months.

KOLBE has also turned a corner, but he seems to have turned the wrong way down a one-way street.  OH my has he been trying lately.  And by "trying", I do not mean trying to be good.  More like "trying" every ounce of patience that I have, and then borrowing from there.  Spitting, aggressiveness, not listening, throwing toys, not listening.  He keeps me on my toes (understatement of the century).  Guess he feels like he has to step it up now that things are going better with Gemma??  I don't know.  I am grateful that he is at least temporarily quiet and calm on the couch right now.  Thank you, Clifford.  Other than that I am just surviving each day, attempting to be peaceful and patient and loving, and trying to savor the times that he is my lovey, snuggly little guy (usually at bedtime). 

In the kitchen:  REAL FOOD!  WW spaghetti with beef/Italian sausage and lots of spinach and mushrooms last night, flounder tonight with some sort of side dishes TBD.  Not sure what Aaron is cooking on Thursday.  Salmon, fried rice and steamed broccoli.  Family dinner.  I should probably make more muffins now that we're up and running again, the kids love muffins. 

Crafting: Kolbe's space rocket costume last week!  I also performed surgery on a bra to remove the underwire.  That counts, right?  NO comments from the peanut gallery please (yes I'm talking to you U.J.). 

Learning:  Gemma has been practicing her November sight words and color words and I think will test on them soon.  Kolbe also has flashcards to do each day for speech, so I made the kids each sticker charts for the fridge and they put a sticker on each day when they've done their cards.  This seems to help everyone (me included) remember to do these important things each day! 

Reading: Prayer for Beginners (ILL, so I need to hurry) and The Faith Understood.  Trying to read a saint story each morning at breakfast with the kids for the month of November.

Watching:  Finished episodes I and II of Catholicism.  Enjoying the new season of Gold Rush!! and have a number of Pawn Stars on our DVR to catch up on.    

Bringing me joy:  A fun Halloween with the hubby and munchkins.  A new kitchen.  Kind people.  Rainy Tuesdays.  Autumn leaves.  A quiet afternoon with the baby (thanks mom!) when the kids were going nuts (another understatement) with workers in the house.  People who are uplifting and kind when my kids (ahemKOLBEahem) make Mass, um, challenging. 

Thinking about: Prayer.  And Low-flow toilets.  Does it really save water when you have to flush it three times?

Pictures to share: 

Matching brothers.

Journal: I think it is going to be Winter forever

TODAY

Out my window:  Um, Spring?  Where are you?? In case you haven't looked at the calendar, it is now mid-April.  Come on already.  That said, we have enjoyed some time outdoors on the (seemingly few) nicer days we've had.  And oh, regarding the snaggle-toothed furry mis-predictor of Spring of whom I spoke quite deprecatingly last week...there was a bit of confusion on my part regarding the opinions of a certain reader in Denver who shall remain unnamed.  While he is understandably experiencing much angst about their current weather, no "hate" is actually being felt toward the mangy perpetrator.  He did however mention something about a bounty...  OK, inside joke over.  In all seriousness though, this kind of weather in mid-April is ultra-depressing.

Clothing myself in:  Jeans and a t-shirt.  So original. So classy.  

Around the house:  Packed away a bunch of the kids' clothes.  I toss stuff they've outgrown on closet shelves, and then when there's enough I haul it downstairs and toss it in a laundry basket.  And then when it piles up into a big, scary, unruly pile of randomly-sized sort-of folded clothes, I whine and complain and then sort through them all and put them away in the correct tubs.  I do the same thing with my paper filing.  And as soon as I'm done I vow I will always file things the minute they leave my hands.  And I never. do.  Now you know.

The laptop hunt is on.  A friend's hubby (thank you!) took a look at the Toshiba, and even if he replaced the motherboard there is a good chance the same thing could happen again with the USB's.  Ugh.  I'm  managing OK without the USB's, but I'd really like to get a new laptop with Windows7 (read: not Windows8) and I don't now how much longer that is going to be an option.  Stupid technology. 

 

The baby:  Oh goodness he's not crawling yet but boy can he get around!!  Wowza, life is about to get even more interesting (is that possible?) in this house once he takes off.  He can go from belly to sitting now, and is pulling up on his knees.  He had his 9 month well-child last week, he weighed 17 lbs 6 oz and was 28 inches long.   He really likes to feed himself little chunks of food, so much so that I actually gave away the baby food I had made for him.  I do not miss baby food.  He has tried many various veggies, fruits, meats, beans, fish and whole-oat cereal.  He still nurses a lot too.

 

The kiddos:  Gemma is sounding out words and writing left and right.  Her spellings crack me up.  I got confirmation that we will have half-day kindergarten available at our Catholic school next year, so for that I am grateful.  I think it will make our family's (and Gemma's) transition into school much smoother.  I am beginning to really look forward to next year, it'll be a huge change for our family no doubt, but I think school is going to be a very good thing for our Gemma-girl. 

Kolbe had his speech screening last week.  He was very quiet and nervous but the gal doing the screening was really sweet and got him talking even so.  His language (ability to communicate and understand) tested fine, but she gave him a referral for speech, so the next step is to have him tested in our district and see if he qualifies for services.  And then go from there...  We'll see what that brings.  Everyone seems to think that it is quite odd that I'm not planning to send him to preschool, so that's a little frustrating.  I just want him to have the help he needs (IE speech pathology) while still meeting the needs I am able to meet in our home.  Does that make sense?

In the kitchen: Pork cutlets, mashed potatoes/cauliflower, steamed broccoli; Beef/Italian Sausage and Veggie Lasagna with green beans; crock-pot chicken, still debating on sides; Fish Crisp and maybe a fruit salad.  Hubby made sushi over the weekend.  Yum!

Crafting: ahhhh, nope.

Learning: Nothing terribly exciting or out of the ordinary.  Thinking about this Letter of the Week program for Kolbe next year.  And this.

Reading: Finished Bible Basics for Catholics.  Nothing earth-shattering, but a nice overview of Salvation History never-the-less.  Still working through the Catechism.  Started Navigating the Interior Life and A Father Who Keeps His Promises this week.  Those fictions from the library are still on the end-table, but the thought of reading four books at once seems silly.  Yet I haven't taken them back...  So many good books, so. little. time.

Watching:  We're about 3/4's the way through (TV) Episode 4 of The Bible.  I'll just come right out and say I liked the way they portrayed the Old Testament better.  The New just seems really disjointed, like they took a bunch of the stories of Jesus' ministry and just kind of mashed them together so they could cover all His "most quoted" moments.  I don't know, it's just weird to me.  We have about three hours (really probably closer to two once we zip thru commercials) to go, so we'll see what the final verdict is, but honestly I've liked it less the more I've watched.  The thing I DO like though, is it's got me thinking and kind of lit a fire under my butt to read the Bible more, and that's a really good thing.    

Bringing me joy: A date with Aaron.  We went on a walk around the neighborhood and actually visited instead of having a dog and three kids strung out a block-and-a-half between us.  Then we sat at the dinner table.  At home.  For FIFTY minutes.  Yes, five-zero.  And we had our wine and food ON THE TABLE!!  The whole time.  And nobody spilled anything or threw any food.  It is funny for me to think that this was the norm for us five years ago.  We had no idea how good we had it!!  And don't get me wrong, I love my life, love my kids, wouldn't trade it for the world, all that cliche stuff.  But oh, it was nice to have a couple hours together away from the kids. 

Thinking about: Prayer.  How to live a life of prayer amidst my vocation, rather than in spite of it.  My relationship with Gemma, how to help her through the anger and tantrums that she so struggles with.  And just my relationship with her in general.  We are a lot alike and I feel like we are constantly at each other's throats.  And while I don't want (or need) to be her BFF, I'd still like us to have a happy, healthy, loving relationship, and right now it just rarely feels that way. 

Pictures to share: 

Silly monkeys.  Errrr, monkey and dragon.  (Halloween costumes are fun year-round!!)

Kolbe is my child who will fall asleep (and stay asleep) anywhere.

 Look-alike brothers.