TODAY
Out my window: The snow is MELTING! It has been really nice out, and the forecast for the next 7 days doesn't even go below freezing. So awesome!! I still remember Spring two years ago, I have pictures of the kids playing on the deck in short sleeves and barefoot the first week in March, and the trees were all bloomed out. Could it be? I will not get my hopes up... I will not get my hopes up... I will not get my hopes up...
Clothing myself in: Dark-wash bootcut jeans from Maurices. A brown patterned top with a cami under it and a coral colored shrug on top. Bare feet. (!!!!!) And speaking of feet, guess who got three new pair of shoes for $17 at Kohl's yesterday?!! A pair of black leather (!!) dress flats (to replace the non-leather ones that I destroyed traipsing through the woods last Fall when we took family pictures), some ruby-red flats (fun!) and my summer bum-around flip-flops. Woot! Good times.
Around the house: I did a bunch of reorganizing in the storage room(s). We have two separate rooms that are linked together (it's hard to explain) and I got stuff moved around where all our kids' stuff is in the back room (bedrail, car-seats, bouncy-saucer, packed-away toys, tubs and tubs and tubs -- oh my -- of clothes, etc.) and the front room is our pantry, Christmas decos, and other stuff that is packed away. We had a bunch of old big boxes (like from toilets and our glider rocker) that were just sitting around and I collapsed and recycled them all too.
The baby/toddler: Spent several nights this week screaming in my face during the night for no apparent reason (teeth). Good times. His bottom two molars have broken through though, and the past few nights have been much more...bearable. He is repeating more and more sounds each week. He loves Gemma's toy kitty. He likes to push around the shopping cart and stack our bottles and tubs from the kitchen cabinets.
The kiddos: Were on the news!!! Daddy gave me the afternoon off yesterday (cf new shoes) and took them to the zoo and the news was there doing a story on the nice weather. They miked, mic-ed, (how do you spell that word?) Aaron up and followed him around for like 15 minutes I guess. It was really cute, we DVRd it and the kids loved seeing themselves on TV.
In the kitchen: We're baking a smoked-turkey tonight and making broccoli salad and brussel sprouts and our neighbors are bringing over a potato dish to have dinner together. We miss our neighbors so much in the winter when we don't see them outdoors as much, so it will be good to get together. French Dips on whole-grain sourdough tomorrow, b-fast casserole, maybe a pot of chili and definitely a left-overs night this coming week.
Crafting: Cringe. Shudder. Nothin'.
Learning: Qq week this week. Some good picture books and I still need to figure out an activity for preschool co-op. Thinking something to do with ducks (quack). Gemma has a whole laundry-list of tasks to do during homework time (sight-word flashcards, review spelling words, read a book, handwriting practice, etc.) so I made her a little checklist to go through each day and hung it on the fridge. It has cut down on (a little of) the craziness during homework time...when Kolbe is clamoring for my attention as well and Clem is usually busy eating a crayon or dumping water on the floor. I ordered some counters to go with our math manipulatives and am looking forward to using them, especially as Gemma is beginning to learn about subtraction.
Reading: same. Hoping to do more read-alouds with the kids this summer. We've kind of fallen off the boat with that and I miss it. I need to get more books on CD for the kids I think.
Watching: Oh Goldrush is so painful, it is hard to watch. I can't believe the season is almost over. Pawn Stars is becoming less enjoyable, it used to be so interesting learning about all the stuff that came into the shop and now they have all these little made-up side-plots and such and it just isn't nearly as fun to watch. For us. Because we're lame. Some Olympics. Aaron has gotten into this show about Oak Island that's kind of interesting.
Bringing me joy: Good times...spending time with a dear friend of ours who is now a priest and attending his Mass of Thanksgiving where I also got to reconnect with his sister (who is a Dominican sister, and was my best friend in high school). An afternoon off, spent going to confession/spiritual direction, shopping and aforementioned Mass. By myself. Seeing the kids on the news, and seeing how excited they were to see themselves. Nicer weather and hope for Spring. Looking forward to a date with my hubby. Sweet new picture (see sidebar) of my big 19-month-old!!
Thinking about: Lent preparations.
Pictures to share:
Hundredth day of school
My boys
My hubby and me. We never ever take pictures together. And when we finally get one, we are wearing colanders on our heads. Good times, folks, good times!
