Journal: back to Summer! and some pictures

TODAY

Out my window:  Warm, muggy, cloudy-ish.  We didn't get near the rains predicted for this week immediately around us, but less than a dozen miles north of us they had seven inches the other night.  Remarkable.  The kids are going to VBS at a neighboring parish this week and wanted to play at their park one day this week, so we picked Tuesday and had a picnic lunch and they played for two hours.  It was a bit muggy but in the seventies.  We couldn't have picked a better day.

Around the house: QUARANTINE IS OVER!!!  WooHOOOOOO!!!!!!!  Other than that, nothing of note, really.  Our sheets and bedspread in our master bedroom are starting to seriously wear out (like, I have mended them multiple times), so I think we may be in the market for new ones at some point.  Christmas maybe?

 

The kiddos:

Gemma has been fantastic of late.  Oh, she has had her not-so-fantastic moments as well but over all, oh my word.  She is really stepping up in her big sister role with the boys... she will play for hours with them at the park.  She has been putting them to bed.  Reading to them for 20-30 minutes at a time.  It is wonderful to see her blossom, and I am enjoying this more-grown-up version of her more and more every day.  Life is so different around here than it was five years ago.

Kolbe is having a BLAST at VBS this week.  I mean, Gemma is having a great time too, but Kolbe, WOW.  He will come up to me a dozen times a day to tell me a long drawn-out story about something that he got to do or something he learned or saw.  This is very un-Gemma.  I have learned just to be quiet with her and let her tell me what she wants, when she wants, and not press the issue if she doesn't feel like talking.  And she usually doesn't.  But I've made peace with that.  I digress...  If this week is any sort of prelude to how kindergarten will be for Kolbe, I think it will be a great year.   

Clement is getting a taste for what it's like to be the only kid at home in the mornings this week.  He plays incredibly well by himself, which really mystifies me.  Maybe it is because he is so used to playing with his siblings that it is a welcome reprieve?  I don't know.  But it tickles me.  His favorite thing to do of late has been making picnics with our play food.  This is a very intricate process which can sometimes keep him busy for 45 minutes or an hour.

In the kitchen: I made bierocks this week.  I think the last time I made them was when I was pregnant with Clement maybe?  They were super-tasty.  We've been having more salads.  They taste good anytime, but especially during Summer it seems.  Planning on a chicken stir-fry next week, but I still need to hammer out the rest of my menu.  The kids have eaten more meals outdoors than in this week.  My kitchen floor has never stayed so clean (relatively speaking of course) for so long.

Learning:  VBS!  The program that they use at our parish (and it's the same one they are using at the neighboring parish) is such a great boost to their faith lives.  I love it.  We've done a lot of reading.  I was telling a friend the other day, I had the best-laid plans to do some more academic things this summer (handwriting practice, math facts, etc.) and we really haven't done anything.  That said, I feel like thus far we've had an incredibly educational summer, simply taking advantage of the opportunities around us.  The kids have written letters, played with pattern blocks and puzzles and some of our more "educational" toys at their leisure, we've had a huge variety of books, especially with our weekly themes. You can learn so much simply from observing and taking advantage of the world around you.  I have often thought I'd be a fan of year-round school, but I am really appreciating the extended break this go-around.

Reading: I've been trying to have some sort of rhyme and reason for the chapter books I read with Gemma so we've been focusing on the early days of Kansas, and the westward expansion in general.  We're currently reading the Prairie Skies Trilogy and it's fantastic. It's giving us so many things to discuss (general premise: an abolitionist family movies to KS in the 1850s in hopes of making it a free state during the time of the Kansas-Nebraska act) .  As an aside though, it was pretty funny (well, it's funny now) the other day she was really mad at me for something, and she yelled, "YOU ARE TREATING ME LIKE A SLAVE!!!!!"  Oh dear...

I'm keeping up with my usuals, although my main focus now (aside from finishing up with Theology) has been Happy Are You Poor.  Wow.  Just wow.  I am also trying to read/mediate from The Imitation of Christ each day.  Good stuffs.

Crafting: I added this category back in so I could show off Gemma's perler-bead prowess!  These were a great diversion for all three kids when we were stuck in quarantine!

Watching:  MLB.  Oh, and also The Hobbit.  I cannot believe it but I think I am finally getting really hooked on this LOTR business.  I know, right?

Bringing me joy: VBS, listening to the kids sing their songs and dance and be so excited about the faith is energizing.  And reading good books...to myself and my kids.  I am so grateful for books.  :-)

Thinking about: the fact that I have at least three other things I should be doing right now, but I wanted to blog an update before it got too far away from me. 

Pictures to share:  

Just a few more...Some new pics for our collage frame.  Love these kids!

Bedtime snuggles.

Eating mulberries on our nature walk.  Won't be too much longer and he'll be too big for his sweet ride on daddy's back. 

Journal: sigh.

TODAY

Out my window:  Cloudyish.  Warmish.  It's kind of starting to feel (and look) like Spring.  Although there is still some chilliness in the forecast this week.  I am beginning to be quite dubious about that mangy groundhog and his predictions, although I don't quite have the voracious hate for him my uncle (I know you're reading this) in Denver does, dubious I am.  If Spring gets much later we're going to be into Summer and then we will officially have had no Spring.  Poo.  Sigh.

Clothing myself in:  Black capri sweats and a t-shirt.  And - in the interest of full-disclosure - there is a big green, crusty, dried up booger on my shoulder.  Not mine.  Sigh.

Around the house: Trying to make the house a friendly place for my children to play and live and go about their days without driving me to want a beer at 9am.  Lately, they refuse to play in the basement without me.  Which is really handy, considering the laundry, kitchen and pretty much everything else I do is on the main floor.  Which leaves me wonder why exactly we have toys down there?  Many times as they have been politely asked not to, running around the couch and screaming like banshees still reamains a favorite activity.  What, us?  Run around the backyard?  Why on EARTH would we want to do that when we have a perfectly good couch to run around?  Seriously, going outside to play should be viewed as something fun not a punishment, come on kids.  And bedtime.  Oh it ebbs and flows around here, and currently it is not flowing.  Sigh.

 

The baby:  Working on tooth number 6 and may or may not be responsible for aforementioned green booger.  Had his nine-month pics taken this week.  Cutie pie. 

The kiddos:  They have been difficult lately (see "around the house").  Some days I feel like all I do is yell, overreact and lose my temper.  I read something about parenting recently that encouraged parents to put things in three baskets: "non-negotiables", "negotiables" and "things to let go".  I really liked this (in theory) but am having trouble with the practical application.  I tend to be very black and white, and kind of a control-freak and this has a way of turning every little thing into a battle.  Which is not fun for anyone.  Sigh.  Parenting is hard. 

In the kitchen: Meatloaf, zucchini, sweet potatoes and greens salad (artisan lettuce and spinach); Spinach and Gouda Chicken with some sort of veggie side; Pizza (I have FINALLY mastered a crisp, thin-crust!!!) and probably more salad; maybe some sort of soup on the chilly day this week; Fish Tacos with cole-slaw; thinking about sushi this weekend

Crafting: nope.  sigh.

Learning:  This week is our last Catechesis class (sad), so Gemma is working on notes for her teachers.  She is really into writing her own notes to people now, her spellings CRACK. ME. UP.  Kolbe can almost write his name, still needs help with the B.  This really shocks me, as we haven't exactly worked on it very much.  He does hang around with Gemma a lot though, so maybe that's it.  Working on some handwriting this week and more cutting, and Friday Kolbe has his speech/hearing screening.  The kids are going to plant the sunflower seeds they harvested last year this week as well. 

Reading: About half-way through Bible Basics for Catholics, need to finish it as it is ILL and due Saturday.  It's easy reading thankfully.  Sneaking up on paragraph 1400 of Catechism (Mary, where are you?)  Still looking at those fictions on my end-table.  Should finish Heidi with the kids this week. 

Watching:  About 1/3 the way through the first episode of the new season of River Monsters.  The ever-present (lately anyways) Duck Dynasty.  So many reruns, my husband is obsessed.  Watched episode 3 of The Bible and was slightly disappointed at the way a few things were portrayed.  I still like it overall, and the perspective it gives on most things has been very accurate and thought-provoking as well.  Episode 3 was the first time I saw a major discrepancy between it and the actual Bible, so I will be curious to see how the rest of the New Testament goes.  My main issue with it has been the amount of time it spends on some things almost to the exclusion of others.  I know it's hard to sum up thousands of years of salvation history in (less than) 10 hours, but even so, in my opinion they've left out some really integral aspects of the story.  Have been discussing the violence aspect too, and honestly I can see both sides.  Biblical times were very violent, but Hollywood really loves violence too.  So I don't know.  Jury's still out on that one.  Two episodes to go.  

Bringing me joy: The pot of flowers on my deck. 

Thinking about: How to get a handle on myself so I can be a better example and leader for my precious children who deserve so much more than what I give them most days.  Parenting is really, really hard.  Sigh.

Pictures to share:  

Peek-a-boo!

I'm not purposely boycotting my other kids, I just haven't had a chance to upload anything to my computer with the USB issues.  This one was a couple weeks old, he was playing on our floor one morning and rolled under the bed!!

Sunflowers III

And now, for the final post in our sunflower saga.  In mid-June -- when the sunflowers were going to seed -- there were several days we saw a beautiful goldfinch perched atop one of the flowers and nibbling seeds.  Gemma was actually the first to spot it, so that was very exciting.  Try as I might though, I wasn't able to capture a picture.  After a few hundred-degree (ugh) days, Gemma harvested some seeds to save and plant next year, and alas this is the end of our sunflower story.  For this year anyways.  ;-D  We capped everything off by reviewing the plant-cycle in the book Sunflowers from the library, and the sunflower pot is now housing my long-awaited lantana.

Sunflower update II

The sunflowers have continued to grow...taller than Gemma!!  We're hoping to get some seeds from them to plant next spring!!

Gemma's sunflowers

Back during "S" week, Gemma planted some sunflower seeds.  With the early, long spring they did great this year and bloomed well before Summer!