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.

Christmas 2013

We had a white Christmas this year...the kids had fun playing in the snow the Sunday before Christmas and it stuck around until the end of the week!

This year's salt-dough ornaments (minus their jewel decorations...)

Christmas morning

Family pic at Church

Ponies and new footie-jammies made for a happy morning for Gemma (and a photo bomb with his new guns in the back!)

Kolbe with his robot, Quiver the Stygimoloch (this is a very cool line of toys, by the way), and Clem with his ramp racer.

The kids were a lot of fun to shop for this year, and I think they are enjoying their gifts.  We have spent some nice time with family and friends and are thoroughly enjoying the holidays!

Journal: Oh February

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny and mild, a bit of a breeze.  Blah February looking landscape.

Clothing myself in:  Dark grey sweats and oddly the same t-shirt I was wearing last week when I typed my journal post.  I need to go jeans shopping.  I am so sad, I had been doing great with Maurice's "long" jeans, and they seem to have shortened the inseam by an inch which makes them juuuuust a little too short for my comfort.  So now back to square one.  Bleh.

Around the house: Laundry day today.  Thinking I should probably pack the Nativity away from the mantle but not quite ready for my "spring/summer" deco item that goes there and don't really have anything for in-between.  Getting stuff ready for Lent.

 

The baby: He's so cute but boy he doesn't always sleep very well at night.  I don't remember Kolbe or Gemma being quite so needy.  He usually doesn't even make it until Aaron's and my bedtime anymore before awakening in his crib, and I usually just resettle him in our bed at that point.  He nurses at night, a lot.  Co-sleeping makes this easier (I would probably lose my mind if I were getting up with him), but even then some nights just get to be very restless for me.  We'll see what the coming months bring, it just kind of is what it is.  I'm wondering if he's ready to start eating some "people food".  Aaron really wants to share a banana with him, and part of me is ready to start him on solids.  But part of me wants to keep him a baby for longer and not have to deal with the hassle of food and the washing out of poop from diapers and all that.  Because if I don't feed him people food he will stay a baby forever, right?  And then there's teething.  OH teeth.

 

The kiddos:  Gemma must be going through a growth spurt.  She eats all. the. time.  Besides her three meals a day, she usually has 4-5 snacks a day.  Any creative/fun/healthy snack suggestions? We are kind of in a rut of popcorn, fruit/vegetables, oatmeal or whole-grain toast/crackers/cereal.  It would be fun to have something else easy and a bit more exciting to offer.  What are your kids' favorite snacks?  Her latest favorite thing to do is make picnics with her play food.  We often have at least one picnic a day, complete with birthday party cupcakes.  This has been a fun way to teach her the proper way to set a table as well (we sure like this dish set).  For Christmas and birthday she received several items that we had to take back for various reasons, so I let her sit down with me on the computer and choose a new play-food item, since that's something she's really into.  She chose this pizza set and is eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Kolbe has started drawing people (a circle with eyes, nose and mouth).  He had been staying dry at night for a week or two, but since he was sick a couple weeks ago he's been wetting again overnight.  I really thought we were there, but alas no.  Maybe soon...  This morning Gemma had a date with her Grandma Mary so Kolbe and I had a special date (and Clem, but he slept for most of it).  He probably said, "this is fun, mommy," about 15 times (we baked bread, played a matching game and worked on lacing cards), and one time he said, "I sure love you, mommy."  He is such a sweet little boy.  This gave me a little glimpse at what it will be like with Gemma in school next year.  It will really change the dynamics around here a lot and as nuts as we can drive each other I think I am really going to miss Gemma.

In the kitchen: Meatloaf (still deciding on veggie and grain sides); Chicken Enchiladas (I finally tried making my own cream of mushroom soup and am looking forward to using some leftover in the freezer with these); making green beans for a family Spaghetti dinner; baked fish with mixed grains and steamed veggies.  I am not much for freezer-cooking, but I have been stashing a thing or two in the freezer here and there (aforementioned soup, some already-browned ground beef/Italian sausage for future pizza topping, etc.), and it makes me smile to know that it's in there for when needed.

Crafting: My MIL gave me a primose recently.  She does every year around this time even though I can't keep them alive for anything.  But Gemma likes it oh so much.  As I mentioned above, her latest thing is making picnics with our play food and dishes, and she always gets the (dying) primrose and puts it in the middle of the play-table as a decoration.  So for her Valentine, I picked up some inexpensive artificial flowers and am going to make some sort of simple flower-arrangement for her to keep with her playthings.  Also trying to figure out for sure what I want to do for our Lenten centerpiece for the table.

Learning:  Shapes this week.  And birthday thank-yous. 

Reading: Still working on Jesus of Nazareth.  My spiritual director gave me a book of Lenten Reflections by Henry Nouwen that I think Aaron and I will read and reflect on together, and one for the kids as well that looks pretty cool.  I started Unconditional Parenting, but the jury is definitely still out on it.  He makes some very good points, and provides some good food-for-thought -- challenging many of the more "behavior-management-ish" parenting techiques of the day -- but early-on he makes a very strong case against praising children, and while I will agree praise is often over-done I just can't imagine not praising my kids ever.  He also doesn't seem to take into account the various temperaments and love-languages (of children and parents alike) and in my opinion that plays a huge role in parenting.  Overall it just seems to be a bit too much psychoanalyzing for my tastes.  All that aside though, as I continue to page through it he does make some very good points as well.  I just don't know...I haven't put it down yet but I'm not sure I'll finish it.  If you're curious in a more in-depth review, check here.  Upon the recommendation of a friend, I have a Kate Morton on hold from the library.  Looking for something else of the spiritual nature for Lent maybe...  Getting towards the end of On the Banks of Plum Creek and trying to decide whether to continue with Little House or pick up something else with the kids.  I ordered a used copy of Happy Little Family for sometime.

Bringing me joy: February.  Not really February itself, but the fact that I (and my husband and children for that matter) am counting down its days one by one and will jump with joy when March and the hope of Spring is here!  Oh January/February, you are so very cold and brown and blah.  You get me every year.  Confession and meeting with my spiritual director...always a breath of fresh air for my soul, praise God.

Thinking about:   Next season's wardrobes for my kiddos. Which cloth diapering items I really need.  I have a few things I'm trying to sell if you're interested.  Keeping things simple.  Getting an Adoration hour.  Why are my eyes itchy and my nose runny?  It's too early (and cold) for allergies!  Randomness. 

Pictures to share:

Journal: New Years

TODAY

Out my window: Snowy!  It snowed yesterday morning, and then melted before the kids even got to play out in it.  Then it snowed a bit more yesterday afternoon and now it's snowing again this morning.  The grass still isn't completely covered, so there isn't much, but it's nice never-the-less.  The kids are hoping for a snow-walk with Daddy this afternoon.

Clothing myself in: The usual.  I am so over winter. 

Around the house: Just cleaned the bathrooms.  I updated my calendar for the fridge for the next six months and reworked my daily chores a bit to better fit the current state of our family.  Example: the floors do indeed need scrubbed more often than once a week (daily?).  However, when I scrub them more often than once a week, my expectation for how clean they should be is raised, and then I freak out disproportionally when someone spills something.  If I just scrub them once a week, I am more cool with them not being perfect.  For me, this is progress.

 

The baby: Cute as ever.  He has gone with the flow quite well with all the holiday celebrations and such.  Yesterday he took a 4 hour 45 minute nap.  Now if only he could sleep that long of a stretch during the night...

He got some new (size 9 month) clothes for Christmas, for which I was very grateful.  He was growing out of everything, and Kolbe only had a few winter items in that size.  He looks so cute in his new duds. 

 

The kiddos:  Had a good Christmas, and they too have gone with the flow quite well.  It is so hard though, when they don't eat or sleep as well as usual because we are going going going, then they don't behave as well either.  And it is hard to get mad at them when they misbehave and it is for reasons of poor sleep and poor diet.  Actually, it is quite easy to get mad, but when I am rational I know it is not their fault so that makes it difficult.  Looking forward to a return to normalcy...once we get through birthdays.  ;-)

Gemma got a little Casio Keyboard for Christmas from my parents and we've all been having a lot of fun with it.  I had a similar one as a child and remember using it a lot.  I think she will enjoy this one for years.  This one is lightweight and runs on batteries (several AA...we've been going a week and they still haven't run out so I suppose I'm impressed) so it is very portable  It has lots of demo songs, different rhythms and instruments so it really does a lot.  In fact, I have been listening to the same drum beat for the past 10-15 minutes now.  It is Gemma's new "favorite song".  Yay.  

Kolbe got some new Thomas items that he has been very excited about.  He likes Thomas so much.  It's funny, because we've just watched a very few DVDs from the library and checked out a couple books about Thomas, but gosh is that boy over-the-moon for anything Thomas related.  It is very cute. 

In the kitchen:  I made a pizza last night (this crust in the breadmaker with about half white half WW).  I used to make homemade pizza once a week, and I couldn't tell you how long it had been since our last pizza.  Months.  Tonight we are baking one of those pre-smoked turkies and I'm making a potato casserole to go along with it.  We will probably steam some Normandy Blend as well.  Hubby picked up some gorgeous looking looking grape tomatoes at the store and that inspired me to make chicken linguine, tomorrow I think.  Probably Chile Rellenos on Friday, and some good turkey leftovers in between. 

Crafting:  Kolbe got some wooden blocks and trucks for Christmas so I made a drawstring bag to store them in with some leftover flannel from this project (top picture).  I'm always thrilled about projects I can do with stuff already around the house.  I really liked that print too, so it will be nice to see it on a regular basis. 

Learning:  Ah, I am looking forward to getting back to some regular learning activities during our afternoon quiet time.  We are working on thank-you notes now, and when we finish those I plan on jumping back in with handwriting lessons and some numbers work. 

Reading: I received Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives in a white elephant gift exchange (apparently it pays to have an uncle who is a Dominican priest), and I'm looking forward to starting it.  I am about 4 days behind on my daily Catechism readings for the Year of Faith, so I need to catch up with that as well.  

Bringing me joy: How much Gemma loves her great-grandma.  Going to Mass (alone).  Snow.  My sweet family, even on the crazy days, and especially my husband. 

Thinking about: Cutting my hair again.  Not super-short like when I regretted it, but shorter.  Long enough for a pony, but short enough that it is simpler (faster) to style in the morning, and doesn't get so tangly during the day if/when I wear it down.  I don't know, it just feels so "blah" lately.  I blame it on winter.  This whole January/February time of year is not my favorite.  I am ready for spring.  Sigh. 

Pictures to share: 

The family on Christmas, before Mass.

Kolbe, sharing some protein shake with his new Thomas (still in the package) on Christmas morning.  He got it on Christmas eve and was so patient, we didn't open it until after Mass on Christmas day.

 Handsome Clem in his new clothes...can't believe he's almost 6 months!!!

Gemma with one of her many drawings.

Gemma with her great Uncle Father Andrew, O.P.

Journal (7th edition)

TODAY

Out my window: It got coooooooold.  Well, it got cold AFTER it got warm again this past week and I had to actually break some short-sleeve shirts back out for the kids after declaring victory over summer wardrobes last week.  I could hear the rubermaid tubs laughing at me.

Clothing myself in: Pink sweats, college sweatshirt.  I will be changing into something nicer later as we are having a guest for dinner this evening.  Be amazed.

Around the house:  We have accumulated a bunch of nice, educational toys over the years (wooden puzzles, lacing cards, pattern blocks, counting bears, etc. etc. etc.), and I keep them in spots that are put away but easily accessed.  Even so, they don't get used/played with nearly as often as I would like....so this week I started setting a few out on the fireplace each day and switching them out each evening (thanks to the handy-dandy reminder on my phone, see Mary...) and that has worked really well.  The kids have enjoyed it and it has helped encourage me to sit down and spend some time working on things with them.  Win win.  I've also been doing better at rotating toys from the toybox (thanks other Mary!) and that always helps too.  When we play well, we fight less.  All of us.

 

The baby: Oh my goodness, he is getting so big.  Yesterday I dressed him in a size 12 mos. romper.  He's not really thick but boy is he long!  He is very fascinated with his hands.  His legs are getting stronger, he can semi-support himself when I stand him on my lap.  He is so smiley.  OH I love him.

 

The kiddos: Gemma hit a wall with her reading lessons this week.  We're about 25 lessons in and they are getting more difficult.  There was frustration, tears, the works, but she didn't want to set it aside and come back to it.  She reminds me so much of me.  SO we suffered through the rest of that lesson, I had a good chat with a fellow mom friend (thanks Michelle!), we took a day off and then yesterday she successfully read a number of pages from Hop on Pop.  We were both very pleased!  I think I'll start splitting the lessons up over two days, and we will rotate between those and reading from "easy readers".  I'm excited, I think she's really going to start taking off with this reading thing.

Kolbe.  I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who has dropped by our house this past week to find my half naked son running around in all his glory.  He is just doing so stinking well using the potty when he doesn't wear pants, that, well, he just doesn't wear pants anymore.  Oh when we leave the house (like once a week, HA) I do clothe him properly.  And he is doing a little better about not wetting in his underpants and telling us when he has to go (or more likely when he is going) but he by no means totally "gets it".  SO he just doesn't wear pants.

In the kitchen:  Chicken pizza with white sauce and tomatoes from our neighbor's garden; Italian sausage soup; chicken wraps; baked fish, veggies and either couscous or rice (had to nix that one last week); SUSHI!

Crafting:  

Learning: Our weekly theme was PUMPKINS!  Click here for some of our books and activities.  The kids also had fun with these (or similar, I couldn't find the exact ones) lacing cards.  Gemma colored and cut out a very huge amount of pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns throughout the course of the week.

Gemma also went to her first storytime by herself at the library.  She did so well, I was really proud of her.  No tears and a huge smile on her face as she skipped off with the line of 3-6 year olds, and an equally huge smile upon returning.  She is super excited to go again, YAY!  My little girl is sure growing up recently, and it makes me a bit sentimental.  Happy, but sentimental never-the-less.

Reading: See last week.  Not much new.  And oh my, I think I am enjoying Little House on the Prairie every bit as much as Gemma is (and that's quite a bit)!

Bringing me joy: My spiritual director gave me a first class relic of St. Gemma Galgani (with certificate of authenticity) to give to our Gemma when she gets older.  He had gotten it at some point when he was traveling in Italy and recently came across it.  Aaron and I were so touched that he thought of our Gemma, what a treasure. ::: Lots of good, quality time with the kids. :::  My phone...we got new phones a little over a month ago but we didn't get data (it was twofold, expense and the fact that we --- or I, Aaron would never use it -- don't need to be that connected, more great stuff on that HERE from my friend Sarah).  Well, I figured out how to download some Catholic podcasts, prayers, and the daily readings and put them on the mp3 player on my phone so I can listen to them in the kitchen while I'm cooking dinner, the kids' room while changing sheets, just anywhere around the house when I am working on mundane activities.  Since the laptop is so hard to haul around (lame, I know).  This really has brought me an insane amount of joy. ::: Our wonderful neighbors.  We seriously have the best neighbors ever...and not just next-door. Everyone around us is just, wow.  Good, good people.  Our next-door neighbors in particular love our kids so much though.  They are about our parents' age and she will often text me to send the kids over for a bit to do this or that.  The kids love it and I can tell "Miss Jo" does too.  It is really a blessing. ::: A nice friend who brought us a meal out of the blue. ::: It has been a good week.

Thinking about: I get out and about with the kids so much less now that we have three.  And it really is fine, I enjoy being home.  Now that winter is approaching, I am thinking about just hibernating here.  Seriously, the thought of getting everyone clothed (Kolbe), socks, shoes, jackets zipped, hoods, blankets, diaper bag packed, etc. sends me into a cold sweat just thinking about it.  I am soooooo not looking forward to winter.

Pictures to share: 

Our three beautiful blessings.  Gemma: 4yrs 9 months; Kolbe: 2yrs 9 months; Clement: 3 months.

"D" week

I am really enjoying our weekly books, as is Gemma and even Kolbe is beginning to enjoy "big kid" books more.  It is so nice having some rhyme and reason for the books we check out at the library.  We keep a handful of ones that Gemma picks out in the basket in her room to read at nap and bedtime and such, but our letter ones go on the fireplace to enjoy throughout the week and specifically during circle time.  There are so many good books out there.  For kids and adults alike.  So many good books.  I heart books. Some of our favorite "D" week books were:

Make Way for Ducklings

How do you Count a Dozen Ducklings

Dilly Dog's Dizzy Dancing

Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery

If you give a Dog a Donut

Duck at the Door

Webster J. Duck

Harry the Dirty Dog

Daniel and the Lions

So many ducks!!  We did a fun duck craft.

Our verse of the week was "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you." which was very good for Gemma to learn (and hopefully remember).  We also had a fun song to help us learn the verse from our Bible CD set that is similar to this one.  Here are the kids playing the maraca I made while we sang one day.  I need to make another one so they don't fight over it.  ;-D

For religion we read the story of Daniel and the Lions and painted this picture.

We also celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7). I printed off a coloring picture of the rosary and Gemma used small stickers for the Hail Mary beads and large stickers for the Our Father beads.  She had a lot of fun with this and did a very good job.

And a few more snapshots from our week:

Gemma in what she calls her "party dress" - a patriotic tutu and her dress-up apron.  She is serving cupcakes.

Playing with beans.

Enjoying time with cousins!!

One of our many walks to the park!  We are loving Fall!!!

My boy

Kolbe hasn't had much "blog-time" lately, so I thought I'd share some recent pics of him.

Sliding!  He loves the park soooooo much!

Riding "pony boy" at my parents'.  Always the favored toy.

His cheeks get so red when he's hot.

Wearing daddy's hat...by the front door.  Because every time I want to take his picture he thinks he has to be by the front door.  I have missed many a cute shot due to him desserting whatever he was doing in order to run over and stand by the front door.  Silly boy.

 I love my boy!!

Stacking cups

Stacking cups have been a perennial favorite toy at our house with both children.  Here is Kolbe - very proud - he did this all by himself!!

Our playsilks

I have been reading about playsilks recently and thought they would be something our children would really enjoy.  I like toys like this...where their purpose is up to your creativity...toys that are timeless and fun for all ages (and don't take up a lot of space to boot)!  Toys that don't have flashing lights and sounds and batteries (but that's a whole different rant...)  Anyways, I was disappointed, however, that a 35" x 35" square of playsilk ran anywhere between $12-$15.  Um, really?  I figured I could do better than that at the fabric store and I was right.  For around $4 a piece we now have four playsilks in beautiful colors (green, blue, pink and yellow) that are 36" x 54".  If you'd like to make some of your own it is very easy!  I just bought a yard each of various colors of chiffon.  To keep the edges from fraying/raveling I used Fray Check.  That's right, NO SEWING!!  That stuff has some fumes though, so use it in a well ventilated area.  Anyways, the kids have been having a blast with these and I love to see all the uses they find for them (tents, clothing, "water", playmats for their toys, aids for peek-a-boo, tails, trampoline covers, something to chase...it's been endless)!  It really is amazing how entertaining a simple "toy" like this can be.  Along those lines, for some great thoughts regarding toy selection, organization and management, check out this post.  Here are some pictures of the children with our silks.  Look very closely at the top left one...

Kolbe's favorite toy

If this car had an odometer, it would probably have miles on it by now!  It belongs to my in-laws, and they graciously loaned it to us after seeing how much Kolbe enjoyed it at their house.  He can get around pretty good with this thing.  He and Gemma have invented a new game called "Running and Chasing".  As if you need an explanation of how that game works...but they run around the living room and couch like a bunch of crazy banshees (all the while Kolbe pushing his car), squealing gleefully and, well, running and chasing each other.  It is crazy times but it keeps them happy and entertained and they surprisingly get along fairly well while doing this (for the most part), so I've been known to just turn a blind eye rather than discouraging it.  I have, however, declined Gemma's invitations to join in.  One must draw the line somewhere.

Gemma lately

Gemma has some new interests of late.  I mentioned last week about her new puzzles.  She also got Candy Land for Christmas and I finally broke it out the other week.  It's been kind of a source of frustration for me, because she gets it but not quite.  But we're trekking on and often play at least once a day.  She really loves it.

She got Nina Ballerina from her godmother a few years ago and is just now growing into this toy.  She still doesn't quite understand how to dress her "correctly" (as evidenced in the picture), but she really enjoys playing with her and I think it is a nice, less frustrating take on paper-dolls.  It's something she can do by herself or we can work on it together, so that is nice.

We were coloring the other day and I was drawing some fruit.  She was looking at my paper and trying to draw the same thing I was.  I thought she did a pretty decent job. 

Cars!

Kolbe particularly likes this little toy car that he got for Christmas (he has several toy cars he plays with, but this is by far his favorite).  Honestly, it's been a fun toy for the whole family ;-D  (It's one of those that you pull back and then it zooms forward...endless entertainment).  Anyways, these pictures were just too cute not to share.