Daybook: Birthday week begins

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Outside My Window

Stink bugs. These are tomorrow’s nature study subject. They are as obnoxious as they are ubiquitous. Ugh. Nasty. They dive bomb from out of no where and they are so ugly. Yuck.

 

I am Listening to

The postgame show for the DC United match. I’m think  Mike is producing it, which is the only reason I’m watching it.

 

I am Wearing

pajamas.

 

I am so Grateful for

~some time away with the children. We so enjoyed Williamsburg.

~the homeschooling moms at Colonial Williamsburg who recognized me (or my children) from this blog and stopped to chat. It was genuinely nice to connect. It was a really beautiful day and we enjoyed CW like never before. I think it was the happy homeschooling atmosphere that added an extra dimension.

-early bedtime tonight for my wee ones.

 

I'm Pondering

 the quote on the home page of Susan Wise Bauer.


I am Reading

The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease Instructor Text. I highly, highly recommend it and the workbooks that go with it: one, two, three & four. Highly recommend. Highly. (I just wish I'd thought to check Amazon before I invested in the whole shooting match.)

 

I am Thinking

I’m really, really tired. I’m only writing here because I’m forcing myself to stay awake until Mike gets home. I pretty much haven’t seen him in two weeks. Which is probably part of why I’m so tired. I’m also thinking that I do miss having time to blog. Seems like I can never cobble together enough time for a whole post lately. Forgot to link to this column this week, too.

 

I am Creating

Yet another packing list...

 

On my iPod

Where is my iPod and who keeps taking it???

 

Towards a Real Education

Last week, we listened to history in the van all the way down to Williamsburg and back and did some math and writing on Friday. We spent an entire day living history in Colonial Williamsburg. This week, it’s back to the sunroom table and business as usual.

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Towards Rhythm and Beauty

This week will challenge my efforts at routines. It always does. We have four birthdays in six days and four feast days to celebrate. And this year, we’ve decided to throw in a huge surprise.

 

To Live the Liturgy

The Feast of the Archangels, St. Therese, the Guardian Angels and St. Francis.

 

I am Hoping and Praying

~for my birthday babies: Michael on the 29th, Katie on the 30th and Patrick on October 2nd.

~for Mike. Big, big week at work this week. Would you whisper a prayer to St. Joseph on his behalf, please?

~for safe travels.

In the Garden

The mums are blooming and I think it’s time to pull the petunias and think about some pansies...Last year’s fall pansies got totally trampled by the wood guys during winter. This year, we’re going all in for some color now and even more color in early spring.

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Around the House

The house is in good shape. We’ve hauled out at least two bags of “stuff” every week for the last month. And we’ve made considerable progress in the basement. One thing that made a huge difference very quickly was pulling all the DVDs out of their cases and putting them in these.

 

From the Kitchen

Saturday

Quinoa Waldorf salad with apples, grapes, blue cheese, almonds

 

Sunday

Chicken salad sandwiches

 

Monday

Chili w/sweet potatoes

 

Tuesday

Green chile corn pudding  and hoppin' john

 

Wednesday

Curried chicken soup

 

Thursday

Steak, potatoes, salad

 

 

One of My Favorite Things

EO Hand Sanitizer. This stuff is ridiculously expensive. I'm playing with adding lavender oil to cheap hand sanitizer to get the same effect--which is hand sanitizer with a beautiful, natural scent. It's not the same, but still...

 

Sarah Annie this week

I love it when she calls out to her brothers and sisters: “Wait for me, guys!” They always do.

 

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week

Birthdays and Feast Days. Big celebrations!

 

Picture thoughts:

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Dear Kate,

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Print this. Keep it somewhere close so you can read and re-read it. Remember you said this and you meant this. And be careful out there. Your clarity of vision and unobscured understanding of a genuine life of faith in Christ is a treasure beyond compare. Protect it. It is a gift to understand this so well, early in your mothering and homeschooling journey. If you believe this and you live this, you will save yourself countless hours of meaningless debate with people who aren't truly seeking understanding. You will save yourself from the pain and futility of litmus test "friendships" and you will afford your family many pleasant hours living God's vision for your family. If you live this, you will have time and peace for genuine education and prayer--both your girls' and your own. God bless you!

Daybook

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Outside My Window

An absolutely perfectly gorgeous autumn Sunday: bright blue sky, just a few clouds, no humidity, and about 78 degrees. Perfect soccer weather.

 

I am Listening to

The “soundtrack” that Mary Beth has created for the ballet class she will teach her little sister…and 13 of their friends.

 

I am Wearing

A cream-colored lightweight, longsleeved t-shirt with a  ruched neckline, a purple boyfriend sweater (that I ended up tying around my waist about noon) and not my daughter’s jeans (which I got for a steal on Amazon--there was a coupon added at checkout).

 

I am so Grateful for

~ an unbelievably fun time in a friend’s van while it poured rain our sons’ soccer practice. Eleven kids total in the van. They all voted on a movie choice and we watched Pride and Prejudice. It was even more darling to note that both my children and hers had many of those lines memorized. Those homeschooled kids just don’t get socialized well, do they?

~sweet, subtle changes for the better in a child who had me worried. And for the friends who are influencing those changes.

 

I'm Pondering

The soul which remains attached to anything, even to the least thing, however many its virtues may be, will never arrive at the liberty of the divine union. It matters little whether a bird be fastened by a stout or slender cord -- as long as he does not break it, slender as it may be, it will prevent him from flying freely. -- St. John Chrysostom

 

I am Reading
Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman. Quite a book. Quite a testimony. I’ve long been a huge Steven Curtis Chapman fan. I was hesitant to read this book, because I knew that the story of how the Chapmans  5-year-old daughter Maria died  would be gut-wrenching.  I read that part first so that I wouldn’t be dreading it throughout the first half of the book. Mary Beth writes a compelling story of lifelong  surrender to the will of God.

I’m particularly grateful for her honest accounting of the trials of depression.

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I am Thinking

That God has heard me plea for kindred spirits to befriend my children and me. And, despite the overwhelming busyness of our fall schedule—actually because of it-- there are moments of grace-filled friendship abundantly sprinkled throughout the week.

 

I am Creating

Lists. Before we leave town. I always make lots of lists when I pack. We’re taking a three day trip. Seems like those kinds of lists should be committed to memory by now, but that’s not the point. The point is that the list lets me maintain the illusion of having control.

 

On my iPod

A History of US, Volume 3. Our listening on the way to Williamsburg this week for homeschool days.

 

Towards a Real Education

We’re taking a little diversion from our Medieval Studies to skip across the pond and visit Colonial Williamsburg.

 

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

The schedule works. It works beautifully. There’s no time to kick back and do nothing and I can’t deviate from the plan even a little bit, but the schedule does work…

 

To Live the Liturgy

We’ll celebrate the feast of Padre Pio this week..

 

I am Hoping and Praying

~for Mike, who is badly in need of a vacation. Or maybe just a few hours off.

In the Garden

The roses rock. Really.

Around the House

The house is quite pulled together now.  We shall have to see whether the new maintenance schedule keeps it that way. In other, much more interesting news, it is definitely time to paint the walls. I chose our current colors on the way home from the midwife’s office five and a half years ago, after learning  we’d suffered a miscarriage. The painters had been scheduled and I didn’t want to cancel, so I just went to Home Depot, totally numb and not at all there, and picked out colors. I remember asking the guy to darken it three times before I left the store.

 

It’s time for lighter and brighter

 

From the Kitchen

Gluten free pumpkin muffins from this new cookbook. Jodi wrote and told me about it a couple of weeks ago and I took a chance. The muffins are the first things we’ve made using her gluten-free baking blend. They are so good. No weird bean taste; no starchy falling apart consistency. Just pumpkinny yumminess.  I’m looking forward to trying other things.

 

One of My Favorite Things

My icon wall.

 

Sarah Annie this week

She loves our new “after school” routine. It’s a playground for several hours every day of the week. I’m really happy to have playground time, too.

 

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week

We have a new friend visiting . She came to see Michael, but Karoline is pretty sure she came to see her. We’ve loved having her. She’ll be here tomorrow when Mary Beth transforms the main floor of our house into a dance studio and Mary Beth and her friend Mary Kate introduce a whole bunch of homeschooled little girls to the wonderful world of ballet.

 

Then we’re going to get away for a few days. Mike has been working 18 hour days getting ESPN’s Washington shows ready to launch in HD from their new studios at ABC. We’re ducking out and leaving him to yet another week of that. We’ll go to Homeschool Days in Colonial Williamsburg and stay at Great Wolf Lodge. We’ve never been there, so we’re all eagerly anticipating our time.

 

And, next  weekend, we  will return with Sarah Anne to the NICU for a reunion. It just makes me smile so to think about taking my relatively big smiling girl back to the people who cared for her so well in those early days. I can’t wait!

 

Picture thoughts:

 
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