Tidbits from Week 18

~ I ~

Our week started with a celebration of our Boo’s 8th birthday.  The theme of her day was “Super 8”.  And it was indeed a year of eights!  She turned 8 on February 8th.  She was born in 2008 at 8:29pm.  Funny that C-Bear will turn 10 on the 10th of next month.  Belle will have to wait a few years to turn 28 on the 28th though!  Boo’s birthday breakfast choice was homemade waffles with real whipped cream, maple syrup, peaches, and strawberries.  (The kids each get to choose whatever they want for breakfast on their birthdays.) I made our overnight, yeast batter waffles…mmmmmm…chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside.  The whole grain flour cancels out the half a cup of butter in the recipe, right??  It was a delicious start to the week.    On Monday afternoon we took the kids glow bowling.  It again was Boo’s choice.  They usually request bowling, swimming, or skating on their birthdays.  It was Little Mister’s first time bowling.  He wasn’t sure what to think, and ended up throwing a ball backwards towards the “bleacher” section.  I wasn’t sure we could keep him entertained until the tenth frame, but it all worked out.  The girls giggled over their glowing, white socks and cheered each other on like good sports.  Then it was home for supper and later some cake and ice cream with friends and family. 

~ II ~

A nasty head cold has hit our household in full force.  Thankfully the worst of my symptoms were over last week, leaving me somewhat stronger to deal with sick kids this week.  I always forget how differently my various children react to being sick.  My two littlest do not do sick well!  I have had a cranky two year old boy with an unstoppable runny nose wreaking havoc with our school plans all week.  We’ve been down this road before, however.  I know we’ll travel this road again.  And I now have a tad of accumulated wisdom that reminds me it is temporary…this too shall pass as they say!  But sometimes this mama doesn’t know how exactly to pass that time gracefully without reliable nap times and smooth bedtime routines.  Wednesday was a long day, and I knew I had to shake things up a bit for Thursday.  I was feeling drained of any enthusiasm and joy and knew that if I was feeling that way it would be sure to influence the whole environment of our home.  Thursday is our art day, and I knew it was time to CREATE!  I mentioned in a previous post that we’ve been doing drawing drills each week and they’ve been working out great.  But I just knew that I had to get a bit messier this week.  It was time to break out the paints, regardless of how Little Mister was acting.  We had the best time on Thursday morning doing this winter birch scene art project from Deep Space Sparkle.  I strapped Little Mister in his high chair, armed him with a brush, a cup of water, and a Precious Moments colouring book that’s been kicking around here for ages.  He was thoroughly entertained while we did our project.  I am so proud of how the girls’ pictures turned out.  We didn’t even have proper water colour paper, but they still look lovely I think!  And that hour of creativity was like medicine for our hearts.  

I’ve been reminded a few times this week that I need to listen to my heart, tune into my attitude and know what steps I need to take to correct it when it gets askew.  I’m learning my limits.  I’m a “home body” by nature, but it is still important for me to break the confines of these four walls.  That wasn’t possible this week due to storm cancellations on our usual “out and about” day and a busy week for PJ.  I was so disappointed to miss our monthly CM couples meeting this week, and it feels like forever since we had a date night to look forward to.  In reality it’s only been about a month, but I’m realizing that I need those little promises of fun.  When there are no bursts of sunshine on the horizon of my heart I kinda start to fall apart.  I have been enjoying some great podcasts lately, and that has helped to give me a sense of connection and comradery when I can’t get out of the house to connect face to face.  If you’ve missed the first couple episodes from the brand new Scholé Sisters podcast, you really ought to check it out.  I’m excited to learn all I can from these wise women!  Last week’s topic, “Preventing Burnout Through Levity” was great.  And speaking of “levity” here’s a little joke that had my girls giggling last night…

What do you get when you cross an elephant with a kangaroo?

I guessed, “An ele-roo?”

“Nope,” Boo grinned.  “Potholes all over Australia.”

Boy, it’s good to laugh together.  I love watching my children laugh with abandon.  They just can’t conceal their delight.  It’s so refreshing!

~ III ~

I’m still enjoying my Norwex body cloths.  This time of year with the cold, dry air of winter, I’m used to a dusting of dead skin cells on black socks and clothes.  Ew, I know!  But not anymore.  Those body cloths are amazing.  Using nothing but water, my skin feels exfoliated and moisturized.  It’s time to replace our bath towels in the master bath, and I’m very tempted to splurge on the Norwex ones.  I’m tired of stinky towels, no matter what kind of wash cycle I put them through.

~ IV ~

One more week until our upcoming family vacation.  We are all looking so forward to a solid week of glorious rest together. We’re headed to one of our favourite spots in the lake region of New Hampshire.  There will be board games, movies, good books, swimming, convenience foods.  A change of pace and a change of scenery will do us all some good!  The countdown is on.  With our upcoming trip south of the border, I have been ordering books for next year to be delivered to our post office box down there.  Even with the insane exchange these days, it’s still a savings on some items, especially when you consider shipping costs to Canada can be just as insane.  I’m almost giddy thinking of the packages awaiting us.  New books always remind me of the need to organize our home library though.  We don’t have a lot of books.  (We use ebooks a lot!) But there is enough of them that I want to devise some sort of system.  However, with the kids carting arm loads of books off to bed at night or setting books up all around the TV room to play “library”, they seldom get put back where they came from so any kind of system would likely be futile anyway. 

~ V ~

Belle has mastered her first 25 phonograms.  She is doing great with sounding out three letter words.  Her blending is really coming along.  The two older girls learned to read before we started homeschooling so Belle is really the first one I am walking through this process from the beginning.  And it amazes me to see her progress at her own pace.  She is also enjoying her Arithmetic Village adventures.    

~ VI ~

We finished Seabird this week by Holling C. Holling.  I was surprised that I was a bit sad to say good bye to the book as I had found it a bit dull in the beginning.  There was something about the style of writing that required too many gaps to be filled in.  It was so different from Paddle to the Sea or Pagoo in that way.  I found I had to stop, rewind, and reread some sentences or even entire paragraphs in order to make educated guesses as to what was going on and then explain it to the kids.  But even so, I am going to miss the travels and adventures of that ivory gull.  Next week we start Tree in the Trail.  I think the girls will really like that one!  

Okay, this is weird.  PJ just turned on the TV and started the next episode in a documentary series we have been enjoying the last couple of weeks (How We Got to Now).  Right now the host is whale watching off the coast of Nantucket.  Now a historian from a whaling museum is explaining the dangerous “Nantucket sleigh ride.”  Okay, now I want to look over those opening chapters of Seabird again. 🙂

Linking up today at…