Monday Morning

It is Monday morning, and the girls are playing doll house.  I am sitting at the island listening to them, and the washing machine, looking out at the back yard and the beautiful sunlight playing on the green of the leaves.  And I am reminded of the fulfillment of simple beauty, simple provision, simple joy.  I am reminded of the joy I have Monday mornings now that I stay home with the girls rather than the dread and knot in my stomach when I went to work, and it gives me joy.

I had to write a few quick emails this morning, and it gives me joy to know I am emailing local friends, new friends in our new area who have become great friends.

I listen to the girls playing together, real friends, real joy, no yelling, and it makes me so happy.

Monday mornings have found a delightful joy over time and I did not notice the gift because I did not slow down enough to look, I would just look at my to do list instead.  Our lives are becoming increasingly simple, and with that I am finding increasing joy.

Joy

I am learning to look for joy around me.  The giggles of little girls, the singing of birds, the clear surface of our kitchen island...okay that last one may be a miracle it happens so rarely.

But just like I purposefully slowed myself down to give thanks, I am learning to slow myself down to find joy.

Just today, reading through my blog subscriptions I found things that gave me joy:

This great article about preserving the family dinner table - something dear to me!

I laughed at this post about what to do when you run out of table linens because I keep 2 white twin sized sheets just for this reason!  Maybe I should just quit pretending and put them with the table linens?

And I loved this article about serving nourishing meals to crowds because the very idea of filling our home with friends gives me great joy!

And then the CSA we are part of emailed me about next week's box, and that definitely gives me joy!  As does slowly working through the surplus of veggies we had and not just putting them all in stock, stir fries, or roasting them....although I will be roasting veggies for supper tonight.

Where are you finding joy today?

Summer Goals

I noticed this morning during school time that we only have 22 reading lessons left to go, much less on math, and are completely done our hand writing.  Not bad considering all the yuck, broken arm, and move our family had this past school year!

That has me thinking about our summer plans.

While we do take a break from "formal" school, we also think that learning is life long and more learning happens away from the school table than at it!  However, we also know that we have to be deliberate to challenge and stimulate our children each day - it helps them so much, especially in behavior and being kind to each other!  There is definitely a link in our family.

So my plans for this summer include reading that will actually follow the Rod and Staff introduction to science and social studies, drawing, and lots of reading!  This is in addition to lots of playing and just having fun, of course!

I also made some key goals for the summer, things I have been meaning to get back on track, and things I know will help us tremendously in the fall if we already have them in place!

1.  Read Aloud Time - this has completely fallen apart.  We love this time, and we know it is important!  My plan is to re-establish this time into our day.

2.  Chores - our girls want jobs around the house, and we certainly encourage them to help, even Baby wants her own jobs!  We have tried chore charts, and that just isn't working for us as the jobs needed change every day, and let's face it, I don't have napkins to fold every day!  So now that we are in our new house I am going to get my housekeeping binder updated with a cleaning plan, including daily jobs for the girls.

3.  Scripture Memory / Children's Catechism - we are doing this, but not consistently.  Actually, we are doing a fairly good job on scripture memory, and a terrible job on the catechism.  My plan is to get back to doing scripture memory each morning after Breakfast Bible time (instead of just 3 or 4 mornings a week).  I don't know exactly where to slot in Children's Catechism, I just know it is important to us and I need to find a place.

4.  Personal Bible Time - Miss Pear is turning into an excellent reader, and she loves God and His Word, so we want to encourage her to being a quiet time of her own.  I am thinking this will start at our table with the two of us having a quiet time together, we will see.

The last thing is that my husband and I are planning on studying James together this summer.  With the yuck we are off to a bit of a rough start, but hopefully we will be able to start this weekend.

What great habits are you trying to establish this summer?

Monday Madness

Today is completely crazy in a wonderful way!

I found the Happy Birthday banner I made from fabric that I need for Saturday - huge! It has been lost since we moved even after I put it somewhere safe so I would not lose it!

My sweet husband picked up the futon his mom bought us for a housewarming gift and brought it home at lunch.

My book I ordered that I need for tonight arrived with enough time for me to read the introduction and the first chapter.

The ladies are meeting here tonight - our first really gathering! A gentle test drive!

I worked on the table runner for Miss Pear's birthday party on Saturday made with scraps from the napkins I made (because I needed more napkins anyways and space ones sounded fun).

My MIL made jam, brownies, and 2 trays of meatballs today and would not let me help.

It has been a great day and I have time to pray uninterrupted and unrushed for our company tonight!

Wood Pecker Update

IT WORKED! There have been sunny mornings all week and no wood pecker sounding on our chimney.

It makes it worth our chimney looking like a weird space satellite!

Woodpecker Saga

You may not be able to tell from around these parts, but I do wish to return to blogging and talking about the CSA box with seasonal food, books, Bible study notes, and other fun stuff, like a return to freezer cooking which I kind of dropped of on when I started seeing it everywhere online. Unfortunately as long as I am NOT getting sleep that is not going to happen, I can barely string two sentences together with out trying to think where I was going with this.

So it comes down to this.

The woodpecker arrived every sunny morning between 5 and 6AM. Yes, when morning has not officially started around here. It is loudest in Baby's room so she wakes up scared and crying. So I bring her back to our room and we try to rest a little longer.

It is not working.

Either the woodpecker goes are we do, and we own the place, so his days are numbered...

...he gets 1 more day because the exterminator company comes tomorrow!

No, they are not going to exterminate him, however tempting that has been some mornings, they specialize in nuisance birds and have a number of ways to make sure he does not land that are harmless.

I am looking forward to more sleep.

Moving Slowly

We are slowly making progress, with each emptied box making things more like home.

Things are moving a bit slower with lack of sleep for mama (I have no idea why, everyone else is asleep!), and the girls still settling in.

So it will likely be fairly quiet here again this week, but making a house a home takes time.

I am reminded of this as I watch a foreclosed home be cleared out on our street. It is sad to watch all the possessions left behind being thrown into a dumpster.

I wonder how many meals were fed to a family on those dishes, now many books were read cuddled up in that chair, and how many treasures were in those plastic tubs.

So often life is measured by what we can count and measure like possessions and bank account balances and size of houses.

I just want to live and breathe for an audience of One, blessing and caring for the family He has given me.

On the Mend

Today is the first day where I look at my sweet daughters and don't think they look very sick. They are still tired and run down, but it feels like we are on the path back to health. Such a blessing. There were many things I was grateful for this past week, but I forgot to write them down. High up on the list were tylenol, kleenex, flannel hankies, humidifiers, Vicks Baby Rub, and lots of jammies.

In the midst of the yuck, or the Great Flu of 2011, I got a terrible sinus cold and that did not help matters.

But in good news, we closed on our new home and the girls LOVE it, Miss Pear declares it to be her favorite home yet because of the big yard and she cannot wait to move (end of March). The carpets were cleaned there today for the first time ever in the 10 year old home (eeew!), so next up is cleaning the floors and bathrooms, then putting shelf liner in the kitchen. Along with painting. So we are moving right along.

And in other news, I saw this recipe for lemon curd ice cream and had to share - yum!

Because Life Happens

This has been an interesting week. It is the last one of my MIL visiting, the girls are recovering from colds, they shared with my MIL and I, we went to Costco, and that was our week.

Seriously, that is the whole list. With lots of reading and snuggles mixed in.

Unless you count this morning when I made a stack of phone calls regarding medical stuff for the girls. Nothing earth shattering, just taking care of the picky details which ended up being blessedly easier than expected.

Plus we organized the Playmobile toys yesterday afternoon.

It is one of those weeks where life just marched on and my computer fell down the priority scale.

Right now I am listening to the fun sounds of Grandma baking with the girls. Hysterical!

It is one of those things in life that is simple and joy filled.

And when I slow down, and am gentle with myself (rather than hold unrealistic expectations) I find that much of life is simple and joy filled.

So I wish you that this weekend. Simple days filled with joy.

Not good....

....or epic fail if you are between the ages of 15 and 21 or spend lots of time with those who are.

I just printed out a paperbackswap mailer with all the postage on it...and cannot find the book ANYWHERE! So I have to cancel the request, and the mailer is not refundable.

Epic fail.

Of course, this is just exhibit A and ignores all that happened before then!

Clearly my brain is not functioning as well as I think it is, so I am sending myself to bed. Will be back when clear brain function begins...probably Wednesday...Thursdayish...or Friday at the latest. That's decisiveness for you!

The Rest of My New Year Goals

I have to confess that I am at a loss on the rest of the areas I usually set goals in. With the firm knowledge that we will start looking for our new home in January it is hard to get worked up about much else!

I also don't necessarily wait for the new year to set goals, if something comes up I feel needs to change, I do it. I don't think the Lord waits for the new year to say, "Okay, here are the things we need to work on!", although, of course, He sometimes does! I think very often He nudges us along whenever we need it, encourages us to grow continually, and shows us things that need to change in His good timing.

But just to be contradictory, I think there is also said for taking time to sit down and evaluate certain areas and make goals to help you go in a certain direction. And that time between Christmas and New Year's Day often lends itself very well to that.

Most of my goals were already set. I knew that after I finished reading the New Testament Chronologically, which would conveniently end December 31 I wanted to read the Bible cover to cover again, but after reading the Bible in 90 Days, reading in a year was not enough for me! So reading the Bible twice in one year was a no brainer for me, and a goal set in November.

The goals I am going to share today are ones that I am already working on, or know I either want to work on or need to work on. Some have been ongoing since the summer! But I need to have them all in one place, and this seems like an excellent place.

Homeschooling

I love homeschooling, I adore the mini-culture it creates in our home, and I love seeing the curiosity in the girls! While I do want to stick with the curriculum and schedule we have, I also am looking for ways to start Baby on her path as she is so eager, but still very little, even though she tries so hard to keep up with her big sister! I am carefully considering what subjects to add for Grade 1 next fall, focusing mainly on what we are interested in (Astronomy!) what would help us! (Spelling! Miss Pear has great distain for those naughty words that don't follow the rules! It makes reading difficult! Mama has a hard time disagreeing with her on this one!), and what would glorify God. We want to continue gently and lovingly.

Kitchen

This one has a nice long list I have been working on!

- Completely update my kitchen recipes binder - neglected since before Baby was born!

- Perfect the art of homemade pasta, especially whole wheat soaked pasta! I think my pasta makers from Christmas should be a big help, one extrudes for things like fusilli and macaroni and one makes the nice sheets!

- Become an expert at using up our CSA box each delivery! This is an ongoing one and I am working hard at getting some new ideas and methods in this area!

- Develop a rough monthly menu guide to help us follow our eating goals. This is a work in progress. The things I would like to do weekly are in place, but I want to stretch it out monthly for a little bit more variety.

- Continue to remove plastic from the kitchen where I can!

- Find a reliable but simple pasta sauce that is loaded with veggies, can be made in large batches, and freezes beautifully.

- Find a simple pasta sauce that can be made in large batches an freezes beautifully (I am kind of thinking more of a seasoned crushed tomatoes idea

- Continue to move towards a healthier diet while maintaining our budget.

Home

Let's just start with the big one:

- Find a new home in our price range that we love in January/February.

- Move in April!

- Make our new house a home (April and beyond)

- Set up a workable housekeeping schedule once we move and follow it reliably! Includes updating homemaking binder.

- Set up a freezer system and freezer stocking system that works and MAINTAIN it. Of course, this is also part of the pasta sauces thing!

Beyond that I don't know. I anticipate sitting down in May and thinking hard about things - or maybe God will make it easy and just give me the list. Either way, at least I have a start!

To Do Status Report

Remember that long list of items to get done that I posted before my break? Well, I thought I should report in on how I did - keeping in mind that there were snow days in there! So anything that required being out of the house was scrapped.

But here is the list with updates in italics.

• Finishing the Christmas Tree Decorations (total of 16) Finished!
  
• Finishing the furoshiki (qty 15) and fabric ribbons (as many as needed) added this year The furoshiki are finished and the ribbons are being done as needed....
  
• Finishing the hanging towels for gifts (qty 20) Finished!
  
• Finishing a baby blanket for a church baby shower (along with 2 dozen cinnamon buns, and a dozen for my family because I would never take something without giving them some first). Finished!
  
• Making fabric ribbons and a coffee cake for the Church Ladies Decorating Brunch Finished and I had a great time!
  
• Decorate our home - we put the tree up, the Advent wreath out, and the books out Thanksgiving weekend, the rest follows in the next week or two. Finished!
  
• Finalize my Amazon Christmas order and place it. Finished, delivered, and mostly wrapped.
  
• Make a quick trip to my favorite toy store for Christmas and Birthday gifts. Not done due to bad weather.
  
• Make a quick trip to Target for a couple small Christmas items (and then I am done shopping!) Canceled - I came up with a better idea that will let me just finish up with a quick mall trip that my husband has to make anyways, but we did not make it to the mall due to the bad weather.
  
• Christmas cards and newsletter done (which will be a feat because I have not started), but this can linger into mid December if need be. Oops - totally forgot about this with all the snow to play in.
  
• Start wrapping and preparing to ship stuff! In progress and will be done in earnest once I make those last two trips and finish 2 more hand knit dish cloths...which I did not mention in the original list...., but I think I am making around 10ish with 2 more to go.
  

Keeping in mind that I like to be done as much as possible before December 1, in a perfect and ideal world where nothing mucks with my plans! Actually, I like to be done the mall, but can deal with little boutique stores and online if needed.

Oh, and I have most of my Christmas baking to still do, including 2 dozen cinnamon buns for gifts.

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Happy Thanksgiving Break

Happy Thanksgiving a little early!

For most families, the holiday season crunch happens in December. For us it happens now! We try to have the bulk of our shopping and all our crafting done before Thanksgiving, and everything ready to ship and mail the first weekend of December. While that may seem ambitious, much of what we mail and ship is international, so it requires being a little bit earlier, plus, it allows for a much quieter Advent season where we really do look forward to the Lord's birthday.

So the next week and a half will be spent thusly:

• Finishing the Christmas Tree Decorations (total of 16)
  
• Finishing the furoshiki (qty 15) and fabric ribbons (as many as needed) added this year
• Finishing the hanging towels for gifts (qty 20)
• Finishing a baby blanket for a church baby shower (along with 2 dozen cinnamon buns, and a dozen for my family because I would never take something without giving them some first).
  
• Making fabric ribbons and a coffee cake for the Church Ladies Decorating Brunch
• Decorate our home - we put the tree up, the Advent wreath out, and the books out Thanksgiving weekend, the rest follows in the next week or two.
• Finalize my Amazon Christmas order and place it.
• Make a quick trip to my favorite toy store for Christmas and Birthday gifts.
  
• Make a quick trip to Target for a couple small Christmas items (and then I am done shopping!)
  
• Christmas cards and newsletter done (which will be a feat because I have not started), but this can linger into mid December if need be.
• Start wrapping and preparing to ship stuff!

On top of this we plan on going to the local Children's Museum and Art Gallery next week. I am so excited. And celebrate Thanksgiving part 2.

Therefore, I will see you after Thanksgiving.

Have I mentioned I LOVE having 2 Thanksgivings?

Have a blessed and gratitude filled Thanksgiving!

Friday? Really?

Somehow this has been yet another week that managed to sneak away on me.

Miss Pear is doing great with her cast off, but it is taking some getting used to, and frankly her arm is a little bit sensitive, and does not have a full range of motion at the moment, so that is slowing her down. But she is enjoying coloring again tremendously and has finished almost half her Dover Butterflies Coloring Book, and even completed a page of handwriting today. We have kept things quiet for her to have time to adjust again, and that is proving to be an excellent decision.

In the quietness of the second half of this week we have managed to try a new soup recipe (will be posted soon), and finish Miss Pear's Tessa Bloomers which I made in a purple corduroy with kittens stitched on. They turned out great, and the pattern is exceptionally well written. I am planning on cutting out the Anaclaire Jumper Pattern for each girl next (I am thinking no apron but with a bottom ruffle).

In my effort to get more iron in our diets and healthy protein while still eating simply and not breaking the budget I found a new recipe to try next week: Slow Cooker Mexican Pinto Beans. I am always looking for ways to serve beans and lentils to my family in ways that they will love. So if you have a great recipe I would love it if you would please share a link to it or a copy of it in the comments!

At Our Home Today You Will Find

Miss Pear - Cast free and gaining movement in her arm as the day progresses. It just came off this morning and she is both thrilled and apprehensive. She has a special bubble bath in her afternoon plan.

Baby - running around waving one sock like a flag and the other sock half off. My Southern California girl cannot figure out what these things are mom keeps putting on her feet. But she has become very good at saying please and thank you...as in please take these things off, thank you!

Supper in the crock pot - Taco Soup - a combination of 2 recipes, will let you know how it turns out.

Little girls napping - it has been a big morning.

Mommy thinking some quiet reading time would be great.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

We may live in the US now, but for my first 23 years I lived in Canada, so we celebrate both Thanksgivings. Canadian Thanksgiving is a little different that American Thanksgiving. But basically it is traditionally a time we give thanks for the harvest, and therefore it is earlier in the year because the harvest is finished earlier.

We are trying a new tradition this year to try tie the two Thanksgivings together in our family seeing as we will not be heading over to our neighbors in Southern CA this year for American Thanksgiving! We started a paperchain with each chain having something we are thankful for on it. We started it Sunday and strung it across our dining room window. Between now and our next thanksgiving we will add to it and see how long it gets.

Our menu for today is not the traditional turkey based one because we spent 11 years in Southern CA and this time of year it was often too hot to roast a turkey. So here is our family's menu for today:

Pork Tenderloin in a dry rub
Rice Casserole
Zucchini Bake
Candied Carrots
Coleslaw
Dressing (just made and put in a casserole dish)
Rolls

And for dessert we are having Mars Bar square - not exactly traditional, but very Canadian.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Official Start of NHL Season

We can't help it, we are Canadian, and we love hockey - even our girls at 2 and 5 love hockey. Miss Pear even has a favorite team in the East and the West!

We got all excited when preseason started and then hardly any of the games were televised. Very disappointing.

But the Montreal and Toronto game will be televised tonight. Did I mention that both my husband and daughter are die hard Canadiens fans? (That would be Montreal). So I pretty much know what we will be doing this evening.

And I feel the need to make a cake to celebrate.

What does a hockey night look like in our home?

Well, we sometimes eat in front on the TV - a huge rarity around here. Actually, it only happens for hockey or a rare and special movie night. With it being the start of the season it will be an eat in front of the tv night. I make something fun for dessert, of course. And once the supper supplies are cleared from in front of the TV either trains or playmobile are set up and we spend the rest of the time playing and watching and laughing together.

There are no square eyed TV zombie looks, we are all laughing and talking and having fun together. It is wonderful.

Monday Mayhem

Well, maybe not mayhem, but it was one of those days where the day kind of got away from me, so it has taken me until now to pop in to say that I am over visiting a friend today...you can find me here!

May the Lord bless us this week as we strive to be faithful in the ordinary everyday.

Lovely Day

Today, even though we had to be out the door at 7:45 to take Daddy to work, home for breakfast and out the door again at 8:30, even though Baby has a doozy of a cold, is a wonderful day.

It is the start of preseason NHL hockey. Okay, so it is not like the real season started, but this is great, we will actually get hockey coverage this year in our new home ON MULTIPLE CHANNELS! This is a big deal considering one of Miss Pear's early words was hockey, as in she was saying it before age 2. We are not sure when Baby will say this - she has never had hockey coverage.

Plus we had classical conversations this morning which is always great!

It just helps to look at the positives sometimes! And when neither girl is napping despite being exhausted you have to take what you can get!

What are the highlights of your day?

A Return

Company is gone, bedding is washed, laundry is caught up, and bread is cooling.

Monday's always are kind of the same. After breakfast we start the laundry, start the bread, and then start school.

I like the routine of our days, the natural flow we now easily fall into.

Even on days when 2 little girls are feeling under the weather it makes like just a little bit easier when we all know what the plan is.

And now my plan is to work on the 2 days I am behind in my Read the Bible in 90 Days!