It's been a while. Normally when it has, I like to do a daybook because it catches everyone up quickly. I can't believe I last blogged a month ago. I'm going to really try to get better at it especially since K'lyn is turning them all into books. Let's get on with it then.
Outside my window...
it's raining. It hasn't been this rainy in a while. The day normally starts with Morning Prayer, and then Kevin and I walk the dog. This morning I wanted to go back to sleep because I was up having nightmares last night. I texted Kevin and asked if we were walking the dog because I knew we were supposed to have rain today. He said, "It's only raining a little...We could do it..." So I got up, dressed, came downstairs, and started to get me shoes on. He walked out of the office and said, "You're taking this just a little too far." I looked at him oddly, and he said he was joking. It was simply by the grace of God that he's still alive to laugh about it. I was not amused and went back upstairs to change and to not make a scene.
In the schoolroom...
it's going well. The kids are adjusting to school, and everyone seems to be doing ok for the most part. Marz is in a separate class outside of school where she does a History Literature Study. We're reading Johnny Tremain. We normally leave our reading to the last minute just because we're doing other school until the class on Thursday mornings. Her book study homework was the read the first three chapters. Well, this book has chapters that make up other chapters. For instance it states Book I, then it has 5 chapters. I didn't know this, so I put off reading the first three CHAPTERS until Wednesday thinking it would be a breeze. Only when Marz was answering the study questions did we realize it meant the first three books and all the chapters those entailed. UGH! It was a reading marathon, but we made it. Now we're planning on reading something today too instead of leaving it all until Wednesday again.
My classes are going well. I've had some hiccups regarding students and forgetting things(which unfortunately ended up with Kevin having to bring me whatever I forgot.) I'm getting the hang of knowing what I need for class, so that's good. I'd love to say that I'm getting to know the new community, but I'm not really. I had to volunteer for so many hours depending on how many classes your students are taking that I took a lunch shift that monitors the stairs, so students can't go wondering the halls. This makes me unavailable to talk to anyone eating in the lunchroom. I don't mind it, but it doesn't foster new relationships either.
Our new Bible study went well though, so that was cool. We compared ourselves to a family from our old co-op because they used to house a bunch of activities. Our house was never big enough, so we called ourselves The Baldwins. ;)
From the kitchen...
things have been difficult. Marz went gluten free mid-September, and that has been quite the challenge. She won't eat hardly anything and really just rotates the same five foods, which are mostly snacks, over and over again. There have been many times when I'm just so frustrated with it, I just tune her out and she has to fend for herself. I don't feel bad about this. She's old enough to know how to make herself a pb&j (on gluten free bread) if she has to.
One good thing is that our co-op orders food once a week for $5 a meal, and there's a gluten free option. The girls and I liked the rest of the options for this month, so we have lunch already done. Yay! They also order pizza this same day for $2 a slice, and Logan likes to partake in that sometimes with his own money. It's a nice option to not have to worry about packing lunch. And yes, I do make the kids make their own lunches the night before, but this normally consists of popcorn and gummy bears. Obviously I can't have that, so it's just another struggle. Marz is actually pretty good about making her lunches considering she just packs the five snack foods each time. :)
I've also gotten into the habit of batch cooking things for Logan, like waffles. His appetite seems to increase with each centimeter he grows, so it's good to have things on hand for him. Sometimes if Lean Cuisines are on sale, I'll pick those up, or chicken biscuits. These are things he'll eat along with his meal. And of course, we could buy stock in cereal.
I'm also trying some new tactics for leftovers to be eaten and dinners prepped.
I am creating...
a routine, or trying to. We've got a pretty set schedule of things during the week, and I'm trying to stick to laundry and cleaning and such. It's going better than I planned since we've had people over which gives me more motivation for the house to be clean. That's the secret! Plan for people to come over regularly, and the house stays relatively clean. No wonder the old house was always such a mess. There is always stuff to be done, but I'm ok with letting some things go because they're behind closed doors. It's stuff I'll get to eventually, but it's not priority. I will be starting my prayer room shortly because I need it. Unfortunately, it's downstairs with all the bugs. Rory had a sleepover this weekend downstairs, and the girls came running up because of a spider. Logan went to get a paper towel for Kevin to kill it, and I asked if it was even big. Logan said it was which means it must've been huge if Logan was calling it big. Kevin came up and showed it to me once he had killed it. It was HUGE! I'm so glad I didn't see it crawling up the wall where I had just slept like the girls did. It was funny though because we were trying to get them awake and upstairs to eat to go to Mass. We joked that we now knew what to do next time.
I don't ever want to forget...
Marz's teacher at Atrium (otherwise known as COGS) asking her what she was most looking forward to in Heaven. Marz, without missing a beat, said, "Eating Chick-Fil-A nuggets that aren't gluten free!"
I am working on...
peace. One thing that has come to light is that I need to make sure there are days where we as a family have nothing going on. We had that last weekend, and the kids have talked about how they liked it. Kevin doesn't like it so much because he views weekends as times to get things done, so it's hard parking him. He sort of does it, it's a work in progress. I think this will be especially needed before the rush of the holidays. Already I'm choosing not to do activities we normally would just to make sure we leave enough room for some peace.
I am reading...
Johnny Tremain, All the Guns of General Washington, and St. Theresa of Avila (if I can find it again.
I am praying...
for family.
I am hearing...
the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman because Marz is taking a shower. It's either that, Frozen, or Mary Poppins Returns for her showers. She normally calls me in to rinse her conditioner because it's still hard for her, so she showers until my favorite song from The Greatest Showman is playing which is From Now On. I really like that song because Rory loves a dance move they do in it, and when it plays, Rory does the dance move. ;) It's cute. Also, the song gets stuck in my head for the rest of the week it seems whenever I hear it.
Around the house...
is eh. I've been trying to take pics, so I can do one big blog of the house progress, but I haven't gotten there yet. Upstairs is still undone. There's even still ones up there. It's because I have to figure out what I'm doing furniture wise, and since there's a lack in the budget right now, everything is on hold. I'm fine with that though. The main floor is pretty much done (except for the kitchen), so it's not like I'm staring at anything bothersome (except for the kitchen). HA! I have to find out a better way to work my office space. It's the kids' workspace sometimes too, so I need to work out storage where my things can be put away when they need the desk. Hopefully I'll be moving into the office at some point.
One of my favorite things...
is my new waffle maker. I have to admit that I did not like it when I first got it because I don't have the patience for the learning curve thing. Now that I've figured it out, I love it! Sometimes I miss my old Emeril BAM! one, but this one is getting easier and easier to use. The only issue is that for some reason, I cannot see the blue ready light turn on. This morning I figured out how to only have one light over the sink on, so it made the blue light much more noticeable.
A few plans for this week...
school, Atrium, more school and then the older kids are going to a teen bonfire. They're pretty excited. Logan will have friends there. Rory's not sure she will, but I think her and Logan have gotten to an age where they like each other as friends. I can see Rory hanging with him and his friends at this thing. There's another weekend retreat coming up, where they won't know anyone, but they feel ok about it because they'll have each other. LOVE!
Time for pic and tell...
We have two pear trees in the backyard. Kevin said we had to pick them because they were going to go bad, and also branches were breaking because of the weight of the pears. We used a tarp to rake all the bad pears on to, and then lifted the tarp into yard bags to dispose of the bad pears. It reminded me of leaf raking from when I was little. We would just carry the tarp out to the front of the curb though when I was a kid. We got a bunch of pears that we left to ripen on the counter, and then we put more into the fridge. I'm sad to say that the pears on the counter didn't ripen like we thought. They just went immediately bad and attracted all the fruit flies. I even ripened some in a brown paper bag, and they went straight to bad too. I guess we'll they again next year. What a waste of pears though!
This is a tree near our house. I loved how only half of it was turning. It's now all red, but this was beautiful like this. I joked to Kevin that it's as if half of it went, "Now Death." His take was that maybe it had a stroke. :)
K'lyn came for a visit! She'll be back in a couple of weeks!
This is what happens when I leave my phone unattended. I had a pic of Marz too, but it was too dark to put up.
We had some visitors to our backyard one Saturday morning. In the top pic, there's another deer in front of the rock pile. It kind of blends in. They stayed for a bit. The bottom pic deer watched us watch them. It was funny. We thought they'd eat the pears, but they didn't.
The best thing about Marz being Antman for Halloween is that when she takes off her boots, the costume is like capris on her. HAHAHA! She looks awesome. Antman is definitely her favorite. When she gets electronics, she almost always watches it again and again.
Logan's first track meet. Because of COVID, they started the boy runners first and then the girls a minute after. Considering he has a hurt knee and had a really bad cold and chest pains that day, he did good. He's the one on the right. Only two boys showed up from his team.
Rory's sleepover this weekend was for a friend's birthday. They made her this cake which only the birthday girl was brave enough to have a piece of. The bottom pic is what Marz, her friend, and Logan were doing inside while the big kids watched a projected movie outside with a fire pit. They used a disco ball from grandma, Alexa played music, and they ran around the kitchen island dancing. It was all fun and games until Marz's friend threw up during prayer afterwards. No one else thinks it was because of this activity right here except me.
Until next time which hopefully won't be long!
