Happy Easter!

Well, that was a long break.  Sorry about that.  I tried to cut back on my electronics for Lent, but I'm back now.  Happy Easter!  Let's start at the beginning.

This pic makes Logan look so tall probably because he is!

I told Mars that she looks so much older with her hair up like this.

St. Patrick's Day at school, and these two were looking so much alike I had to take a pic.  

We were trying to get a headshot of this beaut.

Mars is so excited about this dress!  She wants to have a lemonade stand sometime this summer.

Dyeing eggs, but I didn't get a pic of what they looked like after.  Sorry!

My mom got us movie ticket giftcards ages ago, but we hoard them until we find something worth using them on.  A new christian movie came out, so we went to see it.  The tickets were cheap, and we thought the movie theater would be a dive like a dollar theater or something.  Were we wrong!  Each seat was leather and reclined.  There were only two other people in the whole theater!  Unfortunately, the movie wasn't great, but it was still good and we got to get out together.

This one got his hair officially cut instead of me doing it myself.  I think he looks so different without the brooding swoop.

For my birthday we went hiking!  It was a quick short one, but lots of people had been telling us about this particular one and we finally did it.  It was pretty overcast and chilly with the wind blowing, but we braved it.  It was worth it.

This is the view from the overlook.

We missed K'lyn, but she says she'll be coming out here soon to go hiking with me!

A friend sent me these beautiful yellow flowers for my birthday.  They match our dining room colors!

Rory stained, wood-burned, and painted this sign for me.  I'm beyond impressed.  She asked what my favorite quote from the show was so far, and I told her this one because in the episode, Jesus says it so non-chalantly like it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  

Do I need to talk more about The Chosen?  If you haven't seen it, I don't know what you're waiting for.  Season 2 is out, and we're still obsessed.  Come and see.  

Logan loves his Eureka crates!  This is his latest coolest contraption.  

I don't know why this picture separated from the others up top, but this is where I decided to place my new sign.  I love it here because I see it every time I walk in the door.

Happy Easter!

Happenings

 Well, have you been checking out the new bloggers?  Miss Makin' Lemonade and Teen Angst?  Just kidding, The Mind of a Teen Boy?  They're making me look bad with how often they blog, but let's be real, they just want to be on the computer.  ;)  There's been a lot happening here, so I figured I'd catch you up with pictures.

He looks so different here, no?

The kids steal my phone more often than not these days.

They went to the father/daughter dance a couple weeks ago.  They had a good time.  They got there kind of late, so Marz didn't get any Chick-Fil-A nuggets.  She was scorned.

Marz wanted to try to make macarons.  It wasn't a complete success.

The directions said that you should be able to hold the meringue over your head without it falling out.  I'm glad she was the guinea pig.

Alas, they didn't turn out.  We tried.  I'm sure we'll try again later after I've recovered.

The kids got so many Monopoly games for Christmas.  We finally got around to playing Bibleopoly.  It was interesting especially when you had to tell something about the biblical city on the board.  

Again with my phone

On Fat Tuesday when we were trying to eat all the food, someone put a Samoa into the sugar cookie container.  We all thought it was funny and denied doing it.

I can't remember why I took this picture, but it's funny to me.  I'm pretty sure I sent it to Kevin and captioned it with, "Yours."

And taking my phone again

For the macarons, there was a buttercream icing recipe.  For Valentine's Day, Marz made a strawberry cake, and we tried to make homemade buttercream icing.  I heard it was good since I didn't try any.

Do you see what I mean?!?!?

Our friends gave the kids Marvel temporary tattoos.  I saw Marz putting on one, and then I turned around to this!  

And this!

Meanwhile in Relic land...

I made a new corner in my bedroom to pray or sit and talk on the phone.  There was no other place to sit but the bed or the stairs.  That pink pillowcase is from when I was a kid.  I love it!  And the "Nora" blanket my mom got me goes perfectly.

Speaking of the dog, this is me doing my workout on the treadmill.  We were the only two downstairs.  Apparently, Kevin had put one of Relic's beds here for when he was on the treadmill.  

In other news, the kids have been on a kick redoing their rooms.  Rory started it, but I don't have pics of hers yet cuz she's still changing some things.  This is Marz's room before.

This is her room after.  She changed the bed to go up against the wall instead of under the window.  Rory did the same thing, and Logan's thinking about it too.  It just gives the room a more spacious feel.  I'll post pics of Rory's when she's done.

New Bloggers Coming Your Way

 Apparently, my spawn has caught the blogger bug.  They are using their school snow day to create their own blogs.  I'll link them here when they are done.  For now, I'm hoping this will light a fire under my blogging, so I post more.  School was canceled today (YAY!), so the kids are playing in the snow.  I made Logan shovel the driveway with me this morning, and Marz came out to make a snowman.  Here are some things we've been up to.

Since the March for Life was virtual (stupid), we went on a Mini March at a neighboring church.  It was great.  We went to Mass, and then we marched to the courthouse in the middle of town.  Father stood on the corner, and we prayed a Rosary.  Some bystanders were nice about it, others were not.

Taking my glove off to get a pic.

That weekend we went traveling back to our old house because Rory accidentally had some things shipped there.  The guy who bought our old house set them outside for us to pick up.  While we were out, we went to our old neighborhood BK because the kids are convinced no other BK has pink lemonade like our old one.

We've got a daddy/daughter dance coming up this weekend, and the decorators are asking for dads in pics with their daughters as place settings.  Of course, K'lyn won't be going to the dance, so she didn't have to be in the pic.  I tried so hard to get Jesus and Mary photo-bombing in the background.  I did get it in one pic, but Marz was making a face, so I couldn't use that one.  

Here's the snowman Marz made.  His name is Xavier Bert IV.  I don't know where the first three Xavier Berts are, but I've never met them.  

January Daybook (due to Marley's prompting)

 Outside my window...

It's partly cloudy and cold.  We were supposed to have a winter storm this past Monday, but it didn't amount to much until we got to school and the whole entryway was ice.  I'm still bitter they didn't cancel that day.

I am thankful for...

a warm house, a warm bed, food and family.  I've been trying to be more aware of my surroundings.  It might have something to do with my word for the year, but we'll get to that later.

I am thinking about...

dinner, school next week, and the dentist.  I think I want to switch dentists again.  I don't think we've found a good new one yet.

In the schoolroom...

it's a mess.  I'm trying to get it cleaned up, but Relic is fighting me every step of the way with his endless shedding.  I could vacuum everyday in this house and fill it up each time.  No joke.  Other than that, we're all counting the days to Easter vacation.  So what if we just got back from Christmas!?

From the kitchen...

I'm trying to meal plan again.  Seriously, I wonder how many times I've said that in this blog, and it never sticks?  We're into the second week of it, and it's already getting wobbly, but I think we'll make it.  It's shameful how much money we spent on out food.

I (we) am(are) creating...

a budget.  We're getting back on track after Christmas chaos.  

I am working on...

a plan for Lent.  I'm going big this Lent.  Last year, if you remember, we were living in the RV for Lent.  I'm not going that big, but I am giving up some things that will definitely hurt.

I am reading...

St. John of the Cross Spiritual Works.  He's a Carmelite saint worth reading repeatedly.  This is my second time going through some things and spending time getting deeper.  

I am praying for...

family.  

I am hearing...

Kevin on a work call and the humming of Logan's computer as he works on schoolwork. 

Around the house...

nothing much.  We cleaned up the basement a while back.  The house needs a good cleaning.  I tried to do this thing where I paid the kids to clean.  It worked one week and the past two times, their work has gotten seriously sloppy.  I'll either try it again and be mean pointing out all the things they didn't do correctly to go over them again, or I'll do it myself.  it depends how much energy I have this weekend.  Before then, I definitely have to vacuum. (refer to in the schoolroom)

One of my favorite things...

The Chosen.  Have you seen it?  It's a series on the life of Jesus.  Normally movies only have two-three hours to get the whole story in, but this has eight episodes so far, and they're currently filming season two.  It's free on YouTube and Apple and a bunch of things.  It's SO GOOD.  We've watched it three times already which is lovingly referred to as "bingeing Jesus."  Please watch it.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

Kids have school tomorrow.  We're going to Mass Friday morning and walking from there to the courthouse carrying our Pro-Life signs to at least have some sort of march since DC was canceled (lame).  We should have a pretty big group.  Saturday, we'll be visiting folks back home.  Other than that, cleaning.  

Some pics for you...

One last pic before we took the tree down.

Logan wanted to play Risk, so we did.  We think Marley ended up winning.  She was Russia.  How appropriate for our times, don't you think?

This picture is from before I went back on the wagon.  Kevin and I snuck drumsticks in the middle of the day and hid out in the laundry room while we ate them.  I'll be busted once the kids read this, but we have no more drumsticks left so ha!

Relic had a birthday!  He's four year old.  I made his usual birthday cake, but this time I put treats around the outside and put strawberries on top, last year it was raspberries.

Still daddy's lap dog...

He wanted to sniff the fire.  

This is the opening song to every episode of The Chosen.  Marley has danced to it since the first episode and continues to do so.  I sent it to the creator of the show.  We'll see if we hear anything back.  I'm sure he's busy.  I hope he's busy.  We want season 2!!!!!

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, Happy Epiphany!

 Our fearless leader had a birthday this past week.  Unfortunately it was a rainy day, but we made the best of it.  We ran some errands and had a really good dinner.  After that was cake and presents.  It's funny that as we get older, the kids remember how old we are fast than we do, or I should say faster than I do.  :)  

We've gotten back into the swing of school routines and getting to sleep before 10p.  That part has been nice.  The school part not so much, but it's really not as bad as I make it out to be.  The worst part is preparing for school, but the actual day is never that bad.  Mental note for next year, I will not be scheduling myself for a full day of volunteering at school the first week back after a big break.  That was a mistake.

Here's to a great new year of new opportunities.  Praying for our nation, or what's left of it.

I can't leave my phone alone at all these days.