New Beginnings: January 2012

Outside my window... cold this morning. But hoping for another beautiful, sunny, winter day like yesterday.
I am thinking... about how to embellish the new curtains I bought. I painted my living room pale yellow and bought brick red curtains. The curtains are too.... well, red.

I am thankful for... Mike's new business and how well it is doing! Also thankful for his partner who keeps this business going.

From the learning room... our co-op has had to cancel the past two weeks because too many families were sick. I'm working on a new Math system that will include more games and hands-on activities. Little Miss Chatterbox is a very visual person and needs that.

From the kitchen... This was the third week of trying new "kid friendly" recipes in hopes that my kids would actually EAT their dinner. But I'm still getting complaints. Every.single.night. I don't know what I did to these kids but they are the pickiest kids I've ever met in my entire life. I'm starting to think it's all some kind of sick joke they've got going between themselves. Last night we had Mexican Lasagna. Taco meat between layers of tortillas and cheese. Chatterbox said she doesn't like tortillas. Funny said he didn't like the meat. Tickle said it smelt bad and wouldn't even try it. Sunshine pointed to it and said, "Yucky". Oy.

I am creating...

-decorating plans for a few rooms in the house
-Funny's birthday plans
-new school routine
-chore list for the kids

I am reading... The Letters of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

I am hoping... that I will have the heart to wean Sunshine and get her to sleep in her big girl bed. (sigh) I don't want to. She definitely doesn't want to. But the longer I wait, the harder it will be.

I am praying...
-for something my sister's been creating.
-for my friend who still hasn't been able to bring her premature baby home from the hospital
-for James Brogan. A friend's teenaged son who was in a car accident and is still in critical condition
- for Jonathan Turner. A teenager of a family from Church who has cancer and will be starting 9 weeks of chemo.

I am hearing... Pandora radio. Veggie Tales songs. The kids love to dance to this.

Around the house... the smell of fresh paint. I have always loved dark, bold colors. All of a sudden I'm loving pastels. Not sure what developed this change but I'm loving our new pale yellow walls. It makes the room look bigger, brighter and cleaner. Love, love, love it.

One of my favorite things.... the quiet, peacefulness of snow days. It's the end of January and besides the snowstorm we got in October, we haven't had any significant snow. The kids and I are wondering, "Where's the snow???"

Living the Liturgical Year... Candlemas is just around the corner. I need to gather some candles together.
Little Miss Sunshine this week... is copying everything we say. She doesn't pronounce words too well but I'm glad to see her trying. I understand her and that's all that really matters, right? ;) The best thing of all is when she says thank you. She communicates to me. I'll understand and help her with what she needs and then she gives me a big smile and says in the littlest, sweetest voice, "Thank you, Mama!" Which sounds more like, "Toot do, Mama!" It melts my heart every time. You gotta love a toddler with manners. ;)

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

It was so nice to see my brother and his family at Christmas. It had been way too long!

First a picture with mom and dad.

The boys put baby Jesus in His manger.

Then we gathered around our big baby Jesus who resides under our tree to remind us of the greatest gift of all. Little Miss Sunshine LOVED that baby Jesus.

She was continually kissing his head and rocking him. It was so precious. We knew there was a chance that she might drop him, but it was just too sweet. So we let her love that baby. And then she dropped it and his arm broke....

Being the youngest sometimes has its perks. Sunshine got to open presents first. But her older siblings didn't mind. They all enjoyed watching her open her gift, ever so carefully. They were happy to revel in her joy.