What My BABY Wore Today

Since I am never going to be trendy enough to share what I wear, you get to see what Georgie wore today.  Thanks, Erika!

I had a rather unenthusiastic participant when I tried to take his picture at first....

 .... so I nursed him and made things all better:

These fancy duds are actually new, not a hand-me-downs.  Aunt Dana got him this outfit for his birthday.  They are a size 24 month, so a bit on the big side but he grows so fast, it would have been silly to get anything smaller.

Shirt: Carter's
Pants: Carter's
Feet: Au Natural

Journal: Feels a bit like Winter is coming

Out my window: 10 degrees. Yes, 10. Sunny and (obviously) cold.  It isn't supposed to stick around, or at least that is what the forecast says- we are supposed to be in the 50s again by the weekend.  We will see.  I would like snow, personally.

Clothing myself in: Flannel snowman pajama pants, Rocky Mountain National Park long sleeve shirt and a brown cardigan.  Classy.

Around the house: The house was nice and clean for our guests last week, and now... well, not so much.  Laundry is the word of the day around here.

The baby: His bottom right molar has been through for a week? two? now.  I think his top one might be poking through too, but I am reluctant to get my fingers into his mouth for too long (he also doesn't particularly care for it). Ahhhh, teeth.  He started waving this week. And the kids have been teaching him how to howl.  Which is kind of weird, but you know.

The kiddos: Had an awesome time with Grammie and Grandpa and Uncle John during our visit.  Issy said that Black Friday shopping was everything she hoped it would be :)  We celebrated our Christmas with the Marneys (they brought their gifts so that they could watch them open them) which they loved- lots of stuff for playing in the snow: snow saucers, boots, a coat for Isaac. The kids loved goofing off with Grandpa and Uncle John and snuggling with Grammie.

Adelle has entered another, erm, mischievous phase.  She drew on the wall last week (prompting the painting), she drew on her toybox on Friday, cut her hair yesterday, got a hold of my Kindle and bought on audiobook.  Yeah. Hope this is short lived.

Crafting:  Finished the rest of the Patricks yesterday and my friend is mailing them out tomorrow.  Fun!  I ripped back the sweater sleeve and it wasn't horrible.  Now I just need to get it back on the needles and make a plan.

In the kitchen: Cookies!  The kids have a school Christmas Bazaar and all the families have to make 20 dozen cookies for a cookie walk.  I am about 4 1/2 dozen into it, hoping to make another 6 1/2 today.  Have to have them at school by Friday.

Bringing me joy: Getting to spend time with my extended family, Issy getting all excited about knitting herself a scarf, stroking Delle's hair while she is going to sleep, the way Isaac loves to help me in the kitchen, Isaac singing Liam to sleep at night, Liam chattering to me while I bake.

Thinking about: Advent. I have really grown to love Advent as it's own time.  Trying to decide what Advent customs and traditions to incorporate into our home this year.

Pictures to share: Marney Christmas at Thanksgiving

 Tea time with Grammie and Uncle John

Journal: Giving thanks

Out my window: 43 and cloudy. Might rain today.

Clothing myself in: Black sweatpants, black shirt, grey sweatshirt.

Around the house: Busy weekend! As mentioned in my last journal post, we had decided that Joe would refinish our table again.  He hadn't finished the benches from the last time we refinished it, so we have been using folding chairs the last couple of years.  He finished the table and the benches in just a couple of weeks! We had been toying with the idea of painting our dining room recently, but had decided not to try to do it before Thanksgiving.  Then on Friday, Adelle created a little masterpiece on the wall in there and we decided to just go ahead and paint it.

 Before: taken last May.  I was never overly fond of this shade of yellow.  I like yellow, just not this shade. The stain on the table was also red/ more orange than Joe had intended. And the folding chairs.

After: Natural color stain/sealant on the table and benchtops. White supports.  The walls are now a slate blue, actually really similar one of the colors in the master bedroom.

Also bringing me nerdy domestic joy: a new dryer. That actually dries things in a timely manner, thank goodness.  Also, I found a way to destinkify my towels, which has been a battle for, I kid you not, years.  Years, people.  And Pinterest helped me find a solution that is both cheap and easy peasy.

The baby: Been sleeping better, particularly with not getting up ridiculously early. Thank goodness. I feel like I can handle his shenanigans when I am not dead tired.  Words this week: "um yeah", alternating with "oh, no".  Whacking himself on the head and laughing while saying "ow". If you ask him where his honk is, he grabs his nose and says nose. Also, growling- need to get a video.

The kiddos: They are on break this week.  We are going to be cleaning some more to get ready for our guests and I think we will try to squeeze in a unit on the first Thanksgiving.

Going with Issy and Mom shopping on Friday.  Issy cannot. stop. talking. about it.  It is adorable. She got to go with me, my sisters and nieces last year and loved it.  She talks about it once every waking hour, literally, and usually more often than that.  I hope it lives up to her expectations.

Crafting: Still need to work on my Patricks. Got three more drawn on.

In the kitchen: Making my list for our feast: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, joe's brown sugar, walnutty sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Yum.

Bringing me joy: Clothes fresh from the dryer, a beautiful table to sit at, a bright dining room, anticipation of seeing Joe's parents and brother, George's sweet little baby curls, the way he put his arms around my neck in  Church yesterday, Adelle's facial expressions, a long-awaited sweet little baby girl born to my friend yesterday afternoon.

Thinking about: Gratitude.

Pictures to share:

The aftermath of the aforementioned whacking himself on the head and saying "ow". Only, this time, it was during dinner. Spaghetti.  He was not pleased with the amount of scrubbing it took to get all the sauce out of his hair.

Journal: Thanksgiving preparations

Out my window: Grey. Cold- about 23 degrees.  Some flurries earlier this morning, maybe some more later. It was 65 on Saturday.  I thought the weather was going to be more predictable when I moved to Wisconsin.  Guess not?

Clothing myself in: Fleece Tinkerbell pajama pants and a pink Garden of the Gods hoodie.

Around the house: Productive weekend, though that is really more of Joe's triumph than mine.  He cleared most of the rest of the oak branches to our limb pile in the woods, and finished the table top.  Oh, I don't think I have mentioned the table?  Yeah, he is refinishing it. Again.  This will be the fourth time since Spring of 2007.  This time: natural color table and bench tops, white supports.  The table and bench tops are beeeeautiful.  We are trying to get it done for Thanksgiving.

Got the Rubbermaid Reveal mop.  Amazing!  It is everything I wanted the Swiffer to be, but wasn't.  Easy to use, reuseable pad (that is super easy to attach), make your own solution.  Thanks, friends.  My yucky floor thanks you, too.  Question: for those with wood laminate, what is your favorite cleaning solution?

The baby: Has been "sleeping in" until after six the last few days. He has also been napping well again. Please, please, please, let it continue.  I moved the books from the shelf and he decided that I made him a nice ladder to climb :-/

The kiddos: Report cards and conferences went really well.  Issy and Isaac's teachers had a lot of good things to say about them.  Again, so grateful to have found such a compatible school.

The kids are off of school this Friday and all of Thanksgiving week (is Thanksgiving really next week?!).  Need to plan some things out to do with them, so we don't all get on each other's nerves.  Also, clean. Lots of cleaning. And recleaning.

Crafting: The Kateris are all Mod Podged.  I started on the St. Patricks this weekend.  Two done, ten to go. Also, I gives me a chance to legitimately avoid working on my sweater.

In the kitchen: Nothing terribly exciting- keeping it simple this week as we gear up for the holidays.

Bringing me joy: First snow, clean floors, laying George down awake and having him just fall asleep on his own, my husband, random 65 degree November days, smashing (our own, old) pumpkins with the kids, beautiful and soft refinished wood, the silly and random conversations that facebook allows me to have with my friends in Kansas.

Thinking about: The kids growing up. They all so sincerely love to hang out with me and Joe.  I realize that there will come a day when they do not want to hang around us all the time.  I need to make the most of this time, even if it feels overwhelming sometimes.  This is the only now I am ever going to get.  No redos.

Pictures to share: Woke up to it snowing on Tuesday.  Joe snapped this one with this camera phone.

 My sweet little Liam love.

Twelve St. Kateris, all in a row (or two)

Still need a couple coats of Mod Podge.I did two coats of brown on the faces of the ones on the left and am considering redoing the ones on the right to add another coat. What do you think?

Next, St. Patrick.  I think I might have thrown the sketch that I made away :-/

Just because I love him

I occasionally talk about Joe- what he is doing around the house, my gratitude for him.  But today I want to take it a little bit deeper.

Since it is mostly family and friends that read my blog, you know our story- we met when we were 15, didn't talk for a while and then reconnected through mutual friends when we were 17.  Our friendship deepened but we were still just friends. Until God put it on his heart that we should be more, and he told me so. I was dubious- we were both about to go off to separate colleges and it just wasn't in my plan. I was going to go to Benedictine, do the college stuff, meet a guy my Senior year and then get married after I graduated.

But life rarely goes how we plan and I can pinpoint the exact moment when I knew that he was the one. I simply knew.  And I tried to skate around God's plan for a couple more weeks. Because even when you know, it also takes a decision.  I could have known and still chosen to do it "my way".  Ultimately, even though it seemed fast or even foolish and young from the outside, I said yes.

Best. Decision. Ever.

He is better for me than anyone I could have imagined in my "go off to college, meet a guy, fall in love, graduate and get married" scenario.  Growing up with him has made me a better person. By his example, I have learned to be less stubborn, let things go more easily and to say sorry.

He acts with integrity, he is kind, he is selfless.  So, so selfless.  He takes care of kiddos during pukey nights, rocks the baby for hours, and then gets up and goes to work for us. He works so hard- at his work, at making our home and our land beautiful.

He has held my hand during scary moments of pregnancy, during the tests.  He has talked me through cesareans, through childbirth when I just wanted to give up, to the other side, greeting our babies with joy.  He is the other person on Earth that loves these babies as much as I do.  He would do anything for them.

He is my friend. He gets me. He loves me, flaws and all.  We share a love of mountains, of forests, a love of wandering in the woods, not knowing what bit of beauty you might find next. We share faith. We may not have all the answers, but we have hope.

And so, on this random November day, I just wanted to say how much I Love him. How grateful I am that I said yes to God's plan for us, that late Spring day 12 1/2 years ago. My heart is bursting with love and gratitude for this person I get to spend my life with.  Sometimes you just have to share.

Journal: Halloween and sickies

Out my window: Frosty and 27. Sunny. Chance of snow on Tuesday.

Clothing myself in: Pink sweatpants that I got when I was very very largely pregnant with Isaac and I had outgrown all of my maternity pants.  K-State sweatshirt that was my Mom's.  Not pretty clothes, but good memories associated with them.

Around the house: Conquered the kitchen and computer area floor.  I ended up scrubbing on my hands and knees.  White linoleum + high traffic area = yuck.  I am going to have to check out the Rubbermaid Reveal, thanks for the recommendation, Monica!  Perhaps my floor will get cleaned more often if it wasn't such an ordeal.

Joe worked in the woods on Saturday and Sunday, processing some oak that we had to cut down.  The limbs will be burned and I think he is giving the larger pieces of wood to someone at work.  I love how hard he works to make our land look beautiful.

The baby: He actually had a pretty good week.  His two bottom molars are riiiight there.  I expect the right one to break the skin any day now.  We had our longest separation ever Saturday. I had the opportunity to go to a Women of Christ conference with some ladies from around Necedah. But it was West Bend, which is almost 3 hours from here, so we had to leave early and get back late.  George lets Joe rock him to sleep pretty easily, and Joe felt confident that he could handle the five.  I pumped so I wasn't uncomfortable but George did just fine.  This week his words were oh no and all done.  And he said Daddy this morning.  He really loves Joe a lot.

The kiddos: Had a lot of fun on Halloween.  We kept it pretty simple.  Isaac got a tummy bug on Friday, which was a bummer.  Liam got sick riiiight before I got home from the conference on Saturday night and Adelle got sick about two hours after that.  Just waiting for George and Issy to get it.  Being a parent and realistic, my goal is just to get it done with before Thanksgiving before we have guests.

Issy and Isaac have conferences on Friday. I am interested in what their teachers will say.

Crafting: I have about 20 minutes left to finish up my St. Kateri peg dolls.  Going to get my paint for St. Patrick and start on him.  So excited!

Need to mail my charity knitting.  Oh, Sweater, I am going to have to confront you aren't I?  It is like taking off a bandaid- ripping out all that work is painful but once it is done and I am able to fix it, it will be fine.

In the kitchen: No idea. Going to the store tomorrow.  Need to make a menu tonight.

Bringing me joy: Feeling like this is home, getting to spend time with friends, my husband, Adelle falling asleep on Issy's lap.

Thinking about: The election tomorrow.  Thy will be done.

Pictures to share:

 Isaac and Issy had an All Saints party at school. St. Joseph and St. Lucy.

 Blurry. Because she was jumping up and down, which is adorable.

 Liam.

 The light saber ended up in the stroller shortly after this.

 There was a lot of enthusiasm from the little Care Bear.

He was rather serious. This look says, "You put me in this ridiculous get up and you aren't even going to give me candy, are you?"