Journal: Goodbye January!

Out my window: Some fresh snow fell yesterday, but it is already at freezing and supposed to get up to 41 today, so I suppose some of it will melt. It was beautiful, though.

Clothing myself in: Brown Jackson Hole long sleeved T-shirt, tan sweater, tan trouser pants. Wool socks- my feet are cold!

Around the house: Well, Joe was sick several days last week and then busy trying to catch up on some work over the weekend, so not much forward progress, but he write a post and includes an up-to-date picture of the basement on his blog a few days ago.

The toddler: Random high fever a couple of days last week, not that you would be able to tell.  Current pesty thing he likes to do: open drawers that are above his head, hang on the drawer with one hand and pull things out of it with the other. Like my garlic press, or cheese slicer (!) or pizza cutter (!!). Oh, this child. Current really cute thing: he likes to try to jump up and down like the big kids, only it ends up being more like a stationary gallop. Cuuuute.

The kiddos: It is Catholic School's Week, so my big ones were excited about that.  Today was mix and match dress day/ wear your clothes backwards day. Coming up- pajama day, superhero or princess day, wacky hat day. Oh, and they also get report cards this week. Isaac had a little something last week, but he seems better now.

Crafting: I have a couple of people I need to make baby gifts for. Soon.

In the kitchen: Black bean burritos, pork and sweet potato stew, egg casserole. Going to bake brownies today so we can have a (slightly belated) Anniversary of Joe Accepting His Job party.

Bringing me joy: Joe feeling better, going bowling with some friends, the older three getting excited about making 100 Lego guys, Adelle's robot dance, giving George nomming kisses and having him squeal in happiness.

Thinking about: Confession: I still wildly miss Idaho. I miss mountains, I miss lots of snow, I miss our little Church there, I miss the yarn store, I miss mild summers, mountain streams, visits to Yellowstone, the non-plague level of bugs. Then I have guilt for missing it because I really love it here and I know this is where we are supposed to be right now. I love our parish, our new friends, our house, our woods, the fact that it is just a day's drive from Kansas. I need to accept the missing for what it is.

Picture to share: This fella gave us a scare on Saturday,. He was limping on his back paw and when we laid him down to look at it he was all shakey. We were concerned it was something serious- he is a pretty old doggie.  Took him to the vet and it was just a sprained paw- he is fine now :)  Silly boy.

Journal: Brrrrrrrrrr January

Out my window: Sunny but soooo cold. -5 degrees out. Not planning on going anywhere except pick up the littles from school today.

Clothing myself in: Pink yoga pants, brown long sleeve T-shirt, brown cardigan. It is laundry day.

Around the house: Joe finished drywalling around the duct. Mudding, lots of mudding in store.

The toddler: So many new words! Isaac, more, all done, boo, and my favorite- please.  Only it sounds like "weeeeeze". So he crawls in my lap when he wants to nurse and says, "Boo, weeeeeeeze." I find toddlers to be a challenging stage (particularly this wild one) but I love it when they start to talk.  He has also started to gesticulate- nodding when he says "uh huh", signing "more", putting his hands up when he says "all done" clasping his hands together when he says please.  Love, love, love it.

The kiddos: Isaac is receiving the Sacrament of Penance in February, so we are doing our last preparation for it and making sure he is comfortable with everything.  His First Communion is the first Sunday in May.  Can't believe everything is coming up so soon!

Crafting: Nope, no crafting.  I think about knitting, but it just hasn't happened.

In the kitchen: Need to come up with an easy, healthy, delicious, relatively cheap meal plan.  Bah, that isn't too much to ask, is it? :P

Bringing me joy: Getting to go to confession with my Issy, Adelle's cute little braids, Joe playing Legos with Isaac and Liam, hearing George's voice, our family slideshow- it helps me put in perspective our blessings and how beautiful our year was.

Thinking about: The book The 'One Thing' Is Three by Fr. Michael Gaitley.  Most of the time, I have a hard time getting into theology books, but this one is different- heavy concepts broken down in understandable language.  It has also made me want to delve deeper into St Faustina and message of Divine Mercy.

Picture to share:

A Christmas show

Grammie bought the kids some wooden masks and brought them up at Thanksgiving.  One cold day on Christmas break, we got to paint them.

Then they put on a show, featuring Liam as Snowball, Isaac as Frosty, Issy as Jenny the Elf and Delle as Lucy the Elf.  George also had a mask that Liam painted for him, but he didn't participate in the show.  Nor would he pose for a picture with it. Thanks, Grammie!

I am currently working on a year-end slideshow, so that is kind of time consuming, but I wanted to give you just a short post today :)

Evolving Breakfast Nook/ Office/ Now Reading Nook

This is one of my favorite areas of our house.  It was built as a breakfast nook, with a more formal dining room on the other side of the kitchen, but I liked it so much, I wanted to try to squeeze our table in.  It was possible, but not ideal.  So we put the table into the formal dining area, which was a much better fit.

 Since the formal dining area had been functioning as our "office" we put the computer in the nook area.

But George is who he is and he kept turning off  the computer, so we moved it up on the desk, but then he could reach the printer and shoved a toy in it that caused a paper jam.  He would get up on the desk and one time I found him squatting on the desk, a pencil in one hand and a pen in the other. Yet, we continued on. But then a morning a couple of weeks ago, he pulled the V key off, which was apparently the last straw because Joe promptly rearranged furniture and took the his computer downstairs into the guestroom/ office.

So now we have a reading nook.  This is my favorite use of the space yet :)

Journal: Happy New Year!

Out my window: 28. Snow on the ground.  It is supposed to get above freezing the next several days, which makes me crabby. I don't want my snow to melt!

Clothing myself in: Black Army sweatshirt. Navy blue sweatpants. You are all jealous of my fantastic wardrobe, I am sure.

Around the house: We finished the bathroom.  Joe is plugging along on the basement- almost done drywalling around the duct- then onto mudding and sanding.

For Christmas Joe bought me a ceiling fan for the master bedroom to replace the one in this post.  The new one is a gazillion time prettier. And quieter:

The toddler: So many teeth coming in! All four molars are through and I can now see one of his incisors.  Let's just get this done, shall we?  New word: hallelujah.  It sounds like hal u yah.  But cute, nonetheless.  He also got his first big boy haircut and his been acting like more of a big boy ever since. Sniff.

The kiddos: The big guys are back to school this week after two weeks off.  Issy seemed ready, Isaac wasn't too thrilled about having to learn again, ha!  Back to homeschool, settling into winter days with my three smalls.

Crafting: For Christmas, Joe built Issy a bunk bed for her dolls.  I had bought some fabric (that Issy picked out but didn't know what it was for) the day after Thanksgiving to make mattresses, pillows and blankets for them.  Issy took this one:

In the kitchen: Italian sausage soup, chicken noodle soup, rotini and sausage.

Bringing me joy: Spending days and days with Joe and not having to worry about him being "on call", seeing him working so hard on our basement, imagining the space it will become, hanging out at Home Depot with the family (never imagined that would bring me joy!), the chance to go skiing and have some time to myself.

Thinking about: Two years ago today.  It is funny how this date really sticks with me.  It was just such a game changer.  All the other big things that have happened in our life together were either planned or we saw them coming.  What a beautiful little surprise.

Pictures to share: Blizzard right before Christmas:

 Christmas picture 2012:

 The peg dolls were a hit with everyone, even the big guys!

What My BABY Wore Today 3

Linking up with Erika to show George's cuteness today:

Tan Pants: Children's Place- hand-me-downs from cousin Zane, I think
Choo Choo Train Sweater: Carter's- a present from Grammie (edited to add: actually Osh Kosh B' gosh.  In fairness, they are owned by the same company.)
Beatles T-shirt: Target awesomeness.

Apologies for the blurry second picture, he is terribly fast.

Master bathroom makeover

Joe's sister and brother-in-law came to visit mid- December and they were nice enough to help us (well, really demonstrate how to) rip out all the linoleum and tile in our bathroom and  put down new tile.  I love the way it turned out! Thanks so much, Gina and Dave!!

It is dark, but this was the best "Before" picture I had.  The tub tile was fine, but not too exciting. It was the linoleum that was not-so-good.  It had scroll-y things. And pink flowers.  

Demo shot. We (Dave) had to replace the sheetrock because it was pretty weak in that spot.

She is a Master Tile Layer.

Ready to caulk.

 I finished painting, we reinstalled the toilet, and sealed the grout.

Here it is, all finished!

 Detailed in the corner:

 Pretty glass tile:

Skiing!

Hi all :)

Joe has been off work since the 22nd, so we have been decking the halls, wrapping presents, making bierocks, playing games, watching movies, playing in the snow, going on a date and generally just enjoying the break.  I might update on some of those things later, but Joe has already documented a bit of that on his blog, Wonderfield, so you can mosey on over there if you would like.

So. Waaaay back for Christmas of 2008, Mom and Dad Marney bought me some cross country skis.  I found my happy place. Alta, Wyoming. Teton Canyon.  It was a great way to work out, have some peaceful time, enjoy winter.  The next winter, we found ourselves back in Kansas, which is decidedly not cross-country skiing friendly, since skiing requires, you know, snow.  So they collected dust for the next three winters.

See the dust?

I took them for a spin out at the wildlife refuge and it was just as great as I remembered.

Snow makes winter good.