Sharing - its totally allowed during Lent

I'm not really blogging right now, I'm just sharing :-) But I had to break my fast for just a couple minutes to "share" with you the opportunity to help a young lady with her kickstarter project. She's the daughter of a friend and she has designed a really neat board game for children. Her mom Karen has written more about it over at Candid Diversions so I hope you'll check it out or you can click on the link below. Lucy and I can't wait to get our game - tigers and jewels, who wouldn't want to play?!

WOL - February Fun

I'm glad I'm writing this post because I can see that we did actually have fun last month. We also had two bouts of stomach flu plus a round of bad colds which is a lot in just 28 days. No wonder the month is a bit of a blur.

I know I checked "Night in the Country" out from the library to pre-read it earlier this year but when I went to get it this month it wasn't there so I substituted Owl Moon. We'd already read it but we love it and it worked just fine. We made some Zucchini moons and Lucy was quite proud to be able to cut the zuichinni all by herself and help me stir them on the stove. She even took a couple bites before proclaimed them "no so very good." I have to agree with her - I don't really like Zucchini much :-)

This wasn't planned but we ended up listening to some owl sounds and watching a couple youtube clips with owls. And then while Craig was out with the kids in the backyard, they stumbled upon what we believe was an owl pellet! This was neat for the lesson but makes me a bit worried about the chicks.

We read Vincenti's colors and painted still lifes which I talked about here. Then she sewed her own starry sky with felt and embroider floss. She loved it so much she insisted we hang it up with her other hoops in her room.

We also made Starry Night playdough. I'd suggest going for blue over black because black food coloring seems to make more of a poopy dark green color playdough. But the sequins made it fun. I also made some yellow so Lucy could make stars.

I love this one of Jonah. He's working so hard to get that cookie cutter to do what he wants.  

We finally got around to checking out our local science museum and planetarium and even decided to be brave and take the kids to a show. It was called "The Little Star that Could" and it was really cute. They said it was for kids 5+ but most of the kids there were probably around Lucy's age and they had mats for us to lay down on so a little bit of wiggling was fine. I was able to lay down with Jonah for about half the show before he got antsy but it was easy enough to walk around the back of the dark room with him. Lucy learned a lot and I did too!

The rest of the science museum was really geared for older kids but we had fun at a few places. 

Yes, I see our mistake but when you have two helpers sometimes that happens :-)

Holograms and toddlers are fun to watch together. 

We went out star gazing a couple nights. I had read several relevant sections from the Handbook of Nature Study before hand. I started so I would be able to show them to Lucy but I'll admit that I really got into it and Craig and I had fun with some star gazing apps on our tablet. I made a sketch in my nature notebook of the ones we found so I can see how the positions change in a few months. 

I made some of the ones we had found on construction paper (marked with pencil). It was just dark enough that Lucy could find them and fill them in. I had planned on using our gold dot markers but she got some glitter glue for Valentine's day so we used that. It worked really well. The big dipper and Orion she recognized right away but the others needed to be filled in with the blue before she understood what they were supposed to be. I personally still think Cassiopia is a bit of a stretch. 

Then we moved on from the sky to Australia with Possum Magic. We made invisible pictures but drawing with white oil pastels and then painting over them. The first one was rough. Lucy was very skeptical about the whole process and kept getting upset and didn't want to use white. I finally shower her what happened when she put watercolor on top of it and suddenly it was the best art project ever! I think she did five or six pages. 

We also made lamingtons. These were quite tasty but my helpers were a little overly helpful. They were supposed to wait for me to completely coat the cake in chocolate before sprinkling the coconut on top but as you can see, that didn't quite happen. Waiting is hard when you are under 4. They still tasted really good though. 

And Lent begins

Lent kinda snuck up on me this year. I'm not sure why because its not really early but I just don't feel prepared. I guess that's okay since the point of Lent is to prepare for Easter. One doesn't need to be too prepared, does one?

Anyway, I've decided to take a break from blogging until Easter. I want to give myself time to reflect and learn without feeling pressure (from myself!) to come with anything wise or witty to say about it. I've got a few posts I've already written so those will go up in the next few days then I'll see you just in time to say Alleluia!

Day in my life

I thought it would be fun to not-live blog a day in my life. I tried to take notes at least every 30 minutes and pictures whenever something seemed semi-interesting visually speaking.

8:15 - I wake up and I'm shocked at how late it is. Jonah's still sleeping. He's been sleeping very poorly because of a bad diaper rash so last night I let him sleep in a loosely pinned prefold on a wool pad and he slept wonderfully. Lucy's already up and in the living room, quietly reading a bob book to herself.

8:20 - Jonah's up. This is why I never wake up before the kids. If I get up at 6, he gets up at 6:05. I made bread yesterday and prepped some cinnamon rolls. Craig took them out of the fridge before he left for work (at 5am!) so they are ready to go in the oven now. I've just got to distract the kids until they are ready. We play doctor in the living room and both kids give me multiple shots but Lucy consoles me with the news that my heart is still beating.

8:40 - Head downstairs to check on the chicks and start some laundry. Laundry has never been a problem area for me (don't worry, I have others) but now that I'm checking on the chicks 3-4x a day and they live next to the washer, I'm finding myself waiting to have enough clothes to wash a load. Weird feeling!

9:00 - Rolls are ready! Jonah doesn't seem to like them so I offer yogurt too but he eats one bite and is ready to play.

 He grabs a toy pot and (his favorite toy these days) and runs around yelling "de pot de pot" while banging it on anything he can reach. We clean up, Lucy does her table chore (sweeping under the table) and we head to the living room for bible. We go through her bible memory verses and catechism questions. Lucy decided she is a lion so answers in a lion voice with roars in between questions. Then they are free to play while I have my bible time. As usual, they don't really want to play without me at first so they sit and look at their bibles and then I have to stop and take Jonah to the potty. He's in the "starts going on the floor, then runs over to tell me so we both run to the potty together even though I know its too late" phase. I'm mostly doing all the naked time because of his stupid rash so the potty practicing is just extra. Eventually, Lucy asks for window crayons and they play and give me a chance to actually read in quiet.



9:30 - We head off for morning tasks - get dressed, brush hair and teeth and make beds. This takes longer than it needed to because we have to do a bit of attitude adjusting along the way but by 10 we are ready for fun so I'm calling it a successful morning.

10:00 - Apparently the window crayons inspired Lucy so she requests art. I get out the glitter glue and she's glueing, cutting and decorating her creation while telling me all about her dream last night - she was a flying squirrel or visited a flying squirrel or something like that. I try and get some coloring done myself. Lucy's almost done with MEP Reception so I'm preparing this c-rod booklet for her and need to color in the cards. Jonah's version of art time normally consists of him dumping everything out but by the time he's dumps everything out and then helps me put it all back, Lucy's done too.

10:45 - I send them off with apples to snack on while they play. Lucy requests music but can't decide if she wants classical or korean until I threaten her with none at which point she picks Korean. They play together while I scrub glitter glue off the table, wash some woolens, switch the laundry and put some away, soak beans for tomorrow's dinner, pick up around the house and break up a fight that occurred because "we can't share the bed." This bed mind you is a queen and a twin put together so I'm pretty sure there is enough room for both of them.

11:30 - Lunch and table time which consists of singing our hymn and reading our poem and story for the month. Then they are off to play some more while I try and write up a spring cleaning list for next week, fill out some forms and check my email.

12:00 - Lucy is needing attention. I can tell because she interrupts me every 5 minutes. I suggest math which is her favorite. We almost have a meltdown because we don't have a brown marker like we need and the black is out of ink but I convince her that it is okay to use purple instead because I know she knows the right choice even if she can't actually chose it. Jonah gets an older sheet to scribble on.





12:15 - With her attention cup at least partially filed, free play goes better this time around. I check email and fb where a friend has passed on details about a hautelook see kai run sale. I was going to buy some last night but needed to measure Jonah's feet so this is good timing. I grab him, try and measure his feet (takes several tries) and buy a pair for about 50% off. Score! I can't believe I'm buying him big kid shoes but as cute as his swedish mocs are, they don't handle mud very well.

12:30 - Nap time. We read some Little House on the Prairie, Mop-Top and Farmer will. I leave Lucy with her music and try and lay down with Jonah.

1:00 Jonah's nursed but doesn't think he's sleeping so I put him on my back in the boba and go grab some laundry to fold. I only get half way done before I feel his head flop onto my back. He's out.



1:25 - I lay him down, he stirs but I nurse him back to sleep then sneak out. I'm free! I grab a snack and start working on my last few pages of our 2013 scrapbook. I'm so close to being done! Of course, I've already taken a couple hundred pictures in 2014 but I'm not thinking about that right now.

2:30 - Jonah's wakes up. He always wakes up half way through his nap and wants to nurse the rest of the time but that's okay because my current k-drama, My Love From the Star, is newly subbed and ready for me.

3:30 - Kids wake up just as my episode is ending. We grab a snack. Jonah spills mandarin orange juice all over his chair and the floor. I'm sooo glad I mopped last night. After I clean up, we would normally go outside but despite the sun coming in through the window, it's bitterly cold and windy so I burst teh kids bubble with news that we have to play inside. I grab my kindle and lay on Lucy's bed while the kids play around me. At first everyone is reading then Lucy asks me to be a princess in a castle. I ask if the princess can be reading in her castle and she says that's okay. They dress up and eventually decide to play "hide in the closet" which they seem to think is hilarious but I don't quite understand.

4:15 - I throw the shepherds pie in the oven. It's a freezer meal that has been thawing for 2 days now but still seems a bit cold. I cross my fingers that it will be done before I have a mutiny on my hands. Even so, I'm really glad I don't have to make dinner. I'm trying to use up all my freezer meals right now because we have half a pig coming soon and need a place to put it. But I'm grateful my biggest issue right now is having too much healthy food to eat so no complaints.

While the kids are playing nicely without me, I put a post up on the blog and talk to Craig on the phone about which chicken water container he should get on the way home. As soon as Jonah sees I'm in te phone, he tries to be sneaky, searches through the snack drawer and requests crackers. Okay, maybe he's not really trying to be sneaky but he does have interesting timing. I need him to be quiet so I give him one and he leaves and comes back 2 minutes later wanting another. Repeat ~10X.

4:45 Craig's home! Everyone wants to play with daddy so I sit on the couch to rest. Within approximately 45 seconds, Jonah notices me and wants to nurse.

Lucy sits next to us and reads another bob book. It's about a hot dog and she looks over at me and sadly says she wants food too. I offer the kids fruit but they turn me down so they must not be that hungry despite the moans and whines.

6:00 - Dinner's ready! It wasn't that late but you'd think I was starving everyone. We all clean up together.

Craig works on sawing that last knob off in the bathroom and gets a couple helpers.

Lucy decides the bathroom is too crowded and I offer reading lessons as an option and am not a bit surprised when she takes me up on it. We are taking a break from The Ordinary Parents Guide (blends are boring us both but I wanted her to get more practice with simple short vowel words before moving on to digraphs) so we're going through The Little Red Hen in the Treadwell Readers - it means a few sight words and a few new rules to learn earlier than she would in OPG but she's doing really well. Jonah comes it to show us his painters tape sticker face and soon she wants one too.

6:45 - Craig helps everyone get sufficiently taped up and more bed bouncing occurs while I sneak a shower in.

7:30 - Bedtime routine begins. Pajamas are put on, teeth are brushed and everyone waits for bible time. And yes, they do the whole thing with tape on their faces.

It's the second day of the same story which means Lucy gets to help demonstrate the plagues (the first day she watches Craig, the next two days she moves the pieces, then we move to a new story).

More Little House on the Prairie and some Brambly Hedge and everyone gets tucked in.

8:30 - Little people are asleep! I plop down next to Craig on the couch and finish the last few minutes of the k-drama I started while nursing Jonah down while he catches up on some local news via facebook. After we muster up some energy, we go down and switch the chicken's to a new bigger home and we have a nice uninterrupted conversation.

10:00 - Jonah's awake and is sitting on the floor angrily crying. I don't think he fell out but I'm not sure how he ended up there since that meant he crawled from the twin over the queen onto the floor. He's still just in a prefold although its wet so I check the bed for wet spots but luckily he must have been on the wool when he peed so I put a clean prefold on him and tuck him back. Craig heads to bed and I read a bit.

10:30 - I'm not tired but it's lonely out here by myself so I head to bed to snuggle between my guys - but not too close to Jonah seeing as how he is not wearing a cover right now - he's looking a lot better so I'm hoping this is the last diaper cover free night. I dim the kindle and peruse pinterest until my pillow wins and I turn it off around 11pm. Jonah will want to nurse again in a couple hours so I should get some sleep while I can.