The Simple Woman's Daybook Volume 2

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Monday, November 17th, 2008

Outside My Window...The weather is still grey and cold with a high of 42 today. I miss hearing birds chirping! I miss the sun; being without it for so long makes me feel a little sad.

I am thinking...about how it takes a village to raise a child. Really!

I am thankful for...having my family and Jeremy's family so close by. Three of his sisters live within a mile of us with their husbands and children. Two of his sisters and their families are even in the same parish as we are! His parents live only 20 minutes away. My mother lives in town as do six of my nine siblings. My dad and his wife and my youngest brother and sister live a mere 45 minutes away. One set of grandparents live a couple of miles away and my other grandparents live exactly 60 miles away. Last weekend, the children woke up at Jeremy's parents' house, came home, played with my mom, and then after she left, my dad and his wife were there for an hour or so with Aunt Sophie and Uncle Eli. The children spent time with all of their grandparents in one day! We have had to hire a babysitter one time in the last six and a half years. The children always stay with a member of the family when we are away. What a huge blessing!

Learning at school and at home...Madeleine finally knows her birthday. I don't know what took her so long; even her little brother knows his birthday, but for some reason, she just couldn't remember. She's working on disguising (a picture of) a turkey so that it doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving. She decided to dress it up as a ghost. Morgan is improving her reading skills daily, Noah is learning his alphabet letters and knows how to spell his name. Isaiah will say these words now: Mommy, Daddy, all done, baby, puppy, night-night, and goodbye. I'm sure there's others in his little vocabulary that I've not listed.

From the kitchen...I have finally started written meal planning. On Friday night, I wrote a week and a half worth of meal plans and made sure I had all of the food to complete the meals. I printed it, posted it on the fridge, and intend to stick to it. This will make my life so much easier. Bonus: My husband knows what to expect if he glances at the paper.

I am creating...our Blurb book for 2008. This is a big project and I'm still working on it. I've just finished putting in the pictures from August. This afternoon I'll start working on September. After I get all of the pictures placed in the book, I'll begin writing in captions, dates, and stories.

I am going...to play with my one and a half year old son and his shape sorter when I finish this.

I am reading...The Hidden Power of Kindness (still), The Lamb's Supper, and, for lighter, brainless reading, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince...for the 8th time.

I am hoping...that the FOCA does not pass. I am completely pro-life and think that America does not have enough respect for human life which begins at conception and does not end until natural death. I'm also opposed to the death penalty, by the way. That's another blog entry, I think.

I am hearing...Kermit the Frog. I found a Muppets Christmas video in the garage and I also hear wind and the washing machine churning away downstairs.

Around the house...I need to organize the kitchen; the counters have been magnets for all of the stuff that we haven't put away or that we don't want Isaiah to reach and it looks a bit overwhelming. We've unpacked all of our things since we moved into the house in May, but we're still trying to find the best places for all of our things: the games, clothes, toys, crafts stuff, etc. The good thing is that we have so much room that we have closets that are still half empty!

One of my favorite things...still music. My sister Brianna introduced me to the website Pandora Radio. Check it out! You plug in your favorite artist or song and then it produces a radio station (so to speak) for you to listen to based on the artist or song you initially entered. It's great!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I'll go to bible study tonight and we have a quiet week. Saturday is my niece's third birthday party and Sunday is an early Thanksgiving celebration with Jeremy's extended family.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...Isaiah is pretty sure that Grandpa's lap (my dad) is a good place to cuddle up with a pacifier and his blankie when it's bedtime. Isaiah is definitely a cuddler, so he picked a good lap to climb into!