Saturday Successes - Volume 4

Saturday already??? Here we go again ...

*** changed a very stinky diaper

*** fed The Baby breakfast (note: The Baby definitely has her own opinions -- she most definitely did not want (read: threw on the floor) the Cheerios or the bagel offered her because she saw the boxes of doughnuts on the table left from yesterday's birthday breakfast!)

*** completed one Defender brief while drinking morning coffee and eating a jelly doughnut

*** had morning prayer time with a second cup of coffee

*** read the evidence and argument in preparation for writing a second defender brief

*** made our bed (yes, the third Saturday in a row!)

*** got The Baby dressed

*** took a shower

*** ate lunch and fed The Baby

*** loaded and started the dishwasher

*** completed second Defender brief of the day

7:00 UPDATE:

*** read evidence for and wrote third Defender brief of the day

*** made a menu for the week and a grocery list

*** read evidence for and wrote fourth Defender brief of the day (yes, my children were largely neglected today, but they were relatively happy -- The Boy was busy playing with 20 new Matchbox cars that he received as a belated Christmas present yesterday and The Girls were busy with the two newest additions to our family -- Carmella Rose and Rebecca -- Happy Birthday, Girls!)

10:00 UPDATE:

*** ate pizza and salad with the fam

*** watched the Olympics

Almost Wordless Wednesday - "Amen!"

"Okay ... how do I make these things work again?"

"Wait! Slow down!"

"Here we go! Control. Control."

"Got it! Amen."

Saturday Successes - Volume 3

Here we go again ... another Saturday. One of these days I'll figure out how to do Mr. Linky ...

*** grabbed some coffee and attempted some prayer time before the kiddos, plus a niece, woke up

*** loaded the dishwasher

*** put a load of red and pink clothes in the dryer and put a load of fleece and jammies in the washing machine

*** supervised breakfast, had a bowl of cereal, and supervised clean-up

*** took a coffee/cocoa break with my sister, who came to pick up my niece, who had spent the night with us

1:00 UPDATE:

*** finished one defender brief

*** read evidence for second defender brief while entertaining The Baby with Mr. Potato Head and supervising The Girls Saturday chores (sinks and toilets cleaned, kitchen and dining room floors washed)

*** got The Baby dressed (she took an early nap and was still in her jammies)

*** made bed

*** took red and pink clothes out of dryer and put fleece and jammies in dryer

*** sorted dirty laundry and put green and blue clothes in washer

*** unloaded and reloaded dishwasher

*** made lunch: rice and frozen egg rolls (Saturday is all about easy!)

5:00 UPDATE:

*** ate lunch

*** put clean laundry away

*** took jammies and fleece out of dryer, put green and blue clothes in dryer, put hubby's dress shirts in the washer

*** supervised lunch clean-up

*** took a shower

*** grabbed an afternoon cup of coffee

*** helped The Girls get ready for an American Girls Mystery Party at some friends' house

*** took The Girls to their party

*** heated up my now cold cup of coffee

*** completed second defender brief

10:30 UPDATE:

*** read most of the evidence for a third defender brief

*** made dinner for The Boy and The Baby and supervised the eating and cleaning up process

*** picked up the house

*** enjoyed an evening out for dinner with my DH and my parents (thanks again, Dad and Mom, for the wonderful dinner!)

Lunch Conversation

The Boy: I wish I could hear God's voice.

Me: That's why we're working on being quieter around here during Lent -- so we can hear God better. It's hard to hear Him when everything is so loud around us.

The Boy: Oh. Shhhh ... I hear God's voice.

Me: What's He telling you?

The Boy: Listen to your mom.

Me: That must be God.

The Boy: And don't go to hell.

Mardi Gras Party

We just finished our Mardi Gras celebrations and are heading to bed.

The kids and I decorated the dining room with streamers and balloons, and each one of them made a carnival mask for our party.

Father B stopped by and shared some very. good. wine with us. The kids each chose a favorite appetizer food for "dinner" -- we had little hot dogs, chicken wings, and nachos. I added some spinach dip and Hawaiian bread and some cut up peppers to the mix to try and balance things out a little.

While The Younger Girl made dessert (warm chocolate chips cookies and vanilla ice cream) ...

... The Older Girl and The Boy watched some of the Olympics (and played with legos) ...

luge sled

snowboarder

... and my DH cleaned the stove top for me!!! (Thanks, sweetie!)

Poor Lindsey Jacobellis!

My Daybook - aka The Week in Review

For Today... Monday, February 15, 2010 ... already!?!

Outside my window... a rabbit has apparently made our backyard his home. The Kids are annoyed by all the little black treats he leaves in the pretty white snow where they like to play.

I am hearing... my DH working at his computer in the dining room -- it's nice to have him home in the evenings once in a while, even if just to work side by side.

I am thinking... about how much fun The Baby had playing on her bedroom floor with the Mr. Potato Head pieces today, while I sat nearby reading some work stuff.

I am praying... for Liz -- please say a prayer for her and her beautiful family if you have a minute.

I am thankful for... an evening out with my DH to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had a gift card to Outback (thanks Dad and Mom!) and then went to a local coffee shop for dessert. Steak and chocolate -- it doesn't get much better than that!

From the school room... Friday night we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics at my parents' house. I made coloring books for the kids with pictures of the Olympic rings and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic symbol and each of the winter sports. And we enjoyed Olympic brownies.


From the kitchen... look what my DH made for breakfast yesterday: banana-flax seed pancakes with strawberry syrup!


I am creating ... our Lent calendar (but I'm quickly running out of time!).

I am going... to finish this post and take a glass of wine and some work to my nice warm bed -- I've been freezing all day!

I am reading... The Professor's House, Shiloh, and The Examen Prayer (still).

I am hoping... to plan a birthday party for The Oldest Girl sometime before this weekend -- her birthday is the 26th.

Around the house... I have some ideas for Lent; we'll see what happens Wednesday.

Noticing that ... everyone around here is a little (or a lot) burnt out.

One of my favorite things... ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Dance as usual. The Boy had a Blue Knights meeting today. The Girls have a Little Flowers tea party tomorrow. Tomorrow night we'll celebrate Mardi Gras as a family. Ash Wednesday Mass. Friday I have spiritual direction and hopefully we'll make it to the parish soup supper and Stations of the Cross. Saturday the girls have been invited to an American Girls Mystery party.

Some picture-thoughts: Almost time to pack this away.

For more daybooks, visit here.

Saturday Successes - Volume 2

I am a little frustrated by the lack of time I have had to post lately -- I have so many fun things to share and so many other things to write about (I have the titles saved to remind me later) -- but we are definitely in survival mode around here -- one step at a time, moving closer to our goal of a finished dissertation. My DH is giving it his all. And I'm giving all I can give to everything else. And trying to be cheerful about it, too.

Last night, we went over to my parents' for a taco party and to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. We didn't get to bed until after midnight, so my Saturday started out a little slow. But here's the beginning of my list of successes.

*** grabbed some coffee and a brownie

*** fed The Baby breakfast, with help of DH

*** made our bed (on a Saturday!)

*** gave The Kids their Saturday chore lists

*** loaded the dishwasher

*** made and ate a fried egg and cheese sandwich (for the benefit of my DH, who is making sure I eat on Saturdays -- I have a tendency to neglect this in favor of getting more done)

*** completed one defender brief (For those of you who don't know, I serve as the Defender of the Bond for the Court of Second Instance for our Archdiocese. I do a lot of my work on Saturdays -- I have to catch-up on what I didn't have time to get to during the week. My work involves reading the evidence and decision of a First Instance Court for a marriage nullity case (popularly, but incorrectly, known as an annulment) and then writing a brief outlining everything that favors the validity of the marriage -- I defend the bond of marriage.)

5:00 UPDATE:

*** took a shower

*** folded a load of laundry, put a load in the dryer, and started a load of towels

*** supervised the lunch routine

*** ate a tortilla with melted cheese and salsa

*** unloaded the dishwasher

*** folded another load of laundry, put the towels in the dryer, and started a load of sheets

*** completed another defender brief

8:00 UPDATE:

*** picked up the house

*** ordered a heart-shaped pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner

*** set the table for our Lord's Day dinner

*** enjoyed prayer, pizza, and salad with my family

*** took sheets out of the dryer and put new Valentine's t-shirts from Gramma in the washing machine for tomorrow

*** cleaned up from dinner and loaded the dishwasher

*** dealt with very fragile kids before bed (The Girls told me they stayed up until 1:00 am reading Harry Potter last night!), prayed with them, and put them to bed. early.

*** put Valentine's shirts in the dryer and put rags in the washing machine

*** filled a bucket with bleach (said bucket holds poopy underwear ... don't get me started)

*** poured a glass of wine

10:30 UPDATE:

*** drank glass of wine

*** tried to work on third defender brief, but was very distracted by Apolo Anton Ohno and JR Celski and Hannah Kearney and Shannon Bahrke (DH brought 13" emergency TV up from basement -- shhhh! -- Go Team USA!)