Today I am thankful for…Katya seeming to be getting better with her potty training. She's notifying me more often, and has gone #2 several times on the toilet. I'm thankful for every single time i don't have to change a smelly diaper.
I'm listening to…Katya crying because she just fell on the tile floor, Claire laughing as the boys tease her in the family room. Spencer saying, "Don't forget! I've got horns, and I'm dangerous." Evidently they're playing "bullfight." And Collin talking about what would happen if he ate all of his Halloween candy at once.
Looking forward to…umm…..I'm gonna have to say this one goes to being at the Little House this weekend. It was very nostalgic and comforting to go back there last weekend, when we replaced the downstairs carpet with laminate wood. This weekend we're doing doorway thresholds and baseboards. I really love that old house, even with all its rough edges.
Missing…my family. Evidently I have only a 7-week threshold for being away from my family before I start to long to go back. That's a bit of a problem since we live next to polar bears, and they live next to saguaro cacti.
Praying for…God to make me into a more loving and patient person.
What's for dinner…I have no idea. We're really low on groceries because I just haven't managed to get to the store this week. Vlad suggested I bring the kids down to Costco by the university for dinner, and then we catch a movie as a family at the second-run theatre. I might take him up on that.
Burning question of the week…I can't really think of one, so I'll borrow from Spencer's string of questions at lunch: "Who invented the spoon? Who invented the lightbulb? Who invented the toilet? Who invented houses? Who invented plates? Who invented candles? Who invented candy? Who invented baseball? Who invented basketball? Who invented…"
This little miss has been very cute with her artistic endeavors this week, and produced her first-ever drawing of our family!
And here's a bit of randomness from this week:
The kids have become my super-duper cleaning crew. I know I talk a lot about the messes we make, but I don't often mention that they are also super-duper cleaners. I don't mean just tidying, but also cleaning. They do windows, dusting, toilets, sinks, scrub floors, vacuuming. They're just reaching the point where I can tell them to clean up a room and they'll make it perfect- including vacuuming. It's really awesome, let me tell you! So there are a few pics to show you their nice tidying/cleaning jobs.
This week we started lapbooking, and our first unit is based on "The Secret Garden." We are reading through the book, and are pulling stuff from the book to learn about. For instance, the other day we learned all sorts of stuff about India, since Mary Lennox came to England from India. We learned a bit about Indian food, and so that day for lunch I dug in my pantry and found some canned curry sauce, and whipped up a quick Indian-style meal for us. I was pretty proud of myself, and it was delicious. All the kids ate it! Score!
It's always been a dream of mine to build a small mini-golf course in our backyard for the kids to enjoy. The boys took matters in their own hands a few weeks ago and dug several small holes in the front yard, then marked them with some PVC pipe that we had hanging around. It was pretty ingenious, and they enjoyed it for quite a while before forgetting about it. Here's hoping that no one turns their ankles in the little holes…
I ran to the store the other day with a few extra minutes while we were in Grand Forks. I tried on some jeans and figured out my size. But they didn't have the style I wanted, so I went home and ordered them offline. I'm not much of a shopper, so I really don't browse or peruse for much time at all. Sometimes the details of my purchases evade me. Evidently, I don't check myself out in the mirror either, because about three days ago I put on my new jeans and a shirt, and went down to start schoolwork with the boys. When I put my hands on my knees, I was shocked to find some very soft and fluffy patches, and even more shocked to see that they were intentionally-worn spots in my jeans!! I actually have holes in my jeans! On "purpose." I always thought I was much too practical for buying jeans that were already half-worn, and for sure didn't intend to show large patches of my upper thigh to the world. I am considering ironing patches of fabric in behind them, to extend the life of my jeans the same way I do for my kids' jeans. And next time I'll inspect for intentional damage.
A favorite game lately of all the kids, but especially the girls, has been to bury each other in the laundry that I throw down over the railing if I plan on folding it downstairs. Here are a few shots of Katya, buried by Claire. If only I could have caught the giggles on camera too!
You know you have a strong European influence in your home when you slice salami and french baguette
for breakfast, and serve coffee in a French press.
I thought the boys would love learning about India, what with all the amazing architecture, the colorful festivals, the elephants, the traditional dances, the interesting traditional clothing. We made layered mini books for India, and they cut and pasted all sorts of beautiful and interesting photos.
As it turns out, they have loved learning about cholera today 10x more. Why? Here's a clue: It has to do with the symptoms of diarrhea and vomitting. They have laughed for hours while they sketch various pictures of people displaying these symptoms over and over and over in every variation of awkwardness. Seriously, they never cease to amaze me.
Happy Thursday!!
