Sweet Sleeper

so fast...

This week went so fast for me. The day off threw me off I think, I was constantly behind. I'm here now though, and we had such a good weekend. 

Friday night I went to see the Les Miserables movie for the second time. (Yes, I'm a nerd.) I love the story and the music so much and this time I could concentrate more on the directing and editing choices which was interesting. 

                           
                                   Chris and Unity have starting seaming a bit on the first part of the dress.

                                   On Saturday I had my final Godly Play training. I really enjoyed learning this
                                method of religious education from an open-ended creative Montessori perspective.
                                Now I have to start assembling materials and planning a program for my Meeting,
                                hopefully for next fall.

                               Also, do you see that other book I'm reading? It's called Far From the Tree by Andrew
                               Solomon and it is fa.cin.a.ting. Seriously, it's so good and interesting and thought
                               provoking. He writes about parents who have children that are vastly different from
                               them in some way- the struggles around identity and illness, the questions of what kinds
                               of support and interventions parents choose and how they never really know if it's the
                               right choice for their child until later. This book is so good.
                                                         

                                         
                                    (  Look Ma, they're clip-ons. )

                                    I was able to rush home after my training to meet up with the Spring Kids potluck,
                                    where we were talking about things like allowances, and volunteering for field trips.
                                    It's so wild to think how much times have changed, it really doesn't feel like it was
                                   all that long ago that we were borrowing baby wipes and sharing nap strategies.

                                  Finished it off with a good Meeting for Worship and then a friend's birthday party.
                                  The weekend got a little more crowded than I meant it to, but it was all good stuff and
                                  I think our week will be a little quieter.

More books, more stitches

Chris and Unity have decided to start a sewing project together. We spent a bunch of time in the fabric store this weekend choosing a pattern and fabric she liked. It's going to be a fun dress! They are still at the beginning stages of washing and cutting and piecing but they are having so much fun. 

                           We acquired some more bookshelves. Chris says that getting new bookshelves to deal with our book problem is like building a new highway to solve congestion. But I had some boxes of beloved treasures from when I was growing up and I wanted to unpack them. Look, the shelves aren't even full. Yet.

Can I tell you how much love and joy I feel pulling out those dear worn covers and smelling their old dusty dreamy smell and being reminded of all the hours well spent? I was inspired to read Unity and Brixton the first three chapters of Sideways Stories From Wayside School at bedtime tonight and they loved it. 

Passing it on. 

draft stopper project

Chris did a little sewing project with the kids a few days ago. 

They filled some bags with rice. 

Chris used some fabric we had to make a long bag. 

They put the rice bags in the fabric bag and sewed it shut. 

                                         Ta-da, a draft stopper. I feel warmer already.

Weekending- the old and the new

This weekend found us busy but satisfied. The kids had fake slumber parties in their new play tent (thanks Aunt Kristine and Uncle Patrick!) Because pretend sleep is so much better than the real thing. 

                                             We danced around at a Caspar Babypants show, and visited with
                                          friends. Then at one point, Unity came up to me and asked me to show her how
                                          to knit.
                                          I've showed her before and she's done it on one of those little wooden
                                          dohickeys, but this time I got out the hot pink size 17 needles and some extra
                                          bulky wool and she got it! She knit about eight rows with some help from me,
                                          but mostly by herself.

                                          Brixton still thinks he's knitting when he grabs a needle and stabs it into a ball of
                                          yarn, but he has to be included of course.
                                         

                                        We are a pretty low-technology family but on Friday nights we sometimes have family movie night. That hasn't been going so well, so this Friday we had family Kinect night. There is a very kid-friendly game that involves lots of jumping around and is not scary at all so maybe once a month we will all play it together. We are ok with occasional screen time, after all I would never give up my Downton Abbey, but we want it to be a special treat not an everyday habit. So far we've managed to find a balance that works for us.

Linking up at Habit of Being. 

and then....

Hey there. Sorry this took so long, I was going to post sooner but I was having technical difficulties with blogger and internet explorer. Thankfully I have live-in help and he found a way around it. (I'm now using blogger and chrome and it seems to be working fine.) 

So here we are in early January, getting back into our routines. I admit that it's been a little bit of a rough transition. I kept forgetting things- the snack bag, the leotard, the end time of the class. But, I think we are getting back into it. 

                                        Here we are, reading in bed on a Saturday morning...

                                                 Unity loves helping with projects, especially ones that involve tools.

                                      Ta Da- it's the new Lego table. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
                               (and don't worry, it only stayed this clean for about three minutes.)

                                 
                                    It snowed! For about ten minutes but still. You can see that right?
                                It's proof, it really happened.

                                    Our new stairs, and the snow.

                                           Our old garden, and the snow.

                               Oh and here's what that Lego table looks like in real life. It's a well
                                populated little city with plenty of trucks.
       

Resolved

 

I secretly kind of love New Year's Eve. Not the parties, but the introspection and taking stock, the idea of looking at your life and thinking about the things you would like to change. I guess the flip side of all the wild revelry is that it's our national self improvement holiday. And who doesn't love that?

 

 

 

We went to the zoo for Wildlights this year. It was pretty fun. They had a big countdown to 7pm which I appreciate. They clearly know their audience.

 

And of course I'm thinking about my resolutions and checking the ones from last year to see how I did. One of the things I have read about goals and resolutions is that you are more successful when you make them concrete. For example, from my list last year I have: updated our emergency supplies, kept a book journal, and gotten my driver's license. But when you put vague things like, ahem, "explore my peace testimony" how do you measure that? How do you know when or if you have achieved it?

             When making my list this year, I tried to keep that in mind. Tried to find a way to make them measurable and thus do-able. So I have another long list (again, I love it) but I am trying to make it realistic.

1. Write for six hours a week. I thought about having a word count goal but I really just want to focus on the practice.

2. Do a cardio, a weights and a yoga/abs workout once a week. I already do Zumba once a week and I love it so much, and I sometimes do the other two but not consistantly.

3. Continue the book journal. It has been really fun keeping track of what I read and when. Especially when Chris makes graphs for me.

4. Write in my paper journal once a week. Before I had kids, I used to fill up a journal in six months tops. And now it's more like two years. Some of that is because my life is calmer and more stable than it used to be, which is a good thing. But I still want to make an effort to record this moments.

5. Chinook Book date nights. Ok I am really excited about this one. Since the Fall and the adjustments of Kindergarten, our incredible rotating date night has turned into a once a month potluck. It makes sense since we are all busy with our new schools, but it means that Chris and I don't have a date night anymore. Chinook Book is a coupon book that all the school PTAs sell as a fundraiser. My idea/goal is that Chris and I can have a date night twice a month where we use one of the coupons from the Chinook book to explore a new place in Seattle.

 

So, be it resolved. 2013 here we come.