Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Monday, March 10, 2014

In the great outdoors...beautiful sunshine and spring temps. How wonderful to get to send the kids outside!!!

Within our four walls...peace after the kids spent pretty much all of last week pinging off the walls! So much pent up energy. I thought I was going to need a padded room by the time it was all said and done.

A heart of thanksgiving...for the sunshine that has dried out the yard enough for the kids to go outside!!  For technology that connects across the miles.

A heart of prayer...for multiple people recovering from serious accidents. With all of them, we are so thankful the results weren’t worse! They could have been!

Random observations...time change…ick.

My silly children...well…all I can say is that I love to watch them. They’re so funny sometimes. And that makes it so much fun to be their mother.

Thoughts from the kitchen...leftover lemon pie. And chocolate and almond bark covered strawberries (Steven made me a bouquet of them for my birthday, with a little – okay a lot of – help from his daddy.) Yum! Also, trying a couple of new Oriental recipes this week. If they’re good, I’ll share!

On my bookshelf...hoping to get to Draw of Kings this week. I don’t have a review book due until next Friday, so maybe I can squeeze this one in!

Projects...trying to figure out what fabric I want to use to make Olivia a bag for her birthday.

Sounds of the moment...water running as Olivia gets a shower. Tapping of keyboards. Soft music. Squeaky desk chairs.

From Hibbard Academy...just finished reading about Peter the Great with the younger two, and still working through environments in science. Steven’s learning multiplication, but I can’t remember what the other two are working on. Olivia and I are still in the Middle Ages. Finishing up The Great and Terrible Quest. I agree with my friend Julie – it’s not the best bit of literature, and it’s definitely a challenge to read aloud! But, we’ve enjoyed trying to piece together the clues. I do think I’m about to dislike the ending, though.

A favorite thing from last week...a delightfully restful Saturday with my family. They spoiled me for my birthday.

The planner...nothing! A completely unplanned week! How glorious!

Then, we’ll welcome Doug’s parents Saturday afternoon. And, we’ll do a little ceremony to present the girls with their American Heritage Girls Joining Awards, along with their first badges. We won’t do a ceremony for every badge, but we wanted to do something special to honor their Joining Award accomplishments.

Because visuals are fun...ice stalagmites!! These were created last Wednesday when the icicles on the gutters melted a bit in the sun, but the drops refroze almost immediately upon hitting the ground. That’s something you just don’t see in the south very often!