The Zoo, Thanksgiving and Rockettes

John, Nancy, Margueritte and Baby Lee came to Atlanta for the week. We went to the zoo on Wednesday (the first sunny day). There is a sweet carousel and of course the kids rode it several times.

Baby Lee is about 6 weeks older than Sara. Isn't he so handsome? We got lucky again as the animals were fairly active. They were probably glad to have the sun out too.

The Thanksgving meal was at Jojo and Gampy's after all. She is feeling back to her old self and was thrilled to deck out her table and have her family all around. I supplied the mashed potatoes and she did all the rest, including an amazing oyster stuffing. Sara loved the turkey and stuffing, a special kids version Jojo made, sans oysters.

Post feast, we sat and talked, laughed and...

slept! She fell asleep about 6 and slept through the night!

Yesterday (Saturday), the Girls went to see the Rockettes at the Fabulous Fox.
Me and my 2/3 girls! Then we came home and enjoyed a surprisingly good football game! ;)

7 Quick Takes

Visit Jen's for more 7 Quick Takes! 1.
Off to camp with Lainey this afternoon. We'll be spending the night and then all day tomorrow. I'm pretty sure we'll come home tomorrow night because it's supposed to rain. And it's going to be quite chilly.

2.
CT5K is going fine still. I got over the dreaded week5day3 20 min. run and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. However, I would be remiss if I failed to give props to the only reason I've been able to get this far:

I can make a playlist of my own music and then use this app. It syncs with my playlist and then I get a little voice over prompt telling me when to run and when to walk. I would NEVER have made it this far without this.

3.

We are taking the entire week off from school next week, the first break we've had since beginning and we are more than ready for a break. All of us. Fourteen weeks straight is brutal. The upside is we'll go back, have two more weeks, have sixteen weeks or half a year done, and then be off for five. I've had my issues with the constraints of the hybrid school, but keeping us on a steady pace has been one undeniably good thing............I think.

4.

MaryClare's special photo book came in the mail this week. We sat down and looked through it together while I narrated the journey of our meeting and becoming a family. Just sharing this with her was incredibly moving. She asked several questions that I answered to the best of my ability. This kid is so sharp I tell you. She loves her book and at first I was tempted to tell her to keep her special book safe, nagging her to put it away nicely and take good care of it, but then I realised I want her to look at it as often as she likes and to feel like she can share it with whomever she pleases. I can always order another one. I want to encourage her to have a kind of familiarity with her story, so that over time it will be at once special and unique, but not strange or odd.

But, later that night I did ask her pick it up off the floor though. She said, "Oh yes, I don't want anyone to read my diarrhea."

!

Honey, 'I do not think that word means what you think it means'

5.

Do you have someone in your life, who's known you a very long time, and who continues to treat you as if you are the exact same as you met? As if you've never aged or grown up or matured at all? I do. And let me tell you it is very frustrating. Thanks be to God, I am not the same person I was 2, 5 or 10 years ago.

6.

I am not prepared for Advent at all yet this year. (neither in my heart nor in my home, despite my talk a couple of weeks ago) Advent is the time of preparing for Christmas, but what is the time preparing for Advent called? I fear it might be called Thanksgiving. *(wait a minute, you know, actually that kind of makes sense. Being thankfully minded does put us in the right frame of mind to anticipate the Good News of Christ's birth. Hmm.)

But I am not worried, not really. It will be as it will be. Preparing my soul is the first order and thankfully I do have this.

7.

I really must go pack for camping now.

.

Warning: Do not use this or you might just eat your kiddos right up!

I will never buy another baby wash again! This smells dee-licious on Sara. I have to fight the urge to just eat her soft, yummy chubbiness right up. I am also using it for the older girls now too. MC is not very chubby, but equally soft and yummy.



Oh and they make a lotion too with the same smell that I have been using. Who needs Bath and Body Works when you have Johnson's?

Personality colors

I found this short quiz that 'reveals' what decorating colors would best reflect you. I think it was pretty accurrate about me. I already have colors in my home that are very similar to these, just lighter. My house faces north and it could get dark and gloomy, not warm and cozy, if I painted in these tones.

Let me know if you take the quiz!

7 Quick Takes

Head over to Jen's for more Quick Takes

1. We went to the zoo last Friday. It was a spur of the moment trip and we had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and the and the animals were active. We haven't been to the zoo in awhile and there were some changes. Our favorite new exhibit is the parakeet experience. You enter and enclosed bird house and they are just everywhere. You can feed them off a little seed stick ($1 a stick! what a rip! we were lucky to have a kid pass us along his when he was leaving the exhibit and also we found quite a few just on the ground that we picked up) The birds were colorful and friendly, luckily no one was pooped on. Another winning exhibit was the gorrilas. In the viewing house there is a glass panel in front of some risers and you can just sit and watch them. One came right up to the glass and was eating his snack-staring right back at us!

2. My talk on Advent traditions went just fine, thanks for the prayers. No vomiting on the podium-YAY! My sweet husband has been travelling and he sent me flowers yesterday with a note saying he was so proud of me for doing this thing way out of my comfort zone. The kids were all ooohing and ahhing about their thoughtful dad, even the boys were impressed!

3. Now that the talk is done and not looming over my head I feel free to begin planning for the next big thing. Laine and I are going camping with her AHG troop. Just girls. We're looking forward to it. I actually sort of enjoy camping.

4. Right after the camping is Thanksgiving week. I am having it here for the first time ever. My in-laws will be coming over and I know I won't be cooking everything all by myself, but it is still exciting!

5. It is going to be in the 70's and sunny all weekend. How lucky are we?!

6. I ordered a photo book just for MaryClare and I really hope it gets here soon. It is full of pictures from our trip to China and our meeting for the first time. She has been very inquisitive lately about her 'story' and I want to be as forthcoming and gentle as possible. My hope is this photo book will show her how special she is. Four is such a busy age. Lots of lightbulbs going off for her right now prompting many questions and, I am sensing, a bit of insecurity.

7. I've been working on a little family project and I hope to be done this weekend. It's unique and it is so 'us'. I'll share some pictures when I finish.

'Tis the Season - Already?

*picture from my MIL's (aka The Queen of Christmas Decorating)*

Our parish has an elementary (k-8) school. It is a nice school with small classes and good teachers. Last spring I met a neat woman on the soccer fields whose five kids attend and she is now the Spiritual Life coordinator for this year. A couple of weeks ago she shocked me by calling and asking me to come speak at an event they are having called Preparing Our Hearts and Our Homes for the Holidays. "C?" I said, "Um, you know I homeschool the kids right? Is that ok? I mean I'm not a parent there."

Yes, of course she knew, and she still wanted me. She said the Holy Spirit kept bringing my name to her when she was planning though and she was sure I would have something great to share. Listening to her, I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach. Oh no! I've been praying about this, about how I can serve in my parish. Oh dear, it looks like this is your answer, Lord. Wait, can I change my prayer real quick?

See, I am not a public speaker. I have no problem chatting and talking and often in small groups of friends I later wonder if I've talked too much! But in front of a large group? With a microphone?

Um, no. In fact, I'm getting butterflies just sitting here typing this!

But, I said yes.

Fast forward a few weeks and Boom! The thing is tomorrow night. I have written it all out and I will probably just be standing up there reading. I am going to do this. *sigh* I'm sure it will be fine. I do feel strongly that this is something I am supposed to do and that God will just make it work somehow, but I am still intimidated. I just want it to be over already and not looming in front of me.

So, if you have a moment and can spare me a quick prayer for my nerves I would so appreciate it!

Small Successes

1. Sorted through their fall/winter clothes and put away the summer stuff. Of course, I can't put away all the summer stuff because we have freaky weather and it is possible we might need our shorts and tees even in November. This is a task I dread every spring and fall. I am so sad to see the little boy clothes go. Sometimes, when Luke has outgrown something, it is an item that has see us through three boys! The jammies are the worst. See these darling Superman jammies? They came with a little cape that velcroed to the shoulders. My boys wore these out! I finally parted with them *sniff*:

2. I completed week 4 of the CT5K. I should have been on week 5, but I did week 4 twice. Last Thurs. I pulled a hammy (hee hee, I never thought I would be typing that) or something so did a week 3 run and then went back to do week 4 over. I'm still enjoying this program so far and I am amazed at how much my stamina has improved already.

3. We tidied and cleaned out the playroom. I wanted to start that space for our homeschool time and it needed a big cleanup before we could be up there and not be comepletely distracted. It has been wonderful to begin our mornings at home with a prayer, a Bible story and some good read-alouds before we dive into math while listening to the local classical music station very softly in the background.

We have always done math first, just to get it out of the way honestly, but this change has helped us start and finish our seatwork more calmly and peacefully. Thanks to my internet friends and the ladies at the 4 Real Learning forums for their suggestions...

Mother in law update

Thank you for your prayers!

It was discovered that Jojo has a severe hiatal hernia. When she arrived at the hospital, her hemoglobin count was 4! The docs said she was talk of the day. They'd never seen anyone walking around with a count that low. She took 4 units of blood!

Now she is back to her old self and feels like a new woman. She will be taking Nexium and iron pills and should make a good recovery.