The Week in Bullet Journaling Format

This week has been a busy one but fun. And I took exactly one picture.

This is M's Play-Doh gingerbread girl and tree. This past week has involved: 

•  Mass for Mary on Monday followed by my rosary group. 
• A long walk. 
• Lots of Play-Doh. 
• M's first soccer practice of the season. 
• Our parish's soup supper. 
• The first VBS meeting of the year. (Which also means now I have ten new songs to listen to and memorize!) 
• Playing at the park with friends for two hours! (Oh Spring, we are happy you're here.) 
• My book club met. 
• The kids and Husband went to the school musical Alice in Wonderland. 
• Lunch with a friend. 

It was a busy but fun week and we are excited for the weekend! 

Happy Monday!

Here's a great big ol' Happy Monday from this guy and two of his walrus stuffed animals. 

Here is Pakak and Walrus. The real Pakak has silver caps on his tusks to protect them and if you look closely so do the stuffed animals.

I hope your week is off to a fantastic start. It was sunny here today and our daffodils are starting to peek out so that's pretty much a win in my book! 

Friday Check In

Oh Lent. Why must you be so Lenty?

Seriously, even though we've been on Exodus since January, this past bit is throwing some major things our way. But the positives are that we are approaching things with a lot more grace. With no vices, we are turning towards prayer as our default and that is so wonderful!

The other day something happened and it was a feast day! And I decided I didn't want the specific shake I have been wanting for a while because I only want to associate good things with good things. Having a favorite ice cream treat isn't actually going to make me feel better so it was easy for me to decline.

That is a HUGE step forward for me. It's crazy, that we are already day 61. We are already talking about what will stick. Instagram for me is definitely a goner. While we do miss TV I believe what we watch will be parred down quite a bit. I am SO sad that One Day At A Time was canceled. I logically know that us not watching season 3 yet has VERY little to do with the decision but I still feel a little guilty we couldn't have helped beef up their numbers.

Last night I was able to get together with my original CEW group. It's been a long time since all 7 of us could get together. The bulk of us has definitely been together several times but not ALL of us.

We had such a lovely night catching up, talking life, faith and fun. It was good. And at least right now, our next scheduled get together has us all available again. Yay!

This weekend is bringing some good stuff our way, we are getting together with friends we haven't seen in a long time and that will be so nice. Hopefully, your weekend will be as lovely.

Birds of a Feather

Last Friday it was pretty cold but we went to the park anyway with a friend. Luckily this park has an indoor conservatory with lots of flowers. 

Including this one. 

C couldn't get over it. He loved it. Then we went back outside to see the ducks and geese on the (still mostly frozen) pond. 

Yesterday we made our countdown chain. C worked diligently.

30 days looks like a lot, but before you know it... we will get to...

Steve!

What? Your family doesn't have a countdown chain for Disneynature's Penguins?

It's funny because I don't love birds. They don't freak me out like squirrels do. (They have thumbs!) But still, C loves birds. Bird flowers. Ducks. The birds at our bird feeder. And his love for penguins is well documented. It will be so interesting to see how this plays out over the course of his life. Until then, we'll just keep counting down to Steve. 

That Tricky Leprechaun

The Leprechaun visited us yesterday and caused a bit of mischief.

When the kids flushed the toilets the water turned green!! And when they poured the milk into their bowls of Lucky Charms that turned green too!

We got the magical unicorn kind because someone in our house loves unicorns!

Even more exciting was the trickster turned the lightbulbs green!

And even the adults were tricked, after a week of warmth and melting waking up and seeing that all our green was turned white again! 

Luckily, Leprechaun magic is short lived. The snow has melted. The lights are back to normal. (It should be noted that if you sit with all green lightbulbs for too long it can give you a headache.) And we are ready for school tomorrow after a nice low-key spring break! 

The Tooth Fairy

We had a visitor last night. 

Last week while Husband was gone it became my unfortunate task to take the kids to the dentist. I am good with blood and shots and all the other tasks but I hate the dentist even for myself so I have delegated those appointments to Husband. Except no. Because he was gone. So I went.

And wouldn't you know that C had to have a tooth extracted?! It's funny, I had two taken out when I was younger and don't remember it being a big deal at all. It's a little different from a parenting perspective though.

And because Husband has a big meeting tomorrow and had a lot to do, yesterday I got to take him to that appointment too. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do but I've had just about enough of dentists for a while.

C has had a wiggly tooth for a while and lo and behold, while they were taking out the tooth we went there for, the wiggly one came out too. C was a champ. He got some ice cream to soothe the emotional pain. We survived and the tooth fairy came for a double visit.

Spring Forward

So I have a little confession to make...

I actually don't hate that this weekend was Daylight Saving Time. I know that seems crazy, but truth be told, my kids never really adjusted to the whole "Fall Back" thing in November. So yesterday they woke up at 6:20 instead of 5:20 and all the angels sang and rejoiced. No wait, that was me.

This past week Husband was gone on a work retreat Wednesday-Friday, he came home with enough time for me to do some laundry and make some Scotcheroos and then went on his CEW retreat Friday-yesterday.

This girl was happy to help lick the spoon!

Now we are in a weird reentry portion of the week but it is our Spring Break so that's the best. We don't have any big plans but that's okay with me. I am quite happy to be home as a family. (Okay, Husband still has to work but he will still be sleeping here like normal.) And I am doubly happy to be waking up at a decent hour.

Happy Monday!

Daisy Jones and The Six

So do you read the books that Reese Witherspoon picks? The Hello Sunshine Book Club? Well, I am rarely disappointed by Reese's picks. The only ones I haven't loved have been thrillers and I just don't love thrillers that much. (And even some of those I enjoyed!)

Her March book is Daisy Jones and the Six and I wasn't really sure what to think but you guys, it's AMAZING. It's like reading a documentary. It's the story of a fictional 70s rock band and their rise to fame. I don't even really like 70s rock music much but this book makes me want to.

If the book was actually a documentary it would be rated R for sure. So know that. But wow, it was a good read. I didn't realize it was just released on Tuesday but that's when my library digital copy came in and I finished last night. It really reads like a guilty pleasure VH1 Behind the Music and I couldn't put it down. And the ending! I didn't see that coming.

And because it's a Hello Sunshine Book it is going to be an Amazon series I guess. So that's super exciting.

Fat Tuesday

A friend shared this image with me yesterday and I just really like it. It is a good reminder certainly. Lent starts tomorrow. That's crazy. Except not. I bought the Blessed is She devotional to work through this Lent and I am excited about that.

We are not really Mardis Gras-ing at all. Our Parish (well at least a good chunk of it) is doing an Exodus 90 right now. The men through the actual Exodus 90 program and the women in an abbreviated one. With this, we have Wednesday and Friday fasts, no sweets, no alcohol, no television or movies, no social media*, no unnecessary spending, increased prayer times etc. So we've already been living Lent since January 21 and it's been really spiritual. The idea is to rid yourself of the vices and learn to depend on God. It works.

*I did not count blogging as social media, but I have been very cognizant to only blog if I really have something to say or I want to remember. And I am not blog hopping right now. I check in with the blogs I know I love and that's it, to really minimize my time spent online.

I hope your heart is ready for Lent to guide you where you're meant to be.

March

Oh, March. You're here. With the hopeful promise that maybe you will bring Spring at some point?

I have a feeling it is going to be a long month. Next week we start our new school schedule to make up all the hours we've missed. So school is going to be 20 minutes longer each day. We start 10 minutes earlier and end 10 minutes later. Plus, we are not going to have early out Wednesdays anymore.

Luckily we have one week to practice this new schedule and then spring break which I am thankful for because seriously, 7.5 hours of school every day is a lot for a kindergartener. We sure have had an interesting introduction to school.

Yesterday C got in the car after school and very seriously said, "I'm sorry Mom. It's March tomorrow. so we are doing Dr. Suess." Which cracks me up.

I am not a Suess fan. At all. We do own some, and I realize I cannot prevent my kids from these lessons plans because the only author in the world worthy of celebration for a month is Dr. Suess. (I'm kidding. I know it's his birthday and all that.) We'll see how in depth the class gets. The next unit is China so maybe Dr. Suess is more of an afterthought.

Today is a good day to have a good day. Happy Friday!