Yay for Thursday!

You may ask yourself how could 3.75 days of school feel so long? I am here to tell you, I don't know.

But they did. Today was a 2 hour early out and we don't go back until TUESDAY. Thank you, Jesus, semester ending and Martin Luther King Jr. for all your help with this much-needed mini-break.

Hello mini-break, we've got big plans (like making cupcakes and staying home) and we are ready for you!

We had just one little bit of homework to do. C does this Reading A-Z program where he reads a book on the computer or my phone then records himself reading it. His teacher can log in and check his fluency. We like the program. I wish they'd kick him up a level since the level he's on is too easy but whatever. It makes it go super fast.

And now my guy with hat hair and my girl who never misses a story are going to watch The Backyardigans. Such a non-annoying kid show. 

Chichen Itza Pizza! (We deliver!) 

Snow Day Fun

Last night after our family movie night, complete with popcorn and pizza, Husband did the grocery run.

In our well-stocked house, we've spent the day snowed in. 

"Since we've no place to go..." Here's the deal, I love a good snow day. A day off from school is top notch in my book to be honest. But, if it can't cancel school, I love a snowy day where we don't have to go anywhere. 

We all bundled up and did some shoveling/snow play earlier. I took no pictures because I was shoveling. #truelife 

We've played LEGO. We've read some books. C got the A-Z Mystery Series for Christmas and I have to say that I highly recommend them! 

They aren't scary mysteries but they are a good next step after Magic Treehouse and Junie B. Jones. I have always been a fan of reading series, the connection, and familiarity of the characters is my favorite. As it turns out, C really enjoys that too. 

C, fittingly, started the C book today and got through about five chapters. But he really goes in spurts so it may be a few days before he finishes. 

For dinner, I made this chicken bake. It's really easy and really good. I don't add the red pepper flakes and I've found 1/3 c of bread crumbs is plenty but otherwise, this recipe is golden. We serve it with a vegetable and egg noodles with a little parmesan on them. And it was the perfect warm and homey dinner to cap off a snowy day! 

 

Choose Joy

Fake it 'til you make it.

That's like a real thing. There are TED talks, and science. I am in no way suggesting that if you're not a dentist that you open a fake dental practice, but I do think that you can decide to have a good day even when every fiber of your being is not actually having a good day.

Lately, there have been quite a few, not good days. And all of it is beyond my control. Which is hard for me. I love control. I love it. But, the joke's on me because I can only control me.

But honestly, it has led for some days where I just feel not excited. There's a lack of joie de vivre sometimes. So you know what I do? I choose joy. I decide to not be gloomy.

I choose Joy.

I wear this shirt made by Brick House in the City a lot.

Embrace the chaos and choose joy. We don't have a ton of chaos in a traditional sense but in my mind? It's chaos. I am always trying to get ahead of the problems before they're problems. See what I am doing there? I am trying to exert control. So I wear this shirt to remind me to choose the joy.

Then For King and For Country came out with their song. Joy. Have you heard it? It's even got some play on top 40 stations so maybe you have even if KLove isn't your go to.

Once again I am reminded to choose joy. 

So today, after a meeting that I don't feel good about. Instead of wallowing or getting mad, I am going to find the joy. I cranked the music. I danced. I painted butterfly magnets with M. I celebrated with her new-found "taco tongue" skills. 

I choose joy. Because I am going to fake it until I make it. Finding joy. 

Activities and Fun

This is NOT a sponsored post. Just me sharing something fun with you! 

Last year, my parents gifted M a Koala Crate subscription and she loved every second of it. So for Christmas this year they did it again. She got her first box this week and it's all been a huge hit! 

Koala Crates are a subscription box full of hands-on experiences. Each box is themed and has three activities with everything you need, a parent guide that even indicated the messiness factor of each activity, and a little magazine with a story, fun facts and more activity ideas. 

The theme of January's box was Bugs. 

M got to make a bug costume, a ladybug pouch for the bug eye viewer and bug matching card game. 

The box came on Monday and we did one activity a day. So these pictures are from Monday when she made the bug costume. She did almost everything by herself, including laying out how she wanted the cape to look and peeling off the sticker backing from the felt. 

Yesterday she again did all the work, even the lacing for the pouch. And today we played the game a few times. She has learned a little bit about bugs and we've had a lot of fun together. The Koala crate is the preschool option at Kiwi Co. But they have a ton of options for ages 0-Adult.  I would 100% recommend the boxes. 

The part I like the most is that the materials are nice enough that if you want to keep an item around for a long time that's perfectly fine. But they are inexpensive enough that if after the activity is over you want to throw out the stuffed snake, you can do that too. (Speaking from experience.) And in all the boxes we've gotten, we've only had to provide water for one activity, everything else we've needed is in the box. 

After school yesterday C wanted to do an activity so we made Andes Mint Chocolate Crinkles. 

They turned out so well. My guy LOVES minty things so he really enjoyed these cookies. They are kind of like soft Thin Mints without the chocolatey coating. Which is to say there's a minty flavor but it's well balanced. 

So that's what we've been up to lately. The weather had been quite mild and we've been outside a lot soaking it in, but today it's only in the mid-20s so... inside is good today. 

Back to It

Oh man. Christmas break is over and I am partly really sad about that and partly okay with it. After I dropped M off this morning I hit Target for the first time in a long time! (Like before Thanksgiving!) But we needed cleaning supplies and storage bins for some of the new toys.

Everyone is all, New Year Resolutioning and I am just ready to spring clean. Ha. There's nothing wrong with that. I came home and was able to get all the blinds clean in the house. I am so glad I bought Swiffers for that job. They were way grosser than I anticipated them being and I am going to spare you a picture. You're welcome.

2019 is off to a good start already.

I haven't taken a single picture in 2019 according to my phone and that's about right. We rung in the new year asleep. Tuesday was a big nothing day. Yesterday C got a haircut but mostly the kids just played. Nothing super photo worthy.

Oh here we go... my Top Nine from Insta.

Our parish is doing an Exodus 90 starting soon, (There's a women's version) and I am leaning towards participating. That would have me off of Insta and social media completely. I, personally, am not going to count blogging as part of that but will probably set a timer so I don't let it waste time.

Hope your 2019 is off to a glorious start.

Goodbye 2018!

2018 was a pretty good year all around.

I beat my goal of books to read. Overall, I still read less than last year but I also gave myself permission to not finish books if I didn't like them this year so... that's still pretty good.

I got myself a job and had 24 bylines in my field of study! Which are a huge accomplishment for me and something that I am really proud of.

It was a year of faith, good health, new adventures, and fun. C started Kindergarten. M started preschool. Yes, 2018 was pretty good.

Here's to looking forward to whatever 2019 has in store!

Have a wonderful and safe eve tonight everyone! Happy New Year!

A Book I Enjoyed

So I have been reading some of the Resse Witherspoon book club picks. Some have been good. Some I have definitely not enjoyed, but this week I got her December pick from the library. It is:

One Day in December by Josie Silver.

I read this all in one night and absolutely stayed up way too late to do so, but I just could not put it down. If you like to read romantic comedies... this is the book for you! I liked it so much I will probably buy a copy to reread.

This book is sheerly entertaining, it's not going to educate you or change your world, probably. But it's a really good rom-com and my money is on this being a movie at some point so... there's that. Plus every year starts with a New Year's Resolution which makes it the perfect book for this inbetweeny season.