daybook, december 12th

:: outside my window ...dark and cold, each morning there is frost, and I find myself straining to see out the sun porch door. Is it snow? (it has been. twice already.)

:: listening to ...Christmas music. Oh For Joy and Christmas are our new favorites this year.

:: giving thanks for ...the mildness of Benjamin's little mishap with the piano yesterday. An emergency, true. But a small one.

:: living the educational life ...we're staying pretty on track with language arts and math. I suppose you could call this month Christmas School. Christmas read alouds, Christmas poetry, Christmas copywork, Christmas scripture memorization. More Christmas read alouds.

:: wearing ...plain long sleeve tees, comfy sweats, my beloved gray sweater jacket, Christmas socks, slippers. All day. Every day.

:: preparing in the kitchen ...a french toast breakfast, with extra vanilla and! powdered sugar. Sandwiches and chips and! leftover Christmas sprinkle cake for lunch. A spaghetti dinner (with meat sauce, requested by Connor), made by Kylie.

:: creating by hand ...I've made my little Christmas Craft List. And we're happily creating our way through. This week:  Cinnamon Christmas Tree Ornaments, Yarn Angels, and Paper Snowflakes.

:: following these links ...mostly Christmas crafts. And I'll share those as we go on Fridays. I'll admit, I find myself with less to say when I do more blog reading. Although I realize everyone probably wonders where I am... I'm here. Capturing my family, our moments. Which I was doing less and less of before. But this feels right for now. And good.

I did, however, start using a new comment thingy. In order to be more personal in this space. I think it's working from my side. But I have noticed less comments, which doesn't bother me so much...but I wonder if it's hard to use(?)

:: turning pages ...Simplicity Parenting. A very slow start. I'm so tired right now (30 weeks)...I blog a little, read less, and sleep more.

:: finding rhythm ...in less structure. Which is hard for me.

:: keeping house ...we're taking a more relaxed approach in this area too. Everything is still clean, it's just not perfect. It's comfortable. "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." is not a motto I want to carry around with me anymore. An atmosphere of love, and creativity, and safety is more what I'm after right now. ...I don't have a quote for that.

:: finding joy in ...my camera again. Capturing the normal, everyday, little moments. It's a gift.

:: praying ...for an old friend who is in the hospital, while her husband is at home with their children. For my brother-in-law. For JP, who seems to be always sick...I wish we had more day to day details about our little compassion child.

:: planning the week ahead ...Storytime with Santa on Wednesday at our little library. Knitting Club is on hold for the holidays...but wait! there is another one on Thursday nights, do we want to go? My friend (and her entire family) are performing in A Christmas Carol this weekend, and I hope the girls and I get to go.

monday.

Mondays are hard for me. Always. Every Monday. I don't know what it is, but it never changes. This Monday I woke up in a fine mood. Well rested. Yes, you just read that. I slept through the night. I mean, ALL my children slept through the night. Which means so did I. I was determined to not rush, not watch the clock, not hurry the morning. And things went pretty well, flowing along very smoothly. We did chores. We did school.

TJ finished his second book in the Pathway Readers series, and will start the third book Wednesday. It was one of those I did it! moments. But he grumbled his way through Copywork. Which is a lovely Christmas poem by Henry W. Longfellow. I think it's that it repeats the last line of the stanza so much. ...I thought it would be a nice break from his Copybook, now I'm not so sure. He's also doing What Child Is This? and Isaiah 9:2-7 this month. Maybe. Connor and the girls all kind of sailed through their school work this morning. I wasn't even really needed. Good for a Monday.

We had lunch, then I read the first few chapters of The Bird's Christmas Carol. Then is when the day started to turn into a real Monday. Babies not getting naps out, math was blah, then, since The Flood was still going on...my Rowdy Boys were stuck inside. No good. I can't wait to give them their new boots for Christmas. I'm going to send them out in all kinds of weather.

As it was, they played 'Restaurant' while I started dinner. The Happy Henry Restaurant. Where everybody gets a free hat on Monday (see Ben is donning the free hat/Christmas Stocking). BUT...who will be the Chef? Who will be the Waiter? Does steak cost $30 or $15? Was it a 5 Star Restaurant with a Walkie-Talkie Drive Thru Window? (and YES! these were all real arguments I overheard from the kitchen).

Once I managed to tune out the restaurant drama...I got into a fight with the can opener. The brand new can opener. The $10 can opener. Grrr! Does anyone else have can opener issues? Or is it just our family? Well, I informed Brian there would be no more dinner, unless we got an old-fashioned plug in the wall, stand up on the counter, zoomer-can opener like my Grandma Faye had. He informed me we would just stop buying canned goods. I finally got the green beans open, added them to what was supposed to be Vegetable Soup, but was more like Kinda Vegetable Stew. Judah got about half way up into his chair, glared into his bowl, then scowled at me. Really.

After Dinner, Brian went over Math with the kids. Mostly Kylie. Algebra really gets her some days. It really got her this Monday. She doesn't like Monday either. Her excuse for anything that goes wrong on Monday is, "It's Monday." Hmmm...maybe I should express my dislike for Mondays a little less.

The boys, who had been cooped up all day, cleared the family room floor, and had Hot Wheel races. A lot of them. Little metal cars were zooming everywhere. And my furniture kept being moved in order to find the little metal cars that were zooming everywhere. While they raced, I snapped a few pictures of my Christmas Mantle. And still, after two years with this camera, I cannot take a good picture indoors. Especially at night. But at least my mom can see what my mantle looks like this month. (that's my Elf Church on the far Left. do you like it?)

So now I am tired. And the house is cold. All that rain brought the cold again. I don't mind cold, but I do mind all that rain. I wish it had all been Snow. That would have made my Monday better. The title of this post could have been Snowy Monday. Not just Monday. The house is also quiet. Which makes me wonder...what was I so worked up about? It was just a day. And now it's done.