Simple Woman’s Daybook (3.8.10)

It is cloudy and 61 degrees. There are a few days of thunderstorms forecasted for this week, but otherwise, it will be sunny with highs around 70. This is my absolute favorite weather month to live in Austin and I am thrilled that the landscaping is all complete and we can enjoy the beautiful weather on the new playscape & patio!!

about all the places I’d like to go this year – a family wedding in NE in April, to the west coast to meet my new nephew (due to arrive mid-April), to the beach with good friends, home to NE to visit grandparents & extended family, to Kansas City to visit my sister & her family, and back to NE for Christmas. Unfortunately, JR does not have the vacation time to do it all – and I’m not sure I’d have the stamina for that many trips anyway, but it is so hard to choose!

babies! We have several of our friends & family who have had new babies in the last few months or are currently expecting – it is odd that we are out of the baby loop, but fun to watch our friends & family grow!

Violet – even more talking! Violet does not want to be a parrot, so she rarely repeats something when we ask her to, but on her own, she will choose to repeat lots of things. She has all the family members’ names down now (though Molly & Mommy sound the same), including Red. She loves to play with the big girls and really is quite shocked when people think she is a baby – in her mind I’d say she’s about 7.

Molly: potty training! Molly has graduated to big girl panties and is officially out of diapers. This provides Mama only one baby to change – hallelujah!! She also started Swim School – her first activity without Mama & Daddy!! Read all about it here. We did registration for next year and she is really excited to join Livy at preschool & Catechisis. I can’t believe Violet will be right behind her the following year!

Olivia: growing up before our eyes! Olivia is really blossoming into a sweet girl – a big girl who wants to choose her own clothes, do her own hair, create elaborate pretend play with her dolls & stuffed animals, teach her sisters how to be grown up and has a special interest in spiritual things. Her favorite pastime is reading and her favorite book these days is a children’s Bible. She loves to tell Molly all about the plagues of Egypt and the “mean guy” (Pharaoh) who will not let the people go!

there is salmon to be grilled, leftover spaghetti bake, haven’t planned the rest yet. We are sticking to our eggs for breakfast thing, though. Ever since our time in Nebraska we have eggs for breakfast almost everyday!

jeans and a new tshirt, flip flops & a ponytail – pretty much my standard getup.

photo albums for January & February – trying to stay up to date this year; a new wardrobe – after recent weight loss I am almost starting from scratch – it’s been fun!

reorganizing what was in our closets. JR built-in custom closet organizers for us, so everything had to come out and now must be sorted through and reconsidered and reorganized for storage.

Introduction to the Devout Life for Lent.

for a fruitful Lent & a happy birthday month.

Still working on organizing & decluttering – will that ever be done? We are also working on some decorating. We are planning to switch the girls’ bedrooms. JR is going to build mini bunk beds and we purchased the owl bedding from Target for the big girls – it is SO cute! Wow, when I put in that link, I saw that the quilt sets we bought the girls are on sale this week – better get back to price match – yeah! We can save 25% on those and that hedgehog bean bag is awfully cute. I may just have to use the rest of the girls’ Christmas/birthday money and get him, too.

frozen margaritas. Texans really know how to make good margaritas. Did you know margarita means daisy? There’s a little Spanish trivia for you this morning! Hmmm, is it a bad sign that I’m thinking about margaritas at 10:22m on a Monday?

Today I plan to watch the installation of our new Bishop while catching up on laundry. Molly has Swim School tonight; besides the typical preschool & Catechisis schedule, we have a playdate with friends tomorrow afternoon and I will be keeping my friends’ little girl (same age as Violet) on Thursday. JR & Livy are excited for “Donuts with Dad” at school this Thursday.

We’re changing how we put up pictures in posts so I’ll have to wait for JR to remind me of the new system before I add pictures – we did update the photo album with September through December, though, so go and enjoy those! January & February to come soon!