Well, it’s been awhile (since last July!) since I did a Quick Takes, but we are home all day today so I figured I’d indulge myself. Here are some highlights from the TX Andrews’ . . .

-1-

Violet might be a Texan. The first thing she said when she woke up yesterday was, “I need shalsha (salsa)!” I kid you not. I don’t know if she knows what salsa is or not, but she is really funny lately with her talking and her use of “need” v. “want” – there is a difference and when she “needs” something she can be pretty convincing! No worries, though, I held her off on the salsa until supper (where she ate medium salsa with a spoon . . .)!

-2-

The weather has been awesome for several weeks now and with our landscaping project complete (except for planting the flower beds), we have been spending a lot of time outside. I cannot tell you how in love with this I am. The girls are so happy to be outdoors and can be trusted to play nicely without getting themselves into too much trouble for longer & longer stretches. The only down side is that it is also very high allergy season here in Austin and we have all been suffering from sniffles/sneezing/coughing fits as well. The girls are on Claritin during the day and Benadryl at night for the last week trying to get ahead of it. I wonder how old they have to be to figure out how to use a neti pot. That thing is awesome!

-3-

One week from today I will be on my way to Kansas City to meet my sister & niece who will give me a ride to Nebraska City for my cousin’s wedding. We will spend the weekend at the Lied Lodge and take in the beauty of the city where Arbor Day was born. Are you catching the key to this whole story? Yes, I am actually going on a weekend trip all by myself! This is big news, folks. I have not been away from my girls for more than a few hours (with the exception of going to the hospital to have another beautiful girl, which of course does not count at all) since Olivia was born almost four and a half years ago. I’m excited and a little freaked out about the whole idea. Our friend Amy is going to keep the girls Friday so that JR can work and then he will be on his own with them for the weekend. He’s actually really excited and I know the girls are going to have a great time. As for me, what on earth will I do with myself??

-4-

Speaking of my friend Amy, we came up with a great idea to do a toy swap every now & then. Their girls are very similar ages to ours so one day we just let them pick a toy from the other girls’ stash to take home for awhile. My girls chose the Little People castle. Within a few days of bringing the castle home, we went to McDonald’s and the girls got Star Wars figures in their happy meals, which just happen to be about the same size as Little People figures. Somehow the two got intertwined and now they are convinced that the Star Wars figures (specifically, R2D2 and Darth Vader) are part of the castle set. The funniest part is that they refer to Darth Vader as the mean guy or the naughty guy, but at the same time, he fills the role of prince of the castle. Molly is super funny when she asks for her “prince” (of darkness?). And the other night Darth Vader was trying to recruit a stuffed snake to do naughty things for him. I also overheard R2D2 saying, “Danger. Danger. Red Alert.” when Livy was playing with him. 

-5-

I went to a seminar on Monday about helping young children fall in love with Jesus. It was montessori-based and very intuitive, but not something I always stop to think about. The key recommendations were: allow your children to observe silence/stillness, expose them to beauty through art/music/liturgy, allow them to experience the natural world in all its wonder, create rituals, patters & routines for them so that their life is orderly, and whenever possible, allow the children to participate. She also recommended delaying the repetition of memorized prayers until children are school-aged and allowing them to pray spontaneously at young ages. She said that little children almost always pray prayers of thanksgiving and usually about natural things like birds & butterflies. So instead of our usual Hail Mary followed by asking God’s blessings on each of our family members, when it was prayer time on Monday night I told Livy she could pray however she wanted. She was very excited and started with her usual intention – “for all the people who have cancer & all the people who don’t” (which she almost always follows up with – “Did I pray for everyone, Mama?”). Then she started thanking God for “bugs and butterflies and grass and everything that’s alive.” Very sweet.

-6-

I have written before about my aversion to Facebook (see #4 here). At this point last year I was seriously considering it (see #2 here), and now finally, I think I have been converted. The final straw was reading an article about how to stay close to your adult siblings. The key recommendation was to be a part of their lives (not just the obligatory holiday dinners) by dropping in on their slow pitch softball game or going to your nephew’s school play. I can’t do any of that given the distance between all of us, so what am I to do? Since they all have a profile on Facebook and post pictures and updates, etc., perhaps that is where I can drop in on them. Even if Facebook is not my favorite medium, I think improving my relationship with them – getting to know them as adults (instead of carrying around the memories of them when I moved to TX – before Rachel was married, back when Nathan was in college, and Matt & Zach still in elementary school!) would be a real gift. So after I get back from my weekend away, I plan to set up an account.

-7-

JR brought home a book called Getting Things Done recently. At first, I thought it only applied to people who “work”, but he asked me to read it and I have been surprisingly inspired by Allen’s organizational theories. I’ve read Part 1 and so far what sticks out the most is his idea that the mind can really only relax and focus on the task at hand when you are not trying to recall all the other things you could/should be doing. He recommends capturing all the things that need to get done in a logical & trusted system outside of your head (I’m using Remember the Milk) and then come back regularly to this list and sort through it to decide what to work on next. I have found this to be a very useful tip and though my To Do list is growing very fast lately as I try to collect all the random things I have to do into one list, I am more at peace with what I’m choosing to do (and by default choosing not to do) because I simply know what all the options are. The other key concept I’m taking from Part 1 is to visualize success. For some reason, I did this all the time in my life as a student, but have rarely applied it to my life at home. In fact, my default for the last couple of years has been more along the lines of ‘panic considering all the ways that this could go wrong’!

Hope you enjoyed my 7 Quick Takes – be sure to visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Friday!

Have a wonderful weekend!!