Though I haven't written an actual on time post in a while, there are a few bonus posts that have gone up recently, so make sure you catch Sound Bites 10 and March 6-20 Words. Also, if you're a reader who usually gets an email, you could have missed several months of posts due to a Blogger issue that appears to be last on the list of things they're going to fix (ever).
First, a confession: We did not fill out March Madness brackets this year. It was something of a tradition for us to have even the kids fill out brackets (you may recall the detailed process of Olivia's first bracket), but we've gradually lost hold of the tradition and this year didn't even notice that our chance had come and gone until it was too late. Oh well.
Sunday was our bi-monthly trip to La Comedia. We saw Fiddler on the Roof and it was sadly underwhelming. The poor singers just could not keep up with the pre-recorded music. If there's one thing I don't like about La Comedia, it's their lack of live musicians. It doesn't usually bother me much, but it was especially obvious in this show. That aside, Fiddler is a great show and we enjoyed ourselves. We spent the night in Sidney and then drove back home Monday at lunchtime.
Tuesday was spent making pierogis with people from church. None of us had ever made them before, but they're not too hard. We made several large batches and froze them so that we can use them throughout Lent.
On Wednesday I packed the girls into the car and took them to JCPenney to get Kaitlyn's one-year pictures. Here's a link where you can go look at them. At some point I should figure out how to put them right in my blog, but that's a project for another day. Olivia and Gretchen were incredibly patient, and Kaitlyn decided she'd rather walk than stand still. The photographer got some good shots, though, and now Kaitlyn can join the gallery on our wall. :)
Thursday was rainy and gross, but that didn't stop us from driving up to Michigan to pick up Jillian. She's on Easter break and decided to come hang out in Ohio for some of her time off. Jacob also came down later in the evening, and I was only a little bit sad about the communication failure that resulted in me fetching Jillian rather than Jacob bringing her.
Friday morning was Liturgy (for Annunciation) and it sounded like I'd brought my own choir to church with me. :) Shortly after we got home the Kleins arrived for a playdate. Two hours later brought Jacque to visit as well. We all hung out and had a good time until the Kleins had to leave, and then it was off to the Weys for our newly established recurring game night. We brought Jacque, Jacob, and Jillian with us, ate chili and kale salad, put the girls to bed upstairs, and played games. All three girls did well going to sleep at not-their-house and the transfer to the car and then to their own beds later in the night went smoothly, so we should be able to do this again. :)
Saturday was a rather busy lazy day. Bryan and Jillian ran to the store for fruit leather ingredients and we got the dehydrator started. Bryan did a lot of dishes and then weeded my raspberry patch. He reports that at least two of the plants are alive. He also noticed that four of our seven trees have green buds on them! I popped some beans in the pressure cooker (which is becoming less terrifying the more I use it) and when they were done Jillian and I went shopping for dinner ingredients and dress fabric. Sarah met us at JoAnn to hold my hand while I picked out material for the girls' Pascha dresses and Jillian helped me finalize decisions after Sarah left. I now have all the things I need to make what should be incredible cute dresses. :)
Today is Kaitlyn's birthday and we're having cake made with a Lenten recipe I just discovered. We'll have her smash a small one and hopefully someone will remember to take pictures...
Pictures:
27 March 2016
23 March 2016
Bonus Post: March 6-20 Words
Dear readers, I do still write posts. I intend to keep writing posts. And I feel silly making a bonus post to cover my normal posts that I haven't written in several weeks. However. Life has been busy and my blog got pushed to the back burner. So there you have it.
Way back at the beginning of March, we had our card club. Several months ago I printed out scorecards so that we wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time we played. The scorecards came with goofy names on them (Peanuts characters, pet names for a significant other, kinds of wine, etc), so I told Bryan to pick a theme. We ended up playing as 80s rock bands and then had the brilliant idea of making a playlist with songs by only those bands. If you made a loner called while your band was playing, you won a prize. No one succeeded, but it was a fun gimmick anyway, so we'll probably use it again. Bryan has already created the next playlist.
On March 6 we went to two open schools (whenever I call them open houses I get questions about moving...) to see what they were like. They were about what I expected from Catholic schools, although preschool has gotten more rigorous in the last 25 years. Olivia actually misses the Ohio cutoff by two days, so we have another year to figure out what's going on with kindergarten.
We visited the Kleins on March 8 and I seem to recall being able to spend quite a bit of time outside because the weather was so gorgeous. Olivia tried out Eva's two-wheeler (with training wheels) but had trouble making it move. I think she mostly wanted to ride so that she could wear the helmet. :)
I spent the next few days practicing for orchestra, which is something I rarely do. I'd been told I was sitting second chair for the upcoming concert, though, and I figured that was grounds to at least look at the music ahead of time. Happily for me, I ended up being third chair, where I am much more comfortable. Our concert was all Star Wars music, and we even got to perform three pieces from the newest movie. The new music became available on Tuesday morning, the conductor ordered it immediately, it was delivered on Thursday, and we saw it for the first time at rehearsal on Friday, so it was all very exciting.
The concert was on the day Daylight Savings began (or ended? I never know which half of the year is the savings half). There was a baptism at church in the morning, which meant liturgy ran long. Then the evening was the beginning of Orthodox Lent, so we headed back to church for vespers. My concert was sandwiched nicely in between all of the busyness.
The beginning of Lent is always church-heavy and this year was no exception. Bryan had to be in Springfield on Monday and Tuesday, so the girls and I got a ride to church for services those two days. Wednesday we all went together, Thursday I went alone (and it was wonderfully peaceful), and Friday I took the girls by myself again and we made it halfway through the service before we gave up and came home. :/ After the first week it gets less intense and there's only an extra service on Wednesday evenings.
Other happenings from these past two weeks:
-The girls didn't really participate in the time change since they were going to bed late because of all the evening services. They're still not quite fixed even now.
-We had some new people over for dinner one night. I met Ruth at orchestra and she and her husband and their two-year-old daughter visited.
-Voting happened on Tuesday the 15th, and somehow Bryan and I both managed to make it despite the fact that he and our car were in Springfield for most of the day.
-Women's group was dedicated to exchanging Lenten recipes, so I have a bunch of new dinner ideas to try. My goal this Lent is to create a full meal plan that I can just pull out on Cheesefare Sunday every year so that I don't even have to think about what to have for dinner during Lent.
-My peas outgrew the laundry room and got booted outside. I covered them with plastic to protect them from the wind and cold (and bunnies), but I think it also protected them from the sun because they started wilting and don't look too happy right now. I've since removed their cover, deciding that they'll just have to brave the weather in order to benefit from the sun and rain.
-Kaitlyn took her first steps. I suppose this should be a paragraph in its own right, especially since she's our earliest walker by at least two months. The monumental event happened on Saturday, March 19, and we managed to get it on video (I'll post that another time). Since those first steps she's been braver, but still finds it faster and safer to crawl.
Way back at the beginning of March, we had our card club. Several months ago I printed out scorecards so that we wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time we played. The scorecards came with goofy names on them (Peanuts characters, pet names for a significant other, kinds of wine, etc), so I told Bryan to pick a theme. We ended up playing as 80s rock bands and then had the brilliant idea of making a playlist with songs by only those bands. If you made a loner called while your band was playing, you won a prize. No one succeeded, but it was a fun gimmick anyway, so we'll probably use it again. Bryan has already created the next playlist.
On March 6 we went to two open schools (whenever I call them open houses I get questions about moving...) to see what they were like. They were about what I expected from Catholic schools, although preschool has gotten more rigorous in the last 25 years. Olivia actually misses the Ohio cutoff by two days, so we have another year to figure out what's going on with kindergarten.
We visited the Kleins on March 8 and I seem to recall being able to spend quite a bit of time outside because the weather was so gorgeous. Olivia tried out Eva's two-wheeler (with training wheels) but had trouble making it move. I think she mostly wanted to ride so that she could wear the helmet. :)
I spent the next few days practicing for orchestra, which is something I rarely do. I'd been told I was sitting second chair for the upcoming concert, though, and I figured that was grounds to at least look at the music ahead of time. Happily for me, I ended up being third chair, where I am much more comfortable. Our concert was all Star Wars music, and we even got to perform three pieces from the newest movie. The new music became available on Tuesday morning, the conductor ordered it immediately, it was delivered on Thursday, and we saw it for the first time at rehearsal on Friday, so it was all very exciting.
The concert was on the day Daylight Savings began (or ended? I never know which half of the year is the savings half). There was a baptism at church in the morning, which meant liturgy ran long. Then the evening was the beginning of Orthodox Lent, so we headed back to church for vespers. My concert was sandwiched nicely in between all of the busyness.
The beginning of Lent is always church-heavy and this year was no exception. Bryan had to be in Springfield on Monday and Tuesday, so the girls and I got a ride to church for services those two days. Wednesday we all went together, Thursday I went alone (and it was wonderfully peaceful), and Friday I took the girls by myself again and we made it halfway through the service before we gave up and came home. :/ After the first week it gets less intense and there's only an extra service on Wednesday evenings.
Other happenings from these past two weeks:
-The girls didn't really participate in the time change since they were going to bed late because of all the evening services. They're still not quite fixed even now.
-We had some new people over for dinner one night. I met Ruth at orchestra and she and her husband and their two-year-old daughter visited.
-Voting happened on Tuesday the 15th, and somehow Bryan and I both managed to make it despite the fact that he and our car were in Springfield for most of the day.
-Women's group was dedicated to exchanging Lenten recipes, so I have a bunch of new dinner ideas to try. My goal this Lent is to create a full meal plan that I can just pull out on Cheesefare Sunday every year so that I don't even have to think about what to have for dinner during Lent.
-My peas outgrew the laundry room and got booted outside. I covered them with plastic to protect them from the wind and cold (and bunnies), but I think it also protected them from the sun because they started wilting and don't look too happy right now. I've since removed their cover, deciding that they'll just have to brave the weather in order to benefit from the sun and rain.
-Kaitlyn took her first steps. I suppose this should be a paragraph in its own right, especially since she's our earliest walker by at least two months. The monumental event happened on Saturday, March 19, and we managed to get it on video (I'll post that another time). Since those first steps she's been braver, but still finds it faster and safer to crawl.
20 March 2016
09 March 2016
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 10
Olivia: Oh, how delightful!
Gretchen: Mom, I found something very amazing!
Olivia: Where are you going, Gretchen?
Gretchen: Um, to buy some gas station.
Bryan, to Olivia: You can have bread or vegetables. Which one would you like?
Olivia: Well that is a dumb question.
Gretchen: Daddy goes to work and you go to the store!
Me: What are you girls playing?
Gretchen: Just boi boi.
Me: What's boi boi?
Gretchen: Boys come and take us to their house.
Me: And then what?
Gretchen: I look out my window and in my bed... I say, "what are they doing," Olivia says, "I don't know"...
Gretchen: What is this?
Me: That's beer.
Gretchen: To get Daddy more beard?
Bryan: Yes, that's my beard juice. Whenever I need more beard, I just drink beer.
Gretchen: How does the fly and Tuesday song go?
Me: The fly and Tuesday song? I'm not sure I know that one.
Olivia: *to the tune of "Addams Family"* There's Friday and there's Tuesday...
Olivia: Can I pick first?
Me: Yes. You are the picker firster at lunch.
Gretchen: And I am the picker seconder!
Gretchen, standing right next to the dishwasher during its heated dry cycle: I am standing next to here to keep my ear warm.
Me: Gretchen, do you need help?
Gretchen: No, I was just panicking.
This conversation came after we visited two open houses for preschool. One school had cookies prominently displayed and available for snacking.
Me: What did you think of the schools?
Olivia: They were good, but I wanted to look around more in the other school for cookies.
Me: Yeah, we did not try very hard to find cookies in the second school. Which one did you like better?
Olivia: I like schools with cookies.
And two old quotes that I found jotted down when cleaning the car--
Olivia: We've been here for miles.
Olivia: My belly is not feeling good. How about I watch cartoons while I wait for it to feel better?
Gretchen: Mom, I found something very amazing!
Olivia: Where are you going, Gretchen?
Gretchen: Um, to buy some gas station.
Bryan, to Olivia: You can have bread or vegetables. Which one would you like?
Olivia: Well that is a dumb question.
Gretchen: Daddy goes to work and you go to the store!
Me: What are you girls playing?
Gretchen: Just boi boi.
Me: What's boi boi?
Gretchen: Boys come and take us to their house.
Me: And then what?
Gretchen: I look out my window and in my bed... I say, "what are they doing," Olivia says, "I don't know"...
Gretchen: What is this?
Me: That's beer.
Gretchen: To get Daddy more beard?
Bryan: Yes, that's my beard juice. Whenever I need more beard, I just drink beer.
Gretchen: How does the fly and Tuesday song go?
Me: The fly and Tuesday song? I'm not sure I know that one.
Olivia: *to the tune of "Addams Family"* There's Friday and there's Tuesday...
Olivia: Can I pick first?
Me: Yes. You are the picker firster at lunch.
Gretchen: And I am the picker seconder!
Gretchen, standing right next to the dishwasher during its heated dry cycle: I am standing next to here to keep my ear warm.
Me: Gretchen, do you need help?
Gretchen: No, I was just panicking.
This conversation came after we visited two open houses for preschool. One school had cookies prominently displayed and available for snacking.
Me: What did you think of the schools?
Olivia: They were good, but I wanted to look around more in the other school for cookies.
Me: Yeah, we did not try very hard to find cookies in the second school. Which one did you like better?
Olivia: I like schools with cookies.
And two old quotes that I found jotted down when cleaning the car--
Olivia: We've been here for miles.
Olivia: My belly is not feeling good. How about I watch cartoons while I wait for it to feel better?
06 March 2016
February 21-March 6
Gretchen can spell her name. She does not recognize any of the letters, but she can recite them in order. She can also recite Olivia's name, and she recognizes the O.
I ordered a bound version of my 2015 blog posts, but I mis-remembered the settings I used for the first four books and got small pictures instead of medium ones. :/ I am still deciding for sure if it bothers me enough to order another copy, but 75% of the time I think that I'll probably get a new one. Is anyone interested in a bound copy of my 2015 blog in the event that I do reorder? I've got a spare...
Since the new year, I've been working on instilling new habits. They're not really resolutions, especially since I've been adding them one at a time as I think of them, but the timing was convenient. I started by making sure the table was clear and the floor was swept after dinner each night. Two weeks ago, we had friends over for dinner and Sarah helped wash dishes while I was putting Kaitlyn to bed. I decided at that moment that I would take the base zero kitchen as an opportunity to create a good habit. I'm happy to report that every night since that one my dishes have been done before I've gone to bed. I spent a week sending pictures to Sarah as proof. I also told Justine about this project, and she began keeping her kitchen clean, too, so we send each other pictures of our clean counters, usually with some short commentary on the evening. :) Next project, conquer the laundry.
Another habit I'm working on is more complete dinners. It started as a joke with Bryan because he grew up with many sides and I grew up with complete meals in one dish (otherwise known as casseroles and stews). On and off throughout our marriage he's made fun of me for how I never really serve a true meal because there are no sides. Apparently I serve appetizers. Or snacks. So now he's getting two sides (most nights). AND a salad if I'm really on top of things. It's not as consistent as my clean counters yet, but I'd say I'm putting "real" meals on the table five nights out of the week. The goal, of course, is to make this an automatic thing, too. :)
I've started my garden. In my laundry room. I decided in January that I wasn't ready to start my own seeds indoors yet, but then I realized that next year (when I am ready) I'll probably have a newborn. Then February came and brought with it beautiful weather and I got antsy to be growing things, so the laundry room garden was born. I started broccoli seeds that I saved from my plants last year, but they didn't really take so I'll be starting some seeds from packets soon. I also planted 21 peas (in the box that Shar used to mail my newly rehaired bow!) and 13 are up and growing beautifully.
We visited Bryan's cousin, Amanda, and her family in Toledo last Friday. Her son, Dawson, is two months younger than Kaitlyn. We visited that evening, stayed overnight, and then drove back to our house after breakfast on Saturday. Apparently Dawson likes Mickey Mouse, so Olivia and Gretchen played with Mickey Mouse toys and watched Mickey Mouse cartoons. Bryan and I have been singing "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog..." all week.
Jacque's show in Dayton wrapped up last Sunday night, so she came to our house on Monday to reorganize her things before heading back to Chicago. She and I figured out the recording system and did eight psalms before she left. We also left all the recording equipment set up so that next time we don't have to mess with anything and can just start working right away. I might get to cross number two off my list yet.
Also on Monday, I managed to injure my foot in what can only be described as a fantastic display of grace and poise. I may take after my mother. It all started because I wanted something from the top shelf in my pantry... I pulled a folding chair (not one that collapses; one of the safe ones) over to the pantry and hopped up quickly, as I am wont to do when needing something that is out of my reach. This particular time, however, I must have hopped up too close to the front of the chair, because I managed to flip the chair over. I banged my right elbow, my right thigh, and the inside of my left foot on... things... as I came down. I'm pretty sure the door frame got my elbow and thigh, but I'm afraid I will never be certain what pulverized my foot. My best guess is the cardboard box of potatoes. Anyway, I immediately put my shoe on and tied it to provide some sort of compression and then, the pain having diminished somewhat, continued with my day. An hour later I couldn't stand anymore, and my foot was beginning to swell. I elevated it slightly, tied ice around it, and (of course) called my mother to ask if it might be broken. After a series of very scientific questions, guesses, and experiments, we decided it was NOT broken, and that I'd just crushed the soft tissues of the instep. As I write this, it's been almost a week and my foot feels fine except when prodded, but no bruise has appeared yet.
Ricky dropped in for a surprise visit on his way to Fort Wayne this past Wednesday. He got here around ten and hung out with us until 5ish on Thursday. Bryan and Ricky and I played several games of Dominion, Ricky and I talked books, and Ricky ground two hoppers full of wheat for me (breaking his previous record with a 13:54) and built all of our megablocks into a tower that touched the ceiling.
Bryan took the older two girls to Chuck E Cheese for dinner on Thursday night. Apparently they had a fabulous time running around and eating pizza. When they came home, Gretchen demonstrated the Chuck E Cheese dance for me (reminder to self: get said dance on video). Every time Olivia talks about this magical experience she puts her hands on the side of her face and opens her eyes wide with a look of dreamy excitement (note to readers: follow that link; it provides a remarkably accurate portrayal of Olivia's Chuck E Cheese look)(reminder to self: try to get a picture of the face, too). Also worth noting from the Chuck E Cheese expedition is this text that I received from Bryan: "Olivia almost died of happiness over whack a mole, but I can't get a picture because she's awful and keeps asking for help."
Also, my taxes are done. Neener neener?
I've been remiss about posting videos, so some of this week's videos are several months old. There should be another sizable batch of videos later this month as I continue to process the backlog.
Pictures and Videos:
I ordered a bound version of my 2015 blog posts, but I mis-remembered the settings I used for the first four books and got small pictures instead of medium ones. :/ I am still deciding for sure if it bothers me enough to order another copy, but 75% of the time I think that I'll probably get a new one. Is anyone interested in a bound copy of my 2015 blog in the event that I do reorder? I've got a spare...
Since the new year, I've been working on instilling new habits. They're not really resolutions, especially since I've been adding them one at a time as I think of them, but the timing was convenient. I started by making sure the table was clear and the floor was swept after dinner each night. Two weeks ago, we had friends over for dinner and Sarah helped wash dishes while I was putting Kaitlyn to bed. I decided at that moment that I would take the base zero kitchen as an opportunity to create a good habit. I'm happy to report that every night since that one my dishes have been done before I've gone to bed. I spent a week sending pictures to Sarah as proof. I also told Justine about this project, and she began keeping her kitchen clean, too, so we send each other pictures of our clean counters, usually with some short commentary on the evening. :) Next project, conquer the laundry.
Another habit I'm working on is more complete dinners. It started as a joke with Bryan because he grew up with many sides and I grew up with complete meals in one dish (otherwise known as casseroles and stews). On and off throughout our marriage he's made fun of me for how I never really serve a true meal because there are no sides. Apparently I serve appetizers. Or snacks. So now he's getting two sides (most nights). AND a salad if I'm really on top of things. It's not as consistent as my clean counters yet, but I'd say I'm putting "real" meals on the table five nights out of the week. The goal, of course, is to make this an automatic thing, too. :)
I've started my garden. In my laundry room. I decided in January that I wasn't ready to start my own seeds indoors yet, but then I realized that next year (when I am ready) I'll probably have a newborn. Then February came and brought with it beautiful weather and I got antsy to be growing things, so the laundry room garden was born. I started broccoli seeds that I saved from my plants last year, but they didn't really take so I'll be starting some seeds from packets soon. I also planted 21 peas (in the box that Shar used to mail my newly rehaired bow!) and 13 are up and growing beautifully.
We visited Bryan's cousin, Amanda, and her family in Toledo last Friday. Her son, Dawson, is two months younger than Kaitlyn. We visited that evening, stayed overnight, and then drove back to our house after breakfast on Saturday. Apparently Dawson likes Mickey Mouse, so Olivia and Gretchen played with Mickey Mouse toys and watched Mickey Mouse cartoons. Bryan and I have been singing "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog..." all week.
Jacque's show in Dayton wrapped up last Sunday night, so she came to our house on Monday to reorganize her things before heading back to Chicago. She and I figured out the recording system and did eight psalms before she left. We also left all the recording equipment set up so that next time we don't have to mess with anything and can just start working right away. I might get to cross number two off my list yet.
Also on Monday, I managed to injure my foot in what can only be described as a fantastic display of grace and poise. I may take after my mother. It all started because I wanted something from the top shelf in my pantry... I pulled a folding chair (not one that collapses; one of the safe ones) over to the pantry and hopped up quickly, as I am wont to do when needing something that is out of my reach. This particular time, however, I must have hopped up too close to the front of the chair, because I managed to flip the chair over. I banged my right elbow, my right thigh, and the inside of my left foot on... things... as I came down. I'm pretty sure the door frame got my elbow and thigh, but I'm afraid I will never be certain what pulverized my foot. My best guess is the cardboard box of potatoes. Anyway, I immediately put my shoe on and tied it to provide some sort of compression and then, the pain having diminished somewhat, continued with my day. An hour later I couldn't stand anymore, and my foot was beginning to swell. I elevated it slightly, tied ice around it, and (of course) called my mother to ask if it might be broken. After a series of very scientific questions, guesses, and experiments, we decided it was NOT broken, and that I'd just crushed the soft tissues of the instep. As I write this, it's been almost a week and my foot feels fine except when prodded, but no bruise has appeared yet.
Ricky dropped in for a surprise visit on his way to Fort Wayne this past Wednesday. He got here around ten and hung out with us until 5ish on Thursday. Bryan and Ricky and I played several games of Dominion, Ricky and I talked books, and Ricky ground two hoppers full of wheat for me (breaking his previous record with a 13:54) and built all of our megablocks into a tower that touched the ceiling.
Bryan took the older two girls to Chuck E Cheese for dinner on Thursday night. Apparently they had a fabulous time running around and eating pizza. When they came home, Gretchen demonstrated the Chuck E Cheese dance for me (reminder to self: get said dance on video). Every time Olivia talks about this magical experience she puts her hands on the side of her face and opens her eyes wide with a look of dreamy excitement (note to readers: follow that link; it provides a remarkably accurate portrayal of Olivia's Chuck E Cheese look)(reminder to self: try to get a picture of the face, too). Also worth noting from the Chuck E Cheese expedition is this text that I received from Bryan: "Olivia almost died of happiness over whack a mole, but I can't get a picture because she's awful and keeps asking for help."
Also, my taxes are done. Neener neener?
I've been remiss about posting videos, so some of this week's videos are several months old. There should be another sizable batch of videos later this month as I continue to process the backlog.
Pictures and Videos:
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