Swamped and Sobered

The title of this post is a perfect description of my days lately.  Although I dislike the feeling of overwhelming, I have to say the busy days did keep me on my toes.
I have been visiting with my mom almost daily since my sister is on vacation. It has been wonderful to hear stories of my mom's life. She has lived quite a life. Escaped from two wars and raised nine children sure produced a very absorbing life.
On the home front, I have been busy rearranging furniture and creating samples for my March card making class. I am also in the process of re-organizing my filing system - however slow the progress has been. I stayed up late last week for Christine's Mock Trial competition and that did not help with my February goal of early to bed and early to rise. All of these tasks/event along with other little circumstances in our daily life engulfed the month of February.
However, when I am busy with a purpose, I found myself assimilating life deeper. I found myself eager to see what God wants me to learn.
One of the sobering lesson I learned through this busy month was how much my family got neglected. I did not realize how much they depend on me to be "presented". One example was that I got to a point I was so busy that I forgot to pack my hubby breakfast and lunch! It happened two days in a roll. I thought he was able to handle it so I kept on slagging on my job. He then gently reminded me how much he appreciates and likes my packing of his lunch. Boy, did I snap out of that fog and quickly refocus my priorities!
So, I am setting my March mini goal - priorities. I want to use this month to really search my heart and truly listen to what the Lord is saying to me through my family.
The first mini goal, believe it or not, is to re-establish my menu plan. A seemingly simple task (that I have stepped away from it since the end of last year) but procures such huge blessing on my family.
The second mini goal I would like to reach is to create an home maintenance list. Yes, I know the whys and hows of housekeeping but the bottom line of an orderly home is to maintain it, not cater it.
These two mini goals will keep me hopping through March for sure. :)

Goofing around. :)

Five seconds of "hailstorm" made some boys' day!

On our way to a basketball game.

Yup. I created all of these cards. Very satisfying.

Fast Days

Last two weeks have been a whirlwind.  So it seemed.  I did finally catch my breath yesterday and then I came down with a cold/cough.  Not very serious but I want to get rid of it as soon as I can. Because there are no time to be sick in the next few months.

My memories of the last two weeks...

Christine's Photography Club meeting. Fun day. Had lunch with a new family afterward. Good food, great company!

While we were there, we got a chance to see a film school making a "short". It was interesting to see how much work there are with film making.

Ironing the pocket that goes on to the apron I was making. The trickiest part of this pocket is to make the curves look natural. I am almost done with it. I love paisley print. Even my ironing board cover is that print. lol! The apron took me five Saturday mornings but it is almost done.  I hardly had time to do any sewing at home so the class time was helpful to keep me focus on the project.

This is how I remember my two weeks. Lots of paperwork and deadlines.

Peter asked to have a picture taken so I did it.  Hi sweet boy!

More paperwork.

Finally, time for my monthly workshops. Kathy used the new Spring Addition on her album. The colors are so FRESH! Love it!

  

More Spring color

I got a chance to create two pages. I did Peter's 3rd birthday event.

I like simple pages.

It is Sunday now. I am resting. Joshua brought this plate of fruit out to share with me and Peter. Did not realize how creative he is with fruit presentation! The fruit tasted extra sweet with such beautiful arrangement.

Make Believe

Imagine these are arrows...

in the quiver (ok...a boy's pocket)

Who thinks of himself as Robin Hood

 

The enemies are down!

Even though I am more of a practical person, I do encourage my kids to play dress-up and make up stories for fun. It helps them to create and to dream (with action).

 Speaking of practicality, my hubby thinks we should just toss that notion aside on Valentine's Day and had a little romance.  I wholeheartedly welcomed it. ♥

Red roses ~ my love language.

Valentine Memories

It is one of our favorite traditions in our homeschooling group ~ Valentine Park Day!

It was a wonderful sunny day as well. We all went and had a splendid day with our fellow homeschoolers.

Christine's grade. Such elegant paper bags!

Joshua's grade - fun bags!

Peter helping me with the bags.

Peter's grade - our bags he helped me made!

Peaking in...

Still too early, he at least saw the one I put in his bag. :)

Some sweet older students baked all these cute cupcakes to hand out and guess what? Peter did not like cupcakes! Strange kid! lol!

But he would like one of these lovelies.

While waiting, he went to the play ground and had some sliding fun with his little friends.

I had to take this picture as last year he did not even want to try climbing these steps.  He has grown quite a bit physically and a bit more adventure some.

Now the bag is full and time to take it home.

We went out for a little treat after that. Sorta a sweet little tradition we have. Joshua is way taller than me now.  I love this picture.

Me and my little guy ♥

All the "sweet" love for Peter from his classmates!

Boy and Fort

One of Peter's favorite things to do - building a fort with chairs and blankets.  It was so cute to hear him shout "help! Mommy! Blanket baaken! (broken)" when the blankets slid off the chair backs. :)

"Mommy, come seet here with Peter!"

What is for dinner tonight? BBQ Chicken with pasta and stir-fry kale! Yum!

Sewing Again

First day back to a sewing class since my Senior year in high school. How fun it was.  I will share more later. Now everyone is waiting for me to watch the movie Spider-man.

TTFN!

Cheers!

Long Day, Short Post

We saw the movie Money Ball tonight at the $3.50 movie house. Cheap date but at least we are having date nights. :)  This will be a short post as I had a long working day.

Frying up some red onion to go with our burger night.

Can't have home made burger without home made fries :) These are fried in peanut oil. Yum!

Guess what Peter grouped these into?

Yup! 3, 6, 9, 12. He had no clue why we were so excited over his grouping. He repeated the numbers after us but I don't think he understood what that all meant - yet.

I am one of those rare organized scrapbooking gal. I could not create when my paper supplies are in a mess.  This is how I organize my big pretty papers and alphabet stickers...

Urg! the side way picture again!!! This is how I organize big pieces of scrap of papers...

and this is how I organize my small pieces of scrap papers (for all of my punch usage)

Here is another Valentine card for your viewing.

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Home Movie :: Green Veggies :: Fun Memories

"Emmie, Jordi aaannd Jorsh!" Peter shouted out as the little home movie that Christine made with her brother and friends came to an end. Peter enjoys watching these little movies and I am completely ok about it. Hey, this is better than even a PG rated movie viewing nowadays!

Stir-frying green for a side dish again tonight. I really am enjoying this stir frying thing.  It is so simple yet taste so good! This one I called it "When East meets West". Basically I stir-fry the veggies (whatever I have on hand) and add a small piece of Irish Gold butter at the end. Everyone is happy and that is what counts for me.

Robert and Josh went to the library to borrow this book (my kids' favorite cartoon book). When Josh flipped the cover...

This was what he saw! A little piece of clue that he put there two years ago for Christine's birthday scavenger hunt game. Brought back some fun memories for him but, ehem... yes, the clue paper needs to be removed before the book returns to the library again.