It has snowed, and rained, and been sunny.  Sums up lol. 

The girls are creating A to Z Geography notebooks like their brothers before them. They are amazing!  Every day I am in awe of each new entry. They have dug out the geography puzzles again and are going over one daily.  

We had St Patrick's Day on Sunday so they could have dessert of choice.  Also we had indoor soccer and football on Saturday which took up much of the day.  So Sunday morning we loaded the crock pot with corned beef and cabbage.  The kids made brownie and mint ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Big hit but I will admit the brownies were not terribly cooperative when coaxing them into being sandwiches.  humph.  

Archie was also not real thrilled with his St Patrick's attire.  

We moved right into the feast of St Joseph. The children, who wouldn't know a cannoli if it hit them, were thrilled with the storebought cream puffs. I had a plan to pick up white lilies for the table but they were not to be found last minute.  Too early for Easter lilies and no white bouquets at the store.  So we settled on roses and some colored lilies.  Things like this take up a lot of my brain space, just so you know. 

Some other meals this week.  Paleo taco salad with cauliflower chili pilaf and tomatillo salsa

and a typical breakfast lineup on a school day.  Fruit, nuts, pancakes, milk.  Insert a mom chorus of, "Breakfast is ready!  Hurry up!  Eat your food! It's time for school! Let's get started!" 

We are reading this aloud.  Perhaps no one is enjoying quite as much as I!  

"Want to squeeze in one more chapter??"

"Uh, ok, Mom.  Sure."

No one send me spoilers.  We are nearly to the end and I need to know what happens to the king and the other king and who gets the girl. 

In other news, shopping happened.  Husband and I thought it would be a relaxing outing.  We were wrong about that.  Many small changes have happened in the fashion industry even for men.  Nothing terrible, just a little disconcerting. Outfit separates combined in sometimes daring – though admittedly attractive – color and texture combos.  Pants no longer always sold by lengths.  We liked a lot of what we saw but it either didn't fit middle aged bodies as well as lithe young adult models or we were out of our depth in assembling pieces successfully.  This happens periodically, these little reminders that small changes add up to bigger ones when you are only checking back once in a blue moon and not following things closely. Because?  Life.  There are only so many things one can follow closely. 

We ended up at Nordstrom Rack where, cough, mature shoppers can slip right into comfortable coordinating traditional cuts and colors.  We need to research more before we tackle this again lol. 

Here we are again at the weekend.  I swear the time is whipping past anymore.  No matter how carefully we plot our days on the planner it is always a surprise, at the end of them.  Like, this is it?  Day is over already?  I think I recall hearing my grandmother and others talk about time seeing to pass quicker and quicker with each decade.  They were right.  So when older folks exhort you to not waste a single moment of it, just know that's part of the perspective.  I DO recall days as a young mother when I would sink back into the pillow and it truly seemed like days and days must have passed since dawn broke.   It's all such a mystery, all good in its own way, just so different as life progresses.  

Have a blessed weekend, friends. 

This month's installment of Teri Maxwell's Mom's Corners raised some insightful questions.  If you had been hired to do the work you do (as mother, teacher, home keeper etc) would you be up for a raise or on probation?  You set your alarm to get up and begin preparing when you have an early morning appointment.  Do you feel as compelled to rise and follow your routine when you are "just" teaching at home that day? (referring to weekdays of course)  Would we surf the internet or visit on message boards if we were working at a doctor's office?  Do we feel it's ok for staff at the pharmacy, grocery store, or Post Office to snap at us or to make us feel stupid for our questions or need for assistance?  And yet, how often we do we keep a double standard for ourselves at home? 

The points she makes apply to all who are self-employed or work from home, but are especially convicting to those whose vocation is the making of "home" and the mentoring of small humans.  Home should be a refuge, a place of rest and respite – even for us!  However, the greater portion of our time at home is necessarily required to work diligently to reach our goals.  Home care, child care, health care, meal planning and preparing, paperwork, instruction, character formation, gardening, and relationship building make significant demands on our time and our demeanor.  It is a daunting task to get it all in, especially since some aspects of the work can take years before seeing measurable results.  In our era it is not always acknowledged that this is even valuable, legitimate work to begin with.  This attitude can creep into our own hearts and we can lose motivation to maintain the same level of effort we might exert if there was an evaluation and paycheck hanging in the balance.  

When reading from St Ignatius' daily meditations this morning I came across a line which convicted me even more:

"…for it is not sufficient to do our part well; it must be done more than well."

Following that was a related aspiration from his Spiritual Exercises:

"I will carefully consider how, on the day of judgement, I would wish to have discharged my office or duty; and the way that I would wish to have done it then, I shall do now." 

His words were not directed to women specifically, but to all. We all have a role to fulfill, life's work to do.  It is tempting to assure ourselves that it is done well enough, when in fact we know we may not be as fully committed as we could be.   

If we were observing our own lives as a bystander would our words and actions make us pleased or make us cringe?  If we are human, and honest, we will probably say some of both.  Perhaps though, keeping that visual in mind will lead to less cringing.  

Outside:

It's sunny and 60 degrees.  This is temporary we are told.  Snow is forecast for the end of the week.  If you see my images on social media in a crazy procession of sun and snow just know it's actually unfolding in that wild, nonsensical way in real life. 

Around the house:

Some spring touches appearing.  St Joseph and this wonderful read to pick up when I sit down.  If I had to choose ONE place online to visit each day it would be here.  Every word we read on screens or in person lifts us up or drags us down, leads us toward or leads us away from our goals, and I try hard to choose wisely.  

On my nightstand:

This will probably be the answer to that category for a while lol. I am taking the same approach I took with Anna Karenina and Kristin Lavransdatter, considering them more as a dramatic series than as a film.  So far, so good, although it reads very much like Anna.  I am already loving his insight about marriage and prayer. 

Thankfulness:

Dawn's lovely exercise in gratitude for a late and lingering winter's afternoon  here. 

From the learning rooms:

Chalkboard work going into notebooks.  Dreaming up a vintage classroom chalkboard option. 

Giving lots of thought to what should NOT be happening as well.  We guide and grow them as much by what we subtract as by what we add.  May it all be for their greater good. 

Creating:

I played around with a modern embroidery project.  

In the kitchen:

My husband's Sunday special this past weekend was Chicken Madeira here.

The little girls found these hedgehogs in the American Girl magazine at the library.  They were SO excited for Sunday to arrive to make them for dessert.  

Thinking about:

This story really hit home because as the actual events unfolded some weeks ago, our dear friend in Hawaii texted a picture from their shelter begging prayers. Although it in no way compares to being there in person, my stomach sank as I went from being certain it was a hoax to seeing one confirmation after another.  The bottom line though – read to the end.  Know your people.  Be sure your time is given to them as propionately to their importance in your life as you can make it it happen.  

Now.  

Media and meetings won't matter a bit in that moment.  And it comes.  For all of us.  Not usually in such a dramatic scenario, but this time will run out.  

Speaking of which:

Some snaps from recent adventures with my daughters – shopping and hiking.  It gets trickier and trickier to sync up adult schedules.  I treasure every opportunity that we are able though.  Plans are in the works to see more of them next month.  thankyouGod

Outside: March has begun – in like a lion over here.  It's been snowy but mixed with enough rain that we have to get RIGHT outside take best advantage. And that they do…

On my desk:  

Workking hard at my desk each morning.  A bit of reading, a private rosary, journal.  This is the third month of bullet journaling and it feels really good.  I think a habit is established. 

Lent so often involves a certain amount of picking one's heart up off the ground.  As in years past we choose big and little deprivations knowing the real penances will reveal themselves as we go.  This year is no different in that regard.  I have turned time and again to this verse:

 I am meditating heavily on that second part.  A peace which transcends ALL understanding.  Like, perhaps it is ok if it doesn't make sense, if it's bigger than my mind can possibly take in.  Some things are very hard to understand. They do not prevent us from having peace. Which begs the question if I am not at peace with my lack of understanding, is it due to circumstances or due to my unwillingness to give it all to God without fully working it all out in head?

From the learning rooms:

We are working on another art history unit and diligently moving through the math and language and a ton of library books. The steady rhythm of read alouds and prayers and practice in those core subjects daily can be so reassuring.  Whatever else life brings, we wake up, make coffee, and cover the table with a mountain of books by noon. Then the "whatever else" part can rush in.  Not before. 

Towards wellness:

Hasfit has become my all time favorite Youtube channel, my free personal trainers. Even though we belong to a gym and my family LOVES it, I prefer to retreat to my room for a while every weekday and work though one of these.  My weight has been pretty stable for many years so this has been more about strength, calm, and endurance.  

From the kitchen: 

Favortite paleo plate this week was the Kalua Pig here.  Salt the roast, wrap in foil, slow roast at 325 for 5 hours.  So easy and so good. Coleslaw and cauliflower-rice alongside. 

We also were happily surprised by these chicken veggie bites. Almond flour crunchy breadsticks here. 

And now I am off to pick up the odds and ends we missed at Costco yesterday.  It will snow again this evening.  There are 5k's and soccer games tomorrow if weather permits. There is a shower faucet to repair.  Flooring to work on.  First, we will pray the stations of the cross tonight with the dollar store candles. It's never too late for this one.