Yesterday afternoon, all the stars aligned.   All the girls took a nap.  Praises resounded.   We have had a rough go of nap time recently.  In that still quiet, I had forty pages left in The Winter Sea, and I intended to savor every single one of them.  I really enjoyed this book. I liked the two stories told.  I liked the characters (past and present) and oh my, was I stunned at one point. There was actually one point where I saw how much of the book was left and was wondering how the author was going to wrap the story up.  Good thing, too, she got me.  Smelling the sea air is the only thing that could have made the book better.

I have been making progress on the cowl I began last week.  The pattern is knitting up nicely, and I am excited for it to find its way to its new home, soon.  I am thinking I will tackle my list of project almost near completion very soon …

++ I say all this knowing full well I am headed out of town soon and Joel’s mom is going to help me start a smocking project for the girls and our trip to the beach this year.  Dresses for the beach are, in fact, on the list, perhaps I’ll just call this a jump start.++

As I walked down stairs this morning the sky was so bright red, I just had to stop and soak it in.  Enjoy the day, friends!

{joining in with ginny again this week for the lovely yarn along}

joining in with Amanda for {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Since last week, I cast on and have begun the 5th Ave cowl.  I like the pattern.  When Joel came home and saw it on top of the bookcase, he said he liked my knitting.  You know me so well, hunny!

I was flopping between reads. I really just wanted to settle on one, so I could sink in and enjoy.  I saw Amanda, who I seem to always enjoy the same books as, mention The Winter Sea a while back.  On Sunday night,  I started the book waiting for Downton Abbey to begin and Joel to come home. Now, I am yearning for the salty sea air and a little cottage to skedaddle off and visit.

What are you working on this week?

++ joining in with ginny again this week for the lovely yarn along

It is a funny thing when you try to teach your children matters of the heart. You get a little glimpse into the reality that you yourself have not put them into practice very well.  This past week I saw I was the perfect example of impatience for them to follow all the while I am explaining (loudly) how they need to be nice to each other.  My favorite moment from the week was when I yelled “stop yelling at each other”.  I sat down with my journal and an open heart before God and asked to be changed first.  I want love to start with me.

I will keep trying to be kind first.

I will keep trying to be patient first.

I will keep trying to speak politely.

And, I will fail because that is only how far my love can go.

I will ask you to forgive me.

Together we will love each other the best we can.

Together we will know all love is rooted in forgiveness.

Together we will begin again tomorrow.

Together we will be confident that there is a Love never fails; a Love that never gives up.  a Love that never runs out.

joining in with Amanda for {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A few things on my mind this Thursday morning, February 9th …

:: Yesterday, I wrote about what strange weather we have been having.  Wouldn’t you know it would snow yesterday evening?? It didn’t stick to anything, but it sure was nice to see some flakes.  Perhaps a little more will come on the day we don’t have errands and preschool and small group …. like, today!

:: The older girls seem to be spinning through their days right now.  I was looking for a picture I took the other day I and found the one Ella took of Sophie spinning. I started laughing out loud.  This is exactly how they are right now.  Spinning and full of questions.

:: The Valentine’s Day party at preschool took me by surprise.  Of course, I knew when it was on the calendar, but this is the first year we have needed to make a class set of valentines.  We are almost done peeling crayons for this valentines project.

:: Last week, I made some laundry detergent.  I like it.  The cloth diapers seem to be cleaner after only a wash or two.

:: Joel is traveling for work this week.  He pulled the girls aside unbeknownst to me before he left.  He must have spoke their language because yesterday they mentioned a treat when dad came home.  Ella told me “the morer we nap, the better we are, the lesser we whine  and the prouder dad will be”.

:: I am thinking of creating “projects I want to finish list.  I have one side left to seam up on the wyatt sweater for Sophie and then it is all hers – just like I want!

:: My plan is to make a small list to accomplish today, be done early, make stew for dinner, and find some pockets of time to knit on the cowl I swatched yesterday.  (Notice, how I put that on the list?)

:: If I am changing yarns in a pattern, especially weight yarn, I still always swatch.  I just like to know, you know?  Good thing I did because the pattern calls for a chunky yarn, and the yarn I wanted to use is a worsted weight, held double to get a chunky look. It swatched too small at first, so now I know how many stitches to add to get the length I am after.

Oh my. We have had a wonderful couple of days around the Lady Bird home.  My very best friend from high school came to visit for a long weekend which passed far too quickly.  We laughed, and cooked, and shopped, and got pedicures, and fell asleep watching movies, and then all of the sudden I needed to drive her to the airport again.

The only book I have read this week is Little House on the Prairie to the girls.   We read before nap, and we read before bed.  There were many questions, especially about why the Ingalls were afraid of the Indians. I do believe I need to brush up on some of my history.  Besides a very basic understanding about how the government kept moving the Indians father and farther west,  I  don’t think I know many (or any) of the details beyond that.  It is a good thing I picked up this book.   The Ingalls family is moving on again, and I want to know how Pa is going to build a second house in a year.

While running errands today, I found the color yarn I was looking for so I could begin a gift for someone.  Pattern  purchased.  Now, to begin clickity click!

Is anyone else feeling strange due to the winter we have (or, haven’t) had?  The calendar says winter so I want roaring fires and am planning soups for dinner.  Yet, for the past few days after nap we have gone out for a walk or bike ride.  The girls are begging to play outside.  They are hunting up rocks for their new found rock collection.  I bought daffodils at Trader Joe’s.  They are in our family room, with the fire place and me in my wool socks…..

++ joining in with ginny again this week for the lovely yarn along

• block houses
• built by little hands
• that are growing too fast for this momma to comprehend
• “Mom, I want the Jesus song again.” (Sophie & ‘Rooftops’ by Jesus Culture)
• oh, sweet girl
• she is also the same girl who triumphantly bursts into my bathroom while I am showering to inform me Ella is in their bathroom and she needs to use mine
• reminding myself the intrusions will end; and this, too, is a season I should savor
• Saturday dinners turned so much more fancy with candles and Shirley Temples
• the girls excitement at the books found at the thrift store on Saturday’s trip
• my same excitement at finding a bread machine
• my wonderful friend flying to see me today for the weekend
• a break in winter weather for playing outside
• still hoping for a few chilly nights

For these moments, these pauses, the grace of God in the moment, I am so thankful.

This weekend, I finished all the knitting on Sophie’s Wyatt sweater!!.  If I can get my list done today, I will begin to seam up the sides during nap time.  Somehow, I managed almost no laundry last week.  Inevitably this meant I had WAY more to whiz and whirl through the machine this week.  The next disc of Little Dorrit arrived from Netflix, so I had a little system working as I folded while the girls were resting.  It was warm enough to hang a few loads on the clothesline, and they smelled so nice coming inside.

I flew through Money Saving Mom as soon as I brought it home from the library.  There are a couple tips, I would like to reread to glean a couple ideas Crystal Paine mentions. Some ideas were new, some were good reminders. I picked up the book because I want to be the best steward of what we have been given, and it is always a good idea to read about what others are doing well and see ways I could potentially simplify or think differently about our finances.

As soon as I finished Money Saving Mom, I picked up The 100 Thing Challenge by Dave Bruno.  I had a mixed reaction to this book.  This was due partially because I imposed my idea of a 100 Thing challenge criteria before I read his “rules”.  He did a good job describing his thought process to the 100 Thing challenge, and I appreciated that. He also explained some of the dissonance he felt while doing the challenge.  It was not a stop spending and survive on he 100 things for a year challenge, and prior to reading it, I assumed it would be.  Therefore, some of his trading of the 100 things surprised me. It did make me think about some of the “collections” we have floating around our house and, more importantly, why we have them.  That in and of itself was beneficial.

What are you reading and knitting this week?

++ joining ginny for her weekly yarn along.

This week’s yarn along is almost exactly the same as last week’s  post – Wildwood and Wyatt.   So in the name of progress and my excitement for seeing tangible progress I was even more encouraged to keep working on the projects I have on the needles.   I bound off the sleeves and then knit half of the back of Sophie’s Wyatt sweater.  I am hoping to sneak some quiet time be able to finish up the knitting this week and get it seamed up very soon after.

I am slowly working my way through Wildwood.  The story is beginning to pick up and I have adjusted to reading a classic fantasy genre book so we will see how I fare from here on out. I’ll be honest and say I am not loving it as much as I had hoped to, but I am enjoying it enough to keep rooting for it to pull me in.  The older two girls and  I continue to read Little House on the Prairie.  All three of us are really enjoying it.

On an unrelated note: have any of you ever made the no-knead, dutch oven loaf bread?  Warm, butter-smeared bread always sounds good to me, but I want it to be worth my time, you know?

+++ joining along with ginny for her weekly yarn along