2017 Week 5

Sunday, January 29
Today our family celebrated Zechariah's dedication. After the service, we headed back to Rachel and Lips's for lunch and family time, and even managed to have a quick birthday celebration for Mom. It was a very nice day!

Monday, January 30
After being gone all weekend, I played catch up on my normal weekend chores today. Elaina decided she wanted to learn how to fold clothes, and she was quite determined to do it well. She did a great job! She seems to have mastered pants, undies, and socks, and we'll work on shirts next. I was really proud of her initiative.

Tuesday, January 31
Ellie chose to watch Looney Tunes before bed tonight, and "What's Opera, Doc" just happened to be one of the episodes. I love how much the girls love it, and I'll be so sad some day when they don't act it out and sing at the top of their lungs. In other fun news, the Dr. KittyCat book that we pre-ordered for Elaina before Christmas finally came in the mail. She dubbed one of our chairs the "Dr. KittyCat" chair and decorated it with all the books in the series.

Wednesday, February 1
The sun has been quite absent recently, which wouldn't be so depressing, perhaps, if there were some snow to brighten things up. Since we've had so little, the look of the world can be, and has been, quite glum. The sunshine we got today was quite welcome, and I enjoyed stepping out into it for a bit to take some pictures. Before long, it'll be light past 5:30, and I can't wait.

Thursday, February 2
Ellie decided her chili would taste even better if she made a smiley face out of the crackers and cheese. She must have been right, too, because she gobbled it up. Later, when the girls were in bed, Chappu finally decided to venture past the gate. Not only that, (with a bit of encouragement and patience), he jumped up on the couch and into my lap for a bit. I have no grand illusion that he'll soon be lounging on our laps all hours of the day and Yuna will suddenly ignore them, but the possibility that they may come out even at all is pretty exciting.

Friday, February 3
Today Josh got home late from a work outing, walked in the house, and said, "It's a little cold in here, isn't it?" I hadn't thought much of the chill that was starting to spread throughout the house because the heater had popped on at least once while the girls and I colored at the table. But as I thought about it, I realized that it hadn't been on for quite some time. Josh tried unsuccessfully to get it started, and after dinner, we huddled around the fireplace and consulted Google and our dads about what the solution might be. Mario and Rita stopped by awhile later with space heaters and offers to take the girls to a warm home for the night, and while Rita and I chatted, Josh and Mario looked at the furnace and the thermostat. After wiggling one of the thermostat wires, we heard the wonderful sound of heat blowing into our home. The girls took advantage of the extra time with Gramma and Papa while we celebrated a warm house.

Saturday, February 4
The good luck with an operating furnace was short-lived, and we woke up Saturday morning to a crisp 65 degree house. After our trip to the gym and home for lunch, we headed out to Lowe's to buy a new thermostat and then off to Costco and Hy-Vee for some groceries. When we got home, Mario came by and helped Josh install the new thermostat. Thankfully, it worked like a charm and we've had a nicely heated home since. Afterwards, we relaxed with the girls and ordered their Book-It! pizzas, which they very happily and very proudly enjoyed.

Men at work

2017 Week 4

Sunday, January 22
Today I spent some time going through the bin Mom and Dad brought up on Friday, throwing out bits that had long since lost their meaning, reminiscing through old journals and notes passed between friends in junior high and tuition statements from college. Among all of it, I found a card Mom and Dad had given to me during the awful year that was 6th grade. I remember getting it, and I remember crying because it said exactly what I needed to hear. I felt sad for the girl whose heart had been so broken that her parents even needed to find such a card, and so very lucky and loved that they had.

Monday, January 23

Our usual weekly routine was thrown off by late meetings I had scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, so we went to Pearce today instead. Poor Elaina complained of a headache before we left, and it got worse as the evening progressed. She occupied herself for a bit with a stack of books and cuddles on my lap. Ellie, who usually occupies my lap during all waking moments when she's not playing or eating, got to cuddle with Josh. Thankfully, Elaina was feeling better by bedtime--nothing a little ibuprofen and My Little Pony couldn't cure.

Tuesday, January 24

My meeting, which was scheduled from 3-4, went from 3:15 to about 4:45. Ugh. It was definitely a long day. On the bright side, we had a nice dinner, and afterwards, Josh showed the girls a new My Singing Monsters game on the iPad, which they thought (think) was very enjoyable indeed.

Wednesday, January 25

After having Yuna for about 2.5 years, it seems Winston has finally had enough of his self-sequestering on the other side of the house. He's been sitting tentatively at the gate, so I decided to see how brave he'd become by placing his much beloved wet cat food on the other side. He has decided to be quite brave, indeed. As long as Yuna's on her leash and, as a result, can't express her unbridled joy at the possibility of having a cat to sniff, Winston will come out quite far to enjoy his dinner. This picture sums it up nicely, and amuses me, because Yuna so desperately wants to get to Winston, and he couldn't care less.

Thursday, January 26
This morning we woke to the unexpected (and sadly uncommon this year, and last) sight of snowfall. It wasn't much, and it was gone before lunch, but how nice to see winter actually looking like winter for a change.

Friday, January 27
At the beginning of the year, I made it a point to put a lunch date on Josh's calendar at least once a month, and this month, it happened to coincide with Giles Day--the day we met 12 years ago this year. After running home to grab a couple of forms I forgot to send with the girls to school, we headed off for some sushi. The outing was fairly quick, but any time together is time well spent.

Saturday, January 28
Today we headed to Rockford to celebrate Zechariah's dedication on Sunday. It was a lot of fun, and I'd so been looking forward to the extra time with Rachel and her family and Mom and Dad. The girls clearly took advantage of the extra cousin (and Grandma-spoiling), too.

2017 Week 3

Sunday, January 15
After picking up the girls from their very successful sleepover and getting some groceries, we settled in to a relaxing day at home. The girls got to work on their craft bags, which occupied them while Josh and I watched the football playoffs. Later, they modeled their new goods, which led to quite the fashion show, much to our amusement.

Monday, January 16
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Our company recognizes Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so we were fortunate enough to have the day off as a family. We relaxed a bit in the morning and got in our visit to the gym a day early. When we got home, I decided to tackle a project I've been putting off since March of last year: to see if I could get the bloodstains out of the shirt I was wearing the night Ellie had her accident. It's been sitting in the bottom of our hamper since we got home that night; it was just too hard to deal with it without the memories of that night flooding my brain. But, I'd liked the shirt and only worn it twice, so I decided to see what could be done. (Nothing, as it turns out, but I found the same shirt on sale online and bought it--new shirt with new memories.)  After lunch, we ran to Peoria. The fog was incredibly thick--not see stores from the road thick--but we managed to pick up some pottery Elaina painted at the birthday party she attended a couple of weekend's ago, and to Big Lots to get the girls some new pillows. The girls quite enjoyed an opportunity to test out all of the furniture.

Tuesday, January 17
Today, Ellie got to celebrate her half-birthday at school, which was a pretty big deal. She picked out birthday cake Oreos as a treat and selected her own very festive outfit. When she got home, she found a bow in one of the island drawers, placed it on her head, and declared herself a package for me to open. Josh had dinner with a supplier tonight, so I had a girls' night with the girls--enjoyed a nice dinner, worked through their homework, and played a rousing if not extremely cooperative game of Shopkins Supermarket Shop (or something along those lines).

Wednesday, January 18
Tonight we headed back to the library, which I was happy to do as I finally finished The Wishsong of Shannara and was looking for something new to read. Ellie had some fun in the blocks and declared herself in jail (what her crime was, she never said), while Elaina buried herself in a stack of Mo Willems books. When we got home, I drew a bath for myself, and the cats came in to visit as they often do. Winston was standing on the edge of the tub when Chappu could no longer contain his interest and jumped up as well, knocking a very insulted Winston into the tub. When I finally caught my breath from laughing, I begged Josh to grab the camera and take a few pictures. He got some nice ones of the girls, too.

Thursday, January 19
Today the girls had a dance clinic after school to prepare for their halftime performance at Friday night's basketball game. Josh and I took the opportunity to get in a longer workout and showered at Pearce, and then headed back to the school to watch the girls practice. It was a later night for them, but they really had a lot of fun and were quite excited for the next night.

Friday, January 20
Tonight was the girls' big performance. Mom and Dad made a special trip up for it and brought with them one more bin from my childhood, which was quite entertaining. (They also brought the one thing I had wanted from Gramma's house: a little dog figuring with two little puppies attached to it by a thin chain. I remember playing with it as a child, first while I longed desperately for a dog, and then after we finally got Ivy. I held them and teared up. I miss her so much.) When Josh got home from work, we had dinner and I curled the girls' hair, and then it was time for the game.  They got to enjoy the first quarter, complete with popcorn and candy from Gramma and Pampah, and then went to rehearse one more time. They performed at halftime, and it was, quite simply, adorable. It made for a later night for them, but it was totally worth it.

Saturday, January 21
Today was unusually mild--the high, I think, was near 60. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a bike ride/walk after lunch, and then played outside for a bit. It was so nice that I opened the windows for a bit--something I'm sure won't happen with any regularity for at least another couple of months. I went to my hair appointment and Josh and the girls watched The Lion King and played/grilled, and it was a really great day for everyone.