Category: visiting w/visiting teachee

Undone by being binky-free

Today started out strong, really. I deep cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, played with my kids, read to my kids, worked on reading with Lydia…and then came nap time. Mary is learning to sleep without her binky, so today nap time was severely truncated.

In its absence, I developed a pounding headache and by the end of the day I was in bed watching this (can you believe that the audience hissed at the premier?! This concerto–in its original 2 piano version– has been the equivalent of my musical comfort food since elementary school. I just can’t imagine a sound aesthetic where this seemed musically deviant!) while Abe tried to entertain the kids on speaker phone during his commute.

I had great plans to get all of my homework done today, but that will have to wait.

Here are today’s pictures:

Grandma, Mary played with those bugaboos you gave her all day. We literally played with them for an hour straight, and that was after she spent the whole morning wearing them around her neck.
Grandma, Mary played with those bugaboos you gave her a ton today. We literally played with them for an hour straight (all I did for 60 minutes was take them apart and put them back together again and again), and that was after she spent the whole morning wearing them around her neck.
Lydia wore her tutu today.
Lydia wore her tutu today.

The rest of the pictures are from FHE tonight, wherein Abe put on another puppet show about sharing. Per my request, he also threw in a skit about staying in your seat until you’re done eating. Grandma, do you recognize some of those puppets?

IMG_6309 IMG_6311 IMG_6314 IMG_6317

Abe got great feedback at work today and great feedback on the sermon he wrote for Jon and Shirley. It’s truly beautiful. If they allow me, I’ll post it after their wedding in May.

To bed, to bed.

Nearing the end of Bliss

Having Abe home for the past three weeks has been glorious. To be perfectly frank, I am terrified about what next week will bring. It would all be easier if I weren’t in cooking school, but I just have to remember that Abe and I both feel extremely good about that decision. I keep going back to those assurances, because starting Monday Abe starts his new job and we will not see each other much for the next four months. I have class three nights a week, and the other two nights Abe will work late. Pity party at my house!

Aside from feeling terrified that our blissful vacation is drawing to an end, today was pretty good. Abe, who is turning 30 this month, even went outside to work on the snow fort…by himself. Lydia refused to go because she didn’t want to get cold, and Mary was napping. Here’s the fruit of his hard work:

snow fortHe still says it has a long way to go. When he will find time for the going, I don’t know. But doesn’t it look great? Can you imagine the size this would be if we had the weather currently affecting the Midwest?

I got some fun time in with my children, some cooking, some piano, and now I’m about to don headphones while Abe and I snuggle up to watch our separate movies. He’s going to watch training videos for work while I watch youtube piano videos. Super romantic, I know.

Here are today’s pictures:

Okay, Lydia and I did a lot of stuff together today, but she ALSO did a lot of this. Daniel Tiger is her friend.
Okay, Lydia and I played the piano together, read a ton of books, stamped and crafted postcards for her cat, talked on the phone to my mom and Grandma, and yet…there were still somehow many hours left in the day to kill.  These no-nap days are craaazy!! Needless to say, she spent a couple hours with Daniel the tiger, too.
My house is a mess. Instead of cleaning it, I took a picture and ran to the piano to get more practice in before 9 pm hit.
My house is a mess. Instead of cleaning it, I took a picture and ran to the piano to get more practice in before 9 pm hit.
Since I had all the ingredients on hand, dinner tonight was free. I just braised some cabbage and onion and layered that with some leftover spelt bread (frozen since Christmas) and some cheese I bought a week ago. I drenched it in broth and baked for 30 min. Loosely based on a recipe I read a couple days ago, and I think it was yummy.
Since I had all the ingredients on hand, dinner tonight was free. (And by that I mean it didn’t come out of this week’s budget. Ain’t no free lunch in real life.) I just braised some cabbage and onion and layered that with some leftover spelt bread (frozen since Christmas) and some cheese I bought a week ago. I drenched it in broth and baked for 30 min. Loosely based on a recipe I read a couple days ago, and I think it was yummy.
Mary in her high chair. These times of day make us all so, so fussy.
Mary in her high chair. These times of day make us all so, so fussy.
Since Mary had trouble getting to sleep last night, we fed her second dinner to her a little later today. She is a fan of ramen...and, we found out today, milk! She drank a TON of milk tonight. I've only been giving the girls water because I don't like milk, but I guess it turns out their preferences differ from mine.
Since Mary had trouble getting to sleep last night, we fed her second dinner to her a little later today. She is a fan of ramen…and, we found out today, milk! She drank a TON of milk tonight. I’ve only been giving the girls water because I don’t like milk, but I guess it turns out their preferences differ from mine.