Seven Actually Quick Takes

1. Birthday Trifecta Week is over. Three birthdays, three parades, three cakes, three birthday dinners.

My feast was the best. Patrick grilled salmon (and Italian sausages because he has that thing about fish) AND he grilled avocados for this Grilled Avocado and Tomato Salad recipe from John Besh. Grilled avocado is a brand new wonderful thing that we are going to eat a lot of this summer.

2.

Edmund won't finish a book because he "doesn't like it."  I told him I finish every book I start.  His response, "You're a geek."  I said to give it to page 100, then decide.

Patrick said, "You're right."  I said, "I know.  You can't tell until page 100 if it's worth it or not."

Patrick said, "No, he's right.  You are a geek."

I get no respect.

3.  Jill adores Polly.  Worships her. And speaks to her in this weirdly deep voice, "Heh behbeh."

Heh Heh beh beh.  Heh Chubs.

Speaking of Polly, she walks. She only takes steps if no one is looking or paying attention to her. She's a baby ninja.

4. Things are gorgeous here.

Breathtaking.

Pulchritudinous.

5.

Last weekend, Lucy changed up our exterior home decor with a spot of paint. Don't you love it? I sure do.

6.

Check out our entry way now! Look at all of those hooks just waiting to be overloaded with jackets and bags.

7. Today is Prom!!!

Today is also the four hour European history test from noon to four so send up a prayer that we can get her hairs done by 11:30am. I fired up my hot rollers for a test drive last night and she's been scouring Pinterest.

Unfortunately, my Irish-dance-wig-putting-on skills are not helping me at all.

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum.

Have a pulchritudinous weekend! 

A Day in the Life at St. Jude's School for Kids Who Want To Read Good and Do Other Things Good Too

For the See Me Homeschool blog hop, I photo-journaled last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, February 18th, 2015. Technically, you don't actually see me homeschool, but you see my homeschool.  I'm the one holding the camera.

The idea behind the blog hop is "a photo album of a typical homeschooling day - no words." I'd love to explain the crazy behind the chaos but I'll just have to leave it up to your imaginations.

There is one cheater photo in the bunch. The picture of Edmund altar serving isn't actually from Ash Wednesday, but he did serve noon mass last week. My hands are pretty full when he serves. Even though I brought my camera last Wednesday, I didn't get the opportunity to use it.

Welcome to St. Jude's!

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Many thanks to Theresa of Ordinary Lovely and Micaela of California to Korea for hosting the See Me Homeschool blog hop and for inviting me to participate. Thank You!

To learn more about our homeschool journey, here is an interview I did for the How I Homeschool blog hop.

To learn more about homeschooling and dyslexia, here are some other posts I've written as part of a series I'm working on:

Catholic, Homeschooling, and Dyslexic: Diagnosis
Catholic, Homeschooling, and Dyslexic: Religion Class

This post is the one where our homeschool was born.

Be sure to check out the other See Me Homeschool participants! Today, you can also check out Erin's homeschool over at Seven Little Australians and Counting.

12 in 2014 - A Photographic Year in Review

I was going to write about each of these photos but what can I say?  

Just listen for the sound of my heart stretching and breaking with each click of the shutter.

January

February 

March

April

May

June

July

 August

 September

October 

November

 December

Linking up with Dwija's 12 in 2014. 

Happy New Year!  

7QT: TGIO!

1.  You know you married the right guy when he busts out his electric guitar to learn the Strawberry Shortcake (Berry Bitty Adventures) theme song.

I cannot even describe the awesomeness.  We had one berry good jam.

2.  I'd like him to learn the theme for Franklin next.  We changed the words to "Hey, it's Polly!"  Maybe Edmund could learn how to play a jaw harp?

3.  Speaking of theme songs, I may have mentioned once or a dozen times that I came up with lyrics for the theme to Monarch of the Glen.

Love that sexy sax.

Problem:  Since they keep changing who the Laird is, I have to change the words fairly often.

4.  My wonder son Peter, who is in Pennsylvania this weekend for a national collegiate level golf tournament, penned words to the theme close to everyone's hearts, Downton Abbey.

"Dog is walking.
Open shutters now.
Bells are ringinging.
The mail is here, the kettle's warm.
Measuring the places.
Petals falling.
Lamps are on.
DUST, dust the chandelier."

5.  YES!  I used up 5 takes on theme songs! #winning

Time for a gratuitous baby pic.

6.

Last night, Lucy and I watched Sense and Sensibility with *swoon* Alan Rickman.

Lucy commented that it was remarkably like the movie, Scents and Sensibility on Netflix.

no words. #fail

7.  I beg to disagree with Mr. T.S. Eliot.  September is the cruelest month.  Maybe October.  There were snow flurries this morning.

Polly will not abide car seats or naps longer than five minutes.

I hear a baby crying in my head when I go to sleep at night.

This season of life is dang hard.  So many people with so many needs.

Sorry blog readers, but I blew off WWRW this week.  I chose to shower, walk the whole brood the whole way to the library, and stop at the playground on the way home.  I let Edmund and Jill play as long as they wanted.

I'd like to promise it won't happen again, but most days are difficult days.  Not a lot of reading is happening and even less blogging.

It's just going to have to be that way for awhile.  I know you'll understand.

Any bloggers wanna take a turn guest hosting WWRW?  Shoot me an email.  Or just leave a comment.

My troubles aren't really troubles.  All these people in my life to love are treasures.  I get that.  But here's to a day when I go to the bathroom and nobody talks to me through the door!

 

Linking up with Jen. A day late.  That's how it's gotta be.

7QT: All the things.

1.  Important Business First.

2.  I've been re-arranging furniture.  (translation:  If you feel you have no control over anything in your life, at least you can control the furniture.  Until your spouse gets home.)

We need more seating in our living room.  See quick take #7 below.

I'm thinking about this piece from Target. The size perfectly fits the tiny space I have left. Unfortunately, it has a rather restricted weight limit so Patrick and I could not sit on there together.

Also, unlike most of my furniture, it is not brown.

Brown hides dirt, chocolate, coffee, and daily dinge.  Downside:  brown is boring.

I'm also in love with this rug from LL Bean. But honestly.  Can you put a Christmas tree on an orange rug?  I thought not.

 Of course, it is available in navy.

In the perfect version of my life, I only buy furniture from LL Bean because everything is guaranteed for life and my home looks like a beach cottage in Maine.

3.

Am I the only one that missed when JULIAN FELLOWES made a Titanic two years ago for the 100th anniversary of the historic event?!?

Just in case you were starting to doubt the "There are only 80 British actors total" Theory, may I point out that Clara, current Dr. Who companion, is a stewardess on board Titanic.

Edmund is currently obsessed with shipwrecks, specifically the Titanic.  I see this as a sign that we need to go back to Cali to visit the Queen Mary again.

I also raided our library system for any and all Titanic related material.  (We did NOT watch the Leo DiCaprio/Cate Winslet film.  If we do, it will only be to see the amazing re-created footage of the ship's actual descent underwater.  The best part of the movie in my opinion.)

The reviews of the Julian Fellowes version are varied, but we enjoyed it.  By and large, it's family friendly.  One wicked mother of six exchanges glances and a kiss with ... no spoilers here.

Julian (yes, we are that close) does a remarkable job highlighting the plight of Catholics at that time, in the creation of the ship as well as on board.  The portrayal of class differences is eye-opening.  The snubs the aristocracy give each other are almost comical.

All of the details that I find captivating about the Titanic travesty are given due: the lost binoculars, the treatment of steerage passengers, the cowards, the heroes, the cluster of mistakes made in the creation of the ship, the myriad of bizarre conditions the night of April 15, 1912.

At this time, the Julian Fellowes Titanic mini-series is not available on Amazon Instant Video or Netflix, but the DVDs are available on Amazon Prime for only $5.38.

(I do use affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.)

4.  Do you rotate toys?  If so, how?

We have far too many toys in our home.  Books too for that matter.  I pitch or donate the junk, but I still have more than we can store neatly.

This is just a tiny fraction of what we have.

I have this one cabinet that I would like to imagine could contain all of the toys. But as more birthdays and Christmases keep happening to Jill, and Polly has a good size basket of her own things, I am fighting a losing battle.

5.  Our garden is STILL flourishing!  I am still harvesting about 6-10 tomatoes a day.  They are small plum tomatoes, which are perfect for Marinara Sauce.

Patrick based his sauce off Martha's recipe.  He can't follow a recipe. His creative genius just takes over.  He added fresh basil and I forgot to put it through a food mill.

It was still most excellent. And I am not a fan of red sauce.

6.

St. Jude's School for Kids Who Want to Read Good and Do Other Things Good is chugging right along.

I am THRILLED that I took Charlotte's advice and bought the Teaching Tapes for Saxon math.

Edmund was thisclose to testing into an advanced grade level but I chose to under-challenge him and build confidence, rather than over-challenge him and create frustration.

He watches these terribly made dvds of the sweetest woman with a Southern drawl explaining the day's lesson, and whips through it.

THEN he re-creates the dvd lesson on our whiteboard HIMSELF with problems of his own creation! FOR FUN!

We are also delighted with Andrew Pudewa's Student Writing Intensive on dvd.

Edmund finds the topics (Sea Snakes, Desert Tarantulas, etc.) so completely fascinating that he looks forward to the writing lessons.

7.

As you know, it's Friday, and these are the 7 quick takes that I always link up with Jen Fulwiler, because she's good at this blogging gig.  (shudder.  "Gig" is one of those words that makes me cringe.)

Jen has really good stuff to say today, particularly on entertaining.

Hospitality is a virtue, something that comes naturally to some, and must be worked towards for others.  I've found that entertaining for me is often always an act of humility, because my house isn't the way I want it.

But it's not my will that matters here, and that's the rub.

Go read Jen.  She gives hope to those who suffer from inferior home issues.