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I am trying something new today. Every week I look forward to reading Annabel's Friday post at The Bluebirds are Nesting on the Farm. She writes about all of the things she accomplished during the week and it is a lot of fun to follow along. I'd like to do something similar, except I am in a stage of life where I mostly take care of small children and I don't accomplish a lot. Another blogger I really enjoy, Barbara at Stray Thoughts, does Friday's Fave Five where every Friday she writes about five things she enjoyed or was thankful for from the previous week. I think I could do that. I'm not making any promises, but I'll try.
1. Walking to Lulu's
Christopher had to take Monday off because he was scheduled to work Saturday. So while he was home on Monday morning we all walked to Lulu's Bread and Bagels, a bakery/coffee shop right next to our neighborhood. I carried Eric on my back in the Ergo carrier and Christopher pushed Julian in the stroller. We had a little bit of a bumpy start. A couple of little people pitched fits about one thing or another and then we had to walk back half a street when we finally realized Eric's hat had fallen off and been left behind. As we watched, a police car driving through the neighborhood swerved to avoid running over it! But once we got going, we had a very nice walk. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the temperature was between 40 and 50 degrees. Perfect for walking. At Lulu's we all enjoyed a bagel and cream cheese and I got a marshmallow latte. For some reason no one else wanted a latte...
2. Read alouds
As part of Micah's reading curriculum I'm supposed to read aloud to him for twenty minutes a day. I don't manage that every day. Lately, though, as Eric's been sleeping better, I've tried to make more of an effort. We just finished the Usborne Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare, which we both enjoyed. Even Silas got interested and came over while we were reading Romeo and Juliet. At the end he said, "They were never alive again?"
"Nope." I said. I actually thought what he said was kind of profound. He had captured the essence of this great tragedy: the irrevocability of Romeo and Juliet's final decisions.
Next we started Wisdom and the Millers, which I remember reading when I was a kid. It's a storybook with Bible verses from Proverbs. We've all been enjoying that one too.
3. Strawberry wreath
Last year on Mother's Day my mom gave me a beautiful strawberry wreath. She had crocheted the strawberries, blossoms, and leaves, then glued them to a small grapevine wreath. I put it away last year before Eric was born, while I was fall cleaning. Yesterday I got it out again and hung it on the dining room wall, which faces into the kitchen. For some reason, every time I look at it I start humming "These are a few of my favorite things" from The Sound of Music.
I love anything strawberry themed for my kitchen.
4. Tiny books
Something else my mom gave me: a Zuru surprise ball with miniature books. That was on Wednesday. They were a lot of fun. Micah and Julian, especially, were charmed with them. So much so, that I took my favorite, a tiny copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to make myself a bookmark by attaching a green ribbon, but ended up letting them have the other two. (Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Babysitter's Club.)
That night Julian was lying in bed loudly singing a nonsense song he made up. I went in and told him it was time to be quiet and go to sleep now. "Mo-om! I'm dist twying to sing my song," he complained. He was holding up the little book, apparently using it as a song book. Cute!
5. Going out to dinner
We don't often eat out twice in the same week, even if one of those times was just bagels and cream cheese. On Thursday night Christopher said he thought I needed a little break, so we went out for hamburgers at C&Js. That was a fun treat. I'm not sure if my favorite part is the burger and fries or having a break from dishes.
The short version of why Mom needed a break has to do with Potty Training Take 2 is a bust. I gave up again. I put the little potty away in the laundry room. Okay, I threw the little potty into the laundry room where it happened to land on the shelf with a big crash.
Whenever I have an especially bad day Christopher offers to take us out to C&Js. The thing is, it usually does make me feel better. And thankfully our Spiderman Pull-up-wearing toddler and I had a much better day today. I'll let you know how Potty Training III goes in a few months.
