An update

We have been rather busy here on our house hold. Hubby just finished up his first semester in seminary. All in all it was a good semester.

We will be leaving for Arizona in a few days and I am busy trying to prepare for the trip. I still need to finish up cleaning house and laundry. Then on to packing.

Tommorrow is hubby's birthday. We will celebrate with a cake and gifts. He plans on attending liturgy tommorrow morning at the monestary.

Pic pic and I wrapped up homeschooling last week. She is doing well at reading and loves to do school. We plan on taking a break until seminary starts next semester.

Dan Dan is healing after having had staples. Ironically we were at Urgent Care with Ice Man when she fell and split the back of her head. She need three staples. She did well through the whole ordeal. She had some complications getting one of the staples out but was a trooper.

Ice Man is into everything. We are having a hard time keeping him away from the Christmas tree. He is starting to form more words now instead of just babbling.

I am rereading Father Arseny Cloud Of Witness. I have forgotten how much I enjoy this book.  It is such a gem.

Our week thus far and other ramblings

This week hubby has off from school so its been rather nice having him home. We started of the week with Hubby's names day and Dan Dan's birthday. We started the day by attending Liturgy and then helped bake bread for the church. Afterwards we came home and had a nice little party for the birthday girl who turned three. The start of the day:

By the end of the day:

The rest of the week we have been attempting to get caught up on laundry and housework. After this week we have three weeks left before we leave for our trip to Arizona. Our family was gracious enough to all contribute for our plane tickets. We are looking forward to spending time with both our church family and biological family.  I have vowed not to over pack for this trip as I tend to do. We will be staying with family so we will have a washer and dryer at our disposal.

We started our Thanksgiving cooking today and will just have mainly the turkey to cook tomorrow. We will be spending it here at home and look forward to a nice time together. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

I have been thinking lately about the role of how to better manage my time at home and get everthing accomplished on my long to do list. When I was working, it was often about being able to multi-task and keeping multiple projects going at one time. Being home, I have not been successful at multitasking. Having little ones I often start something and don't return to it until the next day where often times I have to start over or forgot what I was doing to begin with (ie laundry, etc). I think the best approach for me is to choose one thing to concentrate on per day and if I am able to accomplish it, that's a good day. Depending on the day it may just be tidying the house, other days it may be a more involved project like updating my homemaking binder. I am going to try to use this approach with other areas as well, like reading. I am finding I do not do well reading multiple books at one time. So for now, I am going to try and stick with reading the Bible daily and one other book, rotating between a spiritual book and a fiction or homemaking/homeschooling book. It's amazing to me to find that as much as my children are growing I am also growing.

A couple weeks ago we took pictures at the seminary. I thought I share a few. I love the girls faces:

This would have been a good one if I wasn't leaning:

Some Others:

And of course hubby:

Cider Mill Trip

The seminary organized a trip to a local cider mill. It was rather chilly out but a nice time was had by all.

The kids had a good time seeing the goats and rabbits in the petting zoo. We had a fun  muddy time going through the corn maze as a family. But the girls favorite part was riding the horses.

We attempted to take pictures but realized our camera battery was dead when we tried to snap our first picture. Here are a few fuzzy pictures from my phone and one a seminarian was kind enough to take with his camera.

Absence

First please forgive me for my absence. I have been all over the place with my thoughts not knowing if I was coming or going and have neglected this blog.

I am still trying to find a rhythm to our days. I realized that with three young kids are days are going to be disruptive and each day may be completely opposite from the next. I pray for patience and to embrace this stage while my kids are still young.

My mom was here for a couple months and then was frightened away by our first snow storm. After my mom left I realized how nice it was having an extra pair of eyes and hands her to help out. I am not sure if I mentioned before that I am watching another seminarian's daughter who is the same age as Ice Man. So extra eyes and hands were defianetly helpful.

I have had a cold that I can't seem to get rid of. It's been about a month and just varies in intensity. The kids also have come down with the sniffles so we will be drinking lots of tea.

Pic Pic and has enjoyed going to the homeschool co-op at the seminary and counts down the days. We have been working away here at home as well. She really enjoys her reading lessons and is eager to learn to read.

Dan Dan she is a little character. She will be three in a week and it seems as though those three years flew by. She loves to comment after communion either saying "Yummy in my Tummy" and "That was so good".

Ice Man is defianetly all boy. I remember people commenting how much more difficult boys are when they are young. I am starting to see what they were talking about. Ice Man is fearless. He climbs on everything including the dining table. His vocabulary and comprehension is starting to increase. He has been a little slower at progressing than his sisters. I think some if it may attest to him being born at exactly 37 weeks. Instead of grunting at me for my attention he now consistently says Ma. He is checking his head no often when asking him questions. He crosses him self by pointing to his chest. Anytime he hears music he stops to dance.

Hubby is doing well. He has been pretty busy this semester and looking forward to the long winter break. God willing we will be going back to AZ for part of the break.

The Art of Self Care

I just read this post and thought I would share my list of items to feel refreshed.

1. Attend a church service without children.

2. When I start feeling really restless stop whatever I maybe doing and pray.

3. Tidy the home before bed.

4. Enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning while it is still relatively quite.

5. Enjoy a good book.

6. Drink more water and take daily vitamins.

7. Live in the moment.

This will be a good reminder for those times, all to often, that I start to feel broken down.

Refreshed

Today hubby and I celebrated our anniversary. We were able to attend vespers at the monestary without the children. Throughout service I could slowly feel the weight of motherhood being lifted off my shoulders. I find it amazing the impact services in a monastic setting can have on a person. They are so refreshing. I mentioned to hubby that what I felt may be easily compared to how one feels after a massage but so much better than a massage.  Glory to God we are here near the monestary. Hubby also offered to watch the children so I can make a weekly service without the children. He is a great hubby I couldn't ask for anyone better. Many years!

The Steelers

Watch "Troy Polamalu at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum" on YouTube

My sister was a huge Steelers fan. We all knew it was to drive my brother crazy since he is a Cowboy fan. I have now carried on the legacy and am a Steelers fan especially since they have Troy Polamalu and we live in PA now.