Couldn't be more perfect....

From a little devotional book my mom brought home from church yesterday:

Father,
sometimes the family
gets me down.

The children are noisy
and bills pile up.
Relatives and friends make demands
on my time and attention.

I try to keep first things first
and create an atmosphere where Your name
is honored, Your word observed.

But I get tired
and a hard edge creeps into my voice.
Help me to cope with the daily strains
of living in a family.

Help me to sustain a climate in which my partner
can grow in Your love,
to encourage my children to develop fully
the talents You have given them
and to make of my family
the community of love
that Your Son came to bring.

Amen.

Brilliance.

After singing "Gitchi Gitchi Goo" like five times in the span of about two minutes on the way home from piano lessons this afternoon, I finally said, "Ack! I can't get this dang earworm out of my head! Maybe if I turn on the radio I'll finally stop thinking about it."

Laughing, Dylan responded from the backseat, "Yeah, but what if you hear a song that just pushes that one out and puts a new one in?"

"Hmmm, maybe you're right..."

"Hey, I know! Why don't you just put it to a Mexican station? If you don't know what they're saying, it probably can't become your ear worm!"

Pure genius, that boy!

I love my mom!

She has totally gotten into the spirit of the Alphabet Path! Tonight for dinner she's making Ravioli, with Raspberry Sherbet for dessert! Haha, I love it! She also picked up ingredients for Rice Krispie treats, but we just didn't have time for those today. Maybe tomorrow! She said she laid awake in bed last night brainstorming fun ideas for "R" week, and this morning she had a frank discussion with my kids about Rules and Respect. (Ummm, yeah, we've had a few behavioral issues lately. Who needs Nanny 911 when we've got Nonny, LOL!) My mom is awesome. I wish she could stay with us forever.

P.S. I'm posting this from my brother's MacBook while he's giving Dylan his piano lesson. I totally want one. (A MacBook, not a piano lesson. Although honestly, both would be nice.) :)

I made a sling!

Okay, this has to be quick because I can hear that my kids are clearly not doing the work I assigned just a minute ago! My mom's out shopping with her mom, though, so I'm flying solo for a little while. ;)

Anyway, I just had to share what I made last night! A pouch style sling! I have two different ring slings that I like well enough, but I wanted to try one of these. I remembered yesterday afternoon that I had this fabric up in the top of my closet and found this awesome tutorial online. I whipped this up in no time and I love it! Yay me! I hope to make another this afternoon. :)

Highlights of Weeks "P" and "Q"!

Pink Princess Pudding Party!

Pizza Math
(We did have a Pizza and Pepsi night, but instead of a family movie, we stayed up to watch the Parade of Nations in the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies!)

Prayers and Pretzels
(Materials for these cute prayer lapbooks included ACTS acronym, "Prayers I Should Know", "More Prayers I Should Know", and praying Boy and Girl coloring pages.)

Painters and Painting

Quartered Quesadillas

Quilts
(We read The Spinner's Gift, The Quiltmaker's Gift, The Keeping Quilt, and The Quilt Story, and made family "quilts" out of card stock squares. I love them!)

Fat Tuesday

Best Valentine's Day ever!

My favorite picture from P week

Waiting...

Father/Daughter Dance

Caitlyn had been looking forward to attending the American Heritage Girls Father/Daughter Dance since first hearing about it last fall! Back then, February seemed so far off, but the night of the big event finally arrived last Saturday! I can't even begin to describe how impossibly sweet I think the whole thing was, so I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves! :)

Along the Alphabet Path: Highlights from "O" week

I feel the need to hurry and post our "O" week before we've finished "P" week, especially since my mom will be here TOMORROW (!!!) and I don't know how frequently I'll be blogging during the month she's here! So, quickly, here's the abbreviated version of what we did:

St. Odilia and Orchis Fairy coloring pages

Oceans
Tuna fish sandwiches and ocean cups, examining our sea shell collection from Nonny!

Fun with Cheerios!
The Cheerios Play Book and Cheerios bracelets!

Owls and Oil Pastels

I think these are the only things I managed to get pictures of. Other topics that week were the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, for which we made Oatmeal Pancakes from our Alpha-Bakery cookbook. Crepes might be more traditional, but I read this in The Catholic Home: "...all Christmas ornaments, decorations, and anything else not taken down on January 6 must be packed away until next year. You can easily offset any reluctance to do this with the promise of a pancake breakfast. Pancakes and crepes are traditionally eaten for Candlemas because of their sunny color and shape." I totally went with the pancakes. :)

We read The Our Father and Hail Mary, and The Owl and the Pussycat, and other assorted storybooks. We had fun with Ocean Math, Ocean word worksheets, and...I guess that's about it. Doesn't look like much now, but it was a fun week!