{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

A day late and a dollar short, I'm sure, but here is this week's PHFR.

{Pretty}

This girl:

{Happy}

Spending a little one-on-one time with the sweetest boy in the world, while the babies are both napping at the same time!

Also, cooking with cast iron.  This makes me really happy!  I've been wanting to do it for ages, but was a not exactly clear on the whole seasoning and cleaning and caring for the pan.  Turns out, just leaving it on the stove and using it pretty much any time you need a pan works pretty well.

{Funny}

A self-portrait of Bluejay, discovered when downloading my camera's memory card for this post.

{Real}

I don't have a picture for this one, but this week's real is that the husband and I went on a date tonight!  An actual, real date, yes sir.  It was very nice, relaxing, quiet, fun.  Just what we needed.  You would never have known it was a Friday night, although granted, we arrived at the restaurant at the hopping hour of 6 pm.  Husband was a bit under the weather and I was just starting to think that perhaps rather than go out we should park the van somewhere and take a long nap, but we braved our tiredness and it was so worth it.  We even spent a few minutes in a used bookstore after dinner, browsing for wonderful children's books.  

Ok, so just a quick pop up onto one of my soapboxes:  There are SO MANY wonderful, timeless children's books that are out of print now, and yet you can find myriads of mediocre, humdrum, even really quite bad children's books coming out every year.  What is the deal?  Why can't some publisher read the Amazon reviews of some of these delightful books, and find a way to get them back into print?  I am so incredibly grateful for the children's library my parents amassed and held onto, so that I can still share these stories with my babes.  And, I'm done.  For now.  We need to go finish our date with some dessert, tea, and maybe a little Netflix.

Wish I could have met up with the lovely ladies of LMLD this week like one of my favorite bloggers.  :-) 

Random Thoughts

Whenever I am making something in the kitchen (usually tea), Bluejay comes up, watches me silently for a moment, and then says hint-ily "I love tea" (or whatever it is I'm making).  How can you resist that?  He always gets some tea.  


Chickadee seems to be seriously trying to talk.  Maybe Bluejay was at this age too, and I was not swift enough to really notice it.  In any case, she is generally very clear on what she wants, and lately, usually it's Daddy and the Baby Bjorn.  She loves that thing.  She is really too big for it.  But, she loves it so much and it's so worn out, that there's no point in retiring it until it falls apart.  She'll see Daddy, then crawl over to the closet where it's kept and tries to pull it out.  


I am so encouraged to get comments here already, and from some lovely bloggers!  I feel like I'm going to be part of a wonderful club.  You don't know how much it makes my day to see a comment from one of you.


Alas, we did not make it to Vespers today.  I got Chickadee's stomach flu and stayed in bed most of the day yesterday.  We spent today as kind of a recovery day.  Also, the littlest one does not do very well in the car seat after it gets dark.  I've tried leaving the light on back there, talking to her, giving her favorite toys/books/snacks.  She's fine in the daytime, but not at night. And since my husband works on Saturdays, he usually meets us at church, which means we're driving separate cars on the way back, and I can't sit with her.  So, I admit that sometimes I'm a bit discouraged about the evening services.  I will be glad when it's light later!


Here are a few pictures of my dears reading.  In the second one, Bluejay is trying to show his book to the camera!

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday tomorrow!

My first {Pretty Happy Funny Real}

http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/2012/01/pretty-happy-funny-real.html

I am loving all these "firsts".  I've been reading LMLD's PHFR for ages, and that's how I got introduced to so many of my favorite blogs.  First a disclaimer:  I am NOT the photographer in the house, that is the wonderful husband. But, I'm slowly learning.  So here goes:

{Pretty}

My mom gave me all these old table runners, doilies and various other cloths that she's had forever.  Some were made by my grandmothers.  I was going to give them all away, but they were pressed so nicely and placed in tissue paper.  Before Christmas, I felt like the house was a bit blah.  So, I started putting them out in a few places.  Wonderfully, this has encouraged me to keep piles from forming on said places.  One of my favorites is the baby's dresser.

{Happy}

It started raining!  I love the rain and we have gone a long long time without it.  Hopefully this is just the start of the storm.

{Funny}

As soon as you create a little order out of the chaos, that place becomes the most desirable place to play!  Once, my sister and I straightened up the pantry in my mom's house.  It really did look pretty.  And sure enough, I found my little brother hanging out in there.  Current case in point - Aaron and I just organized all of the baby books and the toddler books, and put them neatly on the shelves.  Here it is a few hours later:

{Real}

The baby has the stomach flu.  This is the second time in a month!  Poor little Chickadee.  I can't stand it when my little ones are sick.  Hopefully Bluejay doesn't catch it.

My First Daybook

Outside my window...

We are waiting for... RAIN!!  It has been one dry winter here, and we are all a little parched. Bring on the torrential downpour!

I am thankful for...

My husband.  He is working so hard to take care of our family right now.

I am thinking about...

A muy muy delicious-looking cake from a Julia Child episode I just caught on PBS.  Of course I did not see the whole episode, just the completion of this marvelous cake with a chocolate coating and raspberries... perhaps I can Google it?  And make it in that magical 30 minutes between the time the children fall asleep and the time one of them wakes up?  Ha.

Learning all the time...

How to use Blogger.  I know very little about posting.  I hope I can figure out all the options, how to post links, books and references.  I also hope that, if I do get any followers to this blog, you will bear with me while I work out the kinks.

I am creating...

A homemaking lifestyle.  Although I have desired this forever, this is new for me. I've been a stay-at-home wife and mother for 10 months now, ever since Chickadee was born, but I think I only really realized and embraced this in the last few months, when it became clear that I wouldn't be going back to work for some time.  Which is WONDERFUL BEYOND WORDS!!  I want to shout it from the rooftops.  But, there is a lot of creating in process.


From the kitchen...

Chicken and dumplings.  My first try, last week, was delicious.  I tried it again this week but with different dumplings, and it was not quite as perfect.  Yummy, but without that nice gravy quality.  I'm always a little averse to cornstarch, and don't have arrowroot in the house at the moment; it was too late to thicken with flour and we had guests, since our priest and his wife had come for our house blessing and stayed for dinner.  Need to figure out how I made the dumplings last week and write it down.


Also - a new batch of baby food:  kale and pear, which even I thought was delicious, and peas, which I have never managed to like, but which was a big hit with Chickadee and with the little baby I'm also taking care of, we'll call him Laddie.  

I am working on...
Friendships.  They are wonderful, and deserve a little tender, loving care.  So, dinner with a very old friend whom I haven't seen in more than ten years (she lives in Alaska) is on the calendar this week.  A friend and I are throwing a baby shower for a new friend from church in a few weeks, I'm really looking forward to that.  And... I will be seeing my sisters-in-law in just a month or so!  Ok, they are family, but they are friends too, and I'm pretty excited to spend a little girl time with them.

I am going...
To try to go to Vespers every Saturday for the rest of this month.  It always makes our week more lovely.


I am hoping...
To finish this, my first blog post, and to be able to keep up with this fairly regularly.  I have already been interrupted in the range of 15-20 times during the writing of this, but it's all been to do joyful little things like feed the baby (those yummy peas), put Bluejay down for a nap (he goes to sleep all by himself, it is a thing of beauty) and find the diaper cream.

I am reading...
Man of God - Saint John of Shanghai & San Francisco.  Here is where I need to figure out how to post those linky things and send you right over to Amazon.

I am praying for...
My husband's job.

I am hearing...
Chickadee bouncing up and down in Laddie's car seat.  It's new, sitting here in the living room waiting for me to install it in my van, so we don't need to be housebound even though I'm taking care of another baby for a few months.  So, it's quite the novelty, plus it has that nifty cow pattern on it.  I love all things cow!

One of my favorite things...
Panettone with chocolate in it, and coffee!!  Oh it is so yummy.  Moist and soft and chewy and delicious with a nice strong sip of coffee to go along with it.  Alas, I am once again trying not to drink much coffee.  It makes me feel dehydrated and probably a little stressed.  Tea is better.  I guess.  But I miss you, coffee.  Why do you make me so happy?

A few plans for the rest of the week...
Laddie tomorrow and Friday morning.  Dinner with a friend and my dad on Friday night.  A nice quiet Saturday, maybe I'll take Bluejay and Chickadee to the park!  


Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Hopefully we will not need to water this guy for a little while.

thesimplewomansdaybook