This week has found us blessed with an ordinary life. Our daily routine has settled in after all the madness of holidays and houseguests. Nat began his semester this week and our weekdays are once again fully booked. In the moments between work and school, piano and choir and gymnastics, I've been making a valiant attempt to be aware and present and create a wholesome, clean, healthy environment for my family. I'm going to show you the highlights here.
Note: I did not photograph the trips to McDonald's, the copious amounts of time my son played Minecraft, or the high number of meltdowns my tempermental daughter had this week. Just so you know.
Fun with Cardboard!
A new washing machine in December and a new dishwasher this past weekend means not only a more hygienic household :) but also a lot of large boxes.
Here are the kids on a particularly wholesome evening, building a city for their hotwheels after helping to make homemade chicken nuggets for dinner.
Every once in a while I feel like I'm doing it right.
Of course, shortly after this photo was taken, both children were in their rooms in tears because of an altercation involving a nest of cardboard bricks and pretend eggs.
Weekday evenings. They're so great...
Anyways...
Snowy weather...
Despite the thaw that arrive this morning...this week! the snow!
It's been my favorite kind of winter. Cold but not too cold, a lovely blanket of white, just enough fresh fall each day to keep the branches and rooftops dusted with white but not enough to cover the roads. Glorious sunrises on the way to work, pinks and lavenders shining through the bare trees. The days are getting long enough to enjoy again..
Yesterday the kids and I had a "screen -free" morning, while Nat was off replacing toilets in Bedford. (I'm really trying here with the wholesomeness thing). By ten a.m. I wasn't sure that I had the better deal.. So I took the kids to the park. We thought we might build a snow fort but the temperatures were still a bit too low...
Snowballs worked fine, though!
As did the "dens" we found in the little woods, where Ivy happily pretended to be a lion (yes, she's wearing lion mask...) and Jack created a snowball stash.
Corydon bounced and barked with joy and we played together for almost an hour there in the field, nothing to entertain us but snow and bare branches and these awesome giant hollow stalks of something, which made terrific magic wands/ swords for a while..
Today: Art museum! Can't beat this place. We had such fun in the play room today, actually getting down on the floor and building with the kids, who were totally engaged in their creations and their time with us.
Ivy and I adventured up to Gallery 301, her favorite place, where I got to recount the stories of David and Goliath, Andromeda, and the martyrdom of St. Joseph for her. Ever notice that most sculptures seem to be of horrible, gory events that really aren't appropriate for 4 year old ears??
Cookies and coffee in the atrium to make the day last a little longer, and then we headed home to recharge before attending Bread and Soup, an annual tradition at the home of some friends.
Nat and I were so inspired by the joy of simple play at the Art museum that we spent our hour cleaning and culling in our playroom. We weren't able to enlarge it to the size of a small house or raise the ceilings to the soaring 15 feet of spaciousness we enjoyed at the museum, but I think we made some real headway. We have great plans to rotate in a variety of simple, wholesome, inspiring toys to use in the newly open floor space.
Who knows, it might even work this time...!
I mean, we even made homemade chicken nuggets again tonight! Its a whole(some) new year, baby...
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