A Week in My Life 2014 -- Sunday

A bit late, but I did it! It's my last day joining Team Whitaker for a peek into our day-to-day lives. It's also the first time I've successfully completed 7 blog posts in 7 days! Yay!

Previously: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Wake-ups:
Pager - 2 (or was it 3?)
Peter - 3
Clare - 0

Morning:

Snow my gosh, y'all. We woke up with a mere dusting of snow, but it was still falling and we ended up with a couple inches by lunch time. It was, however, the most magical morning! I don't even know where to begin.

Peter, of course, had never seen snow, because of the whole "infant" thing. But Clare. Clare had only seen old, icy, icky snow that had been hanging around for a few days. She'd never played in fresh snow. She'd never woken up to the magical beauty of pristine snow on the ground. So when she woke up Sunday morning, I had her look out the window. "There's snow everywhere! I will wear and and mittens and I will kiss it!"

She was so excited to get outside that she couldn't wait for breakfast. Or for me to finish my coffee. She could barely stand to wait long enough to get everyone bundled up. There still wasn't much snow and it was still coming down, but they didn't last outside very long. I was telling Clare to catch snow flakes on her tongue, but she didn't think that was as great as it is.

Peter was unimpressed.

So we came in and watched it snow, had breakfast and got Peter down for a nap. By now, it has pretty much stopped, so I begged Clare to get bundled up again so that I could get some better pictures. This time, she had so.much.fun. Running and "digging"  and just experiencing ankle-deep snow.

Delighted

When we came inside, I busted out the big gun I'd been trying to save for the first snowfall, but had decided was happening yesterday regardless -- Clare's first hot chocolate. She is not a sweet beverage drinker (milk and water are all she'll drink), so I didn't think she'd be a big fan, but I wanted her to experience it anyway. As she saw me stirring (when I found out how easy it is to make this summer, I swore off the packets), she, of course, pulled her chair over. "I'll help! I'll help!"

She needed a spoon in her cup, and I asked her to choose a place to sit -- a real chair was too low, so she acquiesced to the booster seat. In the end, she hardly drank more than a few sips. I don't know if it was the sweetness or whether she was scared of it being "hot" (even though hers was lukewarm), but I wasn't surprised. My heart was warmed watching her enjoy the experience!

I know I talk about it a lot, but I feel such joy watching my kids experience the magic of simple things we take for granted, experience the beauty of life. I am so blessed by them, because they help me see the extraordinary in the ordinary, and so bring me closer to God.

I'm pretty proud of that pic with the mug, to be honest.

By then, Peter was awake, so I fed him. I turned on Super Why and decided that since the sun was shining and the kids were happy, I was going to tackle shoveling the driveway. I had never shoveled so much as a flake of snow, so there was a bit of trial and error and learning how heavy that light, fluffy, snow really is. My job wasn't perfect and my shoulder started aching almost immediately, but I did it! I shoveled the driveway! I was truly proud of myself for getting out there and doing it.

With some afternoon sun, it ended up totally cleared off.

Afternoon:

After the excitement of the morning, we needed a quiet afternoon. Clare had lunch and went down for a nap. I ate and took a much desired (and deserved) long, hot shower. We played and hung out until it was time to get ready to head to church for a meeting.

Sharing Cheerios

Charles and I are going to be Confirmation teachers this winter/spring. We are so excited. Kids are confirmed their sophomore year of high school here. I'm excited to work with teens again, but in a different setting. I'm excited to get involved in the parish, get to know even more people. We're excited to help with Confirmation, just because it is a big deal. So, there was a meeting last night for that.

Knowing Charles was going to miss the meeting, I had dinner in the crock pot and got the kids ready and headed out.

Evening:

Gah! The meeting portion of our evening was not the best. I had received an email telling us that we would begin with evening prayer in the church, but I missed the "evening" part of the email. So I didn't show up with my breviary, and instead was fumbling through Shorter Christian Prayer, which I'm not familiar with at all. Plus, I was wrestling two kids all the while, so made silly mistakes all through, because I am so out of practice with the Liturgy of the Hours these days.

Then, while the kids were as good as could be expected during the meeting (I let Clare watch a show on my phone, so that certainly helped.), the meeting was a total waste of time. It ended up being a meeting to discuss things and prepare for another meeting we'll have in a couple of weeks. UGGG!! Meetings about meetings are a pet peeve, especially in the day and age of email. We could have conveyed all the same info via email. Or we could have gotten started on the business of the 2nd meeting at the first. It just felt like a waste of time to bundle and drag two kids around solo for a meeting about a meeting. Bah humbug!

Made it home!

That got us home about 6:15, just in time to bustle around with the usual rush of dinner, baths, jammies, waiting for Charles. He got home about 8, which sounds late, but was so, so exciting, given the amount of work he had to do yesterday. And, as of 6 this morning, his medicine rotation is done, done, done. He has another in a few months, but we're a one thing at a time family right now, and that thing is history! Woo hoo!

We ended up letting Clare stay up way too late and eat Peter's puffs while we were talking -- it was like, now that Medicine was over, we could catch up on everything we hadn't talked about with the craziness of the last few weeks. Once she was in bed, we ate and watched some TV and went to bed later than usual, knowing we could "sleep in" today.  It was the perfect end to the week, and to the rotation.

Take Aways: Committing to blogging first thing in the morning is the best time to make it happen. The kids are most cooperative at letting me type, in part because I usually allow a show or two during that time. Naps are so often full of other stuff and evenings are busy until they aren't, but when they aren't, Charles and I like to spend the time together, even if we're just watching TV.

I feel so lucky to be able to stay home with my kids. I love our time together, even when they make me batty. I love seeing them interact. I love seeing them experience things. I love how much I get to snuggle with them and play with them and be with them.

I really am starting to feel at home here in Wichita. I know people. I have a routine. We love our parish. Even though I had doubts about it in the beginning, God answered our prayers for a real parish home. We can handle a little snow, especially if there is hot chocolate involved.

Thank you, Kathryn, for encouraging us bloggers to do this. I think I will treasure this little memory book for a long time to come and look forward to doing it again next year! :-)