Weekly Wrap-Up: We Lost Our Groove

Last Sunday, Grandma took the girls to an American Girl Valentine Tea Party.  They had a blast.  The girls were encouraged to dress their dolls to match them, if possible.  Our girls have dresses with matching doll dresses that Grandma got them before Christmas.  (She actually made Katie's doll's dress to match Katie's dress as best she could.  Turned out great!)  Earlier in the week, Emily fussed over wearing a dress, but by Saturday night, she had it all laid out and was excited to go.  They ate, made a craft, had their pictures taken, and played American Girl trivia.  Since I wasn't there, I don't have any pictures to share, except for the ones they had taken at the tea party.

 

Even though Katie had pink eye all week, we still managed to have some good days.  We missed our Valentine party at co-op since Katie was sick.  But we had our own party at home to make up for it.  The tea party inspired the girls to involve their dolls in the making of a special treat to show our love for Daddy.

Emily made sure that the dolls had everything they needed for baking too!

The doll looked so cute, all ready to bake, that I couldn't resist taking a portrait of her!

Aren't they cute?!!

Valentine's Day without a special treat for Daddy just wouldn't be right.  So we got started...

Yes, I let Katie help even though she had the very contagious pink eye.  I figured that once the treat went into the oven, all germs would be killed, and I made sure that she washed her hands and didn't lick her fingers!

Emily loves meauring brown sugar...

The saddness felt over missing the Valentine party at co-op was lost in all this measuring and mixing...

 We decided on making a big heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie.  I took this photo before baking it just in case it lost shape while baking...

We had just enough dough left for the girls to make a smaller cookie, yet still over-sized, for them to share after lunch!  They were so kind to give Mommy a small piece of it, after they decorated it with icing. :) 

 

Later on, we attempted a heart-shaped taco ring for dinner...

 It's the thought that counts, right?  At least it was tastey!

The rest of the week was kind of on and off with school.  Tuesday morning was spent at the doctor's office, pharmacy, and grocery store.  By the time lunch was eaten and dishes cleaned up, it left little time for much else but reading.  So that's what we did.  We may have done some math too, I can't remember!

Wednesday through Friday really could have been just one whole school day.  Ok, so we officially lost our groove and I'm finally admitting it.  I want it back... now!  I can't function like this - always feeling like things are undone.  One thing that helped me feel some sense of accomplishment was completing my Bible study lessons.  This is a great study and I always get so wrapped up in the lessons.  I just love studying God's Word!

Friday turned into a massive cleaning day.  It happened by accident.  The girls and I lounged on my bed for a while and talked with one another, which is something we all enjoy and don't do enough.  Then, I decided that it was time to put up that new curtain rod I bought earlier in the week.  Since the old one was nice (just not quite wide enough for the living room window), I hung it in the basement.  It's kind of dark down there (as most basements are), so my idea was to hang curtains on one wall and put a couple strands of Christmas lights behind them to make it look like a window and add light.

The girls had other plans.  They had some beaded curtains that didn't work well in their rooms.  So guess what's hanging on the basement wall?  Beads!  It actually looks kind of cute.  I'm not sure if we'll leave them there though.  I'm not much of a decorator, but I have other creative ideas for these beads.  We'll see.

Once that project was done, I cleaned the bathroom and washed the mound of dishes that overtook our kitchen sink and countertop.  Anyone have those kind of days???  I went through all the mail, tossing most of it.  And I cleaned the windows since it was such a nice day.

The girls and I went for a walk at 1:00.  This is where I have to insert a Katie-story.  She couldn't wait to go on this walk.  I told her we would go at 1:00, so she placed a chair in front of the clock and perched herself on it, patiently waiting.  When she realized that she was wearing her watch, she said with excitement "Mommy, I don't have to sit and wait here, I can just use my watch!"  We gave her this watch for Christmas and she wears it almost every day!  I love that she loves it so much!  She has pretty much taught herself to tell time on a real clock.  I refuse to buy digital watches for the kids!

Katie read us a Bible story after our walk which was music to my ears.  Then, a siding guy stopped by to lend us his siding samples.  I'm so excited to be getting new siding.  Ours is so old and faded, and in really bad shape.  We may also replace our front porch with a much larger one but we're waiting on the estimate to see if it's in the budget.  Regardless, we need to do something with our porch because it's in bad shape too.  It's over 40 years old and long overdue for a facelift.  It might even fall in the category of dangerous!  Yikes!!!

By the time the siding guy left, the neighborhood kids were off the bus.  Along with our kids, they came out of their winter cages to enjoy the beautiful weather we were blessed with today.  The school week was officially over.

On a side note, Hubs and I decided it would be best to drop out of co-op.  I felt immediate relief.  Katie isn't happy about it, but she can't see the whole picture.  It was just too much for us right now.  That was a very difficult decision because the classes were great and we all enjoyed the social aspect.  Something had to give though.  If anyone is struggling with a difficult decision, trust God all the way.  He gave me so many signs, even before I registered for co-op.  But I kept ignoring them, questioning every one.  In the end, my disobedience caused even greater difficulty in dropping out.  We had already gone the first week, and I was already assigned to help out in some classes.  I felt horrible leaving the coordinator to rearrange helpers.  I learned a great lesson.

Next week, I hope to get back into a groove. :)

Weekly Wrap-Up