365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 10

 

365 Photos in 365 Days: Week Nine

Boxes are always the best toys, right?



Warm winter days and chalk will never, ever get old for this little one.  Thank goodness for a window and door from the kitchen so she can play while I cook/clean and keep watch over the brand-new toddler who is generally has to stay inside to watch sister, because all she wants to do is climb concrete steps.


Teeny, tiny, first braid.

 

We celebrated our sweet Lettie-bug!





Lundi gras!


A current favorite (and simple) breakfast.  Steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon, honey, and blueberries... yummy!

Taking a walk...

I took a long walk.  A long, chilly, walk, if I must be honest.  I came to a few conclusions on that walk, and a whole lot of non-conclusions. 

I am not a runner.  I'm definitely a walker, at least at this point in my life.  Sure, I'd love to be a part of that elite group of people who enjoy a nice long run, who pound out 5ks before breakfast, heck before their babies wake up, but, I'm not, and may never be. I walk.

As I walked, I watched the suns slip behind the mountains.  It was beautiful, and reminded me how lucky I am to get to live in Colorado.  It also made me miss my family; because, while Kansas may not have mountains, it houses most of my family, and, they really are more precious even than Colorado beauty.  However; a husband that loves his work and the people he works with as well as keeping the babies near their other set of grandparents... all important factors that keep us here.

Then, I circled around the elementary school and worried more about Anni's schooling.  Yes, we're doing a wee bit of homeschooling for preschool, but, if I'm being a totally honest mama here, I don't love it.  It's hard to imagine paying the rather steep tuition for the Catholic schools in the area; however, especially as I grew up in a diocese where Catholic educations is all funded by stewardship.  If we were there, Anni would be going to whichever school in the diocese was closest.  They're great schools with great teachers.  Unfortunately, we aren't living there, nor is it in the cards for us to move anytime soon (as far as I know).  Buuuuut, I also am less than comfortable with our public school options.  Also, montessori schools, also very intriguing, are equally or more expensive.  That walk included a lot of prayer, and no resolution on the school matter.

Then proceeded the long rambling consideration of what we should do for Lent.  Yes, it starts tomorrow, but there are so many things that I need to improve on, that I've been having a hard time prioritizing.  I think the facebook time has to take a serious hit, and food restrictions are always hard for me (I eat my feelings, it's just a fact).  Welp, I've got about 12 hours to make my decisions.  Here's to a soul-stretching lent!

In between all of this, I just enjoyed a little quiet and a little music (thanks to my husband's much-smarter phone than mine).  I'm definitely a walker, my friends, definitely.

 

Q Week

Q week included two very queenly crafts.  One was a Queen "Q", and one was of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth.

The second craft was a lot of fun because it included a hand print and a foot print.  This was hard for our little friend who joins us because the texture of paint on her hand freaks her out a little.

However; Anni jumped in to comfort her by holding her hand while she got her foot print done.

Aren't they adorable?!  Both of these crafts were such fun!

Our grab bag included a quail, quarter, and an adorable baby doll quilt that my sister made for Anni.

 

Lundi gras!

While mardi gras may be tomorrow, we went to a great pre-party tonight with Daniel's team at his boss' place. 

I love Daniel's team - he's technically part of a three-person web team, but they often team up with the digital campus on awesome projects.  Projects liiiike this sweet lenten one: lentsanity.  

Want help remembering not to eat meat on Fridays?  Don't worry, there's an app for that.  There are also reflections, an illustrated guide on lenten fasting and abstinence, and, well, the meat police video.  There's no really good way to explain that one, but you should watch.  Anyway, the digital campus and web team put in a lot of work helping with this project, so, please check it out! 

Anyway, good times, delicious food, kiddos chasing each other like mad, and sweet Colette way overtired by the end of the night. 

I wasn't paying enough attention and realized we missed a team member while she was playing with the babies... so, not a perfect photo, but every last one of them are awesome!