I thought it was unbelievable that Charlotte received snow two weekends in a row, but it happened again on the third weekend! It was more of an overnight dusting that lasted into the next day, and I didn't even take a photo this time, but it still counts.
One benefit of this blog is to correct my perceptions: If you had asked me what I did this past seven days, I would have said not much, same old same old, always busy, can't really remember. The truth is there was an out-of-town trip, a formal dance, my birthday, and all the regular outings to RCA, Fraternus, Fidelis, choir practice, hockey, plus two extra outings to Mass, two doctors' appointments, and John's first apologetics class on Sundays. Our same old, same old is a remarkably brisk pace!
Speedcubing Competition
On Friday and Saturday, Chris took the oldest three to their second speedcubing competition, this one outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
The kids had a great time and John raised his stats with the World Cubing Association.
Winter Formal Dance
Then, like some kind of Super Daddy, Chris drove them the four hours home from Atlanta, stopped off at the house long enough for them to change, and drove them straight out to the Winter Formal Dance with more than 70 other homeschoolers in attendance.
Mama's Birthday
I enjoyed a very sweet birthday and, of course, this being The Year of Firsts, I always think to "what was I doing last year on this day?" It was Thomas's Day 77 in the hospital. Thomas had just had two frightening bleeding incidents on back-to-back days (including a major GI bleed, which was one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen), with emergency CT imaging in the middle of back-to-back nights. One year ago today, Thomas had his first true bathing and hair washing in 78 days (since the night before he entered the hospital). We celebrated my birthday by Chris and I together taking Thomas to the hospital cafeteria to eat lunch: a first outing there for him.
This year certainly looked different! Margaret (almost 11!) spearheaded a whole fun plot. She sent Daddy and I out of the house in the morning so she could bake me a very fancy cake from Naturally Sweet. It was one of those recipes-from-scratch with pages of detailed steps, the likes of which I rarely make. (She does not consent to my sharing the photo of the cake!) My first gift from Joseph (9) was that he finished all his school by our return at 10:00 a.m.: a gift my sweet boy does not know will bite him in the behind because now I know he is just as capable as I thought he was and I will raise my standards.
Feast of St. Blaise
Nicky's Luxurious Life
Nicky is 17 weeks now and is living a luxurious life. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are bred to be lap dogs whose raison d'etre is to love their families, and Nicky is certainly fulfilling those goals.
In fact, we're having difficulty with his wonderful crate training backsliding. He now only goes in his crate overnight when it is time to sleep (read: to be abandoned by everyone who loves him) because during the day he just transfers from lap top lap among Mama, Daddy, and all the children homeschooling, in between going outside for potty visits or crazy fun run-around times in the back yard. (Confession: Nicky is, in fact, snoring asleep in my lap as I type this blog post.)
I called the trainer for advice and she kindly told me that, indeed, our love is making Nicky lose his crate training. He needs to be in his crate five to ten times daily, after he has run around and gone potty, and it would help to give him a "busy toy." I think it's going to be harder to train these children not to spoil the dog so much than it will be to train the dog!
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| Sleeping with Margaret during school |
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| Asleep in his play pen |
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| Nicky loves to sleep with his snout buried. |
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| Nicky asleep in John's sweatshirt |
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