Rain and Holidays

 It rained yesterday. Beautiful, down-pouring awesomeness like I used to crave in Utah.  Growing up in a desert has made the sound of the storm magical.

Apparently, I am not the only one in my family who finds it so.  We had just finished up a grueling five and a half hours of choir and acting rehearsal and I had called it good for the evening.  We did a quick straighten-up while I put the finishing touches on dinner, we ate and then I declared the evening free.  

"Maybe we could watch a movie or something," I mentioned casually, to the delight of the kids.  

During dinner, the rain started coming down even harder, beckoning.  The older kids asked if the little ones needed a bath tonight.

"If so, can we do it outside in the rain? You know, just leave their clothes on but let the rain clean them off?" they queried.

Brilliant.

So that is what we did on our evening off...let the rain pour down.

Piper and Lily both commented yesterday about how it is like everything all of a sudden turned green.  The birds are out in choruses and everything feels alive. The sound of the distant freeway have receded even further, masked by the unfurling of all the leaves in our little woods.

I love to listen to the birds outside my window, particularly this morning when I lay there snuggling with my baby, trying to get her back to sleep in my favorite way possible...nestled up against my body. There is something equally magical about snuggling a sleeping baby so the combination of bird song, rain, and sleeping baby has really set a wonderful tone for my day :D.

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Lily has started a new tradition of reading off all the holidays for the day.  This week we have celebrated:

-"Minimize Food Waste Day"--leftovers for dinner!

-"Blueberry Pie Day"--particularly delicious.

-"National Kids and Pets Day"--every day, right??

-"National Pretzel Day"--another yummy one with homemade pretzels

-"National Tell a Story Day"

-"National Prime Rib Day"--sadly, missed celebrating this one

-"National Devil Dog Day"--won't mention how applicable this one was

-"National Great Poetry Reading Day"--every day!

-"National Zipper Day"--or as Liesl puts it, "beezer" ("Mommy, will you do my beezer?"

It's been a riot!  Maia was sad that we didn't celebrate "National Hug a Plumber Day" last Sunday until she realized that Quinn had done a lot of plumbing work, so we felt that qualified him.  Oh, and we forgot to get out the shrimp last night for "National Shrimp Scampi" day because we got so caught up in the rain and beauty of the evening.  I am great celebrating that one a day late ;). 

A Yummy Fresh Start

 Today I woke up around 5:30 am and felt almost ready to get out of bed! During this stage of my pregnancy--well, probably for most of it--I have taken my time getting out of bed after waking up. It takes a lot of energy and willpower to do so, and I have been grateful that I haven't had to push it for any external reasons. What a blessing!

The weather is cooler, so my bike ride pulling Liesl behind me in a trailer was very pleasant other than the fact that it takes a lot of energy to get me and her going any where...which is why I was out: exercise ;). She was super cute, pointing out flowers and animals with excitement and calling out "hello!" to many people who passed.

Papaya was excited to get all of her jobs done this morning because I have a new math game on my phone to help her with her multiplication and division review before school starts. Hava has been enjoying it as well. Right now she is out in one of her favorite places: riding around with Lily and Hyrum while they drive comps for Quinn and listen to music. And she is playing the math game. Heaven! She totally deserves it after making french toast for all of us (with Xai!) for breakfast. I made myself some "fancy eggs"--sauteed mushrooms, chive and zucchini with some parmesan on top since I am trying to minimize my white flour and processed sugar intake. The Shazaam topping we made for the french toast, though, was irresistable and so I indulged with one for "dessert." My tummy is super happy already!

Piper has been very adaptable this morning to changes in schedule and additional expectations she hadn't anticipated. She and I share this struggle! She is so fun to be with and watch mature as she works through things. Right now she is playing on the piano, which I love! I teach them lessons and try to find music that they enjoy playing so they tend to gravitate to it often :D.

Papaya is upstairs playing with the two little boys....imagine. I love when she takes the lead like this and plays so well with them! I came up with a "School" system for the boys, where there are a bunch of popsicle sticks with the subjects I have ready to teach them that day. That way, when they decide they want to "do school" at random times, I have an activity or lesson prepared but they get to do it when they are ready and choose to...and I don't have to scramble to think about what I have ready or on hand. I am excited to try it! We are also using "Well-educated Heart" curriculum to read and study from and they have some beautiful classic pieces of history, art, science and literature for all ages. We used "Good and the Beautiful" for math, too, which I also love. I am so happy to have little systems in place for all my kiddos right now.

Until the next big change, right? ;)