Nunnie School

So I have started "Nunnie School" with my Kaitlyn. She is needing something more structured during the day while Mack is away at school and Brian has been wanting me to give her some more guided instruction, so this has been the result. So far it has gone well, but the main thing I have to remember about my youngest girl is that she DOES NOT function well right after waking up or without a full tummy. So by keeping that in mind I think we have been able to get some good "lessons" in each day. It hasn't happened at the same time everyday because things come up, but I like flexibility in my day so it works for us. I have been basing our lessons off of the Brightly Beaming preparatory curriculum over at http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html. I have also added some extras and tweaked it a little to fit Kaitlyn. I have also supplemented with a workbook to reinforce letters, shapes, colors, numbers and encourage her use of a pencil. I plan on adding a cutting exercise each week also so that she can work on that coordination.

This is something that I probably should have done with Mack too, but to be honest, she LOVES to learn so much that I never felt like she needed as much direct teach in order to learn her basics. She sought to learn those things on her own so I didn't force too much on her. Kaitlyn is a bit more reluctant. She is smart but does not go out of her way to learn new things and has mostly picked things up along the way. I  am hoping that by doing "Nunnie School" she will gain a love a learning and start to seek out more information on her own. Here are a few pictures from our first week!

Day 4 & 5

Day 4: fun!

This zoo is awesome because you can feed the giraffes which is ALWAYS fun! It was a nice family day at the zoo :) 

Day 5: bird

I AM BOYCOTTING THIS DAY. BIRDS ARE GROSS. 

I LOVE MARRIAGE!

Brian and I are coming up on our 4th wedding anniversary. I have avoided EVER writing about our marriage because...well, honestly I felt like 'what could I possibly know about marriage this early on?'.  I mean, I feel like I can write about mothering and my new hobbies, so why have I felt like I was not qualified to speak on marriage? I have been a mother longer than I have been a wife, but only by 10 months...my hobbies I have started after I got married so those have had an even shorter life span. And yet, I have felt unqualified to speak on marriage. Even my own marriage!

But here it is.

Four years later and this is what I have to say for me and my husband: I LOVE MARRIAGE! I know that it isn't perfect. And it isn't always pretty, but so far it basically just seems like fun! The person I CHOSE to spend my life with makes me laugh. Daily. Maybe even hourly (when he's home, of course). He is the best dad I know. He is the  best husband I know. I nag him sometimes. I feel needy sometimes. I even get mad at ridiculous things that are out of his control, but I love being married to him and I am *pretty sure* he enjoys being married to me.

The thing that has surprised me most about marriage is how comfortable it is. I love not feeling self-conscience. I love that even on my crazy days I am loved. NO MATTER WHAT. It is easy to feel unconditional love for you children. Even your pets! But for some reason people find it hard to find that same unconditional love in their partners THAT THEY CHOSE. I make a conscience decision daily to love B. I try and do something daily that will make him smile. I want to be his "dream girl".

I am not going to lie. I appreciate every single time he has come home to say that someone in his office has told him he has a cool wife because of something I have done for him. I like being the "cool" wife. I like that he feels he has something to be proud of when he talks about me. But that's not why I do those "cool" things. I do them because I know that he has his own needs. Separate from my own. Separate from anything that I can even understand. Just like I have my own needs that he has somehow managed to accommodate without fully understanding.

I pray that in another 3 years, when we hit that "7 year-itch", I will feel the same way I do now. I want to be able to look back on this post and have the same feelings about marriage that I do now.

Day 3

Day 3: something you wore today

I absolutely love my Toms and cannot wait until I can get some more pairs :) 

Photo A Day

I am going to *ATTEMPT* to do a daily picture. I pinned a "photo a day" for May on pinterest that I want to try and do. I am already a day behind though. OOPS! But I have pictures for both so that is what counts. At least in my mind...

Day 1: Peace

Ok, seriously? How could you not love that face??? She might not have an official name yet, but she is very much a part of our family now. I love her a little bit ;) 

Day 2: Skyline

On almost any other day I would have been able to capture a beautiful skyline at this time of day (6 P.M) but of course on this day, there are clouds totally covering up our view of Pike's Peak.

Dancing In Heaven

I am so glad that I decided to go to church today. The yucky, snowy wind almost kept me home, but I would have missed a very powerful message. It actually had me in tears by the end, which is VERY rare for me.

We have been going through a really awesome series called, "Think Again- Truth, Doubt and Questions that Matter" with this week focusing on the question of whether there is life after death. It really made me think about how I view this life and how I should be living with the view that THIS IS NOT IT. This is not all of it. In fact, this is the hard part. Once we die and move one with Jesus in our heart, we get to experience joy like we can't even imagine.

My church experienced the death of a young man, 20, last weekend due to a climbing accident. They showed a couple clips from his memorial service that were so eloquent and heartfelt that a million memories of my dear friend, Erica Nicole Smith, who died in December '07, came flooding back to me.  And thus released my tears. She died as a result of a drunk driving accident and negligent paramedics. (http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4019050&page=1#.T4tAHRzQIfs) It was a horrific, tragic, horrible thing that happened to an amazing girl. It was a  long 4 years before Jenny Ybarra, the woman responsible for the accident went to trial and it seemed like it dragged on forever before she was convicted of intoxication manslaughter. But then another devastating blow came to those who were so invested in seeing justice served; she only received a 2 year prison sentence. (http://www.kens5.com/home/Ybarras-fate-still-in-question-at-conviction-139391318.html)
I needed to hear the words of the pastor to really remember that although we do not feel as though justice has been served for Erica, there is a higher power that will bring justice.

I miss Erica all the time and she is on my mind often. I absolutely do not think it is a coincidence that she was in her car accident exactly one year before my Kaitlyn was born. She was a beautiful, hilarious, passionate, wonderful person who is missed by so many who believe that she died early. That she died an untimely death. But something else that our guest pastor said struck a cord with me. When he was speaking of the young man, Ryan, he said, "He didn't die an early death. He died a young death, yes, but it wasn't early. He ran the race that God sent him to run. He finished his race faster than we would have wished, but it was what God had intended." It breaks me heart to know that Erica will never finish college, get married, or have kids. But it also makes my heart so incredibly happy to know that she is exactly where Jesus wants her to be. She is dancing in heaven. And I have faith that one day I will get to see her again. I love you, Erica.

Girly Dinosaur Room

I am so excited! The girls' dino room is finally complete! I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! Obviously the hardest, most time consuming part was the dresser. It was B's when he was a kid which means that it is at least 35 years old. He did the bulk of the hard work, sanding, re-drilling the holes for the handles, and filling in the old holes. I got to do the fun, easy part: painting! Seriously what would we do without pinterest?! It is where I got the idea for the paint chip inspired paint job. 

Who says dinos are only for boys?