Spring Break 2014~

It has come and gone for the year.  What a blessing it is to stay home with my little people for an entire week without the responsibilities of my occupation.  I left everything related to work at work, and I committed myself to spending the last 9 days focused on recharging and enjoying my family.  We had a great week, and I feel like I can end the school year in a healthy frame of mind;-)

So, what did we do this week?  Well, here it is...

Zoo x2
Ice Cream Outing
Discovery Center x2
Park
Picnic
Ride Bikes
Library
Shopping
Clean House
Declutter I got rid of a good amount of stuff this week that was cluttering our home.  That alone made my heart smile;-)  Just don't tell Big Al.
Laundry
Grammy and Poppy Visit

Lazy Mornings!

Picnic with Friends

Happy Artist

Little Artist

Brother Sister Love

Isla built and built and built

We caught a volcano demonstration at the Discovery Center

Alex is leaving this week for a conference.  He will be gone two nights, so I'm going to do this gig solo.  Say a prayer for me this week.  I rarely sleep when he is gone which makes me susceptible to migraines.   Hopefully, it is uneventful, and stress/migraine free;-)  Have a great week~

Goals Update~

Spring break is winding down, and so is stress-free lifestyle;-)  With that, I figured I should update my goals here, so I can track where I'm at.  Spring is always crazy in our house, so I'm guessing this one will be no different.  It feels good to mark progress when it is had, so here goes.

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when we made the goal, we are now down to 81% 70% of the loan left.  Progress!

2. Establish a will
Nothing done on this one yet.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I've not been the best at keeping up with this.  I won't lie, the old testament about sends me into a nap every time.  It is challenging to read, and I'm not enjoying it.  I don't mind the new testament, but unfortunately we are reading both.  I'm not giving up, but I must reestablish my motivation to really finish this goal out in 2014.

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 5 9 books so far in 2014.  I read two over spring break.  Woot!  I feel like I am in good shape on this one! 

Carry On, Warrior

The kids and I ventured to the library yesterday, and I grabbed a book that I had seen online.  This particular book was a memoir ( I love those) about a mom who was also a recovering bulimic and alcoholic.  She has written on the blog, Momastery since 2009.  I have never followed this particular blog before, but I am now;-)

I finished this 265 page book in less than 24 hours.  Don't worry, both children are still alive and have been fed;-)  The book was fantastic.  No, it was better than fantastic.  It was exactly what my heart needed right now.  The author, Glennon, blends honesty with her faith in God and his perfect plan for our life.  Obviously, Glennon has seen rock bottom, but she is one of the most genuinely faithful authors I have read.  She is real. Her life isn't perfect, and she doesn't try to sugarcoat it.  

One of my favorite lines is early in the book.  She says, "Life is brutal.  But it's also beautiful. Brutiful, I call it.  Life's brutal and beautiful are woven  together so tightly that they can't be separated."  We all have our own brutal and our own beautiful, but you can't take either one of them independent of the other, although life would be so much more pleasurable without the brutal;-)  

She has many quotable pieces in this book, and she was incredibly easy to relate to.  I laughed, I cried, I smiled.  It's just genuine, and I liked that.  

Sickness~

In the last two weeks, Isla and Rowan have had the stomach flu twice each, and I caught it this last week.  Ugh!

It has been short lived each time, but this is still not on my calendar!  I think Isla was the initial culprit probably bringing it home from daycare, and she sweetly spread her germs to Rowan.  Then in the wake of Mom duties, I clearly caught the bug.  I spent Tuesday home from school, but I made myself go on Wednesday, even though I still felt horrible.  Lucky for me, the kids at school seemed to miss me as I had been gone Monday as well for Alex's grandma's funeral, so they were well behaved.

This morning Rowan now has a 102 degree fever.  Oyy!  So Alex and Isla headed off to church, and Rowan is laying on the living room floor watching Despicable Me.  This is not a typical Sunday morning for us, so it feels odd to be home.

Hopefully, we can shake this bug quickly and keep it from spreading, so we can actually enjoy spring break. (The washing machine is currently running at an urgent speed to alleviate as many germs as possible).  There is fun to be had over spring break as the weather looks like it just might cooperate with us this year!!