What I wore

Eyeglasses from zenni optical - $12

Thrifted cotton scarf - $1 Scarves are a wonderful and favorite accessory of mine to wear when I know I'll have to nurse a babe in public. Much more discrete than pulling out one of those apron things and hanging it around my neck

Purple cotton tunic, thrifted - $2

Adriano Goldschmied jeans, thrifted - $2 I'm naive. I had been looking for a pair of jeans to wear under tunics/short dresses and picked these up. They are wicked comfy because they have a thin maternity elastic band at the waist. No, I'm not expecting...When I googled the tag several months later I had sticker shock. $198! I prefer two bucks.

wedding band

sterling silver hoop earrings - $3 garage sale find

Italian black leather riding boots - $60 ebay. I nearly choked buying these but was slightly comforted when I saw Nordstrom carries them for $325.

This outfit explained sorting and reducing mixed numbers, danced to pandora with a fussy teether, went to the library, read C.S. Lewis, cooked meals, nursed the babe, amused toddlers, swept an ungodly amount of kid litter off the floor, did mega laundry... I mentioned to Sean this morning, as I stared down in wonder at a dirt pile containing crayons, dust, actual dirt and a lot of it, a fork, knex, canning jar lid, various papers, a few socks none of which matched, thread, yarn... that perhaps I should blog the piles I sweep up. I don't think most people could comprehend the possible size of swept piles in our house. And this is with daily sweeping! (You better believe I swept out the dust bunnies from underneath that chair up above before I let the camera click!)

What I wore

Why? Because...
A) dressing for even the most ordinary of days should be fun and
B)I receive quite a few questions as to the how and why of what we wear, and
C) I get to pretend to model and look as completely awkward as I feel. :)

Thrifted vintage wool skirt - $2
Thrifted vintage cream sweater - $2
Orange tights from TJMaxx - $3
Born brown leather shoes - (I think) ebay for $15
Jewels - tungsten wedding band and earrings made by me

This outfit did kitchen scrubbing, homeschooling, thrift store perusing and grocery shopping with my fabulous six-pack of kiddos, nose wiping, nursing the wee one, curry making for dinner... The temperature outside was 2 degrees and snowy in the morning and warmed up to 23 degrees in the afternoon.

The papa made bench

We needed a bench. A sturdy non-tip-able, safe-for-kiddos, one for the long farm table Sean built. Seating is a hot commodity here when we have friends in and it is so much easier to comfortably seat a large group of people with benches.

The Papa took a beautiful, hand cut 220 yr old beam that was in the garage and sawed it into sections for the bench legs. It hurt my heart to see it cut but I'm happy to see it having a purpose. Old wood and especially good old wood is such a thing of beauty. I love the whole industrial/country blend of decorating and the chunky beam legs are just right. A friendly neighbor gave him the fabulous long board for the top and the papa put together the bench pieces with wooden pegs, taking time to rub in linseed oil to finish it.

Bench number two will be here soon.

Book Review

Loving the Little years: Motherhood in theTrenches by Rachel Jankovic was sent to me by Canon Press to read, with no obligation regarding the review.

The author if this book has small children all under kindergarten age, living in the trenches of motherhood of which she is writing. I appreciate that the the author admits motherhood is not easy for her and it should be known that this is the perspective from which she writes. When then author writes that it is her problem that there are so many kids and not her kids fault (ch. 10, pg. 49) it bothers me because no children need to hear that they are a problem. I appreciated her encouragement to watch out for our kids souls and take time to know them but then found myself frustrated when she wrote that organization often comes with "neglect and hurt" on the part of the children (ch. 10, pg 51). These two need not be mutually exclusive.

All in all, this was one of my least favorite mothering/parenting books but perhaps it would be helpful to mothers deep in the trenches and finding it hard to catch their breath. I'd recommend The Mission of Motherhood and The Ministry of Motherhood over this book.

Book Review

Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me: A Memoir of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron was sent to me by the publisher to review and with no obligation to give a positive review. Having read Chasing Francis, by the same author, I could not wait to settle down and read this one. I was not disappointed.

Ian tells of his tumultuous and often sadly hilarious (I had tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks reading portions to Sean) growing up years with an alcoholic father and shares his journey to Christianity. It is a poignant and extremely well written book that I've already passed around. The only reason I gave it four out of five stars is because I disagreed with a few of the authors theological statements. I still heartily recommend this book.

My little Rosie the Riveter

"The key to successful homeschooling with toddlers is preparedness."

To read more about how we homeschool with toddlers in tow, you can check out this article on Heart of the Matter.