It is GORGEOUS outside today, just like yesterday. We have played outside most of the morning, and I took some time to turn in homework corrections for an advanced accounting class before lunch today. The windows are open, we are having leftover breakfast for lunch (Andrew LOVES this concept).
Layla is having digestive issues because of the deworming treatment and she has blood in her stool from it. The recommendation from the vet was to give her chicken and rice mixed together. Perfect! I have crockpot chicken with rice on the menu for this week! All I have to do is push it to today and move today's meal to that day. Layla is set with food. Hopefully it will make her feel better. I received a large dog kennel from a friend for free, and I set it up in the kitchen this morning. I have a plan for all of this. When I am gone for a short while or she needs to come with me in the car, she will go in the small crate. When we all have to be gone for several hours (this upcoming Saturday when we drive to Wallisville to meet my nephew for the first time), she will stay in the large dog kennel with a blanket, food, and newspaper. When I am home but busy and unable to eye her well enough, the extension gate will keep her secure in the kitchen. I also found out yesterday that I can get a free dog run from a friend down the road. That is AWESOME! I am planning on picking it up before this summer to get it set up, secure, put some easy to clean flooring in, and then get Layla accustomed to staying in it for longer and longer periods at a time (starting with only a few minutes and then working up to a full morning in the Fall when it is cooler out).
When I steal my digital camera back from my husband this evening I am going to post pics of my Jiffy greenhouse progress. I can't put the lid on it anymore because my pumpkin and squash sprouts are too tall. I might have to put them in to the garden earlier than expected (beginning of April as opposed to mid-April).
Andrew's ant bites look much better now, poor guy. I counted them yesterday while he was sitting on the potty. He has 72 bites!!! The zinc carbonate in the calamine lotion neutralized the formic acid in the ant bites, so he has not scratched them but the slightest bit. The calendula lotion as really helped the bite swelling and irritation, so I suggest using those two together for ant bites.
I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, plain chocolate chip cookies, and banana muffins for the bake sale this evening at Grace's school during Open House. I hope she has fun while we are there. I am going to talk Bryan in to staying home with Andrew so Grace and I can go alone. I feel like she and I need some one-on-one mommy-daughter time together. She is getting big so fast and I just don't know where the time is going anymore. She is reading a good deal of C.S. Lewis by herself, doing so much for herself, and can even make her own sandwiches now, and she's only 6 years old! Sometimes the pace at which our lives progress makes me want to find a way to stop time and cherish the moments we have. I love my Gracie so much. She is my firstborn, my only girl, my oldest child, my greatest accomplishment. Bryan, Grace, and I had to learn to be a family together. She taught us the true meaning of unconditional love, patience, mercy, and joy. I miss her while she is at school. I often find myself wanting to homeschool her again just so I can spend more time with her. But I respect her wishes and I will let her continue going to the elementary school right across the street from our house, so close yet so far.
Andrew's birthday party is next weekend! It will be a superhero themed party with a bounce house, cake, hotdogs, a pinata, and capes/masks for all attending children. I am going to pick up the material to make the capes early next week. It will probably be fleece or a stretch material that requires no sewing, because I know next week will be busy, and sewing at least 10 capes will take soooo much longer than just cutting them out. We are going to make comic book fight signs to hang around the house that say BAM!, POW!, SPLAT!, and the like. I think it is going to be super fun for everyone, including the host (Yours Truly). I am going to make another cake with white fondant and red/blue strips stars to mimick the Justice League, and I will probably put Superman/Spiderman/Batman on top as toys Andrew can keep.
Grace will be in a talent show for church the weekend after next, so she and I are going to start planning her dance routine this weekend. She hasn't done ballet in a while (the budget didn't permit it), so she is excited to do a routine, and I am nervous about choreographing one! I haven't done it in a good long while, so I am a little unsure of my abilities. It will be fine, I just need to pick a song with her and let her take over, only interjecting to offer advice on the routine. There, problem solved!
I really badly want a date with my husband!! We haven't had one in almost a month, and I think we both deserve some time away together. It's going to be nice to finally get a date, but it will probably be next weekend before we are able to get one. Money, time, and sitter availability to look bleak for this coming weekend.
Can I confess something?? I miss Bryan. Our schedules have been so hectic, and we wont have a break until this summer! I am finishing my degree, Bryan is about to change jobs, Grace is coming up on the last couple months of school, Andrew is learning at home, potty training, going to playgroups, driving me crazy, and then we have Layla, who needs almost constant attention at her young age. Bryan comes home from work and one of us is always busy at home. He does remote work from home for his current position, I do schoolwork, cook dinner, take care of the kids and puppy, go through the evening routine with kids, and then we finally get a little time together and we fall asleep! But Bryan starts this new job on March 22nd. If all goes well, he will be full-time by June, then we can go on a vacation! I will be done with school by June if all goes well, and then I can focus on my relationship with my husband and kids a little more. I can't wait! The end of another crazy journey in our family life is in sight, and a new one waits around the corner. I hope the new journey includes lots of time to do quality family activities!!
I can't wait to do more landscaping next month! I get to plant a couple apple trees, expand my vegetable garden again, fill in the bed all along the back fence, put in fresh dirt/mulch/bushes in the front of the house, and plant flowers around the tree in the front yard. It's going to look great when I am done! And hopefully I will lose another 5 pounds in the process. Landscaping is hard work!!
Anyway, Andrew's playtime in the yard is over and now it's quiet time. Off I go!
No comments:
Post a Comment