Week of March 4, 2013--BIRTHDAY WEEK!

Homemaking

Epic fail with 40 Bags in 40 Days this week.  After the emotional beginning of the week-cleaning out my uncle's apartment and my mom's surgery-I decided to just keep up with the regular stuff: laundry, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathroom and making the girls clean their rooms.  This week was, after all, BIRTHDAY WEEK!!

There was 16 Handles--our favorite self-serve, self-top fro-yo!
There was cheesecake factory!
There was birthday cake!

Parenting

Not sure if this is parenting or what, but we kicked off birthday week with mani/pedis and haircuts!  I love teaching my girls to be responsible and to work hard, and I also love showing them to take care of themselves, reward themselves and pamper themselves after some hard work.

Mani-Pedis All Around!

There was also a shopping spree to Hobby Lobby to buy needles for the sewing machine (Allie feels inspired!), some fabric for Piper to make herself a shirt, some fabric for my mom to make me a retro-vintage apron (I love my mom!  I am so not a sewing machine person, but she is and she happily sews most anything I want!) and some art supplies.

Marriage

A couple of nights a week, when Jason gets home from work, we indulge in a nice craft beer and talk about our days, life, our plans, dreams, goals, etc.  Craft beer is something we both love.  We love to try new kinds and discuss the body, layers, taste, nose, etc.

We are also really into "House of Cards" the new Netflix series and a few nights a week, after dinner, we leave the girls to the dishes and adjourn to the family room alone together to watch an episode or two.  It's just us, cuddled on the couch, watching this show that is really not meant for kids.  I know the girls treasure their time with the dad and I feel kind of bad taking him away from them, but it's important that Jason and I get time alone together, too.

Homeschooling

What We Are Doing

Crystallizing sugar
Making gerbil treats
Shanti Yoga for Peacemakers
Thoughtful discussions

• Since my mom had surgery Monday, the girls did not go to her house for sewing lessons and building lessons with my dad.  Instead, they spent Monday and Tuesday completing June in Pet Shop Math, studying new Latin roots, reaching the goals I set for them in our Spanish software and making PowerPoint presentations about gerbil care (A) and Selena Gomez (P).

What We Are Reading

• The Storyteller (Theresa) - when I love a book I re-read passages to make it last longer, which is what I am doing with this book.
• The Story Behind Chocolate (read-aloud)
• 13 American Artists Every Child Should Know (read-aloud)
• Vegetables Rock: A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians (Piper)
• Caring for Your Small Pet (Allie)
• Bittersweet (Allie)

What We Are Creating

• I taught the girls a little bit about Lightroom and Photoshop and we worked on a special project that will be revealed soon!
• On Thursday we went to our friends' house for our Monthly Craft and Nature Play :)  I love this time with the other moms as much as my girls love this time with their friends.
• Sea salt and sugar scrubs---super soothing for dry, winter skin!!

Green tea and cucumber sea salt scrub 

What We Are Watching

• Christy - I love this show and it had been a few years since we watched it, so we started it again.

Watching "Christy"--I LOVE this show--and when Burl wants to "swap howdies" melts.my.heart.every.time.
Gerbils running around the house in balls (thanks, Poppy!)
a little gee-tar in Hobby Lobby ;-)
a birthday wish: Piper wanted to sleep in Jason & my bed all by herself so she could really spread out and wake up with all of her stuffed animals around her.  I was happy for a wish that wasn't really a tangible gift, but a feeling.

Favorite Apps & Websites

• After reading on Susan's blog about PopTropic, I told the girls to check it out and the LOVE it!
• Webkinz - now both girls have re-activated their Webkinz accounts

Fun apps and mani/pedis.
A little known fact:  Piper used to bite her nails until her fingers literally bled when she was in school.  She stopped almost immediately when we began homeschooling.

This Weekend...

We are going out to dinner tonight.  One of Piper's really good friends is away this weekend, so we opted to wait to have her birthday party until all of her friends can be here.  Piper and I do, however, have a lunch date and a date to a Mother-Daughter event this Saturday ;-)  Allie has art class, Jason has a weekend meeting in the Poconos with an organization he is involved with (clever, aren't they?  Planning a meeting during ski season!)