PIRATES....Argh!

The gold hoop earrings were his favorite. And check out all the stuff he's got stuffed in the waist of his pants.

WE love to go to the library. Our public library is so fun and the boys are beginning to really understand how to use it. The latest craze, thanks to the Disney ride over t-giving, has been pirates! We came across a really cool book that tells about the history and lifestyle of pirates. After a few pages of information, there is an activity. So we spent the week learning all about pirates in general and making things to help live the life as well. If you have a pirate living at your house, see if you can find this book. It has been so fun.



 What's up for next week? Well, knights, of course!

Aeneas wore his knight helmet to EVERYTHING over the course of 3 days. Family night at Patrick's school, piano lessons and the store! Quite the head turner as you might imagine!

Hard mornings!

Mornings are hard. There's just no way around it. Despite living literally 4 min from school, we always manage to wait until the last minute to walk out the door and end up with a ticked mom, shuddering kids and a bad start to the day. I don't have the time built in to the morning for Aeneas getting his pants wet in the snow bank on the way out the door and needing a change, or Patrick's seatbelt getting closed in the door that he can't open on account of the child locks or both boys accidently getting in the wrong sides of the truck and then squabbling as they try to pass each other on the floorboard like alley cats. In a perfect world, every morning would be an easy and smooth transition from home to school. YEAH RIGHT. This ain't no perfect world!





So in a fit of parental madness in anticipation of the upcoming Monday, I sat down for about 15 min last Sunday night and threw together this morning chore chart. Lame illustrations but I was in one of those desperate fits that mothers tend to get into. (Go to Etsy for something really cool looking. There's no doubt someone out there has a much more designer way of accomplishing the same thing.) I explained the routine before they went to bed. They were so excited and so was I since that was the first sign that it might actually work.

They woke up a little before I emerged from my room, patiently waiting for breakfast to be served and half their cards already in the envelopes.

Things went so smoothly, I had time to even take their picture in all their crazy cute ready for school states! Success! No telling how long this will last, but for now, mornings at the McBrayer house just got a whole lot easier. And just in time for the time to change!

Sweet Inspiration

I was recently gifted the book "What's New Cupcake" which is ridiculously inspiring.

And the other day I happend upon the blog for Bakerella who has created and mastered the art of what she calls "cake balls."

photo courtesy Bakerella

And between the two of them, I'm beside myself with sweet inspiration. Now who can help me figure out an excuse to make some. The next birthday outside of my own in our immediate family is 5 months away!!!

The River Why

I read this book years ago at my husband's bidding. After having lived in Montana for two years relishing in God's great testimony of his existence in his unsurprising beauty of the wilderness, I always equate the book to some of my experiences there. We just returned from a trek back north and back through some of the secluded wilderness of the Rockies and it's silver threads of rivers and streams that bring life to their sandy and rocky banks, and I find myself with this book in hand once again, pouring through it; devouring it; reliving it.

If you love the outdoors, you'll love it. If you love fishing, you'll love it. And if you can appreciate the quest of finding meaning to life and wrestling with such in the life of a person setting out on his own, then you'll love it. (I'm certain we've all been here at some point in life and know even more friends either wrestling with the same things now or in the past.) It's laugh out loud funny at times to boot. Take a look and perhaps join me in reading The River Why by David James Duncan this summer.