12 on the 12th- December 2013
Like usual, this "12 on the 12th" is a list of some of the little things going on around here this month.
1. We are in the middle of a fun project at our house turning the front room- the least used room in the house, by far- into a home office/library/craft room/ homework area. It began with a request to have a desk of my own somewhere in the house (I have missed the home office we had in Knoxville ever since we moved here.) and evolved into a bigger project. I will take this moment to share my appreciation for a spouse willing to eagerly play along with my many, many house ideas. Not only did he humor my idea, he even volunteered to build a new bookcase for the space. He's a good guy.
2. Ben would be quick to add here, before I paint him in too good a light, of course, that he has his own strong motivation for having a home office. Our kitchen and dining room are always so covered with school papers and kid drawings and homework and my shop stuff and crafts and my laptop and all of the other "stuff" of our life that it makes it hard to even function in them sometimes. He will be thrilled to claim some of that space back.
3. The shop I started has been more successful than I thought it would be, but I will admit to having zero expectations in the beginning. I have averaged one item sold each day the shop has been open. It is, so far, the perfect amount of busy for me- enough that I can stay on top of it without feeling stressed, but not so little that I lose interest. I am certainly not making big bucks, but enough to make it worth the effort.
4. I shared this already on Facebook this week, but wanted to note it on here as well. I have been so entertained with Drew's love of Christmas carols this year. He sings with so much enthusiasm! If the lyrics do not make sense to him, he just makes up his own.
5. Gracie, Luke, and Drew each have a birthday party to attend this weekend. Ben and I wish they were all at the same time, but they are staggered over the entire weekend.
6. Our little night owl (Katie) has somehow become even more of a night owl over the past two weeks. She has been up until eleven the past four nights, perfectly happy and cheerful and easy-going. She plays at the side of the family room while Ben and I watch TV or sits on our laps and snuggles with us, so I mostly can't complain, but 11:00 is a little extreme, right? I tried to have her skip her nap a couple of times to see if it would help out, but she just still got this huge burst of happy energy on those evenings and was still up until almost ten. While it is nice to get extra one-on-one time with our baby each night, it would be even nicer to put her to bed when all of the other kids go to bed and have some extra one-on-one time with my husband.
7. I was supposed to attend Craft Night tonight (a monthly event where a bunch of women get together and talk and craft for a few hours), but the host had to reschedule for January. I know I would have had fun if I had gone, but I will admit to feeling pretty okay with staying home on this cold and dark night instead. The winter months make me much more of a homebody.
8. Drew's preschool sent out a really irritating letter last week asking that instead of individual teacher gifts for Christmas, families contribute cash to a pool that will be divided up amongst the teachers and staff of the school. Really, how impersonal can you get? We will not be participating and it bugs me that they asked.
9. The word "binky" has not been uttered in this house in at least a week. She no longer brings it up or asks for it and has returned to being easy to put down for nap. Hallelujah!
10. Among other changes in the house, Ben set up a video game area downstairs. The boys are down there with him right now trying it out for the first time. Katie loves it because I cleared a space down there and brought in some of the outside riding toys. She has been so happy each time I go downstairs to do laundry because she gets to ride bikes. It is not a pretty basement, but it is space we'd be silly not to use.
11. Katie is obsessed with the "Dora's Christmas Carol" episode of Dora the Explorer that aired at the beginning of last week. She gets to watch a cartoon every afternoon and she has requested that particular episode every single day for the last ten days. She loves it. I love to hear her talk to the screen.
12. Gracie and Luke have been practicing Christmas carols on the piano and are excited to play them in Decatur at Christmas. Gracie is practicing "Silent Night" right now and it sounds so pretty, I just had to stop typing just to listen. Money spent on piano lessons is money well spent.
1. We are in the middle of a fun project at our house turning the front room- the least used room in the house, by far- into a home office/library/craft room/ homework area. It began with a request to have a desk of my own somewhere in the house (I have missed the home office we had in Knoxville ever since we moved here.) and evolved into a bigger project. I will take this moment to share my appreciation for a spouse willing to eagerly play along with my many, many house ideas. Not only did he humor my idea, he even volunteered to build a new bookcase for the space. He's a good guy.
2. Ben would be quick to add here, before I paint him in too good a light, of course, that he has his own strong motivation for having a home office. Our kitchen and dining room are always so covered with school papers and kid drawings and homework and my shop stuff and crafts and my laptop and all of the other "stuff" of our life that it makes it hard to even function in them sometimes. He will be thrilled to claim some of that space back.
3. The shop I started has been more successful than I thought it would be, but I will admit to having zero expectations in the beginning. I have averaged one item sold each day the shop has been open. It is, so far, the perfect amount of busy for me- enough that I can stay on top of it without feeling stressed, but not so little that I lose interest. I am certainly not making big bucks, but enough to make it worth the effort.
4. I shared this already on Facebook this week, but wanted to note it on here as well. I have been so entertained with Drew's love of Christmas carols this year. He sings with so much enthusiasm! If the lyrics do not make sense to him, he just makes up his own.
5. Gracie, Luke, and Drew each have a birthday party to attend this weekend. Ben and I wish they were all at the same time, but they are staggered over the entire weekend.
6. Our little night owl (Katie) has somehow become even more of a night owl over the past two weeks. She has been up until eleven the past four nights, perfectly happy and cheerful and easy-going. She plays at the side of the family room while Ben and I watch TV or sits on our laps and snuggles with us, so I mostly can't complain, but 11:00 is a little extreme, right? I tried to have her skip her nap a couple of times to see if it would help out, but she just still got this huge burst of happy energy on those evenings and was still up until almost ten. While it is nice to get extra one-on-one time with our baby each night, it would be even nicer to put her to bed when all of the other kids go to bed and have some extra one-on-one time with my husband.
7. I was supposed to attend Craft Night tonight (a monthly event where a bunch of women get together and talk and craft for a few hours), but the host had to reschedule for January. I know I would have had fun if I had gone, but I will admit to feeling pretty okay with staying home on this cold and dark night instead. The winter months make me much more of a homebody.
8. Drew's preschool sent out a really irritating letter last week asking that instead of individual teacher gifts for Christmas, families contribute cash to a pool that will be divided up amongst the teachers and staff of the school. Really, how impersonal can you get? We will not be participating and it bugs me that they asked.
9. The word "binky" has not been uttered in this house in at least a week. She no longer brings it up or asks for it and has returned to being easy to put down for nap. Hallelujah!
10. Among other changes in the house, Ben set up a video game area downstairs. The boys are down there with him right now trying it out for the first time. Katie loves it because I cleared a space down there and brought in some of the outside riding toys. She has been so happy each time I go downstairs to do laundry because she gets to ride bikes. It is not a pretty basement, but it is space we'd be silly not to use.
11. Katie is obsessed with the "Dora's Christmas Carol" episode of Dora the Explorer that aired at the beginning of last week. She gets to watch a cartoon every afternoon and she has requested that particular episode every single day for the last ten days. She loves it. I love to hear her talk to the screen.
12. Gracie and Luke have been practicing Christmas carols on the piano and are excited to play them in Decatur at Christmas. Gracie is practicing "Silent Night" right now and it sounds so pretty, I just had to stop typing just to listen. Money spent on piano lessons is money well spent.
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