Monday Morning... I like it

Today is misty rainy.  And cooooold.  Abigail wore a hat jumping out of the car to get in her line at school today.  Burrrrrr...

I was thinking that today would be the perfect day to stay home and putter around my already clean house.  (isn't it the best when you house doesn't need to be CLEANED and you can 'play house' and move things around and ENJOY it?  That's my favorite!!!)  And probably why I love my new cleaning system.  We deep clean (spring clean) one big or two small rooms every single weekend.  We all get in there.  There seems to be a job for everybody.  Curtains come off and go in the wash.  Walls are scrubbed down. Light fixtures get taken off and washed in the kitchen sink. (suddenly the room is soooo much brighter)  If something needs 'attention' like a little paint here or there Scott is right on it!  Shower curtain gets replaced and the outer one is washed and hung back up.  The girls help me decide if we should change around something.  Take a picture down.  Put a different one up.  Move the soap here.  Put the cotton balls in a little china dish over there.  (see, playing house)

And then poof!  The room is deeeeep cleaned.  All I need to do is keep at it with 'light housework' as my Grandma used to call it.  Keep the sink wiped down with a clorox wipe, dust... just a bit of daily and it stays nice.

So now we finished our spring cleaned for the entire (it's not that big of a house, really) upstairs.  Our bedroom, our bathroom, the girls bedrooms, the hallway, and their bathroom.  Even Scott said on Saturday night (we live wild lives) "it DOES feel cleaner in here" as he helped squeeze toothpaste on Abigail's brush.

So yes, today I'd love to stay here and make a minestrone soup and putter around.  Maybe clean out the baskets and drawers of my desk down here in the playroom.  But off to two little schools I go. It's only fair, really.  Everyone else is already at their school.  It's my turn.  Sip the last of my tea, turn off this computer, change so I look like a teacher and gooooo.  I really don't mind at all.  I love what I do.  One milli-second when those little readers walk in, all is right with my day again. I know I just where I need to be.

And they'll be minestrone soup tonight, still, for sure.

(ribbons down, washed and drying) 




(took them all down and washed them in the kitchen sink with woolite)


(the girls bathroom is original to the house, built in the 1950's... it is quite charming... and really wittle) 


(I like little trays... Cath Kidston please.. with flowers anywhere I can fit them) 








(she wanted her soap ... bunny... to be able to see outside) 


So I wrote all of that in the morning. And now I'm home typing here in my jammies. I have to tell you that my day at my schools were so peachy. I walked into a balloon tied to my chair with a clue on it. So I was off on a scavenger hunt around the school looking for the little gift at the end. Oh what a fun was to start teaching on a Monday morning. What a wonderful principal I get to work with!

And one little boy that I used to work with was walking out down the hall trying to cover that he was crying. I felt so privileged that I got to be the one to talk to him and listen. To give him the reassurance and TLC he needed before walking back into class. I love children and I love what I do!

The 23rd and the 24th

April 23 and April 24 have nothing on the calendar.  Zero.  I am giddy about an wide open weekend.  Most of ours are wide open (with the exception of course for Mass) but I still love it anyway.   (I know I'm the only one that still uses a paper calendar on my desk... a big Susan Branch blotter one... with a pencil)

I stopped a the store on the way home from picking up the girls yesterday and bought a new pad.  I sat with post its, lists on my phone, and list in my head.  It felt soooo good to write it all out.  All of the things that must be done with a deadline and all of the things I'd like to get to some time.  I'm a list and relist maker.  

Our house is ready (not all the way spring cleaned but most of it) for a relaxing or list doing weekend.
I can not wait!

We've been tackling one room (or two small ones) per weekend for a deep clean.  I plan on slowly working our way through our house getting it all ready for summer.  And then I'll start again in the fall.  Sometimes I have to finish up little tasks that can't be done during the weekend when we deep clean.





I love ironing.  My grandmother loved ironing.  I'm so glad she passed that one to me.  It's a household task that feels so relaxing and satisfying to me.  I don't mind it at all.  My favorite time to iron is in the late afternoon.  When the girls are home.  And I'm 'home for the night', no programs/activities to drive them to.  I like when Abigail is on my bed reading.  (so I can pass on how lovely ironing can be when she has her own house someday)  In the spring I love to have the windows open if it's warm enough.  And to listen to the birds.  The best is when dinner is done and just simmering on the stove.  I iron, Anna's doing homework just down the hall in her room, and Abigail is reading right next to me.  We wait for the familiar sound of the garage door opening because that means daddy is home.





Happy last weekend in April friends.  Home and cozy or out and about make it a happy one!

Monday... before I forget

I am listening to On the Banks of Plum Creek right now.  (Unabridged audio of the book)  Anna is in bed with a fever that reached 104.6 today.  But right now it's down enough for her to feel like she wants to lie there with the adventures of Laura and Mary and their family. 



It really doesn't surprise me that she's so sick today. Yesterday looked like this after Mass.

Abigail sleeping in our bed with Anna at her side. She wouldn't go lie down without her sister so Anna spent the afternoon in our bed too reading and relaxing so her little sister could sleep.



But here are good things in our house today too. Two little girl bedrooms got all spring cleaned (music... except that this is not our cleaning music otherwise Scott would never last... ha!) this weekend. Ahhh, "I love spring cleaning" said Anna while we were knee deep in the middle of it. I do too. That hard scrubbing, window shining, curtain washing kind of day. Their bedrooms smell like fresh laundry and it feels good. We had touch up paint out, the vacuum, dusters, and garbage bags. My kind of Saturday



We have a lot of other rooms to go (two rooms per weekend is our game plan)

I keep track of all of it in my April folder. I love to take notes knowing what is a "must do" this year and what can wait for the fall.



Ready for too many pictures?  I love to take photos of their rooms when they're so clean and before they move all of their American girl and Bitty baby furniture back in. 

Spring sheets




Artwork we bought in China... orphanage


Spring blossoms


Fall school


Chinese New Year


Pen and Ink Drawings we got in China also






Grandpa painted the sky












and he painted the castle too










bunny themed










My grandma made this pillow loooong before Abigail was born












The dress she wore this Christmas that I can't seem to pack away And bookcase from my other grandmothers home












My treasures... signed by the authors & Eric Carle doesn't sign anymore


She wore that little jumper on her first Fathers Day






And this (SOLO) concert on Saturday evening was so wonderful. Anna played beautifully and we were all so nervous for her and proud of her. My palms were starting to sweat when there were just two more before her.









And I must get in from the end of the weekend their little Mercy Watson book club they were having.