What I Wore Sunday

I'm joining Fine Linen and Purple again because my ego enjoyed the boost last week! It was my most commented post in a very long time, and yall were so sweet! 

This weekend Will and I were visiting my parents while Brian was at his Coast Guard drill weekend, so we went to Mass at the church I grew up at, St. Laurence. It has gotten to be huge, and so beautiful! The pastor, Fr. Drew, is who married us. He was the priest there when I was in high school and was very influential in my faith formation. I love him. He didn't say Mass today though, because he's not an early bird, and Will and my parents are so we went at 7:30 am. I get the very best behavior out of Will if we can go to the earliest Mass possible. He was outstanding today! I couldn't ask for more out of a 1 1/2 year old! He was quiet, stayed in the pew, looked at his little Bible and books, only threw his St. William stuffie once or twice, and only proclaimed POO until I took him to the bathroom where he actually used it! Oh Will, you make a Momma so proud!

So you came by for the clothes. Here's what I wore, nothing fancy but I was comfortable enough to stay in it all day and drive us home. There's something to be said for that. I couldn't decide if I liked tucked or untucked better. I went with untucked, and only one button unbuttoned on top, mom was pushing for two. 

 
Top: Mudd from Kohl's. It has lace across the shoulders in the back. I should have gotten a detail pic of that.
Skirt: Stein Mart, over 5 years old
Wedges: Katie and Kelly from DSW

It's still 80+ here but I think we'll be cooling off Tuesday. Maybe I'll actually get to wear a sweater or something next week.   v

Menu Plan Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday
Snack - bagel flats with peanut butter
Dinner - Chicken Enchilada Salad
Dessert - election cake but it's entirely possible I'm going to get lazy and make election day boxed brownies.
to do: make enchilada sauce, boil eggs left from last week, pick up milk and eggs, prep clafouti

Wednesday
Breakfast - apple clafouti
Lunch - celery with peanut butter and raisins, hard boiled eggs, raw cheese slices
Snack - cottage cheese and blackberries
Dinner - Sausage Potato Casserole (Brian's specialty from college. He's cooking) and roasted okra
to do: thaw stew meat, pick up CSA veggies

Thursday
Breakfast - scrambled eggs and sourdough toast
Lunch - leftover dirty rice
Snack - grape kefir smoothies
Dinner - crockpot beef stew, fresh green beans and mushrooms
to do: soak oatmeal

Friday
Breakfast - soaked banana oatmeal

We're all heading out this weekend. Brian to drill in Port A, and Will and I to visit my parents. So it's a short, easy week.

Last Night

Oh. Last Night! Last night counted among the top 5 worst nights in my life, certainly in Will's life. Brian blames the time change. I blame a crazy shift in the magnetic pull of the earth that made my body ache in terrible and inexplicable ways, and my son to flip his *shift* into crazy baby mode. No one slept more than a wink at a time. Will thought the world was coming to an end the moment my boob left his mouth and signed more like the universe depended on it all. night. long. Highlights include

Oh! That cup! No that's not where it goes.

• my day (night?) dreaming scary scenes where chicken eggs cracked into a pan were human babies with names. That was around 11 pm
• Will and I going downstairs to give daddy a chance to sleep and watching Micky on the couch. I thought he'd drift off to sleep watching. That's what I did. He watched the whole episode then screamed and woke me up as soon as it ended. That was around 12:30 am
• Brian drove him to the lake house and back during which he fell asleep but immediately upon arriving home popped back up to squeal for more na na (nurse). That was at 2:20 am
• Brian and I held an incoherent argument about Will's cup that went something like "where's his cup?" "which cup?" "WHICH cup, are you serious?" "yes which cup are you looking for?" "any cup" and on like that for several minutes followed by a slammed door after which Brian ostensibly went looking for the cup in the cars. about 3:00 am
• My warning Will that his momma is the biggest proponent of nursing and bed sharing that he's ever met, but his behavior was making me think bottles and cribs sound like superb ideas. 

The hellish and ridiculous night ended with us all getting out of bed around 5:30 while Will hollered No repeatedly. 

This to say that I didn't really feel up to making a weekly meal plan today. I'm pushing it off till tomorrow and we're having leftovers tonight. I'd better get to it tomorrow or else the whole week will run kind of like last night did. Plus depressing meals of sandwiches and canned things. 

The bright side? That's easy. I'm recounting one of the worst nights in my life and it boils down to a little sleeplessness and silliness. All the members of my family are healthy and not facing danger. My husband is at his nice job, drowsy, but employed. The biggest decision I faced today was whether to go to boot camp and Kindermusik. We decided no to boot camp, yes to Kindermusik and I'm pleased with that choice. I am one blessed woman, wouldn't you say? I just hope this is a really really good nap!

What I Wore Sunday

Last week I saw a couple of the bloggers I read link up with Fine Linen and Purple for a What I Wore Sunday linkup. The idea is to share examples of pretty, modest outfits for Mass on Sunday. I participated in a couple What I Wore Wednesdays way back when but felt silly self-photographing every day. Once a week is completely and totally different! 

Dress: Ann Taylor
Shoes: Steve Madden
Bracelets: gift with purchase from one of the jewelry stores in the mall. Given to me by my mother in law
Earrings: Robbins Brothers pearls. Given to me by my parents
Necklace unseen: a booth at the farmers market

Will's outfit is Baby Gap and Cherokee by way of the St. Vincent De Paul thrift store at church.

I've been wearing this dress on days I want to feel confident for the past 6 years. Presentations in college, parent-teacher night, etc. Today, knowing that I was going to blog it, I felt compelled to jazz it up a little. I wished for one of those cute crocheted flowers to pin on, or a scarf. I considered switching out the sash for a  more stylish belt (as if I had one.) I decided since the point was to wear something pretty and modest to Mass that I should just keep it as is, so I slid on the bracelets and called it good. The bracelets served as toddler distractions anyway, double plus!
Although I spent a pretty fair amount of time in the grotto, thanks to Will announcing POO repeatedly and several logical and illogical NOs, I was able to stay in for the whole homily which I appreciated so much! Deacon John spoke about American Exceptionalism in the "city on a hill" model. He compared Americans' current disregard for the warnings of the founding fathers, our constitution and Declaration of Independence to the Israelites ignoring Moses's admonitions and the law of God. Catholics don't clap, as a general rule, but there were strong applause when he finished. Hopefully people didn't take my walking out with Will in tow as a rebellion, hah. In this election cycle, maybe more than any other, Catholics and Christians have to stand up for life and freedom of religion! If we had all along I don't think there's any chance one party could have gone so far in disrespecting it. The other party isn't perfect either, but it's a very very clear and easy choice for me. So the rest of Sunday I'm wearing my red Mitt Romney t-shirt. It's pretty likely I'll have it on tomorrow and the next day too. I'd ask my husband to take a picture of me in it, but he's being extremely generous and shampooing my car seats right now, after repairing the carpet steam cleaner, so that might be a little much to ask. I think I'll go help out.

Hop over, and get some ideas for next week, if you're running out.

7 Quick Takes

 1. Last weekend we went to the restaurant of a friend of mine, Avocado Cafe, in San Antonio for a Halloween party. We were hemming and hawing over whether to go, but decided we should because, 1) though late, Will always turns on the charm for a party and we'd probably have a good time, and 2) we could bring our own pumpkins and get her place messy carving them up and not mess ours up! Here's my hubby carving his spooky spiders into his Jack O Lantern and Will the assistant.

2. Brian loaded Will in the car and I brought myself and the puppy ears and we headed out. It's about a 45 minute drive. When we got to the parking lot we had a few rounds of "but I thought you had it" before we realized that the rest of the puppy costume was left home. That's how William got entered into the costume contest with dog ears and an airplane shirt (new from Grammy!) turned around backwards. He got second place to "the abominable snow girl." Uh huh, I wanted that gift card!

 

3. Tuesday we headed over to the library for the costume parade and story time. Will is sort of stuck between ages at the library. When we go to the rhyme time for babies, all the kids are sitting passively in their mother's lap listening to Miss Jenny read. My kid is running from the door to the easel banging on the windows as he goes. So I take him to the story time for preschoolers and they inspire him to behave himself mostly, but most of the activities go right over his head. Here he is trying to use the computers after I had completely offended some kind and modest mother who doesn't celebrate Halloween. 

4. The next day we had big plans for Trick or Treating, but they came crashing down around us when Will started throwing up every 1-2 hours starting at 3:00. I'm pretty sure statistics would back me up that kids are more likely to get sick on a holiday and miss out on all the fun than any other day of the year. I know the sickest times I remember were Christmas Eve, one Easter morning and a birthday. This is his first stomach bug, and calling it the 24-hour bug doesn't mean you're home free the next day. After a 14 hour stretch he threw up this afternoon too, poor thing, and is now running a low fever. The car seat and couch cushion covers, every beach towel we own and too many of my shirts have kept the washer running for the past 48. No photo evidence of his second Halloween.

5. Bound and determined to squeeze a little more life out of this costume, I fashioned a paper towel roll and tissue paper torch and let Will represent St. Dominic for All Saints Day. 

From here

You see the resemblance, right? 

6. Today starts the first day of Wurstfest, a 10 day salute to sausage, my German town's crowning celebration. Its the time of year I tout of my 1/16 German heritage and drink all the beer and eat all the sausage and funnel cakes I can along with the rest of the Krauts around here! We were supposed to be there tonight, but what, with Will's belly messing everything up, my big outing of the last two days was a family trip to the grocery store, with one pullover to make sure the baby wasn't about to throw up in the car seat again. That happened, oh yes it did. I can't believe how much it revived me though! From gloomy cabin fever before the trip, to singing through bath time after. I clearly needed out! Sick kid or not, I'll be at Wurstfest tomorrow, volunteering at the fried pickle booth with the New Braunfels Republican Women. I hope my Mitt Romney shirt makes it here on time! 

7. I know you're wishing for just one more darling picture of my boy in his puppy costume. Ok, I'll oblige. 

 I asked a couple of times if I made it myself. Cough cough. Well no. In fact, you might recognize it from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I'll have you know I bought it for $10 at a children's resale shop and am quite pleased with myself for the find. Willie worked on his vruff, and learned how to pant to really sell it. I mentioned to Brian that I ought to sell it back to the same shop and he said no way, we're going to be like all our facebook friends whose older child calls the Halloween shots and little sibling gets stuck being the prop costume. Think football player and ball, Angry Bird and golden egg. Oh those were your kids? Oops. Anyway, we're waiting now for when Will wants to be the fireman and his little brother or sister gets stuck being the Dalmatian. It'll be adorable!

Go see Jen for more Quick Takes.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday 
Breakfast - Soaked oatmeal, strawberries
Lunch - out. My parents are in town
Snack - veggies and hummus
Dinner - Turkey tetrazzini that didn't happen this weekend because we were all too full, salad
To Do: thaw Ham

Tuesday
Breakfast - Scrambled eggs and bacon
Lunch - celery with almond butter and raisins, apples and cheese slices
Snack - Seasoned Popcorn
Dinner - Ham, macaroni and cheese (real food makeover), spinach
To do: boil whatever eggs are left after breakfast from last week, bake bread. Pick up eggs and milk.

Wednesday
Breakfast - kefir smoothies and toast
Lunch - ham sandwiches
Snack - Hard boiled eggs
Dinner - Turkey Pumpkin Chili with all the fixins
to do: pick up CSA box

Thursday
Breakfast - toe in the holes, grapefruit
Lunch - leftovers
Snack - Perfectly Frothy Hot Cocoa
Dinner - Ham and Butternut Squash spaghetti, salad
to do: soak quinoa

Friday
Breakfast - Bagels and cream cheese
Lunch - Roasted Eggplant with feta
Snack - veggies and homemade ranch dip
Dinner - Mushroom Quinoa Casserole
to do: thaw dirty rice ingredients, soak rice, prep french toast

Saturday
 Breakfast - Pumpkin french toast
Lunch  - We're going to Wurstfest so lunch will end up being something delicious and German!
Dinner - Dirty Rice

C Week Report

Will and I have started enjoying some early efforts at home education lately. Yes, he's only 18 months. No, I'm not pushing him too hard or expecting too much from him. I don't think we'll formally do school, whether that takes place at home or away until 1st grade anyway. But why not get our feet wet, have a little bit of intentional learning play, and vary our days at home together by following an alphabet path that exposes him to many different areas of interest and skills.
We started with A week about 6 weeks ago when we focused on apples and applesauce mostly, with a little acorn investigation tossed in. B week brought with it talks of birds, bears, bugs, we baked bread, and played ball. By the time we got to C week (really 2 weeks for each), I felt pretty good about what we were doing so I figured I should take a few pics and record some of our most successful activities and our favorite books.
I was initially inspired by Elizabeth Foss and her Along the Alphabet Path. I've been reading her site for years and wishing I had someone to learn with, but the fairy stories don't resonate with me much and of course Will wouldn't really get them at this point, but her book recommendations are top notch, and I love the inclusion of saints stories, and the picture studies. She links to Starry Sky Ranch who hosts Friday Fun School, with more ideas for the little ones. Both of them have been doing this for a long time. Probably next year or the year after we could really do a lot of the learning activities she posts, but for now it's all about exposure for us. Certainly Pinterest is always a source of inspiration as well.

Virtue of the Week - Compassion
Saints of the Week - St. Christopher and St. Cecilia
Shape of the Week - Circle

Comparing, Contrasting and Counting Coins really got the alliteration in with that one, eh?
Fine Motor Skills, Math

Momma cleaned out her purse and donated all the coins at the bottom, about $7 worth, to this activity. My first responsibility was making sure none of them went near his mouth, nose, or ears. Beyond that, I narrated his play with them, talking about their relative size, colors, and value. I sorted them into different combinations of $.50, which is what caps were going for in one of our favorite books this week, Caps for Sale. I also prompted him to make judgments with which one is bigger? which one is silver? which pile has more? etc. The part he enjoyed the most though was dropping the coins into his Tiffany's elephant bank. He worked through that pile of coins, while I counted, in record time. When he was done he signed more, more. Don't we all want more, Will? Don't we all?

Fall Collage

Art, Nature Study, Sensory Play

We took a walk around our neighborhood and collected as many different types of leaves and flowers and berries as we could find. The highlight of our gatherings was a fallen Monarch butterfly. Whenever I was able I told him the names of things, and we talked about their texture, sizes and colors a lot. Coming home, he took a nap and I set this up to make a collage out of our collection. 

I had lofty ideas about how I'd put another piece of contact paper on the other side, and we'd incorporate our art into our fall decorations for the next couple months. I've read enough parenting blogs to know that the projects never turn out as perfect as you imagine, but somewhere along the way the learning and memories that are made are more than you could hope for. So in that spirit, here is our imperfect collage in progress. 

Note: it was not saved. Will wadded up one side and I took down the other a little later.  

 I think he got a lot of experience with texture, especially sticky. And enjoyed seeing all the leaves and things close up. The berries stuck a lot better than I predicted, and the fall leaves did a lot worse.






Cookies!
umm, Home Ec?

We worked on the sign for cookie, which he had used before, but sporadically. I think today he actually said cookie. The Kindermusik curriculum we're enjoying now is Milk and Cookies, so we had a couple books about cookies from there that we read as well as a couple from the library. Together, we baked Pumpkin Kiss Cookies which I think are just about the healthiest cookies to ever go by that name. Will helped pour and stir, continually identified the oven as HOT!, and greatly enjoyed eating them! We watched C is for Cookie courtesy of the Cookie Monster himself and sang and signed along.

Aditionally, We've been making a letter on cardstock each week and this time I made a capital C, coated it in glue and let Will pour cornmeal on it. It had the effect of being very similar to sandpaper Montessori letters. It hung on the fridge all week except when we practiced clipping clothespins on and off the card. He doesn't quite have the hang of it yet, but thinks its hilarious when I clip clothespins on him.
We also colored with crayons and chalk.

Favorite Books

Caps for Sale Will enjoyed imitating the monkeys who were imitating the peddler.
The Carrot Seed We read this repeatedly during snacks of carrots and hummus
Cookies: Bite Sized Life Lessons loved the extended metaphor for virtues with cookie examples
The Hungry Caterpillar we had a caterpillar caught in a jar which we observed for a couple days then released before we went to Corpus last weekend. Wish I had a picture. I considered a caterpillar craft but decided they were all over Will's head.
In Loyola Kids Book of Saints we read the story of St. Christopher. I also told the story of St. Cecilia, my patron.


I have all my books reserved at the library for the start of D week next week. It should be fun!