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This is the view over my kitchen sink, which includes two new bamboo plants from Ikea. During the long months of winter, having some green living things in my home gives me hope for the future.

Seriously?

Snow. On April 24th. And it stuck!

I've been working on the season switch for the kids' clothing this week. Now that their drawers are full of shorts and teeshirts, it's fitting that the temperature would take another dip below freezing.

Utah weather. Craziness.....

In other news, we've been caring for the 2yo daughter of some friends whose newborn son is in the NICU. She's a sweet little thing, but after almost two weeks of having her here for most of the day, our 2yo little guy is feeling pretty out of sorts. Normally they get along well, but having her here this much is wearing on him, I think, and he's become clingy and cranky over the last day or so.

Or maybe he's just coming down with the same ear infection that's afflicted two of his siblings, so far.

In any case, he's been banished to his bed for an early nap. Hopefully he'll be happier when he gets up.

I spoke too soon

The weather today was bizarre. First it was overcast, then it was cold and cloudy. Next came the wind, and there were some serious gusts that whistled through the windows I had left open from yesterday's beautiful, mild weather. Then came the rain, then snow, and then hail. Hail! and Snow! On tax day, for pity's sake!

My friend's new baby boy is in the NICU. My 8yo daughter, the baby and I went to go visit them in the hospital tonight, only to find that their room was empty because my friend and her dh were down in the NICU visiting their baby. When my friend did come back to her room we talked and prayed together.

I'm so grateful that none of my children have ever needed advanced medical care. Even when our preemie suprise twins were born, their lungs were fine and they were able to room in with me from the beginning. Aside from some difficulty maintaining their body temp, which we helped along by wrapping them in three receiving blankets each, they were remarkably unaffected by their early entry into the world.

Sobering, to see how quickly my plans and assumptions must be set aside.

School catch-up

Winter is still here, despite the calendar telling us Spring began last week. Another storm last night covered the ground in snow. The kitties were offended by having wet paws when they went outside this morning, and quickly shook them off when they came back inside.

School isn't getting done today. We managed Bible and English, and I think we'll at least get Spelling done once the little guys go down for their afternoon naps. I'm already planning on Saturday being a catch-up day, to make up for our abbreviated day on Tuesday with the unexpected doctor's office visit and emergency room run. So far it looks like we'll have one lesson each of English and Spelling, and two lessons of Math and History. I may try to do two Math lessons tomorrow, so Saturday is less stressful.

Since we've made the change in homeschooling curriculum to Bob Jones textbooks with the lessons taught on video, our three bigs have made huge strides in their learning. They are all now reading, with a lot of hesitancy, but definitely decoding the words in the stories in their readers and understanding the meaning.

Today's reader story was the first time I've seen my 8yodd read with confidence. The story had a fair amount of repetition, and once she read through the beginning section she was able to continue on with almost no help from me. This was wonderful to see. My 8yodd often struggles with recognizing that she's read a word before, even if it was in the previous sentence. Listening to her read through today's short story without hesitancy was a beautiful thing.

Black Sunday

Fifteen years ago or so, a good friend of mine dubbed Palm Sunday "Black Sunday" because of the lousy run we'd had for a couple of years on that particular day.

Today was not on the same level as some of those truly terrible days, but it wasn't easy, either. Between the two littlest having rotten colds and dh needing to put in some overtime, we decided to skip church today. That always starts our week out wrong--the whole week just seems off kilter.

And we're in the midst of so many things right now, stressful and joyless, that I wonder sometimes if we're in a permanent state instead of a season.

To top it all off, it snowed again last night. Winter doesn't want to let go of us, this year.

Right now, I am focusing on the good things: I'm so grateful that my children are safe and, beyond a case of the sniffles, healthy. Dh's job is a blessing, an affirmation once again that God loves us and provides for our needs. I've been in closer contact with my extended family over the last couple of months, and once again I've been reminded of how blessed I am to be a part of my large, loud, grace-filled but snarky, and even sometimes cranky family.

As winter holds on I'm looking forward to next Sunday, and Easter, and the reason for my hope.

Looking ahead

Today's grocery shopping trip resulted in a bit of an impulse buy, a fistful of hope in the midst of winter. Aren't those colors beautiful?

We have been planning on putting in a garden this year. The previous owners had a garden in the side yard, and with our houseful of veggie-lovers, a garden is a necessity. We've had to forgo planting a garden for the last several years that we were living in a rental, and last year my pregnancy kept me low-energy, so we didn't have one even though we now own again.

Our house in Oregon came with several raised beds, and included mature raspberry canes, current bushes, and a rhubarb patch. We really enjoyed having our very own tomatoes and carrots, peppers and carrots.

This year I'm planning on checking out the book Square Foot Gardening and following the author's plan for compactly using our garden space. I'm by no means an expert, and this will be my first year gardening in Utah, so I want as much advice as I can get. I wonder if there's a county extension service in Salt Lake County? Hmmmm....

Today's purchases included two varieties each of beans and peas, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, summer squash (yellow and zucchini), radishes, green onion, a lettuce sampler, cherry and slicing tomatoes. This will be my first time starting my own tomatoes, and I'm excited to try it.

Mostly, though, I'm excited to remember that Spring is on its way, and that by gardening, I get to participate in the new life of the season.

Last Saturday--not spring yet

Any minute now, we'll be breaking out the Slip 'N' Slide

When we drove by a reader board today, the temp was 54 degrees.

Never mind the piles of dingy gray snow; winter is nearly over!

This has been such a difficult season for me. Between health issues, ongoing stress regarding dh's work and our finances, and having a new little baby, I was already maxed out. But when dh needed to drive my (all-wheel drive and snow tires) van to work each day, leaving me housebound, I started going just a little nuts.

For most of the months of December, January, and February, the only time I left the house was to go to church on Sundays. And making friends has been a slow process since moving to Utah; I only have two girlfriends I get together with, and they both work. So my days have been long and lonely.

Being cooped up alone for weeks on end in a house with six small children is not so good for one's sanity. I'm just sayin'.

So it was with excitement bordering on giddiness that we went out! Today! To the post office! Having a vehicle once again at my disposal is enough to cause the invention of any number of errands, just to get outside our four walls. The necessity of spending most of our day engaged in school and household tasks keeps me honest, though, and today's errand really was important: posting a birthday card to my brother and seven books for PaperBackSwap.

We've almost forgotten the ordinary pleasure of leaving our home and seeing the world. Even the post office is exciting when we haven't been there for two months, and our outing was an unqualified, if noisy, success.

Now that the snow is melting I am anticipating starting to take a daily walk to one of our nearby parks. And hopefully spring will bring some new friendships, too.

Post-holiday find

Finished the grocery shopping today, and picked up a little Valentine's gift pack of Starbucks goodies at 50% off regular price. Since their prices are normally grossly inflated, I figure the $7.50 I spent on a mug, five tea bags, a cocoa packet, some ground coffee, and a little storage box was just about right.

I'm not a diehard Starbucks patron. My favorite coffee place is probably Coffee People, a Portland area store that makes great coffee and includes a chocolate covered esspresso bean with every order, a nice touch.

I do love Starbucks' version of chai, though, probably better than anywhere else I've tried. When fall rolls around, the sweet, almost pumpkin-pie scent of chai is what signals that it's once again my favorite time of year. And through this long, grey, snowed-in year, chai tea has been a real comfort.

Of course, I can't afford Starbuck's exhorbitant prices more than once or twice a month, at most. And since my days are usually spent at home, I've had to come up with my own version of chai, to get me through the long house-bound days. On a dark February day, I can drink an entire teapot myself.

My Chai

Brew three bags of Tazo Chai tea in a full eight cup teapot. Pour into teacup or mug, about 3/4 of the cup's worth. Add two packets of Splenda and top off the mug with 2% milk. When you've been house-bound for three days or longer, use half and half. If it's been five days or more, break out the cream.

Enjoy. Best drunk while the kids are happily occupied elsewhere in the house, but is good even in the midst of chaos.

Hope realized, with meatballs

This weekend marked my first visit ever to Ikea. I've spent years drooling over the catalog, and then counted down the months until the new local store's construction would be complete last year. After waiting so long, I was almost afraid that the actual experience would be a let down. But it was even better than I had anticipated: inexpensive, practical, colorful, and stylish--the perfect store.

Since my 7yo daughter becomes my 8yo daughter tomorrow, many of my purchases were for her birthday: a colorful hearts comforter cover, a piggy bank, assorted small toys, and a pink and purple assortment of small storage boxes for her treasures. I picked up some white curtains for her at another store, along with some purple ribbon to stitch along the bottom. It doesn't look like we're going to get her room painted, as we had planned, but we can at least make it pretty for her.

My other Ikea purchases were all problem-solvers: an apple cutter, to replace the one that vanished; a tea ball for my solitary morning cuppa; a magazine rack to corral the growing pile of PC Magazines dh brings into the bathroom.

Oh, and the green plants at the top of this post, bought despite my proven black thumb. Winter has been particularly difficult this year, and I'm more than a little cabin fevered. They are on my kitchen window sill, and promise that despite the white and grey outside my window, Spring will be here soon.