A first of February daybook

Outside my windows- dark still, and very cold...single digit cold...several inches of ice and snow too.

I am hearing...silence. Jack and Tess woke up and then fell back asleep on the couch. Every so often I hear a car crunching and scraping by on our icy road.

I am thinking...no deep thoughts. I feel like all I ever blog anymore is these daybooks. Sorry about that. I'll get there again.

I am thankful for...my bed. We spent the weekend in Branson at a hotel. Nothing like a hotel to make you thankful for your own bed.

I am wearing...lovely olive green sweatpants and a pink pajama shirt. The sweatpants are over the pajama pants. I was cold.

We are currently reading...Kain and I have started By the Shores of Silver Lake. I was reading a 50 year old cookbook with Little House recipes that Maria found at the library. It was less an actual, usable cookbook (unless you really are interested in cooking a pig on a spit) and more just background information about the times that Laura and Almanzo lived in. Very interesting! Now I'm reading Engaging Autism, thanks Mary!

I am praying...prayers of thanks for a safe trip this past weekend. We definitely had one of those guardian angel moments where we came really close to an accident. The roads were pretty bad and we were probably pretty stupid to go, but we did, and we made it there and back safely.

Latest on the babies...We got Jack's evaluation appointment! Happy dance! Happy dance! It's for Feb. 18th. Tess's newest thing is naming body parts. She's been able to do a couple of them for a while now, but she's added considerably to her repertoire. She says "noe" (nose), "eye", "her" (hair), "er" (ear), "chee" (cheek), "ps" (lips), and "tee" (teeth). Little honey five is getting BIG. Have I said that before? Oh my goodness, I feel huge and breathless. He's stopped the actual kicking and has moved to squirmy, wiggle movements. I can often feel sharp little parts poking out. Makes me nervous. There's still several weeks to go, you know? Slow down, kid!

From the kitchen...Kain's birthday is on Tuesday. We celebrated in part this weekend with the Branson thing, but he will get his presents on Tuesday and he gets to pick dinner...homemade pizza and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I'm making some cupcakes to bring to day treatment.

Around the house...Hey! I actually made some great progress in the school room! I still have a ways to go, but I'll take what I can get.

In the learning room...Kain will be joining us today because day treatment has been snowed out. This will be interesting. All I really have for him is some math.

In the garden- The bird feeders are crazy busy. I got a new one for Christmas and attached it to my kitchen window. The others are hanging further outside the window. It's been great fun to work in the kitchen and watch the birds. We've got our usual chickadees and pair of cardinals, and the pesky starlings, but now we've also got some titmice, nuthatches, and even a woodpecker! Unfortunately, the cats discovered the new feeder while we were gone and have set up camp on the counter by the window, which is keeping the birds away somewhat. Grrr.

Plans for the rest of the week...the usual, or what doesn't get snowed out, plus Kain's birthday dinner. I hope (hope! hope!) to finish up the school room, as well as dig through a couple of piles elsewhere. I still have two more rooms to dejunk, as well as that durned living room to paint, before this baby comes!