WIWS: Passion Sunday

Did you remember to reset your clocks today? Thanks be for automatically-resetting cell phones and their alarms!

Annie is VERY excited about the imminent blossoming of the clumps of daffodils around our house.

 After a week of glorious spring weather, Daylight Savings Time arrived cloudy and rainy. In our case, this was a boon because the kids actually SLEPT because their rooms didn't get that bright. Annie actually stayed in her own bed (and not relocated to ours) for the whole night (once we finally got her to stay in bed in the first place).

Our best shot this week. My dress: Merona; Jacket...Ummm, random brand. But it's knit! Like wearing a dressy sweatshirt for comfort. Annie's dress is Laura Ashley, Hugh's shirt is Old Navy and pants are GAP. With ALL 5 pockets (even tiny change one...why? I ask you? Ridiculous added bulk in kids clothes. I'm going to sew them closed and cut out the pockets.

Hugh gets an A- for mass behavior (not squirmy, but definitely quietly chatty when he knows better. I know it sounds ridiculous to expect silence from an 18 mo, but I know he can do it because he has done it before).
Annie gets a B+, for lots of squirminess and whining about being asked to behave. She was therefore denied fervent requests to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (which we really only do for special occasions, anyway), but she still got to make scones with me later.

And then refused to nap.

And somehow she's still running around like a crazed thing. She must be running on fumes, despite getting the (3rd? maybe?) full night's sleep in 2 months.

I'm kind of adamant about naps. People ask if you'd rather have a child who sleeps "late" (I don't know, maybe until after 7? 7:30? 8?) or a napper. I'd totally rather have a napper. For my sanity I need that afternoon break to either get stuff done, mindlessly scroll through blogs or wishful Pinterest projects, sew, read, watch Netflix, whatever. Even nap myself, sometimes, but that's rare because my the time I wind down and shut off my brain, someone wakes up within 15 minutes. So only if I'm sick or really dead tired does the nap happen for me. I'm planning on keeping kiddo naps going for as long as possible, and then mandatory quiet time in your room with books.

Passion Sunday, which means we are getting very close to Easter! How have your Lenten resolutions been going? One thing I've been really trying to stick to is getting in some time with scripture every morning while the kids eat breakfast (and I inhale a bowl of Cheerios because hello pregnancy low-blood-sugar-in-the-morning) - this has consisted of reeading through the Morning Prayer and mass readings for each day in my moms copy of the Magnificat publication, because she's not here to use it anyway ;) It's always interrupted, but at least I feel like I've started the day somewhat right, even if it's rough every minute after that. And especially if I do get us to daily mass, I'm usually trying to keep them both quiet and relatively still during the readings, so having read them beforehand really helps! The Morning Prayer section in the Magnificat is definitely an abbreviated version from the usual Breviary prayers, which I'd LOVE to do if I had enough minutes, but it's just enough for a mom of littles  - maybe when Annie's old enough to get everyone their own breakfast I'll actually get the entirety of morning prayer in again.

On a different note, all of us, except for Michael, have congestion, runny noses, slight coughs...I'm hoping it's all allergy related, and doesn't develop into anything worse. I've been upping my garlic intake and putting garlic oil on the kids' feet (with socks over) at night, hoping to stave off repeat ear infections and the like. We had weeks of nasty sickness this January-February, and I'm fervently praying we don't experience anything like that again for a very long time. But the boogies didn't hit us until Thursday/Friday, really, and we had some lovely time outside anyway!

Annie's latest favorite chalk activity is tracing over whatever we'll draw for her. Choo choo trains are a big hit right now, but not up close in real life. :)

Her concentration cracks me up!

This is his classic squat position. He's looking more like Michael now that he's acting so much more BOY and toddler-ish. No longer the baby!

Annie also turned 3 this week! More on that later, especially since we're not really having the celebration until my mom returns from her flight south for the winter. She gets back Wednesday, and  we're ALL so excited to have Gramma back in VA. :)

Hop on over to Rosie's to visit and/or link up with the other What I Wore Sunday ladies. Give them some comment love and support!