Daybook: November 29th, 2010

Outside My Window... Mid 40s. Not as warm as it was in Florida, but I'll take it in late November.

I am thinking... about Advent. This year, we are going to focus on activities and stories. And mostly free activities too.

I am thankful for... for families and friends. I've been bountifully blessed with much of both.

From the learning rooms... Back to schooling after a week off. The preschoolers will be studying about leaves, the letter J, and finishing up November activities. Jelly Bean and Super will be finishing up Marsupials and Japan in the Middle Ages.

From the kitchen... I'm going to finally can the tomato sauce this week. I pureed it way back in August/September and put it in the freezer, so now I'll just defrost it, boil it down by 50%, and then can it. I'll end up with about 12 quarts. I wish I had about twice that, but oh well.

I am going... nowhere today. It is nice to have nowhere to go. Vacation was great, but I'm ready to be back to calm, unscheduled days.

I am reading... A Year In Provence. I started it on the plane. I sat next to Super on the plane rides, and so I didn't get much reading in. (As Super said to the passenger that sat on his other side "I like to talk a lot." Uh, that's an understatement, dude.) But I am enjoying it so far, and now that I'm back to real life, I should be able to find time in the evenings for reading. Well, there is holiday gifts I have to do too, so maybe not as much reading time as I'd like.

I am hoping... that I make a lot of progress this week on holiday gifts.

I am hearing... Super reading out loud. He is making so much progress with reading lately. (Sorry about that little proud mama gush!)

Around the house... Getting back in the routine of cooking dinner for a couple of meals every day, and making yogurt and baking bread.

One of my favorite things... Seeing my kids faces when we told them that we were going to Disney World. We had told them that we were visiting their grandparents in Arizona, but in reality, the grandparents had paid for us to go to Disney World and Universal, plus they were meeting us there! We had a wonderful, wonderful time.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... I'm applying for a very part-time position as a GED instructor at our local community college this week, and I'm hopeful that I get it. Otherwise, we have some Christmas activities planned for this week including watching the Nutcracker and Christmas at the Courthouse.