{pretty, funny, happy, real}

~Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

This has been a beautiful sight this week.  Ellie is very much interested in reading and excited to share it with everyone else!  The past two nights she has read to her brothers at night.  The girls have been a little slower in taking to reading, so the progress and confidence makes me smile :-)  Yay, Ellie!

{funny}

Tuesday was National Pancake Day, and you can bet we took advantage of the free short stack of pancakes per person offered at IHOP!  We were happy that schoolwork was finished early so we could make this little lunch outing.  This has been one of the few times I've taken them all to a sit-down restaurant without Steven.  And they did really well.  Thomas did try to jump over the back of the booth to get food from the people behind us, and once again food was placed at our table and then removed because it was the wrong table!  Sorry to the person who got child hand germs on their pancake!  Thomas also loves the little syrup pitcher (and any other similar things right now...Parmesan shaker, pepper grinder, etc), so we were both a sticky mess when we were finished. But oh those pancakes were GOOD!

{happy}

Mr. Bright Eyes ready to jump over the back of the couch!  I love that happy-twinkle-mischief grin!  Last night I heard water running and ran to the bathroom thinking he was playing in the sink.  I caught him just before he climbed into the bathtub with his clothes on!  If you mention the word "bath," he will run to the tub yelling and demanding to get in right that instant.  My favorite thing is when I come home from an errand or Zumba class, and his eyes light up and he yells "MOMmy!"  Then, he chases me down fussing until I will sit and nurse him.  I have to say that I still love the way he talks "Mommy" language.  All different tones and ways of saying Mommy/Mama to mean everything else.  You can see some of it in the video I just posted this afternoon.  I am happy being the primary word in his language :-)

{real}

I'm really proud of myself and how I've done well with cooking most of our meals and not eating out.  I made another Pinterest recipe last night, Pioneer Woman's Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta.  Yum.  And for the second night in a row, I served two veggies with dinner (well, one was spinach salad).  What a concept!  Trying to get more green into our diets, and the fresh carrots from Steven's co-worker were delicious.  The basil was from our plant.  We moved into a home with four established herb plants, awesome!