Nicole's Daybook

Outside my window... It's muggy humid, and overcast.

I am thinking... about how great it felt to run this morning. I haven't done it in a long time and it felt good!

I am thankful ... for the great weekend we had.

I am wearing... new workout clothes, courtesy of my sweet husband.

I am planning... to get my little kiddos signed up for the Summer Reading Program at our library.

I am creating... pockets of reorganization. I got the playroom and t.v. room upstairs done this weekend. It looks so good and feels great to have some order back up there. Now I'm moving on to my side of the office.

I am going... to really enjoy listening to Joyce Meyer on my iPod (Rick's old iPhone) in the mornings when I run. I found myself not even realizing how much pain I was in because I was listening to her. Good message, too.

I am reading...  Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers, Season's of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson (homeschool play group moms book study), What Your Second Grader Needs to Know by The Core Knowledge Foundation, and More Faith in My Day by Emilie Barnes (daily devotional).

I am hoping... for a great summer just enjoying Rick and the kids.

From the learning rooms... Eli and Brynne will be starting their summer reading assignments today. They will read one phonetic page, read a Saxon reader, and 10 minutes of silent reading out of a book of their choice. We will start our unit on China in a week or two.

Noticing that ... I feel so refreshed and renewed this morning. I don't know if it's because it's the start of something new (summer break) or that I got my upstairs cleaned and organized this weekend or that I got some new clothes or that I was in bed at 7:30 last night. Could be a combination of it all.

From the kitchen... Tuesday ~ Grilled sliders and fries; Wednesday ~ Rick and I are going out, kids are fending for themselves; Thursday ~ Grilled salmon patties and long grain rice, fish sticks for the kids; Friday ~ Ham and swiss stromboli; Saturday ~ Easy chicken cordon bleu and chips; Sunday ~ Slow cooker BBQ chicken and pasta

Around the house... the NOW toy box system is working great! I have had so much less toy clutter around and everything easily goes back into one box when the day is done.

One of my favorite things... The peace and quiet of morning with me sitting in my favorite chair drinking my coffee and blogging, with Eli snuggled on the couch still trying to wake up and Crusoe resting next to him after our run, and everybody else still asleep or off to work.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Today we are going to go to the library and I am going to clean the downstairs of our house. Tomorrow we are having our homeschool play group over for a craft and play time. Then Rick and I are going out to dinner and to see "Bridesmaids". On Friday we are going to play at the skateboard park with our whole homeschool coop. Rick's playing golf on Saturday. The rest of the week holds no plans, which is just how everybody likes it. Kyndal works Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

From my picture journal.

The trash that didn't go to a landfill from JUST OUR HOUSE in JUST ONE WEEK! Is that astonishing to anyone else? It causes me to think ... take that times about 30,000 people in just our town alone times 52 weeks a year. Wow. I can't believe that for 10 years I didn't know our city had a recycling center that is very well organized and free. It's right near our library, so once a week we hit both. We are certainly late jumping on the recycling band wagon, but we are on it.

Lots of women Daybook. See what they have to say at The Simple Woman's Daybook.