I'm stealing from Naomi again

My friend Naomi did a cool post this morning, and I am stealing her idea. Thanks Naomi!

Outside my window...
It is a winter wonderland! Because of daylight savings, it's actually light out before 9 am, so I can see the trees and the ground, which are beautifully frosted with snow.

I am thankful for...
Do I get to list everything?? Highlights include Marina's road to success with potty training, the Christmas shopping I was able to get done yesterday sans children (thanks Aunt Robin and Uncle Gale for babysitting!!), and the fact that my sister is done with her jury duty. I missed her. Additionally, Megan--my wonder girl--just took Marina to the bathroom and helped her pee! Love that girl.

I am praying...
My daily prayers include the ability to be the Mom that my kids--all three of them!!--need. We've been having a couple stressful weeks around here...stomach flu and potty training and the general upheaval of having two strong willed kids in the house. I am hopeful and prayerful to develop the patience to raise them in love...and also to stress less about the house being clean and do fun things with them.

From my kitchen...
I love love love this time of year. Something about the snow on the ground makes me want to just bake and cook all the live long day. For the last two weeks, I've had whole chickens cooking all day long on Friday in the crock pot, and Saturday morning consists of picking the meat off the bones and cooking remainders into chicken broth. I'd been freezing it, and yesterday made a big pot of chicken noodle soup. Yummy yummy! I also found a recipe for buttermilk crescents that I tried for the first time, and really liked them. Chili and pumpkin rolls have also been produced as of late.

I am reading...
"Hiding in Plain Sight." I bought myself a Kindle not too long ago, and yesterday discovered that they have a list of the top 100 free Kindle downloads. I went a little nuts and got a dozen new books (for FREE!!), so that should keep me busy for awhile.

I am listening too...
The Messiah. I break it out every year around this time and listen to it until Christmas. It drives Dn. John batty after a few weeks, since he's not a big operatic guy to begin with, but the repetition on top of it makes him crazy. So, I try to have it on when he's at work and find something else when he comes home.

On schedule this week...
Uh....not much, and that's the way uh huh uh huh I like it! Our house is pretty messy, so I'll do my usually Monday cleaning, and I've got to do do laundry since Marina has peed on so much stuff. The girls have their tumbling class today, and other than Megan's preschool, the days will be wide open. We are having some friends over for dinner on Tuesday, and another set on Thursday, which I am looking forward to. Saturday is the St. John's Bazaar, so I'll be selling jam and bread there all day. I realize that this seems like a lot, but it's really not, compared to some other weeks we've had in the past! Next week will be a little crazier, since I've got my six month baby checkup (SIX MONTHS!!), and it's Megan's fourth birthday.