Starbucks

The Time Between

We’re in the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it’s always a happy haze of playing, organizing, and planning for the year ahead.

Monday was a fairly normal day around the Zottola Zoo. Jimmy worked, I worked, homeschooled Sadie, and us girls went on a coffee and cake pop date 🙂

Mom and toddler with Starbucks

Toddler sitting in back of car with milk

We may not be able to go in coffee shops to hang out, but we can still have special time together in the parking lot. These little moments are my favorite ❤

I started a new Bible study on the book of Hebrews and it’s proving to be very enlightening. Hebrews is one of those books that’s deep and sometimes hard for me to grasp everything going on in it, so I’m excited to be learning more.

I met the author of the study when he visited our church for a revival, so it’s kind of neat to know a bit of his personality and see it come through in his writing.

Hebrews Bible study book and commentary by Jason Cole

Sadie and I have been doing lots of playing so far this week. She was gifted some really fun toys for Christmas. Not going to lie, I’m having just as much fun as her with all the toys 😉

Homeschool has been happening this week because some sense of normalcy is nice! Yesterday Sadie learned about the letter “J” and painted a jaguar.

Abeka homeschool

Another thing that’s been happening this week for me is learning about essential oils. Ever since the melatonin incident, I’ve been so thankful that what she and Niva got into was a natural product and not something super dangerous.

I want to try and have all of our household products (like cleaning, medication, laundry, etc.) be as non-toxic as possible, so I’m working on learning more about essential oils and the role they can play in that!

Also of note: I ordered my 2021 planner and got it in the mail yesterday! Does anyone else just love a fresh new planner? This will be my second year using this planner. I really like that it has a pocket, tear-out shopping lists, and budgeting pages.

How do you feel about the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day?

Another Day, Another…

Another day, another car picnic in the Starbucks parking lot with Sadie girl.

Toddler in back of car

This time she had vanilla milk and Nutri-grain bars. I had my usual blonde roast with cream 🙂

Another day, another quote from the Bible study book I’m working my way through on the topic of contentment.

Quote on contentment by Patsy Clairmont

The fact that we should accept and expect deserts in our spiritual journey as surely as we do joy really hit home for me. When we don’t expect life to be perfect all the time, we’re less likely to experience “whiplash” every time we’re going through a challenging situation.

Another day, another craft.

Thanksgiving turkey headband craft for toddler

We worked on a turkey headband during homeschool the day before Thanksgiving and talked about birds!

Funny side note: when I ask Sadie what noise an owl makes, she say “awooo, awooo” and it sounds like a wolf howl. That also reminds me that anytime she sees a picture of a wolf she says “Na Na” which is what she calls Niva, lol.

Another day, another visit to see Jimmy at work.

Toddler at work desk

We feel so, so blessed that we’re able to pop in and see him (and my father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and cousin) anytime. It definitely breaks up the day and Sadie likes to talk on the intercom.

Tell me about pictures you could (or do!) take a lot!