Friday, March 30, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday: St. Joseph is not a Leprechaun and More

(1)
The kiddos have been on a roll these days with the saying of the things that make no sense or make us laugh.  Usually both.  For example, on Thursday afternoon as I leaned over the dining room table to clean a spot on the other side, Cecilia ran up behind me and started tugging at my jeans, cheering gleefully...

"Booty-wicious!  Booty-wicious!"



Sorry y'all.  I got this mom-of-the-year thing IN. THE. BAG.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pretty stuff and a Big ol' belly { p. h. f. r. }

Life is pretty great right now.  Lent is almost over.  The sun is shining.  Hubby is loving working with friends.  Tuesday the little one turned 2 and today the eldest turns 11.  The big girls are pushing each other on the tire swing.  Savor it, friends!

{pretty}

Sweet apple blossoms, the most delicious shade of pink.



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cecilia! { a birth story }

Ah, my sweet Cecilia.  She is so fun.  And crazy.  And talkative.  And now....she's TWO.  Happy birthday, Ceci!
As I am wont to do on my children's birthdays, I'm posting her birth story for your (lengthy) enjoyment.  And while this is probably not the most graphic birth story you'll ever read, it's no funny restaurant review or what the kids are saying kind of post, either. Consider yourself warned.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

When not to Suffer in Silence

The other day my two eldest girls had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fight.  It was awful.  The kind of fight that makes you wonder what kind of derelict mother is raising them and/or pray that they have no younger siblings to ruin with their atrocious examples of behavior.

Ahem.

I don't remember what it was about anymore.  They barely remembered what it was about halfway through their brawl.  And a brawl it was.

"She said this and then I did this and then she responded with this and....blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."  The part that struck me, and stuck with me, is that the younger one, who is smaller and not as strong, was apparently doing something to the elder one, who is much larger and stronger, "for a really long time" and it "really hurt" and she "wouldn't stop."

And besides worrying for the fate of their immortal souls and praying for the Holy Spirit to intervene and somehow take control of the situation for me, all I could think was "If it really hurt so badly, why did you let her keep doing it?"

Click here to read the rest...

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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Third Trimester. Can I get a....

(What, what!)

Why, hello 3rd trimester!  It sure is nice of you to finally stop by and pay a visit.  I mean, you know I've been pregnant for, like, 19 months already, right?  So inconsiderate.

Anyway, here's the deal.  I am super short waisted.  We're talkin' 2" from my hip bone to my bottom rib.  Also, I've gained approximately a whole pound per week since the beginning of my pregnancy.  So of course, I have a torpedo belly.  And not a torpedo booty.  For the booty, let's go with marshmallow.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

It's Here! Spring is really Here! {p.h.f.r}

If you were here with me now, we'd be sharing this loaf of banana bread.  You'd hear the Canadian geese announcing their arrival as they swoop down in pairs onto our pond.  The morning song birds are singing.  Dew covers the grass.  We're getting a late start today, but that's okay.  I mean, you're hereAnd we are sharing this banana bread, after all

Yes, everything you've heard is true.  Spring has definitely arrived in the midwest!

{pretty}
I adore the way maple leaves begin, red and filled with potential.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

To Curriculum or Not to Curriculum (is not really my question)

Less than a year ago, I made The Big Announcement.  And I called it that because it was a Big Decision for all of us.  Some people know they're going to homeschool before they even have children to school.  I'm not one of those people.  Nothing in my life has ever been that way- that I know what I'm going to do and it actually works out that way.  Pffffft!  No.  I spend 79% of my life thanking God for unanswered prayers, that's what I do.

So now we're starting the third trimester.  And I'll be starting the my third trimester.  And I'm getting nervous about next year.  I mean, really?  Homeschooling a 6th grader, a 5th grader, and a kindergartner while corralling a 2 year old with a newborn strapped to my chest?  Isn't that the name of some new Fear Factor-esque reality show?

Monday, March 19, 2012

A Balloon Could Save a Life

The thing about getting to know your parish community is that your parish community knows you.  They pray for you and ask how you're doing with this-and-that project and come up with ideas for you when you hit sticky spots in your life.  But when it's time for the 40 Days for Life campaign, they also insist that you volunteer to participate once a week in the peaceful prayer vigil outside of Planned Parenthood, especially if you work from home.  And when I say "but" it's not because this is not a most worthy cause.  No.  I say "but" because it requires that we be a little extra selfless which is, you know, not usually that much fun.

Here's the truth: my husband didn't want to say yes.  Click here to read about how he did it anyway, and how that decision probably saved a person's life.


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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Dear Internet, I guess we're on a break...

A few weeks ago, when I promised to celebrate Lent with a "yes", I didn't really...well, I kind of didn't expect that it would mean something so harrowing, so excruciating, so counter-cultural as what I've been experiencing.  And that shocking thing is (insert drum roll here): hours and hours on end of no internet usage.

I know.  I KNOW.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Truth about Toddlers and Church



You know, after almost 11 years of parenting, I’ve finally got it down. My kids all do their chores without complaining and each and every one of them, particularly the toddler, loves to participate respectfully throughout the entire Mass every Sunday and…

Oh, I’m sorry. Hadn’t you heard about today being opposite day?

Click here to read the rest

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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Top 10 Photos from the past Week

Remember back in the fall when we lasagnaed our garden?  Well, I'm starting to think it may have worked, because over the last few days we've:

The Problem with Reincarnation

For those of you who are looking for a little bit of pretty and an update on the family and our quasi-farm, stop by later and I'll have a "Top 10 Photos of the Last Week" to share with you here.

Until then, fill up your brains with this brainy goodness....

*****************

When you are raised believing in reincarnation, it seems so natural.  So fair and logical.  And when I say "believing in" I mean to say that it was a main component of our faith system.  It was integral to the theology.  It wasn't some vague notion of having been someone awesome in your past life which thus makes you somehow more awesome by some kind of cosmic association and then will you please pass the carrots.

No.  It was, everyone was, quite serious.

When you are raised believing in a loving God who created a unique you, with all your marvelous talents and delicious quirks, your precious individuality that could never have existed and will never exist outside of you, that you, personally, are inherently worthy of respect and love merely by virtue of your existence, and you know it and believe it and love it, you will look at your mother with wide, incredulous eyes the first time she tries to explain the concept of reincarnation to you and you will say "that makes no sense!".

Yes. You will say it and you will mean it.

Click here to read the rest of this post 


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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Noshing on a Slice of Humble Pie

When my kids get along and treat each other with kindness and refrain from doing the things they know will irritate each other and bite their tongues when they want to say something that will make them sound smart but is not kind, the world is a better place. Yes, I mean the entire world. Because you know that annoying ringing you sometimes get in your ears? Or the sudden migraine that swoops in from out of nowhere? Yeah, that's the sound of me going ballistic when they intentionally instigate each other.

'Cause I'm super good at setting an example, I tell ya what.

Click to read the rest of this post at Catholic Exchange (you know you wanna!)



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Friday, March 09, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday: Need Kid Advice (and other stuff)

(1)
I was going to talk about towels.  Specifically, how not to fold them and WHY, for the love of sweet baby Jesus in His flaxen diaper, it is so important for you to learn such before you receive your official grown-up certificate, but my husband is not home to fold a towel in the improper manner so that I may photograph it for the DO NOT picture.  So you'll just have to wait.  No, he has not received his official grown-up certificate yet.  Poor guy.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

A Real Baby! Who Wears Real Clothes!

So.  You know what's crazy?  When the baby is born, she is going to be a....wait for it....baby.  A real baby!  I mean, she's already a real baby, but it's not like when she's born it'll just mean I'm not pregnant anymore (as glorious as that fact is).  When she's born, I'll get to hold her and talk to her and dress her in itty bitty clothes and everything!

Until today, it hadn't really hit me yet.  'Cause you know, I've been pretty busy complaining about being enormous and uncomfortable (both facts, my friends.  Apparently I like to gain a pound per week for my ENTIRE pregnancy.  It's the new cool thing.) while fixing up the house and managing all of the already born children.  But then I got a box in the mail from my bloggy friend Lisa  and I was all "HOLY COW!  We're actually gonna have a real newborn in the house!"

Monday, March 05, 2012

10 (11?) Questions Answered. You're Welcome.

Um, so I have not seen the memo about this, but apparently blogs about blogging (really?  You can't think of one story to tell?) have declared that list posts are for lazy bloggers.

Well if that's the case, sign me UP, friends!  I mean, everyone already knows I am a lazy turd and most of you know that I love me a good list of whatever.  I mean, hello?  7 Quick Takes every dang Friday?  You know das right.  So when when Leslie tagged me to answer 11 questions that she made up out of her very own head, I couldn't resist.  Except I also love Monday Listicles, which is only 10 questions, so Imma cheat little.  'Cause that's what lazy turds do.  Am I right?

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Wherein the 10 year old tries to Bible me

My daughter totally tried to Bible me the other day.  It was pretty glorious.  I mean yeah, she was wrong, but the same kind of wrong that people twice her age often are.  And it warmed my heart.

We were in the last phase of their zero dollar room redos- that phase where you just wanna be done, but the walls are bare and all the stuff that you may want to put on the walls is piled up on the big table in the den and the baby is tearing through the photo album that was left out and the boy has absconded with the hammer that you were about to use to hang said photos.  So you just have to do it.  And everyone is annoyed (a little like being in transition during labor, but instead of getting a baby at the end, you just get to clean up your dang mess.), but I have to keep bugging her.

Friday, March 02, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday: Dance! Scream!

(1)
What's that you say?  You'd like to know what my A. #1 Get Pumped song that I can listen to around my children without holding my breath or coughing like a TB patient due to the colorful nature of the lyrics?  Well you have come to the right place, folks.  Prepare thyselves:
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