Happy 15th Green Eyes

(My favorite wedding pic - our joined hands)

Happy Anniversary Sweets. Can't believe 15 years have swept us along in their wake. I still remember vividly the night you proposed marriage, down on your knees, in candlelight, with Harry Connick playing in the background, and you looked like you had just landed the great prize. I thought to myself "He's definitely the one" and I said yes.

So, 15 years, 4 in heaven and 4 here on earth, 4 houses, a few gray hairs, a lot of laughs, and some tears later, here we are. Still us. Only better.

We've done the "for better and for worse". We've done the "in sickness and in health" and the "in good times and bad" and you still call me your sweetheart and I still call you my Ace. I hope we always will. I love you forever.

It Must Be a Monday

because I'm still trying to get my groove. I seem to have helpers it would appear doing this and that to help clean. I'm just not going to think about the cleaning I'm going to have to go back and do to clean up from the cleaning. Some little helper in photo 1 below has rearranged my flower arrangement, putting the sunflowers on bottom... for example.

The dynamic duo decided mom needed help in the kitchen and took matters into their own hands.
















We made chocolate no-bake cookies because everyone was craving cookies but I didn't want to turn on the oven since it's already 90 degrees outside.

Don't I know how incoherent all this sounds. It's just how the day is going. A little of this. A little of that and nothing major really getting done. Oh well. BTW below is the recipe for these delicious cookies in case you've misplaced your favorite chocolate cookie recipe...

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. sugar

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 c. milk

1 stick of butter (1/4 c.)

*** Place all the above ingredients in a sauce pan over med. heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and add...

1 t. vanilla

pinch of salt

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 1/2 c. oatmeal

*** Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper (or foil works too) and let sit until firm - about 15-20 minutes.

God Love You and Keep You

Bombardment

I didn't know if I wanted to name this post 'bombardment' or 'disturbed'. They both fit. The sheer 'worldliness' of the world really seemed to invade this weekend and I am left feeling, well, bombarded and disturbed. I looked forward to my rosary last night like a starving person looking for food.

Maybe the deluge of "yuck" came upon us because we were away from home and our normal, safe refuge of shelter was missing which put us at a more exposed state of being. The background is that I traveled out of town with Brent Friday evening, accompanying him on a short business jaunt. With our kiddos all safely tucked under wing with both sets of grandparents we saw a rare opportunity to take a little road trip together. We traveled again Saturday evening to gather our chicks and be back for a nice, quiet Sunday at home.

All well and good. But in the travels and sights seen, we ran square into obscene music being played loudly in a public marketplace (one where there were children and families), blatant and openly displayed graphic magazines in an off road gas station, ostentatious and showy materialism in a group visiting together at a restaurant while loudly exclaiming how children were a financial liability, and some crude language along with pretty salty conversation being spoken quite loudly. This all occurred in "nice" places you wouldn't expect to run into such vulgarity. It's not as if I am unaware of the moral landslide our world is in, its just that I am not used to having it in my face so shockingly. I'm taking it all as a call to prayer.

Restore us, O Lord. Mercy Lord. And please protect our children, dear God, and help us all to do whatever we can to make their world a better place for them.

May God Love and Keep You.

To The Farm

Mr. Sam I am, and Miss Bridget are gone through tomorrow to visit their grandma and grandpa at the farm. They will also get to see their cousins from California, whom they have not seen since Christmas. I took them down halfway yesterday afternoon where I met with my sister-in-law, a.k.a., Aunt Sara, at a little ice cream shop off the highway in Oklahoma.



They were so excited yesterday and had their suitcases packed by 8:15 a.m., a full 5 hours before we were leaving. Well, I say packed, but what I really mean is "packed" according to what an 8 and 5 year old consider essentials for an overnight (or two) stay away from home - things like a baby blanket, the stuffed dog, hair clips and a leap frog, with a pair or two of underthings thrown in and a swimsuit. Sam did a little better since underneath his bungee cord, his hammer, a bag of nails, and his 'Home Depot book of Home Repairs' he did have underwear, two pair of socks, a swimsuit, and a t-shirt, along with his pillow and top sheet. I don't mock these things and I wouldn't have dreamed of removing them ~smiling~ but I felt compelled to add some other silly little items like toothbrushes, a couple of changes of clothing, and pajamas. Call me crazy :o)



So the house was strangely quieter last evening. John Paul and Maryn kept looking through the bedrooms for them and asking " where shisshy (sissy) and bubby (brother)?"


Today looks to be a good day to tackle the pantry cleaning and do some extra writing when the twins take their naps. Have a happy Friday and a blessed weekend!



Oh, by the way, if you are a Susan Branch fan and love her calendars, as I do, you can go visit here and pre-order an '08 calendar. Believe me, they go fast and I got an e-mail from her saying she has three features in major national magazines in August so the calendars will move off the shelves even faster this year!

God Love And Keep You

The Winds of Change are Blowing

Okay, it is still summer to my mind's way of thinking. For goodness sake, it is anywhere from 90-100 degrees outside and I am stubbornly refusing to look at the school supplies aisles at Wally world or the catalogs beginning to flood the mailbox telling me to "Hurry! Order School Clothes Now at these the best seasonal prices and while supplies last!" There is still 4 weeks left of summer break and we plan to live them as they are - uncomplicated, playing, and learning in a less structured way. All too soon it will be time to pull the books back out, get the fresh pencils sharpened, and open new notebooks. But for today we are playing hide-n-seek, slurping popsicles, and having sweet corn and grilled chicken for dinner. Maybe some watermelon too.

Sam and I had a surprising conversation the other day and one I can only imagine the Holy Spirit must have prompted. He asked me if we could homeschool full time this year. Last Spring when we began homeschooling him he would only agree to half day because he couldn't bear to leave behind his friends and even his teacher. We went with it because we didn't want to force him too quickly to make such a big change. He is a very social boy :o)

So it appears we will be soley homeschooling Sam this school year and I couldn't be more at peace about it. Not that it's easy, mind you, schooling an extremely active boy with an attention span of only minutes at a time, but it is the best answer for him and that gives me peace.

Our schooling situation is turning out to be a bit odd I guess but I'm willing to take it one step at a time and let the Lord lead as He wills. We will have one foot in homeschooling (Sam) and one foot in our parish Catholic school (Bridget). Our parish school is more like a family and the school is so awesome, and only minutes from our home, that I can't go wrong either way. A friend of mine teases me that I couldn't homeschool more that Sam anyway because he's like homeschooling the equivalent of 5 kids :o). She may be right. She adores Sam, and knows him well, so I know her comments are not facetious in the slightest.

In the meantime, we're just going with the flow of lazy, sweet summer. Just don't tell my planner and list pad that. They think we're in full planning mode. Signing off for now, I've got a two year old pumpkin here at my knee, with cinderella slippers on, looking up at me with big hazel eyes and asking " wead (read) this to me, mommy".

Thinking of Mom Today, and Really, Really Admiring her

This morning my mother came to mind as I began doing, unconsciously, what I must have viewed her doing almost everyday of my growing up years. Sipping coffee at the kitchen counter and writing a list. Undoubtedly, her lists were a very lot like my own, but I have a sneaking feeling mine go far beyond hers in quantity. ~Laughing~ I'm a serious list maker. I have a list for almost everything...

** A grocery list (obviously)

** A Menu (usually)

** A Weekly To Do List (for the extra errands and such that come up outside of the ordinary

routine)

** A list of Library books checked out and/or we are wanting to check out

** A list of educational materials needed/purchased

** A list of who to correspond with either by birthday card or e-mail ( I have 6 siblings and 13

nieces and nephews, friends, neighbors, and apostolate partners - many to keep up with!)

** A running list of household needs, for example, the living room needs a new rug, etc.

Well, you can get the picture. There can be other lists as well, depending on what might be going on. Writing things on a list seems to compartmentalize it all, and relieves my brain of the feeling of having to hold it all in memory constantly. It is freeing for me. I think it is for all we list makers.

Back to mom. She worked on her daily list at the counter much of the time. Standing. I wondered about this back then. Why does she not sit down at the kitchen table, I would wonder. Now I think I know. I have learned that if I stand at the counter with my materials and jot things on a list or make a quick phone call I am more quickly able to respond to a child with a need, I'm more alert as to what the children are up to. In addition, they seem to not respond so "needfully" if I'm at the counter rather than at my desk ~smiling~. I think she may have discovered this same truth.

She did more sitting down to plan or read her Bible in our older, teenage years, although, her counter habit never completely went away. All my brothers and sisters would agree with me on this, right guys(?) that a mental picture that we all have of mom is of her in the kitchen, either at her perch at the counter or cooking at the stove. She is a wonderful cook!

It just came to me suddenly, this image of my mother. With it came a flood of warmth, love, amusement, and mainly, awe. Awe at the faithfulness and goodness of her. She was always there caring for us and the home. She didn't do all the extra little things that we moms of today do with our children simply because she was of a different era, but her love, devotion, and plain hard work and steadiness of presence were a gift to us, her children. May God Bless her always.

She remains today our great friend, constant and ready, to lend an ear, watch a grandbaby or many ~smiling~, and make a delectable holiday meal. She is a treasure.

What Happened? It's Monday Already?

And a major feast day? Oh wow. Today is very special because of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. On this feast day, Brent and I are finishing up our consecration to Jesus through Mary. I feel very blessed for this. Tonight at dinner we celebrated by all donning brown scapulars - all of us! And our celebratory dessert were brownies with cords to emulate scapulars, however, despite my intentions, they did not turn out quite as pretty as my inspiration was due to time constraints.

Hubby was my super-hero Saturday as our weekend plans took a different direction than previously planned. I awoke early Saturday morning and got up from bed to get ready for Saturday morning Mass and then to attend my prayer/apostolic group (Regnum Christi). As I quietly padded my way down the hallway to the bathroom I suddenly became dizzy and then, by the time I made it back to the haven of our bed, violently nauseous. Within thirty minutes we knew I was out for the count and so we immediately went into survival mode.

Food poisoning of some sort, we concluded by evening time. All day long I had been sleeping and/or getting sick. Horribly sick. Meanwhile, dh took care of every need the children had. He changed diapers, one being a very offensive diaper too, I might add. He fixed meals, picked up toys and books almost constantly it seemed, took the kids out for a while so I could sleep more soundly, read to them, kept them fairly quiet, and checked in on me so watchfully as well. I later teased him that I had never been so attracted to him as on that day ~laughing~ Being a true gentleman he did not say I'd better not get used to it. But I bet he thought it ~smiling~

Sunday was spent quietly. I was on the mend but not entirely energetic. We went to Mass. We took the kids out to see the Blue Angels fly at the Air Force Base (poor Maryn may be forever traumatized even though I sat inside our vehicle with her and held her). Later we headed home and made spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. We then settled down and giggled over 'America's Funniest Videos' and then put the little people to bed. I fell into deep, deep sleep myself, apparently, since it took me a full ten minutes upon waking this morning to get my bearings.

And I discover it is Monday already. Imagine my dismay. Especially, after such pampering on Saturday. Extraordinary ordinary.

John Paul taking a shower

If we can't go swimming, we'll just play in the water



It might be summer if... the temperatures are hitting 100 degrees, the lemonade pitcher is emptied within every 4-5 hours, and all the shades are pulled and fans turned on by 4:00 p.m.

Sam and beloved bicycle are finally reunited

God Love and Keep You

Re-assessing the Mood...or Modifying it

I awoke this morning feeling tired. A tad grouchy. I was not overly worried about this because I knew that morning cuppa and some quiet prayer and reflection would put me on the straight course.

But as I was walking down the hallway I heard two of the kiddos already had beaten me to the rising - at 6:30 a.m. - they were in the living room already sitting there, waiting. Groan. I'm not ready yet, I thought to myself.

Immediately upon seeing me they "needed" things.

Immediately upon hearing this I informed my husband and the two hapless children sitting there that I was not to be needed until at least 7 a.m.

No one likes hearing this from a mom. It is not natural. It is unsettling.

I put downcast looks (temporarily) on the faces of three of my family when it is my job to start their mornings out with sunshine and love - even when I am feeling tired

:o{ bad mommy, bad mommy

So I gave myself, with the help of the Holy Spirit, a talking to... and for my instruction and penance :o} I will be focusing on the following prayer today until I adjust this attitude

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward except that of knowing I am doing Your will. Amen.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

God Love and Keep You

Where It's All Happening

Here at kid central

We've got tai kwan do lessons going, via Sam, who has newly acquired "gear" for such activities (thanks a lot honey ;o)

We've got apology hugs that turn into head 'nuggies'

We've got weather drama due to a torrential, violent thunderstorm this evening which caused no small amount of street flooding. Sam's take on the trapped cars in the water a block away...

"there's drama over there!" His most favorite thing in the world, by the way, is this very kind of "drama" ~laughing~ nervously

Our horses, I mean children, are wired due to above storm - bedtime was interesting tonight...enough said ~smiling~

dear peanut patrol,

your mom loves you dearly...however, I feel the need to point out a few things so as to smooth our way through the remainder of a fun-filled and relaxing summer - indulge me.

1. When I say to change your underwear I do not mean, despite my lack of clarity here apparently, to turn the current pair inside out.

2. Your sweet voices do have levels below the "ear-split" range and I promise you I will hear you if you talk at these lower levels AND you might even gleen extra stories and other fun activities out of me before bed if I am not nursing a headache. Something to think about there.

3. Cherries are delicious summer fruit, and as fruit this means they are food, and as food this means they are for consumption through the mouth to the tummy NOT slingshot material or cat bait. Or other.

4. And last but not least...the last time I checked, fruit loops, treat though they are around here, are for breakfast NOT for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner and bedtime snack.

Love,

Mommy

How many Cupcakes does that make for him now?

Yesterday was a fun day to be had for all. We had caught wind in the evening hours of Tuesday that there would be a parade beginning on our street at 10 a.m. on the morning of the 4th. Now, we've been gone to the lake for the last two years during this time in July and so we did not realize that our neighborhood, specifically our street, organized this parade each year.

Once Sam caught on to this idea he was game and how. He went about decorating his bike with taped on sparklers and strings of blackcats (firecrackers). We kept trying to caution him to be ready for the fact that this might not be what he was envisioning. He was undaunted.

Wednesday morning, fun-loving and empathetic daddy, helped Sam and Bridget spruce up their bikes with flags, and pinwheels. By 9:30 I began to see some signs that this parade might indeed be materializing as our neighbors the next block up were setting up what looked to be lemonade/water stands in their front yard. Sure enough, come 10 o'clock a crowd had assembled and the parade was on, complete with a touching singing of 'God Bless America' by all we participants.

After the parade was finished and we visited with the neighbors and had our share of lemonade and icee pops, we piled dh's Suburban with with kids, cupcakes, and a new recipe for cole slaw (which was pretty good and maybe even a repeat) and we went north to Aunt Terri's (my fun sister) and uncle Tuck's house for a bbq and some swimming. A fun day was had by all. We eventually put the cupcakes up high when we noticed we were losing track of how many of the treats the kids were inhaling ~laughing~

The afternoon was set into high drama when at one point tornado sirens sounded, the sky suddenly became a sick greenish-black color and the wind began packing some force. Those ominous blackish clouds had been rolling in for over half an hour but we did not think it would amount to anything more than a thunderstorm. Turns out there was rotation but no touch down and we all got to safety quickly.

We left well after dark to make our two hour drive home. We saw beautiful fireworks everywhere for almost the entire drive home. The peanut patrol crashed within minutes of us hitting the road and slept through. Fun-filled exhaustion I suppose.

God Love and Keep You

God Bless America

America, America, God Shed His Grace on Thee!

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Country on Earth - may she come back to her God who founded her, sanctified her, and blessed her beyond imagining...

I Am Little, He Is Big

My response this morning to a passerby while we were outside watering the flowers was trite sounding, I realized later. I wish I had been more eloquent but alas, the truth, pure and simple just flew out of my mouth and she didn't seem to quite get it. Oh well. I'll get to the comment I made at the end of this post.

She remarked how cute the kids were and that they were good kids. This is a somewhat thawed reaction from her initial one of irritation two and a half years ago when a family with four children had moved in two houses down, and they were very "friendly" ~laughing~

I think she was worrying that we would taint the neighborhood with the presence of children and all that goes along with children. We did. But it's been a funny and curious thing to witness what has happened. The neighbors have actually grown to like the children and seem to enjoy their antics and presence. Sometimes. But that's better than when we first we lived here ~laughing~ They even make kind comments and bring things for the kids at Halloween and Christmas.

They particularly seem to enjoy Sam even though he has been called the neighborhood renegade what with his escapades of mowing their lawns unsolicited, fixing a fence or two, also unsolicited, riding his bicycle to and fro, showing them how he wittles with his pocket knife, as well as his other Dennis-the-menace like activities that he is just so prone to. They used to be horrified at things like his pocket knife, as was I, when his grandpa first gave it to him but they have begun to calm down a tad. They chuckle when I tell them that Sam is a Huck Finn in a Harry Potter world. They seem to understand this. Most of the time anyway.

Absolutely, without a doubt, it is our yard, among all the manicured yards that line our street that, although hubby keeps a pretty lawn, is the one dotted with balls, plastic cars, Tonka trucks, and bicycles and various other junior equipment. It is our driveway that looks like a Toys R Us outlet and no one elses. I tell myself it's good for a little life to be pumped into this otherwise quiet street. However, we do try to have the kiddos help us each evening to put some of their things away in the garage and to park their bikes up by the back of the house. Only so much toleration can be expected. We don't want to cause a nervous condition to set in upon our neighborhood ~smiling~

So, back to the original story and comment, the woman had also said she didn't know how I did it and she would go crazy if she had to stay home with a houseful of children (yes, in my neck of the woods 4 children are considered a houseful) and I said the following brilliant thing...

stammer, stammer "oh well... " trailing off

and them stammer some more as she just stared at me rather blankly ~I'm laughing here at the memory of her look~ and then I offered this gem...

"like you said, they are cute."

I'm expecting Human Life International or One More Soul or the like to call any minute now to ask my eloquent help in promoting the culture of life. I'm such a witness ~laughing~

Honestly, what does it matter anyway? The children themselves and their completely unaffected approach to life are all the witness to life that is needed.

As to "how I do it" the answer is my title for today's post... I am little, but He is big. Yet more eloquence from me. I'll spare you now from anymore of these deep thoughts, profound as they are.

God Love and Keep You.

If You Need Me, I'll be In the Islands

In my mental escape attempting dreams that is. Whew. What a day, or more specifically evening.

Our day consisted of a pleasant morning. Holy Mass. Children pretty peaceful and settled for the whole hour and twenty minutes. Returned home. Prepared a nice Italian dinner (hubby calls it my famouse spaghetti dinner ~smililng~), had Oma and Opa over for the Sunday meal. Everyone ate well and enjoyed the good food and the good conversation and I'm thinking "wow, it really is just so very peaceful today, just as Sunday ought to be."

But one particular child of mine who cannot quite bear life when it is too calm for too long had to throw a few curve balls - you know, just to spice things up a little and keep mom on her toes - and being the smart child that he/she is knew to wait to do this when daddy left to go run an errand.

No more detailing necessary. But I am currently on my way to the water's edge, the sun is delicious, and a chair, good book, and a Mai Tai are there waiting for me. Yes, I have a very keen imagination. It is a good thing sometimes.

God Love You and Keep You.