Holy Thursday

I am so thankful for the Catholic Icing blog! In case you haven't seen it yet, you need to. Seriously. The crafts she comes up with, like the Last Supper craft that we did a few days ago, are too much fun.

I wanted to take a picture of my little girls while they were working on it, but (a) one camera needs batteries, the other one needs recharging and I can't find the charger (St. Anthony, please pray!) and my cell phone was having cable issues and (b) even if I could have found a camera that was working, Joseph was sitting on my lap and making just about everything darn near impossible.

Now that the cell phone is talking to my computer again, I was only able to take a picture of Marie holding her work of art. Grace is sound asleep.

Now I have to say, any craft that enables me to spend time with my two little girls, is easy to do, and can be done while holding a screaming 8 month old is a keeper in my book!

The sweet thing is that while we were working on it together, we were talking about the Apostles -- who's who, who did what, etc etc etc. When Grace got to Bartholomew she said, "Barf-a-ma-mew... Barf-fa-ma-mew... Bar... Mommy, they should have stuck to giving their children little, short names!"

[hands in the air if you got the Tikki Tikki Tembo reference!]

I'm sad she knows this.

As I was tucking Marie in, she asked if she could have a glass of water. Seeing a cup right near her bed, I gave it to her.

Me: Here you go, sweetie!
Marie: Oooh, no thank you, Mommy... that's old, and when you drink it, it tastes like bath water.

One of the best questions I've ever been asked

Marie came in to the kitchen yesterday, holding a stuffed rooster, and asked:

"Mommy, how do roosters say 'cock-a-doodle-doo' when they don't have any lips?"

(I did NOT laugh, believe it or not. I thought that was actually a very insightful question, and I told her that I think that is the best question I have EVER been asked.)

Pictures of the day

We are a drawing family. My kids draw EVERY DAY without fail. The first thing that is placed on the kitchen table in the morning isn't breakfast... it's a pile of paper and the pencil box. So it was no surprise that I came into the kitchen and Thomas (age 6) said, "Look, Mommy, here's a picture I made for you!"

I thought it was very sweet and praised him for it, but (knowing what he was capable of) I asked him if he'd like to do a picture of me while I was sitting right there, so he could draw all the details. He was enthusiastic about the idea, so here's his picture of me, less than 10 minutes later...

Although you have to enlarge it to see it better, he's included rings, bracelets, the pockets on my apron, and even all the stitching around it. He was SO PROUD of this picture, so we put it in a plastic frame and hung it on the refrigerator. It's amazing what kids can do when they really focus on all the details!

On a completely different note...

Sometimes, it's better not to ask...

In case you're curious, that's Marie in there, wearing a horse costume with a storm trooper mask, vacuuming my kitchen. Like I said, I don't ask why... I just grab the camera, snap a picture, and thank her for a job well done! These are the moments that I will look back on with tears in my eyes and just laugh... laugh because it doesn't make sense, and that's part of the joy of raising little ones. They are free to express themselves in odd ways (at times), and we get the privilege of enjoying those moments with them. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of children!

Where did I go wrong?

Teach our girls to love the small and defenseless? Check.
Try to set a good example for them? Check.
Provide an atmosphere where that sort of spirit can develop? Check.
Buy them baby dolls? Check.

So someone 'splain this to me....

THESE are what my girls carry around... dress up... and nurture. Meet Skelety (held by Marie) and Sparkly (held by Grace). They go everywhere... are cuddled like children... put down for naps... and yes, are even the sleep toy of choice for my little girls.

Please someone... tell me where I went wrong! *grin*

Out of the mouths of babes

Marie (age 3), reciting the Hail Mary:

"...Holy Mary, Mother of God, PLAY with us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen."

Weekend wrap-up

I never seem to remember the 7 Quick Takes Friday that Jen posts every week, so I'll have to fly solo here with my own version, the weekend wrap-up (how's that for alliteration?)

#1: Fr. Longenecker
I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Longenecker speak a few nights ago, and the thing that stuck with me the most from his talk is something that he wrote about here: Namely, that without the infallible authority of the Church, one will either fall into latitudinalism or sectarianism. In other words, without papal authority, churches will either try to maintain unity of form while encompassing a wide range of beliefs (like the Anglican church, for example), or they will continue to separate themselves into various sects that maintain unity of doctrine and lose unity of form with others. I remember having a discussion with a girl in high school, for example, who was explaining to me the necessity of her church breaking away from the Church of God and becoming Church of God of Prophecy. It blew me away even then, that it basically came down to a disagreement over how one interprets the Bible, governance, direction that the church is heading towards, etc. Not to pick on this particular denomination (I use it only for an example), but just a quick search on wikipedia shows that the Church of God of Prophecy later broke into different sects, one of which is Church of God for All Nations. It continues and continues because there is no one central, infallible authority that settles all these issues and defines doctrine.

This doesn't mean that Catholics are all on board with all the teachings of the Church. Unfortunately, far from it. But if someone chooses to disagree or reject some of the doctrines of the Faith, there is an immoveable "something" to disagree with. It's not simply a matter of a difference of opinion.

That's what I've been mulling over for the past few days.


#2: So, I'm not so "perfect" after all...
I had a rather ugly episode during our normal Friday Rosary group (of all places!). No explanations forthcoming, other than I had a run-in with a person who had that "perfect storm" combination of traits and mannerisms that simply infuriated me. What was supposed to a quiet time of prayer and meditation with the kids turned into a raging storm inside me as I fought (rather unsuccessfully) with some pretty ugly thoughts and attitudes.

It was awful. I was reminded throughout the day that it was moments like these that made St. Therese the saint that she is. She sought out those who irritated her the most and spent her free time with them, getting to know them and finding ways to serve them. Sigh.

I'm not sure which is worse -- that I reacted so unkindly to begin with, or that I'm so shocked that I was capable of that sort of ugliness. To have been so unkind is uncharitable towards someone that Jesus loves. To be shocked by my own sinfulness is rather prideful, in that somehow I figured I was "above" that sort of thing. Either way, Friday was a rather looooooooooooooooooow day for me. I had a hard time getting over the whole thing, and an even harder time believing that the Lord forgave me and really can turn something ugly into something beautiful.




#3: Visual reminder of Friday
To hammer home the lesson of Friday, I came home after grocery shopping on Saturday to find that Marie... my sweet, beautiful little Marie... had CUT.HER.HAIR. Her gorgeous hair that I had lovingly (and quite successfully, I might add) cut into the cutest little bob.

All gone.

She knew better, but chopped away anyway, leaving one ugly mess.

After lots of tears of repentance, I had to take her to a hair salon to try to repair the damage (I wasn't even going to TRY to touch this one!). The woman who took care of her was so sweet, doing her best to repair the damage and minimize the "chopped up" look that she was sporting.

Here is the end result:


When we bring our sinfulness to Jesus, He is able to take all the ugliness and turn it into something beautiful. We may find ourselves more than a bit humbled or pruned back, but like hair, we'll grow back stronger and more beautiful than before.


#4: On a completely different note...
We watched Race to Witch Mountain for our family movie night. Despite the somewhat lackluster reviews I'm seeing on various sites, I have to say that it was a really good family movie -- enough action to keep the older kids entertained, but not scary enough to drive the younger kids away. It was good to watch a film that had no bad language or inappropriate comments/sight gags, and it had a few moments that flashed back to the original movie, which made it enjoyable for us "old folks" as well.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Subtitled: She really...


...does have...


...a bed.

Goodnight surprises

Tonight, right after prayers and goodnight kisses, Marie went into the girl's room and exclaimed, "ooh! Daddy! Look at the big butterfly on Kathryn's bed!"

My husband, good guy that he is, went over to look and give the appropriate oohs and ahhs to whatever it was that Marie was talking about.

Good thing that he did.

She wasn't kidding.

Turns out that Reilly had found a cocoon sometime during the fall and, in her typical "collector" fashion, brought it home and gave it a place of honor amidst all the other treasures on their bookshelves.

Tonight was the magical night and this...






...turned into this:




I wasn't able to get a picture of it, but Marie was able to hold her friend (a polyphemus moth) -- briefly -- before we let him sail out into the night air.

There's a time to be a stickler about bedtimes...

...and then there's a time to throw the whole thing out the window, and give a sweet little three-year old girl (who's having a hard time falling asleep) a special time with "just Mommy," long after everyone else has gone to bed.

Marie and I just spent the best hour together in I-don't-know-how-long, nibbling on tomorrow's breakfast (homemade granola straight out of the oven), drawing silly pictures of Baby Carrie and Mr. Edwards, and swapping "boo boo stories."

After we finished, she looked at me and said, "I fink I ate enough food. It's time for me to go in da back," and off she went... and I tucked her in with tears in my eyes, and told her how thrilled I am that God allowed me to be her mommy.

Too often I miss moments like these, as I bustle around trying to get everything done. I have to remember that it's not all going to get done, and I need to be OK with that. My vocation is to raise saints -- not have a perfectly organized house straight out of Southern Living, or to make all the phone calls I think I need to make, or to be the best read blogger on the block.

For tonight, I remembered how important it is to be Marie's Mommy... and it was the best hour I could have possibly spent.

For Dr. Who fans...

... here's Marie doing her best Dalek impression.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday month is upon us!

The pressure's on, folks... 5 of my children have birthdays in October... and 3 of them in the same week (can you believe it??)... and I have a miserable cold. Oh Lord, help me to heal quickly!


I can't promise that I'll be able to do each birthday justice (and oh, will I feel bad if I leave someone out!), so let me highlight NOW the birthdays (and anniversary!) coming up:

October 3rd: Sean turned 11, and had his very first sleep-over. We have a small house, so there's really no place to put a bunch of kids who plan on giggling all night... unless you put them in a tent in the backyard! Problem solved!

I know that many are tired of hearing his story, so I'll just direct you to last year's birthday write-up if you care to see how he came into this world. We are so blessed to have him.

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

October 11: Miss Grace is turning ONE! It's been a wild ride with this one, starting with the panic attacks that I had (see my St. Therese post below) in the hospital after having her. She's an incredible imp and we love her to pieces!

October 15: My dear, sweet, quiet Kathryn is turning 8. She came into this world howling like a banshee (she screamed the ENTIRE time the doctor's were sewing me up after the c-section), and she has been a little spitfire ever since. She was a challenge for the first two years, and then she turned into this amazing, sweet, wonderful little girl who takes joy in quietly serving. When I'm having a rough day with Grace, I can guarantee you that Kathryn (or Reilly) will come up and tell me that they are just itching to play with her... and graciously take her from me for awhile so I can think.

Underneath all that sweetness, though, is still the same little spitfire we saw in the OR. She loves to serve and will bend over backwards to help, but if she feels like someone has crossed the line, look out! When she was very, very little... maybe 7 months or so... Sean tried snatching a toy from her (he was 3 at the time). She got this look that can only be called righteous indignation, and she reached out and smacked him across the face and grabbed it back.

While we don't condone hitting, my husband watched that exchange and said, "I don't think we ever have to worry about Kathryn. She'll be able to stand up for herself."

And she does.

Kathryn, I love you more than words can say. You rock!

October 16: yes, the very next day Thomas turns 5! To say he "twinkles" just doesn't do it justice. He has got more energy than I've ever seen a child have before, and he just flits from one activity to the next, with an angelic smile on his face that can light up a room.

He is a challenge, though. He tries to use that smile to get out of doing what he doesn't want to do, and my husband and I struggle to keep him contained without breaking his spirit completely. I can only trust that God will give us the wisdom needed to raise this little guy.

But when it's all said and done, that sweet little guy will ask me to lay down next to him and tell him a story about when I was little, and he will grab my face in his hands and say, "you are really the best Mommy in the whole world... the whole UNIVERSE even!"

I love you too, baby. You are my most favorite-est 4 year old in the whole wide world, and it's a joy to have you in my life!

October 20: Ah, the poor kid is going to get more than her fair share of "broccoli birthdays," because we're all going to be so sick of cake by the time hers rolls around!

Miss Marie is turning 3. What a joy she is! We really got spoiled with her. After 5 children who had to be convinced that it really was time to go to bed, we were blessed with a child who would look at us sweetly, say (with her eyes) "oh, is it really time to go to bed? OK, if you insist..." and lay down without so much as a peep. My husband and I couldn't believe it. We didn't think God made these models anymore!

Believe it or not, I can trust this little girl to watch the baby... and she does a FANTASTIC job. Not a lego... not a marble... not a cheerio can go into Grace's mouth without Marie seeing it and saying, "No! No! You take dat outta your mouwth!" If Grace has climbed up on something, Marie will let me know. If she's reaching for the dog food or trying to swish in the toilet, my faithful babysitter is there.

What amazes me... and I know it's all God's grace... is that each child has gotten used to losing the "baby" status easily and gracefully, and has taken his or her role as an older sibling quite seriously. Marie still loves to snuggle, and I try to give her that whenever I can, but she's more than willing to scoot over for the baby, and to help me look after her.

Another first with Marie -- she's the only child we've had who has a special blanket. Her Dee-tee, she calls it (it was her attempt at saying "sleepy" when she first learned to talk). Dee-tee goes everywhere, and she worries that he will be lonely if she leaves him too long.

I love you with all my Mommy heart and soul, sweetie!

What do you do with a toddler

...when you're trying to homeschool?

Christopher (my 5-yr old) found the perfect solution:



You make her a bed in the hamper, complete with pillow, blanket, and various toys.

Surprisingly, she loved it!

Birthdays in pictures

Sweet, sweet kids that they are (especially Kathryn, who just turned seven and therefore knew what she was missing), the birthday kids this week graciously accepted a VERY toned down birthday celebration, understanding that Mommy couldn't do much this year, and the big "present" for us all was the birth of Grace.

Still, I want to honor them and tell the world how much I love them!

Monday was Kathryn's birthday and, as I mentioned, she turned seven. Unbelievably understanding and generous, she did not complain ONCE about not having a party that she could invite her friends to. This is all the more amazing when I tell you that she and her big sister have been designing birthday invitations for MONTHS beforehand. (You better believe I'm going to try to do something special and wonderful for her when I am fully recovered!)

I love you, sweetheart, and I am so proud of you!




The next day (Tuesday) brought us Thomas' birthday! I can't believe he's FOUR already. Where did the time go? Just yesterday, it seems, I was bringing him home from the hospital and now here he is, all "grown up" and being a fantastic big brother to his two younger sisters. I'm just so thankful he's not "too big" for a late night snuggle -- that's when he curls up next to me, puts his hands on my cheeks, gives me a sweet little kiss, and whispers:

"I don't ever want to be wifout you, Mommy."

I don't ever want to be without you either, baby. You are one of the more "strong willed" children we have, but you make every day fun!




And finally, yesterday (Saturday) brought us Marie's second birthday. By the time her turn rolled around, she knew exactly what to do with those birthday candles! (yeah, I know it LOOKS like three candles, but it's actually two sparklers and then a bonus singing candle... it doesn't actually count)

This whole new baby thing has obviously hit Marie the hardest. She has been my baby for two years, and now having to give up that position is a bit unsettling... but I will say that she's handled it like a trouper. *I* miss holding her and rocking her, and I look forward to the day when I can swoop her up in my arms again and give her all the attention she deserves. Until then, I can only pray that the little things I am able to do still speak to her and let her know how deeply loved she is.

So here's to you, sweetheart. You are funny, full of life, stubborn (too true), amazingly perceptive of other people's feelings, a great cleaner (she's been taking her dishes to the dishwasher since she could walk!), and a total joy. You rock!

I think I'm in trouble

My two oldest daughters, Reilly (8) and Kathryn (6 1/2), are very easy-going when it comes to clothing. They will wear whatever I pick out for them (for Sunday mornings, for example) without any fuss. They enjoy being "girly," but aren't all that particular about what outfit they wear. I have been spoiled in that regard, and listened with (slight) amusement as I heard some of my other friends talk about how picky their girls are in regard to clothing.



Let me reintroduce you to Marie (it's been a long time since I've posted a picture of her).

I dressed her in a blue outfit this morning (you can sort of see the pants in this picture) before I went to my OB appointment. When I got back an hour later, I saw her in this outfit.

Me: "Oh, what happened? Did she spill something on her shirt?"
dh: "No, she just came in with this dress, and told me she wanted to wear it instead."

21 months old, and she insists on wearing the PINK dress... or the PURPLE pajamas at bedtime.

I'm not sure I'm going to know how to handle this when she gets older.

Feel free to start chuckling now...

Just call me "Mee-Mee"

Marie's first word was "ma ma."

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I was that finally, after six children, ONE of them decided to say "ma ma" first! (just so you know, my oldest child, Sean, actually said his version of "quesadilla" before he said Mommy. That's how sad it is...)

It was not to last.

As time went on, she dropped that word completely from her vocabulary as she gained quite a few others. She can call each of the children by her own version of their names... says "Daa-deee" in a way that just melts my husband's heart, and can converse with others about blankets, juice, books, dogs, cats, shoes, and many other things.

Except for me. I no longer have a name.

If you ask her who I am, you will be greeted with a quizzical look, as if the thought never occurred to her that I would actually HAVE a name. I am merely the provider of all needs, righter of all wrongs, fetcher of all that needs to be fetched.

I... am Mee-Mee.

Mee-Mee is her word for anything that needs immediate attention. If she wants a book read, for example, she will call "mee-mee" down the hall with said book in hand, expecting me to drop whatever I am doing, sit on the floor, and read with her.

Got hurt? Mee-mee.
Need juice? Mee-mee.
Tired and ready for a snuggle before bed? Mee-mee.
Having a rough morning and just need to sit on my lap? Mee-mee.

I am like air, I suppose... crucial for life, but not often thought of. I can understand what she's not able to vocalize yet... take care of all her needs... share her discoveries... and provide comfort when life gets too stressful. She expects that, and can't imagine that I serve any other function.

I am Mee-mee, and that's a pretty big honor.

This is what passes for entertainment around here

"Hello, my name is Marie, and I pitched a fit until my Daddy put this on my forehead. After that, I was one happy little camper."



"See? Don't I look cool? Don't I look happy?"



"It fell off!
Why aren't you putting it back on me?
Why are you laughing at me? Stop it!
I don't laugh at you!"



"Fine, then... I'll figure out how to put it on myself."



And words I never thought I would hear:

"Look, Mommy! Christopher is an angler fish!!"