Love Life - Our Grand Tour

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Birthday Blogging

In spite of throwing up last night out of shear upsetness about getting pink-eye eye drops Moses' birthday has dawned happy and fairly healthy for him. Not so for Lily who is sitting miserably on my lap and is burning up in spite of dosing her with Ibuprofen, poor darling. My fever has broken for the big day, thank God. I couldn't take anymore lying around on the couch or bed watching the mess grow and grow.
My Mother-in-law came by and, like a saint, did a load of laundry, grocery shopped for essentials and made the birthday cake. Wow. I laid there like a lump just trying to ignore the aching. OK, here's our birthday pics so far for the day. How can a day go wrong when you start with pancakes loaded with chocolate, whipped creme and smiles? Oh, here's how: at 3 we are all getting flu shots and/or immunizations for the big 4th birthday. Poor Moses.
Hopefully there will also be a trip to Toys R Us in the mix. But check out the cake - cool, huh?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Birthday Eve

Comments ala Birthday:

"When I'm four will I be able to eat in the living room?"

Upon the occasion of getting his pink-eye drops forced into his eyes: "Maybe when I'm four I'll like to get my drops." Somehow I don't think that will change overnight.

"After I'm 4 will I grow to 5? And after 5 will I grow to 6? And after six will I grow to 7 [etc., etc. until we get to 30 where we then skip to 100].
"100! But there's not enough quadat (chocolate) for that! Maybe when I'm 100 I'll buy mine own quadat."

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Passion of the Cucumber

I don't mind being put into a box, provided that the box is well-defined and I find it attractive (you don't need to). In fact, I generally like my box and like other people to ascribe to boxes, because it simplifies things. For example, I'm a homeschooled Catholic. That's a pretty good box in my opinion and I don't mind being put into it and defending it.
But really, does Netflix have to "suggest" dozens upon dozens of VeggieTales movies to me because I rated The Passion of the Christ highly? How does bloody, violent, heart-rending movie with subtitles indicate that I am also interested in bouncing Vegetables? Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against the Tomato but, really. Puh-lease.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Mass Children = Mass Embarassment

Sometimes going to mass can be embarrassing. As one friend put it, now we're the family the makes all the other families feel better. Last week we were at a daily mass where there are NEVER other children. Every noise my kids make echoes with vigor off the stone walls and through the elderly folks' hearing aids. It starts with Moses doing his hacking up a lung thing that he does every time we walk into that church. It has something to do with possible asthma or just a really long-lasting cough. Either way you can almost see people cringing and creeping away from him in fear of the contagion. As soon as he stops coughing and we all sit down Gus Gus begins a very long and very loud pooping process. Lots of grunts, followed by squirts and fart noises (just a little something to gross you out tonight). And during this pooping time I'm trying to get Lily to stay quiet by letting her do her guzzling down apple juice thing where she gasps for breath as she imbibes 8 oz of the good stuff as quickly as possible. Which of course is followed by several loud belches.

Oh, I'm sorry - you didn't realize that you sat just in front of the "Bodily Functions Pew"? Well, next time I'm sure that you'll be sure to sit far away - if you know what's good for you.

Liturgy of the Hours the day after the election

Job 1:21; 2:10b
"Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked I shall go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord!
We accept good things from God;
and should we not accept evil?"

Need I say anymore?

God bless America.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

October Wrap

My October Lily
Favorite picture:

Favorite story:
Yesterday she woke up from her nap infuriated that Daddy wasn't home. She was throwing a tantrum that I'm certain only the female portion of our race is capable of. Nothing was consoling her until I offered to let her sit on the dryer and help me put the dirty clothes into the washer. She was calm for the first 10 seconds until we came across one of Daddy's shirts at which point she melted down into tears, "Dadddiiieeee!" From this point on she would only put his clothes into the wash.

My October Moses
Favorite picture:

Favorite story:
Upon returning home late on Halloween I pointed out to Moses the vast amount of stars that were visible.
"There are so many, Moses!"
"Yes. I think it's because Jesus very likes lots of them."

My October Gus:
Favorite picture:

Favorite story:
How he still only wakes up once or twice a night, how he smiles now and how he is a baptized Christian now.

That's a wrap - now on to November.

Christ the King

Many of us today will experience varying levels of anxiety and possibly even depression, I know that I already am. But I thought that I would share a little nugget of truth and comfort from the Liturgy of the Hours Morning Prayer today:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."

Christ is King of all, and that will not change, regardless who is temporarily at the helm of our nation.

God is good, now and always.

Loves and Loveletts

Lex - somewhere in her mid-30's. Homeschooling mom as well as a homeschool graduate. Lives in a little Burg in the Appalachian mountains but will always have a little Michigan inside her. Mother of 6 that were born within 9 years of each other. Lover of audiobooks, praying through singing, birding, asparagus patches, and photographing kids. Grateful for the gift of community - the beauty, the ugly and the mediocre. Follower of Christ.

John - Late 30's Theology Professor, aka The Love Doctor. Always burning the candle at both ends he works hard during the day to form the future of Catholic priests and in the early mornings and evenings he carts children to and from activities and makes his wife mean G&Ts. Evangelization, providing music for Mass and adoration, sharing insights from St. Thomas Aquinas are what he's most known for in his professional life. Doing the dishes every night, dropping everything to meet us in the ER, and fixing the constant rotation of things the kids break are what he's most popular for here at home.

Anthony - Thirteen. Geography and grammar are where he shines academically - both requiring a precision that Anthony has a hard time not overusing. He enjoys playing soccer as often as possible and he stands out on his team as being a guy with his head and his body in the game - attentive and thinking. He works hard on living with equanimity as an introvert in a crowded, loud, busy home.

Rosie - Ten. Leader of "The Tribe": the three loveletts that were born within 2.5 years. She is a hard worker in school and rarely requires my help, just plugs along and gets her stuff done. She takes a lot of art classes and keeps a nature journal and I love what she is able to observe and translate through a pencil. She loves to make up all sorts of games and fun pretends for the younger member of the family. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a Rosie.

Thomas - Nine and all E. Energetic, enthusiastic, eager, excitable, extroverted, exhilarated and engaged. The only trouble we have with Thomas is that it's hard to keep him busy enough - he has an appetite for life that can be overwhelming! He's been this way ever since he mastered crawling. He was off and the rest is history. Anthony wrote this limerick about Thomas this year.

My brother is energetic

His body is super frenetic

He yells and he jumps

and he gives us all bumps

But Thomas is never pathetic.

This is all true.

Cecilia - Eight. Cece is such a great "smack-dabber". Smack-dab in the middle of the family and always wanting to be part of the team. She is generous, inclusive and positive. We often call her excited, positive, can-do presence, "The Power of Positive-Ce". She has none of her older sister's innate sense of fashion and often rollicks around in outfits that make me question her ability to see colors. And patterns. And cleanliness.

Catherine - 5 going on 30. Probably the most thoughtful and caring person in the house. She is totally normal when it comes to wanting to run with the big kids and "do it myself" and other such developmental standards. What sets her apart in our family is that she is so tuned into how other people are feeling and how her actions effect them. When she throws a fit (which she still does occasionally) she is the only child to offer unprompted apologies and amends. She is our sunshine.

Gloria - 3 and THE BABY. She is well ensconced in her role - having no desire or inclination to reliquish her tyrannical hold on all the people older then her. We do her bidding and she entertains us by singing herself little songs, letting us tickle her and having big beautiful eyes and super long eyelashes.