Wordless Wednesday

The "No Wonder I Can't Get Out the Door In the Morning" Edition

Smokin' and Rockin'

Happy Father's Day (again) Dh!

If you missed the smokin' (part 1 of my Father's Day posts) click here.

My Dh is Smokin'

Smoking brisket that is...

I am blessed to have a dh who not only is smokin', he's the best husband and father!

Happy Father's Day Dh!

A Day Late

This beautiful picture was going to be my Wordless Wednesday post, but yesterday slipped away before I had a chance to get it out there. Since I didn't get it posted, it doesn't have to be wordless, right?

Each year our wonderful parish invites a group of consecrated (habited) women to come and speak at a luncheon for the mothers and daughters of the parish. The hope is that the girls will get a chance to see that these sisters are normal women who lead a beautiful life. The sisters sit at the tables with the ladies and girls and share stories of what it is like to lead a consecrated life. My girls enjoy this every year, although I think some of their joy is from the pancakes piled high with chocolate and strawberries.

The sister in this picture told a wonderful story of her call to her vocation. She spoke of her parents' love for each other and the Church. She credited her vocation largely to her parents. She spoke of the beauty of watching her mother pray and teaching her to pray, and of memories of going to adoration in the middle of the night with her father. I hope my daughters were inspired by her love of Christ, I know I was.

Sister (I wish I could remember her name, but I am terrible about that) is from this order. Pray for them as they celebrate their jubilee year.

Thank you KV for the lovely picture. I brought my camera, but my hands always seemed too full of little ones to get the opportunity to snap a few pictures. Thankfully, I have dear friends always there to help out!

Sacred Heart Tees

I was inspired by Charlotte's post about t-shirts for today's Feast of the Sacred Heart. We bought our shirts to tie-dye today. Then, when I went to the craft store, I was overwhelmed with the options. Having already tie-dyed once with the girls we looked for something that might be a little more toddler friendly. We opted for these. I used a foam cut-out heart and let the girls spray and spray and spray. We then used to heart stencil to apply glue and some glitter (I kind of liked them better without the glitter). A fabric pen filled in the vine, thorns, and cross.

All in all, I am happier than I thought I would be with them. I really liked the fabric spray, it was easy to use and the foam heart cutout was a nice effect. It doesn't hurt to have an adorable four-year-old to wear them, That former washing machine model, now t-shirt model can make anything look cute.

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Styles and Smiles Edition

Blessed

I had a beautiful morning today with Joseph, just him and me. Dh has a long standing tradition of taking the older girls (and whoever else who happens to wake up) to the "much too early for this nursing mom" Mass on Fridays. I had a rough night with the baby and never heard any of them leaving.

Probably five minutes after they left little Joseph woke and started his call to have someone get him out of bed. Little Juju can lift her leg to the height of her ear in order to get one little toe to hook over the side of her bed. She then uses that one little toe to hoist herself over the bed, it's truly amazing (if not a little nerve wracking) to watch. Joseph, try as he might, can not get his leg that high, so he stands at the end of the bed and yells.

I had to drag myself out of bed as I am *not* a morning person and I was exceptionally tired from Gabe who must be preparing for a growth spurt. I shuffled sleepily to the next room. As soon as Joseph saw me, he gave me his characteristic ear to ear grin and held out his arms. Something about his smile works magic, it gave me more energy to start this morning that seemed to come much too quickly. It didn't matter that my eyelids felt like dead weight, or that my arthritic joints were stiff, I was happy to see that little smile. When I leaned over and he jumped in my arms and wrapped his own little arms around my neck in a bear hug that only Joseph can give, I knew today was going to be a great day even if I was exhausted.

The two of us wandered downstairs. I started my coffee and put him in his chair for a banana. As soon as I said "banana" he lit up. He clapped his hands and again started his yelling. I don't know what he was saying, but he sure seemed overly excited about that banana. We then made our way outside. Again Joseph was more than a little excited about the door opening and him being allowed to roam. He points to all the cars, and the trees, and the birds, and the clouds, each time he is so joyful about the world around him.

I can't help but think that for most of his short life, he hasn't had mornings like this. His excitement at the banana (and all food for that matter) might come from those mornings where there was little or no food for him. His excitement for being out doors may be the result of being in a confined space for so long.

So many people say he is blessed or lucky. He now has ample food, plenty of toys, a yard to explore, a family that loves him. I agree he is indeed blessed. This morning, though, I was once again reminded that I am more blessed. God has given me the great gift of playing a small part in this little boy's life. I am blessed to hand him the banana, blessed to open the door for him, most of all blessed to wake up to his bear hugs.

A LittleWarning

To my wonderful, very helpful dh,

I work very hard to keep our home fairly orderly at most times. I try to keep our little ones on a regular schedule of getting up and dressed, and then getting myself dressed for the day. On occasion, however, there are mornings (especially after the long, busy weekends we have had lately), where I feel there is some sort of conspiracy against me. Little ones provide me with too many dirty diapers and messes to keep up with the chaos around me. Some mornings I just can't seem to get everyone moving towards my goal of being dressed and ready to move onto the day's activities.

I try to tidy up, but with each little toy I pick up, the other toys seem to multiply as I walk room to room. I also try to wrangle little arms and feet into proper clothing. But some mornings, as soon as the arms get into the clothing the feet wiggle out of them. I furthermore attempt to keep up with my own daily hygiene, but there are some mornings where that seems to get lost in the shuffle.

As a result, there just might be a morning where our house looks like a toy store exploded. A morning where the weekend's unfolded laundry has overtaken our living room. A morning where half our children are dressed, some might still be toddling around in diapers (remember there is one of me and three in diapers). Other children might be dressed, but outfitted in crazy get-ups not seen outside of the circus or mid-1980's. I also might be semi-dressed, wearing old lady curlers in my hair, trying to herd the mess and our children, even if it is almost noon.

Since mornings like this are bound to happen (mind you, only occasionally), it would be very, very helpful to be warned that a repairman might knock on my door. I might mistake said repairman for a package delivery man and allow our oldest daughter to open the door to accept the package. It may be difficult for me from my hidden vantage point in the kitchen (crouching in a corner) to grasp that the man at the door is a repairman. I might now mistake him for a salesman, then yell from the kitchen and have our daughter tell him he'll have to come back at a better time.

This little warning does not guarantee that the house will be any more tidy, or that little ones will be clean-faced and dressed. It also does not insure that I will be able to talk our four-year old daughter out of wearing mismatched crazy clothing. The laundry might still remain unfolded, but at least hidden. I am quite certain despite whatever measures I take, any person who ventures to ring our doorbell will be greeted by six anxious little people. Hopefully, though, I will have removed the curlers from my hair and put on decent clothing, and for that we can all be thankful!

All my love,
Nikki