Fortuitous Fotos Friday

Don't you love alliteration?

Ok, so, my camera has gone to that great photo booth in the sky. The official word is that the repair would cost almost as much as buying a new camera, and that Canons usually only last around 3 or 4 years anyway. Is anyone else aware of this little piece of information? Still, I like Canons, and more importantly, I already have some accessories and such that would fit another Canon. So, in short, I've decided to get another Canon, but a much cheaper one. If I'm going to be replacing it every three or four years, I'll not be buying the $350 model, thanks so much.

And all of this was to bring me to say that I've cleaned out some photos from just before my camera died and wanted to post a few here. These are from Christmas. Christmas in April! Yay!


Before mass on Christmas Eve. Notice that Jack is already untucked. Aren't my babies pretty though? I think I should have some more.

Oh, and you may be wondering why Kain is dressed like a cow. Well, that is simple. Our parish has a pageant on Christmas Eve. Kain was cow #2.




The church nativity after Christmas Eve mass.


On the altar steps.


Maria and Tess in new Christmas PJ's.


The backside of Tess's PJ's.


Tess didn't last long into the evening.



Our family New Year's Eve party. Jack missed most of it. Lightweight.


Happy New Year's girls!


Kain on a ham dinner high.

Also, Fortuitous Fotos Friday will be an ongoing feature. When we were moving things around to make room for the piano, I found a stash of over a dozen rolls of film! Combined with film I've used in the last few weeks, I now have 15 rolls of film to be developed, and I have no idea what is on most of them. So, I'm having them developed a couple at a time and I'll post the fascinating results here!

Yay!

I should have kept reading before I posted. Check it out! Very cute.

Still, a bit pricey for my blood. I wish I could sew worth a darn.

Aren't I just the bloggingest thing you ever did see?

I just had to stop in for a laugh, because I have been trying to catch up on my very backed up google reader and read this post at Testosterhome, and see, I have also been pining away for a fanny pack.

For different reasons though. I am constantly writing notes to myself, and I am also constantly needing something to write notes with and finding myself without the necessary materials to do so. It occurred to me that I need a giant dry erase board tied around my neck, or at the very least, something that I can use to attach a post-it pad and a pencil to my body. A little pouch of some kind, something that would hang from the neck, or maybe from the waist,,,and then realized I was thinking of a fanny pack.

Think they will make a come back?

What about something like a chatelaine? You know, those things that housewives of the past used to carry around sewing needles and such? Someone go invent something....

The Kain Update

It's been a while since I posted a Kain update. That's because life with Kain flows with the tides. Some weeks he is doing very, very well. Other weeks are absolute hell on earth. There is rarely anything in between. That's because Kain has been diagnosed bipolar, we've been told. See, read this here...Kain has pretty much everything on this list, with the exception of self-mutilating behaviors and cruelty to animals (THANK YOU LORD). The child described at the beginning? That would pretty much BE Kain.

I came up with a good metaphor for life with Kain. You remember the twister scene in the Wizard of Oz, right? Ok, work with me here...Dorothy is skipping home to see Aunt Em. The winds are picking up though, and so is the music. Trouble's brewing, you know it. She runs for dear life, looking for shelter from the storm.



That's me. I'm Dorothy. Kain's the storm. You follow? Come on, think the music from that scene in your head, "Duh da duh da duh dum, duh da duh da duh dum, DUUUUHHHH!" The house is spinning, the winds are howling,,,



this is Kain during a down cycle...raging tantrums because we aren't having pancakes for dinner even though it's Sunday, screaming at me because he thought I was teasing him when I hummed a song under my breath, yelling names at Maria during mass because she walked too fast on purpose. Then, the house lands. Thump. It's suddenly, shockingly, over. Even for Dorothy, she says, "Oh!", in this surprised little voice, remember? It's over. She opens the door in Munchkinland. "We welcome you to Munchkinland, tralalalalalala!"



And now Kain's in an up cycle. He's happy. More than happy. He's giddy. He feels good, after weeks of feeling bad, and he can feel the difference right away. He literally wakes up singing, "I feel so HAPPY today Aunt Mel", and I'm floored, because, I'm sorry, weren't we all mixing up the cyanide Kool-aid like 12 hours ago? WTH?

And that is life with Kain. Typically, anywhere from a weeks to a couple of months goes by before we get a twister, and then the giddiness which is accompanied by very good behavior. The behavior slowly becomes more balanced and normal again. He may have another giddy episode here or there, but eventually the twister comes again.

They (the psychiatrist/therapists) have been discussing this with me since the beginning. I have waffled back and forth with my acceptance of this over the last couple of years. Kain, after all, is not a child that woke up in an Ozzie and Harriet kind of environment with these symptoms. He's got a lot of reasons to be a bit, as my mom says, "Not Right In The Head". I'm not unfamiliar with bipolar disorder. There is a pretty extensive family history of, as the article stated, depressive disorders, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder. I'm not personally affected, but several close family members are, and I pretty much grew up with this. I'm very aware of how devastating it can be for both the person with the disorder and their families. So, in short, I don't *want* Kain to be bipolar. Accepting this means living with it long term, you see, and I would much prefer the problem to be a little more fixable, thank you very much. Plus, I figured it was a moot point. Whatever the cause of his behavior, whether it be chemical or environmental (bipolar disorder is actually thought to be both), we still have to deal with the behaviors. Does it really matter what the cause is?

Yes. Turns out, yes, it does matter, because we are much better able to handle his behaviors if we understand the cause. If Kain his hoarding bottles of maple syrup under his bed because of the carb-cravings and impulsiveness related to his disorder, we will deal with that quite a bit differently than if we think he's just being a defiant pain in the can. I handle his stream-of-consciousness 12-hours-a-day rambling conversations a lot differently if I know he is in a manic phase right now and just has to let some stuff spew out of his head than if I think he's just being demanding of my attention and getting on my nerves. Having a diagnosis doesn't make the symptoms easier to deal with, but it makes them easier to understand, and that, in turn, makes me more understanding.

It also makes me more proactive. Accepting a diagnosis gives me something to focus on, something to work with. It's something I can research, something I can learn about and gives me concrete things to help him with. This isn't going away. But I know what bipolar disorder looks like in adults. I know it is devastating. I also know that the symptoms CAN be managed, he can grow up to be a good person and functioning adult. In fact, some of my favorite adults in the world are bipolar. :)
And it gives my family somewhere to go. This disorder is very difficult for us to handle. When he is in a down-cycle we are all under enormous amounts of stress. We are, for example, starting Gregory Popcak's telecounseling service this week expressly for the purpose of help the rest of the members of our family deal with this disorder, because frankly, dealing with Kain's moods is enough to make us all feel pretty bipolar. Ironically, knowing this isn't going away is forcing us to find concrete and permanent ways to cope.

Instead of letting him feel shamed and despondent over behaviors even adults struggle to manage, I can let him know that I do understand how hard he has to work and actively help him find better ways to function. I resisted the diagnosis because I thought it would mean giving up hope for his future. Instead I find just the opposite. It's not his fault, and it's not my fault, that we haven't "fixed" him in the two years he's been with us. We will never "fix" him, and that was a pretty unrealistic goal. But we can help him. It gives me hope. We can help him. We can do this.

what part of spring are you?

You Are Blooming Flowers

You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future. You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions. You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane. You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color.

What Part of Spring Are You?

This was a fun one, give it a try! I am definitely an optimist, thank you Lord for that one, and I do have an artist's eye, if not an artist's talent, heh.

Easter quick takes

Best Easter Moments---

- Removing our crown of thorns and purple altar cloths and placing lilies and our tall white Easter candle in its place.

- "Unburying" our Alleluia. I had snuck out the unfinished wood letters, painted them white, and added glittery pink and yellow flower stickers. I unwrapped the purple tissue paper from our makeshift candelabra we'd been using for praying the stations during Lent, and then rewrapped it in gold wrapping paper leftover from Epiphany. It came out quite pretty. But no pictures to share until I get my "old school" film developed.

- My baby girl, frilly and pink, in her very first Easter dress.

- My tiny boy in his first tiny tie.

- My first attempt at "Easter Pie", a recipe from this book. It was a bit complicated but very rich and very yummy. I love old recipes full of tradition, and this one is wonderful...33 layers of phyllo dough, one for each year of Jesus' life, 12 eggs, one for each disciple. I think we have a new official family tradition.

- Maria, singing the "Hallelujah" in the choir at the mass on Easter morning. She got to be at the microphone, and she did great!


Regrettable Easter moments-

- Kain's constant tantruming over one thing or another. Holidays don't really bring out the best in him, and he was in a "down cycle" anyway, so it was especially rough sailing.

- The vigil. I love the Easter vigil mass, but it is now officially too long and too much. We won't do it again next year.

- The announcement our priest made at the end of mass,,,he is being moved to another parish.

Funniest Easter moments-

- My first attempt at egg bread. I let it rise too long the second time around, so it was comically huge and not very wreath-like, but it was still pretty and very good!

- Kain coming into the kitchen at the moment of frantic-pitch meal preparation involving many layers of phyllo dough in the above mentioned pie, swinging his Easter basket over his head, and knocking the globe out of the ceiling fan onto the ceramic tiles where it smashed into a billion shards. Ok, it wasn't funny at all at the time, I just remember shrieking, "OUT! GET OUT!", but it'll be funny someday.**

- John sitting on Jack during mass. Not starting to sit on him or almost sitting on him, but full on sitting on him, which caused everyone to collapse into fits of hysterical giggles in the middle of a very long Easter vigil. John has a history of sitting on crazy stuff. He never, ever looks before he sits. That's not really a good habit to have in this house.

**Note to self, buy new globe for kitchen ceiling fan. Also for living room ceiling fan which broke in a similar Kain-related incident months ago.

Hope you all had a Happy and Blessed Easter. And remember, it's not over! It's not a day, it's a season!

Wrapping up Lent

Ok, gang, Lent's just about over. We are starting the Triduim today. For my separated brethren, that means the last three days before Easter--- Holy Thursday (the Last Supper and institution of the Eucharist), Good Friday (Jesus' passion and death), and Holy Saturday. We are scrambling to come up with some last minute plans. John's car has sustained an $1100 repair and is at the dealership this week. Since he is working today and tomorrow, he has the van and I have no transportation to Holy Week services. :(

So, here are our plans---

Today, Holy Thursday- We have been watching Jesus of Nazareth this week and will continue it today, and we will keep working our our Lenten Bible readings. We are behind on them and so we'll be pushing to catch them up over the next couple of days. We will have a washing of the feet at home too.

Good Friday- Hot Cross Buns! More Jesus of Nazareth! I'd like to do a Veneration of the Cross here as well, and we will observe a silence (as best we can here) from 12-3, then say the Stations just before 3pm.

Holy Saturday- Coloring eggs and other preparations for the big day. Our plans have changed because rain is forcasted on Easter, so we will be home for Easter Sunday instead of at my mom's. I find myself suddenly needing to come up with an Easter dinner. We will put resurrection rolls in the oven and then go to the Easter Vigil mass.

Easter Sunday- Maria and I will return to church for a very early mass. She is singing in the choir. John and the littles will probably stay at home. We'll come to do egg hunts and baskets and brunch.

Ok, that's the gist! My camera is a bust, so I am cameraless...I've ordered a replacement. In the meantime, I'm going to try to hunt up my old school camera for Easter. I've been interrupted 247 times during this post. Oh, these fun, fun school-free weeks! haha!

friends, real and virtual

Beck wrote a post on friendship and posed the question, "Is it easier to make friends as an adult than as a child?" I started to leave a comment but realized it would be really long and border on hijacking her post, so I moved here instead....

A THOUSAND TIMES YES. I was painfully shy as a child/teenager. People who know me in real life now may not believe it...but some might. I've had friends tell me they thought I was a snob when they first met me because I seemed standoffish, but I'm not, really...that was just my inner 12 year old showing.

But it's still hard as an adult. I wonder how many friendships we lose out on too due to superficial judging. I've been very aware of this in myself lately. We recently made an unexpected visit to a park...not to meet anyone, it was a "we have to kill some time" kind of thing...and I found myself scanning the other mother's at the park and silently picking them apart. C'mon, man, don't judge me! I don't mean in an ugly sort of way, I just mean people-watching, sizing things up, watching them with their children and the way they interacted, assessing their clothes, their speech, and knowing that I would likely have far more in common with this mom.....


than with this one....

Not only is there the matter of finding someone you click with, there's the time constraints, on both sides, to deal with. Since we're not 12 years old anymore, we all have so much of our own stuff going on...and your expectations have to click too. There is a woman, a real life friend (no she doesn't read my blog, hehe...that would be really passive aggressive, huh?) that I just dearly love to spend time with and have been friends with for years. But we hardly see each other. She just doesn't seem to need to spend much time with people. An introvert, I guess. Or else she hates me and doesn't know how to tell me. Definitely one of the two. There have been times I've really needed a friend and have tried to lean on her more than she seemed to want, and my feelings were definitely twanged by that experience. This happened fairly early on in our friendship. We had been getting along famously, we had everything in the world in common, and then she just kind of pulled back. Around the same time a close family member was dying and I called her, twice, and she didn't return my phone calls. That really hurt. And soon after *that* she had a close family member dying (I know, aren't we tragic though?), and I tried so hard to be there for her and she made it pretty clear she didn't need that at all, and I thought, well, she's just introverted and private and not everyone feels the need for constant verbal diarrhea that I do, and I let it go, only to find out that she *did* need the support, she just was accepting it from EVERYONE ELSE WE KNEW. Like, literally, everyone else knew everything that was going on and was speaking to her on a regular basis but me. So, being the 12 year old that I am, I pulled back too. Maybe that's not fair. Maybe she had her own stuff going on at the time that had nothing to do with me. Maybe she was dealing with a death in the family and was a little too wrapped up in all of that than to worry about my inner 12 year old, but there it is. I felt burned again, and there were a couple of other instances that just made it clear that she probably didn't think we had as much in common as I did. And while we are still friends, and I do love her dearly, and she is really a very sweet woman, we will probably never be any closer than we currently are, because she doesn't seem to need that and I'm not willing to put myself out there to her like that again. And that makes me kinda sad. And the ironic thing is that sometimes when I do see her it feels like the tables have turned, that maybe she is feeling a bit neglected by *me*, which makes this all very exhausting and ironic and....

I did say that this was *easier* as an adult than it was as a kid, right? Ok, maybe *making* friends is easier as an adult, but *keeping* friends was definitely easier as a kid when a love for Cabbage Patch Kids was all you needed to bring you together.

Happy Birthday!

To John, my dear husband and April Fool's baby.

The kids are devastated that John is working today. They consider it absolutely unfair that he would have to work on his birthday, though I've explained the them that birthdays are not considered a national holiday. I've also told them, much to their horror, that if they were in public school they would likely have to go to school on their own birthdays as well.

We had planned to come up to John's work and surprise/embarass him with one of these cakes today. It's a bit of tradition to make a corny April Fool's cake for his birthday. But we are having some trouble with one of the cars at the moment. Unless I want to get up very early, load up the baby, drive for an hour, then come home and do it all again tonight, we are kind of stranded at home until tomorrow. Frankly, I love the guy and all, but I'm not really motivated enough for all of that. So, we are making some cookies for dessert tonight and we will do the whole cake/presents thing tomorrow.

In the meantime, Happy Birthday darlin'. I love you, you are my best friend in the world, and I thank God every day for you. (sorry, old pictures,,,,camera getting fixed tomorrow!)

getting a piano

was totally worth it, even if all I ever can do on it is imitate this guy.

"OH, I'll never get it, I'M SORRY LUDWIG!"

save the date

Maria's planning her wedding...

with an Oriental Trading catalogue that came in the mail today.

So far she absolutely must have one of these,,,


,,,and some of these napkin rings...


And, just for future reference, at her future baby shower she definitely wants to use this set of partyware.

We are the proud owners...

Of a new to us piano! My camera isn't working, of course, though I did finally find it again and plan to drop it off to be fixed on Thursday.
This picture here shows an almost identical one though. Ours is apparently a little newer, 1919 instead of 1909, but it looks almost identical. The carvings on the front and legs are just a little different. And of course ours isn't restored like this one is. But I'm just thrilled to death with it, it's just beautiful. I never figured on anything like this. I thought we'd be picking up a dustier version of the kind of piano my junior high music teacher used. This is lovely dark beautifully carved hardwood! Real ivory keys! It needs to be tuned badly of course, and hopefully we won't find out the innards are damaged. All of the keys are working, that's a good sign, but as little as I know about pianos that doesn't tell me a whole lot.

Moving it was an adventure. This is a BIG piano. There were times I thought we weren't going to make it, and driving down the highway with this ratcheted to the back of my friend's utility trailer was nerve wracking for sure. But it's here. We all survived, and I owe several people a lifetime of favors, but it's here.

asking, and receiving- the story of music

A while back I picked up the Duggar's new book. I do recommend it. Aside from having my curiosity satisfied by learning some of the logistics that go into raising a family that large, I did find the book inspiring as well. Their commitment to their values and ideals is something remarkable. But one of the most interesting things I noticed was how they often prayed for very specific, albeit small, needs. I honestly don't do this. If there is a crisis, sure, someone having surgery, someone very ill, that kind of thing, of course I'm praying for those kinds of intentions, but it never really occurred to me to pray for, say, a needed piece of furniture or for help in selecting the right math curriculum. I'm not sure why. It's not that I think God isn't interested in the small details of our lives. I guess I've just kind of felt like God knows what we need and will guide us to what is His will in all circumstances as long as we are living in a state of grace. And I guess I didn't feel like these trivial things were "important enough" to trouble God with. It kind of reminded me of this old sketch on Saturday Night Live in which Phil Hartman plays an exasperated Jesus who is tired of being called on to hear this housewife's every waking thought. Anyone remember that one?

Anyway, this of course is silly, God is not Phil Hartman, and so I've been trying to work on this in myself this Lent. It has been a fruitful experiment. I find it has been very freeing, mentally, to lay all of this *stuff* before God, all these trivial concerns and small things that I've thought too trivial, even if almost subconsciously, to bother Him with. Because these things may be small, but they are important to *me*, and I find I am able to let go of them and stop fretting over them once I give them to God, whether it's something as pressing as an argument with John or just my ongoing internal discussion on whether we really need a second toaster or not.

(We really do. I just don't want a junky cheap one, and I don't want to fork out the cash for a nice one.)

Lately, we have been praying for a piano for Jack. Well, it would be for everyone, and I've wanted a piano for quite some time, but mostly it's for Jack that we've been praying for one. Jack is very musical. This has been obvious to us since he was a baby. Unfortunately, his parents are marginally musical at best. We enjoy music, John can even play the guitar a bit, and I can give emotion-filled performances of Hot Cross Buns on several different instruments, but Jack...Jack is really very musical. I don't know if it's musical in the sense that he will be composing his first symphony before he turns 5 necessarily, but he *loves* music, especially classical, and he *loves* instruments, all kinds. We have bought him toy instruments, many kinds...a toy violin, keyboards, rhythm instruments. He loves "pinanos", and everytime we are visiting someone or someplace that has a piano he spends the entire time trying to get at it. But most people aren't thrilled with having a four year old bang on their piano keys, and he is crushed every time I drag him away from it..."But I *LOVE PINANOS*" he wails. And he does. He loves pinanos.

So, we started praying for one, a free one or the funds to buy one. Lo and behold, several days after we started praying we saw one posted free for the taking on our local freecycle list. This sounded promising, even God-sent, but I had no idea how we were going to get it to our house. We don't own a trailer or a truck, nor are we "good enough for mooching" friends with anyone who owns one. I called around and found out that it would cost $200 to move it, money we couldn't spare for such a thing on such short notice. I had serious doubts we would manage to work anything out. The people with the piano were moving and it needed to be picked up by April 1. Even if we managed to secure a trailer, we would need lots of manpower to move the thing. But the fact that we had been actively praying for this piano gave me confidence. I took a leap and tentatively claimed it and posted a plea for help on our local homeschooling lists. It was hard for me to do. I'm not a "plea for help" kind of person. And I was kind of disappointed when I only got one reply for concrete help. It came from another homeschooling mom, one in our Catholic homeschool group that I honestly don't even know super well, but it was a good reply...not only did she have a big trailer, she would attach it to her Suburban and drive it to pick up and deliver the piano. Even though her husband would be working the day that we needed her. Even though she would need to bring her six very young children along. God love her.

So, there were still a lot of details to work out, but to make a long story, well...shorter...we managed to secure the use of the trailer and it's owner on John's only day off between now and April 1st. We managed to talk my two brothers and one of their friends into helping John move the piano in exchange for a homecooked dinner afterwards. And so, tomorrow evening, if God continues to will it, we will be owners of our first piano. There's still a lot to go wrong. For one thing, at this very moment, it is snowing like mad. And my brothers, perpetual 15 year olds that they are, can be very flaky people...and without their help there will be no piano moving. We've never moved a piano before, so we really have no idea what we are doing, and all kinds of potential disasters come to mind. I've not seen so much as a photograph of this piano, so I only have this kind stranger's word at the condition that it's in...it has been stored in her garage for three years and I'm sure at the very least it needs a really good cleaning and tuning, but I'm afraid I might find out it is unusable and be stuck trying to get rid of it myself. But the snow is supposed to melt by tomorrow night, and so far we have everything lined up to go. If our manpower comes through, we will take the leap and pick it up. And all I really know is that if God wants us to have this piano, then it will all work out.

Jack-isms

We just finished the kids' basketball season. Jack calls these guys "black and white basketball complainers".

alone

I'm alone. I'm completely all alone. I can't even remember the last time I was alone. Heck, I can't remember the last time I went to the bathroom alone.

Kain is at his dad's house.
Maria is at a friend's house.
John took Jack to the park.
Tess is asleep and has been asleep for two hours.


Somebody pinch me.

So far I've cleaned the kitchen and had lunch while watching a whole and entire tv show uninterrupted. Now I'm going to clean the playroom.

When stuff like this happens, the little devil that sits on my shoulder says, "Pssst....hey, this is how it could be EVERY DAY if they were in school." Which is true. But I would miss them. I really would. For now, for today, though, it's a very nice way to spend an afternoon.

I know I haven't blogged in forever. And I'm behind on *your* blogs too. That's because I've recently discovered The Office. I know, I'm way out of sync with TV programming. That's because prime time is also bedtime at our house, and so I never get to watch anything that hasn't gone into reruns. I love The Office, I've become addicted, Oh Pam with your sensible button-up shirts and Jim with your crooked smiles and Dwight with your various concealed weapons...and I'm spending all my computer time watching old episodes on Netflix. But now, I'm clicking away from The Office and I'm going to do some more cleaning. Not that it wouldn't be more enjoyable to spend the day here.



That's what she said.

disaster planning

Elizabeth Foss is writing a series of posts about planning...a subject near and dear to my obsessive-compulsive little heart. I've had a small epiphany with my own planning lately and have been meaning to share...it goes something like this....

Plan for Your Plans to Go Down the Toilet.

Because they will.

Previously, I've had all these nicely laid plans...homeschooling plans, housekeeping plans, laundry plans, menu plans....they looked great. Sometimes they even worked. But they only worked if things were all caught up and our days were going the way they were "supposed" to. The housekeeping plans assumed that housekeeping was caught up to start with. My menu planning didn't work if I had a cranky baby that wouldn't let me cook or if we had an extra 6pm dance practice sprung on us at the last minute (as is the case this very evening). The homeschooling plans only worked as long as we were on, say, Week 12 Day 3 in all our subjects for both children. They didn't take into account the day that Maria didn't do the Latin she said she did, or the day that I only got halfway through school with Kain before giving up on the day altogether. They sure didn't work when we would want to take advantage of a last minute field trip opportunity or ditch school for an unseasonably warm day in February. We would inevitably fall behind in one area or another and I would be stressed out and scrambling trying to make my plans work. I would hang onto my plans because "someday" we would be all caught up and they would work again, but that day doesn't seem to arrive very often. It seems to arrive less and less often as we add more children, which makes sense I guess. So now I

Plan for My Plans to Go Down the Toilet.

I keep ingredients on hand for meal "emergencies"...meals that require me to put a box of something in the microwave or open a couple of cans...I've spread my cleaning and laundry plans throughout week so that when we are having some crazy, rushed days (like we have been last week and this week) and the house starts to look scary (like it does now) I can do the best that I can and then jump back into my routines when things slow down again and within a few days things start to fall back into place.

My biggest sanity saver has been the change in the way I plan our school work. I wish my camera was working so I can show pictures of my weird little method that has evolved over this school year. Kain and Maria both have a 3 ring binder with 8 of these pocket dividers inside. Each side is labeled week 1, day 1/week 1, day 2, etc., all the way through week 4 day 4....four weeks worth of work, or 16 days. Then I print out 4 weeks worth of lesson plans, hole punch them, and put them in the front of the binder. I pull out the papers needed for each day and put them in their respective folders. For example, I've got Kain's binder here in front of me...in week 1 day 4 he has a lined paper for his grammar lesson, his math worksheets, and a sheet from his map skills workbook. Other assignments are either done orally or in workbooks of some kind and are referred to in the lesson plans. I go through the lesson plans and highlight things that they can do on their own. Then we are all set for the next four weeks. Today we are starting on week 1, day 1 and we will work through until we are all done with what is packed into the binder. Every four weeks I have a "catch up week" planned. During that week, we will catch up any assignments missed during this four week period. If we are all caught up (HAHAHA!), we will take the week off to do some fun things. More likely is that we will have at least a few things to catch up on, but we should still be able to take a very light week.

This has worked out wonderfully for us. The really neat thing is the motivation it gives to older children. Maria knows that if she stays as caught up as possible she will get to have a nice break in four weeks. As a result, she is more motivated to get her work done and not drag behind. I only wish I had been doing it since the beginning of the school year. This method works quite nicely for schooling year round. Our syllabi have 32 weeks of lessons. If you take a catch up week every four weeks, that gives you 40 weeks of school altogether. We take two weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter...that's 44 weeks. Even if we take a nice month long break in the summer, that still leaves us with 4 more weeks to play with. Next year I will probably use some of that extra time around Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas to allow an easier pace and more time for liturgical year activities without the stress of feeling like we need to "keep up". It would also come in handy for extended illnesses (something we've been blessedly free from this year) or when a baby is expected (no, we aren't expecting one! hehe...)

Reconciliation-- a moment fit for Lent

The woman approached me while I was sitting in a chair with Tess at the church's blood drive. I wasn't surprised...we were often approached by older women at church wanting to make the baby smile and to comment on how big the kids are getting.

"Your kids are getting so big," she told me. "I sit on the other side of the church and watch you all with all your kids and your husband is so sweet with that baby."

I smiled and agreed, yes, the kids are getting big, yes, my husband is very sweet with the baby. She turned to go and suddenly, impulsively, turned back, leaned over and wrapped her arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the forehead.

I couldn't have been more surprised.

"I want to apologize for what I said a long time ago," she said. Her face looked embarrassed and almost tearful at the same time.

"What do you mean?!" I asked, honestly bewildered.

"Oh, well, good, you've forgotten then. But I am sorry, I wasn't feeling well that day and I shouldn't have said what I said and I felt badly about it for months and I wanted to apologize." The words came out in a rush. And suddenly I realized who she was. She was the woman I wrote about in this post two years ago.

I was overwhelmed. That was a really difficult time for me. I was very hurt by the way she had acted and felt like I wasn't wanted in my own parish. That day led me to move to the other side of the church because I was too embarrassed to sit among the older people that populate the front of the church, and I was painfully aware of every peep that came out of my children for a long time afterwards. I was angry with this woman for a long time, and part of me still was, because, unfairly, she had become the face of every impatient old person I'd encountered since then. Every turned head in restaurants, every look on the walking trail of a nearby town of retirees, every glance in the grocery store...some of them may not have even been thinking anything unkind, but my heart was on guard and I assumed that they were, every time, that they were irritated by our very presence, these people that had finished raising their own children and now had no patience left for anyone else's. "You're just like her. You don't want us here."

And then she apologized. And in that moment, she just became what she was...an old woman unused to the commotion that follows young children, someone looking forward to a quiet weekday service at church free from the noisy young families that populate the Sunday morning mass that follows our parish's religion classes, someone that said something she shouldn't have said and didn't really mean.

Have you ever done that? Said something stupid to someone else? Wanted to reach out and snatch back your words when you saw the fallen look on their face? Yeah, me too.

"That's ok," I answered softly. "Thank you."

Sensory input

Upon getting Jack out of rest time and finding him stripped from the waste down---

Me- (swearing under breath) Jack, did you poo in your pants?

Jack- No!

Me- Oh. Well, that's good!

Jack- I went peepee.

Me- Where's the peepee?

Jack- Over there!

Me- WHY did you peepee on the floor?!

Jack- It looks like water and made a splatter!

The Simple Woman's Daybook- March 2nd edition

For Today...

Outside my window- Sunny and bright, a bit muddy from melted snow. Cardinals, male and female, are at the feeder.

I am thinking- That I am sleepy. Tess was really restless last night, and she and Jack both woke up super early this morning for some reason.

From the learning rooms- Maria is doing her Latin at this moment. It is a quiet school day. Kain is visiting his dad today, so that has slowed us down to a leisurely pace.

I am thankful for- Warming weather, sheets drying on the line.

From the kitchen- salad and leftover macaroni and cheese for lunch, banana bread for this afternoon, grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner...we've given up meat for Lent. :)

I am wearing- gray capris, navy blue tshirt, bare feet. Yes, I am a bit cold, now that you mention it.

I am reading- A bunch of back issues of Mothering a fellow homeschooling mom gave me. To Jack- "Stories for the 40 days", to Kain- I'm not sure. We just finished "Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims" and haven't decided what will be next yet. Maria is reading "Mara, Daughter of the Nile". Tess and I read "Goodnight Moon" this morning.

I am hoping- to see crocuses blooming out front soon, and leaf buds on the dogwood trees.

I am creating- A vegetable garden! We planted tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce indoors this weekend, and I'm planning to plant some peas and spinach outside this week.

I am hearing- Jack watching Super Why on PBS.

Around the house- Laundry in piles waiting to be folded this evening. I'm working on some mess in my bedroom, mostly piles of outgrown kid clothes to sort and put away as well as a couple of pieces of baby equipment Tess has outgrown (sniff, sniff).

One of my favorite things- This salad dressing from Paul Newman that I have for lunch almost every day.

A few plans for the rest of the week- No co-op this week! Dance class for Maria, basketball practice for Kain and Maria, moving on to cleaning out the toy closet once my bedroom is done.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you- wah! My camera isn't fixed. Here's an old favorite....these were taken two years ago, so Jack would have been 2 1/2. I remember how very, very proud of himself he was...he worked so hard to build this. He still loves "building towers". Also reminds me how irritated I was with this toy. It was a set of wooden nesting boxes that cost $30 and they fell apart soon after this. Grrr.





What a chunky butt he was! He's so skinny now, my leggy, knobby-kneed preschooler.

H/T Peggy at Simple Woman's Daybook

This Grandma is AWESOME. I just love her, and I'm watching all of her videos. Somebody needs to sit down with her and write a book. Or they can call me, I'll do it. :) Talk about something relevant to write about.

I have NO IDEA where he learns these things

The other night, Jack came trotting out from his bed for the 247th time.

I swatted his diapered can for the 247th time.

Yes, he still wears a diaper to bed.

Yes, I do occasionally spank.

No, it doesn't work. Obviously, or I wouldn't have been doing it for the 247th time. I'm out of ideas.

So, anyway, I pulled him over and swatted his rear end and he screams, "OW! WHAT THE HELL?!!"

Lenten plans

Blessed Ash Wednesday everyone!

I'm so glad Lent is here? Is that weird?
We haven't done a whole lot of liturgical year activities here since Tess has been born, and I'm looking forward to a productive Lent. Here's what's going on this year...

---The picture up above is from last year. My camera is still not fixed. Long story. Anyway, on the altar you can see the sacrifice jars on the left. We had little folded up papers for the kids to pick from each night. Each one had a sacrifice or good deed to be done the following day. Then they could remove a thorn from the crown. This year, though, the kids really missed the jelly bean jars we did a couple of years ago. So, I'm going to have the crown of thorns and the jelly bean jars. Instead of the sacrifice jars, I'm going to let them pick what they want to do off of the list of ideas I usually cut up and put in the jars, or they can come up with their own ideas. For each sacrifice they can pull a thorn from the crown and for each good deed they can put a jelly bean in their jars.

---If you aren't familiar with the jelly bean jars, here's how they work. They try to earn jelly beans to fill up their jars over the 40 days of Lent. After they are in bed on Holy Saturday night, I fill up the rest of the jar with white jelly beans. The white jelly beans represent Christ's grace, which we cannot earn and which fills us up where we fall short. Oh..and then then get to eat the jelly beans. :)

--If you aren't familiar with the crown of thorns...this is a braided salt dough crown with toothpicks pushed into the dough before baking. The idea is that the toothpicks will be gone by Easter Sunday. Then we decorate the crown with flowers and leave it up for the rest of Easter season.

--We will put the pot of dirt on our altar again. That was a hit last year. You can see it in the picture there. It's actually a glass bowl, not a pot, with a votive candle in the middle of it. We burn our palm branches from Palm Sunday of last year and mix the ashes with some dirt in the bowl. We use the candle in it as our prayer candle during Lent. On this coming Palm Sunday, we mix some seeds in the dirt and start watering. By Easter, there should be sprouting...new life! And by the time the Easter season is over there should be lots of growth. Last year we used grass seed because it sprouts and grows quickly, even indoors. It isn't very pretty though. I'd like to use something else this year but I'm not sure what...any ideas? Maybe a lily bulb?

--We are trying a couple of new things this year. First, a custom called "burying the Alleluia". In our Catholic masses, for those that don't know (do other denominations do this? I guess some probably do.) we do not sing the Alleluia at all during Lent. Then at the Easter masses we sing a very jubilant and loud Alleluia. So, at home, there has developed this tradition. It can be done in lots of different ways...basically, you have the word "Alleluia" on a banner or plaque or, like we are doing, individual wooden letters from the craft store that spell out "Alleluia". The you stash your "Alleluia" for Lent. You can actually bury it, hide it, whatever...we will wrap ours on a plain box and leave it on the altar. During Lent, I will sneak into the box and paint and bling up the letters and then put them back in the box. The plan right now is that when I hide the Easter eggs. I will also hide the Alleluia box and let the kids find it and put out the pretty letters inside to display on the altar for the Easter season.

--Oh, one more thing...I read about this on catholicculture.org. I've always wanted to pray the stations of the cross at home during Lent. It's very difficult for me to go to them at church. John is almost always working on Fridays, and to go by myself to something so solemn with all four kids...yikes. So, I bought this book last year. This year we will do them here. To make it more special, I made a candelabra of sorts. It's nothing fancy at all, but the kids are impressed. It's basically a couple of Styrofoam blocks wrapped in purple tissue paper with seven white taper candles pushed into each block. The website gives some suggestions for fancier ones. Maybe I can make a nicer one for next year. Anyway, you are supposed to light all 14 candles when you start, and at each station you snuff out one candle. When Jesus is put in the tomb, the last station, the room is in darkness.

I wish my camera was working! I will be taking pictures with my "old school" camera and have them put on a disk next week. But it's not the same!

Ok, I'm off to get our day underway...mass at noon today, and lots of preparations to finish!

What they said

Kain- The bread is almost gone. All that's left is the hooves.

Me- The hooves?

Kain- Yeah, you know, the pieces on the end.

Me- You mean the heels?

Kain- Um, yeah, the heels.

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Maria- I thought you weren't allowed to drive on the elbow.

Me- Huh?

Maria- You know, the elbow. The side of the road.

Me- Um...you mean the shoulder?

Maria- Oh. (blush)

A day in February

***this post was started on Wednesday of last week. I never got to finish it and then I decided I'd better just post what I have.***

Wednesday evening, Feb. 9th...

Tess is cranky in John's lap and it's already very late (for me), so I'm going to throw this out in the same slightly manic stream of consciousness style as the last post. :)

Here was our day today,,,a pretty typical day at home.

5:30- I'm awake, kind of. Tess wants to nurse. I reach over into her crib which is still bumpered up co-sleeping style and pull her to me. Jack is curled up at my back..he starts out in his own bed but always winds up in mine by morning, and I can hear sounds of John getting ready for work. It's really windy and blustery sounding...rain is forcasted this morning.

5:50- I'm up, making coffee, saying my Angelus in the kitchen. John is at the computer eating breakfast. We don't speak much, each just kind of doing our own morning thing. Kain is asleep on the couch. He very often travels in his sleep as well. I sit with my coffee and my prayer journal and my Bible and pray everyone stays asleep. John leaves for work about 20 minutes later. Muchas smooches.

6:50- I go outside to pull the laundry hanging on the line from yesterday. It is supposed to rain this morning, so today's loads, washed and waiting, will have to wait until later.

7:00- Everyone is still asleep. Often Kain is up by now, and sometimes Jack too, but not today. I start hot cocoa and prod the older two out of bed. We have breakfast- English muffins, bagels, cereal. We have morning prayers..morning offering, prayer intentions, spiritual communion, and I read a chapter out of the Faith and Life second grade book. We read the first half in preparation for Kain's first confession, and now we are reading the second half for his first communion coming up this spring. The review is good for Maria. We pull out a saint card of the day...the Blessed Mother!, and we read the consecration to the Immaculate Heart on the back. Jack wanders down during this and eats a bit, and then Tess wakes up. Maria goes to get her and she turns her nose up at rice cereal (why do I buy baby food? this is my third baby to reject it and now I feel like I have to try and use up what I've bought) and eats some Cheerios instead.

8:00- I unload the dishwasher and head upstairs with Tess, leaving the kids to do their meal chores and morning lists. Maria clears the table, starts a bath for Jack, and gets herself ready. Then she is supposed to start her list of school work that she can do on her own...spelling, math sheets, reading a chapter of the gospel of Mark, filling in a map of ancient Egypt, practicing her Latin flashcards, a grammar worksheet, practicing calligraphy for art, doing an assignment of Editor in Chief. Kain is supposed to make some attempt at loading the dishwasher and get himself ready for the day. Upstairs, I change, dress, and nurse Tess and get myself ready. Jack, finished with his bath and dressed by Maria, comes upstairs and joins me on the bed while I'm nursing Tess. He has a couple of books in hand. We read Going on a Bear Hunt and Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear. He starts giggling at the animal sounds, and Tess starts giggling at him, and it is a cute moment, snuggled up with the two little ones.

Sometime around nine- I come downstairs and Kain is dragging his feet through his morning list. I check the dishwasher and he has done his typical passing gesture at his chores, leaving the sink a mess and most of the dishes still unloaded. I call him in, lecture him, and tell him since I'm doing his chore he will be unloading the dishwasher for me later, and then I have him help/observe as I finish loading. He still hasn't done anything towards getting himself dressed, so I send him off to do that.

9:45- Tess falls asleep on me and I lay her in the crib. We head outside. I want to work on cleaning up fallen branches from the storm. We do that for a bit but most of them are too heavy and it's clear we will have to borrow my parent's chainsaw. I work on clearing some overgrown scrub around the fence instead. It's slow and tedious. Jack and Kain jump on the trampoline and Maria prowls around our huge yard searching for materials to build fairy houses. Kain gets in trouble for being too rough, repeatedly, with Jack on the trampoline, so I have him get off and haul a few branches to the curb for me. Jack decides he wants to "help", so I give him a rake to pull around and have him stomp up and down in the yard waste can to smoosh the leaves down. Eventually we hear Tess on the monitor and go inside. It's still bright and sunny and I'm wishing I had gone ahead and hung out the laundry. Obviously the rain is coming later than forcasted.

noonish- We have "quesadillas" for lunch...just some tortillas with beans and cheese toasted in a skillet. After lunch, Kain unloads the dishwasher amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth because it's "NOT FAIR". Maria clears the table, and I get Jack pottied and ready for rest time. Maria goes to her room to read "Mara, Daughter of the Nile" for history and Kain goes to the playroom with "Magic Treehouse- Night of the Ninjas". I put Tess on the floor to play for a bit, then nurse her and lay her down.

around 2pm- I sit with Kain and slowly, tediously, with much forced patience, work through a Saxon math lesson with him. I have to redirect him every 2 minutes and it's enough to make me insane. Jack plays with his trains, Maria watches The Cosby Show. When I'm done with Kain's math, he takes a break and has a snack and Maria and I work together. She recites her current poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" for me, and then her catechism questions. We work on her Latin lesson together and then on a lesson from the Balances unit in TOPS science. I go over some grammar corrections and then work on a new lesson in Easy Grammar...predicate nominatives...working with Maria is quick and easy. She just wants to get done and she works fast. Her poetry is the best part. She pulls out playsilks and puts on a show for now-awake Tess while she recites it. Jack imitates her with his own silks. Very cool, to see your 4 years old reciting Yeats to your baby. :) Then I call Kain back, much to his irritation. His mood has been really lousy today. We read a bible story, work on his memory work including his poem, "The Children's Hour", and catechism questions, and a page from his map workbook. I then leave him to copy some sentences out of his grammar book and do a music worksheet. Enter more wailing and gnashing of teeth. Grrr.

During all of this, we float around a bit. Tess starts out on the laid out futon with some toys, then moves to my lap, then we all move into the dining room and I put her in her high chair with some banana and a couple of animal crackers, then back to my lap again. After Kain is done, I sit with Jack and we do a fun little Valentine-y lesson, sorting different colors of foam hearts into cups. He reads a Bob book to me too. And I'm done. Phew.

***I lost my computer time and then rest of my day here. I tried to do it from memory, but it's really just not the same. So, I'll stop here and try again next month. Basically at this point I got dinner on, tried to do some housework, etc., and then we ate dinner, I dropped Maria off at church for PSR and then came home and got the boys ready for bed, read to Kain out of his current history book, "Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims", read something to Jack for bedtime, went to pick up Maria from church, put the boys in bed, then watched American Idol with Maria. But the little details and moments are gone now that it's a week later. John came home sometime soon after the boys were in bed. He works 12 hour shifts, so his days are long.

priestly parenting advice

Think parenting advice from a priest that lived 200 years ago would be irrelevant? Think again, my friends...

This is from St. John Bosco, a Saint from whom I've begged Kain-prayers for years.

"Sometimes it might seem to us that a young person was taking no notice of our advice, whilst deep inside they were well-disposed to cooperate, and meanwhile we were ruining him by our harshness which they cannot understand. ....

Everything at its proper time, says the Holy Spirit. When there is the need to punish, great prudence is required to choose the right moment. Nothing is more dangerous than a cure applied incorrectly, or at the wrong moment. We can get to know the right moment only from experience which has been fine-tuned by the goodness of our hearts. First of all then, wait until you are in control of yourselves; do not let it be understood that you are acting because of a bad mood, or in anger. .....

Young people often need convincing that we have confidence in their ability to improve, and feel there is a kindly hand to help them. You can get more with a friendly look, with a word of encouragement that gives his heart new courage, than you can with repeated blame, which serves only to upset, and weaken enthusiasm. Using this system, I have seen real conversions among those one would otherwise have believed impossible. All youngsters have their off-days - you have had them yourselves! ...."

Ouch. It's like he's a fly on the wall around here.
Good advice is never irrelevant.

H/T to Karen

Mel on scripture

Last summer I bought a daily Bible,,,each day has a reading from both the Old and New Testaments, and the idea is that you will read through the entire Bible in a year. You know, if you get up early enough to read it every morning, and if no small people wake up and wander in demanding food during your prayer time, etc.

Anyway, I have to say that I really don't like the Old Testament readings much. I mean, there's your standard stories of Moses and the Hebrews and all, but some of the Old Testament is a bit...tedious. Sorry, God. But my biggest issue is that I really don't *get* much of the Old Testament. I have a really hard time reconciling God in the Old Testament and God in the New Testament. Yeah, I know, they are the same God. That's my point. The laws given to the Hebrews, aside from being rather...bizarre...seem so harsh and exclusive, it seems you can hardly blame the Jewish people for being what they were at the time of Jesus' arrival on the scene. Sorry, again God, I know, everyone's a critic. I'm sure it's my own ignorance shining through, I'm sure they are really very *good* laws with *good* reason behind them, but...ok, like this one---

"None of your descendants who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or injured hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles;" Leviticus 21:17-20

A couple of thoughts here...

---Often when I read scripture I am pleasantly surprised to find passages I didn't even know I knew. This is a blessing of being Catholic. Most of the mass, including the music (if it's done right) is scriptural, and it's neat to find a verse that I realize I've known ever since I learned a certain hymn in 3rd grade. But, to my memory, I've never heard this particular passage in mass. I'm quite sure my children would have burst into hysterical laughter if someone had said "crushed testicles" in mass, so I would've remembered.

---Were crushed testicles a big problem back then? I mean, I guess it wasn't an unheard of problem or they wouldn't have mentioned it, right? I have never, even as a nurse, ever seen someone with this particular injury, unless you can count all those skateboarding guys on America's Funniest Home Videos. How on Earth were all of these Hebrews injuring themselves like this? Thank heavens for OSHA, huh?

---But, back on topic, this kind of passage, and there's many, many of them...like the whole book of Leviticus...shows such a big contrast between this God we meet in the Old Testament, who tells the Jewish people to exclude physically imperfect people, and Jesus in the New Testament healing the sick and touching the lepers. And why did God want such things from the Hebrew people? What was the purpose in these Old Testament laws? And what relevance do they have today? They must have some, if the church deems it worth studying. Anyone have a good resource for studying the Old Testament?

kids and books, and movies too

Look at me, posting *daily*...
I am furiously trying to catch up on your blogs as well!
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As Maria gets older, I realize that there is a need to rethink/reread/rewatch things with my "mom hat" on. This need first surfaced a year or so ago when I mentioned to John that Maria would love to watch "Grease". She loves musicals. He reminded me of some of the more inappropriate things in the movie, and so "Grease" was shelved. Then Maria watched "Back to the Future" at my mom's. Cute movie, right? I was probably close to her age when I saw it for the first time. Are you aware that one of the characters is almost raped? Because I sure don't remember it being that big of a deal when *I* saw it as a kid, but it is certainly a bigger deal now that I watch it as a mom.

This issue surfaces with books too. I mentioned on a homeschool group list how much I loved "A Wrinkle in Time" as a teenager, and a couple of people told me that the books have been given negative reviews on some booklists for questionable content. I have never read these with my 12yo in mind, really, but my goodness! I loved these books! I don't remember anything questionable in them. I do remember the family in the books, how close the siblings are, how great a relationship they have with their parents, how they look out for their odd and bullied youngest brother, how the kids risk their lives for their parents and for each other...I will reread these books with my "mom hat" on, but I'll admit I really don't think I will find anything objectionable in them. Granted, all the books in the series are not appropriate for a 12yo, but I think "A Wrinkle in Time" will pass muster, at least in this house.

And then the other day I came across a box of free books at our homeschool co-op and pulled out a copy of "Superfudge". Score! Loved Superfudge! Who doesn't? Funny stuff! I started reading through it at home, and thought "Holy Cow, these kids are monsters!" The oldest brother is Maria's age, and I thought, "Do I really want Maria reading books where the 12yo screams ugly things at his parents and lives to see the light of another day?" It never would have occurred to me to have an issue with Superfudge. But it's going to go live somewhere else now. If she had some burning desire to read Superfudge, since there's not anything really morally offensive in it, I would likely let her and then talk with her about some of the situations in it that bother me, but I don't feel the need to have a copy in my house. And it's not as funny as I remembered anyway.

It's not that I intend to control everything my kids are exposed to forever and ever. It's just that they are still quite young, impressionable, and still being formed. What is appropriate at 16 or 17 is not appropriate at 12. If Maria were 16 and well-formed in her habits and in her relationship with her parents, I would not be concerned about a book in which a child behaves like a mouthy brat. But at 12...goodness, isn't 12 a difficult age already? I'd much rather have her read about noble characters and close-knit families. You know...like the one in "A Wrinkle in Time". :) I think. Let me reread that again first.

the ultimate in "crunchy momma" moments

Has to be undressing at the end of the day and finding granola in your nursing bra.

how we are doing

Hello, those patient and loyal blog-readers still out there.
We are alive. I know my blogging is almost non-existent. I am having trouble finding time to blog. I do blog on the imaginary blog that lives in my head. But finding time to park in front of the computer long enough to blog...ah, that is the issue. What little time I get here is often spent trying to sort out my emails or trying to catch up on *your* blogs. And when I don't blog for a while, well...the blog starts to feel like some old friend I haven't been very good about keeping in touch with. The more time that goes by, the more there is to tell, and the more there is to explaining your absence, and so you tend to stay away longer....

Anywho, I'll just jump in with a quick update I guess. My life in a quick 10 minute post, because this is the only way I'll be able to do it, and if I don't get it down quickly it'll never happen!

I'm doing swell, in a running around and always behind on everything kind of way. I just can't seem to quite get my bearings since Tess has been born. I'm not sure why. She is an easy baby. But it seems *just* out of my reach, you know? Today I had great plans to get our schoolwork done early and then spend the afternoon cleaning storm debris out of our backyard with the kids, fresh air and exercise and all that good stuff, and then Kain had several fits during school time and it took us much too long to get done with his school work. More about that tomorrow, as I am working on a "day in the life post" for today.

Maria just had her first feis, her first Irish dance competition. It was crazy and wild because we didn't know at all what to expect and it was very different than anything we've done before, but we survived and she won first place in one of her dances. She and Kain are both playing Upward basketball right now. She was very nervous about playing because she's never played basketball before. It was pretty surprising to see the burst of insecurity from my otherwise outgoing and confident girl. I literally had to force her to go to the first practice amidst tears and anguish. Guess what? She loves it, and she scored a basket in her first game. Lucky for me, because if it had gone the other way my name would have been mud around here, huh?

Kain is...Kain. Hehe. He's doing pretty well most days. School is pretty rough. He's not on the Adderall right now, (insert long medication juggling scenario here) and so it's like doing math with a chicken. He's literally all over the place, rocking and rolling and thrashing and interrupting and it's insane. To top it all off, I can't really shorten any lengthy lessons for him or anything because we are working on catching him up to the grade level he was supposed to be on...he's been a grade behind because his mother never bothered to enroll him in school and it *really, really* bothers him...so we've been making a big push, especially in math. It makes for some long days. He doesn't want to give up though, and if we can both survive the math we'll be ok. He turned 9 last week and messed up the cool thing I had going on where all the kids were aged in factors of 4...Maria 12, Kain 8, Jack 4, Tess a teeny baby. Am I the only one that enjoys such symmetry? I am quite anal-retentive sometimes, yes?

Jack is awesome. He is going through a big Momma's boy stage right now and I love it. I'm eating it up. He's developing a great sense of humor and we just have a blast together. He's reading Bob books all by himself and is just a smarty pants. He's still obsessed with music and his new thing now is to play "conductor". His favorite books are "Meet the Orchestra" and "Zin Zin Zin, a Violin". Love. This. Boy.

Tess...my sunshine. She is sweet and happy and cutting her fourth tooth. She's eating mushy bits of table food and rolling across the house to find little fernerds of lint and stuff under the furniture to try and choke on. She's fat and sassy and lots of fun.

My camera is still busted, so no pictures. I keep forgetting to take it in. I'm losing my mind. It's leaking out of my ears and running down my neck right now. But I'm here, I'm ok. I'm not burned out or anything, but I feel like I could be if we don't get a grip on our routines and stuff here. I feel like the big clincher is Kain's math. I simply cannot spend two hours a day trying to cajole him through math and still get everything else done. I just can't. I don't know what else to do. We are using Saxon math 3 for him, and it's just taking sooooo long. It's a long program anyway, even with a "normal" child, and with Kain...oy. That meeting. It takes forever and ever. All that topic switching. But his math skills are so iffy that he really needs a lot of review, you know? So, what...I should take a slower pace through the book? That would be nice. It might come to that. It'll mess me up so bad for next year though (sigh). We wouldn't be ready to start Saxon 54 when we start 4th grade. And that's my anal-retentiveness coming out again.

Religion with Kain

Me- Ok, now, what's the ninth commandment?

Kain- Thou shalt love thy neighbor's wife.

G.R.O.U.C.H.

Too much yelling and angry tones in your house too?

I'm starting a new campaign. It's called G.R.O.U.C.H., which stands for Getting Rid Of Ugly, Crabby Hollering. Wanna join? Keep track of when you first lose your temper each day and blog it.

Today's first infraction....

8:12am- "JAAAAAACCCCKKK! I SAID GET IN HERE AND LET ME WIPE YOUR BUTT!!"

Back to the Ordinary

Christmas is done
And it's back to the Ordinary...

Ordinary meals, ordinary cares,
Ordinary lessons, ordinary prayers,
Ordinary children I tend the needs of,
This ordinary family with ordinary love.

It isn't very ordinary,
This Ordinary Time.

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Today, we put the Christmas tree to the curb. Tomorrow begins Ordinary Time. I am so glad. :) One of my very favorite things about the church is the church year, the liturgical year with it's times of fasting and times of celebrating and times of...ordinary. I'm ready for ordinary again.

The cable for my digital camera is MIA, so I can't post the rest of my Christmas pictures! Also, I dropped my camera on New Year's Eve, so I can't take any pictures until I get that fixed. Waaaah! Without my camera, I feel like I've lost a limb or something. "Wait!" I'll say, when the baby does something cute, "Let me get my....Oh. Never mind."

We started back to school this week, just part time. I was going to wait until Monday, but I'm glad we didn't wait. It's taken us all week to get two days of lessons done. Ouch. Kain, especially, is having a hard time getting back to work. So am I, frankly. It's a big leap to get back to "doing it all". I've made some big changes in our schedule and routines to try and help, but it's been exhausting.

The kids started basketball practice this week. Neither has played before, but they decided to give it a try with a nearby Upward team. I also enrolled them for a couple of classes with our homeschool co-op and those will start at the end of the month. We've been sticking pretty close to home since Tess was born, but now I feel ready to get out more. Maria will be dancing in a feis (an Irish dance competition) at the end of the month as well. I have to get my camera back by then!!

Tess is 7 months old now and *so* very much fun. She can now say 3 words, "Mama", "Dadda" and "Nuhnuh", our word for nursing. She loves to play peek a boo and roll, roll, roll all over the house.

I wish I could blog more...the kids are out of reading and rest time already! I'm having a really hard time finding time to blog, though I want to blog more! Ah well...that will come...right now we have to focus on getting back to our "normal".
Jack is poopy and Tess is fussing and we have a house to straighten, so off I go. Hi ho. Hi ho.

Novena, and an idea

January is the month of dedication to the holy name of Jesus. Here is a novena and litany shared by Kori for the month.
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"May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar."


Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus
V. Lord, have mercy on us.
R. Christ, have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear us.
R. Jesus, graciously hear us.
V. God the Father of Heaven
R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Holy Spirit,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Holy Trinity, one God,
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, Son of the living God, R. Have mercy on us.
Jesus, splendor of the Father, [etc.]
Jesus, brightness of eternal light.
Jesus, King of glory.
Jesus, sun of justice.
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus, most amiable.
Jesus, most admirable.
Jesus, the mighty God.
Jesus, Father of the world to come.
Jesus, angel of great counsel.
Jesus, most powerful.
Jesus, most patient.
Jesus, most obedient.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
Jesus, lover of chastity.
Jesus, lover of us.
Jesus, God of peace.
Jesus, author of life.
Jesus, example of virtues.
Jesus, zealous lover of souls.
Jesus, our God.
Jesus, our refuge.
Jesus, father of the poor.
Jesus, treasure of the faithful.
Jesus, good Shepherd.
Jesus, true light.
Jesus, eternal wisdom.
Jesus, infinite goodness.
Jesus, our way and our life.
Jesus, joy of Angels.
Jesus, King of the Patriarchs.
Jesus, Master of the Apostles.
Jesus, teacher of the Evangelists.
Jesus, strength of Martyrs.
Jesus, light of Confessors.
Jesus, purity of Virgins.
Jesus, crown of Saints.
V. Be merciful, R. spare us, O Jesus.
V. Be merciful, R. graciously hear us, O Jesus.
V. From all evil, R. deliver us, O Jesus.
From all sin, deliver us, O Jesus.
From Your wrath, [etc.]
From the snares of the devil.
From the spirit of fornication.
From everlasting death.
From the neglect of Your inspirations.
By the mystery of Your holy Incarnation.
By Your Nativity.
By Your Infancy.
By Your most divine Life.
By Your labors.
By Your agony and passion.
By Your cross and dereliction.
By Your sufferings.
By Your death and burial.
By Your Resurrection.
By Your Ascension.
By Your institution of the most Holy Eucharist.
By Your joys.
By Your glory.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. spare us, O Jesus.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. graciously hear us, O Jesus.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. have mercy on us, O Jesus.
V. Jesus, hear us.
R. Jesus, graciously hear us.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, You have said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you." Grant, we beg of You, to us who ask it, the gift of Your most divine love, that we may ever love You with our whole heart, in word and deed, and never cease praising You.
Give us, O Lord, as much a lasting fear as a lasting love of Your Holy Name, for You, who live and are King for ever and ever, never fail to govern those whom You have solidly established in Your love. R. Amen.
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I have a secret motive for posting this here. Kori hasn't put these prayers on her webpage, and if I have them online somewhere it will be much easier for me to access them next year at this time. I have been using a brilliant organizational idea the last few months. I really can't remember if I came up with this or read about it somewhere. Anyway, you all know I'm always looking for fun ideas to use for the seasonal year and the church year. Many times, though, I come across a great idea when it's too late to work it into my own plans, or when I am feeling too overwhelmed to take on anything new. I needed an easy way to keep up with these ideas.

I tried printing them out to save, but that wasn't satisfactory. I really have a hard time keeping up with papers, and often I would print something out only to leave it, forgotten, on the computer desk, and find it later a doodled, crumpled mess. Plus, I was using a lot of our expensive colored ink that way. Then I tried copying and pasting into office documents. This was better, but I lost a lot of the content of the website this way, like pictures and such.

Now I have 12 folders in my "favorites" file, one for each month of the year. When I find a great idea, I will just save that webpage in my favorites folder for that month. When I'm doing my monthly planning, I can look through the folder for that month for ideas. And best of all, even if I don't use an idea that year, it is still there, waiting, for another year.

I realize I could still lose an idea if the content is deleted or moved. I've saved lots of webpages over the years though, and I rarely have had that happen. I think I'd lose many more ideas with one of my older methods.

earlier today

Maria- And then this big crystal ball drops down from this huge, giant pole while everyone counts down, "10,,,9,,,,8,,,,7,,,,6,,,,5,,,,4,,,,3,,,,2,,,,1,,,"

Kain, excitedly- And then the ball crashes on the ground and breaks into a million pieces?!!!

Maria- Um, no. It doesn't break or anything. It just drops slowly down the pole until it gets to the bottom.

Kain- Oh. Well, that's pretty boring.

The last post of the year....

I am way too overloaded right now to dig up Christmas pictures. That will have to wait. But I couldn't resist posting one last time in 2008!

We will be having a ham dinner tonight, complete with Hoppin' John, plus some goodies to ring in the new year. John is off tomorrow, for a change, so he will get to stay up with us. We've let Maria stay up until midnight for a few years now. This year I had a vision of a family slumber party,,,everyone staying up as long as they can, sleeping bags on the floor, playing games and hanging out. But so far, Kain is uninvited to the party. I know, that's really mean. He's been really hateful and boogery the last couple of days though. I can't see rewarding that with a party. I've threatened him with this, but his behavior hasn't improved. Somehow I don't think staying up half the night eating junk food is going to improve his behavior. I may cave. But I shouldn't. What to do, what to do...if these kids only knew how much we agonize over these things.

Tomorrow we will go to mass for the feast of the Solemnity and have our traditional Rosemary Chicken dinner (it's traditional if you do it twice in a row, right?). We will make rosemary candles for our home altar and say this prayer.

Happy and blessed 2009 to you all!

H/T to totus tuus

Lap book giveaway!

Quick like a bunny, run over here and enter before tomorrow at noon!
Just the perfect thing to make the rest of the season memorable.

O Holy Night

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours...



"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." ~Norman Vincent Peale