Overheard:: Say What?!

"Next year for my birthday, I think I want to get an iPad."


This was said while my six year old was lazing around on the couch playing Angry Birds on my iPod Touch.

My, my, how different things are from when I was a kid. I remember happily sitting in the corner reading a book for hours. Who knew back in the 1980's and 1990's how techy our culture could become?

There, now don't I sound old?

By the way, in case you're wondering...I do have limits and if anyone is getting an iPad around here, it's gonna be mama. IF I really was into wishing for an iPad.

Little did I know back in the 80's and 90's how techy I would become.

Birthdays

We celebrated Jonah's HALF birthday last Friday. Yes, because making sure to remember their actual birthday isn't difficult enough, why not celebrate twice a year?

Actually though, I've been sporadic about remembering to celebrate the half birthdays. A friend of mine always does for her kids and I thought it was a cute idea. Again, when I remember.

We only celebrate with cupcakes and other ways to make the day a little more special. Of course that doesn't keep a boy from dreaming about how super-awesome his half birthday is going to be.

He chose Funfetti cupcakes and frosting and printed pictures of his favorite Thomas engine, Diesel 10. Why is it that boys always pick the meanest/naughty character as their favorite?

The (half) birthday boy was quite pleased with the results:



As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed my chocolate cake with raspberry-cream cheese filling that my husband slaved over. YuMmY! A good man, he is. And excellent live-in baker.



I wish I could've shared a piece with all of you.



Thank you for all of the kind birthday wishes yesterday. They made my day!

Just Letting You Know....

Today's my Birthday!

Most of the celebrating was done on Sunday with family, but I'm sure the kids will be more than happy to help me celebrate again today. We'll top it all off with Lily's fall piano recital this evening.

Feel free to send your birthday wishes my way, especially if you are normally quite shy and don't comment.

In thanks, I'll offer a prayer or two for each of you who encourage and brighten my day.

Autumn Daybook

For Today...10.24.2011

Outside My Window...the trees are mostly bare and the leaves have been mowed and removed. I have a better vantage point of the lake across the county road from my house and enjoy the stillness of it.

I Am Thinking...about Christmas lists and gifts. I was able to get the kids to downsize their lists and hubby and I checked them twice and then set our limits. This will definitely help out the Christmas budget.

I Am Thankful For...a few new (to me) odds and ends maternity clothes that were sent my way. It's nice to add some different tops to the selection since I just wore maternity clothes last year and honestly got kind of sick of them.

I Am Reading...Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I'm glad that our Women's group chose this title since it's been collecting dust on my to-read pile for over a year.

I Am Creating...good intentions for repainting my living room one of these days. I just can't seem to decide on a color so that I don't have to change any of the other furnishings/decor in the room. It needs to get accomplished though since I've been on a mission for 2-3 years to get it done.

Around The House...I notice every speck of dirt/debris/bugs on the floor now that Gianna is crawling around 24/7. There's a lot more out there than I thought and if she finds it, she tries it.

From The Schoolroom...keeping on task and following the lesson plans well. Steady on. I'm also working on learning some simple sign language with the kids so we can use it with Gianna. I've found the My Smart Hands app on my iPod to be especially handy.

From The Kitchen...most days flying by the seat of my pants because nothing ever sound REALLY good to me lately. I do have a menu plan, but when we have many days away from home some of those aren't always feasible.

For The Rest Of The Week...Lily's piano lesson today; Lily's piano recital tomorrow evening; gymnastics for Lily and Tae Kwon Do for Jonah on Thursday; All Saints Day party with our homeschool group in the afternoon and then a Norwex party I'm hosting in the evening are on tap for Friday.

One Of My Favorite Things...hearing my baby giggle as the big kids play with her. She laughs at some of the silliest things.

Picture Thought I Am Sharing...this is my contribution to Clan Donaldson's post, Snapshots for a Sunday. What a fun idea! Check out what others were doing yesterday by clicking on my link to her post.

Never Enough Time

Isn't that what it feels like? There never seems to be enough time. An agenda and list is always on the mind and the passing of time is always on the heart.

I've been here before and I'm sure the climatic change from summer to fall nudges me to some degree.

Whether wistful and happily settled or just accepting and resigned, thoughts on time and seasons are never too far away as children grow.

As Baby Gem and my baby belly grow, the weeks of pregnancy seem to zoom by as never before.

Gianna has been crawling now for three weeks and she is moving at such a rapid rate that we cannot believe she ever wasn't mobile. Her stage of exploration just propels her as she's now grown to be our eight month old baby. Again, a reminder that time is fleeting and there never is enough. That newborn babyhood seems like such a distant reality and the corner of walking and her first birthday is within my view.



My boy still surprises me and catches me off-guard when I stop and realize that he is just six (and a half) and not the seven year old I tend to presume. He's taking his own leaps and bounds of change. The biggest one was joining a Tae Kwon Do class just ten minutes away and *loving* it. Surprised as we were, all it took was one time sitting in watching a class to get him committed to it. He looks forward to his Tuesday evenings now and going to class with dad.

The passing of time and season does not go unnoticed by the mother's heart.

Lily turned nine last month and continues to excel and rise to the challenges of a third grader. While cursive writing proves to be a challenge, she has picked up on it amazingly well and continues to improve. She even chose to take on Astronomy this year for Science and is grasping some of those difficult concepts. She is a wonderful helper for me and 'mother hen' to Gianna.



While there doesn't seem to be enough time in each day as the needs of my family grow and change, the priorities and to do lists change as well. It all gets done at some point, although there rarely is time to just sit and rest. I'm trying to adjust and make changes as needed to grow in my vocation and more fully wear that beautiful mantle of motherhood.

These days are passing and making way for a new season to relish and enjoy. They are mine to embrace and build fond memories.


"And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God's hands and leave it with him."

-St. Edith Stein

What's In A Name?

Considering I'm currently going through a baby name quandary of sorts, Simcha's post today gave me a good chuckle this morning.

I just had a baby eight months ago for crying out loud, shouldn't I just use the leftover names we didn't use?

Well, that would just be too easy. And, some of those names just don't feel 'right' this time around.

What's a Catholic girl to do?

And what's the Catholic girl's husband to do for the next four months as she hashes and rehashes names in search of the perfect list?

Poor man.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Baby Meets Leaves

P.S--Baby liked leaves. So much so, that between the kids and I we could hardly keep her from eating them while shooting these photos. Hence, we had a small choking episode that followed later on. Man, kids can scare their mamas!

We All Have Favorites

Of course I have a number of favorite blogs, but every once in a while I like to check out someone new. Do you do that too?

I've got my if-only-we-lived-closer-IRL-we'd-totally-be-friends bloggers, others who humor me with their posts, those who always leave me with food for thought and some I periodically visit.

I'm looking for a few new places to stop by and read.

Who are a few of your favorites? Who encourages you in your vocation, inspires or leaves you down-right laughing on the floor?

Please share, won't you?

Or perhaps you have your own blog, but haven't commented here in the past. Let me know who you are, I'd love to stop on by and say Hi!

From The Mailbox

Have you received your Fall issue of Faith & Family yet?

I'm always excited to reach in my mailbox and find the latest issue waiting for me. I received mine late last week and have already enjoyed it cover-to-cover and marked several pages to return to.

Danielle Bean shared some delicious recipes in the Lovin' from the Oven section. We already tried the Baked Apple Oatmeal on Sunday after church and it was a family pleaser for sure. We'll be trying this recipe again.



I found Danielle's link on a previous Faith & Family Live! post that led me to the recipe over here.

I was also enlightened by Rebecca Teti's article On Sticking to It and inspired by Kate Wicker's Run, Mama, Run.

Countless advertisements always catch my eye, like the one for the movie titled The Greatest Miracle (You can catch the trailer over here). Or how about the new Glory Stories? It even includes a CD of Best-Loved Catholic Prayers that includes the new Mass responses to teach your children.

As always, Faith & Family has not disappointed this reader!

What's that you say? You don't subscribe to the magazine? Click on over now to subscribe or give a gift subscription.



**These opinions are strictly mine and this post written only to serve my readers. No goods or services were received for my plug of the magazine.

Look Familiar?

In answer to yesterday's question.....

'Terk' from the Tarzan movie back in 1999!

Notice that hair? Gianna's seriously does the exact same thing every day, especially in the morning right out of the crib. It makes me crack up and I wish you could all see it in person. We love our little monkey!

Here's my favorite scene from the movie:



Happy Wednesday!

Name That Character

What Disney character does my little girl remind you of?

Since my niece pointed out the similarity last weekend, we can't help but laugh when we think of it.

Any guesses?

I'll post the answer tomorrow.

Hint: Think 'newer' Disney movies, as in the 1990's to present. And, focus on one particular aspect of Miss Gianna that has a resemblance to the character.

See you tomorrow!

My St. Therese Story

Inspired by Margaret who shared her story on St. Therese's feast(Saturday), I'm posting mine.

I'd always marveled at people who prayed novenas to St. Therese and received roses. And I mean LOTS of roses in answer to their prayers. These people couldn't help but find themselves immersed in roses everywhere they turned. My SIL is one of those people. In the past, I was not one of those people.

After struggling for a few years with an unexplained infertility diagnosis, I couldn't help but be drawn to St. Therese and the possibility that she would shower me with roses too. I knew my SIL was praying, so I thought I'd pile on the prayers as well.

I don't think I shared with anyone besides my husband that I was praying the novena. If I recall correctly, I just kept repeating the prayers daily. You know, because I couldn't just let up after praying for nine days.

At some point after that first round of the novena I received roses, randomly, from my SIL. I couldn't believe it! She didn't know I'd been praying and didn't know that I had been looking for my rose. Because, after all, answers like these to novenas such as these hadn't ever been given to me.

Months followed, but I was hopeful that in time the answer to our infertility issue would be fully found and a miraculous pregnancy would occur. I held on to the hope of the roses.

On June 11, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that year, my lab results revealed that I was indeed pregnant. Two days later, at Mass in our small church, my eyes caught roses placed in front of the statues of Mary and Joseph. In our church, this is not a normal occurrence. Rarely in my nine years of living here have I seen roses at our church!

Throughout the pregnancy, my eyes caught small and big signs of roses all over. When I was taken in to the ER at 16 weeks pregnant, my ears perked as one of the attendants who cared for me said her name. I then pointed it out to my husband later. Her name was Rose. I smiled even then knowing that St. Therese was sending me a sign that she too was watching over me and the baby.

Even at Christmas time when I was just six weeks or so away from delivery, I found myself wavering. Fearing. Anxious. The dreaded what-ifs and unknowns of labor and delivery and if everything would dare turn out perfect and our baby would be healthy. Christmas Eve mass brought its own signs. We sang the song, 'Lo, How a ROSE 'er blooming' and our priest in his homily talked about how God grants the desires of our hearts (remember my blog name, right?) and He protects those and sees them through. While celebrating with family, I also noticed an etched rose on a glass that caught my eye. Little wonders and signs that I suddenly couldn't help but be reassured by seeing.

In the end, our Gianna ROSE was born happy, healthy and perfect. We knew we had to give honor to St. Therese in some way and decided that by giving her the middle name Rose would remind us of the extra roses she sent our way.


Since then, I can't recount the ways that roses and signs have come my way. Too many to mention and count. I continue to give gratitude and thanks to St. Therese, because she surely is the saintly sender of them all.