Farming and Homeschooling

We went to the farm with our homeschooling group today. It was great! I was so proud of Pia when she fed the chickens. Her hands were trembling but she still did it! I am finally ready to actually join the group instead of just tagging along to fun events. They had a curriculum night a while ago that helped me to have a more realistic (hooray!!!! it won't be as crazy as I thought) understanding of homeschooling and today's trip to the farm was so lovely. I had previously thought that Pia was too little for me to join the group now but as I learned more about homeschooling, I changed my mind and I'm hoping that joining the group now will help me get ready to start schooling her when she is older. I feel very called to homeschool my kids, and am so excited about it-the kind of excitement I would feel when I was getting ready to start school and had all the lovely new books and school supplies and clothes. And this is even better, because this time *I* get to choose the books! We won't be starting "official" homeschool for several years, but it's AMAZING watching children learn and grow up. I love it when they are fascinated and enjoying learning.

The farm was also amazing! I wish we could have a farm, too. I'm pretty sure I'm not called to that. Growing a garden this year will be as close as I will get, and here's hoping I grow something!

First Time For Everything!

Fingerpaints! Glorious!

Conclusion:  Pia: "I need to fingerpaint again Mama. Fingerpaints are my FAVORITE kind of paint."

and

Me: "Next time we'll do this outside and rinse off with the hose." D: "Yeah, and then go swimming in the pool." Yes! That is exactly the type of clean-up I had in mind!

(and wow, those pictures ended up being beautiful!).

Childhood

Scraped knees, dandelion bouquets, visits to the woods, picnics in the park, lots of books, running through the sprinkler, mud puddles, animal and bug watching, long naps-these are the components of summertime in a happy childhood.

Stuck!

On Mother's Day, part 2: The Gift of Children

If you ask Pia where babies come from, she will tell you:

"Babies are a gift from God!"

If only people would remember that-what a gift a child is! Each child will show you a new way to look at the world, with new innocence and wonder. With great joy and amazement. They will provide so opportunities to serve them, and to kiss them, cuddle them, tickle them, laugh with them.

And since they are a gift, they have to be given, in God's time. Sometimes close together, sometimes far apart, sometimes not at all. But you can't pick when you have them, and it's a tragedy to pick not to have them and therefore reject God's great gift (and His will in your life) because you would rather travel, have lots of money, focus on your career, have a cleaner house, etc. There are so few moments that compare to the first moment when you stare at that brand new person. It is indescribable. It is simply a miracle. Children are a gift from God.

On Mother's Day, part 1: Gratitude

My heart is filled with so much gratitude today. To God, for the gift of my life and the lives of everyone. Each life adds so much to the world!

To my Mom, remarkable woman that she is, for living the sacrificial side of motherhood day-in and day-out, with so much compassion and mercy. (It's not easy caring for a severely disabled 21 year old man.) And for being an awesome Grandma to my girls!

To Ron's mom, for being a wonderful Nana, always available nurse, and most especially for raising such a good man for me to marry! Thank you!!!!

To my husband, for living this vocation of parenthood with me. His gentleness, playfulness, and willingness to serve have been such a gift to our whole family!

To my girls, those precious little ladies who have been entrusted to us to love, love, and love some more. What a delight they are! They bring me so much joy and happiness! Sometimes I just stare at them all day in wonder and gratitude.

As for me, I don't need celebrating. I'm so grateful to be called to this vocation, with these people. It is a great joy for me, and I hope not to stumble along too badly as I raise these little ones- lifting them up and comforting when they fall, begging for their mercy when I fail, laughing and exploring together, being a family!, and showing them the joy that comes from being in relationship with God. Being a Mother is such a beautiful and humbling thing!

Oh happy fault!

My dear little nephew, D, arrived at our house this morning with new shoes! The old pair had been chewed up by Brie, Nana's dog, and kept falling off causing slow walks (a huge problem for this speedy child) and wood-chippy socks! The new pair is snazzy! Light up Lightning McQueen sneakers! Wow! He proudly showed them to everyone. My first thought at his joy was, "O happy fault, O necessary sin of Brie, which gained for us such great shoes!" Well, it is still Easter after all....:)

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer! Alleluia! He is Risen!

My wedding

Dear Royal Wedding, mine was better!

In a place where we have spent so much time praying, being with Christ...

With the priest who has led us to Christ, time and time again (here he told us, "You're married now!).

With the Eucharist.

It was simple and fun (this was our wedding party).

I felt like a princess.

I married my best friend! I love you, Ron.

It was a joyful day!

Still a Newbie

Holy Week was a whirlwind for us. I had grand plans (as always, and with so many inspiriational Catholic blogs with fun crafts, who doesn't?) and then reality hit. Tired children, a tired husband, a messy house, late Mass times, and family events all came together to humble me and bring me back to reality.

What is important this week? The Eucharist, prayer, serving with love (as always!)

What do I want Pia to learn? The Easter story, the joy of the Resurrection

What do I need? Prayer, by myself. Quiet.

Pia learned that Judas is the "bad friend". She learned that on Easter, Jesus is Risen! Alleluia! She likes it when her Dada washes her feet, and rubs them with oil. Celebrating Easter morning is fun! Overall, not too bad. She is only 2.

Next year, I want to have a Seder Passover meal on Wednesday (more research needed). I also want to attend the Easter Vigil with my little family-it is so dramatic and symbolic and beautiful! I want to make sure to pray the sorrowful mysteries on Good Friday, and the glorious mysteries on Easter! I also want to meditate on the seven last words, and on Good Friday do a "Passion-play", or something like that, since we probably won't make the evening reading of the Passion at church. I am going to save our late night church visits for the Easter Vigil (and realistically, one late night is enough for us!). I also want to make a Paschal candle and get some incense. Soup for dinner each night, and no more living stations of the cross for us.

I will be better prepared for Holy Week with little ones next year! And I better start saving these now, apparently they are very useful for crafts!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Holy Week and Easter Sunday

When I looked out my window on Holy Monday, I gasped!

Snow. Oh dreaded April Snow. A final penance for Lent. The weather for the rest of the week followed suit. Thank you Lord.

On Holy Thursday we made a craft that we found on Catholic Icing-our first time ever visiting that site. It was great! (Thank you Catholic Icing!) We all learned about the last supper, the instituition of the Eucharist, a little bit about Passover, and the names of the Apostles.


We then made a poster with many of our favorite priests and prayed for each of them by name. Conversation at lunch was as follows:
Pia (to her cousin, D): "Are you going to be a priest or a daddy?" We will have to wait to see what God's will is!


Dinner was simple, in hopes of attending the 7:30 Mass. Sadly we didn't make it, since Dulce was screaming inconsolably when we got there and we decided to bring her home and put her to bed. We did read the Mass readings at dinner.


After dinner we started a new tradition, the family washing of the feet.


Ron gave Pia a bath and she was so upset afterwards. "Mama! Dada forgot to wash my toes!!!" She was so serious about the foot washing and blessing and asked for Dada to wash her feet for several days after. As Ron washed Pia and Dulce's feet, he told them how much he loves them, how honored he is to serve them, and how grateful he is to be their Dad. Then he gave them a blessing.



Good Friday, I brought out my Resurrection Icon which folds closed to show the closed tomb. (An awesome surprise!) Last year I had a Resurrection Set but it was made of resin and the kids liked to play with it and eventually Jesus was beheaded.


We got out our supplies, and started our Divine Mercy novena! We intended to make a new Resurrection Set from the Catholic Icing site but it took too long, and we never finished it. Next year...


All of our holy items were covered with purple cloth.


The curtains stayed closed. We waited with Mary and the Apostles and went to the Living Stations of the Cross.


Finally, Easter Sunday morning! He is Risen! Go to an early Mass! Break out the celebration!


Wear fancy clothes!


Feast! Spend time with family!

(the breakfast was almost ready: chocolate covered strawberries, homemade blueberry coffee cake, and an egg bake)

Rejoice! Alleluia!

Glorious!

As a final note, I taught Pia to greet people with either "Happy Easter!" or "He is Risen!" but no-one responded back to her with "He is Risen Indeed!" so she also told that to a lot of people today and then started telling them, "Jesus is Risen!". So funny, I think Monsignor would be proud!

The Big Question!

Is there still room for candy?

Discipline While Nursing and Lent

For Lent I gave up yelling. "Really?," you might be asking, "shouldn't you not be yelling, anyway?"

"YES!" (not that I yelled that response)

But somehow, yelling had crept into our lives. YUCK! I know how it happened. It's called trying to discipline a two-year old while nursing a new baby. It's trying to manage ten different crazy behaviors in the fifteen minutes (or more) that it takes to nurse a new-born baby. It's from not being able to follow through immediately on my commands.

For example, in the ten minutes that I spent nursing Dulce prior to writing this blog post, Pia pushed a chair up to the counter, climbed up and got her bubbles. She then unlocked the front door and went outside to blow some bubbles. So far, not too much trouble, I could see her. She then spilled the remaining bubbles all over the kitchen. Did I mention they are, no, WERE cherry scented bubbles? Awesome. Then she raided the refrigerator for cheese and grapes. She narrated this to me as it happened but I was stuck on the couch. "Close the refrigerator," I instructed. "Wait for a minute, I need to wash the grapes for you." Obedience? Nope. When I got up to help her, I found the previously mentioned spilled bubbles and a wide open refrigerator. She had already eaten the grapes. UGH! How frustrating. So I sent her to time-out in her room. Several minutes later I informed her she could come out of time out. She called back to me that she needed my help since she was in, guess where-the crib. A comedy of errors. And a pretty regular occurrence with differing crazy behaviors.

By the time Lent arrived, I was just so frustrated with her....and she is a pretty good little girl! I had decided to give up sweets again. But after several days of failure, I realized that I had just decided. Not prayed. I had said, "I'm doing this God, bless it!" instead of "Lord, what are you calling me to? What area of my life do you want to bless? How can I be closer to you?"

So our house is more peaceful now. No more yelling. More patience and follow through on discipline. It helps that Dulce is a little bit bigger and thriving so if I need to stop nursing her to give a time out, I don't feel so bad about it. I also give more quality time to my little ones-that seems to cut down on the crazy behaviour. An easy Lent? Not really. But the right Lent. God's will. Wonderful.

a little bit of Lent

Fat Tuesday


Jesus,


meek and humble of heart,


make our hearts like unto thine.

2 months....

I had a baby two months ago.  In real life she has a truly beautiful name, but on here I will call her Dulce.   Her birth was so memorable and I sat down today intending to write her "birth story", but now that I've come to it, I think I'll just tell you that with this child, God has made His timing known in the most remarkable ways and in the midst of many little difficulties, we have continually seen how good He is! Jesus, I trust in you!
And I am so glad she is here!

Two year olds are funny!

Today Pia collected this pile of things to give to Baby Jesus.

At Mass on Sunday, as the priest was praying, "He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples..", Pia yelled, "WHO BROKE THE BREAD? WHO?" She was very concerned.

The other day, she was praying the Our Father and said, "Give us this day our daily candy."

And today we were looking at pictures from the summer. "Mama, my legs are nakey. Can they be nakey tooden (aka again)?" "Yes, you can wear shorts again." And so she promptly put on her pink shorts. C'mon warm weather, we are SO ready for you!!!

Sisters, Sisters...

Never were there such devoted sisters! Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted friends!

Pia can be found talking to Dulce all the time. She also likes to read her books, such as "Good Night Gorilla", or as she says, "Good night Ganola". She is truly a wonderful big sister!

Fashionable

"This matches! Ooh ya ya!"

2010 Family Christmas Letter

You know those cheesy Christmas letters that people send, mostly bragging about their amazing children?

I LOVE those!

Well, I guess technically I love all letters... I never felt compelled to write a Christmas letter- joining FOCUS right out of college got the newsletter writing bug out of my system before I had much to report!

This year, the idea turned over and over in my mind. No, I rationalized, I'll just send a birth announcement when the baby is born! That will be the biggest news in our family from 2010, anyway. And then, go figure, she wasn't born until 2011! I took a break from blogging, so a Christmas letter update might be in order anyway. So here goes, my first ever "family Christmas letter".

Our family was very blessed in the past year. Ron passed his CPA test on his first try, without too much studying! Rosie allowed God to work in her, literally, and grow a child.  Pia started talking and we haven't had a moment of quiet since. She is also potty trained! We got a house, and with the help of many talented and generous helpers, turned it into our home! We made some wonderful friends and enjoyed living closer to our families. At each moment, God's presence and love was felt as we sought to do His will. We pray you are well and please know of our prayers for you. Merry Christmas!

long time, no posts

Dear blog (and many, many, friends),

I apologize sincerely for my absence. I have a new house now, and no internet. And I really don't miss the internet. Is that strange? I have to admit that my virtue is very tested by the internet. I am much more present to my family and tasks when I don't have it. I also compare myself less to others on facebook, and therefore suffer less from the sin of jealousy. More peace, more money...no internet. But I do miss my blog. I have a little journal now full of funny stories of little Pia as she has changed SOOOO much. And here is my big internet announcement: We're expecting a little one December 26-the feast of the Holy Family. God continues to fill our lives with blessings. Some day this will be updated again, but until then, I'm enjoying calling people more and hanging out with people in person and not having the internet.

With love, Rosie