It's about that time...again.

After a few wild days filled with whining and crying (uh, both the children and I!) and after a visit to the doc we have some antibiotics going for, at least, one of my children.  That croup thing turned cold also turned into an ear infection.  eeeeeek!  

That wildness did not go over real well with me these last few days and I have felt the pull to get myself to Christ.  Whether it be to Mass, or a holy hour or confession.  I know I need Him.  Why, oh why, do I push and pull throughout my day, all by myself?  Then afterward, it comes as a total surprise to me of how overwhelmed I feel?  (I bet you know what I am talking about, huh?)

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  -Phillipans 4:13

Those thoughts finally got me to sit and be still.  Still enough to hear what He wanted to say to me.  So, do you want to know what He said?  Do you?  Do you?

"Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." (Mt 11:28)

How about that? 

"...I will refresh you."  That sounds so very appealing to me.  And to you too?  (heee heee ;))

So, I closed the book Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis and called the seminary here in my town and set my date with our Lord for tonight at 7:30pm.  I'm going for a soul cleansing to get refreshed, if you get my drift!  Please say a prayer if you remember at that time ;)  Thanks a bunch!

God bless,
Mary

Small Successes-It's THURSDAY-yipeeeeee!

Small Successes ~~~ at Faith and Family LIVE!

LITTLE THINGS COUNT BIG!

What are yours for the week?

Mine are:

1.  Read to my children the books I have wanted to read for a over a week!

2.  The children and I have been faithfully praying for Little Chrissie-their family website HERE

3.  I did not have a melt down last night while I was up for 2 hours with a sick little baby and up walking around with the 3 yr old-they both have croup! so scary.

God bless,
Mary

Quote of the Day

 "The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much."

-- St. John Chrysostom

St. Gianna Molla, pray for us!

"The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day."

-St. Gianna

St. Gianna, one of my favorite saints and the patron saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children...PRAY FOR US!

HERE is some bio info on St. Gianna from the Vatican.

HERE is the homily from Pope John Paul II on the Mass of her canonization on May 16, 2004.

HERE is a coloring page of St. Gianna that we will enjoy coloring today.

THIS book, Love Letters to My Husband by St. Gianna is beautiful and I enjoyed it so very much...I lent it out many years ago to I can't remember whom and they may have given it back, but now I cannot find it ;)  Oh well.

"If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; choose – and I demand it – the baby. Save her!" 

-St. Gianna

God bless,
Mary

Toy Review Tuesday

Hullabaloo

Pros: 

• all ages up to 10 or so like it-even me, but then again it's not too hard for me not to like a game that makes you do goofy things!!!
• Great to play indoors in the colder months or on a rainy day
• kids are learning colors and how to follow directions without even realizing it!

Cons:

• Have to replace the battery to keep it going and going
• Then....we got the DVD version of the game...love it but the con of it is that if the DVD gets scratched (which in our house is not too difficult to do!) then you're out of a game

This is one of my all time favorite games for rainy days (uh...like today again, Rainy day #3, need I say more???).  I ALWAYS bring it out and the kids giggle w/excitement!

GO HERE for more toy reviews!  If you want to join in on it, just let me know ;)

God bless,
Mary

Don't throw out those old socks!

If you are in the predictability as me then you may have tried this and still those chairs are making some nasty scratches on your hard wood floor, you can try what we did this morning.

I call it "Sock Makeover" and  "The Great Sock Mission".

You see, I took all our unmatched socks-those little baby or toddler size ones -and put them on the bottom of our dining room chairs, secured them with this good ol' stuff (that can be used for just about anything!).

 

On a slight tangent...My grandfather used to believe that duct tape fixed everything and anything that needed fixing.  Have you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? (very cute movie, BTW, my hubby and I enjoy it a lot and laught a lot too--much needed humor is a good dose of medicine!)  If you have seen it, how can you not remember the super hilarious part of the windex? haaa haaa LOL!  Anyway, I can only relate my own grandfather with the duct tape to the father in the movie with the windex idea-that it fixes everything!

Anyway, they are working!  Of course not the best looking chairs but what we need is functionality in this house!  I am so glad that my idea is working...for now, anyway.

Happy duct taping!  What crazy things have you used duct tape for??! I'd love to know and find out some new ideas :)

God bless,
Mary

Motherly Quote of the Day

"A mother is the most important person on earth. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any Cathedral -- a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body."

-- Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty



God bless,
Mary

What we are enjoying today...

...on this rainy Monday in our house:

And...we are on the Letter X week learning about Xylophones and X-rays.  I love how conversations can about one thing can lead into learning about a ton of things! 

I am not so sure how we also squeezed in spelling tests, phonics tests and a bunch of mathematic concepts but somehow we did it...with God's amazing grace to sustain us all!

God bless,
Mary

p.s.  Don't forget to say a prayer today for:

Blog stuff...a long post...so get ready.

I do want to mention about a blog that I seem to click on every chance I get to when I sit down at the computer. 

Go HERE to check it out. 

So, did you go?  Whatta you think?

Please do say a prayer for this sweet little 4 year old girl, Chrissie.  They depend on the power of their prayer warriors to God for the healing her.  I have shared her story with my own children and we are praying for her too.

What an amazing story, an amazing little girl, an amazing mother with such an amazing Faith in our Lord Jesus!  I am in awe of how she is handling it (or seems to handle it via blog posts).   She has opened not only her home to adopting a few children and especially the little one who is undergoing major medical stuff right now...but she has opened her heart to a deep love for this child and opened up to share with us (in this crazy blogosphere) what is going on during such an intimate and crucial time within their own family.  I find great inspiration from his blog, and from this family.

It is weird how in computerland, we can get connnected with total strangers and feel as though we are right there beside them, as though we really know them....which you don't, BTW...I know, shocker there, right?!?! ha LOL.   Do you feel that way about me?  B/c I hope that you don't.   Really.  I can only get to the computer to post about 1 out of 10,000 things that happen during the day, whether they be funny, sad, hilarious, stressful...whatever.  What you read here on my blog is not the whole me and my family.  Sometimes I do not want to post about the terrible things that can and may happen 20 million times a day, b/c I don't want you to know or I don't want to acknowledge how very frail I am (a pride thing, I guess!).

Getting back to that blog I mentioned a few paragraphs up.

Sometimes God has to hit me strong with a powerful message in a powerful way.  You too, huh?  LOL!  Sometimes I think I am doing great in my spiritual life and other times, I don't slow down long enough to be able to hear Him.  This past week, He led me to that blog about little Chrisssie to show me what I have.  To remind me how very grateful I should be!  You know that saying "you don't know what you have till it is gone" rang true to me once again.  I have been so caught up with all the details of doing this, going there or not going there, saying this, wanting to do that, upset b/c it was not perfect, wishing it wasn't this or that way...yadda yadda yadda.  This was going on too long and God hit my heart big-time so that I would perk up and start seeing what is right here in front of me.  Boom!  I cannot even begin to imagine what this mother is going through to see her 4 year old daughter that way.  And what Faith she has!  Awesome and amazing. 

What am I to possibly complain about? 

We have children with no major medical issues going on.  We have a roof over our head and I have a most wonderful loving and supportive husband who loves us so incredibly much.  We have not 1 or 2... but 6!  beautifully hand created God given children that were given as a gift to my  husband and I!  We have food and drink and there are no worries there. 

I also have a great gift.  This gift of a deep love for our Lord and a Catholic Faith that upholds me and grants me peace among this daily chaos.   I feel so incredibly spoiled with all this when I read a blog such as theirs...but I also know that God knows what we need and if we trust with an unfailing hope and love in His Will and providing for us, He will do it...according to His Will.  

I thank God for giving me this little wake up call and I ask you to also say a little prayer for Chrissie. 
Here is the link to their blog again.




The gift of time...May God bless you with reminding you how much you have too!  Go that extra mile for a loved one, hug a little longer, let those dishes sit and snuggle with your loved ones. 
Mary

Your Love is Amazing!

Lord Jesus, Your LOVE is AMAZING!!!

Hallelujah!!! 

It's still Easter time, are you still rejoicing?!?!!?

God bless,
Mary

Growing legs or wings?

My children and I have a funny joke that I say when they cannot find a certain item.  For example, if they lost a shoe I usually say "Well, it did not all of a sudden grow legs and leave our house, now did it?"   We both laugh and the point gets across to them.  They go off and keep looking for the lost item.  (And...St. Anthony is a good helper too!:))

Today, we were all outside all the while enjoying this beautiful 68* sunny weather, I noticed my 4 year old not wearing her shoes, just her socks. 

Again, I said "What happened to your shoes?  I got it!  They did not grow legs this time...they grew wings!  They flew up in the air, over the rainbow and into a cloud!  Do you think that is what happened?"

 She laughed.  I laughed.  My 7 year old daughter laughed too then added:

"Mom, that is not real."

I replied "Of course not, honey."

"Yeah, I mean...there is no rainbow today!" She says back to me.

HAAAA HAAAA!!!
Yup!  You're right, no rainbow, but not quite the real reason I was looking for!!! haaa haaa! LOL :)

God bless,
Mary

Peanut butter and boys

Note to self:

Beware of your 7 yr old daughter who will say she can get lunch ready.  You just may find bowls of peanut butter (with spoons at least!!!) in front of 2 little boys (age 1 and 3) (Good thing no one has any nut allergies in our house or this would be terrible!!!).  Now, use your imagination of what the scene will look like.  Beware...Just sayin'.

Do you like it?

So...do you dig my new template and all those girl-ie Spring-y type colors? 

Be honest, do you like it?

For me, I am not so sure about it.

My duaghter who is a 'sweet- lil- all -things -pink- girl' helped me out to have this new 'Blog Make-over'!  Of course she picked all those pink colors and I like purple so it came out very very girl-ie.  I will have to sleep on it a bit and see if I can grow to like it. 

When I commented on how it is so very girl-ie, my daughter says:

"Well, Mom, what do you want?  You're a girl!  You are not a boy!"

You are right, little chickie.  So, here's a shout out to all those girls out there-"hip hip horray for us girls!"

God bless,
Mary

Small Successes-It's Thursday!

I'm baaaaaaaack~!  It's been a few weeks since I have posted on

Faith and Family LIVE - Small Successes. 

Glad to be back :)

Here we go...

1.  God has slowed me down to appreciate what I think are small blessings, but really they are huge blessings!- family, children, reading time, cuddle time.

2.  I've been working on stopping and looking at any one of my 6 children when he or she asks me something or needs me (which is almost all the time!!!).  Putting aside my wants and desires to actually finish something that I started is really hard!  (like right now-my baby is crying b/c his big brother (3 yrd old) just took his sandal...hold on, I'll be back...)

3.  Ok, I am back!  My 3rd small success is  (uh, hold on...)

See?  I'm a much needed person around here-I just settled a fight, braided some hair, praised my son for reading to his brothers (from the Bible nonetheless!!!), vacuumed the living room, gave attention to my 2 girls caring for their baby dolls, soothed a crying baby and now I am back yet again for my 3rd success...which is letting go.  I've been bombarded with having to re-direct my homeschool (home + school) atmosphere.  I have to let go of the perfectly clean house and perfectly matched and groomed children.  I have learned to let go of my children mastering English diagrams of sentences (for now anyway).  I had to let go of teaching them all what I think they would like to learn and instead go with the flow and explore what they want to explore and let them lead a little bit. (of course I have my list that has what is necessary to learn right now but they are still young and having lots of little toddlers and preschool aged children gives a totally different dynamic to learning in our house.)  I had to learn to be flexible in learning if we want to end this school year on a good note.  That is my 3rd success:  Let Go and Let God!

Go see more small successes HERE.

God bless,
Mary

Is it vacation or what?

This week, most of the schools in our town have off. 

Do you hear me? 

They have off from school.

...so, why do I not hear any other kids other than mine outside?

Funny how mine are making the noise but mine are the ones who are in school this week!!!

God bless,
Mary

Something I never thought I would say

to my boys as they headed out yesterday...

"Don't forget  your bug vacuum!"

Ha!!! Ha!!!

God bless,
Mary

You and me together, baby!

Have you heard the new song by Dave Matthews Band called "You and Me"?

I am totally hooked on it.  Love it.

I am not a huge fan of Dave Matthews but as I was scanning through the radio stations on Friday on my way to go food shopping, I happened to stop on it.  I am not sure how long it has been out or around but it's the first that I heard it and I am very fond of it :)

Why do I like it so very much, I wonder...

I can only think of going away on a weekend trip w/my hubby.  If not longer!  It has been 10 wonderful years since our beautiful wedding and its been almost as long since we went away for a weekend or a few days.  I used to think that is crazy for some couples not to get away but here we are...We are that couple!  It is hard b/c of our 6 young children and the babysitting is not that available. 

We are so due to get away fora bit to focus on us-husband and wife, best friends.  Not just parents, but us- as the song says:

"You and me together, we can do anything, baby...it's you and me forever, girl...we can do anything...two of us together, we can do anything..."

Please pray for us to make this happen...it means so much to us both! (Thank you so much!)

Great song!  Great lyrics!  Love it!



God bless,
Mary

Pitochio

We just watched this movie, Pistachio, by VeggieTales:

It was a total hit w/our family!  I recommend it!  It focused on obeying and listening to your parents, and that is just what we needed to re-learn lately.  Perfect timing for Netflix to allow it to be on it's 'watch instantly' viewing!

About 10 minutes into it, my 6 yr old says "Mom!  I know this movie, it's Pitochio!"

I love how kids play on words! haaa haaa!

VeggieTales are awesome, they always have an underlining virtue, character quality and lesson to teach both kids and parents alike.  Their music is catchy too, cute and catchy ;)

I don't think I will ever not like VeggieTales!

God bless,
Mary

Sibling love

 4 year old sunshine sweetie is helping me make a special dinner.  A peanut butter and jelly dinner to be exact. 

"Here is just a peanut butter sandwhich for T.  And wait a minute, he likes it with no crusts so I'll take them off for him."

HOW DARLING!  I won't even take off his crusts but his 4 yr old sister sure will! 

What a buddy. 

Reminds me of the song from Toy Story "You've got a friend in me..."!!!



God bless,
Mary

Peer Pressure or torture?

Overheard while I was cutting blue jeans into shorts (easy way to have some quick 'summer clothes'!):

Big Brother:  "Look there.  No, you have to look directly into the sun.  Look at the sun."

Somewhat Little Brother:  "What?"

Big Brother:  "Just look right at the sun.  Ok?"

So, little brother did just that.  And then they went onto doing something different.

Obviously this was his particular way to make sure he was still an influence on his younger brother!

Indeed he was, and is all the time.

BOYS!

God bless,
Mary

Going nutty

What a day today has been.  Already.

Every little thing I am asking or telling my children to do so far, each one of them has put up a fit.  It is as though I am asking them to shovel dog crap or clean up puke or run a marathon or something. 

These Mondays are hard, indeed.  Some days are like this, though. 

I know...kids are going to be kids.  Their job is to drive us parents nuts.  Okay, so my kids have succeeded already and it is only 8:55am. 

'Tis going to be one looooooong day...

God bless,
Mary

Quote of the Day

"Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits."

-- St. Philip Neri

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!!!

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

Here is some background info on this great feast day of Our Lord's great Mercy!!!

What is not to love about Saint Faustina?!?!  What a terrific wonderful Saint!  HERE is some info on her.

The kids will be coloring THIS,  THIS picture and THIS one.  For my oldest, I printed out a word find for Divine Mercy-very cute!

We'll be listening to Glory Stories THIS one of St. Faustina for the van ride today.  If I cannot find it (which is not hard to do around here!) then we'll listen to it ONLINE from EWTN's kids website HERE.

This past year I have been really working hard on getting my prayers in daily.  I mentioned in a past post about having my super waterproof watch that, besides being totally cool, has 3 alarms on it-each alarm coorelates w/my daily prayer time. 

1st alarm is to wake me up at a ripe 5:37am (yikes) and have morning prayers/quiet time/meditation/coffee/devotion with our Lord (psssst...notice the coffee in there!! heee heee)
2nd alarm is at 12 noon for the Angelus to honor Mary
3rd alarm is at 3pm for praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

I love the chaplet for many reasons-the top one is how quick it is.  Is that bad to say?  whoops!  But really, so many things in life with little ones right now take forever to see results (disciplining, parenting etc...).  I love how I am set out to pray the Chaplet and before I know it, it is done.  yipppeee.   I am not trying to give you the idea that my praying is a checklist but it is nice to start and end something without being interrupted.  Within my life right now that leaves a window of about, oh...6-8 minutes!!!, and that is how long the chaplet is.  Get it now?  Great. 

Now, moving on....I have found a great refuge daily with this Chaplet.  Our dear Lord has shown me how merciful He is, and how as a mother, I am called in a special way to show mercy to my little ones.  It is not easy, but He is showing me slowly how mercy can change hearts.  I have been pretty faithful in doing these 3 special prayers daily and for that, I am so thankful!  What a miracle to get these prayers in, albeit only 3, but still!  I have had different seasons in life where I struggled to get even one prayer in for the day. 

"...Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death..." (Diary, 687)

Throughout this year I have also noticed even though my life is a usual loud and my life is hectic and chaotic most days and my life is full of unpredictability...there is great peace in my heart and my soul. 

"Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful Heart, and I will fill it -with peace.  Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls." (Diary, 1074)

So, on this awesome Divine Mercy Sunday, I am thanking God for his mercy on me, and I am praying for Him to shed His merciful love on our dear country. 

May others find His peace and mercy and Him as their shelter in this storm of life.

"Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart... when will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they want." (Diary, 1728)


God bless you,
Mary

Books Books Books!

Our family absolutely loves loves loves books.  We love to look at them, read them, listen to them on CD or tape.  We seem to be the family that books just come to us, not frequently but when they do, it's a lot.  People are always giving them away.  You find them at tag sales or freecycle or craigslist for free and library book sales are obviously loaded w/books.  Ok, I have to admit, we tend to have a wee bit too many books compared to other households.  (awe, that's hard to admit!)  I am always thinking that if one child does not like a certain book, that another one will like it.  For that reason, I tend to hold onto them.  I do give some away every now and then, though. 

There are a few preschool books that melt my heart and that is what I am going to post now.  They are not considered to be homeschooling books, per se.  I do have a lot that I really really like, but here are a few that I really really love:

Eloise Wilkin Stories

Richard Scarry's books, esp. What Do People Do All Day?

I am a Bunny book

The Runaway Bunny

I love reading these books to my children.  Even though I love to read to them, oh I wish I could read to them more...  With 6 young children, life is busy, and they need me in so many ways.  I feel that reading to them gives them my attention, gives them still time to be held by me, and close to me, their Mommy, and gives them a love for reading that I hope they will have forever. 

Reading create bonds and memories.  My oldest son, 9, who is a fine reader, will read to his younger siblings, sometimes b/c I ask him to but other times just because.  I love to see that!  My oldest daughter, who is learning to read, will read to her younger siblings too a book she can read or even make up stories as though she is reading it or 'read' right from memory!  I love that too!

I find myself enjoying books just as much as they do.  Reading these same exact ones above to my little babies right now that I have read to my oldest ones just warms my heart.  I find that if I am sitting reading to my little ones, that my older ones will quietly and quickly join in listening to me read as though they never heard it before!  It is super sweet moments like that, that I am forever grateful.

If my husband or I are sitting down (ha!  how about that for a change!!! haa haa!) reading a book of choice for ourselves, we feel that encourages our children to have that desire to want to read too.  In fact, if they see us reading, they will many times grab a few books and just to be close to us, read their own books.  It is quite a sight to see my baby, my 18 month old, 'read' his hard board books for a good while, without a distraction!

Go read a book!  Even better, go read with your child!

God bless,
Mary

Quick Takes-Easter Week Edition

Hi there.  Anyone there?  Remember me?  Ya know, your slacker of a blogger buddy?!?!

Just checking. (heeee heeee!)

We have been blessed with some amazingly beautiful weather and for all those days, we are so grateful.  We cut our school worksheets/workbook load in 1/2 and spent the remainder of those days outside enjoying the gift of those sunny and HOT days!!!

I mentioned in a previous post that we even filled up the baby swimming pool 1/2 way up!  The kids were thrilled and I was too since they had to get cooled off somehow- it was a steamer of a few days of a rare 90* weather here! 

With all the fresh air, that left me to little down time and little time indoors to check on my blog or FB or emails or whatever.  It was nice to sort of 'get away' from it all for a bit right after Easter.  It helped me to focus on The Resurrection rather than being caught up in needless chat or worries of the world that the internet can inflict on us without even knowing it. 

Soccer starts up this week and my oldest 3 will be playing.  2 on one team and 1 on the older team.  The good thing their games are on the same really big field.  I do enjoy watching them, just not so much running after my little ones! 

I am so not good at the decor of my house.  We don't have a country flair or a modern touch.  Nothing really.  Some housewives are gifted in this but I am not and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I'd rather my house be comfortable, somewhat organized and manageable and let others be comfortable too.  I don't worry about not having the best furniture (that will be scratched or stained in 5 minutes anyway!) or actually having all the furniture match nicely (not that mine clash but it would be nice to have a theme going on).  So, that is my next step and that is what I am up to lately.  I am going to try to tie in the colors of my couch and paint my walls! (well, actually my hubby will be painting-he loves to paint!)  I am thrilled to get rid of the neutral almond color that every single room has.  I just need to pick out a color.  Sounds not tough, right?  But it soooo is, for me!  What should I do?  Duh! I called my mom.  See, my mom has that gene and it skipped right over me!  She is awesome and so helpful with this.  What a gift and talent she has!  I'll keep you posted on the color choice I pick, but I am leaning towards a warm mauve color for both my living room and dining room.  I think it will look great ;)  (I hope!)

It was a rainy day today and now I am back to this blog life and internet thing.  I could be doing 199 other things right now but nope, I am here.  See what this blog thing does every now and then!?!?  argh.  Good thing it is the weekend, I have a long to do list to get checked off!

Well, that's it. 
I'll leave it at that. 

Good Night, God bless you and Happy Easter!

God bless,
Mary

So, you too? *updated*

...still vacuuming up all that Easter grass.
...still playing hide and seek w/ plastic Easter eggs.
...still eating chocolate kisses, chocolate bunnies, all things chocolate-yum! ( I can't believe we still have candy in this house!)

Hey, it's still Easter, ya know.  Happy Easter Wednesday! and so... we're still celebrating!

*Update*:  ...we even broke out the little baby swimming pool!  I know, I know... can you imagine?!  It is only April 7th and it is 88* right now!  I did insist on no swimsuits, but I wish I caved in and just let them with all this laundry I quickly acquired.  Oh well!  Just last week this time, it was rainy, cloudy and cold. We are lovin' it!  Thank You dear Lord, thank you!
God bless,
Happy sweet eating!
Mary

Toy Review Tuesday

We are big Beatrix Potter fans, so when I saw these building blocks at a tag sale, I had to get them.  I store them in our school closet and only take them out during school hours. 

We enjoy the little books rather than the whole big book that holds all the books.  Those little books are great for little hands to hold.

My 3 year old's favorite book is The Fierce Bad Rabbit.  For Easter, the easter bunny even got him a Peter Rabbit chocolate bunny to match his already had Peter Rabbit stuffed bunny that he is so fond of.  Very cute.  Very.  Very.  Cute. (if I do say so myself!)

Go HERE for more toy reviews.

God bless,
Mary

I love my 18 month old

and how he puts up his leg or arm and says "boo boo" and I kiss it.  Then he says "all betta!" and off he goes playing again.

I love how when he bumps into the car with his ride on toy that he looks at me and says "stuck" and then I help him around the car and off he goes playing again.

I love how when he finishes his meal in his high chair, he holds up his hands and says "all done!"

I love how he follows his older brothers and sisters everywhere and anywhere.  You will never find this baby turning toddler anywhere by himself and that is a very good thing!

I love how he says "Daaaa-deeeeee!!!" and goes running up to our Daddy the second he walks through the door after a long day at work.  And he says it while at Mass when I come back to the pew after being in the back vestible for a while.  And....I think others delight in hearing it too!

I love how he can still lay next to me and snuggle; how he still (occasionally!) goes into my pouch/sling to be close to me.

I love how he plays on his emotions and pretends he is sad and crying when we say no to him.  He puts out his bottom little lip and crinkles his top lip and puts his precious head in the crook of my neck.  He begins to do a weeee little baby sob and holds tightly onto my shirt. 

I love how when he smiles, a deep dimple appears.  Then again, it appears so easily without a smile-you can't miss it!

I love how he is not crawling anymore and is off and running to play, esp. outside-he would spend the whole day outside if possible. 

I love how he is not afraid of animals, instead he is eager to get close to them!  (what a difference with some of my other children!)

I love how he calls his pacifier a "pie" and he knows exactly where to find them---under his crib!

I love how independent he tries to be, yet always glancing back for approval of Mommy's watching and that I am only a- hop-a-skip -and -a-jump away from him.

I love how he runs to me for security if he gets scared or is hurt or is saddened by a sibling, having total confidence that he knows he will get what he needs to feel better.

I love how he calls his sippy cup "guck".

I love this baby incredibly much. I love this age of 18 months.  I will continue to call him my baby even though he is 18 months old (God willing, until another one arrives!).  In my eyes and in my heart, all my children are still my babies, no matter how old!!!  This is absolutely the longest stretch between babies and I wonder what plans God has in store for us.  If you ask my children if they want another sibling, they will undoubtfully squeal with delight in saying "Yes!  Yes!  Yes!"  We pray that this prayer will be answered...according to God's awesome will for our family. 

Hope you had a Happy Easter-may God bestow many blessings on your families!
God bless,
Mary

Happy Easter!!!

Alleluia!!!

He is Risen!!!

God bless you and your families!!!

God bless,
Mary

 

Quote of the Day

"After you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the devil may try to make you have second thoughts. Intensify your prayer time, meditation, and good deeds. For if satan's temptations merely cause you to increase your efforts to grow in holiness, he'll have an incentive to leave you alone."

-- St. Ignatius of Loyola


God bless, Mary

Quote of the Day

 "Conquering the tongue is better than fasting on bread and water!!"

-- St. John of the Cross

Now...this is something to think about and work on during this Holy Week!!!

God bless,
Mary