"Mom? Next year, for my bathing suit, I want to have a swim dress. Short sleeves and it goes down like this, all the way to right below my knees. Ok?"
What could I say? How could I deny this? What a beautiful thing.
God bless your day!
C'mon cheer it with me: TGIF!!! TGIF!!!! TGIF!!!!
God bless,
Mary@ Cheerios
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Friday, September 14, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Summer Art
Isn't it great? I sure think so!!!
God bless,
Mary @ Cheerios
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Homeschooling summer blahs
I don't know about you but I am SO not ready to enter into school planning, thinking and doing.
Going to the home school convention back in June was enriching and very useful and helpful to set the tone. But the reality is that I bought 70% of my curriculum at that convention and I am still at a loss for some very important items. I am not interested in buying them either anytime soon!!!
Folks, summer is still in high swing at our home!!!! It is still hot and humid and oh so very very summer-like.
It's only August 14th (which, BTW, don't forget a holy day tomorrow!!!! so go to Mass!) and the pool is still open for us. We JUST joined only a short time ago and we are trying to utilize it the max! It's great b/c there is hardly anyone there b/c they are probably just so sick of it! haaaa! Good for us! :)
Of course my kidos could use some structure in their day. But, isn't it a wonderful way of learning what to do with boredom? SO healthy if you ask me. I remember tons of times growing up moping about wondering what to do with my time....all the while being careful not to let my mom see or she'd be quick to set me to work! Those were my most imaginative and creative times.
I have seen pics and read of this out pour of homeschooling families beginning school already. Of course it's their choice and they have that freedom to do so. I have a friend who starts early and end ends in early May. Good idea! But not me. At least not this year. I did try to start about 2 weeks ago but my heart was not in it. I couldn't ask my kids to be on top of things and excited if I was too much in the lazy summer mode. So, we packed the boxes right back up. We were all so happy about that. But, I have to admit that seeing and reading of those families gives me a bit of nervousness and anxiety. Again, I guess I am not there yet.
Well, hope you are enjoying your last few weeks of summer bliss and giving thanks to God for all the gifts in your life!!!
God bless, Mary @ Cheerios
Going to the home school convention back in June was enriching and very useful and helpful to set the tone. But the reality is that I bought 70% of my curriculum at that convention and I am still at a loss for some very important items. I am not interested in buying them either anytime soon!!!
Folks, summer is still in high swing at our home!!!! It is still hot and humid and oh so very very summer-like.
It's only August 14th (which, BTW, don't forget a holy day tomorrow!!!! so go to Mass!) and the pool is still open for us. We JUST joined only a short time ago and we are trying to utilize it the max! It's great b/c there is hardly anyone there b/c they are probably just so sick of it! haaaa! Good for us! :)
Of course my kidos could use some structure in their day. But, isn't it a wonderful way of learning what to do with boredom? SO healthy if you ask me. I remember tons of times growing up moping about wondering what to do with my time....all the while being careful not to let my mom see or she'd be quick to set me to work! Those were my most imaginative and creative times.
I have seen pics and read of this out pour of homeschooling families beginning school already. Of course it's their choice and they have that freedom to do so. I have a friend who starts early and end ends in early May. Good idea! But not me. At least not this year. I did try to start about 2 weeks ago but my heart was not in it. I couldn't ask my kids to be on top of things and excited if I was too much in the lazy summer mode. So, we packed the boxes right back up. We were all so happy about that. But, I have to admit that seeing and reading of those families gives me a bit of nervousness and anxiety. Again, I guess I am not there yet.
Well, hope you are enjoying your last few weeks of summer bliss and giving thanks to God for all the gifts in your life!!!
God bless, Mary @ Cheerios
Friday, August 10, 2012
Quick Takes-August 2012
Just noticed that the previous post was my 1000th post! wow, how'd that happen?! Do I really have that much to say? haaaa
We had a bit of tick explosion in our backyard in May and June. Needless to say, we opted for the children not to go back into the woods anytime soon. Yes, it was that gross. Nasty. A friend of mine told me to freeze the little stinkers in a baggie and write the name/date/location of the tick found so that if there were any reactions, they could test the stinker and find out if Lyme's disease or whatever. All those ticks on my kids and then finding out a dear friend was stricken with a terrible case of Lyme's along with some bacterial infection due to a tick made me shy away from kids outside. Finally, as in just a few days ago, I have let loose with them in hopes of a good outcome with no ticks and thanks be to God, we have been tick free so far. We sure had some time in our house these past few months.
Which leads me to the POOL! Yahoo! We have joined our pool, finally. I do have some reservations about it and the modesty there. Or rather the lack there of. Even my kids comment on it. I am not just talking about the girls/women. It is also the lifeguards. Since when is it appropriate for them to wear bikini's?!?!! I mean, c'mon! I do not think those things would be staying on if someone was to drown. Life is way more important to save rather than a bikini top or bottom. Gee wilikers, lifeguards! We try to go off hours, like when it JUST opens up. And so far, so good. But, its too bad that a pool has to be that way. Bummer.
My girls are all about dolls. Still. And I absolutely love it. They are learning the best possible home ec class ever hovering over dolls and baby dolls all day. My heart is very pleased.
Talking about babies...I am 3 and 1/2 months now! All looks and SOUNDS good!!! Praise be to God. What a gift. Truly a gift.
Also, about babies....remember my dear friend I asked you to pray about? Sam? Well, her sweet baby Steven Thomas went to be with Jesus. See HERE and HERE.
Wasn't that the most sweetest and yet heart wrenching story. She is a strong woman upheld by Her God, her strength.
We went on vacation a few weeks ago. It was amazing and exhausting all at the same time. We were blessed with such great spiritual direction preparing us for what is to come.
Must go now....my children need their Momma!
God bless you,
Mary
We had a bit of tick explosion in our backyard in May and June. Needless to say, we opted for the children not to go back into the woods anytime soon. Yes, it was that gross. Nasty. A friend of mine told me to freeze the little stinkers in a baggie and write the name/date/location of the tick found so that if there were any reactions, they could test the stinker and find out if Lyme's disease or whatever. All those ticks on my kids and then finding out a dear friend was stricken with a terrible case of Lyme's along with some bacterial infection due to a tick made me shy away from kids outside. Finally, as in just a few days ago, I have let loose with them in hopes of a good outcome with no ticks and thanks be to God, we have been tick free so far. We sure had some time in our house these past few months.
Which leads me to the POOL! Yahoo! We have joined our pool, finally. I do have some reservations about it and the modesty there. Or rather the lack there of. Even my kids comment on it. I am not just talking about the girls/women. It is also the lifeguards. Since when is it appropriate for them to wear bikini's?!?!! I mean, c'mon! I do not think those things would be staying on if someone was to drown. Life is way more important to save rather than a bikini top or bottom. Gee wilikers, lifeguards! We try to go off hours, like when it JUST opens up. And so far, so good. But, its too bad that a pool has to be that way. Bummer.
My girls are all about dolls. Still. And I absolutely love it. They are learning the best possible home ec class ever hovering over dolls and baby dolls all day. My heart is very pleased.
Talking about babies...I am 3 and 1/2 months now! All looks and SOUNDS good!!! Praise be to God. What a gift. Truly a gift.
Also, about babies....remember my dear friend I asked you to pray about? Sam? Well, her sweet baby Steven Thomas went to be with Jesus. See HERE and HERE.
Wasn't that the most sweetest and yet heart wrenching story. She is a strong woman upheld by Her God, her strength.
We went on vacation a few weeks ago. It was amazing and exhausting all at the same time. We were blessed with such great spiritual direction preparing us for what is to come.
Must go now....my children need their Momma!
God bless you,
Mary
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Cabin Fever in the Summer?
I always thought that cabin fever happened in the dreary, cold months of Jan-Feb-March.
And it did.
But it's also happening now. Yikes! In the summer? How could that be???
You'd think it is summer and you'd think pool...but imagine no pool access (yet, maybe...we're waiting for the 1/2 off deal and possibly join, maybe...still praying on it.) and it being very HHH---Hazy Hot Humid...and no pool.
So, what to do when there is no pool in the summer with 7 young kids and being a pregnant Momma, besides going totally nuts and pulling your hair out????
Let's see....
Lastly, there's a lot more of Momma laying on the couch feeling yucko and that equals a messier house, which also means lots of little extra hands are needed to help keep this boat afloat! That is not very pleasant for them or me nagging them to do it. We are all trying to hold off of the grudingly help and focus more on the generous help we are called to as we imitate our Lord Jesus and seek to serve Him in one another. :) Not an easy task but anything that is hard is usually most worthwhile, right???
PREGNANCY UPDATE: I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant and feeling just like a pregnant Momma should feel!!! We are ever so grateful and so happy for this GIFT OF LIFE!!! Thank you for praying for us-Thank you so much!!!
God bless,
Mary@Cheerios
And it did.
But it's also happening now. Yikes! In the summer? How could that be???
You'd think it is summer and you'd think pool...but imagine no pool access (yet, maybe...we're waiting for the 1/2 off deal and possibly join, maybe...still praying on it.) and it being very HHH---Hazy Hot Humid...and no pool.
So, what to do when there is no pool in the summer with 7 young kids and being a pregnant Momma, besides going totally nuts and pulling your hair out????
Let's see....
- Lots of things break in the house. Let's face it. We are just that family that breaks things. It's just who we are! When a new toy comes in our presence, we wonder how long it will last. In that essence, that is why we try really hard to buy things that are really well made and will (gasp! hopefully!) last some time around here!!!
- Lots of kids get hurt and have bandaids all over their boo-boo's. Why? B/c its too hot to play and run around outside for more than 20mins... so where is the next best place? Of course---Inside the house! Sure! Just the place where there is plenty of opportunity to offer up boo-boo's. haaa haaa!!!
- Lots of creative and imaginative play goes on here. Lots. Stuff I could NEVER imagine up!!! Love children's way of thinking-it's awesome! I have had to let them just get the house messy to play and I've seen the fruits of letting 'kids be kids'. Of course, there is always clean up that ALWAYS takes 2x longer!!!
- Lots of swinging on the hose hanging from our deck that is up 20 feet from the ground. Yeah. Imagine Tarzan. That's right. Tarzan.
- Lots of time filling and re-filling our tiny little kiddie pool that the children play in daily. Just think of 7 kids in one tiny pool. Kinda hilarious but my kids are such good sports.
- Lots of matchbox cars deep in dug out dirt ditches in front of our house.
- There's a bit more time for movies and even some youtube clips. Like this one!
Lastly, there's a lot more of Momma laying on the couch feeling yucko and that equals a messier house, which also means lots of little extra hands are needed to help keep this boat afloat! That is not very pleasant for them or me nagging them to do it. We are all trying to hold off of the grudingly help and focus more on the generous help we are called to as we imitate our Lord Jesus and seek to serve Him in one another. :) Not an easy task but anything that is hard is usually most worthwhile, right???
PREGNANCY UPDATE: I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant and feeling just like a pregnant Momma should feel!!! We are ever so grateful and so happy for this GIFT OF LIFE!!! Thank you for praying for us-Thank you so much!!!
God bless,
Mary@Cheerios
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Read Alouds
One of the biggest things that has been different this past homeschooling year compared to others is our read aloud time. Embarrassed to say, I just never found of tried to find time to read aloud to my kids-mostly the bigger ones. Yes, I knew how important it was, but my time was focused more on reading little books to the littles. Last summer, I was deeply convicted on the importance of reading aloud even to the older and middle children and that was my main goal (along with everything else!ha!).
After praying on how to make this happen, God helped me to see that reading aloud could happen, just not when I wanted it but when He did. I found that time and now I truly cherish it and miss it if we go without it.
At night, after I put my lil' Lady to sleep and my 5 yr old (b/c he loves his sleep so he is pretty easy to get down), and after our family night prayers, I begin and it is usually about 8pm. We all hop into my big bed and I lay in the middle while little heads and ears look on and listen. It really is the sweetest thing. I know they are listening and understanding b/c we talk about it and they ask questions and they giggle and their excitment peeks at just the right moment.
We have read a lot of really great classics that I never touched upon before....even ones that I did not even read when I was younger. How sad, huh? I was not the reading type of kido back then. I'd rather be outside riding my bike or playing dolls. But, now that we are reading them, I am so sad that I missed it and it was not a part of my childhood. I did not want this to happen to my own children.
We just finished...
While I am reading on my bed, my husband would read to my older boys in their room. They are in the middle of this book...
As you can imagine, this summer is not going by without read alouds! We have begun this book....
Happy Reading ALOUD!!! The kids will love it. You will love it. It is TIME spent in the most rewarding way.
God bless,
Mary
After praying on how to make this happen, God helped me to see that reading aloud could happen, just not when I wanted it but when He did. I found that time and now I truly cherish it and miss it if we go without it.
At night, after I put my lil' Lady to sleep and my 5 yr old (b/c he loves his sleep so he is pretty easy to get down), and after our family night prayers, I begin and it is usually about 8pm. We all hop into my big bed and I lay in the middle while little heads and ears look on and listen. It really is the sweetest thing. I know they are listening and understanding b/c we talk about it and they ask questions and they giggle and their excitment peeks at just the right moment.
We have read a lot of really great classics that I never touched upon before....even ones that I did not even read when I was younger. How sad, huh? I was not the reading type of kido back then. I'd rather be outside riding my bike or playing dolls. But, now that we are reading them, I am so sad that I missed it and it was not a part of my childhood. I did not want this to happen to my own children.
We just finished...
While I am reading on my bed, my husband would read to my older boys in their room. They are in the middle of this book...
As you can imagine, this summer is not going by without read alouds! We have begun this book....
Happy Reading ALOUD!!! The kids will love it. You will love it. It is TIME spent in the most rewarding way.
God bless,
Mary
Monday, September 12, 2011
How we do it~ Sundays~Part 3
 |
| Le'ts go fly a kite! |
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| You can do it, Daddy!!! |
 |
| And there Daddy goes! Awesome! |
 |
| Girls give their pink kite a try-they did great too!!! |
 |
| See? It was UP in the air at one point! :) |
 |
| My 2 yr old on the go, go, go! He is always up to something!!! Without shoes, of course!!! My little monkey... So, how do you spend your Sundays? We really enjoy spending our Sundays FIRST early at 8am Mass, then our after Mass special chocolate chip scones...then naps..then OUT and About!!! This day we went to a park or it could be a museum, hike, park, playground or the pool (for the summer!). We started this almost 12 yrs ago and it has such been a blessing in our family. How do YOU spend your Sundays??? God bless, Mary |
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How we do it-- Part 1 *updated*
Oh, yeah, did I tell you that we ditched all TV/Movies?
Oh, I didn't?
Surprise!!!
Yup, we surely are making this a family lifestyle MAKEOVER lately! :)
I know...I know....don't start. I know it is odd. I know we may be missing out on the news. I know we are missing out on a helper per se..a 'babysitter' of sorts. I know I might be missing out on some good movies or shows out there. Can we be any more 'wierd' in the sight of the world, other than having 7 children that make us stand out?
But do you know what else?
Our children are worth it.
We felt compelled to do this.
We felt God leading us to this decision.
We felt God calling us to this radical decision and who are we to disobey His Will?
It truly has been a radical change in our family. It is a lot of hard work. Constantly. But our children are worth it. Their souls are worth it.
The big motivator for this decision was the trash all over movies and tv, which is awful. There is not much uplifting of family life& marriage & children but just the opposite. If this marriage and family and children is what God upholds as wonderful and beautiful, why would I subject myself or my children to watching those things that are the opposite of what God desires? When we need to tell our children about something on the news or something that we feel is necessary to, then we will. We, as parents, will pick the right time to tell them. We are their parents, afterall.
The other BIG motivator for this decision for our family was realizing how much time is plainly wasted by watching tv/movies. When we decided to forge ahead on making this schedule, we were in awe of how much we wanted to accomplish with our God-given time. Seriously. We did not want to waste this precious time with our children on this sort of entertainment.
It is so evident that we made the RIGHT decision.
Since the TV/movies have been off and gone, we have been so much more resourceful. My kids have shown great growth in creativity. Some of my kids have really matured in so many ways. We have instituted "Books on CD" and quiet time in those times that I would have put on a movie, daily. One of my children, my 4 yr old sweet guy, has been talking so much better, using better words than what I have seen. We have been spending, and I mean really spending TIME with our children-being present with them. Not one eye on the tv and one eye on them. Not the "wait a minute" and I'll be there b/c I really want to see what happens with so and so in this show. We have found our children focusing on us as much as we are on them. They are happier b/c we are giving as much as we can to them. I really think they are feeling better about themselves and feeling the value of themselves in our family b/c God put them here in our family. B/c we are present to them. We truly believe it is b/c of no more TV/movies.
(FYI---Of course, if they are sick or if we deem it is necessary, then we are not totally opposed to it. IF it is educational, then we may feel it is okay. There are some grey areas for this decision.)
Well, best go now...time to get back to my kids. We are all enjoying a most beautiful day outside. My kids are using some boxes on our front lawn making them into air space shuttles and whatever else! It is quite amusing for my little lady and I to watch. To the rest of the neighborhood, it looks as if we are having a yard sale!!! haa haa!!! LOL
Go summer!!!!
God bless,
Mary
Oh, I didn't?
Surprise!!!
Yup, we surely are making this a family lifestyle MAKEOVER lately! :)
I know...I know....don't start. I know it is odd. I know we may be missing out on the news. I know we are missing out on a helper per se..a 'babysitter' of sorts. I know I might be missing out on some good movies or shows out there. Can we be any more 'wierd' in the sight of the world, other than having 7 children that make us stand out?
But do you know what else?
Our children are worth it.
We felt compelled to do this.
We felt God leading us to this decision.
We felt God calling us to this radical decision and who are we to disobey His Will?
It truly has been a radical change in our family. It is a lot of hard work. Constantly. But our children are worth it. Their souls are worth it.
The big motivator for this decision was the trash all over movies and tv, which is awful. There is not much uplifting of family life& marriage & children but just the opposite. If this marriage and family and children is what God upholds as wonderful and beautiful, why would I subject myself or my children to watching those things that are the opposite of what God desires? When we need to tell our children about something on the news or something that we feel is necessary to, then we will. We, as parents, will pick the right time to tell them. We are their parents, afterall.
The other BIG motivator for this decision for our family was realizing how much time is plainly wasted by watching tv/movies. When we decided to forge ahead on making this schedule, we were in awe of how much we wanted to accomplish with our God-given time. Seriously. We did not want to waste this precious time with our children on this sort of entertainment.
It is so evident that we made the RIGHT decision.
Since the TV/movies have been off and gone, we have been so much more resourceful. My kids have shown great growth in creativity. Some of my kids have really matured in so many ways. We have instituted "Books on CD" and quiet time in those times that I would have put on a movie, daily. One of my children, my 4 yr old sweet guy, has been talking so much better, using better words than what I have seen. We have been spending, and I mean really spending TIME with our children-being present with them. Not one eye on the tv and one eye on them. Not the "wait a minute" and I'll be there b/c I really want to see what happens with so and so in this show. We have found our children focusing on us as much as we are on them. They are happier b/c we are giving as much as we can to them. I really think they are feeling better about themselves and feeling the value of themselves in our family b/c God put them here in our family. B/c we are present to them. We truly believe it is b/c of no more TV/movies.
(FYI---Of course, if they are sick or if we deem it is necessary, then we are not totally opposed to it. IF it is educational, then we may feel it is okay. There are some grey areas for this decision.)
Well, best go now...time to get back to my kids. We are all enjoying a most beautiful day outside. My kids are using some boxes on our front lawn making them into air space shuttles and whatever else! It is quite amusing for my little lady and I to watch. To the rest of the neighborhood, it looks as if we are having a yard sale!!! haa haa!!! LOL
Go summer!!!!
God bless,
Mary
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
My Schedule Thoughts-Part 1
This summer has been flying by so quickly!
It is HOT HOT HOT and sunny most days :) If it rains, it is only a passing shower and it gives me some hope that we can get back outside or to the pool. This weather is amazing!
The blog, however...uh, as you have noticed probably has been placed on the back burner.
I sure hope you don't mind and hope you are having a fulfilling and fruitful summer as we are! :)
I have been super busy with that schedule that I mentioned HERE.
It is a super duper, heavy duty, 30 minute time increments of our day. I hope to, God willing, post in detail about our days and how we are working with it. That will come with time.
However, I will post today on my overall thoughts on it.
Prior to implementing our family schedule, I had some issues at the end of my day.
The biggest things for me were:
I was living in a total reactive mode of parenting.
I could not get one step ahead of my children and their want/needs/desires. I could not figure out how to tend to each of our 7 blessings in a way to 'fill up thier love tank' and be the Momma they needed me to be for them and the Momma and wife that God was calling me to be. Daily.
This way of thinking was not healthy, b/c we know children have their wits about them and God's Will was very prominent.
The deal was, I was fighting God's will for me and my family.
It was apparent that I needed to change a diaper (or 2!) or fold the laundry but I was doing this task lacking the much love that it needed and deserved. I was grudgingly doing these things. I was wishing that I was off doing something else. I believe St. Teresa said to 'find God in the pots and pans'. And that is so true. In my vocation to motherhood, though, I was not seeing it. I wanted to, oh, how my desire was to. BUT, I was kissing this boo-boo, disciplining this child, vacuuming when I should have been reading to my son, or answering my emails or phone eradically when I should have been playing w/ my 2 yr old b/c he wanted me to and on and on and on. Living in a reactive mode of parenting set me up for a disaster of sorts.
30 minutes is what we have per scheduled activity throughout the day, minus lunch and dinner which is 1 hour each.
30 minutes is a very short amount of time. I like that. It is short enough that fights and squabbles may not errupt too badly and long enough to be able to get some stuff done. What I have to get used to is that a little each day goes a long way-we may not finish the whole page of Math for the day and may need to come back to it the following day. This is not how I have ever really done school-it was always to finish a whole page and then Math was done. Not now, it is done at that 30 minute stopping time. That's it. It is growing on me, for I see how excited they are to be done with that subject. They can visualize the 30 mins and they know it is not that long. They opt to get to the scheduled work quicker than me nagging at them to do it (most of the time! :)
Now, this 30 minute schedule really freaked me out the first few weeks-thoughts rushed around my head and doubts that it would really work for our family. But, once into practice for a while, it has helped us all tremendously.
It makes me think of what Blessed Mother Teresa said:
Making a list of things that I wanted and needed to do that entire day was uplifting. It gave me hope that I could get to reading to my children that I so badly wanted to and all those other things as well, but could not 'find the time' to do it! Now, when my kids are interested in me reading to them, I tell them that I absolutely will and what time it will be at. And it gets done. Period.
That's all I have time for today!
God bless your day,
Mary
The biggest things for me were:
- Why didn't I start my day with prayer? How did I forget?!
- Why was I ending my day and wondering what did I accomplish?
- Why didn't I get to the things I really wanted or needed to do?
- Why didn't my kids get around to doing the things I knew were best for them?
Days would go by.
Weeks would zoom by.
Months were disappearing in a snap of my finger.
There was a mental list of things I thought that if I accomplished then it was a good day. If I didn't get to them, than it was not such a good day. The deal was, I was fighting God's will for me and my family.
It was apparent that I needed to change a diaper (or 2!) or fold the laundry but I was doing this task lacking the much love that it needed and deserved. I was grudgingly doing these things. I was wishing that I was off doing something else. I believe St. Teresa said to 'find God in the pots and pans'. And that is so true. In my vocation to motherhood, though, I was not seeing it. I wanted to, oh, how my desire was to. BUT, I was kissing this boo-boo, disciplining this child, vacuuming when I should have been reading to my son, or answering my emails or phone eradically when I should have been playing w/ my 2 yr old b/c he wanted me to and on and on and on. Living in a reactive mode of parenting set me up for a disaster of sorts.
"Do small things with great love."
God bless your day,
Mary
Monday, August 1, 2011
Afterall, guess I am ok.
This morning was chaotic and hectic, loud and crudeness erupted everywhere!
Mondays are sometimes like that, right?
That's just to make me feel better, saying that, ya know. (or maybe not! ha lol).
If I jotted down (which I was terribly tempted to do) every single crazy and outlandish thing that had happened this morning, I may frighten away any woman out there from having children!!! lol!
Seriously.
I am not kidding, at all. Nope.
I waited to call my hubby to tell him all my life horror stories from a single morning, a measly 4 hours. I waited and I was so in dire need of venting. But I waited. B/c if your hubby is anything like my hubby, he cares so much and loves so tenderly, that when hearing upon my venting words, he wants to come home, fix whatever needs fixing, and that's that. And, of course, he is focused on home, --me, and the kids. Not bad-he's a keeper, for sure. BUT he is at work. It is not good to be focused on HOME when he is at WORK. Someone is making the bread $, and it surely is not me, of course! :)
Anyway, so I finally got him 10 mins before I knew he was heading to noon Mass. (Good and holy hubby! Love him!) When I did talk to him, by that time, I was cooled off, recollected, and ready to tackle at least lunch time. He was proud of how I was handling my self & in control. Hey, I was too! :) It was surely God working through me to get me that cooled off place and definitely not me, by myself. Noway. (Thank You, God!)
So, now lunch is officially over, and some kidos are napping. My sweet little lady is napping for the 2nd time IN HER OWN CRIB and NOT IN MY ROOM but the girls room!!! :) I hope it lasts longer than the 20 min nap this morning (when she usually naps a good 1-2 hours).
My big kids are 'playing school'-I even got them some 'real school books'!!! Phonics for this upcoming year and I am hearing my oldest being the teacher for the 9, 7 and 5yr olds. They are so cute. They don't mind starting school already-they are excited to get going-and since we take a longer Advent and Christmas break, this seems to be perfect :) I was not going to start school till after Labor Day (as in the past 7 yrs) but this year, if they are ready and I have the books, then so am I! :) By the way, I have had them doing some math manipulates and reading the past 4 plus weeks since we got back from our vacation back in June. We stopped school at the end of May, took 3 weeks off, then we went on vacation for a week. I have noticed with my kids that 3 weeks is enough for them of dwadling and having a break. Their souls, minds, and bodies are ready to be scheduled again.
Since we have been working diligently on our very strict and quick changing family schedule, we have instituted FAMILY PRAYER TIME 2x a day! How about that? I love it!!! It was always what I wanted to do but could never 'find the time to do it'. That was my excuse and is was rampant around here. Not now. Things have changed. For the better, I might add.
Feeling it was necessary to show and teach the kids about praying and how God answers our prayers, we began a Family Prayer of Intentions Book. One of my kids jotted down at lunch, today:
1. A family member to go to confession
2. Mom
3. New Baby
What was that?
#3???
Nope, we are not expecting (at least not yet that I am aware of !) but I found it so touching that this child would ask for another sibling after a morning this today. After a morning that held too many regrets on my part of saying too much too flippantly to this child. Yet, he is asking God for a sibling.
Wow, this absolutely amazes me.
I guess I am not so bad of a momma, after all.
All Praise and honor be to God alone. This is not my doing.
God bless your day!
Mondays are sometimes like that, right?
That's just to make me feel better, saying that, ya know. (or maybe not! ha lol).
If I jotted down (which I was terribly tempted to do) every single crazy and outlandish thing that had happened this morning, I may frighten away any woman out there from having children!!! lol!
Seriously.
I am not kidding, at all. Nope.
I waited to call my hubby to tell him all my life horror stories from a single morning, a measly 4 hours. I waited and I was so in dire need of venting. But I waited. B/c if your hubby is anything like my hubby, he cares so much and loves so tenderly, that when hearing upon my venting words, he wants to come home, fix whatever needs fixing, and that's that. And, of course, he is focused on home, --me, and the kids. Not bad-he's a keeper, for sure. BUT he is at work. It is not good to be focused on HOME when he is at WORK. Someone is making the bread $, and it surely is not me, of course! :)
Anyway, so I finally got him 10 mins before I knew he was heading to noon Mass. (Good and holy hubby! Love him!) When I did talk to him, by that time, I was cooled off, recollected, and ready to tackle at least lunch time. He was proud of how I was handling my self & in control. Hey, I was too! :) It was surely God working through me to get me that cooled off place and definitely not me, by myself. Noway. (Thank You, God!)
So, now lunch is officially over, and some kidos are napping. My sweet little lady is napping for the 2nd time IN HER OWN CRIB and NOT IN MY ROOM but the girls room!!! :) I hope it lasts longer than the 20 min nap this morning (when she usually naps a good 1-2 hours).
My big kids are 'playing school'-I even got them some 'real school books'!!! Phonics for this upcoming year and I am hearing my oldest being the teacher for the 9, 7 and 5yr olds. They are so cute. They don't mind starting school already-they are excited to get going-and since we take a longer Advent and Christmas break, this seems to be perfect :) I was not going to start school till after Labor Day (as in the past 7 yrs) but this year, if they are ready and I have the books, then so am I! :) By the way, I have had them doing some math manipulates and reading the past 4 plus weeks since we got back from our vacation back in June. We stopped school at the end of May, took 3 weeks off, then we went on vacation for a week. I have noticed with my kids that 3 weeks is enough for them of dwadling and having a break. Their souls, minds, and bodies are ready to be scheduled again.
Since we have been working diligently on our very strict and quick changing family schedule, we have instituted FAMILY PRAYER TIME 2x a day! How about that? I love it!!! It was always what I wanted to do but could never 'find the time to do it'. That was my excuse and is was rampant around here. Not now. Things have changed. For the better, I might add.
Feeling it was necessary to show and teach the kids about praying and how God answers our prayers, we began a Family Prayer of Intentions Book. One of my kids jotted down at lunch, today:
1. A family member to go to confession
2. Mom
3. New Baby
What was that?
#3???
Nope, we are not expecting (at least not yet that I am aware of !) but I found it so touching that this child would ask for another sibling after a morning this today. After a morning that held too many regrets on my part of saying too much too flippantly to this child. Yet, he is asking God for a sibling.
Wow, this absolutely amazes me.
I guess I am not so bad of a momma, after all.
All Praise and honor be to God alone. This is not my doing.
God bless your day!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Older and Wiser
I know my kids are getting older.
How? you ask?
This morning we met up with my dear friend and her 4 kids (+1 in belly-yay!!!) at a playground/park. It was super fun!
Then a some other kids showed up and they were a bit, uh... I guess you can say-un-ruly. My first reaction was "Ugh. Oh boy..." Then my 2nd reaction "Oh well-tis a great learning experience!!!" (What a geeky homeschool thought! haa haa)
Anyway, for the most part, everyone interacted fairly well besides the expected bit of tension, teasing and little fights here and there between Boys vs. Girls..(love this crazy young age!).
Then we got home.
My oldest daughter says to me "Hey Mom, ya know what I said to those boys that were teasing us?"
(Oh no, I thought!) "No, what did you say?" I replied.
"I told them if they keep teasing me then I was gonna go get my big brother and he is 10!"
(Yes! Good girl! You go girl!!!) "Oh really?" I said, "So, did they stop?"
She says, "I think so and they sure got a bit nervous when they saw him coming. That boy was only 9, ya know."
How? you ask?
This morning we met up with my dear friend and her 4 kids (+1 in belly-yay!!!) at a playground/park. It was super fun!
Then a some other kids showed up and they were a bit, uh... I guess you can say-un-ruly. My first reaction was "Ugh. Oh boy..." Then my 2nd reaction "Oh well-tis a great learning experience!!!" (What a geeky homeschool thought! haa haa)
Anyway, for the most part, everyone interacted fairly well besides the expected bit of tension, teasing and little fights here and there between Boys vs. Girls..(love this crazy young age!).
Then we got home.
My oldest daughter says to me "Hey Mom, ya know what I said to those boys that were teasing us?"
(Oh no, I thought!) "No, what did you say?" I replied.
"I told them if they keep teasing me then I was gonna go get my big brother and he is 10!"
(Yes! Good girl! You go girl!!!) "Oh really?" I said, "So, did they stop?"
She says, "I think so and they sure got a bit nervous when they saw him coming. That boy was only 9, ya know."
Big brothers totally rule!
They absolutely do.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Love is...
taking turns sitting in the baby pool holding the baby on hot days like these!
(Even if you are almost 11 yrs old!)
These are the moments I want to freeze, watching from afar, at how my children are interacting with one another.
How precious.
How sweet.
Most importantly, how pleasing to our Lord.
Have I mentioned how ALL my children (minus one super cute 2 yr old!!!) absolutely go GA-GA over our 6 month old Little Lady?
It is pure joy directly from God. She is such a gift to our family. I have never witnessed such affection. It could be for a number of reasons but I am not going to analyze it...I am just LOVING every minute of this.
Thank You God.
HAPPY SUMMER!!!!
SO MUCH TO POST.....SO LITTLE TIME!!!
God Bless,
Mary
(Even if you are almost 11 yrs old!)
These are the moments I want to freeze, watching from afar, at how my children are interacting with one another.
How precious.
How sweet.
Most importantly, how pleasing to our Lord.
Have I mentioned how ALL my children (minus one super cute 2 yr old!!!) absolutely go GA-GA over our 6 month old Little Lady?
It is pure joy directly from God. She is such a gift to our family. I have never witnessed such affection. It could be for a number of reasons but I am not going to analyze it...I am just LOVING every minute of this.
Thank You God.
HAPPY SUMMER!!!!
SO MUCH TO POST.....SO LITTLE TIME!!!
God Bless,
Mary
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Summer Pics
Good night and God bless,
Mary
Friday, July 8, 2011
I'm not ignoring you...
Sorry for not posting regularly. We've been busy around here and it is not just having a summer blast~! (although we are having quite our fair share of F-U-N!!!)
My hubby and I have been taken over by the....Schedule Patrol!
Yes, indeed. We are in deep in this process and so far, we have hit some bumps, had some flat tires, hit some windy curves, but we have come along quite nicely so far. (Scheduling is never fun...esp. if you do not have a very flexible attitude, uh....like me!).
Let me give a little idea of what we've been up to-the big thing so far:
No more TV, as in movies.
We do not have cable, actually never did since we have been married (amazing how God works, huh?!?!).
Even with these movies, it was pulling my kids away from us as parents, tearing them from their siblings, keeping them from their creativeness etc...
It has been a long, long, long 2 weeks without ONE movie! Not one! Woohoo!
Here is some of what they have done instead through pics. They have done so many other things that I have failed to capture in photographs, so I'll have to do better at that.
Happy Summer!!!!!!!
God bless,
Mary
Friday, July 1, 2011
1st of July day
Happy feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! :)
Perfectly hot summer day.
Sun shines strongly.
Warm breeze a blowing.
Birds chirping.
I gave my kids the task of getting a clipboard, paper and a pencil.
Then told them to pick a spot, any spot, in our backyard and draw what they saw in front of them.
To my big surprise, they have been at it for a good chunk of time and that gave me time to get my camera! So, here are a few shots of our day:
Here is a pic of what I love to do-bake! Not only is it fun for me, but I love to eat it too!!! :)
Yummy banana chochote chip bread-super yummy snack for this feast day.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
It's summer break for us!
We are officially done with school for the year!
Wooohooo!
Can you feel our excitement??!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!???!!??We finished our standardized testing that is required for the state that we live in.
We finished even before we go on a few travels in the next few weeks! Can you believe that? It was my dream to be able to finish up and we actually did it! I am so proud of my students-yay!!! :) They did awesome! We had some rough days, good days, great days...but we finished
My goals are already being formulated in my head and some on paper of what I want out of this summer for us... and it is going to be super duper fun and learning without them even knowing they are learning while playing! :) I will post on that later in the week.
Field trips, parks, picnics, pool, pool, pool, pool...
Yesterday...
We celebrated with a homemade cake that Kid #5 and I made together yesterday...
the kids had a cool water gun fight before lunch...
and we had our last PE (gym) class for the year ;(
More later,
God bless,
M
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Hey, Caught ya!
Catching frogs is a must in our family...our backyard, at the park or playground, on a hike...you name it, my kids will find a frog there...
Then my kid #3 loves to catch these beautiful creatures! These I really like...
But things were to change....and then....just yesterday...we spotted this....
There. Can you see him better now?
WOWeeeeee!
"Get a bucket!" I yelled to my kid #3!
"Hurry!"
Sure enough he did and kid #1 went for the catch.
Success!
Check out our big catch of the day!
He really is pretty cute, don't you think?
We were really glad it was not this kind of turtle...
A snapper turtle! YIKES!!!
What makes a playdate even better? Just before our friends (from our previous state! :)) left, I noticed that lil guy walking in our backyard-and we caught him! Needless to say, they enjoyed watching him immensely! Our first EVER box turtle! Now it's time for us to learn all about turtles...who knows what else we will find and catch in our backyard!
As you can easily tell, my kids really and I mean really enjoy catching all sorts of bugs and insects, butterflies, frogs and toads, and now turtles!
I have a feeling that SCIENCE CLASS is going to be REALLY COOL THIS YEAR!!!
We're off to a great start!!!
God bless,
Mary
Mary
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Summer 2010 in Pictures!
I finally, and I mean FINALLY!!! got my pictures on the computer. Here are some from the summer. I am sure there will be many more to come as time permits!
1) Happy 8th Birthday to my kid #2~! So much for a creative cake...I was down and out with first trimester blues and could only muster up cupcakes!!! But having a party with her very best friends made up for Momma's lousy wanna be cake!
2) Spring soccer! Fun! There's my kid #1 as goalie-he loves that position
3) Random sunny summer day picture.
4) Lincoln log fort
5) My monkeys on the monkey bars!
6) Buddy playing time...
7) What is summer without a pool and slide?
8) Roasting Marshmallows
9) What is a hike without catching a FROG?!
more hiking...
10) Ending our summer with a family vacation. It was incredible! Here is our youngest (almost 23 months) on a supposed to be 'pony ride' but with a real size horse. Was he scared? With Daddy by his side, he hopped up and even said "Giddy-up!" HAAA HAAA!!!
11) Lastly, do you remember my last post that included my son catching a butterfly? (BTW, he is very good at this! Indeed he caught another one this weekend too!) We kept this particular butterfly in a special butterfly cage overnight. The following morning we let him loose throughout our house and the kids loved it! But it had to end when he landed on the rug under my son's leg and then my littlest son went over and stepped on the poor thing! But we think he is okay, we decided to let him go after that incident and away he flew. Each of my kids had a turn holding the butterfly on their fingers. It was awesome!
...
..........Maybe there'll be more pics to come...!!! :)
God bless,
Mary
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