Working the System

I apologize for the poor formatting of this post. Blogger is not letting me space between lines. The latest way to get out of consequences: 1) "Samuel, why did you stab Rose Marie with your toy sword?!" Sam responds, "It was an accident." (i.e. you cannot punish me for "accidents") 2) "Samuel, why did you pour your milk on the floor?" Without skipping a beat he looks at me and says, "Oh I forgot!" (i.e. "forgetting," is just like an accident and thus there can be no consequences.) This, "Get out of jail free card," now applies to all KNOWN rules in our house such as: we do not use the broom as weapon, it is for sweeping the floor; we do not jump off the top steps, you will crash at the bottom; you only need a little bit of toliet paper for wiping, not the entire roll; we do not pretend to make soup in the toliet; etc. Now everytime I catch him breaking one of these rules, I am quickly met with the trump card of "It was an accident," or "I forgot." Everytime he responds this way, it stops me dead in my tracks and I have to hide my smile. He is too smart for his own good, but he is incredibly adorable. :)

Little Joys

What a wonderful week! These past few days have been full, but happy. I am so grateful. Thank you for the prayers! I am trying to look harder and see more clearly the joyful moments :) Here are a few snapshots:

1) St. Patricks Day was filled with green pancakes, "stained glass window shamrocks," green sprinkled cupcakes and finished with a Irish Dancing performance by my sister and her dancing class! The whole day was full of fun and good ol' Irish spirit! I love Feast Days!


2) This mischievous little face! Although sometimes I can swear that he drives me to the brink, he also keeps me on my toes. And besides...how can you resist that face! :)



3) My little rainbow! I feel like she is changing so quickly these days. Recently she has started our days by climbing into bed with me in the morning and catching me up on all important information I will need before I get Sam up.

Hello World!

Here I am once again, after another long hiatus. This time, I cannot say that it has been insane schedules or busy business...it has simply been life that has kept me away. I don't want this first post back to be "doom and gloomish," but I'm afraid that feeling is probably what has kept me leery of posting. For whatever reason these last few months I have been plagued by a "heaviness," that I have struggled to shake off. Maybe it is the weather. Whatever it is, I have struggled and wrestled recently to find joy and laughter in my daily routine. I realize that our days are not always filled with laughter, but sometimes finding it is effortless and at other times, you can feel like it has been days since you felt a full smile cross your face. So, there...it is out there and I said it. Hopefully, I will feel more free to post since I have been more honest with myself. We shall see.

Now that I have put it out there, I will say that the word, "joy," has been my focus this Lenten season. I realize that it may seem an odd focus for the penitential season, but I am finding it so helpful this year! When things or days get hard, or when I am particularly missing the things I have given up, I am trying to find my joy. It is not enough to simply, "give up stuff," for Lent, but even more, we need to be joyful. We need to be joyful in what has been given to us by Our Heavenly Father. We need to be joyful while doing our daily motherly duties. We need to be joyful in the knowledge that we are loved by God. We need to be joyful while standing at a crossroads in our lives and awaiting God's direction. We need to be joyful even when we don't know what it is that God is asking of us. Not that any of this is always easy, but for now, it is what I am trying to find. If I find helpful hints during this season I promise to share them. :)

For now, here are some pictures of the people in my life who make me joyful and who I am trying to be more joyful for! Enjoy!

1) My little comfort...
2) I love how often they are hugging these days! They like to hug before nap times, at bedtime and first thing in the morning.

3) My little man on his very awesome ride! He is just too cool for school!

4) Tire Swings!

5) My boys fixing the car together. Sam is definitely Daddy's little buddy!

A Song :)

I am here...and I survived! After potty training and the entire family coming down with the flu, we are finally on the other side! Yay!


I haven't been here in a while, partly because I have been playing catch up and partly because now that we are better, we have been "running errands," everyday simply because we enjoy our new found freedom. :)


I have a song I wanted to share. I have loved this song for awhile, and a special thanks to my Mom for sharing it with me. I haven't wanted to post it because the video quality and acoustics are not very good, so I am afraid it comes across as cheesy, but the lyrics are perfect. It is called "How You Live," and it is by Singer/Songwriter Cindy Morgan. I was blest to be able to see her perform live and she is amazing! This is not my video, but was the only one I could find on Youtube. She originally wrote this song and the group Point of Grace sings it, but I love Cindy Morgan's version so much better...plus I love the first line. :) This song and her other song, "How Could I Ask For More," are simply beautiful and so true.



If you are in need of a happy thought, here is the song for you: "How You Live"

A Homeopathic Remedy

Uses: For the relief of stress, frustration or feelings of insanity brought on after a week-long lockdown with a potty-training toddler, followed IMMEDIATELY by becoming quarantined again because of the flu caught by aforementioned potty-training toddler.

Remedy: For this remedy to be effective you must get out of the fetal position. Turn music of your choice (of the adult variety) up to loudest volume and begin singing at YOUR own loudest volume. Proper tone or pitch is not necessary, but volume is a must, along with dancing moves that are only appropriate in your home. Then, proceed to the pantry and decide that lunch time today will consist of baking a huge batch of Chocolate Chip cookies. Between the dancing, loud singing, eating cookie dough and then warm cookies and glasses of milk, every possible stress from all involved parties will immediately subside. Stress will be replaced with laughter, cuddles, new dance routines and fantastic memories.

Follow these instructions as often as necessary to maintain a positive attitude while locked inside your house for extended amounts of time. :)

My Girl!

Parenthood really does change, just as soon as you think you have the hang of it! We are at a new stage...or at least the beginnings of it. My little girl is growing up. I realize that this sounds drastic, but quite frankly it FEELS drastic. I am not sure when it happened exactly, but I keep looking at Rose Marie and wondering where my little girl went.

Suddenly, she is confidently striking up conversations with older children and even adults. I catch myself listening very attentively to find out what is going to fly out of her little mouth. She loves to be responsible. Several times this week I have walked into a previously messy room to find that she had "surprised" me and cleaned it up without my asking her to do it, and she actually does a good job! She is incredibly affirming and I love her postitive feedback on my mothering. :)

But along with all of these positives, there is the other side to this growing up. Her worldview is getting broader. She is seeing, hearing and understanding things that were previously unnoticed or simply too difficult to understand. She wants to know what happens when we die. Will we all go to heaven at the same time? Why are there children in other parts of the world without food or mommies and daddies? Why does she have those things and they do not? Do you only get babies in your tummy AFTER the wedding, or can it sometimes happen before? Why do only big kids get to drive cars and not little kids? How long will it be before she can drive a car, because she is bigger than Sam, and therefore considered a big kid? When are we going to fly to England and talk to the Queen?

Yes, hard questions. I find myself getting exhausted by trying to be honest about all of these questions, without giving her information that she is still not ready for...like dying for instance.

It is a good time of growth, for her and for me. I am enjoying this new, older side of my daughter. I am loving seeing her personality continually take on a new form. It is truly fascinating. But, I still will miss these moments of her smallness and her innoncence. It is exciting and bittersweet, as every part of parenting seems to be. I love you Rose Marie, and I love watching you grow into your own unique, very inquisitive little self!

Happy New Year!!!!

Since I have been so negligent with this blog recently, I think this particular post will have to be done in "Quick Takes," format. :) So here we go, a whirlwind catch up on our lives since Advent.

1) Christmas was more than I could have wished for our little family this year, which is probably what is largely to blame for my silence. Silence. That was probably the word for our Christmas. Our hearts were full, our home was happy and we were very at peace. Jake was able to take almost a full week off from work, and I had made sure everything was ready beforehand. That final week before Christmas was spent mostly in pajamas, snacking on sugar cookies, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, re-reading favorite stories and wrapping Christmas presents. I felt so connected to my husband, and I always thrive when that is the case. :) We were so blest to be able to sit through the ENTIRE Christmas Mass! Yay! I was so proud of Samuel.

2) Speaking of sitting through Mass, that has been a HUGE recent blessing! I think we may have officially graduated to only leaving the Church for disciplinary issues, or potty breaks. Sam is actually very intrigued by what is going on at Mass and the closer we can sit to the front, the better he seems to behave ( I really hope I am not going to jinx us now!) This does not mean that our Mass experience is without many wiggles, stepping on of toes, putting runs in Mommy's nylons, or speaking loudly at inopportune times, but it is overall, much better than before! I just love being able to listen attentively to at least one reading, and sometimes all of them!

3) This year, I do not have any major resolutions. I am not on an anti-resolution crusade or anything, I just simply haven't made any. I may get to it at some point this month, and when I do, I'll let you know. :)

4) Last update thought...my little girl is growing up! I think this may have to wait and be a post all on its own. I feel like she has changed so much just since Christmas and I am not even sure how. She is so smart and opinionated. I love the conversations we have had recently. Yes, I think I will wait and post on these new Mommy/Daughter changes at a later time.

So that's a wrap! I know it has been short, but I do have a lot of other things to catch you up on and I promise I will! God bless and Happy New Year!