On Prayer and Getting It Right

Posted on February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 by Amy

I have mentioned before that I spent many years not praying. I didn’t believe in God, so I didn’t believe in prayer, so I didn’t pray. It’s only been a little over a year since I started to pray again, and I have found that I am still uncertain about how to do it right. I realize that there isn’t just one right way to pray, but it seems I’m not quite on target in the way I do it. I feel clumsy and inadequate.

I mentioned this to my husband the other day, and he was surprised that I would feel uncertain about praying. Apparently to some people, how to pray, is never really a question or concern. But I’ve noticed that there seem to be all sorts of unwritten rules about how to do it that no one really ever teaches you. At least not when you’re 37. I may have learned as a child, but I don’t remember.

Generally speaking, my prayers are just clunky. When I hear other people pray or read prayers that others have composed, I’m always amazed at how fancy and eloquent and religious they sound. My prayers don’t sound like that at all. Mine are more like “Dear-God-Thank-you-for-my-blessings-Please-watch-over-my-husband-and-children-and-um-help-me-to-be-a-better-mom-Amen.” Of course that’s an exaggeration, but not as much as you might think.

I probably wouldn’t worry about this issue so much, except that my lack of confidence has led me to feel insecure in my ability to teach my girls how to pray. I try to tell them how special it is to be able to talk to God and to explain why we pray and so on. But I feel awkward and wonder if I’m saying the right things so they get it.

I do feel hopeful when I see Miss imitating me by bowing her head and murmuring over my rosary, what she calls my “prayer beads.” I smile when Lass tells me that she talks to God in her room during nap time or spontaneously blurts out, “Mom, I love Jesus.” I swoon when Baby Sis clasps her hands in prayer and says “Amen” during grace before dinner.

My girls are all still under five, so it could be that I just need to relax a wee bit. But it feels like such a huge responsibility to be the one teaching them all of this stuff when I barely get it myself half of the time.

My big question is, is it “okay” to pray for something you want? I’ve heard or read opinions on both sides of this question in the past year. I always felt pretty strongly that it was okay, but now I’m not sure. For many months I had been praying and praying and praying for something I reeeeallllly wanted. I prayed this chaplet and that intercessory prayer and such and such novena. I wore little medals and carried one sometimes too. I believed that if I just got it right, if I just prayed the right thing with the right beads wearing the right medal, asking for intercession from the right saint, I’d get what I wanted.

But I didn’t.

I started to realize that it probably doesn’t work that way. That if I was praying, at least much of the time, with my goal in mind instead of with God in mind, maybe I was doing it “wrong.” So instead, I began to pray for help with trusting that He will give me what I need, even if it’s not what I want.

I’m awkward and clunky in prayer, but I try to remember that I’m still learning and re-learning. That God doesn’t mind if my prayers aren’t pretty. That whether I use the perfect words is less important than whether my prayers are heartfelt. That all I need to do is keep praying. So I do.

Disney Trip Take 2 – Success!

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Amy

Last year we went to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom for the first time with the girls. I remembered going as a kid and just doing it, with no major advanced planning or strategizing. I vaguely noted that lots of people nowadays seem to devote a lot of time and energy to mapping out every moment of their visit, but I didn’t think too much about it. I pinned a few things and scheduled a princess lunch for Miss’s birthday. I got a few suggestions from Super Friend who had been there a few months before we were to go. I figured it would be no big deal.

What I didn’t know is that we were going to Disney during one of the busiest weeks of the year. I had no idea that the third week in February is a peak time because some places have their spring break at then (in February people??). So, I got a great big smack in the face of Disney reality last year.

Last year we went on only four rides, Prince Charming’s Carousel, Tea Cups, It’s a Small World, and Dumbo (we only managed this one because some kind people gave us their Fast Passes as I was wandering aimlessly trying to figure out where we could get our own).

I had really wanted to take the girls on the Peter Pan ride, but I couldn’t find it. Seriously. Super Friend had told me to ride it first thing in the morning, because it gets busy fast. She also said that we could go straight there if we went left after walking through Cinderella’s castle. Good tip. I could do that. I was on a mission. As soon as we got to the park, we walked quickly through Main Street, cruised past Cinderella’s castle, and then I confused my right and left and we went the wrong way. Of course we couldn’t find it and but the time we did the wait was ridiculous, so no Peter Pan ride last year.

This year I redeemed myself. This year we went on all the rides we did last year

and we made it on so many more. We even did a few of them twice. The first day alone, even though we didn’t even get there until about 2pm, we made it on all the above rides plus Ariel’s Under the Sea thing and the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The girls loved meeting the princesses last year during the lunch I reserved, so I made sure to schedule lots of princess meet and greets for them this year too. I learned last year that Fast Passes are key. This year Disney has a new system so, since I bought my tickets in advance online, I was able to schedule three Fast Passes for each day ahead of time. I highly recommend doing this.

Unfortunately with the new system you can only get three Fast Passes per day period (I think it used to be unlimited, but you had to find them in the park), but scheduling them in advance at least allows you to pick the best times and make sure you get the ones you want. For the first day, I scheduled Ariel’s Under the Sea ride (which the girls loved so much we went on it again the second day), meeting Ariel in her grotto, and meeting Rapunzel and Snow White. The second day I scheduled the Peter Pan ride (I was not going to miss it again this year!), meeting Cinderella and Aurora, and Enchanted Tales with Belle. I’m so glad I scheduled this last one, because it’s fairly new and very fun and the lines for it were loooong.

The girls really enjoyed meeting the princesses, especially Miss. I thought it was funny that she got so excited, because as we were walking in on day one and I was talking about them being able to meet the Disney ladies, Miss said, “Yeah Mom, but they aren’t really the princesses, they’re just people dressed up like the princesses.” You wouldn’t have known she thought this from her expressions when getting to meet these “people dressed up.”

The girls’ favorite princess was Ariel. They insisted on standing in line to see her a second time on day two, and didn’t even seem to notice that the second Ariel was a different woman.

^^ Ariel #1

^^ Ariel #2

Not all the princesses were equal in their rapport with the girls. The Ariels were fine, but my favorite (and my husband’s) was Merida, for the time she took and attention she paid to the girls.

She especially took some time with Miss who told her about her plans to have a Brave-themed birthday party. I was very glad that I took the few minutes to find out where and when to meet Merida (you can’t schedule a Fast Pass to meet her). We went to her area (which is around the back right side of Cinderella’s castle, she starts meeting and greeting at 9:15 am) first thing on day two and only stood in line for a few minutes. It was so worth it.

My second favorite princess for her ability to connect with the girls was Rapunzel.

The Belle experience was fun.

I thought it was funny that Sis would have nothing to do with Cinderella (we couldn’t even get her in a picture)

but she loved this Aurora:

This Snow White was my least favorite. She didn’t even get down on the level with the girls, and barely even smiled. Maybe she was just having an off day.

On day two during nap time my husband and I took Miss back to the park by herself while her sisters slept and my in-laws stayed with them. This was such a fun experience. She really wanted to go on the magic carpet ride. So we made our first journey into Adventureland, and on our way to that ride we went up in the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which my husband and I both have fond memories of. She thought it was fantastic to go up so high in what she initially thought was a “real tree.”

Overall, this trip was so much better than last year. It helped that I was able to plan more things in advance and that I figured out where and when to do specific things, like meeting Merida beforehand. The biggest thing in making it better was probably the fact that we went during a slow week. Plus it was cold and rainy, so the crowds were much smaller than last year.

We aren’t planning to go back to Disney again for several years. But I’m so glad we had a great experience this year. I know my girls had fun and made some memories. I did too.

P.S. I am trying out using Pic Monkey and Drop Box for my photos. For some reason some of them have been disappearing even after I’ve saved them in the post, so if they aren’t showing up, sorry, I’m trying to fix it (and probably won’t use this system again).

It Was Worth It

Posted on February 2, 2014February 2, 2014 by Amy

Last week we were in Florida, busily trying to soak in as much decent weather as we could, while folks here in the north had negative-gazillion-degree temperatures again. If you aren’t a member of my family, you might want to skip this post. It’s overloaded with photos of my kids doing Florida stuff.

But, I needed to put these photos up to remind myself that the trip was worth it in spite of having sick girls for several of the days we were there. That it was worth the beating I took at the hands (and feet) of my not-quite-two-year-old who didn’t want to sit on my lap on the plane ride home yesterday. And that it was worth the overly-tired craziness of my three-year-old who had the biggest exhaustion meltdown I’ve ever seen from her earlier today. Thankfully she is taking a nap as I type this.

So. For all who want to hear about our travels, and for myself to remember that it really was worth it, our trip in photos (and a few words, because I just can’t help myself):

We went to the bird sanctuary, and then the girls played on the playground and beach just outside. Based on how crazy my girls went running around on the playground, you’d think they’ve been cooped up inside because of sub-zero temperatures all winter. Oh. Wait…

This is the way to do the beach:

Just outside the bird sanctuary there is a small beach area. You can’t actually get to the water because of a retaining wall, but there’s super soft sand, and that’s all my girls really care about anyway. My in-laws pulled their sand toys out of the back of their vehicle

and we had a perfect beach trip. No long drive to get to the awesome beach. No excessive wind. No shards of shells digging into my feet.

No overload of sand or attempt to eat lunch while keeping it out of everyone’s food. Lovely view.

Perfect.

^^ Miss’s sand pyramid, of which she was quite proud.

After a short time in the sand, we all brushed off and got lunch at a nearby restaurant. And that’s my idea of a good beach trip (with kids).

The next day we ventured to a children’s museum where they had sting rays the girls could touch and feed, along with lots of other animals and science-y stuff.

And no Florida vacation would be complete without some time in the pool.

^^ Those pool photos were taken on Tuesday. Wednesday was pretty cold and gloomy, and the girls still begged to go swimming. I was so tempted to just let my hubby take the two older girls in. But Sis really wanted to swim too. So we all swam in 50-degree weather. Total and obvious northerners.

Unfortunately the crummy weather continued through our last couple of days when we went to Disney World. But that’s a post for another day (nap time is over). Before I go though, I’d like to toot my own horn for a moment and just say that I did redeem myself after my huge Disney fail from last year. I’ll tell you all about it soon.

Untangling

Posted on January 29, 2014June 23, 2017 by Amy

Just like when I was a little girl, visiting my Gram still makes me happy. She is a one-of-a-kind special lady. And even better now, I get to see my girls love her too.

Visits to my Grandma’s house always involve good food, some sort of craftiness, making music, and playing with unconventional toys. My Gram doesn’t throw anything away. Ever. So she has tons of fun stuff for my girls, much of it things they wouldn’t otherwise think to play with (or more accurately, things I wouldn’t normally think to give them to play with). Plastic easter eggs, golf balls, styrofoam egg cartons, a bucket of random lids. And of course her piano. They had a blast.

In her box of goodies for them, I found a God’s eye. I used to make them all the time with my Gram when I was a kid. Turns out the one in her box was one I had made as a girl. 30-ish years ago. Told you she saves everything.

Of course, my Gram got out her yarn and had me saw the pointed end off of some wooden skewers she dug up in her kitchen so she could make God’s eyes for my girls. I helped Miss make her own.

My heart nearly burst from the nostalgia.

As always, I learned a thing or two (or ten) from my Gram during our visit.

See I have a tendency to get somewhat stressed out when we are traveling. Especially when we’re staying at someone else’s home. This comes from a combination of worry about inconveniencing or messing up something for our host, not having the ease of our own super-toddler-proofed space at home, and everyone being extra tired and cranky from travel (I really try to just chill out about this, but it still gets me sometimes).

So. I was getting all freaked because my girls were going nuts with my Gram’s yarn supply, trying to make God’s eyes and then unravelling and playing with it and tangling it all up. I crabbed at them a little bit about messing up Gram’s yarn.

After I got them set up for their naps, I went out to help my Gram get the yarn untangled. I was all set with multiple apologies and offers to untangle the yarn for her by myself. I felt awful that it was such a mess.

But my Gram was already sitting in her chair, peacefully untangling and re-winding up her yarn. The yellow was all over the room. The orange was in knots. The purple and green were hopelessly tangled together. She didn’t even care. Before I even started in with my prepared apologies, she began chatting about how she likes to have things to do with her hands to keep her busy.

I stopped in my tracks and stared at her, all sweet and calm and happily untangling, and I thought, “What the heck was I so stressed out about?? This is how I need to be about tangled yarn and other relatively minor stuff that isn’t worth getting upset over.”

I sat down and gathered up a pile of the yellow yarn and started to untangle and wind it. And I proceeded to have one of the most enjoyable hours I’ve had on this trip. I sat with my Gram and we untangled together and talked.

She talked about her mother. She talked about my Papa. She talked about my Dad, her sister, other people she’s known, the church we went to when I was a little girl, and all sorts of other things. I was honestly sad when the yarn was all neatly wound up and ready to be put away.

I got a beautiful lesson in perspective from my Gram during that hour. I always leave a visit with her feeling amazed. She’s 91 years old and she usually gets more done in a day than I do in a week. But that hour of talking with her was extra special to me. We untangled her yarn, and she untangled me a little bit.

Thanks Gram.

Really Quick Takes – Seven of Them

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary again. This is going to be extra short(ish), because I really need to be packing…

1. I just learned about the blog A Knotted Life yesterday. I love finding new blogs to read, and this one is very good. In addition to being a good read, Bonnie, who writes the blog, sponsors the Sheenazing Awards for (mostly Catholic) bloggers in several categories. Her post has a long list of new blogs to check out and I have been sucked into some sort of internet vortex looking through them.

2. I voted for some of my favorite blogs in several categories, including Conversion Diary, Camp Patton, Amongst Lovely Things, and Shower of Roses. But I also found (or re-found) several other blogs to read, like Clan Donaldson, Moxie Wife, Mama Knows, Honeychild, Like Mother, Like Daughter, and Catholic All Year. I know I will be checking out many more (I pinned the list so I can refer to it whenever I have a few minutes to look at a new one).

3. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is how close my kids are with each other. They miss each other when apart, since they are used to being together so much.

Our Golden Age (during which both of the older girls were able to be in the same gymnastics and swimming classes) is over. Miss has now moved up to the 5-year-old gymnastics class. I was able to find one time slot where both the 3-4-year-old and 5-year-old classes are held at the same time, so I don’t have to spend more time at the gymnastics center than what is absolutely necessary.

Since their classes are often going on very near each other, Miss constantly points out Lass to her teacher and classmates, “Look! That’s my sister over there!” This week when they were close to each other, Miss even ran over and gave her sister a quick hug. At the end of their classes they always hug each other and exclaim, “I missed you!” Then Baby Sis hugs both of them and says, “I luh loo!” I could just die from the cuteness.

4. Baby Sis is a climber. I know this. But I can still be surprised by some of the things she does. The other day she was in the kitchen with me. I walked away for a minute and then heard, “Mama! Down!” I rushed back into the kitchen to find her standing in the drawer next to our Learning Tower.

Heart attack. She’s not even two, and she’s trying to give me a heart attack.

5. Goldie Blox. My girls each got a set for Christmas. We love them.

I have to admit that I can’t stand Legos. But these are fun.

6. I made muffins this morning. It never fails that when I make muffins I always think I have too much batter to fill the muffin cups only “two-thirds full.” Every time, I fill the first row about the right amount. Then I get to the middle and start filling them too full because I just know I won’t be able to fit all the batter into 12 cups. Then I get to the last two cups, and I end up having to dip from the too-full ones to have enough.

They always come out well in the end, but I found myself wondering, after doing this again this morning, why don’t I ever remember that this always happens and just trust the amount? Maybe it’s because I only bake every six months or so.

7. Speaking of bone-headed moves on my part, a few weeks ago, I bought a new external flash for my camera. I was so excited to use it, I got it out of the box right away and hooked it up to my camera. It didn’t come with any instructions, but getting it hooked up was pretty straightforward. Except that I couldn’t get it to turn on. I looked for a charger and a plug and didn’t find one. I looked for something in the box to tell me how to get it going and there really wasn’t anything. Just a paper that said, “Press the On/Off switch…” Well I did that, repeatedly, and it didn’t work.

Finally, I got frustrated, deemed the thing defective, and put it back in the store bag with the receipt so I could return it at the first opportunity. I then had company one day and put the bag into a random cupboard to get it out of sight (you do this too, right?), which naturally led to it being out of mind. I forgot about it until yesterday and pulled it out, thinking I’d try to take it back today. I decided I would pull it out and try it one more time, just in case I missed something the last time.

As I was getting it out I happened to glance at that one piece of paper again. In addition to the brief comments about how to turn it on, it included a diagram with all of the parts labeled. One part, which I totally missed last time I tried it but was clearly labeled on the diagram was the “Battery compartment door.” *Sigh* Maybe I should start going to bed a little earlier.

For more quick takes, go here.

Happy weekend!

Princess vs. Barbie

Posted on January 22, 2014January 23, 2014 by Amy

We have lots of princess dolls at our house.

^^ Thank you to my Mother-in-law for that storage idea ^^

My girls ask for them as gifts. They save their allowances to buy them. They love their princess dolls.

Of course, they have lots of toys they enjoy, and they tend to go in cycles with them. Baby dolls, animals, building toys, etc.

Princesses are always in the rotation though, whether the big princess dolls or small ones or both. We’ve got lots of them.

In contrast, we have only one Barbie. She was given to Miss as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago.

The drastic difference in the number of princesses and Barbies on our house is deliberate. I don’t buy Barbies for my girls. I don’t take them in the Barbie aisle at the store. I’m just not a fan of Barbie.

I realize, those may be bordering on fightin’ words for someone who grew up in the 80s. I have heard lots of women around my age defend Barbie. Because we played with Barbies as kids and some ladies still love her and are excited to share her with their daughters/nieces/etc.

True, I played with Barbies. I loved playing with Barbies. I am not, not, not trying to criticize anyone who loves playing Barbies with or buying Barbies for their kids. My girls play with them when we go to the Farm or to their aunt’s house, and I don’t mind, of course. But. I still won’t buy them. Why?

I can specifically remember as a little girl, playing with my Barbies and thinking they were so pretty. I walked around on my tiptoes (like her) and wished that I had blonde hair and blue eyes and a super skinny waist (like hers). I just don’t want my girls to feel that way because of one of their toys. And maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe I was just particularly insecure about my brown hair and green eyes and normal-sized waist for some reason at that time and they wouldn’t be. But still…

I have some other beefs with B too. Like her clothes. My Barbies never came with clothes like these:

It is pretty hard to find a Barbie to purchase that is not dressed in a way that I find inappropriate for a little girl’s toy. I know this, because I stood in the Barbie aisle at Target staring at the array of dolls for way too long one day when buying gifts for some families at our church, trying to find a doll I felt comfortable purchasing for a little girl who requested one. It’s not impossible to find one, but not easy. Though recently I did come across this funny Homeschool Barbie.

In general, princesses just seem more innocent to me. Barbie is marketed as sexy much of the time. No thanks.

Of course, I do have a few issues with the Disney gals, mostly with the earlier princesses’ tendencies to fall in “love at first sight” and in general be rather helpless (not characteristics I want my girls to cultivate). But the later stories, of Belle, Mulan, and Merida for example, feature heroines who aren’t solely focused on finding true love (though they aren’t opposed to it when they do).

And even the princesses who are a bit overly dependent on Prince Charming or lacking in gumption still have some good qualities that I can talk to my girls about. When my girls say, “I like Snow White because she’s so pretty,” I can respond with something like, “Oh, I like Snow White too, but do you know why I really like her? Because she is so kind and thoughtful.” And if they say, “Cinderella is my favorite princess because she has a beautiful dress” I can say, “I like Cinderella too because she is a really hard worker.”

I like that the princess dolls don’t all look the same. They have different skin colors and different face shapes. I can even get into discussions with my girls about other cultures by talking about the stories of the princesses. I know some Barbies have different colored skin and hair, but they all seem to have the same face. Weird.

When my girls ask me who my favorite princess is, I say, “Belle, because she loves to read and she is very loyal and brave.” Sometimes I mention that I also really like Merida “because she’s also brave and strong and very protective of her family” or Anna “because she is a really good sister.”

What does Barbie have besides her looks and her clothes? A pink car, a mansion, and a boyfriend named Ken.

I’ve come a long way in the past three years. I can tolerate princesses, and sometimes I actually enjoy them (Brave and Frozen are really good movies!). I can even find some good in my girls’ love of princess stories and dolls. The princesses have decent clothes and some positive characteristics that I can discuss with my girls.

I won’t say I’ll never let my girls buy Barbies. But for now, the princesses win.

Saints, Statues, and Archery – 7 Quick Takes

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Jen again.

This is actually one reaaalllly long take and three short ones, but I conveniently made it into seven. Enjoy.

1. I have mentioned in a previous post my utter lack of knowledge about Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, yes? Here is yet another example. Bear with.

When planning the girls’ baptisms, I was thinking about how Super Friend’s kids all are named after a saint in some way. Super had mentioned once something about these saints being their patrons (as the time I probably didn’t know what that meant). Then I thought about how, on my application form for RCIA there was a space to write in my “baptismal name.” Also, the one time I had seen a baptism was during one of the first masses I ever attended last year. I was still in deer-in-the-headlights mode during mass at that time, and it was during a crowded mass so I couldn’t really see, and the people were on the other side of the church so I couldn’t really hear what they were saying, but I could have sworn that, when the priest asked them, “What name do you give your child?” they said, not just the name, but the name in the way you would say a saint’s name. I don’t remember what it was, but for example, instead of just saying “Catherine” I thought they said something like “Catherine of Sienna.” Looking back now, I’m sure they actually just said the baby’s first and middle name, “Catherine Anna,” or something like that, but deer-in-the-headlights and big church and all…

Getting to my point. As you might imagine considering my history, none of my children are named for a saint or Biblical person. I know I don’t use their real names here, but I’ll just let you know that we have no Mary. No Elizabeth, Theresa, or Anne. So. When I was preparing for their baptisms I thought that I needed to find a Biblical or saint name to announce when the priest asked “What name…?” We didn’t have our baptism class until two days before the baptism because of The Chicken Bone Incident, so I didn’t know any different.

I searched through tons and tons of saints to come up with the right ones to be each of the girls’ patronesses. I chose Saint Cecilia for Miss, Saint Therese of Lisieux for Lass, and Saint Brigid of Ireland for Sis. It wasn’t until after the fact that I learned that I had not needed to do this, and that I would just be announcing their actual names during the baptism, but whatever. By that point I was totally into the idea of each of them having a patron saint they could learn about, so I kept with the idea anyway, though the saints’ names didn’t play a role in the baptisms.

2. SO. The reason I just relayed that whole big long story of my lack of understanding about baptisms is to explain that I have told my girls about their patrons, and the older two each refer to them affectionately as “My saint.” We have books about their saints. We ask their saints to pray for us. On the feast days of the patronesses we have a little celebration, talk about the saints, get out a statue of them, have a special dessert in their honor, and make a donation to a charity of the kids’ choice as their gift (I totally stole this idea from Super Friend).

So we have statues of the girls’ patron saints.

^^ That’s Sis playing with Miss’s Saint Cecilia.

I had intended the statues to be something we would just get out on the feast days, but Lass wanted hers for a toy. She carries her Saint Therese with her everywhere. She sleeps with it too (along with two books of saints open to the pages of Saint Therese).

3. I always remind her to be careful with it. It’s amazing how well that statue has held up in spite of the fact that she drops it all the time.

Naturally, the one time she asks me to carry the statue downstairs for her in the morning, as I was setting it on the counter, I didn’t quite get it all the way over the edge and it fell to the floor and broke. She was heartbroken, and of course I felt awful. My husband glued it back together, and all is well.

So I thought.

I dropped the statue a few weeks ago. About two days ago, as I was making breakfast and the girls were playing with their saint statues, I overheard Lass say, “We are sooo careful with statues. But I think Mama isn’t careful with statues. Mama drops statues.” Miss agreed, “No. Mama isn’t careful with statues.”

Clearly I’m never going to live down The Dropping of Therese.

4. Along those lines, I had no idea when I introduced these saint statues and our books of saints that the girls would get so into them. They love to “play saints.” They fight over our saint books. When they play dress up, they are as likely to get into some elaborate costume as Therese or Cecilia or Mary Magdalene as to dress up as Cinderella or Snow White.

They’ve already asked to dress as saints for Halloween next year. I love it. What better figures to emulate?

^^ One reaaallly long take made into four.

5. I have just realized that this weekend will be our last one home together as a family until March 8. We will be traveling or my husband will be working every weekend in between. It makes me tired just to think about it, but we have some really fun things coming up, like a trip to Florida (and Disney World) and a skiing trip with friends.

6. Miss is really into shooting her bow. She’s pretty good at it too.

^^ She is so proud of being able to get the arrow to stick to the target.

My husband loves teaching her too. He has bought a long bow for himself, partially because he wanted to have a bow similar to what she will be learning on, so they can shoot together.

7. We had family visit two weeks ago. The girls had their first experience of experimenting with make up with their Aunt. What are aunts for?

Miss looked at the picture below and said, about her sister, “She looks like a bad guy there.”

Have a great weekend!

For more quick takes, click here.

All Good Things Come to Those Who…

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Amy

Have you heard about the idea of choosing a word at the start of a new year that serves as “mantra” of sorts throughout the year? I came upon this idea shortly before New Year’s after reading what someone wrote about choosing the word “Joy” for 2013. Apparently lots of people do this instead of, or in addition to, making New Year’s resolutions. As I think of it, maybe I have heard of this idea before, but it clearly never resonated with me enough to put much thought into it. Until this year.

As I read what was written in the above linked post, I began to think about what it would mean and how it would work to choose one word to really focus on all year. One thing to work on. Or one thing to be inspired by. Or one thing to think to yourself when feeling discouraged. I wasn’t sure what my word would be, but I began to warm to the idea of choosing one for myself for 2014.

I decided if I could come up with a word that really felt right for me, then I’d go with it. If not, maybe next year. I had a few words come to mind in the first days after reading that article.

“Peace” seemed nice. I could picture myself whispering that word any time I felt rushed or frustrated. I though maybe it would come with a greater focus on prayer and meditation and maybe some yoga. It just didn’t quite seem right though. A little to hippy-dippy for me.

“Faith” was another word that came to mind early on. It seemed appropriate. I’m really working on developing mine, and there are some areas in my life where I really need to just have it. And this will, after all, be the year when I take the leap of faith into Catholicism, for real and truly, when I am baptized, receive first communion, and am confirmed all in one day at the Easter Vigil mass. But still this word just didn’t quite seem right either.

The third word that came to my mind was “Patience.” Lord knows I really need work on this one. I need more patience with my children on a daily basis, of course. And I work hard to do better at this all the time. But even more, there are some other areas in my personal life where my patience has been tested during the past year. Things I really-really-really want and have had to wait for. And wait. And wait some more.

So, the word “Patience” seemed to be a good possibility. But I wanted to be sure it was the right choice. I decided to wait a few days to just see what would happen or if any other words would come to mind. None did, and I ended up not thinking about it too much for a few days. Then last Wednesday (the worst day ever, ever, ever) I read this post in the morning about how Jen at Conversion Diary had picked her word for the year, “Go.”

That got me thinking about it again, and “Patience” popped back into my head. I was still pondering “Patience” when I took a trip to Target that morning (the first of three trips that day) to get my husband’s Tamiflu. During that trip, I became more confident that “Patience” was to be my word. First, the pharmacist didn’t have my order ready. No big deal really, except that it then took forever for it to get ready. And my husband was watching our kids from his quarantine on a video monitor while they watched a movie. I really needed to make it back before the movie was over (and most kids’ movies aren’t really that long).

Then I got the medicine and proceeded to the main checkout to pay for the items I had picked up around the store while waiting for the pharmacist (naturally, this is the real reason I use Target as our pharmacy, so I can shop while I wait). I stood in a non-moving line for an eternity before hearing the cashier say something about the card reader not working. So I looked for another open register with a short line, picked the one that looked the fastest (I knew the movie would be ending soon), and then proceeded to stand there while the woman in front of me searched and searched and searched and searched for something on her iPad that she needed to complete her checkout. I don’t know what it was, but it took her a reeeeaaally long time to find it.

Do you know that feeling you get in your chest and stomach when you are a little nervous about something, and you really want to be able to check on this something, but you can’t because there is some obstacle making you wait, and it seems like everything is in your way when all you want to do is check on your thing to reassure yourself that all is okay? No? Well, I do. I get this crazed feeling of fluttering, antsy, can’t stand still, slightly short of breath, my-kids’-movie-might-be-over-and-my-husband-is-sick-and-can’t-touch-them-or-even-talk-to-them-I-have-to-GO!!!

Yeah. “Patience” is probably a good word for me to focus on, huh?

The cool thing was that I performed a little experiment while in Target and beginning to get into my crazy lady mode. I smiled to myself and thought, “Hmmm, I’ve been wondering if ‘Patience’ is the right word for me. Maybe this is a little test as God’s way of telling me that it is.” And I, very deliberately, thought “Patience. Patience. Patience.” to myself while standing in that line.

And. It. Totally. Worked. I kid you not. My fluttery, freaky, short of breath feelings just kind of left me right there. Gone.

But for some reason, I still wasn’t completely convinced that “Patience” was my word. So later that night, while I was unwinding on my couch after my horrible day and just perusing some stuff on the internet, I came across an email in my inbox from a blog that I subscribe to, Everything Is Yours. The title of her post that day? Fruit of the Holy Spirit Spotlight: Patience Revisited (emphasis mine). Go ahead and click that link. It’s a great post.

I was convinced. Patience was my word.

Well, mostly convinced. There was a tiny, tiny part of me that wondered if it really was my word. For real. But it was such a tiny part, I was going with the it. Patience was it.

Until yesterday when it hit me. Like a ton of bricks, while I was changing a diaper of all things. I don’t know what I was thinking about or why it came to me, but all of a sudden I knew the right word.

Out of nowhere, I thought the word and then I immediately knew that it was the right one. I think that’s why I wasn’t so sure about “Patience,” because I had been hemming and hawing about it and waiting for over a week to see if something better came to me…

Well, it did. Wanna know what it is?

Open.

My word for 2014 is Open.

I have been so blessed in the past few years when I have allowed myself to be open to knew ideas or even to ideas that I had already flatly rejected. Homeschooling. Becoming Catholic. Becoming a morning person (in case you wondered how that experiment turned out, I now get up every morning at 5:30).

So, that’s where I will focus in 2014.

I need to be open to new ideas. Open to changes. Open to the possibility that things in my life won’t happen exactly when or how I want them to, but they will still be right.

Of course, I still need to work on being patient. I’ll continue to do that every day.

But this will be the year I will be open to possibility. I will be open to grace. I will be open to God’s plan for my life, whatever it may be.

All good things come to those who… are open to receiving them.

Flumageddon

Posted on January 13, 2014January 13, 2014 by Amy

This winter, I have heard of “Snowmageddon.” I have heard of “Srirachamageddon” (Wha??). I am going to jump on the “-mageddon” train and call the past week in my home “Flumageddon.” My husband woke with a high fever last Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night Lass had a fever. Sis woke with one on Wednesday morning. Somehow, some way, Miss and I have not gotten sick (though she did have a nasty stomach bug/puking reaction of some sort all day Wednesday, which was notawesome).

Yeah. Flumageddon.

Note: I do not mean to sound as though I’m making light of the flu. The flu is bad business, though I have at times been guilty of not taking it very seriously. I always worry about my kids getting the flu, but I never think of it as being too much of a big deal for a healthy adult like myself (except in 2009 when I was pregnant with Lass). This year with the H1N1 strain of flu being prevalent again, relatively young, healthy people are dying from the flu, like this man or this woman. Awful.

Not that this is any more tragic than when elderly people, sick people, or children, those typically at highest risk from the flu, die from it. It’s just scary because young healthy people often don’t get vaccinated because they think they aren’t at much risk of complications from the flu. And because of that they don’t recognize when they do have complications from the flu. It’s a reminder that the flu should be taken seriously.

Anyway, this is why my husband was quarantined in our bedroom, on the recommendation of his pulmonologist friend, to try to keep the girls and me from getting sick. Thank God we all got the flu vaccine (it contains the H1N1 strain this year) and the girls’ symptoms were relatively mild as a result (highest temp only 101.4). I’m sure this is also why Miss and I were able to resist the virus.

Unfortunately, my husband had already been battling a nasty cough for about a month. So after the flu hit, he developed pneumonia. Hello. Commence freak out. When I heard “pneumonia,” I started to panic a bit, worrying that he would end up being hospitalized or worse.

So, my poor husband has been terribly sick, confined to our bedroom, fearful that our kids will get this horrendous flu, and we’re both scared to death because pneumonia can be bad stuff. It’s been a heck of a week.

And as much as I have tried to be stoic and uncomplaining (heroic even?) in my caring for my family, I am not above an occasional bout of self-pity. On Wednesday in particular, when I had a very sick husband, two kids with fever and one puking up every bit of liquid I tried to give her, and I was worried about dehydration and pneumonia, and I was working on very little sleep (because of sleeping on the couch), and I had no help (though my dear Super Friend did offer to deliver supplies to my doorstep if needed), I was a mess. In my own head at least I was. I think I kept the frustration and worry from showing too much to my kids and hubby. But yeah. I was a mess.

I had lovely little battles in my mind between my “Oh-my-gosh-this-suuuucks!” self and my “This-isn’t-about-you-be-grateful-it-isn’t-worse” self. Fortunately the latter self typically won out, and honestly most of the time I was thankful to be able to care for my family, but I’ll admit to a few tears and a whiney phone call to my Mom Wednesday night.

***********

We’ve watched a lot of movies during Flumageddon. Wednesday the all-day movies were for them. They were too miserable to do anything else, and I was trying to minimize their interaction with each other anyway.

Thursday they were feeling much better, but the movies were for me to recover from Wednesday.

Though Wednesday was the toughest day, by far my worst moment came on Friday evening. My husband’s fever was gone on Friday morning (as were the girls’). I have always understood the sickness rule to be that after you are fever-free for 24 hours, it’s safe to go back amongst the healthy folks without contaminating anyone. He had assumed the same thing, so I was giddy thinking he would be out and with us on Saturday morning. He offered to let me go to the spa Saturday. I said (texted), “No thank you, but I would like a nap.” I was dreaming of sleeping in my own bed, having another adult to talk to, and having my usual level of support and help with regular stuff around the house and with the girls.

Friday was a pretty darn good day in spite of Flumageddon. We took our lemons and we made lemonade.

We made a fort.

The perfect little spot to read.

We played with PlayDoh.

I was so happy thinking about my husband being with us again on Saturday, I practically floated around the house.

Then he made a rare and brief appearance out of our bedroom (with antiviral mask on, hands clasped behind his back, and the girls safely gated in the family room) to tell me that he had been checking on things and had learned that 24 hours just wasn’t enough time to be considered safe around others with this flu. So he was not going to be released from quarantine on Saturday morning as we had been anticipating.

Kick. In. The. Gut.

I reacted like a big baby. At least at first. I grumbled. I cried.

Then I took a deep breath. I apologized to my hubby for grumbling. And I went and got ice cream (for both of us).

Now hubby is out of our bedroom, but still not going near the girls. It’s so sad to see Sis reach for him and say “I hode!” (hold) or “I hug!” Watching him play with them through our french doors is precious and heartbreaking. I feel so bad for him. He feels like crap and he can’t be around our kids, the best medicine I know of.

Some time tomorrow he will declare himself all-clear and we will (hopefully) get back to normal. He will need to take it easy for a bit to recover from the pneumonia. We will pray that the girls don’t develop it (it can begin after the flu symptoms are gone). Soon we will hopefully go back to interacting normally with the rest of the world (the girls haven’t left the house since last Tuesday).

Okay. So, after all that I’ve learned about the flu and pneumonia in the past couple of days, consider this my Public Service Announcement for the year: The flu is serious stuff. As a general rule, I never get into the vaccination debate here, and know lots of people think the flu vaccine is not effective or necessary. You can check what the CDC has to say about it if you’re so inclined. If you get the flu and you don’t start to feel better in a few days, call or go to the doctor. It’s hard for a non-medical person to know the difference between flu-cough/fever and pneumonia-cough/fever. Don’t assume that it’s “just the flu” and thus “no big deal.”

I don’t want to seem melodramatic, but seeing how sick my husband has been from this flu, when he is not even 40 and very healthy, has freaked me out. Reading about potential flu complications made me remember that the flu is a big deal. So there you have it. PSA complete.

Bonus PSA #2 – In case you ever thought it would be a good idea to allow your toddler to eat as many prunes as she wanted at lunch time? Just, don’t. Sis discovered a serious love for prunes yesterday. And now, just as we’re recovering from Flumageddon, I’m dealing with our very own little Poop-pocalypse. Geez.

Stay healthy 🙂

Three Kids, Two Different Viruses, One Day

Posted on January 8, 2014January 9, 2014 by Amy

Warning: This post is kind of lame, but I took the time to write it, so I’m posting it anyway. I couldn’t quite pull it together better, so here it is in all its glory.

I wanted to write about something else today, but I’m just too tired. My husband woke up with the flu yesterday morning. I spent yesterday trying to help him as best I could while keeping the girls and myself from getting sick. No such luck with the girls. Lass was the first to go down with a fever last night.

Sis woke with one this morning.

I thought maybe Miss would pull through without getting sick. At lunch time today she still hadn’t spiked a fever and was acting fairly normal. Then while sitting at the table for lunch she got a strange look on her face. I had a passing thought of “Hmmm, she looks like she’s going to get sick. But she’s not going to get sick. This flu isn’t the throw up kind of flu…” Then she barfed her breakfast onto her lunch plate.

So yes, now we have three respiratory flus with fever and one stomach bug with no fever. I am just wondering when I”ll be going down for the count, and whether it will be with flu, pukes, or both. I’ve been washing my hands to the point that they are bleeding in hopes of keeping the craziness from spreading, so hopefully I might make it through (relatively) unscathed.

It breaks my heart to see my babies sick.

It also pains me to know my husband is sick upstairs and to not be able to help him very much. He has been quarantined, so our primary mode of communication has been texting with the occasional phone call or food hand-off. I haven’t seen him in the past two days without one or both of us wearing an anti-viral mask.

I’m sleeping on the couch even. Thus, tired.

So. I apologize for the somewhat whiney post. I just couldn’t get my thoughts together enough to write about something else. Here’s hoping your hump day was better than mine, and that we will be on the mend around here soon 🙂

Motherhood and Miscellany

Author: Amy