Happy Fourth Of July
From Our Little Firecrackers To Yours!

And just a little firecracker hair, to make you smile!

Lactation Education

Isabella has developed this weird habit of waking up in the morning and wanting to nurse for some crazy insane amount of time. I am not complaining. No one else is awake, so I let her nurse while I drink my coffee (I am sure this is great for her!) and read a book or blogs or whatever. It's a pretty great deal, really. Sometimes I spout off some weird and random fact to my husband and he asks, bewildered, how I have so much time to read. I call it my "Lactation Education." Who needs to pay a university for higher education?? Maybe if I have enough children I can homeschool my own masters?! I told him, when you learn to lactate, you can spend more time reading as well! It is really my own selfishness that drives me to breastfeed my babies for so long. Once they stop, the built in "slow down" moments of my day are gone. I'll just keep snuggling this little one for as long as she'll let me!

Counting Down

The Natural Baby Fair is only THREE DAYS away. Will I see you there?

I am almost, maybe, not really, going to be ready on time. I have been sewing and bowing in every spare moment that I have . . . which hasn't really been that many, seeing the this week was VBS, among other things. You know, like four little people demanding your attention. And a garbage disposal that decides to give out. (it didn't like the rocks we fed it. Imagine that.) Or blogging when the kids are napping / out with Ooma. Or the three year old who, out of the blue spikes a fever of 102. Or the one year old with a mysterious full body rash.

Yeah. Between all that, I may be ready for the Fair in time.

If they reschedule it for January.

I can't believe I let my son ride this dirt bike. But isn't he cute?? And he did such a great job! Now his little mind is swimming with dirt biking dreams.

And so is Bella's. But she is going for a different look all together!

This is Christopher's hero and pal, Will, catching some air on the big jump.

And even Grace got in on the action. When she first got on, I heard her say "I don't want to go on the jumps!" It didn't take her long to change her mind!

I actually took a turn, as well. But I only rode the kiddie version. And we'll leave the photo evidence over on facebook. I don't need my image tainted over here!

Andrew is now Mr. Dirtbike Obssession Man, but I guess I didn't get any good pictures of him. He even got air on the jumps! And he left muddied from head to toe . . .

Oh, how I wish I were so cool

This mom is awesome. I discovered this blog and I have been experimenting on Grace's head these last few days. I won't post any pictures, because my attempts are pretty pitiful. BUT! I have been so inspired! I am determined to keep practicing (for as long as Grace will sit still!) and maybe, oh maybe, someday I'll get good.

Over at Faith and Family Live! they have been hosting a weekly "Small Successes" (does that word look funny to you?). I have never joined in, mainly because I have trouble coming up with successes beyond "All six of us survived this week alive" and I don't think that really counts=) So here's for trying.

~1~

I have successfully take all four kids to the swimming pool a number of times. Alone. And remained cheerful about it! Hooray! I think the cheer factor is what makes this a true success.

~2~

I FINALLY made the batch of laundry detergant I have been meaning to make for weeks now. A friend came over a few months ago and taught me how to make it. It is great stuff, but when that first batch ran out, I was lazy and just bought cheapy detergant at the store. I am happy to have my five gallon bucket filled and ready now!

~3~

This last success was a joint effort -- me, my mom, and my sweet Bella. Isabella STAYED WITH MY MOM while I went to the store yesterday. This is a major break-through for the little girl who despises all people beyond me and her daddy. Not only did she stay, but she was happy! And she had fun! I was proud of her and of me, as neither of us cried!

So, there is my successful week, small as it may be. What are your successes? Weigh in at Faith and Family Live!

I went to the grocery store this afternoon, while my wonderful mother watched ALL four kids. It was great. While I was there, I picked up a package of toilet paper. As I was loading it into the car I noticed that the package excitedly announced

"Unique Ridge! Leaves NO THING behind!!"

And I though "Well, that is a bit . . . gross."

Later, when I got home and went to put the TP where it belonged, I realized that I had, in fact, purchased paper towels.

It all makes sense now.

But if the TP company is looking for a new slogan, I have a great one for 'em!

Note: I apologize for the over abundance of potty posts . . . but I can't promise it will get any better=)

PeterXavier found himself a great new toy. The toilet seat lid. He is currently carrying in around the house and he has threatened to take it to the pool. I have no idea how he got it off. But it no longer has the ability to stay attached to its proper home.

Do things like this happen in your house?

No?

I didn't think so.

My life is so weird.

Natural Baby Fair

I am very excited to be participating in my areas upcoming Natural Baby Fair! It is put on by our local chapter of CHOICES, "a natural birth and informed parenting network". The Baby Fair will provide huge amount of information for anyone interested in supporting or learning more about natural parenting styles. I am really excited to be there as a vendor, selling my Baby Wraps and other accessories.

The event is FREE and there will be speakers throughout the day on all sorts of fun topics: Natural childbirth, cloth diapering, babywearing, doulas . . . They will also have give-aways and raffles throughout the day (win one of my wraps!). It should be a really fun and informative day! I hope some locals show up -- stop by my spot and say hi!

Busy, busy, busy

I have a bunch of posts swimming around in my head, but I have only had about 3.4 seconds a day to blog. Busy, busy and always running.
This weekend we went on a family bike ride for the first time. It was such a great way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon! And then Andrew and the kids rode up to my parents later in the day. That bike trailer was the best $30 Goodwill find ever! (And yes, Andrew does have Bella wrapped on his back!)

And the kids found a Tarzan vine to swing on.

Nursing baby is not happy . . . more later.

Memorial Day Peonies

When we were young, my parents would take us to the cemetary on Memorial Day. Early in the day, my mom would go out to the farm where my dad grew up and cut peonies to leave at the grave sites. We plan to continue the tradition with our children, by attending the early Memorial Day Mass at the cemetary tomorrow and visiting the grave site of my maternal and paternal grandparents.
When my grandfather passed away, his farm was sold to developers. Knowing this, the family chose to transplant many of the beautiful flowers that my grandmother (and probably great grandmother!) had planted over the 100 years our family had lived on the land. Blessedly, I have a few of Grandma's peonies bursting into bloom right out side my front door. I am excited to leave a few of her lovely blooms for her tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Crazy Pants!

There are days I wonder how he has survived three years. There are more days when I wonder how I have survived these last three years. But everyday I am thankful for the little spitfire who has added so much laughter, hair pulling, and crayon marked walls to this family! Our crazy little man turned three this weekend, and there doesn't seem to be any slowing down in our future. On Saturday, we went to Oakdale Inn for dinner, where he ate frog legs and had the entire restaurant sing to him as he grinned away, basking in the attention!
On Sunday, our wonderful friends came up to my parents cottage, where we avoided the river, prayed no one would fly off the edge of the loft, and had a grand old time! As you can see, PeterXavier ditched is pants in favor of football flags and a wonderful balloon hat. He seemed to think that his birthday gave him a free pass to strip.
His daddy made him this fantastic chair for his birthday. I am sure, with a little urging from the resident nagger (ahem), that all of our kids will have one. And that weird thing he is doing -- looking at the sky with his mouth as wide open as humanly possible -- that's his new camera smile. I've stopped wondering what makes him tick and just laugh.
Resting after a very long (and cold) weekend. We needed to soak what little sun we could find on the front porch.

St Isidore the Farmer

The bulk of this entry was originally posted on May 15, 2008, but I feel it bears repeating. I am not sure why old comments are still there, but they are. Sorry!   Life is busy, so this post is a bit late, but better late that never!

Sunday was the Feast of St Isidore the Farmer -- what a great Saint to emulate. He didn't do anything grand, fantastic, or even all that notable. He was just an  honest, hard working man who loved God above all else. The legend surrounding him tell how he would go to Mass each morning before he began his work in the fields. One morning he was running late and the other farm hands were angry. When they went to fields to confront him, he was working away, surrounded by angelic helpers.

St Isidore is a special Saint to our family because my grandfather was not only named Isidore, but he was also a farmer. I always imagine St. Izzy plowing the fields with mules as my grandpa once did, although I am sure farming in twelfth century Spain was much different than early twentieth century America!

Another great legend surrounding St. Isidore is that one day he was returning from the fields with sacks of corn. He looked up into a tree to find hungry birds unable to find food. Having pity on the poor birds, he poured out a bag of corn for them. When he returned to the other farm hands, they were astonished to find that the corn bags were entirely filled and when ground, the corn produced twice as much meal as the rest.




And here is a photo of my other favorite Izzy, pitching horseshoes on his farm. My sources tell me that it was taken in the late 1950's.


Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

God, through the intercession of St. Isidore, the holy Farmer, grant that we may overcome all feelings of pride. May we always serve You with that humility which pleases You, through his merits and example.




And lastly, our other favorite Izzy.  Isn't she cute?

Cowboys, Indians, and a Damsel with Blue Nail Polish

What a long day! Mondays are always a bit long, due to the fact that Andrew has class and doesn't get home until after 10. But today was a particularly long Monday, since Chrisopher was sick and I am not feeling up to par myself. That being the case, we spent a long day inside, with a small respite on the sunny front steps at mid-day.

My parents stopped by in the evening to say goodbye (they are heading overseas for a few weeks. Jealous? why yes, I am!). They were swindled by some big brown eyes and ended up taking the clan out to get cap guns and sparkly nail polish. So they bid fairwell to some happy little campers. And I spent the evening listening to gun shots in my living room.

And now I am here, trying to convince some little people that sleep is, in fact, a wonderful thing. Why don't they believe me??

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are my four favorite reasons to celebrate! Aren't they great? I have decided it is impossible to get four squirrely little kids to smile simultaneously, so this is the best we get!

I met my parents, sister, and her family out at our favorite picnic spot to celebrate the day (and our fantastic Mama!) It was the perfect, simple little celebration. Unfortunately, Andrew had commencement at the college, so he wasn't with us -- boo!
My totally adorable niece was baptised this past Friday. Annie will probably kill me for posting this picture, but I love it! It's like she's saying "woop!" and trying to cheer the poor babe as she is doused with cold water!

And can you say cutie?? I think Grace took this picture. So sweet!

I hope all the Mama's out there had a great day!

We had a super-swingin' weekend . . . how 'bout you?

It was an insanely busy weekend, to say the least. Saturday was the Latino Fest at Ivy Tech, so Andrew was "working", but we got to hang out with him most of the day. The weather was perfect, most surely thanks to the prayers of little children! Fr. Gustavo came to give the opening prayer and then had lunch and walked around a bit with us. I have never really talked to him before -- he is so sweet!

On Sunday, our good friend Will made his first Holy Communion, so we went to the Mass at St. Tom's followed by a terrific party at the Bosma House of Adventure (and Mud).

And now we are starting our ridiculously busy week. Here we go . . .

Clever

Grace walked in the room, broken cell phone perched at her ear as though she is chatting:

This is Daddy. He wants to know if you'll make cookies.

Paul in a Basket -- A Review

When The Catholic Company put out a notice that they were looking for product reviewers, I jumped at the opportunity. What fun! My first item arrived the other day and the whole family has been enjoying it SO MUCH! It is a CD called "Paul in a Basket" by Rob Evans, the Donut Man. Through catchy, fun songs and intriguing dialog, we have learned everything about the wonderful Saint Paul. Certainly appropriate, since dear Pope Benedict has declared this Pauline year. Before listening to this CD, I didn't realize just how little I knew about St. Paul!! He is a truly wonderful hero in our Church's rich history.

But I digress . . . back to this marvelous CD. I have heard many great thing about "The Donut Man" in the past, but this was my first experience listening to him. He is wonderful! Immediately, my children were all dancing, hopping, and singing around the room. On listening to the words of the songs and dialog, they began asking all sorts of questions about St. Paul, the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, early Christian persecution, and on and on. Our new friend, the Donut Man does a beautiful job of teaching children (and Mama's!) about St. Paul in a fun and upbeat manner, while staying true to the reverence and sacredness deserved by all our Holy Saints.

Along with the CD, the Catholic Company also sent a directors guide, filled with instructions and ideas for putting the music and dialog on as a stage performance. The CD consists of 30 tracks -- the first 20 are songs (10), with dialog interspersed. The latter ten are just the songs. Therefore, children can dance and act out the songs, while performing the dialog portion themselves. This is geared for about 15 children. The handy director's guide gives great ideas for doing this, as well as all of the words to the songs (although my kids have already memorized most of them!). Although I have not done this, I can see how this would be a fun little project for a group of kids.

As a mother who tends towards a much less structured form of education, I found this CD to be a fabulous tool for teaching children in a fun, entertaining, and lasting way. My children made two new friends today -- The Donut Man and St. Paul!!

My life is a grocery list

I sat down at the kitchen table this afternoon to write my grocery list, surrounded by the normal chaos of our days. The kids were listening to music and dancing around the room, while Bella jumping back and forth between my lap and the floor. I pulled out my cute grocery list paper and started writing the items in neat handwriting. About to words in, Bella grabbed my pen and scribbled on the sheet of paper. So I set her down and grabbed a new pen, in a different color. Then Christopher wanted to help by writing a few items himself, so I let him write "Maple Seerp" in his finest six year old letters. After he got bored, I began again, only to have Isabella spill coffee all over the (cute) paper.

I finally finished my list, but on further reflection, I could see how this mundane item actually did a fantastic job of summing up my life. I try to be cute. I try to be neat and tidy. I try to match and have all things in their proper place and order. But my days get taken over by little hands. Small people want to "help" get the job finished. And more often than not, I am covered in something sticky and gross.

But in the end, everything gets accomplished and it was all the more exciting since we did it together. I have a feeling that when my kids grow up they will sum up their childhood by saying "It was messy, but we sure had fun!"

(I took a picture of said grocery list, but then I discovered that the SD card wasn't in my camera when I shot the picture . . . )

Just a little bit of everyday weirdness.

Household Tip O' The Day

A few weeks ago, we spent the day at my parents river cottage. Before we headed home, I bathed the kids, put them in their jammies, and shoved all of the dirty, damp clothes into a garbage bag. And then I promptly forgot about said clothing. A few days ago, I found the forgotten garbage bag and decided to clean its contents. Then I discovered Christopher's favorite shirt, one sleeve of which was covered in mildew. Now, considering that this was a bag filled with damp clothing that had been sitting for a rather long time, I figure I came out pretty lucky. Considering it had to be his favorite shirt . . . not so lucky.

So, I decided I had nothing to lose in trying to clean it. But everyone knows that mildew is incredibly hard to remove. In fact, when I looked up "removing mildew from fabric" in my favorite homemaker book it said "probably damaged beyond repair." Great.

But I remembered reading somewhere that hydrogen peroxide removes mildew (hey, it works for blood!). So I got out my giant bottle of peroxide, which it turned out had only about four drops left. I then found "Chlorox 2", which, it turns out, is mostly hydrogen peroxide anyway. I dumped the peroxide on the sleeve and then soaked it in the chlorox for about an hour. After a regular wash, the mildew is almost entirely gone! Hooray!

Our Trip South: Part One

Andrew's Godson was confirmed this weekend, so we took a family road trip to Kentucky. (Also known as Chicken-Tucky if you happen to be a 2 year old boy.) It was a twelve hour (round trip) drive that was filled with adventure! My pictures here are actually in backwards order. We passed many Indiana fields that were covered in little purple flowers, so the entire field would appear to be purple. It was SO pretty!
On the trip back home, we stopped at the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. Andrew's directions actually took us to Lincoln City, Nebraska, but luckily we noticed that mistake before it was to late! The kids have been reading and learning about Abraham Lincoln, so it was wonderful for them to be able to see the land where he lived, the original foundation and hearth stones of his cabin, and the burial site of his mother and sister.
We went to Mass Sunday morning at a Benedictine Monastery. The Church and grounds were beautiful. You could see for miles . . . but not on this rainy day! Actually, this is a neat story. It rained and rained all morning on Sunday, but when we got the the Lincoln Memorial, the rain stopped and the sun came out. The sun shined and everything was beautiful while we looked around. It didn't start raining again until we got into the car to go home! God is so great=)
This is the Hidden River Cave in Horse Cave Kentucky, where Andrew lived when he was a teenager. We toured the cave, which was pretty exciting. The kids thought it was a little scary. I thought the 900+ stairs might kill me. . . especially when PX was slung on my back on the way up!

Happy Easter Wednesday!!

Star Wars Adventures

The kids are on a big Star Wars kick these days. They even have costumes of their favorite characters (thanks Ooma!). Coincidentally, the Children's Museum (one of their favorite places in the world) just opened a new Star Wars exhibit. So on Saturday, we loaded out own little Jedi's into the car and headed to see this new exhibit.
Of course, this sign greeted us, Light Sabers in hand, at the door. Luckily no one took us up on this offer to check out weaponry, so we proceeded armed.

Celebration!

Isabella turns ONE on Wednesday!! But since her Daddy has class that night, we celebrated with family and cupcakes this evening. Her Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle (who are also her Godparents!), and her wonderful cousins came over to party with her.

She had SO MUCH fun eating her cupcake!! My dad had to give her a bath in the kitchen sink after she was finished! It was SO cute -- by far the best first birthday cake eater we've had. Apparently, my grandmother always said that babies need chocolate cake with chocolate icing on their first birthdays, because it shows up better in pictures -- so true!

Corn for Dessert

Since it is April Fool's Day, we had corn on the cob for dessert! Annie generously lent me her "Hello Cupcake!" book, so I made these cute corn cupcakes. I am still trying to decide what to make Isabella's birthday cupcakes . . . so many choices! But no koala's, which is what I was hoping for, since Bella is our little koala. But there are monkeys!! Or really cute sunflowers . . .I just can't decide!

And here are my adorable girlys, enjoying a nice spring day!