Snowflakes

This is a very cool (ha, no pun intended) website, Especially for homeschoolers. Joseph and I had a fabulous time looking at all the different shapes of snowflakes. His comment after looking through them all was, "God sure is incredibly!” I bookmarked this site for further use when my children are old enough to do some science projects. This site will be a wonderful resource for them.
www.snowcrystals.com

The Blanket of Wipes

Do you ever have those times when the children have been playing wonderfully together for at least 45 minutes without any problems? When one has little ones ages 4 down, these times only come once in a very great while. I happen to be experience this blissful time right now. I can hear Joseph and Gerard playing together happily in their room while Colette is in her crib watching them.

There is a catch though...

A few minutes ago I crept back there to check on them. Joseph was playing with his little people; Colette was playing with her books and GERARD… well Gerard was sitting in the middle of the room covering himself up with wipes. The freshly opened pack of wipes are probably at this point laying all around him as his blanket. They KNOW daddy and I don’t like it when they do this but there he is ruining them all. So here’s the dilemma, do I go in there and scold him for taking out the wipes and put them all back and try to salvage some of them or do I just walk away knowing that if I were to walk in, the “happy play” would end. Colette would remember that I abandoned her; boys would be hunger and so on and so forth. *sigh* yes walking away was the thing to do. I’ll just chalk the wipe waste up to Homeschool imaginary play.

Something’s You Just can’t save.

We had tacos for dinner tonight with grape jello for dessert that the boys made this afternoon. A little while after dinner Shawn and I noticed a wet patch on Gerard's front pocket. I guess Gerard thought he would save some for later. lol!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

I thought I would make homemade clam chowder for dinner tonight. It is simmering on the stove right now. I don't know what it is but there is definitely something missing from it. I guess I just need to keep looking on the Internet until a keeper. Until then the strawberry shortcake in marinating the fridge is sounding better and better for dinner. :)

Here is a beautiful prayer, St. Patrick's Breastplate:

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe

St. Patrick of Ireland, pray for us!

Were I not a Stay-at-Home-Mommy

Yes, the living room is cluttered, the dishes need to be washed, clothes need folding and I will I will have a mess of toys to clean up later, but I wouldn’t trade my stay-at-home Motherhood for anything. All mothers should be able to spend rainy days inside with their children at the dinning room table, making a mess but having a good time. I for one have many wonderful childhood memories of such days.

I Couldn't Stop Laughing!

A very proper lady began planning a week's camping vacation for her Baptist church group. She wrote to a campground for reservations. She wanted to make sure that the campground was fully equipped and modern, but couldn't bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter, so she decided on the old-fashioned term "bathroom commode." Once it was written down, she still was not comfortable. Finally she decided on the abbreviation "B.C." and wrote, "Does your campground have its own B.C.?"


When the campground manager received the letter, he couldn't figure out what she meant by "B.C." He showed it to several of the campers, one of whom suggested the lady was obviously referring to a Baptist Church, since there was a letterhead on the paper which referred to a Baptist Church.

He sent the following reply:



Dear Madam:


The B.C. is located nine miles from the campground in a beautiful grove of trees. I admit it is quite a distance if you are in the habit of going regularly. No doubt you will be pleased to know that it will seat 350 people at one time, and it is open on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday of each week. Some folks like to take their lunch and make a day of it. The acoustics are very good, so everyone can hear even the quietest passages. We are having a fund-raiser to purchase new seats, as the old ones have holes in them. It may interest you to know that my daughter met her husband there. Unfortunately, my wife is ill and has not been able to attend regularly. It's been a good six months since she last went. It pains her very much not to be able to go more often. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, especially in cold weather. Perhaps I could accompany you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks who will be there. I look forward to your visit. We offer a very friendly campground.

Coming to a Close

The day is coming to a close. The boys will be going to bed in about 20 minutes ready to start the day all over tomorrow morning at 6:30. Gerard and Colette have had baths (Only a bath could get all that Vaseline off of Gerard) and the boys are playing happily with paper airplanes that daddy made for them. Colette is sitting on the couch singing to her doll. Our life is most defenitely chaotic and a hair-raising at times but it’s a blessed beautiful life in the end. I better sign off now before some crisis happens which will make me delete this entire post.

Grey Hairs

Gerard, my 3 year old in April, decided today that he wanted to make a tower with all the toilette rolls we had stored in one of our narrow bathroom cupboards. Now all mothers know that when it comes to greediness in toddlers there is no true difference in their sex, so it comes as no surprise that Gerard had to have the last two rolls that were shoved in the far back of the cupboard. I do not have the complete details as how it happened but he managed to get his head and one arm stuck in our very narrow cupboard. Joseph (4 years old) was the one that came running out too the living room yelling that Gerard was stuck and needed help. Some of you might be wondering why I did not come running to Gerard’s as soon as I heard the cries but I just have to say for the record that Gerard gets stuck A LOT and its usually a not to bad situation. Anyway, when I saw the gravity of it all I went into a whole different mode. Gerard’s head and arm would not come out and to make matters worse he desperately needed a diaper change. I tried different ways to get him out but the screams only got worse. Vaseline, short of calling 911, seemed to be my best bet. No luck. I was starting to get panicky but didn’t want him and Joseph knowing it. Joseph kept telling me through Gerard’s screams and me trying to calm him down that “Maybe we should get band-aids mom?” I really did not want to call 911, my reasoning at the time that I did not want Gerard wanting that long for help but I was getting to point that I did not know what else to do. I was afraid that his arm could break if I tried pulling harder or lifting him in different positions. Finally in a desperate attempt amidst the screams I smothered Vaseline in all the places I could, said a swift, “you better help me kind of prayer” and don’t ask me how but got a very red eared little boy out.

My thoughts and reactions –
Complete relief, Could cry at any moment, So happy that I have my little boys head and arm back where I can see them. More then ready to embrace my sweet Gerard and give him all the comfort and love he needs.

Gerard’s words and reactions –

1. Out pops his head and arm
2. Wipes his eyes smeared with tears and snots
3. Says in a calm and extremely hurried voice, “Mom, could you get me the rolls please?” pointing to the back of the cupboard.
4. I get them for him not knowing what else to do or say. “Thanks mom.” He says and runs out of the bathroom with Joseph to finish his !%* tower.


(sigh) I’m sure it will be funny tomorrow.

Laundry

So yesterday I broke down and did something I have never done before. I took all of my clothes to the laundry mat even though I have perfectly good laundry equipment at home. I have never liked doing laundry so having had morning sickness the past few months has just made it extremely hard to keep up, to the point where I just haven’t. My laundry room (thank goodness for doors that close) had gotten piled so high with clothes that I just wouldn’t want to go in there. In truth it had become quite overwhelming. Anyway, Shawn got home early yesterday from work so I loaded up the van with all the clothes and headed over to the laundromat. I’m SO GLAD I did THAT!! I was there for about two hours whereas if I had somehow managed to do it at home it would have been an all day project and with children it most probably would have been more then one day. I already have about half the clothes folded and am excited to be able to start fresh (no pun intended J ) with the laundry. It will be nice to be able to walk into my laundry room without having to step over all he clothes. Oh (sigh) the simple things in life.

A Lot Has Happened

So wow, I lot has happened since my last post. I’m expecting our forth blessing from God and I’m due July 29th. This pregnancy by far has gone a lot faster then my last three. I think I can attribute that to the fact that I am just a little bit busier then before and that I have been exercising more and even though I am almost half-way there (19 weeks) I am just starting to feel like I’m pregnant. My energy has gone up quite a bit since I have been taking much more calcium during this pregnancy then any other before. So yes, life is good and I am looking forward in meeting my little girl. Yes! We are having a girl! Two boy and two girls, how great is that? It only took Joseph a few moments to switch gears and except the fact that we indeed were having a girl. His first question was, “Do you think tomorrow it will be a boy?” He had been set on having a little brother called Freddy, I have no idea were Freddy came from. So anyway we are all doing well and continue to thank God for all He does for us.