Where is the outrage?

Piece of Advice....

...Never, and I mean never, ask your child if you are chubby. That's all I have to say about that.

Hymn for Lent

Broken cisterns walled in stone
Hold but dust and whitened bone.
Mend, O mend our hearts, we cry,
Lest in parching thirst we die.

Roll the heavy stone away;
Shape new hearts of earthen clay;
Breathe on us your living breath;
Warm in us the chill of death.

Loose the waters of your word;
Let their leaping joy be heard;
Fill with love forever fresh
Hearts once stone but now made flesh.

I hope your lent is going well and producing good fruit in your life. If I'm honest, this lent is not going how I had hoped- I feel very distracted. I had such a great advent season I was really excited about preparing for Easter. But it's not over and we still have time to return to God with our whole heart because we know that "unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest." Jn 12:24-25 Jesus promised us that "whoever shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it." Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but just say the word and I shall be healed.

It's my blog...

...and I'll post indulgent baby pics if I want to. I know I complain about not getting stuff done because I'm always holding snuggle bear- but honestly if you lived with this chubby little sack of sugar would you put him down?

Pinch me- I'm dreaming

I had the most productive afternoon- I cleaned all upstairs and folded like 4 loads of laundry AND PUT THEM AWAY. Then I cleaned out all of Tucker's 0-9 month clothes and found Marky's box of 9-12 mos clothes and got them put away (yes, Tucker is only two months old- he's fat and tall just like his brother was). Marc and Julia both took naps and Julia woke up once crying and I was able to lay with her and hold her instead of telling her to wait while I put the baby down. How, do you ask, did I get SO MUCH done in one rainy afternoon?

I hired our college-girl-neighbor who was home for Spring Break. She literally sat in the rocking chair and held Mr. High-Maintenance-Snuggle-Bug for about 2 1/2 hours. I would come by and smile at him, and for one hour he slept in her arms. I wish I had her at least once a week- we would be so organized. Before she left I made a big asparagus casserole for supper and thanked her again and again. I read once that when you are overwhelmed by life you sometimes feel like you just want to run away from it all (I know I do), but really sometimes what you need is to get SOMETHING DONE. It feeds your soul to have something checked off the list. That's definitely what I needed- and now I've got to figure out how to get her to come back so I can switch out spring and winter clothes!

To my littlest one

When God makes a lovely thing,
The fairest and completest,
He makes it little, don't you know?
For little things are sweetest.

Little birds and little flowers
Little diamonds, little pearls;
But the dearest things on earth
Are the little boys and girls.

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Mommy and Daddy finally cleaned out the upstairs toy closet (yes, there is another one downstairs). We gave away one garbage bag full of toys and a tub of Lincoln Logs. Then we threw away another garbage bag full. I like to open the door and stare at it now.

Also I changed out the shiny striped shower curtian I never liked to something much more soothing....
And I finally got some femininity into the den with a new pic. The old Washington D.C. print just didn't suit! Mama needs more girly things. They truly brighten my day!

Things making me happy today....

....that this baby enjoys pacifiers and, as of this week, his mobiles.... that the weather is so beautiful- we can even do math outside.....

..that this baby is a snuggle bug angelboy. What a gift he is!

My tips for success... : )

(click on this to read it- all in good fun)

Our first homeschool co-op

Well today was the first day we did a real homeschool co-op. We hosted a St. Patrick's Day party and I think it went really well. We first read a story about St. Patrick's life and then did a lot of arts and crafts.
They colored pictures of St. Patrick, did a dot-to-dot of a 4-leaf-clover, and did a color-by-letter of a pot of gold. And there was a lot of glitter- you just can't go wrong with glitter.

My favorite craft was gluing the names and symbols of the Trinity to a three-leaf clover. Of course, legend has it that St. Patrick explained the Trinity to the people of Ireland using a three-leaf clover.

We also read a story about the legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland and that one of them became the Loch Ness Monster. The boys especially thought that was cool. Then we had lunch and dessert- "snakes in the grass" (a.k.a. gummy worms in sherbert)

Everybody had a great time and stayed and played outside for a long time. I hope we will be able to do more of these in the future to help each other make holidays and special unit studies extra exciting.

Rain or shine...

Did you think a little rain on Saturday would keep the good Irish people from marching in the parade? Please- if we have survivied 800 years of British oppression we can handle a little rain. : ) J/K
We did make it to the parade and festivities and had the best time. Marc's sister came up with her family and we had some fun family time. Here is Marky and his cousin Noah- they are only 6 months apart in age and best buds!

Sissy kept it classy in glasses given to her by BB.

After walking in the parade we got to stop line up a bunch of strollers and watch the party come by. We stood out in front of Dave's in five points- there was loud music and everybody was having a blast.

Here is my beautiful sister-in-law Amber and my niece, Landin.

After the parade we went to Safari Cup for the party- it was a lot of fun with Irish dancers that the kids enjoyed watching- the dancers were kids themselves. And they also had wonderful musicians. Here are some of the kids on the dance floor-
Later that night we went back for the adult partyand enjoyed the band there- Marc got to dust off his old bar "bouncing skills" and escort some folks out who wouldn't pay the cover charge (no I'm not kidding). My favorite part of the night was seeing so many older folks actually from Ireland singing all the songs that they've known since childhood.

Don't think we are only embracing our Irish legacy- I learned this weekend that Italians really celebrate Columbus Day. And I'm already looking forward to this year's German Oktoberfest!

P.S. Did you watch the office this week? Remember this:

Dwight: Knock Knock

Michael: Who's there?

Dwight: KGB

Michael: KG....

Dwight: (SLAP) VEE VILL ASK ZEE QUESTIONS!

I mean- that's just funny!

Calling all revelers....

Interested in a real, traditional Irish St. Patrick’s Day celebration? See below for info on what should be a great time on Saturday, March 14. The St. Patrick’s Day parade is that day and begins at 20th and Powell at 11:30 and ends in 5-points where there is food and fun. Things will get going at Safari Cup, on Richard Arrington Blvd, at 2:00. Real Irish food and Guinness galore. Should be a good, fun family atmosphere (sports in the background, celtic dancers, bagpipes, etc). Jasper Coal will begin at 7:00 p.m., and will play traditional folk-rock music from Ireland. Hope to see you there!

In a van down by the river.....

Well today I made my "motivational speaker" debut. I spoke to the high school junior girls and Marc spoke to the boys. I think it went well- it's so hard to know. We talked about being feminine and how the women of a society really set its moral compass. Alex de Toqueville, who was a French philosopher, said, "no free communities ever existed without morals, and morals are the work of women. Consequently, whatever affects the condition of women, their habits and opinions, has great political importance in my eyes." Girls today are so aggressive- don't you worry for your son trying to stay pure in this society? I urged them to dress modestly and to try to keep some mystery. I also urged them to act like ladies- and let their dress and speech bring beauty to this world. Society has it so backwards. There are people who actually brag on being rude, conceited and aggressive by saying they "aren't fake". Where is the grace? Where is the gentleness and quietness of spirit? I'm so glad we didn't have the pressures these kids face. We were swimming against the current, I feel like these Christian teens are swimming against a tsunami.

Marc gave the guys a really great talk about rising up and being men. He gave all kinds of great examples of great men that have gone before them and challenged them to be chaste, truthful, strong men who defend women, not objectify them. It's hard to know if the talk was helpful, but I know that the talks I heard in high school were very forming to my character. I'll never forget where I was when I heard that I was supposed to let Christ fill my every need and not look to the things and specifically, boys, of this world to make us feel special. And that's a truth we need for the rest of our life- even today I can look to other things to fill the place in my heart that was made for Christ.

My kids were able to have a fun day. Aunt Shana took Tuckerboy. He's a snuggle bug and needs lots of holding and she's just the "aunt" to do it. And my dear friend Catherine kept my older two with her three and she is pregnant! What a servant's heart! Thank you Cat!

Here are two buddies- they love to play and then they love to fight- they wear us out.
And big baby girls have to stick together....

Do you think Catherine had her hands full?

P.S. title of post explained here. (for the older crowd) : )

Just checking in

I hate when I don't have time to blog- I have so many things I'd like to talk about- but life is just moving to fast right now. We have family coming in town this week and I'm trying to get things together. And tomorrow I'm giving two 30 minute talks on "Godly feminine virtues" to high school junior girls (a LOT of them!). So please say a prayer for the talk if you think about it. And- because I think a post should always have a pic- here's pics from today. My friend Julie had a baby shower- for her fourth baby! There were five pregnant women at the shower- is this the new baby boom or what?

Afterwards we worked doing a little sprucing up in the yard- new pinestraw, mulch, sandbox sand, and new potted flowers. We threw away over half of those toys laying on the ground. Feels nice to enjoy outside again. P.S. Tuckerboy LOVES to swing outside with mommy. I think we'll swing all spring!

I just wanted to say...

LOST is getting so good it's ridiculous. If you've never watched it I don't think there's anyway you can catch up now- it's so twisted and convoluted......but SO entertaining! Loving Sawyer and Juliette together!

Let's hear it for the boy...

If you happen to run across this magazine you will see my hubby is listed as one of the top appellate attorneys! I'm so proud! He works hard for the money....

It's Snow Beautiful!

No, I didn't give up my blog for lent. We've just been busy with our adventures. I'll have to tell you the lent stuff we're doing some other time. Anyway- what do you do when you wake up in the South to your backyard looking like this?

You and your kids squeal with joy and you know you are going to have a full day. But first- you have to go to church- so get your baby boy wrapped in his fleece bear suit!

After church and a warm lunch we headed outdoors for fun. After I took this picture I was pelted with a million snowballs. My hubby missed his calling as a major league pitcher- I couldn't dodge his snowbullets to save my life.

Sissy was convinced the ground was covered in ice cream. We couldn't get her to stop eating it!

We still have our trusty sled from last year and we flew down the slopey front yard a million times- I knew that slopey yard would come in handy somehow-

We also made snow angels and a snowman. All in all a super-fun day, don't you think Julia?

Oh- and where was mommy and baby? He had to change into his suede snow suit (cue baby Simba picture):

And mommy kept him nice and warm (however, my strategy of avoiding snowballs by holding the newborn failed big time!) Hope you enjoyed the snowy day!