Today's Mass

What a special morning for Northwoods Catholic school (where I used to teach)! Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legion of Christ, made his first visit to the school, and is also here to form the first community of full-time Legionary priests and Brothers in Houston. Up until now, we shared our Legionary priests with other Texas cities (Austin, Dallas, San Antonio), so it is a true blessing to have these priests here to serve the laypeople full-time. They give spiritual direction to dozens, retreats to hundreds, advising all the different Regnum Christi programs (from schools, to youth groups, to missions) and help where needed around the archdiocese, providing the sacraments.

Here are a few pictures of Father greeting the people. The students lined the sidewalk and the entry to the school and chanted and clapped for Father as he entered. He shook hands with every student and almost every person he passed by (Mary Clare got a blessing). It was wonderful to see so many friends from the school and from Regnum Christi. It was a true gift to have this shepherd of tens of thousands of Catholics here as a representative from Rome, also sending greetings from our dear founder Fr. Maciel and sharing a story about our Holy Father Pope Benedict. It will be a treasured memory.

Signing a picture for one of my old students


Preparing for Mass, lots of priests!


Father looks up with a grin


Recessional after mass, also some of my students are altar servers now!


And greeting people as he exits


May his ministry be blessed. And may we, as the Gospel invited us today, and Father spoke about, put our nets out into the deep!

Happy Birthday, Steven!

Hope you have a super-duper day! We love you!
~Your girls, and Peter ;)



We'll be offering Daddy our busy day of doctor appointment (24 weeks!), Mass with Fr. Alvaro (yay!), lunch meeting with my Regnum Christi team, shopping for the final First Friday things, and printing up a storm this afternoon. It was a long night of Ellie's sniffles, so hopefully she's in good spirits this morning and we can all get a little rest this afternoon. Hope you all have a terrific Thursday!

The Books Arrived!

We finally received our shipment of homeschool books, minus the "Mommy, It's a Renoir" teacher guide which is on backorder. I was hoping to officially start school yesterday (Tues) as the rest of the week holds lots of morning activities, so it looks like we will be continuing our here-and-there approach to homeschooling this week. I'm excited to get started on the math program (Singapore) and the handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears) and hope we can find some special moments to sit down and work this week!

We're still getting ready for the First Friday class...I've been on the hunt for some particular Wal-Mart 3-ring binders and have so far been to 4 different Wal-Marts trying to procure enough for our class! I'm typing up attendance charts, nametags, and songsheets and tomorrow will have some friends over to help finalize the first lesson plan. I know it sounds like a lot for a little once-a-month preschool class, but since we're coming up with it all on our own, and last year I was a "tad" disorganized (ie planning the night before, no lesson plans, children climbing on windowsills and chasing each other around the room), I'm hoping that all the preparations of the past couple weeks will pay off and make for a smooth year!

Mary Clare had her 2nd dance class today. It's really hard to see through the lace curtain, but she's on the left, with a black tank leotard next to the little girl in pink:



I am really impressed by this dance school. I grew up taking dance at a handful of studios, one of which used the "RAD" (Royal Academy of Dance) syllabus. This means that any level all over the world would be learning the same dance steps and techniques, and to go on to the next level we would have exams at the end of the year, with a professional "examiner" from England. I think it really helped me later on to have this good ballet background.

The studio where Mary Clare takes uses the Sonshine Christian Ballet syllabus, which I like even more because it is a Christian syllabus, at a Christian studio, but based on the RAD program. I can already tell that they are working on the most basics of ballet skills (demi plies, pointing and flexing, controlling knees and arms, runs and gallops, rhythm and miming) which makes for a class that appears very structured and uniform. We'll see how long she is actually interested in dance, but I'm glad to at least give her a good foundation if she chooses to continue.



Tonight we celebrated Steven's birthday with my family. Here we are attempting to take a family picture in front of the restaurant. You can't really tell, but Ellie has on real shoes...we'll see how long it lasts!

Better get back to bed.
~Signed, sleepless at 4am...

A Happy Labor Day!

I hope your Labor Day was a happy one!
It was a happy day because Daddy didn't have to go to work!
It was a happy day because our dog Timber was found after being lost overnight!
It was a happy drive across town with two napping girls, listening to an old Jars of Clay CD.
It was a happy afternoon sharing the holiday with Steven's family!
It was a happy time eating yummy fruit, chips & salsa, barbecue, German chocolate cake, and ice cream!
It was a happy half hour visiting the triplets, who are 9 months and absolutely adorable!
It was a happy experience playing the guitar and singing with all the kids (my girls and 5 nieces and nephews).
It was happy hearing the echoes of loud toddler voices (and screams and cries) throughout my in-laws' house.
It was happy realizing that next year there will not be just 7 voices, but 11 voices with the triplets and our little Peter added to the mix of under 7 yr-old cousins in the area!
It was a happy birthday celebration for Steven.
It was a happy drive home with two sleeping girls.
And it is a happy night spending my quiet time at the computer eating popcorn and lemonade!

Some pictures from today...

My father-in-law's flag collection. Each of his children and grandchildren have a flag that he hangs on the porch when the family comes to visit. They are always a bright and shining reminder of the joy of family! Mary Clare's is the spirally fish one and Ellie's is appropriately the flip-flop spiral one (before her flip-flop obsession!), Steven's sister made him an Aggie one, and me...well, all the "non-relatives" share the outlaw pirate flag!


Cousins! The oldest just started Kindergarten, so here she is reading to the others


One way to get 7 young children to sit down for more than 20 seconds...cake and Kool-Aid!


What the men do best...watching and talking sports and news!


And "The Brothers" (our triplet nephews) down the street...Cooper


Major


and Joshua!

Are they not the cutest? And such flirts! They make me so anxious to meet our little boy! Hopefully in 2008 they'll all be partying with the family!

A Happy Labor Day to you all! I can't believe September is already here!

Not much to say...

I've been enjoying reading this week and haven't had much of interest to write about. I'm doing lots of preparations for our homeschool group's preschool First Friday classes which will start this coming week. We've been enjoying our latest library check-out of the original movie "Cheaper By the Dozen". Mary Clare wants to watch it every day! And this morning the Texas weather was actually "cool" enough to make for a trip to our parish playground. The girls were thrilled! We've been missing the park this summer.

We are really looking forward to this first week of September which will include Labor Day festivities at my in-laws' to celebrate my dear husband's birthday, Mary Clare's 2nd dance class of the year, Steven's birthday, a visit to our city from the General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ, Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, and then our First Friday activities followed by a birthday party for Our Lady at a local park with the homeschool group! It should be a joyous week filled with many graces as we begin this new "semester".

We started today off with a trip to our favorite Shipley's Donuts and then to the great sacrament of Confession. The priest left me with some good thoughts to ponder...particularly about the rich man who had followed the commandments but was asked to give everything and follow Christ. Father described that second request as the "post-graduate" work of self-donation. I know I still have some elementary work to do on the commandments and other habitual sins, but thinking of that need of total self-surrender is really a challenge for me right now. I seem to have no willpower at times, but am reminded that I do have willpower to do things that I want to do. I could read blogs until the wee hours of the night, but why does less than 5 minutes of nighttime prayer feel like an impossible goal? I can wake up easily for an exciting morning activity, but on most days I feel like getting out of bed is such a difficult feat. I can clean every room of my house when guests are coming, but tonight the dishes are not unloaded and the laundry needs to be washed.

I must get to the point where I realize that every little act is for love of Christ. He has given himself for me, and there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to give him 10 minutes of prayer, offer him a clean sink, or quickly fulfill my child's request for love of him. This spiritual life is hard work!

And so I need to recognize that yes it is hard work, but no it does not all depend on me. Christ lends me all I need to fulfill what he asks. When I am weak, he is strong. I must just take his lead, follow his path, love him, trust in him...

My Girls

Mary Clare started a tap/ballet class today at a nearby Christian studio. Notice Ellie with the fop-fops (flip flops), blankey and signature two-finger suck. She missed her nap today (and is now napping at 5:10, yikes!). Mary Clare had a wonderful time and likes it even more since her sweet friend from our homeschool group is in the class with her. They looked precious!


Mary Clare has a new thing she likes to play. She calls it "secret ingredient" or "my special recipe". It consists of finding random things around the house and mixing them together in some sort of bowl. They are usually left in strange places around the house. For awhile I kept finding hair shampoo and conditioner mixed up and left in bathroom cabinets or her toy kitchen oven. Now those are stored up high so we don't run out! One night she had Ellie eating a strange concoction of baby rice cereal with water and all sorts of pepper and seasoning. Yuck!

A few days ago I found this:

It's a toy teapot with crushed up Pringles potato chips mixed with syrup...yum!

Right now she is making something with this:

This delicacy includes vegetable oil, water, raisins, butter, and various seasonings. I just checked and noticed she has a second bowl filled with flour and green sprinkles! But the funniest part was watching her talk about what she was making. She was calling herself "Rachael Ray who makes 60 minute meals". "Doesn't this look delicious? I can't wait to taste a bite of this. You won't believe it!" she says. Maybe she'll be the next Food Network star. Forget about ballet class, maybe we need to find her a cooking school!

And my other little angel, who sleeps soundly right now, has been doing all sorts of new things and saying all kinds of new words. She is slowly learning to pronounce certain things like "water" more correctly (wa-dor, instead of wa-wer) and is saying the sweetest little prayers blessing all our family members. When we are saying prayers or at mass she says "Son, Hoey Pirit" for the sign of the cross and loves getting holy water from the font! Today we were headed to ballet class and I was asking MC if she was excited. Ellie said "Eh-ie cited, Mommy hab baby in tubby. Pe-dor!" (translated, Ellie excited, Mommy have baby in tummy. Peter!)

Well, my little ballerina/chef/acrobat is jumping off the printer table so I better check out for now!

Oh and we had a beautiful mass this morning offering it for all our special baby intentions! Thanks for your prayers. Little Augustine, pray for us!

Memorial of St. Augustine

Today is the memorial of St. Augustine and the day I want to keep as a memorial of our unborn baby who we lost just a couple weeks before being blessed with our newest life. We are going to try to make morning mass (in less than an hour and the girls are still asleep!) and remember him in our thoughts and prayers today.

Today I also have on my heart several friends (real and online) who I want to offer this day for. First of all for all expectant mothers and those who desire the blessing of new life. I will also ask St. Monica (St. Augustine's mom who's memorial was yesterday) for prayers as she was such a faithful prayer warrior for her son through his wayward life. I will ask for prayers for mothers whose children have fallen away from God and from the Church. I cannot imagine the pain of wondering about your child's soul. Thanks be to God our two here on earth are baptized and will be raised in the Faith, and our two in Heaven we entrust to God's mercy.

I also want to lift up Jen from "Et tu?" who is a Catholic convert from atheism and will be welcoming her third child in three years today! I will be praying for our friends Matt and Stephanie and their son Athan who are on my heart. They are the ones who lost their 2 year-old daughter Mary Clare last summer to SUDC (Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood). Stephanie sent me a link yesterday to a contest for the Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year contest in which the co-founder of the SUDC foundation, a Catholic mom who lost her Maria Helena 9 years ago, is in the Top 10. She has been a gift to Stephanie in her grief, as well as many other families who have lost their children in such an unexpected and unexplainable way. Please consider voting for her to help bring more awareness to their cause. So for them and all mothers who mourn the loss of their children, I pray.

And for our own unborn baby, thanks to God for this blessing of new life, and in petition that he keep him safe from harm that we might meet him this Advent! Thank you all for your prayers today!

Congratulations

to Veronica and Enrique who just had "the" ultrasound for their newest blessing! We are so excited to share our pregnancies...only wish it weren't across such distant shores (actually she's been in Texas for almost three months now and we have yet to see each other!). Looking forward to our real life "Visitation" moment in the coming weeks!!!

Now here's a Schoolroom!

http://oniondome.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/our-learning-ro.html

All I can say is....wow.

Saving Your Blog?

Just wondering if anyone has saved their blog to their hard drive or printed it out? I don't want to lose any of these precious memories, especially since I've yet to get pictures in an album since before Ellie was born! Thanks for any advice!

A Sunny Saturday in Texas

is a profitable day for a Lemonade Stand! Mary Clare was begging to have one all week, so today was the day! Somehow the girls braved the heat for about 45 minutes and got about 6 customers. I think this will be a continuing venture for the sisters!

The "Big Kid" Museum

Yesterday our homeschool group took a field trip to the Natural Science Museum satellite at our local mall. We've been to the Children's Museum a lot, and I wasn't sure how the girls would do with all the bugs and dinosaur bones, but they had a GREAT time! Here are some highlights:


Ellie checking out the roaches


Australian hissing cockroaches!


They weren't so sure about the big stuffed animals


But amazingly did like most of the dinosaurs! We had a great guide for the dinosaurs, VERY engaging for the young ones! Here's the T-Rex.


Another dinosaur


Of course they loved the toy area! This is one of those marble things.


We went to dinner last night with my parents and aunt. Here's MC w/ my mom and aunt


And I loved this one of Ellie with the sunset behind her!


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Schoolroom is ready!

Just about! Just need the new books and a few other supplies, and maybe a few things on the wall! But here's how it looks...MC said she feels like we're in a different house!

The table is cleared and the calendar is finally on August!


I've moved all the baskets of supplies, flashcards, little games, paper, coloring books, etc to their own shelf!


The bookshelf has also been cleaned out and organized (I need to sell about 100 children's books that I've boxed up!).


And finally my favorite...my teacher desk!


And here are my little students who woke up yesterday wanting to paint!

All Ordered!

I was thrilled yesterday to discover that all the remaining homeschool materials we needed could be found through Rainbow Resources, along with some added math manipulatives! So my order is in, and now all I have to do is wait for it's arrival and get our homeschool room ready! I'd also like to thank sweet friends Lillian and Christina for their advice in various Mother of Divine Grace, Singapore Math, and other homeschool questions...don't worry, I'll keep them coming!

On the clothing front, I have sorted through much of the 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothing and have about 4 large boxes of those sizes to pass along. So now comes the big 6-12 month sort-a-thon which should begin today. And then finding takers for all the extra clothing I can't use, much of which is still in great condition!

And in other continued news, Orpah the Odyssey (our minivan) is back in the shop once again! She'd been away for about a week and a half for her ongoing transmission issues (now through a different repair shop, but the same chain so we don't have to fork out any more money!). When she arrived back home she had some strange screeching noises during left-hand turns and while breaking, and her "signature" check-engine light decided to light up once again! Hopefully this will be a quick hospital visit for her, since we're not very good at staying home for days on end. At least I'll get some things done around here...

A little praise report that we had a wonderful trip to the "swan" pool yesterday without any diaper incidents!

Off to start our Tuesday,

But first to share some recent news from some of my favorite blogs:

Veronica got to see a possible Eucharistic miracle!

Michelle delivered her little girl Maria Victoria at home less than 2 weeks ago and she's already attended a wedding, a boating outing, and gone out to a restaurant. Way to go, Michelle!

Andrea also had her baby girl Colette that week and then made a cross country move after being released from the hospital! Congratulations and way to go, Andrea!

Colleen's Jonathan started kindergarten yesterday!

Melissa's family made the local newspaper!

Rachel sadly lost her title in the Supersinskiad games to her husband. She also has some great posts about "getting greener" that I'm sure some of my more "crunchy" friends will appreciate!

Jessica's Carlee Scott has successfully moved to a big girl bed!

Alice and family are having tons of fun in California!

And Rachael made it through her first month after losing her precious 5 yr-old Hannah in a drowning accident (Warning, this is a beautiful, but very sad blog that can get addicting and tear-jerking, but a wonderful message of hope in tragedy as this mother shares her story and daily emotions after losing her daughter. Please pray for them.)

Hope you all have a wonderful and (as Hannah would say) sparkly week!

Just in case...

...you were concerned that after 2 girls we would be struggling to obtain clothes for our baby boy on the way.

Take a look:


Two clothing deliveries today, one from Aunt Jill bringing things from the triplets, and tonight a delivery from my friend Cynthia. Don't worry, this little boy will be well-dressed! Not to mention the fun extras like blankets, booties, a breast pump, a Baby Bjorn, and 2 swings. We are set!

Thank you so much Paige, Winn, and Cynthia (and Jill for being the deliverer)! We really appreciate your generosity.

Homeschool Planning

(edited to add links!)

It's been a busy week with visits from priests and friends, a few meetings and classes, and a quick visit to a big state homeschool conference down the street! The forecast says rain again, but the sky looks clear and blue...We're trying to decide whether to venture to the pool. You just never know in Texas, and I'd hate to get all ready and then arrive only to rain and a closed pool. We'll see... (Edited to add that although the forecast said rain all day, it didn't rain until almost 4pm! We should've tried the pool! But we did go buy a baby shower gift and the girls had tons of fun looking at everything in Babies R Us!)

I've been trying to organize our homeschool room and figure out exactly how and when I want to start this new school year, hopefully the beginning of September. Mary Clare is still only 4 1/2, but I think she's ready for some more formal lessons and kindergarten materials. We will probably try to do about 3 days of "school" each week for an hour or so, once I get everything ordered and my room somewhat organized! Here's what I'm planning so far, mostly using Laura Berquist's Mother of Divine Grace Curriculum (as well as all the kindergarten and first grade materials I have from teaching):

Math-
*Singapore Earlybird 2A and 2B
Number and addition flashcards and manipulatives

Language Arts-
100 Easy Lessons
Phonics activities, flashcards, games
Reading good books!
*Handwriting Without Tears

Religion-
Bible reading and dictation (Bible Notebook)
Saint stories
Liturgical feasts, celebrations, and activities throughout the church year

Poetry-
*A Child’s Garden of Verses
Poetry Notebook

Art-
*Mommy, It’s a Renoir
Illustrating Bible stories and Nature Notebook

Science-
Animal books and encyclopedias
Nature activities and notebook

Also, with our homeschool group:
First Friday preschool classes
Weekly Fine Arts and Nature clubs
Field trips
Possibly dance classes

*s are for things I still need to order! Better get on the ball!
Let me know if you have any ideas or comments!

Pictures

House Mass with Moms and Kids...crazy! Ellie was rolling around the floor, and running around the room with a spoon in her mouth holding a stuffed animal and old cell phone. Father assured me he's used to chickens and dogs running through outside masses, so this was nothing! Mary Clare did really well sitting in the front row and watching everything. They were really excited to help get things ready for mass and took to Father very quickly! What a blessing to have him here, and to have him say mass in our house! WAY COOL!

The wonderful K family readers :)



Father Juan Diego with his newly trained Altar Boy!


Showing them his chalice (he was just ordained in May)


Helping in the kitchen with Steven and MC.


~~~~~~~~~

And a few other pictures for your enjoyment :)

From the baptism we went to on Saturday, feast of St. Clare!
The newly baptized! Isn't she a little beauty?


What's a party without the cake?


Adorable Ellie in the Texas sun (it's really HOT now!)


And my growing belly ;) By the way, we think his name is going to be Peter, middle name still TBD!

Jesus is coming to our house, AGAIN!

It pays to have friends in high places ;)

I got a phone call last week that the Pope wanted to speak to me! Actually it was just our friend Brother Nathanael, CFR calling to see if we could host a priest from his Order during an overnight layover. Of course I said yes, and I will be honored to pick up Father Juan Diego at the airport tomorrow and share him with some friends tomorrow afternoon (if anyone lives nearby and didn't get my email, let me know because you're all welcome to come over and meet Father!).

I spoke with him tonight and found out that he won't have said mass before arriving, which means...WE WILL GET TO HAVE ANOTHER MASS IN OUR HOUSE TOMORROW! YAY! So once again, I am cleaning the house for Jesus and one of his holy priests. I'm so excited!

And while I'm on the subject of house cleaning, I thought I'd share some funny pictures from the other day when I was finding lots of out-of-place items around the house. It's a common occurrence, I'm sure in most homes with small children, but it makes me laugh nonetheless. I'm working, though, at trying to notice these items and pick them up before they take over a room of the house! It doesn't happen automatically so this is something I've got to teach myself.

Tonight I found a large cheese grater on our bedroom floor and picked up a thermometer off the living room floor with my toes (my toes are really agile!) and was reminded once again of how funny it is to find silly objects around the house! Then there was my missing wallet. It was gone for a couple days this week, and after searching the house and every other place we'd gone, I was about to call it quits and start canceling my cards. Then MC found it under the Pack N Play in one of the bedrooms where they've had a whole doll setup! Yesterday I couldn't locate her sandals as we were leaving for a baptism, when all of a sudden while about to back out of the driveway, she suggested I go look in the Dora car. There they were under the seat of the toy riding car in the playroom!

So here were some funny finds the other day...

Doll in the kitchen


Fruit snack wrappers in the playroom


And in the living room


A penny by the potty


A spoon under the coffee table


A broken birthday candle in the entryway


A plastic bowling ball in the master bathroom


And Doll City, where my wallet was found and which must move elsewhere so that Fr. Juan Diego is not surrounded by toys!

Of course...

You Belong in Summer

Energetic, creative, and very curious about the world... You're not going to let anything hold you back, especially a cold day. Whether you're chilling out at the beach or partying all night, you live for the warm weather.

What Season Are You?

I love the beach, the pool, the sunshine, the vacations...nothing holds me back from taking it all in during the fun, sunny summer! Since we aren't in a stage where we're able to vacation around the world, there will always be a Rick Steves' travel DVD near my computer, checked out from the library. I've been traveling around the world through Rick this summer!

Like it says, I'm very curious about the world...always love to meet new faces from new places and especially to stay in touch with them! Today at a baptism I met a couple whose families are from Poland. I was SO fascinated with them...their story, their switching to speaking Polish to each other in the middle of a sentence...too cool!

I love the summer and am glad to finally see the summer sun here in Texas and not rain every day!

h/t (what does that mean anyway?): Melissa and Kristen