What's in Your Tea Kettle?

...and I mean besides the toy pirate ship cannons and plastic screwdriver, of course ;)

The sad part is that after I found them in there, I just put the lid back on and walked away =).  It is Sunday, after all...it's supposed to be a day of rest!!! ;)

Stayin Alive

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am still alive.  I haven't been blogging as regularly as I'd like to be, but we have been incredibly busy.  I have literally had a birthday party every weekend for the last 4 weekends, and one this coming weekend as well...and, one of those weekends had 2 birthday parties (including one for my Natalie) and our home school All Saints Party.  That combined with homeschooling, and the fact that I've entered my third trimester; my exhaustion level is creeping up, along with a bit of the third trimester blues.  Pretty sure that's over with now, but for the first few weeks of the third trimester, I was just sad about every little thing - whether it was logical or not.  So, every time I thought about blogging about something, it was something depressing or negative.  Now, I realize that life is not all puppies and ponies all the time, and I want my blog to be a realistic glimpse into our day, but I also realize that it can be annoying to read blogs that are just an outlet for people to complain about every.little.thing.  So, I figured it best to just take a brief hiatus for awhile.  So, I plan on getting back into blogging again now that things are slowing down a bit.  Oh, and did you notice on the little ticker on my side-bar that I have about 40 days left until our newest addition arrives?!?!  All I can say about that is:  fl;kajwrjsdoghawelhkldkniaw!  That, and I hope everything goes well...that last month of pregnancy always makes me anxious...anxious about delivery, about being able to handle another child, and, most of all, anxious to be able to meet and hold the new life that has been so close to me for so long now!!

What's Your Secret?

So, I am not a morning person.  I am a night owl.  I enjoy the peace and quiet of nighttime.  Everyone else is sleeping, so there is no one there to ask me to wipe them, or feed them, or change their diaper, or be the judge in a dispute over who gets the orange slinky (even though there are enough slinkies to go around for all, they are apparently not all created equal!!), and nor is there the constant barrage of "Mom, will you help me?" (or "me-me" if it's Rachel =).  And, since it's the end of the day, and I've usually gotten all my chores done and to-do list finished, so I can just veg out and relax without feeling guilty.  You can't do that in the morning.  There's no sitting around enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee, because there's too much other stuff pressing to get done:  laundry, dishes, breakfast; kids who need to get dressed, clean their rooms, brush their teeth, and whatever other catastrophe that may unexpectedly show up; oh, and of course, I desperately need to brush my teeth!  So, no, I am most certainly NOT a morning person.  Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being a wife and stay-at-home mom.  I'd much rather the pace of being at home than the hustle and bustle of a traditional career:  the quiet that comes with folding clothes and washing dishes (assuming the kids are napping, of course), the wonder in the 1st grader's eyes when she picks up on something new in school, all the "I love you's", the funny things they say, reading book after book on the couch, and the silliness of just laying in bed with the kids in the middle of the day.  But, to get up early and take the day by the horns...not. my. style.  The problem is, I feel really guilty about not getting up really early (and, by really early, I mean at least 30 minutes before the kids get up).  It's not that I don't try...because, I do...sometimes.  I set the alarm clock, I set the alarm on my cell phone (and put it in the bathroom, so I actually have to get out of bed), I beg for the graces to get up just half and hour earlier, and I have kids who rise shortly after the sun does.  But, I just usually end up slapping the snooze button 2 or 3 times (OK 5 times!) and turning off the cell phone.  And, the kids are good about just snuggling quietly with me until I get up.  I guess they know me well enough to know that if Mom is laying down, it's in everyone's best interest to leave her alone =)  I just can't seem to make myself get up as early as I would like to, unless I know I have to for an appointment or some other commitment.  It's like one of those cartoon moments where there's a little white angel on one shoulder and a little red devil on the other, and they are laying out the pros and cons of sleeping for just 20 more minutes.  Unfortunately, the little red devil wins most of those battles O_o.  So, I know I *should* try and get up half an hour earlier, but I just don't know how.  And, really, I could try harder, but it is one of my biggest weaknesses.  I have no motivation to try harder.  So, if you have any really great tips or secrets, I would LOVE to hear them!  And none of that "the early bird gets the worm" nonsense!...do you seriously know anyone in their right mind who wants worms besides birds??  I didn't think so.  My goal is to be one of those mothers who is awake before the kids get out of bed, already dressed, morning prayers said, and breakfast cooking.  Is that too much to ask??  Maybe I'm just being unrealistic or overly idealistic...and, maybe the kids don't really care...maybe they like things the way they are...they do get disappointed on those rare days when I actually am up before them fixing breakfast, because they didn't get to lay in bed with me for a few minutes before the the day starts.  Maybe that is just our quiet little family time to start the day; a little gift from God that I should just leave alone.   

Why I just LOVE St. Anthony

I remember the first time I asked St. Anthony for intercession.  I was around 5 or 6 years old.  I can't remember what I lost, but I remember EXACTLY where I found it in my backyard.  He has been faithful to my desperate please ever since that moment, including the 3 times I've lost my engagement ring (sorry, Phil!).  But, this story really exceeds them all!  About 2 weeks ago, the kids and I went to the library for story time.  (I should give a disclaimer here...if you're not into details, this story will probably bore you to tears, but it's one I want to remember, so it's going on the blog =).  I unloaded the van of children, library books, and DVD rentals.  I put my keys in their proper side pouch of the diaper bag, and we headed inside.  About halfway through story time, Rachel takes my keys out of the bag and starts eating them, so I take them away from her, and put them in the larger, zippered portion of the bag, where most things get lost in the abyss.  At the end of our visit, we go up to the counter to wait in line to check out our books.  I placed my books on the counter, with my keys right next to them (I have one of of those little rectangular library cards that go on your key chain, which is why I took my keys out in the first place).  Now, this is a small town library, and I knew everyone in the library, so I wasn't paying that close attention at this point...Natalie had to go to the bathroom, Rachel kept trying to climb out my arms so she could un-shelve each and every book in the library, and Andrew was trying to scale the counter so he could stamp our books with the due date (sometimes the librarians let the kids do this when no one else is there...one of the very nice things about small town libraries =).  So, needless to say, I was starting to sweat, and I'm sure my hair looked pretty disheveled at this point.  By the time my turn was over (I was third in line), and the librarian had checked out and packed all my books in a bag for us, my keys had disappeared.  They were NO WHERE.  We looked everywhere.  I emptied my diaper bags no less than 10 times, and we checked every nook and cranny of the desk area.  The librarians even called the two people who were in line in front to me to see if they had accidentally picked up my keys (again, I can't say enough about small town libraries!).  At this point, I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy, and that I had locked my keys in my van, but I was 100% positive that I had brought them in the library...Rachel tried to eat them earlier, remember?!  I immediately sent up a quick prayer to St. Anthony, and continued to do so throughout the rest of this saga.  So, anyway, at this point, it's almost lunch time, our blood sugar is starting to drop dangerously low (like 'yelling at the kids for every little thing' low), and I'm close to tears.  I call Phil, and he lets me know that he has no idea where my keys are, either...thanks, a lot!  So, I call my neighbor and have her pillage my home in search of our spare key...naturally, it is no where in my house.  Now, I'm really close to breaking down.  She asks me when the last time I had the spare was...I tell her that the last time I had the key, I had loaned it to our cousin (whose shall remain nameless for charity's sake) who had ran out of gas a mile from our house.  I was "positive" he gave me the key back when he was done borrowing our van to go get gas for his car.  So, I'm stuck at the library, with no keys, no spare keys, three starving children, and no car seats...excellent.  I ended up just having my neighbor come pick us up, and prayed the whole way home that we would not get pulled over or in an accident with all three kids not in their car seats.  After I turned the house upside down for the spare key, and didn't find it, I finally swallowed my pride and called my cousin:  "Hey, you remember that time you ran out of gas, and I loaned you the van with the spare key?"  Cousin:  "Oh yeah, the spare is sitting right here in my console...been meaning to get that back to you."  Me:  "....fantastic..."  Long story short, he brings me the spare, gives me a ride to the library to get the van while the neighbor babysits, and we've managed to eat something and calm down a bit, so things are starting to get better.  Ok...fast forward a week and a half.  We go back to the library, and the librarians ask if I've found my keys...no, I have not....they still haven't found them either.  We conclude that the keys are probably in the same place that missing socks are.  So, after we are done reading books and building puzzles, we go checkout our stuff...low and behold, there is a note on my account:  "patron has keys being held for her at another branch that is about an hour away from branch that we are currently at".  WHAT?!?!  Turns out, my keys managed to end up in the parking lot of ANOTHER branch of the parish library...about an hour away from our local branch (oh, and for you non-Louisiana people, a parish is pretty much the same thing as a county...whatever that is).  I have NO IDEA how they ended up in that parking lot, but that is why I just LOVE St. Anthony!  Never underestimate the power of intercessory prayer!

Sancte Antoni, Ora Pro Nobis!!!

This, That, the Other, and a few Little Thoughts

I haven't really been hanging around the blogosphere lately.  I think I have writer's block, which is ironic, because I'm not a writer...hah!  This blog is just for fun =).  Anyway, I just don't have much to post about these days.  We've been enjoying the extremely lazy days of summer, because it's just too darn hot to do anything else!  Even the cows just lay around in the shade and do nothing (although, they pretty much do that year round, so that's not saying much).  We spent the better part of today lounging around the house reading books.  I heard a fellow southerner say once that summer in the deep south is like winter in the far north, because you are almost quarantined inside because of the heat.  The temperature right now is 96 degrees, with a heat index of 107 degrees!  Way too hot to take kids outside to play.  I was out there for about 45 minutes cleaning out my van (oh yes, Phil, I actually got around to doing that ;), and I felt like I dropped 10 pounds just from the sweat...and, I was in the shade!  We did get to go swimming yesterday evening for a couple of hours at our neighbor's house, which was so very nice, but after a while, it actually felt like bath water...the temp in the water was 91 degrees O_o.

Next week, I go in for my second ultra-sound, and it's the one where we get the option to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.  For the first 3, we didn't find out the gender, but Philip wants to for this one.  As for me, I don't know if I want to or not.  I usually am really tempted to find out, but since Phil has always wanted to be surprised, I never did, because I can't keep a secret.  Part of me feels like it's cheating, but in the end, it doesn't really matter...I mean, the baby is what it is, and I'll love him or her no matter what.  Likely, I'll break down and find out, because I'm just weak like that =)  At lunch today, the kids and I had this discussion:

Natalie:   So, Mom, I've been thinking...

Me:  oh yeah?  About what?

Natalie:  About the new baby.

Me:  What about the new baby?

Natalie:  Oh, just about having it and stuff.

Me:  It's going to be really exciting!  You'll get to hold it, and help me take care of it...(I left out the part about how I have anxiety attacks and fret think about having it and stuff, too).

Natalie:  I bet the baby gets hungry alot.

Me:  No, not really...babies get everything they need when they are in their mommy's tummy; they don't have to wait around for someone to feed them.

**I then tiptoe on egg shells trying to answer all her questions about how a pregnant woman's body works to take care of a growing baby...she's only 5, not a doctor!!  how many details does the child really need???  I settled on "that's just how God made it work", and changed the subject.  I told her that we get to go and see pictures of the baby at the doctor's office next week.

Me:  Do you want to find out if it's a boy or a girl now, or do you want to wait until it's born?

Natalie:  I want to know now!  (no shocker...she is my daughter)

Me:  Ok, maybe they'll be able to tell us.

Natalie:  Do you want to know?
Me:  I don't know yet...probably...Daddy wants to know.

**Andrew decides to join the conversation now, which is weird, because he seems to have been ignoring our entire conversation, because he's been very intent on eating his lunch for the duration of our little chat...every now and then he would pipe in with "hey, I got two noodles on my fork this time!!  cool!!"  Such a boy!

Andrew:  I want to wait.

Me:  You want to wait for the baby to be born before you know if it's a boy or a girl??

Andrew:  Yes, I want to wait.  The boys have to wait, but the girls can find out.

**Sorry Phil...I guess you have to wait with Andrew this time =P 

Now that everyone is just dying to know whether we find out or not, and, if we do find out, what the gender actually is...I shall not be posting it on the blog.  I remember my mother-in-law telling me once that if we ever find out, she doesn't want to know.  Since she actually reads my blog, I don't want to ruin the surprise for her.  So, everyone else will just have to wait for the ending =)  The hard part will be keeping Natalie away from her Grandma for the rest of the pregnancy, because there's no way she'll keep that a secret!  No, seriously, I'll make sure to drill Natalie about NOT telling Grandma, so no worries!  

Other than that, we haven't really been doing much of anything over here.  My garden is between the summer harvest and the fall planting, so I haven't been doing much with it.  I still have a couple of cherry tomato plants that are going strong, a handful of new cucumber plants that are a few weeks along, and my okra is like the gift that keeps on giving.  Phil did help me clean it out and do some weeding around the beds, so it looks much neater and is ready for the next round of planting.  Hopefully I can get to that in the next week or two.  

We'll be starting school right about the second week of August.  I've actually decided to switch to a new curriculum this year.  Natalie will be in first grade, and she's my only one in school just yet, so I figure now is the time to tweak out these things before we get so far along that it's harder to switch curricula around.  Since we attend the Traditional Latin Mass, Phil and I really wanted a curriculum that supports that.  So, I did a bit of research earlier in the summer and found Our Lady of the Rosary School.  I hope we like it.  From what I've looked at on the website, I like the books, the curriculum looks solid, I like the classes they offer for older kids, and I called and spoke with someone from their office, and she was very helpful and nice.  So, I'll be ordering the first grade supplies sometime next week, and getting some of Natalie's other school supplies tomorrow, when I get to go shopping all by myself!!!!  Well, Rachel will be with me, but she can't ask me to buy everything in the store yet, so I don't mind taking her =)  

Well, the kids just woke up and wandered in from their nap, so that means it's time for me to feed them again. 

Because We All Need a Little Cajun Fun in Our Lives, Cher!

And, because we're cool like that, we actually passed by Booth's Grocery last summer when we went crabbing in Rockefeller:

"B-O-O-T-H comma to da top S" 


And, here are a few of us actually catching some crabs (or at least trying), Louisiana style =)
 

Natalie and her cousin

Me and Andrew

My Handsome Husband

One of my most treasured photos! - My Mom, Me, and my girls, Natalie & Rachel

When 5 Year Olds Take Over the Wardrobe