Prayer Time

We have established a new nightly prayer ritual at home. And after a few weeks things are falling into place, the whining and wiggles have worked their way out, and I am enjoying this time. The kids and I kneel around our coffee table and Patrick holds Max in a "wrestling-style" hold to keep him still. The first week, he was anything but quiet. But now he seems to realize crying is worthless, he will be held despite it. Last night he quietly looked at each of us while we named our intentions. He even folded his hands and "prayed" along.

But Sean had the clincher of the night: "I pray that Grandpa has a safe trip, for all soldiers fighting overseas, and that Grandpa Tic Tac is having fun in Heaven."

I'm sure he is. Our family prayer time is likely providing lots of laughs and smiles for the folks up there.

Say What....

Sarah Clare saw a sign reading Cemetary the other day while driving.

Sarah: "Mom is that the place where they bury dead people or where priests go to learn?"


I need to check with Sean to see if he has done all his morning jobs...make bed, get dressed, brush teeth. Sometimes I don't get around to asking until later in the day. So on a recent car trip...

Mom: "Sean did you brush your teeth today?"

Sean: "Yep, I did."

Luke: "No you didn't. I didn't see you."

Sean: "You don't see everything Luke."

Luke: "I saw you stick a wet wipe on your bottom and hop around saying you were a bunny. And I saw you shoot a nerf bullet into the toilet while I was peeing."

I couldn't help but laugh so hard that I cried. But it did make me long for individual bathrooms for just one second.

A Birthday without pictures

Luke celebrated his golden birthday a few days ago. I believe that is what the little girls around here call it...you know turning 10 on the 10th. And here I am....the mother of a ten year old. For some reason, I find this birthday hard. Yes, I may have gotten a bit misty-eyed when I dropped him off for his first day of kindergarden, and our first t-ball game seemed to come all too soon. But a ten year old.....a decade spent parenting a baby (and a willful one at that) into a young man. I don't know how this is possible. I spent the night before Luke's big day weeping in bed. My husband still thinks I'm nuts, as he reassured me...."You know, he's a great kid...." He is. And that is perhaps the cause of tears. Ten is so old......he will be gone so soon. Letting go is so hard.

Luke, while still strong-willed at times, has grown in so many ways. That little baby who insisted on screaming for 20 full minutes before falling off to dreamland at night, now spends minutes, if not hours, in bed reading books I've never dreamed of reading. Greek myths, roman myths, adventures, science fiction, history books. The child will take textbooks to read, if there isn't anything else new around the house. And while he may not be a big fan of actually falling asleep, he now eagerly anticipates "going to bed".

Luke can change a diaper. He can entertain little kids with silly games, mostly involving jumping and running and tickling. He can cook some food items. He can answer the phone and now even makes calls Mom would rather avoid..."Hello, I was wondering if my mom may have returned a video to the library that really belongs to the movie store."

Luke can assess a situation and realize a friend is in need or their feelings are hurt and he attempts to make it better. Luke will offer to carry heavy items for elders, pick up dropped items at the grocery store, and try to help whenever asked.

Granted, we have qualities and traits we are working on, but I'm not ready to think too long and hard about about him being grown-up. I have joy having him here.

And so, due to a Mom moment as Luke likes to call it, I have very little in the way of pictures for his special day. I couldn't find the camera. I found it today. It was behind the piano, against the wall. That beats where I thought it was....yep, at the library....we even called.

But here are the details. He turned 10. The party invitation went something like this.....Please bring your guns, ammo and protective gear.....actually the tears may have started then for me....He had an airsoft battle with his friends. They all wore camo. They played in the woods. It was all the younger kids against the two teenagers. They had a blast. The younger kids lost. All the families stayed. We swam. The sisters all had a tea party. We grilled out. We had so many people that I RAN OUT OF FOOD. I felt very bad, as my hubby and another late arriving dad ate left over stew. They even ate it cold for some reason or another. The boys played basketball. They had ping pong games. We had a camo cake. Luke really, really, really liked his cake. The cake decorating classes payed off with his excitement over his cake. I did get a picture of the cake on my phone. I don't know how to dowload it onto the computer.

And now it is back to school, sports, and watching a child grow more into a young man and man of God every day. And I am so very thankful to be a part of it.

Grace is.....

Grace is...

-a clock ticking away at 5:30pm and a dinner waiting to be started
-a child banging (creating music) on the piano
-a toddler chasing a kindergardener around the house in circles laughing hysterically as he tries to hit him with the very germy flyswatter (how did he find that, again?)
-a child attempting to send an email to a friend on the computer and needing help
-two dogs needing to be fed only to realize you are out of dog food
-laundry piling up in hampers around the house as you wonder, "start today or wait until Saturday?"
-finding yourself placing one more "this belongs upstairs, not down here" toy on the stairs to be returned at bedtime

...a smile erupting, a giggle surfacing, and joy overflowing my heart as I again realize how much I love my life and how truly blessed I am by the Lord!

Is this summer or my own hurricane???

Wow....I was looking forward to summer, relaxing by the pool, and doing some house projects. Well this is summer...I've painted, swam, created...I think the relaxing is next on the list...maybe. To catch you up, and make notes for myself since my brain gets fuzzier by the day, I'll post some highlights of the last few months. Thanks to my friend Mindy who has inspired me to blog this way. I'll have it all on paper-so to speak-and it will be done.

10. The garden is growing. We have had blackberry pie, homemade pickles, tons of zucchini and squash, peas, and beans. The tomato plants are loaded so I think once they get red we will can some pasta sauce. We'll can more pickles and perhaps zucchini relish. Now, I only have to worry about the black widow Patrick found living near the watermelons....yikes!

9.Grandma and Grandpa Army came for a visit and we celebrated the end of our school year with a trip to a video/minigolf place and a baseball game. We just love these adventures with Grammy and Grampy.

8. Patrick and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. He is such a wonderful husband and very thoughtful. He surprised me with a nice dinner out, a concert, and a night in a bed and breakfast. It was so nice to spend time with my very best friend. Being the terrible gift giver that I am...Patrick received a 6pack of Guiness...I'll work on this before next year!

7. The kids spent a week at Vacation Bible School which was wonderful. We got to pack lunches and eat with our friends, go to daily Mass, sing songs, do skits....the highlight for me was the story of Sean answering a question on the Blessed Trinity with crayons stuck up his nose!

6. We spent a day with good friends cooling off in a Mountain Lake. What fun!

5. Max keeps us on our toes. He is a cross between Ernie (his favorite toy is a rubber duck) and Harry Houdini (he is an escape artist). Just a few days ago he went missing for some time with all the doors locked, well all the doors were locked except the garage door but the big doors were down. He showed up a bit later on the front porch. How? He went into the garage, pushed out the window screen, climbed out the window, and walked up to the front porch. We were alerted to this by the dogs. His guardian angel works very hard, and I am very thankful!

4. We have done major house projects like painting rooms and bookcases. I allowed the kids to help me paint the bookcases...on a tarp in the school room. Patrick looked in sometime later and informed me I am never allowed to paint ever again. In order to get me outside to clean myself up, he had to throw me over his shoulder like a fireman. All the painting tools....thrown away...they were that bad. We all had fun, except Patrick I suppose. The bookcases are "good enough", and I apparently, never have to paint again. There are no pictures of this adventure. Thank goodness.

3. I have made curtains for the school room, laundry room, and kitchen, and cleaned all the other curtains in the house. I still have curtain to make for Sarah's room...tomorrow. We cleaned out all the closets as well. I'm sure we'll do it again in 6months. It is a never ending job.

2. We have swimming lessons and art camp ahead of us. So while I wanted to start school soon, we will wait several more weeks. After our camp we need at least one down week because this summer we also.....

1. Had tons of cousins come visit. Shannon and Tony and their kids came for week. We had fun adventures like gem mining and a trip to the science museum. Then the Jennings and Bethray clan came. We had15 kids and seven adults in the house! We were packed in, but had such a great time. We went into the mountains and explored a cave, and went on hike (mostly through the river, not the trail). The hike involved jumping off huge rocks into pools and snakes hidden under rocks...oh my. We have wonderful memories of cousins and summer fun. We are so blessed!

Look who's Five

Sean turned five last week. We celebrated with a special swimming lunch with Daddy. He came home from work at lunch time for a few hours of swimming and cake and presents. Sean chose a Kelty concoction created in honor of his cousin, John. It had crushed chocolate chip cookies on the bottom, melted chocolate bar, chocolate ice cream, and more chocolate chip cookies. A few days later Grandma and Grandpa Army came for a birthday visit. I can't believe how big Sean is getting. He is looking forward to soccer and little leauge in the fall, as he is finally old enough! He is reading and adding and subtracting and ready for Kindergarden in the fall. He is getting to be a big "Max helper" and he loves to help me with chores around the house. Feeding the dog is the current chore he dislikes doing...all because of his sensitive little nose....he can't stand the smell of dog food. And as always, he keeps us laughing with all his funny "Sean-isms". We love him so.

Life's a Mess Here

School is out for the summer....(or until Mom needs the groove of a routine again). That will be difficult to come by as we have art camp, VBS, three sets of visiting relatives, and swimming lessons. We have messy projects around the house to attend to at the moment. A major overhaul of the school room is in order. I plan to paint the room, remove the current bookshelves and have someone build us open bookshelves on one wall. Then we have pantry and closet cleanouts, and closet/drawer cleanout in bedrooms. As always, there is never ending lawn work to do. Some bed need weekend and turning, the pond needs cleaned out, and Patrick as to take down about 10 trees. There is an ongoing debate on chickens and goats.....not sure I'm quite ready for that.

And then there is Max. He is a feisty little guy. Always in the middle of the action, and when I can't find him he is creating action all his own. I have thought about washing down all the walls, but it overwhelms me. Not Max! That is what I found him doing one afternoon when it was just too quiet. And then I have my own great ideas....like my mud pie station on the front porch. How fun! Mud pies! It is a lesson on "letting go" for me as I like a neat tidy house...all the time. The big kids liked the idea enough. Max loved it. He received three baths that day and my kitchen door was washed twice.