The O Antiphons

I decide to give this another try.  I really want to try to capture the things we do from year to year, to look back and see some growth in myself and my children.  Since we had Jude this past June I have just felt overwhelmed.  My mom told me she stopped at the 3rd child because she couldn't keep up anymore, and now I GET it.  I couldn't fathom how it was so hard until I had him, and now I can't remember what sleep felt like.  I know, I know -- the whining already Bonnie?  I'm not, honestly -- it's just that I'm going on 6 months of not sleeping through the night (or more than 5 hours at a time on a good night), and I'm just exhausted.  I love having these 3 kids to mold, to work for and with, but I failed to realize how much MORE it was.  So, the blog again.  I need to see myself grow from month to month; to remember it's going to get easier, better.  Especially if we want any hope of having a 4th someday :).

We are trying something new this Advent.  The O Antiphons.  Sydney and I made a lovely little O Antiphon house at the advice of my friend Andrea.  Tonight we start with "O Wisdom" and we are all really excited.  We are also doing our Jesse tree again this year using this book, but as always I edit as I go since the old man is quite grumpy.

I'm trying really hard, despite my exhaustion, to create some meaningful traditions for our family.  I love the holidays -- the liturgical holidays that the Church sets up.  I love that there is an order there, that the Church in Her wisdom walks us through the Bible year after year in the readings, in the Traditions.  I've been thinking about the purpose of my homeschool a lot over the past few months while feeding the baby, and I've come to the decision that Auntie Leila has it right -- order and wonder.

I love that the church sets this up for all of us - the order of the liturgical year, of building towards the Resurrection of Christ, and leaves us to wonder about the mysteries behind it all.  Mary, The Immaculate Conception -- I read a fascinating book about this by Maximilian Kolbe the other day on why she took that name to St. Bernadette; The Trinity; the "rescue plan."  I hope I can instill in my children a love for the Catholic church and the Traditions, for their faith.  It's hard in the society we live in, but maybe that's what every generation has said?

 

I need to sit down.

This was the fastest week ever.  I really don't know where the time goes.  Between cleaning up after kids, playing with them, and feeding them, I don't think I do much else.  We had a really good week though, good balance of play and work, the kids were in great moods and I got a lot done on my sister's baby shower.

In other news, Sydney named the peacock Pittsburg.  Then she had a subsequent baby named Brennan, about 2 days after my sister told her they were naming their (real) baby boy Brennan.

Also the fish tacos were amazing, and the recipe (with a few tweaks, like no tequila) is here: http://itsgoingtobegood.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/fish-taco-heaven/.  They were seriously awesome, mostly due to the cilantro-lime aioli, and the avocado/cilantro/red onion/lime concoction I put up on top of the taco.  I love me some avocado!  I hate frying things though.  As in, I fry things about once a year, hate the way my kitchen smells and hate that I feel like my pores are full of grease after standing over the frying pan.  So next time I'll be tempura-battering the fish and baking it.  I tried blackened fish today in the tacos, and it lacked the CRUNCH.  Mmmm... crunch :).

It's movie night!  We started it about 3 weeks ago on Fridays, and Sydney really looks forward to it now.  Tonight is Hugo, we'll see how it goes!

An unusual girl

When I was little, I'd make up all kinds of silly things, and then tell my mother it's because I was an unusual girl.  She'd ask why and I'd say Chopper 5 News.  I have no idea why or where I got it from.  Seems Sydney comes by it naturally at least ;).  Sydney has a very active imagination.  About a year ago, she told me she had a wolf that was living in our house (pretend) that she named Sander.  He was there to protect her from the mean foxes.  I have no idea where the name Sander came from, or why she was suddenly afraid of foxes.  But there it was.  Sander became an important part of our lives.  He sleeps with her in her room (she won't sleep without him), he goes to school with her, she scolds him like a parent. Sander, from what Sydney has told us:

It the past year, a lot has changed.  She's added a wide assortment of animals to our pretend pets. Shortly after Sander came along, Wyatt joined our household.  Wyatt is a white tiger.  Sydney says he looks like this:

After that, we added in two rabbits.  The rabbits don't have names (she refused to name them).  Then we got a monster named Bonkston.  Yes, she's really making these names up herself.  Then we got two foxes, named Dora and Swiper (she had help with those names from her Dora the Explorer book).  She added a baby elephant named Alexander about a month ago.  I'm told he's pink, and we won't let her keep him in the house.  A mom's gotta have rules here.  Last week Sydney announced that she was going to give birth (yes, a new twist on the animal thing) to another monster named Lulu.  Lulu had to be breastfed by Sydney (I couldn't make this up if I tried people), and has now grown to be a small child sized monster over the past week.  I was informed this morning at breakfast that tomorrow she's giving birth to a bird.  We'll see what kind that is and what name she comes up with.  

Thing is, this is weird.  Is it normal to have this many pretend animals when you have a brother that plays with you daily, several friends both in your two-day-a-week preschool, our homeschool group and some other college friend's kids that you play with regularly?  I'm just not sure, but even if it isn't, I think it's wonderful :).  I love that Sydney is so imaginative.  Sometimes the animals take turns going to live with my parents.  Sometimes they get sent to her room or time out.  I wonder how long we'll keep them?

Candle Addiction

My house smells AWESOME right now.  I'm making fish tacos (which I'm SUPER excited about and will post about later), but despite the fact that it should smell like fish in there, it does not.  It smells like citrusy wonderfullness.  My sister got me a candle for Christmas.  Katy has great taste, and I pretty much like everything she's ever given me.  But when I opened this candle I thought "Oh a weird candle I'll never use.  I'll just put it in the upstairs guest bathroom."  It's Tommy Bahama Maui Mango, and just smelling it in the jar I had no intention of liking it.

Then one weekend after Christmas Katy and Kevin came over and I decided to burn it to be nice.  AM. IN. LOVE.  If I could marry a candle, I'd marry this one and have lots of citrusy babies.  I want my home to smell like this all the time  So I burn it daily.  Turns out candles don't last too long when you burn them daily, and this one is pricey.  I went without it for a whole 3 days before I broke down and bought one anyway... I just can't live without it (I haven't told Jeff that I spent the amount I did on a candle).  Guess I just need to burn it more judiciously now??

Two sleeping babies!

As a mother, I'm often tired.  There, I did it -- the understatement of the world.  I can rest easy now ;). But when both kids take a nap at the same time, I feel accomplished.  Getting the house cleaned, getting them both fed 3 meals and two snacks a day, playing, reading and teaching them all seem to help a little, but I REALLY feel accomplished when I get them both asleep at the same time and get 30 minutes to myself to read my blogs and answer a few emails.  YES!

In other news, I've posted a whole two days in a row!  A new record!  Yesterday my children ran and played in the mud for about an hour.  I then hosed them down and stripped them before bathing them.  I don't know whether that makes me and awesome mom or a terrible one, but I find it hard to really care either.  It's amazing how much I"ve changed in the almost 4 years since I had Sydney.  If someone had told me that I'd let my kids run practically naked in the mud for an hour in February I would probably have rolled my eyes and said dream on. The phrases one utters as a parent continue to confound me.  For example, today the words "get out from under the car, it's not a safe hiding place!" actually came out of my mouth.  I never thought I'd have to utter words like that in one sentence.  "Your brother is not a dog!"  Jems I tell you.  I need to be writing this stuff down... I just know it's going to be funny when I'm older, or when I have the next baby and am too tired to think straight...

Also, we built the kids this the past two weekends:

Please disregard the tools and wood still laying on the ground.  Apparently in my awesomeness I failed to take a picture of the completed product with Jeff not still building it.  Here's an interior view:

It's not the exact one, but ours is from this company: http://www.swing-n-slide.com/230-Englewood-Wood-Complete-Play-Set.aspx.  We put it all together ourselves and it took about 20 hours.  It was a huge pain with two kids whining at us, but was definitely worth it in the end!  Also, we got it on sale before Christmas...

We have big plans for the backyard!  Phase one (move the septic sprinklers) and phase 2 (swingset) are done... so now we need to install a real sprinkler system, put in grass, plant some trees (3 are getting cut down), put in a big raised-bed vegetable garden.  Yikes, I'm tired and broke just thinking about it.

Happy Friday!

Preschool and other important matters :0

I've been really struggling lately with our preschool decision.  Yes, I realize it's just preschool, but there are SO MANY options.   My first choice would be a Catholic preschool, two days a week for Sydney and one day a week for Andrew.  No such preschool exists.  The closest Catholic preschool to us only offers both two days a week, and it is REALLY expensive.  The Catholic church one town over from us in the metroplex is better priced, but is a longer time frame, and I worry about Andrew being too little for such a long day.  The price is much better though.  The other options are non-Catholic but the ones close to us are also just as expensive.  As my father says often, "what's a mother to do?"

Now obviously I don't think kids really NEED to go to preschool, but Sydney loves it.  Andrew is bored without her though now, so we've decided to send them both two days a week in the fall.  I considered them both staying home, but we want to add another baby to the mix hopefully next fall, so I'm concerned about my sanity.

Sydney on her first day of preschool last year:

Sydney on her first day this year:

I keep praying for the wisdom to know what to do about the future... Catholic school, homeschool, public school.  Lucky I still have a year :).

Trying Again!

I think this is my 3rd blog to date.  Possibly my fourth.  But I WILL be dedicated to this one!!  This is about our life with kids, and what a truly Blessed, Blissful life I (Bonnie) lead!