Merry Christmas!

It was great to see Uncle Jim and Cousin Carrie as a surprise on Christmas Eve. The girls were so excited to see their cousin Kailyn. It was nice to spend time with family on one of the most holy and special of nights of the year. There is something magical about Christmas Eve not just about the wonder and amazement in the kids eyes about Santa, but out of the darkness comes light to the world through the birth of Jesus. This Christmas Eve was bitter cold and in the coldness a peace settles in and makes things right in the world for at least one night. Why can't we feel like this the rest of the year? We can.

One of the things that I will always remember was our wedding day. My friend Kathy gave a toast and she wished for us a lifetime of Christmas mornings because she had asked how I was feeling that morning of our wedding day and I told her I felt like it was Christmas. She knew I was not talking about the presents! What I did not realize at the time was that "feeling" of love and anticipation was not going to end even though I did wake up the next morning feeling different. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and we were married-ONE and FOREVER. The sacrament of marriage confered a grace upon us and that was the holy spirit finding a dwelling place within us. So, Ted and I can relive our wedding day each day of our life if we only center ourselves with Christ together and with being open to the peace that Christ brings for us if we let Him dwell in us. This is the only way for us to keep this alive in our hearts by truly being one with Him.

Thanksgiving in Indiana

All is quiet in Coatsville, Indiana, where we had turkey day. I was a bit under the weather with a cold and then gave it to Teddy. My Mom made a fabulous meal as usual. My brother, Mike, and his new girlfriend were there so that was nice. It was nice to have my brother there for Thanksgiving, too. We tried to get our annual Thanksgiving picture which we did not do last year when I was pregnant with Teddy. That swing is getting too small for our growing family...

More Teddy Pictures for Uncle Jim

Trunk or Treat and Halloween Night

We had a "fun" witch, a bride, a mermaid, and a teddy bear. We have so much candy! I may look up ways to use it with cookies, give it to the dentist, etc.

My camera battery died after the one picture, but at least I got one!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Teddy

He is rolling over, scooting all over on his tummy, and getting into a crawling position. Wow! This kid wants to move and he will soon. He is just four months old. I predict this one will crawl at 6 1/2 months and walk by 9 months. I don't want him to do it, but I can already see what I am in for! He is so sweet though...very, very sweet.

Hopper the Frog

The frog lasted only a mere hour. It was awfully sad when we had to bury Hopper. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the funeral and wake; however, I was informed that it was not in good taste by Grace, the neighbor girl. Grace has spent about 6 hours each Saturday with our family the past three in a row. She was with us from about 6:30 a.m. til 12. She goes to the public school, but her family goes to St. Joe's. She is sweet girl and lost her twin to a brain tumor when they were three. She has one brother who is in high school and a sister in the 5th grade. She is an awesome, fun, outdoorsy kid and my girls adore her.

Grace taught me that day about the preciousness of life. Fragile and fast at times. She has learned more about death in 8 short years than I have in 33.


Hopper was named and died shortly after. RIP, God Bless Hopper.

Allison just loves roller coasters...

As you can imagine, I was fearful of her reaction. This is a child that won't go upstairs without her sisters to get dressed or play. She does not like to be alone. She is quiet a lot of times, but she is always in the room with someone in the family. Well, she was born into the right one for sure. She thought she was going to throw up so they stopped the ride. Luckily, we were the only ones on it.

Uncle Andy Calls Fire Department

Just kidding! Uncle Andy climbed into the fire truck with the kids and they were checking it all out. It was one hot Sunday up at the Parish Picnic. We are looking forward to the next one. We bought armbands, raffle tickets, etc. We did our charitable duties for the Parish Picnic not to mention the beer consumed both Fri and Sat!

Libby Turns Three!

This year we had family over for Lib's 3rd birthday. We had BBQ and fixins! It was great food so the diet starts today. We are looking forward to Lib starting the MDO after Labor Day. She wants to go to school like her sisters. She is finally potty trained except for at night, but is staying dry more often than not. She still has difficulty with poop on the potty. Her favorite thing for her birthday was a pack of bubblegum which she calls "bugglebum". It is very endearing.

Abby started school today! Her first day of 1st grade and it went well. She is looking forward til tomorrow. You have to love the Catholic schools that have money for everything, but nice playgrounds. She told me that the 1st grade gets to play in the parking lot. Oh, fun! However, they pay parents for playground duty and cafeteria duty. I may be doing that when everyone is in school!

We have a busy start to the year of school. Soccer, Girl Scouts, Legion of Mary, and Piano lessons for Abby. We are holding off on things for the other two, but most likely they will have some swim lessons this winter and ballet/gymnastics. Teddy and I will hang out as usual. I have been working on the running thing: MWF 5:30 am 2 miles. I am getting a neighbor to come and make me accountable. Then TTH at the YMCA for some spinning classes. I hope that the hard work will pay off. I just have to watch what I am eating for a long while again. I hate dieting...HATE IT! I have 30 pounds to lose and counting....wish me luck. Then I will be back into a healthy weight.

Medjugorie

You will notice that I changed the video reel. I did not look at the others, but the one of the visionaries speaks and the priest you see at the end of the video is Fr. Rodger Fleming who is from our parish. He told us his whole conversion story and how he decided he was called to become a priest. He is very special to our family now. He has a gift for sure. When he prays with us I feel the Holy Spirit. He is a very good man and will do great things to help people come to know and love Christ.

I just happened to come across it when looking through the UTUBE videos on Medjugorie. Ted and I plan to go there someday in the near future.

We have TV!

Well, Ted and I bit the bullet and got satellite. We don't have time to watch much TV, but it sure is nice when I am nursing and the kids are not so patient with me. At least, with #4 they are old enough to help Lib do most things and they can help me. It was difficult when Abby and Ally were so little and needing things right when I had to nurse Lib. I can handle anything now!

We were without any kind of cable, satellite, etc since the end of April. We decided to cut it for the summer and see how it went. I just had it and decided to take the Direct TV new deal that was out there. I wanted to at least get basic, but we ended up with a little more for now. The kids are now not used to watching much so it is a treat. Also, we realized how much crud we were absorbing into our minds and thoughts on TV. You are what you watch. There is so much out there that is just horrific. I hate reality TV and the fact that our society is all consumed by it. I know that most people love it, but that is my opinion.

Anyway, glad to get my HGTV back for boring nursing times. The kids sometimes watch Noggin which seems to be the only channel I can keep on without worrying about content. Sadly enough, I cannot do that with Disney and other channels they say are for kids. My kid is the only 6 year old that is not in love with Hannah Montana...oh well, she has better things to do! We don't watch Sponge Bob either because he is just rude and teaches bad manners. I know they will get it from a kid so I don't need it ingrained in their heads right now.

Max the Turtle

Max was our turtle for about two days. Grandpa decided that after the begging for a dog and me not relenting that a turtle was the next best thing. John usually finds these huge turtles on the golf course so one afternoon he brought one home for us. The turtle was kept in a cardboard box overnight and it escaped and pooped all over the laundry room! I gave in because there was a terrible storm outside and the girls were worried he would get hurt. So, the turtle then was an outside pet after the laundry room incident. Then we had some fun times with Max the next day. The girls let him out for exercise and water/food breaks. We went to the neighbors for some swimming and Max came. He had a bad fall from the top of the swing set so when the girls were not paying attention...Max left for good. Thank God you are free, Dear Max.

Teddy

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Nana and Poppie's

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Want to go swimming with me?

Boo!

Resilient

"Another, picture, Mom?" says Allison. When is it enough? Never!

Mostly, I like to think of my role as a Mother as channeling positive energy and filtering the negative into the garbage. However, the role of these children have been to teach me to be resilent!

Abby has poison ivy and has had it for over two weeks...bouts with steriods have not helped too much. She has a topical med now that you cannot get near your eyes. You should read the horrifying side effects and I am putting this on my 6 year old's face. Sometimes I wish I could not read and just live in oblivion. At least, besides the itching she is fairly well-tempered. Kids are more resilent than us adults at times! At Vacation Bible School... she was worried that they were going to identify her as the "leper" as they were recounting the story of Jesus healing the leper.

On the way to the doc again for the poison ivy...Libby got overheated in the car and threw up Cheetos puke everywhere. That was one way to keep me from eating Cheetos for a very, very long time. After a roadside change, odd looks from passerbyers, and such...we were on our way back home to try for the appt. at a later TBD time. Libby was finishing her Happy Meal on the way home...resilent.

Teddy has been dealing with life outside the womb. I have one word for that: resilent. Can you imagine three doting sisters? The women in the nursery realized nothing can get passed this Y Mom. The Y workers said that Abby was documenting their every move with him while I was working out today. Allison was sneaking around and making sure that they were nice to him. Lib kept telling everyone that is,"My Teddy and calling him "sweet boy". He is very loved.

Allison continues to amaze me with her ability to stay patient and learn things be oral instruction. At four, she repairs toys and adds new batteries using a screwdriver, cleans DVDs and handles most technical difficulties, signs on to her web-kin web sire by herself, and finds inventive ways of getting the job done. She is a lot of fun to watch her mind work: independent and resourceful. She is resilent.

OK, We finally got the painting done and then I had to add a little Uppercase Living to the kitchen and hallway. I am not sure about the "brown", but we did it in the living room as well. We replaced all the light fixtures pretty much in the house. We also got new doors in front and back. Lots of stuff going on here with the house!

I just have the bathroom downstairs to paint for the third time since removing the wallpaper three years ago. I am also working on curtains-making them with the help of my Mom...OK, she is making them! I am trying, but I stink!

Luckily, I have a friend, Steph, that helps me make better paint choices and the bathroom might be painted for the last time! Then more painting upstairs bathroom, girls bedrooms once again, and our room and bathroom.

Why is always the last room to be finished is our own room...our retreat? Some things are going to change now that I realize the good things in life are not a new bedroom set, but a fresh coat of paint and making it feel like ours. We will make a house a home with color and a place of love, comfort, and relaxation. I am working on it...nesting is always happening here.

The Girls

The girls have been busy this summer already with wanting "PLAYDATES". Abby is already missing her friends in one week of being out of school. She is adjusting to being at home. I have provided some fun things to do, but man....I just want to rest sometimes and chill out. She is so scheduled at school that as she is relaxing she seems even more tired than when she was moving at 100%!

Allison did beautifully in the wedding of Ted's cousin, Jim. They were married this past weekend. She walked down the aisle with another little flower girl and was not scared at all. This was a huge step for Ally. She is a bit shy at times and doing things to help her bust out is already in the works. However, she does not like soccer right now. Ted has coached her team for the last several weeks and she is yet to get out on the field. A flat out NO!

Ms. Lib...all I can say is there has to be a place in heaven for me with this child. It is all I do not to but heads with my Leo. She is high spirited and quite the party girl. At our last get together, she went in to try to potty and came out naked. She stood at the glass door and said, "Naked, Naked, Naked" then she shook her bottom. This one likes shock value and also she enjoys being the center on the universe. She still has not decided whether or not she is going to go on the potty 100% of the time. I never thought I would have had to wait until almost 3 to potty train her. She has to decide it is what she wants to do. She is a lot of fun!

Teddy...just precious, well-tempered, and loves us all so much. He was 11 pounds 13 oz. at his 4 week visit and not that I give much heed to the "charts". He is in the 95 percentile right now, but my kids seem to start large and then taper off. He is very aware with his smiling and cooing to all of us. He has the saddest hurt cry ever. I hate hearing that one. I have enjoyed dressing a little boy and him being different, too. He is sweet and we adore him.