7QTs - Stomach Bug, New Books and Shopping

We are still here... Papa pulled us through this week

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It has been ages since I posted and I had good intentions of posting earlier in the week but here's the low down. I left Sunday afternoon for a one day work trip (NEVER traveling in March again because its too close to pool season). All was well. Jibbe was having dinner with everyone Sunday. Grammy was picking up from school Monday and holding it down until Papa got home from work. 

Best laid plans I tell you...

10:45 Sunday night... Awake to call from Lee announcing R has thrown up not once but twice. 

{Insert completely miserable Mama because she's not their for her bebe who is probably crying for her. Y'all it was rough knowing she was sick and I couldn't be there for her}

After scraping 4 hrs of sleep together I call at 5 am to get the latest. R was up 7 times and just as she was winding down at 3:30... E starts. 

I start trying to devise a plan to come home early but ultimately that doesn't happen. 

Jibbe comes to rescue with Gatorade and soup (and eventually catches what is going around). 

M and Papa are spared from the stomach virus. 

I roll in 30 minutes past midnight because the one flight that would get me home 2 hrs earlier is overbooked : ( 

Tuesday the girls stayed home from school - just to be safe even though they are bouncing of the walls. 

Wednesday is Annunciation which is when we celebrate 9 months until Christmas! Gabriel telling Mary she will be the Mother of God. We went to Liturgy in Cary which was TOTALLY Papa's call (so I claim no responsibility) and we snuck into Panera for dinner at 8:45, yes that would be 15 minutes until closing. Again, not my call : ) 

I'm not feeling so hot on the ride back and fortunately make it home only to discover I'm the next victim of the stomach bug : ( 

Wednesday night and Thursday was a blur. Fortunately Lee did not have to work Thursday afternoon because it was raining! 

Friday was one of those TGIF days... We seriously debated going to Fish Fry and Stations because I was exhausted and well we had a wild week. But it was the last one and E was super emotional about wanting to go so we offered it up and went. 

So that's my story as to why the blog has been totally neglected so enjoy some older stuff...

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The girls and I took to a solo shopping trip which we survived. Only to find out there is not actually a third seat in the cart so M was stuck sitting in the basket : ) 

Speaking of Easter/Pascha baskets... I have NO idea what is going in ours this year. Fruit Loops and Crunch Berries have been requested. Now that I'm thinking about it I wanted to get the girls new rosaries or some little saint peg dolls but I think I'm trying to do this too late!

Stacking stuff around M was a bit of a challenge...

M (and I) enjoying our cookie at Harris Teeter and M showing off one of her many walking bumps... She's definitely a walker now!

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This girl....

is after her Mama's heart because she knows I like flowers... Only these are weeds but she thinks they are flowers so I brought them inside and put them in a teacup for a few days. 

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R has been polishing up her name writing skills...

Though most of her letters looks like d's and p's... it is cute

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Little M is into EVERYTHING... 

Like shoes and...

The pantry... 

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The girls have found and started enjoying a box of hand me down books which was FILLED with Berenstein Bear Books. The books that were published in the 80s are great and teach a good lesson but some of the newer ones are just a little hokey plus I am not a fan of Honey Bear. 

Yesterday E announced:

E - Mama I don't think we should eat dessert ANYmore

Me - Why?

E - Because we don't need those sweets and we just don't need it...

I believe they had read The Berenstein Bears and Too Much Junk Food the night before : ) 

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Well it is hard to believe Sunday is Palm Sunday and Holy Week is upon us... I've got a mountain of Pascha prep including figuring out outfits (I went dress shopping for me last weekend and it did not end fruitfully), getting my hair cut, Pascha baskets, getting all the Easter stuff into school, 2 soccer practices, one Presanctified Liturgy, maybe Stations of the Cross, Entombment Vespers, Holy Saturday Liturgy and Pascha Liturgy.

Hope everyone has a peaceful and prayerful week leading up to Pascha!

St. Patty's Day 2015 - Green, green and more green

We are alive... I promise : ) and this is how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day...

One of the easiest and most apparent ways to celebrate feasts with little ones is to do it visually. So I tried to keep with the green theme because... well you know : )

We kicked off the morning with green butter for butter bread for breakfast

And green milk to drink

Papa was not going to escape the green-ess so he had green Cheerios and milk which the girls thought was funny

Thrilled with the green!

Not as thrilled with the green but being a good sport

I PROMISE we don't ever dress alike but these were the only green tshirts we could wear to work!

Taking all the green in

M tried but green butter but was not terribly impressed

Of course we had to have green mac and cheese for lunch which I prepped in the morning which ALWAYS makes lunchtime much less stressful

No one cooperated for a pic and I forgot to take one on the couch before we left for school : (

E's class had a St. Patrick's Day party which was great but I mean come on - Catholic or not - who can say they've catechized a whole country? (I'll have to post the art that came home from school that day)

Mac and cheese happiness

Oh and green grapes too

I think we had fish and brussel sprouts for dinner and the sprouts were grilled so they weren't super greenish. But for dessert Papa scored some Shamrock donuts - right before he came home from work. Apparently Wally World packed up all their St. Patrick's Day stuff early. E and I were hoping for some cupcakes with clover rings like last year but the donuts did not disappoint... Except for M who was left out of the donut scene...

E and R took off the shamrocks and ate them separately... As I was cleaning up E was telling R about "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" for each of the leaves...

Over all St. Patrick Day Celebration Success

 

Kinda makes me want to pick out a saints feast and celebrate something at least once a month. I mean we do celebrate about once every other month. Between Theophany, Valentine's Day - which next year could use more saintly focus, St. Patrick's Day, Pascha, St. John's the Baptist's Day, Transfiguration, and St. Nicholas Day etc (we fall flat there between August and December)

We'll have to put our heads together for more frequent celebrations

7QTs - Come on Spring!

Winter weather... please depart from us any time now

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So Lent is going... We are well into the 3rd week and I must admit I've been a bit disappointed with my self-emptying activities for the season. Why? Why? There's always an excuse, right? 

The first 2 weeks of Lent were spent snowed/iced in. So no decade of the rosary in the car to school and no Presanctified Liturgy. It's been a bummer. We have made it to Fish Fry and Stations on Fridays so that has been our saving grace for sure. 

This week the weather decided to not drop school-canceling precipitation and we have knocked out the rosary each morning, we have even managed to hide-and-pray before rest (most days) and all was well.... Until flipping weather decided to make the potential for icy roads and Presanctified was canceled... again!

PSL holds a special place near and dear to my heart because it was my first Byzantine rite service I went to back in 2005 and it happened to be the time after that I met and spent time with this cute guy who happens to be my husband. Important to me... YES. 

Always, I'll stop my complaining now and put it out there for everyone, if you (Catholic or not) have never attended Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts find your local Eastern Rite (or Orthodox) church and go and sit and listen and pray and enjoy one of the earliest recorded forms of Christian worship (like dates back to the 500s old). 

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On to lighter subjects.... 

The snow from last week was a really wet snow so everyone got really wet within minutes of going outside. 

Papa was in charge of going out this round and he took on the task of building of a snowman

We are still trying to figure out why the snowman had so many appendages : )

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This girl....

So silly : ) 

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 Saturday was parish sausage making at our house... Lee started cutting the meat around 5 am and the last of the vacuum sealers did not leave until 5:15 pm. 323 lbs of kielbasa later I think everything is ready for the sale and luncheon fundraiser.

Keeping 3 kids out of the way of the kitchen for 12 hours...

Be envious : ) 

We hung out at Jibbe's house after swim class which was AWESOME. We ate lunch there so we could stay away from the raw meat... totally creeps me out. The intense meat and spice smell finally vacated the house about mid-week.

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E informed me at 7:30 on Tuesday morning that she had more than her normal page of writing and copying the week's letter. Her teacher sent home all the work from the last snow week and was offering extra rewards for people who completed the extra work. E lose out on a piece of candy was convinced that it had to all be turned in the next day (Tuesday). 

Well I finally dug the note out of her folder and it was not super clear when the work needed to be turned in... I mean 12+ pages in one night? No way. Well fortunately for E it was a Tuesday so I was not in a huge rush to get to work and we only left 12 minutes later than normal.

Come to find out the work could have been turned in throughout the week... 

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M's finally got enough hair for a bow... And she's really excited about it. 

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Wednesday teased us with some 76 degree weather... 

One day M will walk.. I'm quite sure of it. Just give her a week of crawling on the cement in shorts and she'll be on board. 

Where have we gone...

Nope we are still very much here just not around on the Ye Ole Blog as much. Between the 2 weeks of snow knocking us out of our routine plus me being sick - my motivations to blog are quite low.

Also, it is that time of year again. The time of year which requires a decision to be made about where E will go to school next year. The thought of making the decision is absolutely crazy. I feel like the weight of the world is on top of me and I cannot escape it. Probably because I don't want us to make the 'wrong' choice. The thoughts are all consuming and haunt me throughout the day.

Catholic school or homeschool.

I cannot believe I actually typed it because a year ago homeschooling was not an option. Or at least I didn't think it was. Now, I feel like I am almost being dared to try homeschooling for a year but there are so many things I think E would like about going to 'regular' school. But does that justify being gone for 8 hours a day?

I think we could be happy at the Catholic school but I don't want to settle.

I know that homeschooling will be challenging. It will require tons of discipline on my part to have lessons prepped and to stick to schedules.

Right now we continue to pray for a sign that will show us where to go. I think if someone else would make this decision for us then I'd be happy either way knowing it is what God wants us to do.