Easter 2009

We stayed down here this year. I think it's the first time that we've made it to Easter Services at our own church. It was a nice weekend, thought we did miss seeing everyone in Central PA.

Here's a play by play of the weekend (more or less).

After we got the kids down I changed up the buffet. Meaning I cleaned it off and set out the flowers I'd hidden downstairs.

Easter baskets filled.

Easter morning: sleepy but excited.

I'm happy to say that the first thing that the girls noticed was that I'd reset the prayer table... Jesus on the cross - gone, replaced by a Sacred Heart statue. Pretty candle holders and a white doily to "re-dress" the formerly stripped down table.

Once prompted Maria spotted the baskets.

I think they were happy with the contents.

Breakfast, complete with Empty Tomb rolls.

An after breakfast snack - one expensive duck (from Harry and David's - yay coupons).

Family portraits at Westover - courtesy of Uncle David.

Later, after a second round of desserts, an Easter egg hunt. I missed it... completely felled by the mass quantities of desserts, I had a nice nap on the couch.

Afterward, the girls posed with their haul, showing off their make-shift shoes - plastic baggies rubber-banded over their socks. We forgot to bring play shoes, and the dress shoes needed to stay nice for Aunt Becky's wedding. Also, I think Maria's sugar high just wore off.

Easter Monday: Operation Dye Eggs without Dyeing Kids (or anything else).

We used crayons on most of the eggs first. This proved too much for Amelia - several eggs were lost in the process. Fortunately, I was planning on pickling a few anyway.

The pretty results.

Becky's Shower #2

Is this a little late? Yes, indeed it is. I will be attempting to post these pictures, Easter pictures and wedding pictures in the next day or so. I figure that I may be able to accomplish this, since the oppressive heat make it impossible for me to do much more than move my fingers. It's still April right?

Anyway, here are the pictures:

The favors: mint filled hearts and a crocheted washcloth wrapped around pretty-smelling bar of soap. My hand cramps just thinking of those washcloths.

The cake: Yum!

Most of the guests...some annoying bug kept several people away.

Becky's helpers.

I think she had a good time. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day... Surprise!

So all of us are sick. Some sort of head cold. I, so far, haven't been completely wiped out by it... but I anticipate the worst, and expect to be dragging around by Saturday, just when I'll need energy to pull off Becky's Shower #2. It should be pretty fun.

Yesterday, as you all know was St. Patrick's Day. A day to wear green and drink enough beer so that your skin ends up matching your outfit. Or maybe it's a day to celebrate being Irish - so you should go around speaking Irish brogue and eating corned beef and cabbage. It may also possibly have to do with a Saint who did something important a long time ago... involving pirates and possibly snakes, but who remembers that now?


In any case, given my cold I planned to spend my St. Patrick's day wearing my pink flamingo flannel jammies (close-up above) and laying on the couch, semi-comatose, while the kids trashed the place. This was not to be however, as my good buddy, Delbert (not his real name), had decided that on this day, in honor of the saint and all things Irish (he's Irish - so this makes sense), I would be receiving a bouquet of fruit.

Yep. Fruit.

And being that this was coming from Delbert, who has a knack for knowing when I'm indisposed - and this works both ways, we're perpetually calling one another just as the call-ee is entering the bath - it would come on my Pajama Day, so that I would be forced to receive it, blushingly, from a very polite, though slightly startled delivery man.

I probably wouldn't have answered the door at all had it not been for the small pajama clad person who, upon hearing the doorbell, ran to see who it was, then stood jumping and pointing, in full view of the door. This combined with my looking out to see the truck, which read Edible Arrangements, and realizing that whatever he had was probably perishable, compelled me to answer the door.

I'm glad I did, really, as the fruit was yummy. Some of it was even chocolate covered. And for whatever reason this pregnancy, especially recently, I'm been craving fruit of all kinds. (Just another example of the weird connection that Delbert and I share - even from miles and miles away he can tell that I want fruit, preferably already cut, and chocolate covered.)

So, thanks, Delbert for the surprise, the fruit and the story. I really needed something funny to post on my blog.

Becky's Shower #1

Okay, so I know that people are waiting to see these pictures. I wanted to try and get them up here before this weekend, when I'll have pictures from her second shower to try to post. Plus I figured that I ought to post these pictures, before posting my St. Patrick's day surprise pictures....that will be my next post. Hopefully, I'll get that up by this afternoon.

These are the best pictures that I got, ones of the present opening. I was moving around so much the rest of the time that I didn't really take the time to take nice pictures.











This was where is was for most of the day... near the kids, trying to keep them happy and away from danger... such as falling boxes of ceiling tile and stoves. Guess I didn't do such a great job. But at least here they are contained for five minutes or so... until the crayon eating started.

Faschnaut day.

Yummy donuts! Lots and lots of them.
Thanks, Sophie!

Obligatory pictures of the kids together on a couch.

Can you tell what Uncle/Godfather Steve was doing to get the kids to look at the camera?

Take two, a few more smiles here.

Final take... C's making a break for it, and Maria's makin' a move on S.
Time to end the photo shoot.

These aren't great shots, since my camera's dying a slow death.... but it was a very fun day and definitely good prep for Ash Wednesday's fasting.

Something to think about...

...when I read this post, from Jen at Conversion Diary, this morning I realized that it speaks to where I am spiritually.

Particularly this section:

I knew that the threat of losing favor with the Emperor would be more than a person like Pilate could take. ..." My "Emperor" was something different than Pilate's, of course: his was an actual man who had the power to make all Pilate's wildest dreams of riches and success come true; mine was a symbolic Emperor comprised of all my desires for things like comfort and pleasure and money and control and success and acclaim, an Emperor whose friendship I sought over doing the right thing on at least a daily basis.

Not that I'm struggling with any one great sin at this (thank God), but that I find myself seeking comfort more and more, not wanting to give up the little things that I think I need. I want things to be easy now... as if in striving towards holiness you get points for hanging around for a long time.

But in reading the saints, I know that the opposite is true... the closer you come to God, the more of what you believe to be yourself must be burned away. Purgation is never fun, nor comfortable.

I suppose these are good thoughts to have now, a week before Lent. Perhaps I'll actually buckle down and stick with my Lenten resolutions, instead of caving to the crowd of my "needs" and my desire for a comfortable life.

Sunday morning fun.

Your 80s Song is "Walk Like an Egyptian"

If you were transported back to the 80s, your life would be all about having fun. You love the wackiness that the 80s represented. Everything back then seemed a lot more colorful! You'd peg your jeans, get a "totally tubular" hair cut, and even wear one sequined glove. You would skateboard, play Pac-Man, and hang out at the mall. And of course, you would walk like an egyptian.

What's Your 80s Karaoke Song?

Standing in the way of Spiritual Growth.

I found a couple great quotes from yesterday's reading of "In Conversation with God" by Francis Fernandez (ICWG). These fit with where I'm at spiritually, and go well with some recent posts by a friend.

From reading 22.1, ICWG Vol3:

"The difficulties, temptations, internal or external obstacles we come up against cause us to grow; the greater the difficulty, the more grace we receive. If He permits us to experience great temptations or setbacks, the Lord will give us still greater help to overcome them. Then all those things that seem to retard our struggle for holiness, or even make succeeding in it seem impossible, will become the cause of spiritual progress and of our effectiveness in the apostolate. It is only a lack of love, nothing less than lukewarmness, that causes the soul's life to fall sick or die. Only a bad will, a lack of generosity towards God, can delay or prevent our union with Him."

From reading 22.2, ICWG Vol3:

"There are various reasons that cause us to make scant progress in the interior life, and even to lose ground and give way to discouragement. However, these reasons can be reduced to just a few: carelessness, negligence in the little things connected with service to God and friendship with Him; drawing back from the sacrifices He asks of us."

(emphasis mine, in both cases)

Definitely something to pray about and meditate on...

How am I impeding my spiritual progress? What "little things" is the Lord asking me to do for Him that I refuse to do or only do grudgingly? (think everyday tasks pertaining to one's vocation) What sacrifices am I being asked to make and how am I trying to get out of them? Do I really seek holiness or just the "warm fuzzies" of knowing God?

One last quote, something I found in my college days:

"I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please - not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don't want enough of God to make me love an enemy or pick beets with a migrant; I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please."
Wilbur Rees

Maria's B-day.

These are from Maria's fourth birthday. She requested a castle cake, again, and princess themed plates and decorations. She's decided that next year she'll have Tinker Bell.

I didn't include the detailed views, but there is a princess looking out of the tower window while holding a rose (right side). On the left, the king, in white, and the queen, in blue with a red crown, look out their 1st floor windows. Such was Maria's vision for her cake....one that almost went unfulfilled, as the icing was not very cooperative.

A princess graciously accepting the adulation of her subjects.

1st bite.

"Look, more clothes!"

Maria's daisys.

Waiting patiently.

"Take picture of my bite!"

What a lady likes...

I finally got my floor mopped yesterday after several weeks of trying. Maria and Amelia "helped." Maria did pretty well, but Amelia had her sponge taken away for getting way too much water on the floor.

Somewhere in the middle of the scrubbing, to make it more interesting to Maria I mentioned that Cinderella also had to scrub the floor. She thought about this for a minute and then said, "Yeah, ladies like to mop the floor. It's one of their favorite things to do."

More pictures.

Another two images from the ultrasound. You may have to enlarge to read the labels.

Sneak peek....

Baby 3 grabbing his/her foot.
(no,we didn't find out the sex)

More 'pictures' to come. :)

The hazards of parenthood...

...remember to check under your pillow and between your sheets before you lay down to sleep.

Finally... Christmas pics.

I know, I know... it's not Christmas anymore... it's not even the Christmas season any more. However, I know you all still would like to see the Christmas pictures, so here they are. I'll be trying to get more pics up later today, and maybe a real post or something. I'm always optimistic that today will be the day that I figure out how to bend the laws of space and time to accomplish all the things on my to-do list. :)

Oh, and these are in backwards order... starting with Epiphany.

..."we two kings"...

Mmm... cookies!

Christmas aprons... thanks Grammy!

At Mom-mom and Pop's Christmas day!

Christmas morning 2 am.... thanks to Jim for the picture, and the cleanup!

"Why'd we get these unassembled again?"

Christmas morning, 12:30 am. Still wrapping gifts, and putting things together.

Christmas Eve - Cute dresses courtesy of GreatAunt Rita!

Wreath making - When did Maria get so grown up?

Aunt Becky and her wreath.

Outakes from the Christmas pictures.

Say, "CHEESE!"

This makes me laugh everyn time I see it...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.