Mari's Gum Quest

Daddy and Matty are at Matty's BB game that didn't get cancelled but we can't go because it just rained and the playground won't be any good. Weazy's gone to Auntie Nina's and Trina is helping Mama play with Bocker and me. I keep trying to see where Mama hides that glob of stuff she chews on all the time. She's so sneaky, but I'm sneakier and I'll find it one day, until then, I'll keep devising crafty ways to make her divulge her secret hiding place for that stuff.

Papa Talks

My wonderful dad has started a blog! Check it out if you love history and would like to learn more about patriotism and conservative politics.

Oh Happy Day!

I am finishing up the school year, cleaning out rooms and closets, contemplating moving, and generally very busy but I have time for stuff like this:

Send a Card, For Goodness Sake!

I can't do much, but I CAN do THIS!

Baby Bump?

She ain't got birthin' hips and look at how many children she has!

Megan tuned me into this in the comment box on the previous post and she has her favorite quote, but mine is, "But as Mrs Watson says: "I wouldn't have it any other way. My family is my life. We both wanted to have another baby. I have been pregnant so often that I miss having a bump.""

I wanted to say something snarky and snotty, but I can't. I think it's cool that she borrows clothes from her kids and looks hot after 14 pregnancies...

Okay, I couldn't resist. Here's my attempt at a snotty comment: "I don't 'miss having a bump' because the "bump" is always there...it's just a little more spread out and saggy!"

Whooie, Looky here, it's the Brazilian/Irish/African Tribal Lord of Havah Nagilah Charismaniac Whoopdie Whoo Hoo Life Teen Traditional Happy Dance!

(Or, the alternative post title as suggested by Trina "Shake Shake Shake, Shake Shake Shake, Shake your Eucharist, Shake your Eucharist!")


Oh my gosh! This is soooo funkitronic I can't stop stampin' my feet!


I 'specially like the "lie, lie lieeee" part the lady sings in the background and the priest is so cute dancing 'round the altar! Then they go and add the ladies and frolic through the crowd! Wow! How great! I did note, however that it was a bit hard to keep the ginormous parasol over that glowing monstrance with all the jigging going on. Oh well, looks like everyone had a wonderful time. Wish I coulda been THERE!

(I think there's something missing, however...what could it be?...OH I KNOW, wouldn't it be cooooool if the priest started "crowd surfing" Jesus around? No? Hmmm, you just don't understand how to worship in a joyful, contemporary, diverse, inclusive way!)

h/t Georgie

It's All Fun And Games

We are going to have a bonfire (weather permitting) in June for the homeschoolers and some of our neighborhood children and my children would like to find some new group games to play with the kids (ages 5 and up). Do you know of any fun ones? My kids know red rover, froggy murderer, mafia, all varieties of tag, "trick" games (tricks to play on people who haven't played them before). Trina was asking me if I knew any new ones because (thank goodness) they get together with their friends quite often and are getting sick of the same games. If you know of any could you describe them in the comment box or email a description of ones that are really good for big groups of children? Also, if the weather is bad, we will have to do some circle-type games or board games in the garage. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Francisco! That's fun to say! Francisco... Frannncisco... Franciscooo...

Today we had a lot going on. Our nephew, Roman, had his birthday party. He is SO ready to be three! We had a very nice time, but WHEW, did it get HOT! It was a hot, blustery day so we couldn't even spend much time out on their new deck (which is awesome) but it's always good to get together with the family and enjoy food, drinks, and fun with the kids. After that, we had to skedaddle off to the "Our Lady of Fatima" play that Katrina narrated and Matty starred as "Francisco". They both did a fabulous job, and everyone was pleasantly surprised at how professionally and well they performed. The only glitches were when the microphone started doing this annoying static noise at the beginning and at the end when baby Jesus didn't want to go by Joseph for his big scene. They rounded up an "understudy" (there sure were enough to chose from in the audience) and it got a huge laugh! One of the homeschool moms wrote and directed the play. She did so much work to make sure the kids did a job they could be proud of. Somehow, she even got Jeremy Stanbary to come and give them special instruction one day for their rehearsal! He was really helpful and so generous to the children! Since the faces are quite hard to see, I don't have a problem posting scenes from the play:





"WWI had been raging..."

"The three, shepherd children were visited by an angel..."

"Jacinta and Francisco's parents did not believe them..."

"The town was celebrating the feast day of St. Anthony..."

"AVE, AVE, AVE MARIA!"

That's Matty in the green jacket. His overall assessment of his performance?
"Yeah, I even pretended like I didn't MIND that I had to wear a stupid sock on my head!"

Hmmm, I guess those were pretty funny head gear back then, but what would they think of our icky baseball caps nowadays?

A Rash Decision

I have always been told I had very nice skin. I have lots of freckles (and had normal acne in school years), but I always get nice compliments on my skin and I never understood why. I don't really notice people's skin all that much, just the general look they present i.e., do they wear just enough makeup to look nice, or too much where it looks trashy, do they take good care of their skin and at least make an attempt to cover blemishes? I can spy a good makeup job a mile away even if there are bad skin problems.
Now, lest you think I am overly vain, I'm going to post this picture...beware, it's pretty gross:



I KNOW!
Totally disgusting (and not the most attractive camera angle *HELLO NOSE* either). This rash is like little, tiny blisters all over my skin and it's not getting worse, but it's not getting any better. I got it from stupidly changing my face cream at night. I tried this free sample I got from Sephora and didn't wash my face the next day (last Sunday, I had already gone to church and I was just hanging around the house all day) so it had plenty of time to really soak in and cause this truly hideous, nasty rash all over my face. Now I know what the lepers must have felt. Now I know how depressed people with bad skin problems must feel. I know my rash will clear in a couple of weeks, but some people live with bad skin their whole lives. I am going to pray especially for those people this week. I know we shouldn't judge people by how they look but let's face it, (pardon the pun) the face is the first thing we notice about most people. A nice smile, pretty eyes, and clear skin are signs of good health (ever see a pic of a person on meth?) and when we see someone that is unpleasing to the eye, we tend to take longer to warm up to that person which isn't fair, but that's just the way it is. You can bond more quickly when you can meet and hold their eyes or look at their face without concentrating on one, eye catching flaw.

I get to pour wine at a local jewelry shop tonight and I will be paranoid the whole time that people will look at my skin and think I'm always like that (yeah, I'm not going to win the "most humble person of the year" award) I'll just have to suck it up and take the humility as a small sacrifice and remind myself how much much worse it could be...burns, disfigurement, pocks from acne scarring, skin cancer, measles, black eyes or bruises from abuse, loss of eyelashes and eyebrows from disease or radiation poisoning...now THAT is true suffering. I promise I won't hide my face or make the "I have a rash" excuse and draw attention to it like I've been doing all week. After thinking about all of those things I just wrote, I'll take this small suffering any day!

P.S. I've tried cortisone cream, anti-itch (Benydryl), washing my face, drinking lots of water...I think the only thing that will kick this is time...but if you have any suggestions, I'm open!

Emergency, Alert, Pray!!!!!

For a friend who is considering abortion (I missed first Friday AGAIN Lord, have mercy on me!) because of theory that her breast cancer (recovered two years ago) will return if she carries it through. Her doctors are giving her crummy advice and I can't believe they are advocating murdering her baby for the sake of percentages and unproven theories! My prayer is that they bind their will to the will of God and understand that children are a pure gift, not someone to fear!!!

This will happen soon I imagine so please pass this post on and praypraypray!

A Joke

What's totally disgusting and totally cute at the same time?

Mariela!

We thought of this joke in the classroom this morning as Mari was kissing us with jelly toast all over herself.

Side Note (scroll down for family party pics I just posted)

I've added a new blog listing "Catholic Mothers Online" in my sidebar (all that stuff on the right side of this blog when you scroll down). Check out some of the blogs on the list! I have some of them in my roll (my own list right above it) so you KNOW they're good ladies!

I Get A New Godchild!

We had a wonderful party on Sunday to celebrate my dad and his twin's 60Th birthday. All (well, most anyway) of my aunts and uncles and cousins that I grew up with were there. Since we all pretty much live very close to each other, we get to see one another quite frequently but not all together so it really was a rare treat! At the party, my sis-in-law Nellie asked me to be Sofia's godmother (Butch is the godfather). YAY, it was the very best part of my day and it really was a great day, so that's saying a whole lot! So of course, I have to include a majillion pics of her in the next few months as we prepare for her baptism into the Church. I'll start right now with a few from the party.
Here is Sofia really rippin' it up at the party. We told her, "Hey, slow down and take 'er easy there...we've got ALL day to par-tay!" So she did.

My dad and Sr. B...Dad wishes HIS hair was as white as hers so he could more easily pass for Santa. They both look so good for being old as the hills. Haha Dad!
I don't feel right posting all the cute pictures of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and their kids without permission but I can post some of the fun pictures of my family and funny/cute ones that don't show specific faces: Niklaus spinning in an office chair (he made me do it until I got sick watching him), The little girls in the basement playing eeny meeny with BOTH feet (takes a lot longer to get eliminated that way), Mari daintily eating her cupcake, Mari sharing her cheese with Wyatt, Trina playing with Bella (Trina is Bella's favorite cousin, I think), Analise with some Mayflowers picked just for me at the edge of the woods bordering my parent's property, cousins watching our younger ones playing a game of ball (pretty much what we did all day!) and my favorite pic of all: My cousin chasing her son who started running around with his shirt off right before they had to go. I don't know why, but the sight of her chasing him and him running while giggling maniacally was so funny to me, I couldn't resist snapping a shot of it!