Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wondrous Wednesdays (11)




In the spirit of gratitude, I’m listing wondrous things happening in my world every week on Wednesday.  If you are a blogger and want to list what you are grateful for, feel free to do the same on your own blog every week and please be sure to link back to my blog.   If you are not a blogger, feel free to comment here on my blog with your own three wondrous things you are grateful for on Wednesday. 


(1)
My parents are back from Italy.  It is nice to have them home again and it was just so sweet seeing both of our girls keep repeating memere and pepere over and over again the first few days.  I just love watching our girls play with them.

(2)
Ahhhhh.... I went to reconciliation again.  It had been two and a half months, which was definitely too long.  Our new priest is a wonderful confessor and had some really great tips for me!  I truly think most people don't understand how beautiful reconciliation is!  What an awesome sacrament Jesus gave us. 


(3)
Wondrous giggles at the dinner table!  Both the girls had a case of the giggles Tuesday night.  They laugh at the strangest things, but such joy from little ones is contagious.  They had me and memere in fits of giggles too!





Below is a linky list if you’d like to add a link to your own Wondrous Wednesdays. (1) Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your post and not your main blog URL. (2) Include a link back here.












Friday, October 14, 2011

Seven Quick Takes Friday (17)


Thanks to Jen for hosting over at conversiondiary.com.  This week my quick takes are some favorite pictures from our trip to the Southwick Zoo this past Wednesday (I couldn't choose just seven pictures - I tried!).  Definitely should be my quickest quick takes yet.  After this weekend I should be back to some regular blogging.  I have to take a break when I'm preparing for teaching TOB.  Two more classes left and most of the prep work is done now!
-1-
Alicia LOVES turtles so she really liked these huge tortoises that were at the beginning of the zoo.  There were kangaroos nearby too and we spotted one with a lil joey in her pouch on our way out!  SOOO cute!


-2-
Alicia enjoyed feeding the goats and the peacock with her daddy!

 

-3-
We spent a few minutes at the playground near the lions and tigers...


-4-
Don't worry, it only looks like we left our one year old near a 4 foot fence with a tiger lurking behind her, but there is a second and much larger fence behind it!  And there was a fence between myself and the lion, I FINALLY managed to get the camera to stop focusing on the fence and take a good shot!



-5-
There were quite a variety of monkeys at the zoo.  One cute little monkey particularly enjoyed watching Hannah in the wagon!

-6-

Nana came along for the trip and she (and Alicia too!) had a great time buzzing around in her motorized scooter.



-7-
We had such a wonderful day at the zoo!  Spent all afternoon walking around and having a great time!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wondrous Wednesdays (10)




In the spirit of gratitude, I’m listing wondrous things happening in my world every week on Wednesday.  If you are a blogger and want to list what you are grateful for, feel free to do the same on your own blog every week and please be sure to link back to my blog.   If you are not a blogger, feel free to comment here on my blog with your own three wondrous things you are grateful for on Wednesday. 


(1)
Having two days off mid-week with hubby to enjoy quality time with our girls will be really wondrous, even if the girls are sick.  We don't take week long vacations these days and we haven't done many day trips with our girls.  So I am pretty thrilled that we have two days to go do something fun together.  I'm hoping Alicia doesn't get sick in the car again because we are going to try to go to another zoo.  And then maybe just spend a day relaxing.  YAY time off together!

(2)
I've been enjoying sharing movies with the girls that I watched as a little girl.  This week we put in Annie since I hadn't seen it in a while and Alicia loves dogs.  I forgot how long it was...  but I have to say that you see thing so differently as an adult than you did as a child.  During the very first song "Maybe," (and quite a few others) I started to get all teary eyed when Annie sung, "their one mistake was giving up me!"  What seems so sweet and romantic as a child, is definitely viewed differently when one has the knowledge of what some kids go through.  I've become an emotional mess since 1.  getting married and 2.  having kids.  I never used to tear up at movies like this.  It's ridiculous and wondrous at the same time.

(3)
Mind you, our 1 year old doesn't do much watching of the said movies like the one I discussed in #2.  She mostly walks around like she's going to take off into a sprint.  She is having such a great time but isn't quite as good at steadying herself as she needs to be.  She bonked her head on the hardwood floor and has a small-ish egg that I think will probably turn all kinds of colors.  Then later, she almost twisted her arm as she was holding one finger and running around me in circles.  I just couldn't keep up.  What a pistol!  As I've said before, she's going to be fun!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Seven Quick Takes Friday (16)

Thanks to Jen for hosting over at conversiondiary.com.  This week there is no unifying theme...

-1-
Our three year old seems to have had a pretty disturbing dream.  She says, "there was a guy in the room, I played with him, touched him and he went into the carpet and he was dead."  Now, I am not one who gets freaked out very much by supposed ghosts and stuff, but this whole thing has me a little concerned.  Ever since, she doesn't want to go into her bed, and doesn't want to go in the playroom downstairs.  I try to reassure her that there is no guy.  I hold her hand when we go into a room.  I've been saying the "now I lay me down to sleep prayer" in her ear a second time while she lays in bed.  Just trying to help her with it, but I really am not sure what I should do here.  We think it may be the result of a book that we read to her recently, but we can't be sure.

-2-
Been thinking about taking a local couponing seminar in early November.  I keep seeing friends and families who post all these items they bought for less than one dollar!!!  I could SO use that, but I'm wondering if I will be buying things I need, where exactly I will put a stockpile of anything and if I will be just doing all the work to mostly donate stuff.  I don't have extra time to do this if it isn't helping us actually save money and I'm buying stuff I won't use.  Might be worth it though...

-3-
The dog is at is again, but I think it's my own fault, well sort of.  She threw up grass in the toy room which I had to clean this morning, not just on the wood floor, but on the play mats we have down and the toy house we have that our youngest loves to crawl though.  I was not impressed.  Then after emptying the dishwasher this morning and seeing nothing on the dining room floor, I went in there after I put the girls down for a nap this afternoon and voila!  poop!  She had been outside a few times already and this didn't even happen during all the rain earlier in the week.  What is she doing?!?  I didn't wake up until 8:15 this morning, so that's way off her schedule, but why didn't she poop before I woke up! 

-4-
So I've been thinking I need to get to confession.  Maybe this Saturday, maybe next week on Saturday.  Can't manage weeknights with hubby's schedule.  I haven't done a good examination of conscience just yet but it's definitely time.  I can tell it's time because I'm getting cranky easily.  I should have stuck with the every six weeks schedule I was on.  Or maybe I need to make it a monthly ritual.

-5-
First Friday Adoration tonight.  I'm looking forward to this.  It will be my second time going.  Hopefully this time I don't come out of it thinking "boy I suck!"  I've improved, albeit slightly, in my relationship with Jesus.  Baby steps I keep telling myself.  He knows I care, he knows I'm trying.

-6-
A few weeks back I went to a baptism for my cousin's daughter, where the priest mentioned that it is important that our children see our faith, not just at church, but also in our homes.  One of the things he mentioned was having kids see rosary beads hanging on the bedposts and being able to play with rosary beads.  I always thought that there should be more reverence for the rosary, but after thinking about it I figured the more exposure they have to our religious traditions the better.  I decided to give each of our girls rosaries that I think they can't break, they do each have at least one set of really nice rosaries.  Alicia has enjoyed playing with them and likes to put her arms and legs through.  Hannah broke the crucifix off hers literally a few minutes after I gave her the "nonbreakable" ones I had as a child that were glow in the dark.  So I've let her use another one that is definitely breakable but we will obviously have to keep an eye on her.  What is very cute about Hannah is that she likes to hold them up under her chin and grin.  We say "pretty" or "beautiful" and she just beams her crocked little smile.  Haven't managed to get this on camera yet, but that grin is just too much.

-7-
 I figured out the costumes for Halloween for our little ones.  Alicia is going to be a T-Rex and Hannah a Triceratops.  They both are really into playing with dinosaurs so I'm hoping this will work.  Last year's Halloween was a spectacle. Alicia was crying because we dressed her in a monkey costume to go with Hannah banana.  The whole time I was getting her dressed to go trick or treating she was crying and saying over and over "I don't want to be a monkey, I want to be Alicia!"  I'd put the video here, but I think it would take too long to upload to blogger.  For now, here's a picture of the sad faced monkey named Alicia and her screaming banana Hannah from last year when we tried to get professional pictures taken.  Here's hoping this year we won't have a sad T-Rex or Triceratops.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Wondrous Wednesdays (9)




In the spirit of gratitude, I’m listing wondrous things happening in my world every week on Wednesday.  If you are a blogger and want to list what you are grateful for, feel free to do the same on your own blog every week and please be sure to link back to my blog.   If you are not a blogger, feel free to comment here on my blog with your own three wondrous things you are grateful for on Wednesday. 


(1)
What is really wondrous is when you are mostly caught up on laundry and there are very few dishes in the sink.  Cannot say how wonderful that really is.  It has been a while since I felt almost on top of things.  Granted there are a ton of 'projects' that need doing, but to feel like the everyday stuff is close to where it should be is truly wondrous. 

(2)
Had a night earlier this week where hubby and I were just able to relax and enjoy watching some TV together.  May be something you think, well what is so wondrous about that?  But with him working an odd schedule and getting home late, all the craziness that has happened the past few months getting ready for this or that, it was like a little bit of heaven to be able to just sit down and hold hands while enjoying a favorite TV show.  Another definitely wondrous moment!


(3) 
My third wondrous moment was that I was able to 'speak' with my mom via FaceBook chat this week.  They left for a two week plus vacation last Wednesday so it has been odd to be here, living in their home, without them here.  Truly wonderful to have a few minutes to check in, even if it was just online.  I knew that the girls would miss memere and pepere and I knew that I would too, but I think sometimes we take for granted speaking with someone every day.  We should never forget that some people do not have the opportunity to do so for one reason or another.  So thankful for getting to spend lots of time with my mom and dad these days.  I am truly blessed.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Seven Quick Takes Friday (15)

Thanks to Jen for hosting over at conversiondiary.com.  This week is focusing on making healthy eating and lifestyle changes - gluttony be gone!  Ok, so it won't be that easy, but hopefully soon.

-1-
I am going to focus on making some healthier choices for eating.  This means continuing to buy the healthy items at the store in the produce department but in practice means not letting them go to waste in the veggie  or fruit drawer.  Too often I let things get overripe and then throw it out.  Wasteful with food and money is not ok.  The girls need me to be a better example.  I need to put some type of fruit or veggie out with every meal as start.  I manage lunch and dinner.  Have to do better with breakfast.

-2-
Walks every night after supper will hopefully become part of our routine.  I love the fall so I feel like it is the perfect time to start this routine, although with the winter season following it here in New England, not sure how much I'll want to bundle them up every night and take a walk in the dark.  Will have to re-evaluate this at a later date to see about another option if I discontinue this practice when the snow starts flying.

-3-
I saw somewhere (I think a new Facebook friend's post) that you should not eat in the car.  So starting today, excepting the lunches I eat with the girls after meeting hubby at his place of employment, no more eating in the car.  This is going to be a difficult one.  But one that I think will be pretty key.  I do this all too often these days.

-4-
Kick the habit.  I told my husband on Wednesday that I should be in DDA.  Dunkin Donuts Anonymous.  HAVE TO STOP BUYING COFFEE BEFORE WORK.  Not only is all that cream, sugar and caramel in my iced coffee not helping me to lose weight, the bacon egg and cheese croissant sandwich isn't helping.  Forget it if I actually don't use the drive through and go inside.  I see some donut that I have to try and add to the order.  UGH!  PLEASE HELP!

-5-
I want to take a look at the Rosary Workout by Peggy Bowes and see if I can fit in some spirituality with some type of exercise routine.  This would be perfect since I still struggle with prayer.  A little of both could go a long way.  Not sure if I want to download the e-book or find a copy.

-6-
Another title I want to check out is Fit For Eternal Life by Kevin Vost.  Part of the product description on Amazon.com cracks me up:  "Product Description: Is your spirit faithful but your flesh flabby? Has your Temple of the Holy Spirit begun to creak and crumble?"  My Temple of the Holy Spirit isn't very happy with me these days and could use some work!!!  Has anyone ever heard of this book?  What did you think?  May be another purchase I consider soon...

-7-
None of this is being done out of vanity.  It is something I should have focused on long ago to become healthy and a good example.  I want to be able to enjoy time spent with my girls.  Be able to go down a slide this coming spring with Hannah, something I couldn't do with Alicia.  Be able to run around with my ladies, have fun with them when they try new things.  If I stay overweight like I am now, it will become less and less likely.  I need to remind myself of this more often and stay focused on why I'm doing this.  For me and for them.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wondrous Wednesdays (8)




In the spirit of gratitude, I’m listing wondrous things happening in my world every week on Wednesday.  If you are a blogger and want to list what you are grateful for, feel free to do the same on your own blog every week and please be sure to link back to my blog.   If you are not a blogger, feel free to comment here on my blog with your own three wondrous things you are grateful for on Wednesday. 


(1)
We have climbing!  Yes folks, she had already climbed all the way to the second floor, so I suppose it should not have surprised me when she climbed up on her little pink chair and sat there all proud of herself.  I did manage to get it on video.
 

(2)
Had a great time at a Boston College football game this past weekend with hubby and the girls.  Boy was it humid though.  I almost regretted using the babybjorn, but Hannah fell asleep on me in there, so the sweetness of her falling asleep on me was truly wondrous.  This never happens anymore, so I enjoyed my cuddle time, even though she made me pretty sweaty.  This picture below is post game on the bus ride back to the car.


(3) 
Had a nice afternoon visit to Greely Park unexpectedly on Tuesday for lunch.  We sat at the picnic table for Alicia to eat her pb&j and to give Hannah her bottle, then walked around for a bit before heading back to the house.  I intended to go grocery shopping that afternoon, but sometimes those unexpected trips are really necessary.  I am not a very spontaneous person, but I think I am learning to be spontaneous and to enjoy it rather than to avoid the unexpected.