Wednesday!

Oh gosh. It's Wednesday of Holy Week already.

Today M and I went out and picked up some shorts I ordered for her. (Ha! Jokes on me. I ordered them to ship to store because of a sale and now it's cold.) Then we got me some nylons because it's going to be a cold Easter and I had to figure out a good plan B. I actually don't know why wearing hosiery suggests warmth at all but bare legs in snow doesn't make sense either. Luckily I bought M tights ages ago and she had a little shrug sweater that will work out well.

For whatever reason, I feel like Easter is just coming out of nowhere. (It isn't.) I have book club tonight and on the way home I am going to hit Target and get the final Easter basket items.

I took C for a haircut this morning before school so that his hair is manageable during the Triduum. It was getting unruly.

We are all going to Holy Thursday tomorrow. Husband is going to hit Good Friday by himself. (Because too many late nights in a row does not work for my kids. It's just the stage of life we're in. Someday we'll be able to do it all.) Husband and I are going to Vigil. And then all of us will attend on Easter Sunday.

It's going to be a busy one folks! But such a good one! Also if you're so inclined, I would love to ask for some prayers for Husband in these last few days before Vigil. He is so prepared and ready--but still, prayers, as he prepares to receive Him for the first time, would be appreciated!! (I am so excited!)

Snow and Palm Sunday

Saturday brought a heavy, wet, 9.6 inches of snow to our yard. And because it's spring and all that, it wasn't too cold to play in it. So we did. We went out after lunch for an hour or so. Then we went out again after dinner for an hour and a half! It was so much fun. The perk of DLS being in place was that with the brightness of the snow it was still super light out at 7:15 when we finally went in for bed. 

The first time we went out it was still snowing SO hard that we were all soaked when we came in. I put all the coats, gloves, snow pants etc in the dryer and then we were ready to play when we went back out. 

The snow was so dense that it was perfect for snow castles. And when we walked on the snow we didn't even really sink. Kind of crazy. 

I am still not super thrilled that it snowed but makin' lemonade and all that. It's in the 40s today and will be in the 50s and rainy this week so it isn't long for this world. (Hello mud puddles.) We have planned for an indoor egg hunt next weekend. 

Palm Sunday went really well and now we are playing and waiting for a call from Husband to go back to church and pick him up. He is at his RCIA retreat. After twelve years together, a conversation really early on in our relationship that I was only ever going to be Catholic, a full Catholic Mass wedding seven years ago, and a lot of prayers--he will be coming into full communion with the Catholic Church Saturday night!! 

I haven't really blogged about it because it isn't my story to tell. Every single fall since we've been together I have asked him if he was going to sign up for RCIA. But this year he was ready and he has been going every Thursday night. He is so ready for Saturday night's vigil and I am so excited for him. (Also I am excited that he will be able to sit with us for the entire Mass, while I am sure breaking open the word is important it really isn't fun to solo parent during the liturgy of the Eucharist every week.) 

It is a very special Holy Week for us and as such, our calm snowy family day yesterday was a good precursor.  

Happy Friday!

When I last left you we were hopefully going to the dedication of the renovated church. Well, we did. It was a really cool Mass and one I had never experienced before. Our bishop is a fairly newly appointed one (he was installed in June 2017) so this was actually his first experience dedicating a church. You could tell he felt bad putting the Chrism on the freshly painted walls. (Did you know they did that? I didn't.)

Here is a picture I snapped before it all started.

Also before the Mass started, the bishop was walking down the aisle by us and I said, "C that's the bishop!" And must have overheard because then he stopped and talked to us! He introduced himself to C and told him how glad he was that he was there. It was pretty neat. 

The Mass was longer than I figured it being. So M did a really good job all things considered. If you like the smell of Chrism or incense then church dedication Masses would be your jam. (Though I suspect they don't happen all that frequently.) 

This morning we went to art class. It was good. 

Then we went to Kohls. It was less good. Looking at you lady with three different shopping trips worth of returns, two on your Kohl's charge, one not. She was going through menopause and has a lot of hot flashes. She likes black cohosh to help. Her mom passed away recently. And she's been modeling clothes in front of her dad. He didn't like a certain top because it was too bunchy. Then she had to get her new finds purchased. She paid with her Kohls charge, got $40 Kohls cash and saved $937.00. I am only exaggerating about how much she saved. All that to do an online pickup for a tie. #offeritup 

Then we hit the grocery store because they've upped our snow totals to something like 10 inches. I am still holding out hope that we get less. (The actual shopping experience was fine, the snow I am not excited about.) 

And I am about to put everyone in their rooms for rest/quiet time. Happy Friday everyone!

Snow and Other Things

I have no words. Really. I have none.

Because they are calling for snow on Saturday. Ranging from 2-6 inches. I know that this is par for the course but I seriously just cannot deal with that. (Don't get me wrong, I will absolutely deal with it because I am an adult but I am so over snow.)

Even though technically our March "came in like a lamb," two days later it snowed again so I thought maybe we were covered for the "out like a lion" thing.

In other news, yesterday Husband took the day off to take the kids on a spring break adventure. They went to the art museum, which is something C has been asking about for a LONG time. C loved it. M liked the "kid" area but otherwise was slightly less impressed. Then they went out to lunch at "Shake and Shake." (Steak and Shake) 

I stayed home and very much enjoyed that. Plus they brought me a shake so that was nice. It's been a super low key break from school and that is 100% okay with me. Besides, we have a mini Easter break... next week. (Just Good Friday and Easter Monday off.) 

Is it just me or did this Lent actually kind of fly by? I am seriously floored that it is Easter next week. I think I have all the outfits sorted out. Luckily when we are inside it won't matter that we had to (probably) wear our winter coats to church. 

Church! Our dedication of the remodel is tonight!! I am super excited and I hope that our kids are cheerful and I will get to go!! (I have book club later in the evening, so if it doesn't seem like our kids will be able to handle Mass with the Bishop I will stay home and Husband will go.) I really want to go so I can scope out our new spot. 

Tell me you have a "regular" spot on Sunday? And you bet your bottom dollar this Sunday we will go early and I will be sticking our jackets in whatever we've decided are our new spots before we go to the gathering hall for palms. 

SPRING

At the beginning of A Year With Frog and Toad (the musical), Toad sings: "Spring, ding-a-ling, is it Spring? Is it Spring, is it true?"

And people. It is. It's here. It's SPRING! My daffodils are still green stems peeking out and our grass is dormant yet. But golly now it is SPRING! I am not even a little sad to say goodbye to winter.

This morning we played marble run for two-hours straight. We being the kids while I supervised and occasionally un-jammed the marble elevator. Spring break has thus far involved a lot of playing and I am loving it. No rushing to get people to finish their lunch so we can get to school. 'Tis glorious.

St. Patrick's Day was Saturday, in case you were living under a rock and missed it. The leprechaun came to our house and caused a little mischief. He dyed our milk green! And spilled some of the Lucky Charms! And he somehow* turned our Oreos into Mint Green Oreos! What fun!

It was a fun switch. *Somehow being Husband opened the package from the side, swapped in the tray of Mint Oreos and used some packing tape to close it back up again. But when C opened the "resealable top" part he was super surprised.* 

But now I am going to make some lunch for my kids and have a good day. Because it's Spring. 

We Made It

Oh my goodness, we made it to today. Today is our first day of Spring Break and I am seriously delighted. We are celebrating this first day of Spring Break by doing absolutely nothing special. Just a regular old stay home day. The kids got to watch a movie this morning. (Normally on school days they have one Super Why episode and that's it.)

We do have some fun planned for this week but mostly it is going to be a week of staying home and resting. I am a fan.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. It was sunny and in the low 50s so that was nice. M and I drove to her Godmother's house which is about 30 minutes away to drop off a gift for them because they had a baby three weeks ago. Little Reed came early as his due date is this Sunday! And I was definitely jealous because three weeks early is so far from my birthing experience that I can't even wrap my head around that completely.

But then we looped the entire QCA and hit all 4 of the major cities, visiting Husband and work and picking up C from school at the end. I was hoping M would fall asleep. She didn't. Which was too bad because we had "late night" plans. School's 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade musical Mary Poppins Jr! But my bestie Kathryn had planned to come with us so we had all sorts of contingency plans.

Ultimately what wound up happening is about halfway through, M told me she was so sleepy and wanted to go home. It was about 8:00 at that point so a half hour past her bedtime. So I took her home and C got to stay at the show with Kathryn. (She has four nieces and nephews and has a car seat.) We sat in the balcony so it would be easy to sneak out and it was. I should note here that M was VERY well-behaved at the show. The teenagers who sat behind us talked the. entire. time. and M decidedly did not.

C was wonderful. He loved every second of it and thought it was a big adventure to ride in Kathryn's car. Kind of ironic because Kathryn is his Godmother and so both of my kids saw their Godmother yesterday and I am pretty sure that has never happened.

It was a good kick-off to Spring Break. We made it!! And I shout all the Hallelujahs and Amens. 

What's Up?

I personally love doing laundry. I have never minded it. I think the reason people hate it so much is because of turning little sleeves and pants right-side-out again. It's tedious. But I still enjoy laundry. (I will never, ever, ever, even pretend to enjoy doing dishes. No matter how many time I read the Mother Teresa quote. Laundry trumps dishes any day.)

When M heard this song play on Monday:

"C! You be Johnny and I'll be Baby!" Then they held hands and danced. Well, it just melted my heart and makes me think that maybe I am doing okay at this raising kids with decent taste thing. I should note here that M has seen ONLY the last scene of Dirty Dancing. 

In other, related, "my kids rock" news, they have both started listening to "Sweet Caroline" and they like to add the "Bah bah bahs" and the "so good, so good, so good." I think it's good to ensure that they grow up and are indoctrinated in some popular culture. 

We are limping into the home stretch until Spring Break. Two. More. Days. We have no plans. Except going to our churches rededication of which I am super excited about. I do find it really poetic that the first Sunday in the new sanctuary is Palm Sunday... where we start in the fellowship hall anyway! (We've been having Mass in there since November.) 

I am clearly going through my annual spring blogging slump. Life just gets busy and I feel like I have nothing to contribute to the blogging world. Because a busy life doesn't equal an interesting one. 

How We Fared

Hello Tuesday!

So this past weekend it was Husband's turn to go on the CEW retreat. Which was really good for him!

The kids and I kept busy on Saturday by making rainbow crayons. (Melting down old ones.) We also did some painting. And we had a "Pizza and 'Punzel" party.

That is Rapunzel ala Tangled if you aren't aware of how M says Rapunzel. She was so cute, in her little dress with her stuffed Rapunzel. She even had C get his Pascal and you can kind of see it on his knee. It was a fun night.

Apparently too fun because M did not sleep. She went to bed just fine at 7:30. Then woke up at 10:00. Then 11:30. Then 1:00. Then 3:30. At 6:00 she got up for the day and went on in and woke up her brother.

*On any given day, they have to stay in their rooms, except to use the restroom, until 6:45. They have clocks that turn green when it is time and I reset their's to "new time" before they went to sleep.*

I was slightly disgruntled at the 6:00 point and I put her back into her bed with apparently a stern enough voice that she passed out. Either that or all the non-sleep caught up with her. I have no idea from 11:30-6:00 if she actually ever slept. She slept until 9:00 which is unheard of for her, but again she got no sleep.

We somehow made it to church with time to spare. But oh goodness. Without Husband there, the extra long readings for the second scrutiny, the music director who really likes third verses... add in my way overtired kid and it was painful. Just painful. We have been in our fellowship hall since November while our sanctuary is remodeled and so we have space near us where we sit. Well M learned to hop on one foot during Mass. But one little boy who sat next to us literally was doing snow angels for the entire blessing, announcements and closing song so there's that. And seriously to his mom I just offered solidarity because Daylights Savings Sunday went 20 minutes longer than normal and we were all feeling it.

We were all SO happy when Husband came home. And then when we got our kids in bed and could finally talk about the retreat without spoiling any of the surprises? That was the best!

Yesterday was a pretty regular day for us but that was fine. We are inching ever closer to Friday which is our first day of spring break!! Nearly there!

Bees

Busy busy busy like bees. That's what we are. 

With a bit of double meaning since Husband and I are in fact SAU Fighting Bee Alumni. But nevertheless, we are busy.

Yesterday was again a short day at school so M and I ran some errands and spent some time decorating my best friend's door for her birthday.

In the ziplock bag to protect them from potential elements were cards from the kids. And two poems of my own authorship.

She liked her surprise

Last night I also had a VBS meeting. And so VBS here I come! I am kind of excited and kind of terrified. But it's going to be okay. If I want to form friendships and community with people I have to be willing to leave my house yes? VBS is fun so it will be good!

Tomorrow Husband goes on his CEW retreat so that will also be good. But it sure keeps us busy!!

Cousin Time!

We had visitors!

My BIL and his family came to town, which I am going to be honest, almost never happens. Truly. (It's been four years since they've all been here together.) And it was pretty good. Because my kids got to play with their cousins.

Plus the weather was springlike and in the 50s. It was wonderful to kick the kids out in the yard and let them burn energy. (Especially since it's going to be cold again here.) We also took them to play at the park! AND they could play on the playground after Mass which hasn't been a viable "be good during Mass" bribe since October!

Being three hours from our closest immediate family can be hard. It's been hard to find our "village" and for our kids to have a relationship with their cousins. There's only the team of four, well five if you count our niece Ann as a wonderful intercessor in Heaven. My kids are the only grandkids on my side so these are the cousins!

So having them spend time together, without a holiday or a bunch of excess relatives around, it was good. Not that big events aren't fine but it's the quality time where relationships and friendships really form. So this weekend was good. And I am glad.