Thursday, December 13, 2007
Belly pic!
I'm sure some of you are perhaps wondering how the baby belly is looking these days, so to satisfy your curiosity I offer this very accurate representation by Miriam:
It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas...
Wish I could convey to you all what our home smells like right now... (think Christmas spicey-yumminess!)
The finished product (shot by Miriam, hence the angle):
Well, along with the rest of the civilized world we're up to our eyeballs in Christmas preparations. So I missed my blog-catch-up window! I'll try to post now and again though until I have a chance to breathe once more (and sleep -- sleep would be good too).
Actually, our home smells like an interesting combination of gingerbread and tempura paint, but the ginger is gradually conquering, thank heaven! (A while back Miriam wasn't allowed to use tempura paints for about, oh, 14 weeks.) :)
The finished product (shot by Miriam, hence the angle):
Well, along with the rest of the civilized world we're up to our eyeballs in Christmas preparations. So I missed my blog-catch-up window! I'll try to post now and again though until I have a chance to breathe once more (and sleep -- sleep would be good too).
Actually, our home smells like an interesting combination of gingerbread and tempura paint, but the ginger is gradually conquering, thank heaven! (A while back Miriam wasn't allowed to use tempura paints for about, oh, 14 weeks.) :)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
SO true
From the "Belly Laughs" section of my latest BabyCenter email:
Things you'll never want to see again when this is all over:
• Saltines
• Your maternity "lingerie"
• The inside of your own belly button
• Your OB's scale
• The word "Kegel"
a-MEN.
Things you'll never want to see again when this is all over:
• Saltines
• Your maternity "lingerie"
• The inside of your own belly button
• Your OB's scale
• The word "Kegel"
a-MEN.
View out our kitchen window
or as Miriam said this morning, "It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! Oh, I'm so happy! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I'm so happy I'm laughing! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!"
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
The Mother of Invention (not to mention creativity)
After our experience with those sorry Advent candles last year, I've been thinking about ways to make Advent candles last longer than one week each, aside from only burning them on Sundays, that is. So this year we're using....
Advent pillar candles! If these don't last, nothing will.
Naturally, I waited until the last possible second (Sunday morning) to procure Advent candles, and equally as naturally you can't find pink or purple candles anywhere. So we're going with plain white decorated with the proper colors. (Well, I tried to find plain white, but could only find scented. Oh darn, I guess my whole house is just going to have to smell like yummy vanilla!) I tried burning last year's candles and using the melted wax to paint a design on, but only succeeded in scorching the toothpick I was using. (I'm new to this whole candle decorating thing.) But Crayola markers worked exceedingly well. :) FYI the 3 purple candles say "Veni," and the pink one says "Gaude."
Veni, veni Emanuel!
Captivum solve Israel!
Qui gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei Filio.
Gaude! Gaude! Emanuel
Nascetur pro te, Israel.
Advent pillar candles! If these don't last, nothing will.Naturally, I waited until the last possible second (Sunday morning) to procure Advent candles, and equally as naturally you can't find pink or purple candles anywhere. So we're going with plain white decorated with the proper colors. (Well, I tried to find plain white, but could only find scented. Oh darn, I guess my whole house is just going to have to smell like yummy vanilla!) I tried burning last year's candles and using the melted wax to paint a design on, but only succeeded in scorching the toothpick I was using. (I'm new to this whole candle decorating thing.) But Crayola markers worked exceedingly well. :) FYI the 3 purple candles say "Veni," and the pink one says "Gaude."
Veni, veni Emanuel!
Captivum solve Israel!
Qui gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei Filio.
Gaude! Gaude! Emanuel
Nascetur pro te, Israel.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Teaching Moments
The beauty of homeschooling, I'm coming to find, is that learning isn't confined to some place or some time -- almost every moment is an opportunity for a small child to learn. I'm coming to think more and more that this is as it should be -- it's more natural to family life. "Learning in the heart of the home," as Elizabeth Foss says.
Last week I took the girls to visit a lady from our parish who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer. It's a real shocker, because she was always extremely active. She was one of the "church ladies" -- one whose presence was almost required to make anything a proper church function. :) She was the church choir director's right-hand-(wo)man, and that's how I got to know her best, since I sang with the choir for a couple of years. Another friend of mine termed her affectionately "a cranky old bear," and she was that -- I always thought it ironic that her name meant "lamb." But you couldn't help but love her, even while you gritted your teeth -- she was so hilarious in her crankiness.
I was really encouraged to visit her, since she went from being totally active church member to totally bed-ridden in a nursing home. I brought the girls with me -- Miriam had painted a picture earlier that day for her. They mostly just stood around and looked cute and shy while I talked with my friend. It was good to see that, despite that she can't ever get up again and that any movement is painful, her spirit was still there, although she's gentled a bit. (Just a bit.) :) Her acceptance of her suffering was really beautiful -- at one point she looked at the crucifix on her wall with love and spoke of how she knew that her suffering wasn't anything compared to what He suffered. And then she said, "But then sometimes, I start to think, enough is enough already!" Who was it who said, "I think I could be a martyr if they killed me real quick"? I feel the same way -- a slow martyrdom, or death by cancer, would be a real test of faith. As we were approaching her room, I overheard her crying to the nurse that her arm hurt and that she just couldn't ever feel comfortable. But when I asked the nurse if it was okay for us to visit now or whether we should come back, my friend called us in right away and seemed happy to see us.
So we had a good visit, and Miriam was full of questions on the way home. I think the topics we covered included the nature of bodily illness and death, the fall from grace and effects of Original Sin, the four last things, God's mercy, the Sacraments, the redemptive value of suffering, the purgation of sin, and the importance of the works of mercy, to name a few. It was a 20-minute car ride so we had lots of time. :)
I realized that moments like that afternoon were grace-filled for everyone involved -- for my friend, to have some visitors from the outside to talk to; for my children, to learn about all these important life questions and to plant some seeds in their minds & souls; and for me, to see the interaction of suffering and grace, as well as to be reminded of the important things myself. I had had a terrible week, so this was a good way to end it -- to remind me of what blessings I have in my life, not the least of which are the gifts of my faith, and of good health in my family.
Last week I took the girls to visit a lady from our parish who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer. It's a real shocker, because she was always extremely active. She was one of the "church ladies" -- one whose presence was almost required to make anything a proper church function. :) She was the church choir director's right-hand-(wo)man, and that's how I got to know her best, since I sang with the choir for a couple of years. Another friend of mine termed her affectionately "a cranky old bear," and she was that -- I always thought it ironic that her name meant "lamb." But you couldn't help but love her, even while you gritted your teeth -- she was so hilarious in her crankiness.
I was really encouraged to visit her, since she went from being totally active church member to totally bed-ridden in a nursing home. I brought the girls with me -- Miriam had painted a picture earlier that day for her. They mostly just stood around and looked cute and shy while I talked with my friend. It was good to see that, despite that she can't ever get up again and that any movement is painful, her spirit was still there, although she's gentled a bit. (Just a bit.) :) Her acceptance of her suffering was really beautiful -- at one point she looked at the crucifix on her wall with love and spoke of how she knew that her suffering wasn't anything compared to what He suffered. And then she said, "But then sometimes, I start to think, enough is enough already!" Who was it who said, "I think I could be a martyr if they killed me real quick"? I feel the same way -- a slow martyrdom, or death by cancer, would be a real test of faith. As we were approaching her room, I overheard her crying to the nurse that her arm hurt and that she just couldn't ever feel comfortable. But when I asked the nurse if it was okay for us to visit now or whether we should come back, my friend called us in right away and seemed happy to see us.
So we had a good visit, and Miriam was full of questions on the way home. I think the topics we covered included the nature of bodily illness and death, the fall from grace and effects of Original Sin, the four last things, God's mercy, the Sacraments, the redemptive value of suffering, the purgation of sin, and the importance of the works of mercy, to name a few. It was a 20-minute car ride so we had lots of time. :)
I realized that moments like that afternoon were grace-filled for everyone involved -- for my friend, to have some visitors from the outside to talk to; for my children, to learn about all these important life questions and to plant some seeds in their minds & souls; and for me, to see the interaction of suffering and grace, as well as to be reminded of the important things myself. I had had a terrible week, so this was a good way to end it -- to remind me of what blessings I have in my life, not the least of which are the gifts of my faith, and of good health in my family.
Random Photo Dump
Some random cute photos from the past couple months:
how can one little person need so much sleeping room? (this is why she slept in her own crib from pretty much day one...)
must be pony laundry day.
regarding having helpers when the new baby's born, this is the result of Katie helping Mommy empty the dishwasher. (she's gotten a little better since this photo was taken, thankfully)
our little bookworm, IN the library book crate. (don't you sometimes wish you were that small again?)
how can one little person need so much sleeping room? (this is why she slept in her own crib from pretty much day one...)
must be pony laundry day.
regarding having helpers when the new baby's born, this is the result of Katie helping Mommy empty the dishwasher. (she's gotten a little better since this photo was taken, thankfully)
our little bookworm, IN the library book crate. (don't you sometimes wish you were that small again?)
Mystery Photos Continued
Mom B and Joe guessed correctly. The first is a study in chaos theory. A glass pot cover was soaking in dishwater, and after a few moments, this minuscule line of bubbles appeared. It was pretty cool how orderly they arranged themselves.
The second is indeed our old camera's final gasp before it officially perished. It had been acting funny for a while, sometimes taking pictures of blurry streaks, sometimes just being fuzzy, but it usually behaved itself after the ol' never-fail turn-off-wait-5-mins-turn-on trick. (Of course, we lost lots of precious shots this way.) But when it steadfastly refused to take any more decent pictures, we decided to retire it. Now we've got a brand spankin' new Canon PowerShot SD850, which is really nice for a point-and-click. The old Canon let you do lots of fiddling to get the perfect shot, but since we never learned how to use all that stuff we though simpler was better (not to mention cheaper).
So, to show off the superiority of the new camera, here is a series of professional-quality shots demonstrating a wide variety of artistic effects.
As you can see, the image stabilizer and light-adjustment properties work extremely well in a variety of action shots and light situations.
(Another title for this series is: "What Happens When Your Five-Year-Old Gets Her Hands On Your New Camera.")
The second is indeed our old camera's final gasp before it officially perished. It had been acting funny for a while, sometimes taking pictures of blurry streaks, sometimes just being fuzzy, but it usually behaved itself after the ol' never-fail turn-off-wait-5-mins-turn-on trick. (Of course, we lost lots of precious shots this way.) But when it steadfastly refused to take any more decent pictures, we decided to retire it. Now we've got a brand spankin' new Canon PowerShot SD850, which is really nice for a point-and-click. The old Canon let you do lots of fiddling to get the perfect shot, but since we never learned how to use all that stuff we though simpler was better (not to mention cheaper).
So, to show off the superiority of the new camera, here is a series of professional-quality shots demonstrating a wide variety of artistic effects.
As you can see, the image stabilizer and light-adjustment properties work extremely well in a variety of action shots and light situations.(Another title for this series is: "What Happens When Your Five-Year-Old Gets Her Hands On Your New Camera.")
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