the zinger

My two sons were lingering at the breakfast table this morning.  The elder reading the day's comics, the younger reading his library book, Scholastic's 2010 Almanac for Kids, filled with fun and interesting facts about all kinds of cool stuff.

"My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas!  That's how I remember the planet names.  "'My' stands for Mercury, 'Very' stands for Venus..," he babbled on and on.  Finally he got to the end of the list, "... and 'Pizzas' stands for Pluto!"

"Is Pluto a planet?" my oldest son asked from behind the comics, remembering that just a few years ago, scientists said it wasn't. 

It was an emotional time for us.

You prolly should have sent flowers.

But perhaps you, too, were mourning the demotion.

"Of course Pluto is a planet!" Number 4 was starting to get a little testy since his big brother was demonstrating such ignorance about this important subject.

"In fact, it's a dwarf planet," he said, slowing down for the words 'dwarf' and 'planet' so that his seemingly unintelligent older brother could understand the words.

"A dwarf planet.  And the only people who can live there are dwarfs like you!"

fahoo fores, dahoo dores

We were all at the basketball game

cheering the high school varsity teams on to victory. 

They were here. 

Uninvited. 

Breaking glass.  Raiding the pantry.  Looking in the fridge.

Did you stop to look at that sweet picture my 4 year old drew for us?

It's a picture of her with really long hair standing beside a rainbow.  Encircled with hearts.

But that was before you were here. 

Looking in cabinets.  Looking in drawers.  Going through jewelry boxes.  Peeling back my freshly-made bed.

Hey kids, let's all get our rooms clean before we go to the ballgame.  That way when we come back, we can sleep peacefully on clean sheets.

My son's backpack and his suitcase that Santa brought last Christmas (because he heard we might be saving up for a trip) used to haul it all off.  Four bikes. 

Baby, I enjoyed biking sooo much last weekend.  Hey, let's go biking both Saturday and Sunday this week, wanna?  It's supposed to be beautiful!  I'm glad the rain is finally gone, aren't you?

A little boy's piggy bank with One. Dime. in it.  Raided.  Side table drawers pulled out. Mp3s loaded with cool Christian songs. 

Were you disappointed that we didn't have fancy schmancy things?  No gold.  No iPod Touch.  No Wii.  Yeah, my kids probably share in that disappointment.

Y'see, we don't put value in Things.

We do, however, value Peace Of Mind.

Hands that clasp.

Voices that praise.

Joy.

and Us.

"Things" you don't value.

Fahoo fores, dahoo dores, y'all!

these are the hands

These are the hands of a young woman who, along with her brother, is about to go to Washington, DC to March for Life.  To honor the occasion, she gave herself a very special manicure.
On her thumb, she has written the word "life."  Each of her fingers has a heart.

These are the hands of someone who respects life.  Someone who will trudge through the freezing cold, and stand in the rain to stand up for the unborn.

On her left ring finger, she wears a purity ring.  It's design is a heart wrapped in a bow.  It signifies her choice to lead a chaste life.  A ring she will remove on her wedding day and will replace it with a wedding band. 

On her right hand, a Claddaugh ring, a symbol of friendship, love, loyalty, which is pointing to her fingertip, meaning free of attachment.  One day, she will love someone enough to turn the heart inward. 

These are the hands of one amazing young woman.  Logical.  Strong-willed.  Beautiful, inside and out. 

These are the hands of my firstborn child.

********

And although he has no rings nor fancy schmancy manicure, I am equally proud of my son.  I pray that he will always be touched by the magnitude of this March and will stand up for Life no matter what age he is, no matter how "cool" or "politically correct" it may be to have any other stance.

*********

Two great kids.  I couldn't be prouder!

fr-fr-freezing

Has anyone invented an electric Snuggy?  If so, where do I get one?

If not, remember - I had the idea first. 

fledgling songs

King was out of town one evening and #5 decided she needed to sleep in my bed.  Y'know, to keep me company "till Daddy comes home." 

We read a bedtime story and then I got her and her toys all settled.  I snuggled under the covers with the last couple of hundred pages of a book I was trying to finish before our book club met. 

Constant chatter bubbled up from the pillow beside me. 

Knowing kids this age are a lot like mockingbirds in the evening before they settle down for the night, I patiently listened to the chatter - despite the fact that my book was getting to the good part.

Important to note that lately she has been spelling "mommy" to get my attention rather than just saying it.  I don't mind.  For one, she is loving to learn to spell.  Two, it gives my poor ears a break from hearing the word "mommy" all the time. 

"Em. Oh. Em. Em. Why?"  she said about 5 minutes into her evening song. 

I sighed. "Yes?"

Realizing that she was starting to wear me down, she smiled sweetly said, "I've just got lots of questions in my brain."

"Could you ask me some now and save some for tomorrow morning?"

"Sure."

A couple of minutes later, after all the immediate questions were answered, like how and why toys made out of plastic, my little fledgling was sound asleep.

under the eyeglasses on the bedside table

Me:
The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
A Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

King:
Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly
Being George Washington by Glenn Beck
1776 by David McCullough

What about you? Read any good books lately?

pope quote

“Something I constantly notice is that unembarrassed joy has become rarer. Joy today is increasingly saddled with moral and ideological burdens, so to speak. When someone rejoices, he is afraid of offending against solidarity with the many people who suffer. I don't have any right to rejoice, people think, in a world where there is so much misery, so much injustice.

I can understand that. There is a moral attitude at work here. But this attitude is nonetheless wrong. The loss of joy does not make the world better - and, conversely, refusing joy for the sake of suffering does not help those who suffer. The contrary is true. The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the impetus and courage to do good. Joy, then, does not break with solidarity. When it is the right kind of joy, when it is not egotistic, when it comes from the perception of the good, then it wants to communicate itself, and it gets passed on. In this connection, it always strikes me that in the poor neighborhoods of, say, South America, one sees many more laughing happy people than among us. Obviously, despite all their misery, they still have the perception of the good to which they cling and in which they can find encouragement and strength.


In this sense we have a new need for that primordial trust which ultimately only faith can give. That the world is basically good, that God is there and is good. That it is good to live and to be a human being. This results, then, in the courage to rejoice, which in turn becomes commitment to making sure that other people, too, can rejoice and receive good news.”


― Pope Benedict XVI

growing pains

Just had the first born sit beside me to register online for the ACT.  I am not sure what it was about the process that got her so bothered, but there was a lot of moaning and groaning and angry mutterings.

"Ughhhh, I hate writing!  I don't want to take the writing part.  Do not sign me up for THAT." 

But the college we've talked about you going to requires it. 

"Noooooooo.  I don't even want to go to *insert parental alma mater here*."

You will be fine.

"No it won't.  I won't be ready."

It's ok, if you do poorly, you can re-take it.

"No, that's stupid."

And so on.  You get the picture.

I have always tended to shelter No. 1 as she is a timid little sprout.  However, just before Christmas, during a little chat the two of us had, I lovingly broke the news that I am planning on gently nudging her over the next year or so to get her ready to leave the nest. 

I'm pretty sure putty will fill in the scratches

 ~ nailmarks of hesitancy~

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:11-12).



we have a winner!

I love No. 5's the New Year's Resolution the most.

ps- I knew that was circus music I was hearing!

wordless wednesday

resolutions

In addition to continuing last year's resolution of having the attitude "What Can I Do That Will Make Your Life Easier?" to any and all people in my life, I want to do the following:

1. a) buy a gun b) learn to shoot it
2. learn to paint - oil on canvas
3. learn to make jewelry
4. finish quilts I've started