Fun Sunday activity:

Take out all the baby albums and take a stroll down memory lane. It's neat to see how much the kids have changed over the years.

Note to self: write every detail on the backs of pictures from now on...memory fails quickly.

no fame, no fortune, no glamorous dresses, no glittery make-up .. but that is ok by me

If you "Facebook" you will probably know that there is this "retro" thing going around where folks are supposed to put an old picture of themselves as their profile picture. There are many of my friends who were very glamorous when they were younger. Dancers and singers in fancy costumes. Each was quite an accomplishment. Definitely a shining moment.

I got to thinking (you know me... always some mental cud-chewing going on), my one really really big accomplishment was not something I did when youth was on my side. It is something I am in the midst of: being called "mom".

try it, you'll like it

Next time you are making a salad, use half the amount of lettuce and replace it with a handful of shredded cabbage (Fresh Express with added purple cabbage and carrots - in the bagged salad section - the kind you use to make slaw).

Adds an element of "crunch" like you wouldn't believe.

the value of boy noise

I picked number 1 up from school today.
"It sure was quiet today in all our classes," she stated.
"Oh, really? Why?" I wondered.
"All of the boys were gone. They had that retreat."
"So, do you think you'd like an all-girls school?" I asked her.

After giving the question a bit of thought, she decided that while there would probably not be as much girl drama as there is in a co-ed school, she'd rather have the dull roar of boys around.

comic relief

This afternoon, my sweet 2 year old came up to me and asked me if she could have a house. I thought about it for a moment. Aha! She remembered making these:

It was her adorable way of asking for a graham cracker.

*************

Then, a tad later in the day, I was showing my 10 year old Celtic fiddler this and my silly willy 4 year old who is two rooms away says to his brother, "I hear music. It reminds me of leprechauns."

where have all the spoons gone?

The other day when I picked the kids up from school, they brought home more than just their backpacks. They brought excitement. They were so wound up about that night's possibility of snow (10%) that I didn't think I was going to be able to get them to do their homework.

Once home, while they were eating their snack, they were sharing each of the tidbits that they had learned from their friends that day. My favorite was "if you put your pj's on inside out and sleep with a spoon under your pillow it will snow".
"At Mass today, Fr. Mark told us that if we were going to pray for snow, to pray for a bunch," said number 3.

They hurried through their homework, ate their dinner, and nearly fell going upstairs to get their jammies on wrong. They laughed in surprise when even King came downstairs with inside-out pajamas. After we prayed and they said goodnight, taking their spoons with them, I remembered being that excited about snow. Getting to be out of school, even an hour or two delay, was so thrilling.

That child-like, magical wishing... something that just may come true.... the excitement is simply palpable.

When we awoke the next morning, each of us wanted to open the curtains and see a beautiful white blanket of snow on everything in the yard, our seams, spoons, and prayers defying the weatherman's percentages. Sadly, it did not snow, this time.

But then again, I forgot to turn my pj's inside out.

bumper sticker