A Day of Firsts and Lasts

Today was a day that has been filled with 'firsts' and 'lasts'.

Today is Andrew's last full day of "regular" high school.  Next week is filled with finals, half days, graduation practices, and, last but not least, prom!  He is happy to be coming to an end of high school...I find it all a little bittersweet!

Today was Luke's first day visiting the preschool class that he will attend next year!  He and I did a little circle time, heard a story about the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and made a Holy Spirit hat as a craft.  Luke was excited and quite antsy...he really wanted to just check out all the cool toys in the room!  But he did a good job listening and his teacher is really, really patient and great with energetic little boys!  (Good thing for us!)

Today Mike is taking his last final that will finish off his 2 years at community college.  He has done such a great job!  By next week we will know his final GPA...and if he was able to maintain his stellar 3.86 GPA that he has carried for the last year and a half!  Go Mike!:)

Today was Sarah's last history fair at St. Francis.  It was also a first....

Sarah won the Grand Prize for the highest score overall out of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades!  Her project was on D-Day and she had gotten pictures of my grandfather who was in the Navy and part of the D-Day attack.  He also let her borrow his metals and his Navy papers and the descriptions of the ship he was on.  Living history!  We are so proud of her!

Sarah with my Dad and Luke

On a lighter note...Kate picked her first flower today.  Well, it was a dandelion but I'm still counting it!

So sweet! 

 And a first for Luke...trying to eat a flower!  Yuck!  Really!

Thankfully he didn't enjoy it!

 Such a goober!

Wrapping Up Thursday!

Today was a much better day!

Sleep was a little better.  The best part was that Kate went to bed at 7:50 and slept about 4 hours before the "first fuss" and when my night shift began.

But that was four whole hours by myself!  Bliss:)

After a busy day that included laundry, a physical for Peter, a trip to Walmart, a stop at Periwinkles, (a great little store in the town next to us that I love, love, love for their unique and fun gifts!), for a birthday present for Sarah, a Confirmation present for our Goddaughter, Brianna, and a graduation present for Andrew's girlfriend, playing outside with the little ones, more laundry, dinner, and doing paychecks for my parents visit....I am ready to sit on the couch and 'chill-ax'!

And did I mention that Mike has 4 friends over to watch the last episode of The Office....and plans to do s'mores with them outside afterwards?

Never a dull moment around our house!

But what's a few more people:)

Sleeplessness Strikes Again!

Sleeplessness strikes again at the Hamel household!  The last three nights have been rough with Kate and Luke.  At 4am this morning...(is that redundant putting in am and morning?  I feel like I'm always breaking grammar rules!)...Kate was wide awake and ended up waking up Luke, who started sniffling in the middle of the night with the start of another cold.  I was feeling pretty exhausted because both of them had already fussed 2 or 3 times(each!) and now I was praying that Kate would just fall back asleep despite the fact that Luke was whining asking for a tissue every 5 minutes.

Kate finally drifted off to sleep around 4:30 but Luke was still awake.  I got the "snuggle with me, Mommy" request, so as I cuddled with him I tried to remind my exhausted self that someday I will miss this.  (And I tried to ignore the fact that since Luke was breathing on me that I will probably have my own cold in 24 hours or less!)

This morning was not pretty.  I am tired and cranky and have bags under my bags!

Jay came in at 6:45 to ask me if I wanted to exercise.  After the night I had, there was no way I was dragging myself out of bed for anything but the ibuprofin I couldn't wait to take since I wasn't even completely awake and I already had a headache.

I have read several articles that talk about how hard it is to lose weight if you don't get enough sleep...

Yeah, I'm pretty much screwed!

I have that exhausted and discouraged seeingeverythingthroughdirtywindows kind of perspective today.  I also feel like biting everyone's head off every few minutes!  (And of course Luke wants to make every loud and annoying sound he possibly can!)

Today's Quiet Moment from Catholic Digest was waiting for me in my inbox this morning.....

The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Can I just tell you that I would much rather just have a pity party today, spend the day snapping at everyone and justify my crankiness because of sleep deprivation that seems like it will never.go.away!

I can't really justify that a pity party is the will of God...or that caring for my family with crankiness would be the manner He wills it...

So, I'm trying really hard to take a deep breath.  

When Mike, who only has one more online final to take to finish his semester and his Associates Degree, asked me what I wanted to do today...my answer was "Take a nap."  Since it's a beautiful day here, I will drag myself head to the zoo with my oldest and my two youngest and try to enjoy living in the moment despite being really, really tired.

I will try to look forward to at least a short nap while Kate sleeps today and I bribe Luke with the IPad for a few quiet moments!

Mother's Day

It was sad to see another weekend go by so quickly and slip back into the Monday routine.

I was very pampered this Mother's Day.  Mother's Day actually started on Saturday night for me.  Since Mother's Day often ends up being more of a "Grandmother's Day" in a lot of ways, Jay wanted to do something special just for me.

Sooooo....he cooked this...

 It was a delicious meal of homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballs and garlic bread.  Jay used Giada's recipes and it came out really great!  My sister-in-law, Julie, and her boyfriend, Tom, came for dinner, too!  The meal ended with Ghiradelli brownie sundaes...and Jay made the brownies, too, so they were good!  I am a terrible brownie maker!  

Jay and the kids and Julie all did the clean up.:)

Then, we all played games!  It was a fun night!

Mother's Day started with some special surprises from Ellie and hugs(with promises for a spruced up flower bed) from the rest of the kids.  Ellie made lots of posters to decorate the house, a special hat for me and a construction paper sculpture.

She was so thoughtful!  More on Ellie in a minute.....

After Mass, we came home and cooked brunch for my parents and my grandmother and my grandfather.  My sister and I usually cook together, but she had been up all night with a stomach bug.:(

We had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, ham and cheese quiche, bacon, and watermelon.  I made special cookies with strawberry filling for dessert.  (Strawberries are my mom's favorite...can you tell?)

Special thanks to Jay and Sarah for helping with the cooking...and the clean up!

 Ellen entertained us all with a special puppet show that she made up!  She is so sweet:)

After a nice relaxed visit, Jay and I just relaxed with the kids while Kate took a nap.  

Then, we headed to my in-law's house to visit with Jay's parents and his sister, Jackie and her family.  Luke and Kate had fun playing with their cousins while we all enjoyed some special desserts.  Julie, even though she couldn't be there, had made a trifle.  Jackie made some yummy smores desserts.  I had made my mother-in-law's chocolate cake recipe into cupcakes(although I can't make it nearly as good as she can!) and a Reese's peanut butter cheesecake(because it's one of my mother-in-law's favorites:).  Everything was delicious!

Jay with his mom before we left:)

We got home close to dinner time.(With a beautiful hanging geranium plant and a pretty Alex & Ani bracelet that Jay's mom gave me:)  Since Jay was all cooked out, (lol),  we got pizza.  (You certainly don't have to twist my arm for pizza!)  After dinner and another quick clean up(thanks again, honey) it was bath time for the littles, and laundry folding time for me as the day came to a end. (Sadly...sigh.  It's nice to be pampered!)

I hope you had a great Mother's Day, too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my blog friends!  I hope that today was a wonderful day for all of you!  I pray that those desiring to be moms receive a special peace and hope for God's plan in their lives.  I pray that moms and grandmas were filled with love whether they are near us, far away, or held in our hearts and memories!

A special prayer for all expectant moms and the miracle that they are blessed to carry!

I had a great day...lots of special moments to be shared tomorrow!

Happy Mother's Day!

Comfort

Linking up with Five Minute Friday today because that's all the computer time I've got today!

Word of the day.......

COMFORT

Comfort seems like such an appropriate word for the Friday before Mother's Day.  As a mom, comfort is a big part of my "job".  From the moment they are born, I have started comforting each of my children.  

First with those overwhelming moments when they are laid on me for the first time....screeching and protesting their eviction from their first home.

All the hours of comforting babies through hungry, tired, overwhelmed moments in the first several months of their life with us and then as they grow into toddlers, preschoolers,  pre-teens, teenagers, and now, young adults, too!

I even have the memories of comforting my first daughter back into the arms of our Lord.

I also have all the memories of my children giving comfort to me.  All those baby snuggles and toddler hugs!  The joy of being wanted and needed and loved by preschoolers....and the moments that my preteens and teenagers show me that I am still wanted and needed and loved by them!  

"give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”Luke 6;38

Borrowed Moments

The great number of changes on our horizon has started to push me 'over the edge'.  I find myself extremely emotional all.the.time!  Little things make me cry....like kids videos, commercials, but mostly my own thoughts and memories.

It's not really a surprise.  With a junior college graduation, a high school graduation, and an 8th grade graduation all happening in the next few weeks, there's a lot of emotions to process.  Add into the mix another son who will be a senior in the fall and my youngest son starting pre-school and I might as well get used to this weepy, emotional person that will be around for a while!

It's funny how different children trigger different emotions.  With our oldest, it's been an emotionally draining couple of months trying to get all the information together so he could make a decision about which school he would transfer to in the fall.  He hasn't handled the waiting/figuring out the direction of his life stuff well.  His emotions have taken a toll on both Jay and on me.  Mike has been much better since the college decision has been made...which has made him much easier to live with!  While I'm sure there will be tears when we bring him to college in the Fall, we are also ready for him to move onto the next step in his life and (hopefully!) do some maturing when he's on his own!

Our second oldest is going to live at home and commute to our local university.  It is a great choice for him because of the merit scholarship he received!  Andrew and I are pretty close.  He has always been independent kind of kid.  Even as a toddler he wasn't much of a snuggler.  He likes his space, and his quiet...which is a tough thing to find in our house!

It's really hitting me with our 3rd son, Jon, starting his senior year in the Fall.  The boys are obviously close in age...all born in February.  Mike and Andrew are 24 months apart to the day, and Jon is 12 months, 3 weeks and 3 days younger than Andrew.  They were all so close in age growing up that they were termed "the boys" collectively!

Since Jon was the youngest of 'the boys' and also the most cuddly and the most attached to me when he was little...and the first baby I nursed successfully!....his growing up is hitting me hardest of all.  I'm not ready for him to leave the nest.  When he talks about colleges or career choices I am supportive but inside my heart is aching because I'm not ready for the separation, yet.

What happened to all of these little boys that needed me?  There were endless days of beanie babies and farm animals and legos....

Yet, those endless days turned into years and now those little boys have transformed into men over 6 feet tall that need to shave!

And they are going to leave me....

And I need to be happy for them because this is the way it's supposed to be.  The line from My Big Fat Greek Wedding Comes to mind lately, "We gave you life so you could live it."

Children are gifts.  Some days, between the laundry and the cooking and the dishes and the squabbles and the chaos, it's easy for me to forget that.  Those seemingly endless days of childhood fun did fly by and now I wish that I had soaked in more of those moments.

Because I now know how fast it goes, I appreciate my time with Luke and Kate even more.  Every once in a while(like once a week:), the sleepless nights and the endless laundry and dishes and the neediness of toddlers and a baby overwhelm me.  The majority of the time, though, I am able to put aside my own to-do list for the sweet requests of, "Play with me, Mommy." and "Let's snuggle, Mommy." because I know that I will blink and this time will be gone.

I find myself crying for the missed opportunities to show love and  patience and understanding.  I wish that I had spent more time "just being" with the older boys and not just trying to orchestrate the ways to get through the busy days.  I wish that we hadn't gone through so much emotionally with losing a child and having another child diagnosed with Autism....although mostly I wish that I had reached out for the emotional help I needed to deal with my grief and depression that plagued me for several years.  There was too much time wasted just trying to "survive" and not really living.

Those are the moments I continue to give to God and ask Him to make up the difference of what my children received and what they really needed.

Change is hard!  Letting go is hard!

Even though my children will always be my children no matter how tall or old they get, I am living on borrowed moments for the time they are truly "mine".

Today I will be linking up with Shell for Things You Can't Say...because that's the kind of feelings I'm having!