Balance and Peace

I don't know about you, but Christmas has been on my mind a lot the last couple of weeks!  There are reminders of the upcoming season everywhere!  (Including the 6,000 new toy commercials that are being played constantly on Disney Jr and Nick Jr.!  Ugh!)

Every year I struggle with the balance of making Christmas special while not blowing our budget.  Inevitably, I forget to budget for the "little things", like all the baking ingredients and stocking stuffers....which isn't really so little with all the baking I do and all the stockings I fill!  I also get caught up in some impulse buying, because there are so many cute toys/clothes and the "kids would just love this...and this, and this"!

Christmas morning comes, and I realize that some of the things that I thought they would "love" they really could have done without.  Buyers remorse sinks in....sigh!

There is so much "special" in Christmas!  The special food and the special treats and the special gifts and the special movies and the special decoration and the special music...lots and lots of special.  There are also lots of opportunities for special giving and I love how God puts friends or strangers on our heart to share all the blessings we have.

Creating all this "special" is a lot of work for moms.  I try hard to keep a balance so that I add happiness and cheer to this season and keep myself from becoming Scrooge-like!  There are always some bumpy moments...just like during 'regular' non-holiday seasons.  Keeping peace is important, though, and I have learned over the years when to say "when"...usually long before the meltdown stage.  (So, I know that while I might write down 15 different types of cookies during my seasonal cookbook perusal for Christmas treats, usually I only make 8 to 10 come 'baking day' to keep the moment enjoyable!)

This year, I am determined to stick to the budget and not venture away from the list!  This will be such a struggle...I love to shop and once I get going, it is soooo hard to stop!

I need to stay focused on my plan to have an all cash Christmas and create the "special" within the real budget. I want the true Love of Christmas to fill my family, my friends, and my home.  My hypothesis is that having more balance will make our Christmas celebrations more peaceful.  Where there is balance, there is always so much more satisfaction and peace....

...and I really like peace!

 

A Little of This And A Little of That!

This weekend went by in a blur!

On Saturday, Jay and Jon were gone half the day to visit one of the schools Jon is applying to.  Then, they went out for lunch and had some good 1:1 time.  That doesn't happen often enough around here, so when the opportunity arises we need to jump on it!

Since Mike is away and Andrew was working, the rest of us hung around and did some cleaning and cooking.  Sarah made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies(Jay's favorite) and chocolate chip cookies(all the kids' favorite).  I made a white chocolate snack mix recipe to send to Mike since my parents were going to visit him on Sunday.  (It was really yummy...chex mix, pretzels, m&m's, candy corn(Mike's fav) and white chocolate!  I had to bag it and hide it so we didn't eat it all!)

On Sunday, we went to Mass and I tried a new recipe for lunch....Italian Wedding Soup.  It was a hit among the soup lovers of the house.  I didn't do anything super special for food because the Patriots had a by week, so we spent extra time playing with the little kids.

Jay didn't have Monday off, but everyone else did.  I played catch-up with some work and everyone spent a lazy afternoon just hanging out together.

My teenagers crack me up.  Andrew and Sarah have been taking turns writing (complicated) math equations in a the small empty space on my whiteboard calendar!  They are self proclaimed math geeks:)  They get their math ability from Jay's dad....certainly not from me!

Oh...and it's snowing today!!!!  Just a little, but still!  It looks pretty when you're inside looking at the snow while snuggled up under a blanket!  I'm not ready for winter...but it is putting me in the mood for Christmas shopping so I think I will spend some more time organizing my lists!  I love lists!

Well....a little boring today but it's all I have!  Hope your week is moving right along!

Quotable Quotes

We are wrapping up the first week of November!  This month is going to fly!  

Every morning I get A Quiet Moment from Catholic Digest.  I keep a lot of the quotes in my inbox for future use.  I decided to share 7 of my favorites for Quick Take Friday with Jen.  I hope you like them as well!

#1

Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.

St. Charles Borromeo

#2

God speaks silently, God speaks in your heart; if your heart is noisy, chattering, you will not hear.

Caryll Houselander

#3

Ask Jesus what he wants from you and be brave!

Pope Francis

(...I just love Pope Francis!)

#4

We shall steer safely through every storm so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.

St. Francis de Sales

Doctor of the Church

#5

“The times are bad! The times are troublesome!” This is what humans say. But we are our times. Let us live well and our times will be good. Such as we are, such are our times.

St. Augustine

Doctor of the Church

#6

We live poverty by filling the hours of the day usefully, doing everything as well as we can, and living little details of order, punctuality, and good humor.

St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

(That's certainly not the easiest thing to do!  I'm definitely a work in progress!)

#7

To see the miraculous within the ordinary is the mark of highest wisdom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(I love this one!  Every mundane, ordinary day doing dishes, washing clothes, feeding children, wiping noses...all those matter to care for the little(and not so little anymore!) miracles God has blessed us with as mothers.  (and grandmothers, and aunties, and godmothers.......)

I hope you have glorious weekend seeing the miraculous within your own ordinary!

A Rare Scenario

I find myself in a pretty rare scenario....the house is completely quiet!  The older kids are still at school and Luke was invited over my sister-in-law's to play with my nephew, (thanks, Jackie!).  I just got Kate to take a nap so the only person in the house awake is me!

Silence.is.bliss!  (Especially when you almost never get it!)

So...today will be a quick blog post so I can enjoy this silence!  I'm actually going to share some pictures that I took a couple of hours ago.  Luke and Kate were drawing on a pumpkin together and just being so darn cute!  Luke would talk to Kate and Kate would repeat back to him the last word of the sentence as her answer.

Luke:  See this picture, Kate?  I'm making a bear!
Kate:  Bear.

Luke:  We need to draw on the pumpkin and the paper.
Kate:  Paper.

I love watching them and listening to them play together!  It just warms my heart:)

I just love Kate's little face!

Hmmm...What should I draw now?

Working hard!

Pondering:)

Such a big boy!

Luke was spinning me a tale about the 'x' he drew on the pumpkin and "When you press the 'x' "fire shoots out!!!"

I just love these two little blessings!  
I can't imagine my life without them!

What I Love About Kate

Kate is growing and changing soooo much.  The new little baby that I held in my arms almost two years ago is now a walking, talking, strong willed toddler.  She is a love, though...and a very loved little girl!  Here are 5 of my favorite things about Kate!

1.  Her New Grin

I haven't got it on camera yet, but she started giving us this cute little grin.  It's a trait from Daddy that several of the kids have.  It is too cute when Kate does it and I can't wait to catch  it in film!

2.  Her Playfulness

Kate loves to play!  She follows her siblings around and does whatever they do, especially Luke!  She loves it when Daddy gets on the floor with her and pretends to be a bear and she pretends to be a kitty.  That's a game she requests nightly with her sweet little voice that Daddy is going to have a very hard time saying 'no' to!

3.  Her Cute Speech

Kate is a talker.  She talks about everything and tells you just what she wants!  Last night, she said her first 4 word sentence......"No, Kate do it!".  (She wanted to drink her water from a big girl glass without my help!)  She also loves to talk to other people....like the way she said 'hi' with a big smile to each and every person in the aisle on our way back from Communion on Sunday!(Good thing she is cute!:)

4.  Those Big Blue Eyes

They are beautiful...and they draw you right in!

5.  Sister Smiles

I love that she reminds me of another blue eyed beauty...and a brown eyed beauty:)...in our house.  

Sarah

Ellie

Kate

We are so blessed:)

linking up with Moxie Wife:)

...And it's Tuesday!

I blinked...and it's Tuesday!  I can't seem to get my act together and catch up!  Anyone else feeling a little behind?

We had a nice, lazy football day here on Sunday!  We kept lunch simple since the Pat's game wasn't until 4:30 and finished off the beef barley soup Jay made on Saturday!  So good:)

Game day fare was homemade slow cooker meatball subs and homemade mac and cheese.  The food was good and the Pat's won!  Hooray for Sunday:)

Last Monday, Pete had oral surgery to fix a bunch of cavities.   Well, wouldn't you know, yesterday he comes up to me and boasts loudly and proudly, "Peter lost a tooth!"  Sure enough, he wiggled out one of his molars.  I had told the dentist last week that he had told me he had a wiggly tooth.  She had checked and said it was barely moving and the roots were still long.  What she didn't realize is that Peter is relentless once a tooth wiggles even a little and he manages to rip them out of his mouth!  That was a waste of a filling!

Peter had no idea where his tooth was after it came out....he pulled and threw!  I did find it a couple of hours later on the floor and it still had 2 pretty long roots on it!  Ouch!

Today is the morning I work at my parent's salon, which makes Tuesday mornings extra hectic!  I got home, scarfed down a sandwich, and got Kate down for a nap.  Now, Luke just told me "I need you".   He wants me to join in playing one of his truck games:)

Never a dull moment!  But who wants to be bored, right?

Just a Little Late!

Okay....I seriously can't get my act together this week!  It's Saturday night and I'm trying to do my Friday post!  Pretty soon I will be singing the "Two days late and two dollars short!"  Argghhhh..gotta get it together!

#1:  Not All My Fault(Sort of!)

I didn't even try to post on Halloween!  I was babysitting my friends kids and her daughter had a hard time all afternoon.  At one point her son and Luke were running around playing and her daughter and Kate were both crying and miserable.  Andrew walked in the door, took one look at the craziness, and headed right back out to hide at my mother's!

Then, on Halloween night, (which was also my grandfather's birthday), we headed over to my mom's for dinner after a quick visit to Jay's mom's so she could see the kids in costume.  I swore I brought my camera but couldn't find it.  When we got back home, I couldn't find it either.  I figured it must have slipped out of my pocket at my mom's but it was too late to go back over and I was too tired to blog anyway.  

The next morning, Andrew found my camera as we headed to Mass....on the ground.:(  And it had rained!  Thankfully, it still turned on.  After Mass, I headed to Luke's school for an All Saint's Day celebration.  My mother in law had Kate, so at his 11:15 dismissal we headed to the grocery store (for some 1:1 time!:)  It was super windy and when I got home, with all of our groceries.....including a week worth of meat and dairy(!), the power had gone out!  

It was out for about 2.5 hours...so no blogging!  Then, the camera wouldn't work so I said a prayer and tried charging it!  Ugh!  Even when I had the chance to blog on Saturday afternoon, the camera still wasn't working right.  So...back to charging and thankfully it finally worked and I could upload my pics!  Hooray!  

So, I figure I'm all set and I go to my blog and an error message comes up saying my domain name has been cancelled!  WTH(and of course I said 'heck';)....I hate computers!  I have no idea what to do!  I called a tech friend and he said that Google merged something or other and it could just be a glitch.  UGH!  

An hour later I tried again and, thank-you God!, it worked!  (And I avoided a meltdown and everything!)

ok...if you are still with me after that crazy long rant(!)  I'm keeping the rest simple!  Thanks for hanging in:)

#2:  Pumpkins

Ellie's scary creation!

Luke's happy creation!

Andrew's goofy creation!

Andrew's Nicholas Cage "You Don't Say!" face creation!

Andrew's funny shape creation for Kate!

Sarah's haunted house pumpkin!

Sarah's teeny tiny pumpkin she named, "Billy Bob".

#3 &4:  Costume Fun

Sarah and Jon could wear costumes to school on Halloween for a senior fundraiser.
Sarah was a mad scientist and Jon, who has a teacher named Mr. Voci who always wears suits, went
as a 'Voci-raptor.  At night...he switched out the suit for a toga and was a philos-raptor!

Ellie as sock monkey

Peter was confused at first....Perry the platypus pajama shorts, a Celtic's jersey, and a superman cape?!?

He settled on Pacman:)

#5: All Saints Day
As mentioned above, Luke and Ellie had an All Saints Day celebration at their school.  Ellie chose to be St. Lucy and snagged some eyeball gumballs to carry around(because she had her eyes gauged out before they killed her with a sword) and Luke was St. Luke.(and borrowed Sarah's lab coat from her Halloween costume and Jay's stethoscope since St. Luke was a doctor)

#6:  Red Sox Win!!!

There were lots of happy sports fans at our house on Wednesday night!  (and lots of tired fans in Red Sox Nation from the last couple of weeks of late night games!  Hooray for extra sleep...and a happy ending!)

#7:  Super Hubbie Strikes Again

So, technically this happened today but since I'm behind on everything else I'm just putting it in now!  Jay stayed home with Kate and Peter so I could go and visit with my grandmother with Sarah, Ellie and Luke.  While we were gone, Jay went to our local market to get supplies and then came home and made some incredible beef barley soup and prepped a Portuguese style roast to go in the oven for dinner.  Then he cleaned up the kitchen!  

I am one lucky girl!