A Unique Opportunity!

Somehow through the blogging world loop, I was part of a mass email asking for a review of a new book, The Mother of All Meltdowns.  I like to read.....and reading stories of other moms' "hiccups" in the parenting world always makes me feel better!  I certainly have my own less-than-stellar mommy moments that could fit into the theme really, really well!  So, I jumped at the chance to do something different and exciting...and it was really enjoyable, too!

The Mother of All Meltdowns is a collection of lots of mamas' messiest moments....and they share them in print!  It's like sitting in a big, brand new "Mommy and Me" group sharing war stories!  You will sometimes find yourself nodding to these women sharing their stories with a quiet 'Mhm', sometimes sighing that deep, mommy-tired sigh of understanding when these mamas share their difficult mommy moments, laughing out loud at the way these mamas' have dealt with their child's embarrassing moments or difficult behaviors, and wanting to jump in and share your own most embarrassing experience!  It certainly makes me feel better about  my own parenting bumbles!

(Because you know every mom has a great poop story!  I personally have several!)

If you are looking for a mostly light, though sometimes messy(!), entertaining read....this is a great choice! 

My favorite story was by Tamara Bowman(pg. 87), who wrote about letting her daughter play with her one-of-a-kind, personally designed wedding ring while potty training, losing the ring(convinced her daughter flushed it down the toilet), hiding her hand from her husband for two days so he didn't realize she lost it(!), contacting the jeweler who made it and almost put herself into debt to replace it when her husband asked what was wrong.  I'm not telling you what happened next....you have to read the book!  

But.....

I frequently stress about situations that become bigger and bigger in my mind, then emotionally 'pop' all over Jay, and he, in his rational 'man ways' comes up with a completely logical, unmessy solution!  All that worrying for naught...but I still keep doing it!

If you're a mom who has experienced a meltdown or 2(or 10..or 100), you might want to check out.....

(I think I'm supposed to add some kind of disclaimer here...but this is all new to me!  The opinions and text in this post are all mine!)

He Said/She Said!

The other day, it was raining and Luke started opening the sliders trying to head outside...
Me:  "Luke, it's raining.  You can't go outside right now.
Luke:  "I'm going to try and blow the clouds away....
(In case you're curious....it didn't work:)

Jon and Jay were being goofy when we visited Mike last weekend at Assumption.  At one point, we were in the bookstore and there was music playing.  Jon and Jay broke into spontaneous dancing that included both of them Bernieing.
Mike turned to me and said,  "I don't know why we bring them out in public!?!"
Me:  "Me neither!"

Sarah made cookies in the late afternoon on Friday so that we could bring some to Mike on Saturday.  Luke came in the kitchen as the first batch came out of the oven.
Luke:  "Mom, can I have dessert before dinner?"

Last week, Sarah was stressed out one night over the amount of homework she had.  Sarah is a perfectionist and has very high expectations for herself...sometimes a little too high!  Jon was home and witnessed her stress levels....
Jon:  "I think that I'm the best mix between Andrew and Sarah.  Andrew doesn't care at all about school and Sarah cares way too much!(slight pause....)  I'm the perfect child!"
Sarah:(laughing):  "And so humble, too!"

When we visited the Roger William's Zoo 2 weeks ago, Luke and Jon had a cute exchange.
Jon:  "Luke, look at the elephants!"
Luke:  "Yeah....but where's the poop?"
(He is such a boy!)

Jon has been the main helper for Jay with our big, and seemingly never ending, house painting job!

Jon:  "Dad, I don't know what was cool in the 80's, but manual labor is not "in" now!

And...in honor of Wednesday(even though I mentioned this in a previous post)....
At the Roger Williams Zoo there was a lot of excitement as we approached the camel exhibit because of the older boys' obsession with the Geico 'humpday' commercial!  As we walked up to the camels, Peter surprised us all!
Peter:  "Hey, camel...Guess what day it is?!?"
The rest of us:  "Hahahahahaha!"

Happy Humpday!

And the Days Just Keep Rolling On By!

And the days just keep rushing by!

Here we are at Monday again!  Not quite sure how it happened, but here it is anyway!  Sometimes I wish I could just stop the world until I can catch up!

A quick overview of our weekend...

Saturday was crazy!  Jay, Jon and I were out of the house shortly after 8am for the hour and a half ride to visit WPI.  Jon is interested in engineering(he inherited his grandfather's math genes!).  We listened to an hour presentation and then went on a guided tour of the college.  Jon really liked it and it looks like a great program.  The catch is the cost.  He will have to get a really great package to go there...but it doesn't hurt to apply.  You never know...

We left WPI at 12:30 and drove a mile up the street to Assumption to visit Mike.  It was family weekend at Assumption.  We got to experience cafeteria style food....play some games together....get a tour from Mike...see his room(which he and his roommate cleaned thoroughly before we came!)...and meet some of his friends.  He is really happy there.

Jon being goofy!

Mike's face says it all...."Seriously, mom!  Pictures!  You are so embarrassing!"

Then he just accepted that's the way it was going to be!

Mike and his "friend", Sarah.  Yes, she is just a "friend"...I asked him lots of times;)

Games!

Jay and Jon being goofy on the track!  (they get their goofiness from their father...this is the proof!)

....and the goofiness continues!

more games!  Mike won most of them!

Love this tree!

We left at 3:30 because Jon and Sarah had a homecoming dance at their high school that night.  We got home just in time to cook burgers, iron a shirt, help Sarah with her hair, and take a few pictures before we were off again to drop them off so I could get a picture of Jon and his date.(Who is an identical twin!  He was afraid of asking the wrong one so he memorized what color back pack she had...lol:)

Sarah:)  She went with a group of friends...as if her brothers(or daddy) would let it be any other way;)

aww:)

His date was running late, so by the time I got the quick picture and we swung by the grocery store for a few things, it was after 8 when we pulled in the driveway.  A quick bath for the kids, and we half watched, half dozed through the Notre Dame game until the kids got home.

It was quite the eventful day!

Thankfully, Sunday was not quite so crazy!  It started off a little bumpy with Kate and Peter being awful at Mass, but the afternoon was better.  Friends of ours came over and we shared the football "fun" meal of piggies in a blanket, coconut chicken bites, buffalo wings from 99, as well as their contribution of loaded homemade potato skins, an apple pie, and an apple crumble.  Yum:)

The day ended with dance practice for the act I'm in for our parish's variety show next month!  At least I got to do some exercising after eating all afternoon!

Hopefully this week goes by quickly!  I'm looking forward to the long weekend!

An Interesting Week!

Linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes Friday!  Another week flies on by...and we jump into......

#1: October!

I wrote on Tuesday about my love of this wonderful month!  Although, the weather here has been more like August with highs near 80 degrees all week!  I'm looking forward to losing ten to fifteen degrees soon!  I'm just glad I didn't pack away all of the kids' shorts!

#2:  Furry Friends

Jay found a woolly bear caterpillar this weekend and Luke was enthralled!

This was Luke trying to convince me to let him take his new "friend" inside the house!
 "Don't worry, Mommy!  He's nice!  He won't hurt you!"

#3:  Still Painting!

Jay was on call this weekend but thankfully only had to work on Saturday morning.  Andrew and Jon painted in the morning and then Jay and Jon painted for most of the afternoon.  I think we still have at least 2 or 3 more painting days left...sigh!  I'm anxious to start the fall indoor projects!  

#4:  Cuteness

Back in the beginning of the week when the weather was still nice and "fall-like", I was inspired to take some pics of Kate in her cute new outfit..courtesy of Grandma and Pa.  (and Luke's pretty cute, too:)

Love this pic!  

And it's a good thing I took those pics to remind me of how cute they are because we have had....

#5: Three Nights From H.E. Double Hockey Stick!

I have no idea what the heck is going on at night!  Tuesday night was the worst.  Kate woke up at 12:30am and wanted nothing to do with staying in bed.  She wanted to watch "Umi"..which is Kate speak for Team Umizoomi....but that certainly wasn't happening!  I brought her in the living room to try and keep her from waking Luke.  She tolerated snuggling on the couch together but didn't get back to sleep until after 2!:(  

Wednesday afternoon she was so overtired that she took a half hour restless nap then screamed for half and hour inconsolably!(That was loads of fun:/)

Wednesday night, she crashed at 7:45 and then woke up again(!) at 12:15.  This time she woke Luke up so both of them followed me out to the couch.  Luke fell right back to sleep but Kate was up for about an hour.

:(  

Thursday night we made it all the way to 1:30.(sleeping in!)  Luke was restless because he has a cold, so Kate woke him up, too.  It took Kate only 20 minutes to fall back to sleep, but Luke was awake until after 2:30.

Sigh!  Tonight we are trying a little Benedryl for Luke's croupy cough.  Hopefully, I figure out what's going on with Kate or she just gets over this stage soon!   It's all about....

#6:  Perspective

It's all just one of the joys of parenthood!  Honestly, other than an overwhelming moment last night, I've been getting a lot of grace to be patient.   I know that this is just a speed bump!  

Right now, we have several people in our lives that are struggling with mountains!  We have friends dealing with unemployment, friends facing the fear of foreclosure, a friend hospitalized most of this week with cellulitis, and another facing a double mastectomy on Monday, not yet knowing the severity of the cancer she was diagnosed with 2 weeks ago. 

So, while three tough nights stink, I will gladly carry this small cross!

If you have a minute, please pray for my friends facing such big hurdles!  Pray in a special way for Jeannette, who has 2 young children and only her mom for family support as she faces a difficult surgery and an uncertain future.  I know that God is bigger than this difficult situation, and it is amazing to see so many people coming forward offering hope and help to this family.  You can just feel God working!  

And speaking of God.....

#7:  Great Quotes

I mentioned on Tuesday how many powerhouse feast days there are in the church this month!  St. Therese started off the month on the 1st and there was a really great quote from Catholic Digest from her yesterday:

Thursday, October 3

If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.

St.Thérèse of Lisieux

Doctor of the Church

This quote definitely spoke to me this week!  Here's hoping that all of your weekend moments are filled with family and fun!

October, How I Love Thee!

October 1st.....
How can this be?  I can't believe how fast September went by!

October is my favorite month of the year!  (Followed closely by December because I love all things Christmas! :)

I love October for so many reasons!
~It's beautiful Fall weather!  Today is the perfect example...it's a gorgeous New England fall day!  Love, love, love it!
~Wearing Fall clothes that I haven't paid attention to for months is like getting a whole new wardrobe...for FREE!
~Wearing a sweatshirt and feeling comfy, warm is the best.feeling.ever!
~October is my anniversary month!(21 years on the 24th!)
~I love the fall recipes and the smell of soups, stews, and pies wafting from the kitchen.  (waft is such a funny sounding word, don'tcha think?:)
~There are a ton of awesome saint days this month!  Some of my favorites are St. Therese of Lisieux(today), Guardian Angels(tomorrow), St Francis of Assisi(4th), St. Faustina(5th), and St. Teresa of Avilla(15th).
~All the beautiful fall colors....both the decorations we use inside with pumpkins and scarecrows, and the beautiful 'decorations' that God gives us with the changing leaves!(My favorite leaves are the orange ones!)

~I love apple picking and hay rides and pumpkin patches!  I can't wait to go to our local orchard over Columbus Day weekend when Mike is home!  (and I can't wait to come home and bake pies and crisps:)

~and, of course, there are football Sundays with fun food and family time!:)

So many reasons to love Fall!  

What's your favorite thing about Fall?  Happy October!:)

Family Time!

How is it that Monday creeps up on us so fast?!?

Oh, well!  It's a new day.  I woke up feeling like an old lady today!  My friend, Mary, coerced me into joining her dance act for our parish's variety show and we had practice last night.  This is the variety show's fourth year and until now I have either been pregnant or had a young, needy baby so I got out of couldn't join in the fun.  This year there was no valid excuse, so I stepped out of my comfort zone.(and hopefully I won't completely humiliate myself!  Luckily, most of the routine is in the dark...for special effects because we are going to be wearing clothes that glow and have glow sticks in our hands....Mary is a master choreographer and it's going to look really cool!)

Anywho....my body is not happy with me this morning!

Dance practice was only a small part of my weekend.  We had a busy Saturday of taxi rides, cleaning and painting the house,(still!), and a Rosary party at night with a bunch of friends.  Sunday morning was busy with Mass and Sarah helping with a CCD class then going to her own Confirmation CCD class, while Jon went fishing with my parents and Andrew and Ellie went to breakfast with my grandfather.

Since the Patriots played on Sunday night, (and won..woo hoo!:), I took advantage of the beautiful afternoon and we did a little road trip to the Roger William's Zoo.  Mike and I had taken Luke, Peter and Kate during the summer, but the other kids hadn't been in years.  I bought a family pass for the year so we can try to go a few times.  It's less than an hour from our house and it's a pretty great zoo.

It was just nice to have a little adventure...and some special family time:)

Daddy and Kate looking at the zebras.

Mom and Luke:)

 The zoo had some fall decorations out that just begged for family pictures!  Getting a good shot of everyone isn't easy....or always possible!  Here's our blooper reel!:)

Not bad...Sarah's eyes are closed...but Jon is obviously enjoying himself!

Jay told me to hop in the picture....then Kate was crying because she wanted me and Sarah fell off the hay!

Everyone looking at Sarah and Kate as Jay continues to click away, laughing!

Yeah...time to cut our losses!

 Roger Williams has this super cool area called "My Big Backyard"!  It has water activities, a huge tree house, cool mini forts, some swings, a tunnel cave, and mini mazes.  The little kids could have played there for a really long time....but the older kids were getting a little bored(and hungry) and were ready to move on!

Love those sprinklers.....

....until it gets you right in the face!  Kate is telling me it got in her nose:)

In the tree house, they had music activities and these cool wheels that controlled.....

...a kaleidoscope wall of bright colored leaves!  Peter especially loved it!

Kate looking cute(and wet) in the lookout!

 Andrew picked up Courtney at PC and met us at the zoo.  Andrew loves to take picture(add sarcastic voice and eye roll here!).

 Occasionally we can coerce him into smiling!

Luke...also all wet....having fun with the kaleidoscope!

 I think the little kids had as much fun climbing the trees as they did seeing the animals!

 Jon is obsessed with the Geico commercial with the camel saying, "Humpday!"  He had gotten all the younger kids into saying it to.  So it wasn't a total surprise when Peter walked up to the fence saying, "Camel...guess what day it is?"  That made us all laugh!

Jon "nosing" Sarah..

Ellie didn't get the memo that she was supposed to smile nicely...not sassy!

 Luke was having a great time walking around with Andrew and Courtney!  He kept asking Courtney if she could hold her hand, which made Courtney melt:)  I told Andrew he might have some competition!(lol)...and Luke likes to take pictures most of the time!

When we got back in the car, most of the kids promptly fell asleep.  I kept Luke entertained so that he didn't sleep so late in the afternoon and then stay up until 10!

It was a fun day with some nice family memories:)

I hope you enjoy the last day of September!

  

Wrapping Up the Week

#1:  Playground Fun

I have been wanting to spend more time with Luke at the local playground he likes to go to.  On Wednesday, I picked him up from preschool and we headed right to the park.  Luke and Kate were really excited to be there!  Luke was running up onto all of the big slides and Kate was wandering around taking it all in.  Surprise, surprise...Kate wanted to follow her brother up to the big slides instead of staying on the slides that were more age appropriate!  I thought for sure that once she got to the top and saw how high it was that she would turn around and head back down the stairs.

That's not how it went!

She got to the top and turned around and said, "Up" and wanted me to go down the slide with her!  I was so afraid that my hips were going to get stuck!  (Thankfully they didn't!  That would have been sooo embarrassing!  The things we do for our kids!)

Halfway down the slide, just as I was having a "feeling like a good mom" moment for taking my kids to the park and even braving a slide(!), I heard Luke calling for me, "Mommy, I need to go potty!"  

Really!  We had only been there five minutes tops and there were no bathrooms at the park so we had to go home! 

That sure popped my 'good mommy' moment pretty quickly!  We will have to try again next week!

#2:  The Football Feast

I did try that upside down apple pie I mentioned last week...but I made it on Saturday for a cookout with our friends, the Teixeira's.  (That's the family that I got to have the gender reveal party for 2 weekends ago...and their daughter, Ava, is still beaming!)  The pie turned out really good!  Next time I want to try it with my regular pie crust instead of the crust from the recipe.  But, it was all gone by the next morning!  (Jay finished off the last piece for breakfast:)

My favorite part was the glaze on top!

For our Sunday football feast, I made cheeseburger sliders on waffle fries, crock pot chicken wings, and Minestrone soup.(because Sarah mentioned that we have a 'soup of the weekend' all fall and winter long!)  We finished off Sarah cookies for dessert by making them into cookie ice cream sandwiches!(Yum!)

We also had the pleasure of having a visitor!  Andrew's girlfriend, Courtney, came for the day!  It was very nice to have another girl in the house!:)

#3:  'Old Fashioned' Fun

Jay runs the senior youth group at our parish and their kick-off meeting is tonight.  They are having a video game tournament.  Last night, Jay, Andrew, and Jon were hooking up old tv's to old video game systems to make sure they would work.  They did...and an exciting game of Techmo Bowl ensued! (Jay likes those old fashioned video games where you can only move forward and jump!)

#4:  Disney World's Policy Change

I was really sad this week to read an article that Disney is changing their policy for people with disabilities.  They are changing their policy because there was a big scandal when they found out that some families had been hiring people with disabilities to escort them through the parks and get them to the front of the lines!  So now, all the families that the policy was created to help are going to suffer for it!  So.wrong!

One of the biggest draws for us to go to Disney was of their exceptional treatment towards disabled people and the way they cater to people with food allergies of all kinds!  Having a disability pass meant a lot to a child like Peter.  It's so frustrating that people abused the policy!  I wish Peter was 'normal' and could tolerate standing in long lines!  But, he can't...and the disability pass made Disney a magical place for him, and for us as a family able to enjoy something all together!

And, seriously, Disney!  Come stand with Peter for 5 minutes and you will see that there's no way in you know where that anyone would be hiring him to escort their family through the park for the entire day!  I hope that something gets worked out to tweak the policy to protect it from abuse without punishing the people that need it!

#5:  Random Pictures From the Week

Kate wants to join in when anyone is snuggling on the couch with a blanket!

Andrew helping Luke with a small Lego creation that Grandma and Pa surprised him with...and Kate wanting to be in the center of the action!(as usual!)

Kate in her new fall outfit! Love, love, love baby/toddler girl clothes!

Luke snuggling up with Ellie on the beanbag chair while Ellie plays video games and Luke pretends to play!

Luke and Kate snuggled up with Daddy reading a book together:)

#6:  Cross Country

Sarah is running cross country for her high school this fall.  She had an away meet this week.  I couldn't make it that day and Jay didn't think his work schedule would allow him to get there.  During the day, Jay's schedule imploded and, instead of seeking out more per diem work, he finished up early and made it to her meet.  (Which is a real struggle for him because he works so hard to pay for my Gymboree addiction to provide for our family, so turning down work makes him feel guilty....)

The guilt melted away when he got to the meet and Sarah ran up to greet him.....

  

A giant hug from your 14 year old daughter because she is so glad you came to see her run....priceless!

#7:  Super Sisters

Speaking of Sarah...and Ellie...they are both 'super sisters'!  On Wednesday, Ellie spent a ton of time playing with Luke and creating acts for a circus that they put on for us after dinner that night.

On Saturday, Sarah didn't have cross country practice because she was resting a very sore hip flexor.  After she woke up and got ready for the day, she really wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for everyone for the weekend.  I hesitated briefly because it was mid-morning and you know what happens when there are freshly baked cookies in the house.....but, of course, I wasn't going to turn down her offer.(and of course everyone ate warm cookies out of the oven before lunch...or even before they were out of their jammies!)

This one is my favorite!  So stinkin' cute!

I hope your weekend is filled with sweetness!

Also linking up with ladies blog share only live and create with joy:)