Future Homecoming King?

Mixed Feelings

The Good News: Elena can dress herself.

The Bad News:

(notice she managed to find and put on TWO shirts that clash not only with the pants but also with each other)

It's My Golden Birthday

I'm 27 on the 27th. As a kid, my golden birthday always seemed light-years away. "I have to wait until I'm sooo old to celebrate my golden birthday!" I used to say.

Now that it's here it's a little different than I imagined. For one, it's not as big a deal as I had imagined. Gold doesn't shower down from the skies all day long with people bursting into song and dance every time I pass by. I don't think that's quite how I envisioned it when I was little, but you know how kids can be. Now, I would be ecstatic just to get in a nap by the end of the day.

Secondly, I don't feel as old as I thought I would. Although my 10th grade students at religious education confirmed that I was correct to think that I would be "old" on my 27th birthday - or that I would at least seem that way:

"You're only 27!??" "Wow! I thought you were in your 30s"
Thank you.
"What? You look old."

Of course, I assume that they meant I seem old. I can still recall being a teenager and thinking that anyone who was married was old - throw a couple of kids in the mix and they're ancient.

and sometimes it doesn't matter how you ask

Me: Do you want yogurt or cottage cheese?

Elena: Hmmm.....ice cream.

It's all in how you ask.

I've found that re-wording questions with Elena can make a big difference in convincing her to do something. I'm waiting for the day she catches on. Here are 2 recent examples (both conversations happen on a regular basis):

Me: Do you want some bread?
Elena: No.
Me: Do you want toast?
Elena: Yeah, but I want it cold.
Me: You mean you don't want me to toast it.
Elena: Yup.
So...you want bread.

Me: Do you want to wear pigtails today?
Elena: No!!
Me: Do you want a ponytail?
Elena: Yeah! I want 2 of them.

Meat

While digging in my freezer this morning, I came across a beef liver and a heart approximately the size of Elena's head.

Suggestions?

Takers?

Memories

Mary's cleaning out Seth's old room so we got a box of old stuff.
Best find:

Worst find: Seth's wisdom teeth. (Sorry, I threw them out before I could take a picture)

My Christmas/Birthday Present

At the store they called it a Dishwasher. I prefer to call it Time.

I've never really had a (useable) dishwasher and I hadn't planned on getting one. It's not something anyone really needs, and I always figured as the kids grew, they could be the dishwashers. A little part of me feels guilty for having one.

But a bigger part of me is just going to enjoy it. Considering both my children are toddlers, they will not let me do the dishes without making a major mess, hurting themselves/each other or yanking on my pants crying for me to pick them up (this is mainly Sam). This leaves the time when Sam is sleeping as my only opportunity to do dishes. Because he is extremely stubborn about going to bed at night, I often can't get to them until 10:00 at night - at which point, I'm just too tired to do the dishes. Leaving them until his nap the next day, I usually spend his entire nap washing dishes and still can't get them all done.

Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Now I just have to figure out how to properly load and run it. It's almost full and I'm excited to try it out!

Thank you, St. Anthony!

I thought I'd give a little shout-out to good ol' St. Anthony. He has been exceptionally good to me lately. I have been missing 2 items for well over a year and happened to need both of them last week. After looking in every place I could possibly think of, I decided to just ask St. Anthony to pray for me and I quit looking. Within 2 days, both items showed up in completely unexpected places without my even trying to find them.

For those of you who don't know, St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost items. If you're unfamiliar with the whole praying-to-saints thing, here's essentially how it goes:

Contrary to popular belief, we Catholics don't actually worship Mary or any of the other saints. When we pray, our prayers, of course, are directed towards God. Sometimes we ask our friends and family (or even complete strangers if you're so inclined) to pray for us, too. When people die and go to heaven, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to keep asking them to pray for us. Luke 15:7 clearly indicates that those in Heaven are aware of what is going on here on Earth. And considering they're in heaven with God, you gotta figure they're pretty good at praying. Some pretty amazing stuff has happened with their help.

Most canonized saints are considered patrons of something particular, and you can find a saint for almost any request - from arthritis to tent makers to zoos. So the next time you have a concern, try picking a saint to pray along with you. You never know what may happen...

Happy New Years!