Sunday, October 30, 2011

Last Minute Fall/Halloween Stuff

 If you don't have much time,
 and have to bring something to a party
 or just want to do something fun with your kiddos,
 this is the snack!!
SO easy,
 just melt white vanilla chips, (2 bags)
 dunk Nutter Butters (1 package) in the melted chips,
 and add mini chocolate chip eyes and mouth,
 let set for about a 1/2 hour
That's it!!  
They were a hit!
I did the dunking, the girls did the chocolate chips 
and it only took about a 1/2 hour to make.

You could use these for All Souls day this week too.

 One party down, 2 more to go!
Strike that Ninja, we had Darth Vader instead.
(got the costume for like $6 last year, after Halloween, the pumpkin,wig and tiger were only a buck!)
(we painted the orange shirt with black stripes for a tiger a couple years ago)
 We saw this Art project here and had to try it!
We used regular white paper and made sure to color the colors first,
 so the black would not bleed into the colors
They turned out great!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Thankful Thursday

 Thankful this is one of those church photos I will be so very thankful I was pregnant at the time and someday will no longer look like this....You know, I'll look back and say, "Oh, look how big I was when I was pregnant"
(key word will be "was")
This was the best out of many, many poses, but the only one where no one had their eyes closed.
Hey, it was free.
 Thankful my good friend, Susie, showed up last Thursday with this beautiful vase full of flowers,
I, shocked, said, "What is this for?"  She said, "It's Thankful Thursday!"
 Thankful for our little homemade redneck birdbath.
We never did empty the kiddy pool and now the birds love it!
 Thankful for dress deals at Old Navy for my littlest
 Thankful for pumpkin seeds and kids who eat them all in one day!
 Thankful our Pro Life Kids Club Bake Sale raised over $1300!!!
 Thankful for littles with messy marker hands, and chairs and tables and walls
and
Thankful for washable markers 
 Thankful for yellow sunshine shining through the yellow trees
 Thankful for kiddos who will run and hold hands....
 just so their mama can get a picture!!
Now that's love!
(I love the above picture!)
Thankful for my loud, messy, unorganized life at this time
full of sticky kisses, poopy diapers and lots and lots of laundry, 
because,
when the day is done....
ALL THE KIDS GO TO BED!!

Thankful Thursdays
A time to remember to be thankful
A pause in the week for praise,
thanksgiving and thinking positively
in addition to the normal daily praise
we need to give God.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Men and Pillows

 We recently ordered this comforter set
(it looks much nicer in the ad)
This summer when we had our lice thing, 
(boy, it was a looooong summer with lice and chicken pox and nausea)
We got rid of our extra pillows and ugly brownish/paisley swirly ugly bed set.
Literally, my husband threw it in the dumpster.
He hated it.  
Did I say it was brown?
Just not our style.
As if we have a style, 
because we don't.
I plan to paint the walls white and get white sheer curtains...sometime
It's going to bug me til I do
(our walls are brownish--brown-ish)
My husband has been spoiled since summer, with no extra pillows, 
no extra blankets, just a sheet and our one blanket.
When this came 
he was like "What do we need all those pillows for?"
"Do we have to put all those on?"
"Can't we just use the comforter?"
I told him not to worry, I will take care of all the pillows.
he's not the one who makes the bed anyway.
He also hates the pillows on our couch.
Because, I suppose, they are always on the floor, 
and I'm always picking them up and putting them on the couch.
What is it with men and pillows?
Or is it just my man and pillows?
(Can you tell which side is my side of the bed?)
I like to read.
(My hubby's wires on the side there are all for his breathing/sleeping machine, IPod, alarm clock and lamp)

You'll Love This!


David Garibaldi: Jesus Painting from Thriving Churches on Vimeo.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Ramblings...

I think I finally got this whole blog thing fixed.  Man oh, man....I just don't have time to mess around with things like this!!  I had that old border forever!!  I looked through backgrounds and backgrounds til I finally found this one....not sure I like it yet, then had to mess around with fonts and colors of texts....After looking at many, many different backgrounds, I did find my old one and bookmarked it...what do you think?  Should I keep this one?
Should I go back to the old one?

Last week, I didn't do my Thankful Thursday post.  (not even on Friday) I wasn't feeling thankful I guess.  I was feeling, umm, "Why does God think I can handle all this?"  

I am, inside, a very organized person.  But living with 5 kids (soon to be 6) well, it's just messy.  Maybe not messy for some, but messy for me.  My kids don't leave all the toys in the toyroom, no, they bring them all over the house.  
 This basket is full of toys that I found upstairs, that "belong" (in my mind) downstairs, in their correct bins.
My girls don't care about correct toys in the right bins.  They like to mix all the toys together and play.
 They constantly bring toys into the school room...this drives me crazy, like a pet peeve....
 Certain 5 year olds in my house like to tape things to the walls....lots of things....
With lots of tape
Everywhere I look, there are messes.
There are piles
There are piles of messes.
Which is the way it is with 5 kiddos,
but
last week, it just got to me.
I was crabby, naggy, irritable, I felt like a failure and I felt very inadequate.
Little Catholic Bubble wrote exactly what I so often feel.
All I can do when I feel like this, is 
fall to my knees
and 
beg for graces and mercy.
And
God, in His Goodness, 
gives it to me.
(the graces and mercy, that is)
You see, Blogs have a way of showing only a portion of people's lives.
Usually only the good.
They tend to make someone else's life seem a little better, happier, easier or even 
perfect.
My life is far from any of these.
After I have times where I feel like this, I always come out of it
feeling more patient and more confident 
which is God's Grace.

 This past weekend was our Pro-Life Kids Club bake sale,
which means last week, I baked and baked....
The kiddos made the beautiful donation boxes!
The kids raise money for Pro-Life Across America (The billboard people)
Local crisis pregnancy centers in town and pro life stickers to pass out at a local 4th of July parade.
 10 Weeks left!!!
(but who's counting...me!!)
I had 2 appointments today (one more on Friday)
and the baby's heart rate was 131....hmmmmm haven't had a baby with a heart rate that low
since Jedi.....
I'm saving my husband lots of money, not knowing the sex though, because I don't buy things for the baby...
OK, well, I did buy one girl outfit and one boy outfit


I am in love already with our cleft lip/palate baby, and his/her lip.
The true miracle is that even though this is a "defect" it does not effect the health of the baby 
At All!!!
Our baby is healthy and my doctor is very happy with how the baby is doing!

My doctor also told me that insurance will cover a breast pump...
Yay!!!
(I'll be pumping all the time)
 We have our All Saints Party on Halloween this year,
 All Hallow's Eve, the eve of All Saints Day!!
The kiddos are planning on being:
St Maximilian Kolbe
St Joan of Arc
St Veronica
Mary Queen of all Saints
Mary, Mother of baby Jesus

We also have 2 Halloween parties to go to, one on Friday evening and one on Monday day...
The costumes the kiddos picked are:
Ninja
Pop singer
 (even though she doesn't even know any "pop" songs, or any "pop" singers for that matter)
Girl Pirate
Tiger
Pumpkin (my pumkin' is going to be a pumpkin!)

Which means I have lots and lots of costumes to put together)

I'll leave you with a review....
If you like the X-Men movies, you will love this one!!!
My husband and I watched this last night.
It was fun to see Xavior and Magneto as young men and see the starts of so many other 
X-men heroes and villains.


Gotta go cook supper....
Happy Monday everyone!!

Friday, October 21, 2011

What?

My flowers are gone on my blog.
Can you still see them?

There's this little thing that appears on the screen and scrolls as I scroll down,
it says "Bandwidth Exceeded"  And something about Photobucket.

I also can't change my header picture.....

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Beauty of the Rosary

October is known as the month of the rosary.
I've wanted to write about it all month, 
but
when I actually sit down to write it, 
I just can't do it justice.
I have it all in my head, 
I've prayed about it.
Bear with me, I'm not that good with words.
Here goes:
First of all, I've never had a problem with Mary.
She is the Mother of God.
Period.
I'm going to quote from the above book:

A Catholic boy from a parochial school was telling a university professor who lived next door
about the Blessed Mother.  The professor scoffed at the boy, saying: "But there is no difference between her and my mother."  The boy answered:  "That's what you say, but there's a heck of a lot of difference between the sons."

(I love Bishop Fulton J. Sheen!)

It is because Our Lord is so different from other sons that we set His Mother apart from all mothers.  
We did not make her different; we found her different.  We did not choose Mary;
He did.

He goes on to say:

It may be objected: "Our Lord is enough for me.  I have no need of her."
But He needed her, whether we do or not. And what is more important, Our Blessed Lord gave us His Mother as our Mother.  On that Friday men call Good, when He was unfurled upon the Cross as the banner of salvation, He looked down to the two most precious creatures He had on earth:
His Mother and His beloved disciple John.
The night before, at the Last Supper, He had made His last Will and Testament, giving us that which on dying no man was ever able to give, namely, Himself in the Holy Eucharist.
Thus He would be with us, as He said, "all days unto the consummation of the world".  
Now in the darkening shadows of Calvary, He adds a codicil to His will.  There beneath
the Cross, not prostrate, as the Gospel notes, "stood" His Mother.
As a Son, He thought of His mother; as a Savior, He thought of us.
So He gave to us His Mother:
"Behold thy mother".

I believe that the closer we are to His Mother, the closer we are to her Son.
I believe she only magnifies our love for her Son.
She points to Him.
As I pray the rosary, my favorite prayer of all prayers, 
I meditate on the life of Jesus.
Even the "Hail Mary" is all about Jesus.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace
The Lord is with thee 
Blessed art thou among women
and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death
Amen.

Only 3 lines are even about Mary, 
and those lines are taken directly from the bible.
The other lines are about Jesus
and US!

I didn't grow up praying the rosary.
My dad tried during lent to get us to kneel down after supper to pray, 
but, I only remember it happening a few times.
He always led.

(I was a lukewarm Catholic and only did what I was "supposed" to do, not knowing the "why?" we do what we do)
When I went through my conversion
 and figured out why we Catholics do the things we do, 
and how important praying the rosary actually was, 
I had to teach myself how to do it.
NOW, I must say, there is no correct way to pray, the only way to learn how to pray 
is to DO IT!
I got one of these FREE CD's  
and prayed along and learned the mysteries.
You can also learn here

I have rosaries everywhere, 
not because I worship Mary, 
they are to remind me to pray,
they remind me of Jesus.
Mary is purifying my prayers, as any mother would.

I always picture her in an old story I heard a long time ago, it goes something like this:

There was once a peasant man who had to go to the King to ask for something.
He had nothing to bring him, except some moldy fruit and an old basket to put it in.
He brought what he had.
When he knocked on the Palace door, the King's mother answered,
listened to his pleas, took his fruit, and told him to wait.
Now, the mother of the King knew him very well, she was his mother!
She knew what he liked and what he didn't.
She replaced the old basket with a shiny silver plate and put all his favorite fresh fruits on the plate,
she presented it to the King.


The peasant man is us
The King is Jesus
The mother is Mary
The old fruit and basket is our prayers before Mary
The fresh fruit on the shiny platter is our prayers purified by Mary for her Son, 
FOR US.

The beauty of the rosary, for me, is that it always leads me to her 
SON.

When I picture God, the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and 
God the Son in Heaven, 
I picture Mary the Mother of God there with Him.
Not His equal, 
His Mother.

Isn't Mary the next closest person who would be there?
Why is she so hard for people to understand?


This post is waaaaaaayyyyyy tooo long and I've probably already lost everyone, 
but, I  just can't do the Rosary and what it means and it's beauty in a short fluff post, 
like most of my posts are.
(OK, my Thankful Thursday posts are long, but come on everyone, they are fluffy)


If you've never prayed a rosary, or it's been a really long time,
 I challenge you to order a free CD and try it.
See how it goes.
It can only lead you closer to her son.


St Jude Novena Starts Today

St. Jude Novena
This novena starts today!
Will you join me?
Click on the picture, it will take you right to the novena!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Remembering Father Darin Didier

 We went "half way" between Fargo and where we live and met up with good friends.
We decided to meet at Father Darin Didier's gravesite.
He died of cancer just 6 years ago, shortly after being ordained to the priesthood. 
 His memorial site is here.
If you click on "petitions" you can scroll down and actually hear his voice praying all 20 mysteries of the rosary, it's truly beautiful and brought tears to my eyes, just hearing his voice again.
I did write my petitions there, but it has not been updated yet.
Darin was a friend of ours.
He was really good friends with my friend Sarah.
Mary Hannah was a baby when he was ordained and received his powerful first priestly blessing, 
as did I.
A few months later, he passed away.
You'd never even know he was suffering, he hid it and carried his cross.
There have been miracles and healings around his gravesite and through his intercession.
We love this baby I'm carrying, and no matter what accept God's will.
But
being Father's grave was so close,
 I, as a mother, had to go.

 His parents have 2 of these marble/stone benches with a petition container in between them, 
holding holy oil, prayer cards and a petition book.
We all signed the book and prayed some prayers asking God to heal my baby through
Father Didier's intercession.
It was definitely holy ground we were on
Many Masses have been said there at his grave.
Priests from all over the world have been there.
 We let the kiddos play there for a couple hours, 
Ballerina Rosie has the magic touch with sweet little Juliette here.
 Eva and my Colette...can you guess which one is older?
My daughter is 9 months younger!!
 I love how no matter how long it's been between our meetings
 The kiddos are just like Sarah and I,
picking up where we left off
We had a picnic and found this great tree at a local park
This is the only picture I got all 9 out of 10 kiddos in (Sarah has the baby)
What a great tree!
Sarah and have one of those "sisters in Christ" friendships, 
I will treasure forever.
Father Darin Didier, Pray for us.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Thankful Thursday (on Friday)

Maybe I should just call these posts "Thankful" since I'm always a day late (and a dollar short)
I found somewhere another Thankful Thursday thing, but I'm sticking with mine, no signing up, or linking, just enjoy and remember to be thankful for the little things!  I first saw "Thankful Thursday" posts about 3 or 4 years ago, starting in the fall, leading up to Thanksgiving (which is on a Thursday).   I liked it and decided to keep it up.  I enjoy how it keeps me thinking throughout the week about things, I can be thankful for, even in the thick of things.  (You know, 5 kids, pregnancy yucks, laundry, messes, etc...)  At the end of the week, the thankful things far outweigh the struggles we have.

Here goes:

 Thankful for littles and middles who still like to do Art with me!
 Thankful for Friday French Toast!
(I always use cinnamon bread, which makes it really good. I've never used plain bread)
 Thankful for Elmo toddlers jumping on the bed!
She loves Elmo, it's really cute.
Thankful she is better today, yesterday she had some kind of flu, 
throwing up and coming out the other end too, and only wanted mama, all day.
(which is why this is on Friday, this week)
 Thankful for girls in curls....
 funny girls in curls.....
 for girls who want curls....
 and big girls who let me braid their hair once in a while...
 Thankful for boys....with 4 screaming girls, do I need to say more?
 Thankful for blooms in October....
 Thankful for little moochers....
 and big brothers who give in...
 Thankful for puzzle messes....
 Baby tummies (lower part of picture)
My tummy bumps into things all the time now, this was not taken on purpose, it just got in the way!
and pictures with arrows (I doodle arrows too, wonder why?)
 Thankful for girls in PINK!
 Thankful for 5 year old Kindergartners that can READ!!!!!
 I took her words from her handwriting and put them into a book,
she was so excited to actually read them!!
 Thankful for schooling on the porch this past week, with highs around 80...
Those days are gone I'm afraid,  
but I'm thankful for that too...cooler days are great, us Minnesotans want our fall!
Thankful for meeting half way and seeing good friends this past week, 
More on this in the next post, 
It needs it's own special post.
Have a great weekend everyone!!
God bless you all!

Thankful Thursdays
A time to remember to be thankful
A pause in the week for praise,
thanksgiving and thinking positively
in addition to the normal daily praise
we need to give God.