Words to Live By

"The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
 

— Mother Teresa

Motherhood = A Calling

As a member of an on-line Catholic mother's group I am continually coming across intriguing articles about being a wife/mother/parent. I have SUCH a passion for learning about my vocation as wife and mother. Yesterday, one of the mothers in our group shared this article and I found it particularly intriguing and thought I'd share. It certainly puts my life as "mother" into perspective. Happy reading!

Theotokos - Holy Mother of God, Ora pro nobis.

TNT!!!

Have you ever seen one of these tents off the side of the road in late June/early July??? 

 Well, for the last several Summers my Mr has been working under one. He works from 10 am until 10 pm (and sometimes even later) selling fireworks. It is long, hot, hard, exhausting work...but I think that deep down inside his masculine heart he loves the thrill of selling explosives by day and setting them off by night.

This Summer we just couldn't resist going back to G-town to sell fireworks one last time before our big move. So, last weekend we took up temporary residence in a friends RV while he worked 35 hours over 3 days (phew!), and we're off again tonight to spend a second weekend dreaming of stars, stripes, and TNT.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

The P.L.A.N.

We have been anticipating our (first) move for almost 6 weeks now and today we began our 1 week countdown. Since the last time I posted about our great big move, a couple things have changed. We are no longer moving to Missouri, but are moving somewhere over the rainbow (a.k.a. Kansas) instead. The reason for this abrupt change is that my Mister was selected to fill a science teaching position at a Catholic(!!!) school and was offered the right salary...how could we resist?

So, here is our plan:

We are moving to Albuquerque, NM in 7 days.

The reason we are moving to ABQ is that my Mister will be taking 3 Summer classes (8 weeks long) at UNM (pre-requisites for his physicians assistant program).

Between now and then, we have to pack up the rest of this house, move what is left to a storage unit, paint our beautiful red living-room white (it's a looong story), deep-clean the apartment (including all of the lovely white walls and trim that my littles have covered with love), shut off the utilities, turn in our change of address to every institution that we owe $$$ and to the post office, close out my Arbonne business orders, help throw a baby shower for a dear friend, and say goodby to our friends.

Once in ABQ we will live in a (semi) spacious extended-stay hotel room (i.e. full kitchen, full bath, bedroom/living room/dining room, fully furnished, utilities included, free wireless internet, free cable, and last but certainly not least, cleaning service!) bringing only 2 suitcases, some dishes, some toys, a stroller, and some educational materials. 

When my Mister is finished with his classes, we will pick up our moving truck (which happens to be the same dimensions as our current storage unit), drive it to our storage unit, pack it up, and drive it to Kansas.

Now, I know that you may be thinking that we are completely out of our minds to move into such a small space, with 3 small children, and almost nothing else...BUT, there are many perks to living in ABQ...I'll have to share them with you another day...right now, I am tired.


G'night.

Catching Up...

So much is happening/has happened in my life and in my heart lately. Here are some of my recent thoughts...

I love the month of May. I just love it. I love the blossoms on the trees and the flowers that spring forth from the earth. I love the singing of the birds and the sunshine that pours through my windows. I love that it is the month of Mary. I love the Marian hymns at mass and the beautiful tradition of the May crowning...speaking of, I really need to glue our statue of Our Lady back together so that we can have our home May crowning...

Lately I am re-obsessed (it hits me every Spring and Summer) with smoothies. I JUST. CAN'T. GET. ENOUGH!

It is such a blessing to have the opportunity and grace to house another precious child within my womb. I am often overwhelmed with the the beauty of this reality. And, I can't wait to find out if we are to welcome a little boy or a little girl into our hearts and home this September (2 weeks until the ultrasound! eek!).

We are leaving in 2.5 weeks and I will dearly miss our friends...sigh. And, there is still SO much to be done before we go.

My in-laws are coming to our home in 3 days! 

I love my husband more than words can express. He is such a loving, giving, caring man. I have been feeling the blessing of his presence in my life a LOT lately. It is an incredible gift to be married to my best friend.

Speaking of my Mister, he made a toddler bunk bed yesterday! Who does that?! He did such a great job! I can't get over that man. We'll sand and stain it later this week. I can't wait to show you the pictures!

Speaking of yesterday, my baby girl turned 1 (1!!!) I can't believe it! The day was simply lovely.

Library fines can be so EXPENSIVE! That's all I'll say about that!

I found (and bought) this INCREDIBLE  orange necklace at this little boutique I happened to pass through the other day. You may have heard of it...it's called Goodwill. (Pics another day)

Did you know that Tom's of Maine made a toothpaste for kids?! I JUST discovered it this weekend...and promptly escorted it to the checkout and into my home.

I have been listening to the Parent Trap soundtrack on repeat ALL weekend. SO GOOD! I had forgotten how much I love it. And, dance parties with toddlers are truly priceless!

And now, my coffee is beckoning and there are empty boxes waiting to be filled...

More later!

Ciao!

A Royal Wedding

I'm not sure if it is the horse drawn carriage, the beautiful dress, prince charming, the crown, the bells, or the thought of happily ever after...but there is something about the wedding of a royal Prince and Princess that speaks to the heart of every woman (c'mon ladies...admit it!).

I have to say that I loved the sermon given by the Bishop of London...especially this part...

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves. ~ Royal Wedding sermon of the Bishop of London

A final thought: I think that if my little princess was several years older, we just may have woken up in the wee hours to watch the entire ceremony...while eating scones and drinking English tea...out of REAL porcelain tea cups...and wearing big beautiful hats...or perhaps even tiaras.

First Comes LOVE...

Then Comes Marriage...

Then Comes the Baby in the Baby Carriage.

We will be happy to hold baby number FOUR in our arms this September!!!

BIG NEWS!!!

My husband has been offered a position as a science teacher in Missouri(!!!)...which means that we will be moving in 14 1/2 weeks.

Missouri's State Flower - Hawthorn Rose

We will dearly miss all of our beautiful friends here in the great Land of Enchantment; they have been so good to us, have adopted us into their families, and have made this place our home away from home.

The reason that we are moving is that we are ready to live closer to our family, and to make a little extra money (we'll be able to live in a HOUSE(!)...with a YARD)!!!



Please forgive me in advance if I don't write as much over the next several weeks...this week I have been busy planning and getting ready for my boys' birthday party (I have had SO much FUN and can't wait to share the pics with you all). Next weekend we'll be having a HUGE moving sale. The following week is Easter (already?!!!). And the week after that, we'll be moving all of our belongings into a storage unit here in town, and moving our family into temporary housing (2 hrs away, for 8.5 weeks) so that my Mr can take 4 summer classes. Phew! We'll be busy!


And now for some fun! How many of you knew that Missouri is called the "Show Me State" hmm? For 49 more completely random facts about the state of Missouri click here.

Have a great weekend!

Make Your Own Flower Food

Mush Alert!

This weekend my Mr went out of town to stand up in a friend's wedding. Let me tell you, there are very few things we LIKE  about being apart from one another...I mean the workday, five days a week, is hard enough...but we REALLY don't like being apart overnight!

That being said, there is at least ONE perk to being apart from one another...for a day or so...namely....the homecoming.

I usually will make him a nice meal, and write a mushy love note about how my life would never be as wonderful without him, and the littles help me make a "welcome home" sign...

 ...and when he comes through the door, he always brings with him a great number of these...

XOXOXOXO ...to go around...

...usually some of these...

...and most likely some of these...

These are the beauties I was lovingly presented with this time around.

Yes. Reunion is SWEET indeed.


Ok, so enough about us! I know YOU all want to know how to make food for your flowers! So, here is my recipe for keeping flowers fresh and lovely for as long as possible.

Flower Food

Directions:

1. Cut each stem at an angle (this allows the flowers to take in water most efficiently).
2. Add 1 quart of warm (not hot) water to a clean vase or jar.
3. Mix in 1 tsp. white sugar (flowers love this stuff!) and 1 Tbsp. white vinegar (this thins the water/sugar mixture enough that the flower can take in what it needs and also helps prevent bacteria from growing in the H2O and thus entering and killing the flower).
4. Repeat steps 1-3 every 2 days.

Celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph - Prayer, Craft, and Song

Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph!

Today I am praying for my beautiful son on his feast-day, for my holy, humble, and heroic husband who strives to follow the example of this blessed Saint each and every day, for my wonderful father and father-in-law, and for all of the other holy men in my life. I am so thankful for each and every one of you, and am a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, and woman because of your presence in my life.

 

This is my favorite prayer to this beautiful and blessed man:

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for me. 

Taken from the Pieta Prayer Book

*This prayer was found in the fifteenth year of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In 1505 it was sent from the Pope to Emperor Charles when he was going into battle. Whoever shall read this prayer or hear it or keep it about themselves, shall never die a sudden death, or be drowned, poison shall not take effect on them; neither shall they fall into the hands of the enemy; or shall be burned in any fire, or shall be overpowered in battle.

Here are a couple of ideas that you can use with your littles to celebrate today's Solemnity (and if they're too late for today, remember that the whole month of March is dedicated to this beautiful Saint. Or you can re-visit this post on May 1 for the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker):

Craft Ideas: 

1. Sacred Space:

Today we are going to change up our sacred space by placing an icon of St. Joesph in the center and adding a bouquet/vase of lilies (see craft below)...adding a hammer, a piece of wood, and a square would be neat too. 

2. Paper Roll Doll Craft:

We are going to make St. Joesph, Mary, and Jesus (the boy) dolls using paper and toilet paper rolls. Learn how here.

3. Hand-print Lily Craft: 

Last but not least we're making this awesome lily craft. The lily is a sign of virginity in the Church and St. Joseph is often depicted holding one. Get step by step instructions (with pictures) on how to make a St. Joseph lily here.

Song Idea:

This song was taught to me and my siblings when we were young, by my beautiful mother, who in turn learned it from  the sisters at her grade-school. Today I am thrilled to pass it along to my littles. I guess you could call it a family tradition!

St. Joseph the Carpenter

St Joseph was a carpenter, a carpenter, a carpenter,

and Jesus used to watch him hammer, hammer all day long

And Jesus learned to hammer too, to hammer too, to hammer too,

And he could make a table or a little chair for you

It really was not hard at all, not hard at all, not hard at all,

For God who made the lovely world to make a chair or two

 (author unknown)

I'll have to post a video with the melody...to find the time...if only.


PAX,

b

P.S.

If you'd like to read a beautiful little commentary on St. Joesph and the men in our lives hop over to Sarah's blog and read her post.

Date Night

Last night you may have seen my Mister and I all decked out in one of these...

(ok...ours weren't quite that elaborate...)
or some of these...

If you haven't guessed what we did last night, I'll tell you. We went out (sans littles) to the Bishop's Mardi Gras Party and had the time of our lives. We ate traditional Mardi Gras food, danced, hung out with good friends,  and played all sorts of fun games (like Plinko, Roulette, golf, basketball, horse race, Texas Hold 'em, darts and more). We made out like bandits at the darts booth and won enough "Bishop Bucks" to buy a $100.00 pre-paid Visa gift card and a $50.00 Amazon gift card at the prize booth (...isn't that like being paid to go on a date? I love it!).

We try to go out on at least one date a month and we always have such a great time. Last night was no exception. SO. MUCH. FUN. It does cost a little $ but we budget dates into our monthly budget and look at them as an investment. If you haven't "dated" your husband or wife in awhile I would highly recommend that you give it a whirl. Dating your spouse gives the two of you an opportunity to catch up and talk about life, love, littles, faith, prayer, dreams, goals, etc. You would be amazed at what one date can do for your marriage.


Here's to YOU!

What We Were Up To This Weekend...

This weekend I got to spend a whole lot of time with my Mr (read: handsome hubby) working on this:

 

Isn't she a beauty?!

It all started last Christmas when my Mr and I had been shopping for the perfect wooden kitchen for the littles with three things in mind: affordability (read: It's gotta be cheep!), design, and durability. We really liked these (among others)...

Reto Kitchen  (158.00) from KidsKraft

Retro Complete Kitchen ($249) from Company Kids 

...however we weren't too crazy about the price-tags that came with the ready made kitchens that we liked and I was pretty attached to having some counter space (you know for things like mixing, chopping, and preparing food...etc) ...so we decided to make our own! How EXCITING!



We were completely inspired/blown away by some of these homemade kitchens...

Erin over at Ink Tree Press made this beauty. See how she did it here.

This big guy was made by Amy over at Giggleberry Creations from an old entertainment center! See how here.

And I just can't get over this little ditty made by Becca over at Bug Bites Play Food from a little footed nightstand! See how she did it here. I just think this is beyond ADORABLE! (I think I would have done something like this if I wasn't so darned attached to having counter space)

After pouring over hundreds of pictures of play-kitchens we began designing exactly what we wanted. We formatted our dream play kitchen on a program called Google SketchUp which we just plugged our measurements right into. Download it for FREE here.

With our design and measurements in hand we took a trip to home depot to purchase our wood. We spent about $35.00 and got one huge sheet of plywood (4'x8'), two 4''x1'' planks, two 2"x1" planks, and one 2"x2" plank.

We also bought all of the little accessories (knobs, oven handle, and dowel rod) as well as paint, sandpaper, bolts, screws, hinges, nails, etc...

I didn't know I'd be blogging about this later so I didn't take all of the step by step pics : ( Sorry to let you down folks.

This is what the kitchen has looked like since Christmas and we hadn't worked on it since until this weekend (we haven't been busy or anything).

(I promise I'll add these pics tonight soon!)

So this weekend we painted it and made and hung curtains! Now the only thing left to finish are the burners and knobs for the stove! We're almost there!


It was such a gift to create this project with my Mr and I had such a great time putting it all together. It was almost like a date (well...with the littles...so not quite...). I think the reason it was so special and unifying to build this toy together (besides the absolutely exhilarating feeling of using power-tools side-by-side) was because it is the first "handy" project that we have been completely united in and have created/worked on together from thought/design/dream to completion (well almost completion). So...maybe we will be able to build our dream-home together someday...you never know.


....I know you're all dying to know how much this pretty little plaything cost us...so I'll tell you. Our total cost for this project was right around $75.00!!!  That is approximately HALF the cost of anything we found while shopping!

So go grab your hubby and take a trip to Home Depot...where dreams can come true.

Oh! And do you want to see some of the kitchen accessories that we thrifted? Well I can't wait to show you!...But you'll have to wait for another day for all of that.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

You know it’s going to be a splendid day when you wake up and are greeted by a note like this on your bathroom mirror.

(Oh...and please ignore all the disgusting toothpaste splotches on my mirror)

 I love my Mr.

Have a fantastic day all!

The Reason Behind the Title

When I was a very little girl, maybe 8 or 9, I saw a movie called Rigoletto. While watching it I became completely enchanted by the lyrics to one of the songs...I have yet to find the name of that song but I can remember every word…



Music boxes have within,
melodies they carry with them,
once they open music fills the air.

Every person you have known,
has a song of their own,
once they open up you'll hear what’s there.

It's not easy you must listen
with your heart for what lies hidden.

There was a melody, locked deep inside of me but now its free,
it found a place embraced by harmony, sweet harmony,

Love more than anything,
Teaches our hearts to sing,
Only love, could break the spell,
now I know, very well,
the love within myself.



This song touched my heart and encouraged me to look for what is unique and beautiful within each person. It’s lesson has shaped me as a wife and mother and has challenged me to make my home a place filled with love, a place that not only allows but encourages  each person in my family to be fully who they were created to be, a “place embraced by harmony”.


 "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."Colossians 3:14