Quick Takes 7-26-2013

Linking up with Jen and the gang...

I promised more on the house and travels last post so that's what I'll do:

1. My parents, sister, J, B and I all went to the Children's Museum on July 4th.  We had a blast even with only one kid in tow.  We were there from 11-5... no joke.  We went from basement to 4th floor and even had lunch there.  Serious fun...

Dinosaur exhibit, hands on part

looking up at the blown glass sculpture

And of course my camera battery died shortly after this moment, at the beginning of our visit.  Hmm, perhaps my sis has some pics I could have...

2. B was up all day on the 4th and still did fireworks, I don't know how he pulled that off but he was great throughout.  The rest of the week was spent with my family...

sudden rainshower = puddle splashing 

"well for starters, you have to understand that..."

Dancing after chocolate ice cream?  Why yes, don't mind if we groove.  One of my fav pics evah.

BTW, B's dancing reminded me of this scene from Psych, one of my favorite shows, if you haven't seen it, you should:

3.  My grandmother turned 80 and I really enjoyed seeing all of my extended family.  Every time I get some time with family I realize just how utterly blessed I am to have these wonderful people in my life.

One of the highlights was my uncle "interviewing" Grandma about her life.  She told us about finding work at 11 years old to help out financially, living with rations during WWII, walking to Church, her first experience of Adoration as a young girl and, of course, the love story of her and my grandfather.  The interview was videotaped.  I'm tearing up again just thinking about how much I was able to learn about this amazing woman that I wouldn't have learned without that opportunity.  Everyone should hear from their grandparents like this.

Listening intently

She even pulled out some things... this is her high school cheerleading sweater!
She was in the class of 1941 :)

4. Summer at home has been full of house projects, gardening and such.  I lost all my romaine lettuce because I didn't know when to harvest and it bolted.  Chalk that one up to a learning experience.  I have more tomato plants than I thought I would because so many volunteers came up from tomatoes that dropped last year.  I have 2 little icebox watermelons out there that I'm curious to watch grow.

5. Stripping dining room/playroom wallpaper and washing walls... teeeeeedious!
Before:

B photobombing the before pic :)

Pulling off the paper... thinking, "oh my, this is pretty easy for once!!!"

Something's not right here... that's not some kind of design...

And as I realized that there was a wallpaper mural under the glue and a coat of primer
I may or may not have cussed in German... ok, I did.  B was in bed.

I played with the filters on the last picture in hopes you would see what I was seeing... THIS MURAL UNDER A COAT OF PAINT... AAAAAACK!!!  (yes, I searched for it online because I was that mad that the least they could have done is not painted over it so that I could see the mural in all it's 1950's glory before I tediously scraped it off of the plaster walls... grr.)

Yup, it's under there alright.

 A week and a half later we finally finished scraping and steaming and scraping some more.  Now we're washing, washing and washing the walls.  Wallpaper is my nemesis and it has now been completely erradicated from my home.  WAHOO!

6. Speaking of stubbornness (wallpaper), a little boy is really exercising his independence lately :)  But we're learning to adapt to a big boy bed, drinking from real cups, doing things all by ourselves...

"I'm a big kid now" 

7.  B and I joined some friends for Mass and bagels this morning, great way to start a Friday!

Sorry so long, but thanks for stickin with me :)

Pierogi

I hope that's how it's spelled! :)  I felt so honored to join in the making of pierogi with Joe's mom, aunt and gma.  We spent a good portion of Monday morning working at it.  (I got to assemble them, a good detail task, just what I like!)  The recipe was passed down from Joe's gma's mother-in-law.  Pierogi is traditionally a Polish/Czech/Europeon dish.  (see here for more info)
I can't wait to fry them up!

filled dough

boiling

ready to freeze for a future delicious meal!

um, I thought it looked pretty...

Much thanks to my wonderful in-law family for sharing this tradition with me!!!!!!


...and I'm 4 for 4 on my blogging everyday til Friday goal!

Creepy Crawling

We have forward motion!  Benjamin is creeping all over the living room now.  I can't leave him alone on the floor for more than a few minutes at a time because I"m always unsure of how far he'll get.  We switched out the coffee table for the plush ottoman but there's still plenty of hard things for him to head butt.  He often concentrates harder on getting moving than how close he is to something :)

Ben and I got to spend a week with my parents and it was wonderful.  It's great to have so much help around all the time!  I walk in the door and hand him over.  It was also great to see so many friends and extended family as well.  I have a couple fabulous friends who are a step ahead of me in the mommy game and it was such a strengthening grace I was able to receive to simply be around them and witness their lives.  It still cracks me up to think back to our high school days and contrast that to our lives now.  It takes such humility and confidence to be a mother and I'm in awe of women who do it well, I hope I'm on that path.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

Phew, it's been awhile since I've posted!  Benjamin and I took quite the vacation to my parents' house this past weekend.  Being that I "stay at home" now I can travel on Thurs and Mon. when the roads are free and the sun is out.  It gets me max time with my family.  I'm there when they come home from work, stay for the weekend and then leave after they leave for work.  I'm blessed to be able to make the trip so often! 

This past visit also included time with my grandmother which is always wonderful.  She is such an example to me.  She's always told me that I'm special... that's something that many people may say, but one look at grandma when she's saying that to you eye-to-eye and you know she truly means it.  Her faith and prayers has been and continues to be a source of inspiration and support.  If I'm half the grandma that she is when I'm a grandma I'll be happy.

You know what, as I typed the above paragraph I started to realize that I could say the same thing about my Nana too.  Her faith is also deep and integral to her life as well as something that makes me admire her.  My gosh I am blessed with amazing women in my life!!! 

Halloween 2010

Trick or Treat!

Don't you wish you could have this happy little Tiger on your doorstep? This one comes with a pacifier :)
Obviously Joe is a Zookeeper and I am the Tiger Trainer.  Dressing up in cute and clever costumes and seeing all the neighbor kids in one night are my 2 favorite things about Halloween.  The dark and scary stuff need not be a part of our day.  We got to spend ours with Joe's family socializing and eating great food.  Then we handed out candy when we got home and I watched part of the Addams family marathon as usual.  (and by usual I mean, that's what happened last year)




So far so good...

We went to see the Pediatric Urologist on Friday last week and got some good news.  Since it appears that the connection between Benjamin's navel and bladder has healed up from the outside (navel) then we'll continue to wait and let it close up.  He'll be on a low dose antibiotic til January when we have an ultrasound to be sure that it has healed up at both ends and there's nothing stuck in between.  I have a feeling that at that point all will be fine, but should it not be healed like the doctor wants then we'll proceed with surgery at that time. :(  Keep those prayers up if you can, they NEVER hurt!

Got to spend some time at my parents' house this weekend- what a joy!  I missed my brothers, but as usual the house was crazy with people anyway.  My cousins' car wouldn't start so we had her, her husband and 13 month old M. on Friday night.  Then another cousin came with my uncle showing up the next day along with open house guests all Saturday afternoon.  My parents are such an inspiration in the "more the merrier," "let us know what you need" kind of ministry.  Their example of patience is why I have any that I do now and the fact that I desire to have more.



so peaceful





On a different note- Ben slept through the night on Friday night- from 8pm to 6:30am!!!  Too bad I was downstairs highlighting my hair with my mom til 2am... so I got a good 4 hours instead of the 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep that Ben got.  I hope he'll do that again sometime soon, I hope it's not just an "at Grandma's house" sort of thing.

Family Fun

What an amazing week!  Last weekend was the last weekend I was able to travel.  Being 36 weeks now, I'm to stay in an hour radius of the hospital, just in case.  A part of me is so ready to give birth and meet this little one finally and a part of me is really fine with waiting a little longer :)  I guess it's good I've got about 3.5 weeks left. 

Last weekend Joe and I travelled to my aunt and uncle's in Michigan.  They are always blessing our family with their hospitality.  To stay there means great food, swimming, games, fireworks and lots of family catching up.  I was able to swim a little bit which was a blast.  I felt more like my more svelte self when you have lots of water to hold up this ever-growing belly of mine.  I also was the recipient of much generosity as my sister-in-law Jill helped hold a baby shower with the women of that side of the family.  If you were there and are reading this... again- thanks!  Now I know how many toilet paper squares around I am. (answer: 12, which equals about 48 in, wow)

This week I've been able to have my sister stay here at the house with me.  I have LOVED having the company and to get to hang out with her.  It's so much fun to see the woman that she is growing up to be and I couldn't be more proud.  She's been so helpful and up for anything!  We made Lava cakes last night and they turned out! (you know the kind that has the chocolate sauce center.)  MMMmmmmm! 

Well, I should run, I've got a dishwasher to unload, thank yous to write, a house to clean up, etc.  More later :)

Recapping... Easter blessings

It's official - I'm as bad at updating this as I am updating my journal... where did that journal go anyway?  Actually, my goal was to get in a habit of blogging on Sundays after we take my pic but the last 3 Sundays have been a bit unusual and wonderful.  So back we go to Easter first and then we'll recap the other 2 last weeks in the next two posts.

Easter was, is, and always will be great.  I love being able to say "Alleluia" again.  It's silly, but going all of Lent without it makes me miss it and get excited to sing, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today."  Joe and I hit up the Holy Thursday Mass and Good Friday Service as usual too.  I have to say, those two experiences each year truly help make Easter Sunday a joyous celebration and not just another Sunday trip to Church.  Realizing what all goes into the Passion is what makes being Catholic so amazing.  There's value in suffering and a real connection to the cross of Christ which enables us to say our alleluia's with such great vigor when God's merciful love is showered on us.  I was especially struck this year as to how much I have to be thankful for this Easter, how amazingly blessed I have been.  I feel as if I've been given a life I don't deserve between great new friends, a fabulous family (both blood relatives and in-laws), a meaningful job, nice house, parents, brothers and sisters I wouldn't trade for anything, a husband who I adore and especially now the little wrapped present of a person in my womb who I just can't wait to meet face to face.

Take a second and think of how God has blessed you in your life... see what I mean!