Bellingham in October

In mid-October we took a trip up to Bellingham to see Andrew's folks and go to a Brian Regan comedy show. Andrew surprised me with tickets to the show on our anniversary in August. It worked out well since we had some grandparents to babysit!

We always have a great time on our visits to Bellingham. Can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks!!

We also had fun at the neighborhood park. Although, John did get a bloody nose, as you'll see below...

BONK!

 John is such a good kid! I instructed him to hold on to Peter on the slide. He sure did, even when they spun around backward. He took one for the team!!

Apparently Peter has a hard head!

At the show with my handsome date!

Good Reads: Posts I’ve Enjoyed

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Organizing Junkie: When Kid's Play Spaces Take Over YOUR Spaces! - We have to deal with this in our living room because it also contains all of John's toys. We have a toy box, but I also like the activity mat idea in this post.

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Catholic Icing: Lenten Navigation Page - Good source for living out the Lenten season with kids.

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Karen Edmisten: A Meaningful Lent - Long but good post about having a meaningful Lent for the whole family!

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Mama Natural: 10 Tips for Flying with a Toddler (video and text)- We're not planning on flying anytime soon, but these are good tips for the future!

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Star of the Sea: Fr. Lappe's Homily on Marriage - I wasn't able to hear this in person, so I'm glad it was put online!

Truest Demonstration of Faith

 Thy Will Be Done

There was an article that I read a couple of days ago in a newsletter that Samaritan Ministries (our health care) puts out every month. The story is about a man and his family who are part of our health sharing ministry. It was so moving that I had to share it with you! I cried a lot when I read it and John was so confused. I tried to explain to him that the words were sad, but he didn't get it. He kept wiping my tears.

Here is the beginning of the story, I really recommend reading the whole thing:

As I ran up to him, the first thing I noticed was the Bible. It was small, a pocket-sized book, in black leather. It had apparently been knocked out of his clothing when the car hit him, and had landed beside him in the snow, down off the shoulder of the road.

That was yesterday, a few minutes after 7 in the morning. It was frigid and there was accumulation and black ice and two cars had slid off the busy Interstate. He had stopped and gotten out to help. He had been on the way to work, with his son, and he saw the motorists who needed help and he stopped. Countless others of us drove on by. But he stopped... (Read the rest here)

 What really struck me was the description of the wife's prayer for her husband:

Then she knelt and began to pray.

She may have held his hand, she may have leaned in toward his head. As she spoke, I cast my eyes down and reverently listened. She addressed God. Whether she called him “Dear Lord” or “Heavenly Father” or something else, I can’t recall. But she addressed him, and then she thanked him. And she offered him praise. Her words were not words of pleading, they were words of praise and gratitude. And then she said something like, “If today you wish to call him home and take him from us – thy will be done.”

Thy will be done.

The line from the Lord’s Prayer. The hardest part of faith. At a moment when most of us would be begging God to give us what we want – to spare us our loved one – she asked the Lord to do his will, what he wanted. She trusted him, and had faith in him.

Where could there be a truer test or demonstration of faith than in the snow beside the broken and near lifeless body of your sweetheart and spouse? In that situation, there can be no pretense, no show, only the heartfelt honesty of a soul in direct communion with its Creator.

And in her moment of test, in her own Gethsemane, she literally prayed, like her Savior before her, not my will, but thine, be done.

But if it was not his time to die, if the Lord did not want to call him home, she asked for his life, for her and their children, and strength through the weeks of hospitalization and recovery.

After I read that part, I felt silly for crying. Here I am - a stranger - and I was crying as if this were my own husband. While she had the strength and conviction to ask for God's will to be done and that this whole situation add to the glory of God. I really hope and pray that God will give me the grace to act the same way when I face trials in my own life. This made me realize how much I have to learn about real sacrificial love.

When I read this portion of the story to Andrew he commented on how she was acting like Mary, our Blessed Mother, did during Christ's passion and death. Surely it was very heart-wrenching to watch her Son suffer so, but she knew it was for the glory of God and she desired to be submissive to His will.

This wife and mother is such a great example for me and I will always remember her story. If you didn't have a chance to read the whole story, her husband did die - and now she is a widow with eight children to care for. May Our Lord give her the strength and joy she needs to persevere in this life and be reunited with her beloved in Heaven.

Tree Decorating in Bellingham

Every year that Andrew and I have been together, I have participated in cutting and decorating Andrew's parents' tree. It is a cherished tradition for me, and we wouldn't miss it for anything... unless it was snowing. We just don't drive in the snow - too risky!

Fortunately, the weather was great. So we took a trek up to Bellingham and hunted for the perfect tree:

 

We found it!

  

Then we decorated it with all of the St.Hilaire ornaments while singing along with Elvis' Christmas album:

Even John got in on the action!

 Annual family Christmas portrait:

Where has the time gone?

Seriously? I have not updated this blog since the beginning of December?? Wow, I guess we have been busy around here. During the course of this week I will attempt to give an update on all of the things that have happened in our lives since I last wrote. For today, I will share our letter that we sent out with our Christmas cards, written by my wonderful husband:

~ ~ ~

Dearest Family & Friends,

Peace be with you as we celebrate the joyous occasion of the birth of Our Savior this Christmas season!

This letter is getting out a wee bit later than we had hoped, but hey, thank goodness the twelve days of Christmas come after December 25th and not before! And now that the new year is looming, we look back in amazement at another year gone by in the blink of an eye.

In May, we celebrated John’s first birthday. Around the same time he began to take his first steps, and since then the world has never been the same. John loves to run around the house, climb on furniture, and generally tear the house apart. Lindsey can usually keep up with him, but on her busier days you can definitely tell where our sweet little boy has left his mark. Throughout the year he has gone from one fixation to another. It used to be pens and then cellphones. More recently his fascination has been with hats. He also loves to wear his red rubber boots around the house all day, sometimes from the moment he gets out of bed.

Although fluent in his own native language, John is still working on speaking English. “Hat... go?” is his way of telling us he’d like to put his hat on so he can go outside and play. “Auh?” he says as he points to something he wants. One of his favorite things to say is “BY-e”, with sort of a Southern drawl, as he smiles and waves at strangers passing by or as he’s leaving the room. Everyone loves to see his cheery face, especially his “Mama” and “Dada”, who feel so blessed to have him entrusted to their care.

In January, I began working part-time for our parish, Our Lady Star of the Sea, to help with marketing and web management, in addition to working at SwingSetMall.com. Having both jobs and working six days a week have definitely kept things busy, but we feel fortunate to have the extra income which has helped us to pay off all our debts and get us closer to owning a home (just waiting for home prices to fall a bit more in Malibu). At SwingSetMall.com, we’ve had a record year of sales and growth. Without going into details which would violate the terms of the confidentiality agreement (in which case I would have to kill all of you), let’s just say the business is doing better than ever and showing promising signs of continued growth in large part due to this thing called advertising. Praise God! We hired a new employee in September to fully manage the warehouse and shipping, and although Glenn is still not keen on my idea of hiring an in-house sushi chef, I think that day is coming soon. :)

Lindsey has been staying busy with all of her duties as a (wonderful) homemaker. She finds a lot of fulfillment and meaning in the little things she does each day. She is also leading a mothers group at our church which meets every week. She tries to reach out to our friends and have lots of play dates for John. Fortunately, we are blessed to be in a community where there are many moms who are homemakers, so Lindsey feels blessed to have so much support.

Another important part of our lives has been our continued involvement in pro-life work. This year Lindsey helped lead the Pro-Life Youth Committee at our church. I am still co-directing the Anti-Choice Project, now a non-profit organization, with our good friend Tom. Other highlights of the year include attending 5 weddings of some of our dear friends; a trip to Bellingham to be with my two sisters, Jenny and Marie, who were visiting from out of state; several batches of homebrew; more than one trip to the mechanic; going to a Dave Matthews Band concert with friends; and of course our annual camping trip to Mt. Adams to pick huckleberries.

We love you all and hope to hear from you soon. May you have a blessed Christmas season and a happy new year!


Love,
Andrew, Lindsey and John

DMB - Road trip!

On the first weekend of September, John spent the weekend with my parents and we took a road trip to the Gorge Amphitheater to see the Dave Matthews Band with our friends - Ed & Corina, and John & Lauren. We took two cars, a girl car and a boy car. It was really fun to have some girl time!

I had never been to the Gorge, and it was very beautiful. We were a little disappointed by how windy and cold it was. The concert was lively and entertaining, and I have a greater appreciation for the variety of instruments they use. Too bad they didn't let us take cameras into the the amphitheater!!

After the concert was over, we piled in the cars and drove to Corina's mom's house in Wenachee, which was an hour away. We set up our tents and camped in her yard. When we woke up in the morning everything was quiet, so we weren't sure if the others were awake. As it turned out, everyone else had been awake for over an hour and they had already eaten breakfast! They figured we were soaking up our sleep since we don't normally get to sleep in!

It was a nice break from our day-to-day lives, but I sure was excited and happy to see John when we got home!

e5 Men

I'm blogging for the parish today:

I went to college at Western Washington University from 2003-2005. I followed my older brother there and from him I learned about the "Shalom Center" - which is now called the Newman Center - it was the Catholic Campus Ministry for the university. It was a vibrant community of young Catholics who were passionate about their rich faith.

During my first year, I went with a group of Catholics to see Fr. Corapi in Vancouver. Ironically enough, we happened to stay the night in the youth center of Fr. Lappe's old parish in Camas. On this weekend I learned a lot. Fr. Corapi was amazing - but what resonated with me the most was getting to know the fellow Catholics I traveled with - particularly the men. On the first night, before we went to bed, the men decided they wanted to pray for all the women in our group. So they formed a circle and faced outward, while the women made a larger circle around them and faced inward. The women rotated around and each man prayed for us individually. Each man poured out his heart in whispered prayers for our purity and our holiness.

Read more...

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 19

1. John's crib - John is still sleeping very well in his crib. In fact, he is there right now! Last night he stirred a couple of times, but I never had to go in to comfort him - he basically slept from 9pm-8:30am on his own. I am loving this sleeping arrangement!!

2. My schedule is slowing down for the summer. Little Flowers and Mother's group are not meeting during the summer. My only weekly commitment for the summer is Encounter (a bible study) on Tuesday nights, and the Pro-Life Youth Committee (every other Saturday). I am looking forward to nice weather and more time to play with John!
3. John's buddies - John is a very social guy. He loves people a lot and is not very shy. Here are some pictures of John with his friends that I just found while clearing out our camera:

John and James - playing in James' dog's pen! Silly boys!

John and Joey Gaunt - He couldn't crawl at the time, but John thought he was still pretty cool!

4. It has been a long week! Andrew has been working pretty late most nights this week - in order to catch up and prepare to take Saturday off. John and I are excited to spend good quality time with Andrew this weekend! (See #7)

5. There aren't many things cuter than my two men snoozing together:



6. You know you have a toddler when... you know exactly what toilet paper being unrolled sounds like.

7. Parish Camp - Around 3:30 today we are headed out to go to our parish camp for the weekend. It is at Camp Berachah in Auburn. This is our first trip of the summer!

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 17

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. Learning about generosity: I just began passing on some of John's clothes to friends with baby boys. I was going to save them all for (hopefully) future sons, but I changed my mind under the influence of some generous friends from church who are who are constantly giving us hand-me-downs for John. I asked them if they wanted me to give them back when John outgrew them and they said "No, just pass them on..."! I was so amazed by their generosity and it made me reconsider my stance on hording all of John's clothes. God has really provided for us with John. I am so thankful for this and I decided that I want to be a conduit of God's generosity to our other friends - so I am passing the clothes on. I know that if we are blessed with another son in the future, God will still provide for us. Note: I did keep some clothes that were sentimental to me - hey, I'm not that good! =)

2. Baby Kisses: I mentioned in a previous post that John has begun to intentionally give kisses. I must say - his kisses are the best! We ask him to give us a kiss and tap on our cheek, then he will lean in with his slobbery mouth gaping open and plant a big kiss on our cheeks. It is precious! Sometimes he doesn't want to give us a kiss - but you can tell that he knows what we are talking about.

3. Mission Impossible: This week has been very busy for us. On Monday and Wednesday I helped out a friend who is the PE teacher at Star of the Sea. We taught the students a game called "Mission Impossible." The students were divided into teams and their mission was to get from one side of the gym to the other - without touching the ground. There were mats spread throughout the gym, jump ropes, laundry baskets, Styrofoam noodles, poly spots, and scooters. With those tools, they worked as a team to get everyone across. If someone touched the ground, they had to go back to the beginning and their team had to figure out how to go back and retrieve them.

It was a lot of fun! We modified it a little for each grade, so it was a challenge for everyone. It made me miss teaching and being with all those kids - but boy did I miss my little Johnny by the end of the day! He was watched both days by some friends and he did really well! That was the longest I've been away from him!

4. Fresh Veggies, here we come! A couple of weekends ago, my parents and I cleared out a space in our yard for a garden. I bought some seeds a few days ago, so soon we will be planting them and eating fresh salads! I can't wait!

5. Cool Blog: For all you Catholic moms out there, a friend recommend this great blog to me called Catholic Icing. It has super fun ideas for celebrating feast days in the home. I am so excited for John to be interested in this stuff!

6. Beatles Question: If your name was Magill and you called your self "Lil" - why would other people call you Nancy??? It just doesn't make sense to me...

7. Happy Birthday, Mom! Today is my wonderful Mother's birthday. She is down in Oregon right now, but we really wish we could be with her! Love you, Mom!

Birthday Adventures =)

(Note: I began writing this post about a week ago, but I haven't had a chance to finish it until now... life is definitely busier with a mobile child!!)


Last week, I ruined Andrew's surprise for my birthday. I was checking our bank statement (I learned this is something you shouldn't do during December...) and saw "PNW Ballet." What is that? I wondered. At first I was thinking "ballot" and wondering why we were being charged for voting, but then I realized that it was actually "Ballet." Then the acronym "PNW" all made sense - "Pacific North West." Andrew got me tickets to the Nutcracker!! I felt terrible for finding out. I wasn't sure if it would be better to act surprised or tell him the truth. I ended up telling him that I found out. He wasn't too upset and appreciated my honesty.

The big day was on Christmas Eve. It was all arranged that my parents would watch John all day while we were in Seattle. I was really looking forward to having quality time with Andrew. We got all gussied up for the show, said good bye to John, and headed for the 10:15 ferry. We arrived at the ferry at 10:00am - plenty of time to spare. And boy did we need spare time because as we were sitting in line, Andrew felt his jacket pocket and said "I forgot the tickets!"

"You're joking," I snickered.

"No, I'm serious, I forgot the tickets!" His face was deadpan.

Oh no! What were we going to do?? We acted quickly and called my dad. I stumbled over my words trying to quickly explain that we forgot the tickets and where he could find them. So my dad grabbed the tickets, rushed out of the house, and was speeding on his way to meet us at the ferry. Meanwhile, Andrew ran up to the ticket booth and called Dad again to tell him to meet him there. While Andrew was gone, they started to load the ferry. I pulled over to the side of the lane so cars could go around me; I didn't want to get on the boat in case my dad came too late. The ferry worker who was motioning the cars on was perplexed so I shouted to her "I'm waiting for my husband!" Then I saw her talking on her radio and she stopped looking at me; I assumed someone told her what was going on.

I kept glancing back to see if Andrew was coming. Sure enough, in a few minutes I saw him sprinting down the ferry lane! He hopped in the car, gasping for breath, and we drove on the boat! We had a long laugh and couldn't believe what had just happened! Oh man, imagine if he had remembered after we were on the boat! It was crazy!

Fortunately, that was the craziest part of the day. The rest went like a beautiful dream!

The Nutcracker was wonderful! Andrew and I both really enjoyed the dancing, sets, and beautiful music. Before it began, I asked Andrew if he had plans for food for us. He said no. I suggested that we go to the Center House and get a bite to eat there after the show. So after the Nutcracker, we moseyed on over to the Center House in search of food. Not much was calling to us, so Andrew spontaneously suggested that we go up in the Space Needle. I asked him if he had this planned, which he quickly denied. I felt like he was going to propose to me! ;)

We passed by the long line to go up, which kept me thinking that this was indeed planned. Sure enough, he went up to the reception counter for the Space Needle restaurant and said "I have a reservation for two, under St.Hilaire." What a rascal! =)

When we got up to the restaurant, Andrew told me to order whatever I wanted. I had never been to this restaurant before and was shocked by the prices. I was concerned that we could not afford to order "whatever we wanted." After letting me stew about this for a while, Andrew pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was from my brother. He wanted to treat us to lunch!! I couldn't believe it! I felt SO loved: My parents were watching John, Andrew took me to the Nutcracker, and my brother treated us to lunch in the Space Needle!!

Andrew and I had a lot of fun pretending we were wealthy while we enjoyed the amazing view! At the end of the dinner, our waiter (named Fabio!) asked us if we wanted him to call our valet. That was a first! Andrew and I smiled at each other while politely turning down the offer, assuring him it wasn't necessary.

Then we went up to the top to enjoy the view a little more.

What a great day! =) I think every mommy needs a day like that! Thank you, dear family!

Share-worthy post

I so needed to read this post from Heavenly Homemakers today!

Why? Why do we do it to ourselves?

We’re all just moms.

Why do we think (even though we know better) that all the other moms have everything under control…all of the time? Why do we see messes in our own homes and feel badly because the other moms surely never have messes like the ones we have? Or at least not as often as we do? Why do we sometimes feel like a failure when our kids don’t obey…again?

[Click here to read the rest]

Date Night

We try to go on a date night every month. I have some milk stored in the freezer for John on such events. We leave John with my parents for a few hours. They love to have special time with John! This month, we tried out our skills at put-put golf... Andrew won. Then we went down near the ferry to have some beer and pizza. We had a great time! I love dating my husband! =)

Housewife Resources

Please notice that I just added a box with links to my favorite housewife related websites. You can find it if you scroll down on the right side of our blog. I am most excited about the new site I found called the "Crafty Crow." Enjoy!!

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 10

Warning: Extremely cute pictures!!

1. Organizing: Last week I worked on organizing all of our junk in the garage. We tried to get it done by the time my parents came home from their week long trip to Oregon. We almost did it, but I have a little more to do.

2. Visit to Bellingham: We went up to Bellingham last weekend. It was jam-packed with good visiting. We had dinner with my Grandma on the way up, dinner on Saturday with Mom, Dad, Lou, Jenna, Cousin Erin, Bill, Sydney, Uncle Pat, and Francine (an honorary Grandma), we also visited with Fr. Qui-Thac, and we spent time with our good friends Katelyn, Jon, and Oliver Ralston! It was so great to see everyone!

3. Synonyms for weird: I realized that I say "weird" a lot. In fact, I think it has become a problem. Now that I recognize it, I notice myself almost saying it a lot. Most commonly, I relate thoughts by beginning with, "It's weird because..." So in order to help myself, here are some synonyms for "weird" that I might try using: strange, bizarre, peculiar, unusual. I know everyone has their words and phrases that they tend to say a lot. It's peculiar because the word I use all the time is "weird." Very strange, indeed!

4. John: Just a few days ago, John started getting up on his knees during tummy time. For a while he has been able to lift his chest off the ground. Now he just needs to learn to do these two things together! Then he will be a crawling machine!! It's bizarre being with him every day and not noticing all his little advancements - then when someone sees him who hasn't in a while, they tell me about how much he has changed!

5. The Front Lines: Yesterday I was at the 40 Days For Life vigil for two hours. I was nursing John while waiting for the next person to show up. The next person came and brought some graphic abortion signs. I am fine with these signs, though I typically shy away from holding them - not because I think they are inappropriate or wrong, but because my pride gets hurt when I am yelled at. Anyway, I was nursing John and these signs were right next to us. A woman drove by and yelled out her window, "You should be ashamed of yourself!!" I don't really get her logic. Why should I be ashamed of myself? Because of the pictures? I think the pictures are pretty shameful, but that has nothing to do with me. On a similar note, when John and I were protesting with Andrew, someone told us that they felt sorry for our child. Andrew responded, "At least he's alive." So true.

6. Moment of honesty: I am still working on thank you cards from the baby showers that were, um, *cough* six *cough* months ago. I feel terrible! I did a bunch this week, but I am no where near finished. If you gave us a gift and have not received a appreciative note yet, don't worry! This is going to be my priority over the next week.

7. And now for the cute pictures:

Thanks Cousin Hilary for the hand-me-downs!

Living with Less

So far, every year that we have been together, Andrew and I have gone to his parents house before Christmas to help decorate the tree. It has been a great tradition - Mom St.Hilaire sits on the couch with her boxes full of ornaments and carefully unwraps each one. She hands the ornaments to us and we decorate the tree. This has been a neat way to be a part of the family because I get to hear all the stories behind the ornaments. Maybe I'll take pictures next time and share the stories on our blog.

Anyway, there are some ornaments they have that date back to their first years of marriage. They are all homemade because they could not afford to buy new ornaments. This year, I found myself thinking about how we have very few ornaments to decorate our tree. Instead of immediately thinking "I should make some!" My thoughts went directly to "Where should I buy them?" Even though we are likely in a similar financial state as Andrew's parents in the beginning of their marriage.

This brings me to my point: I have realized that it is so easy to buy things that we want, even if it would be better financially to live with less. Credit cards have really given people in the middle and lower social economic status' the opportunity to live like they are wealthy. But this comes back to haunt so many people who are now drowning in debt.

It did not use to be this way. Before credit, if you didn't have the money for something, you simply didn't buy it. Now life seems so much more complicated because it is so easy to get whatever we want. After realizing all of this, I have decided I don't want to live that way. I want to be simple. I want to only spend what we have.

Another story I've heard from Mom and Dad St.Hilaire is when their first daughter, Jenny, was born. They did not have a rocking chair and desperately needed one to sooth her. Instead of buying one, Dad carved two pieces of wood into curves and nailed a chair on top of them. He says that he did not have the right saw to make perfect curves, so when they rocked in it, it was uneven...but it worked. After John was born, we also did not have a rocking chair. We searched around for a used one, but didn't find one that we liked and could afford. Then, seeing our need, Mom and Dad St.Hilaire generously bought one for us. Needless to say, making a rocking chair did not cross our minds!

I am currently reading St. Jean Vianney's biography. Last night I read a part about after he was ordained and was assigned to the parish in Ecully under Fr. Balley. It describes the two of them taking a pilgrimage and they only owned one umbrella. So when it rained on their pilgrimage, they both huddled under one umbrella. If this were my situation, I would be tempted to pitch out a few dollars for another umbrella. But they did not have the money for another umbrella, and they were able to manage with just one - so even if they did have enough money, why waste it?

So now I am making a goal of living with less. I hope this will help my family to be better off financially, as I am the one who typically does the shopping. Part of this goal will involve bringing every purchase to prayer (which, I honestly have not been doing!). I also hope this will help teach John not to buy every little thing he wants.

"Lord, please help me to buy only what I need and spend only what I have. Amen."

Promoted by God

I am writing to share a difficult decision that we just made: I will not be continuing with my practicum and student teaching. It is hard to explain exactly why, but we have put a lot of thought and, most of all, prayer into our decision.

We highly value me being a stay-at-home mom. We will make whatever sacrifice we need to live on one income so that I can stay home with John. We believe that having a parent at home full time is the best gift we can give to John and any future children.

Also, right now our priorities are to get out of debt and save money to buy a house. With the possibility of me teaching in the future being such a huge variable, we would rather put our money to things that we know we will need.

It is likely that I will be able to walk away with a bachelor's degree in Education because I have all of my course work done, which would be great! Either way, I do not regret all the hard work I put into teaching at Star of the Sea and my teaching program. The last two years have been a great experience and I know it has given me tools to be a better mother.

Now that we have made this decision, I feel a lot of peace in my heart. I chime in with Susan, a caller who recently proclaimed on the Rush Limbaugh show, "I was promoted by God to be a mother!" I can't find the words to express how much I love every minute of being John's mother (yes, even at 2am...)! I gladly accept this promotion! =)

The hardest part of this decision is thinking that people are going to be disappointed in me for not finishing. But as my friend, Caitlin, told me today, God won't be disappointing in me for choosing to be at home to raise John. In fact, I think He is pleased.

Disclaimer: I must note that by writing this, I do not mean to condemn mothers who choose to work. I know that everyone needs to do what is best for their family.

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 7

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. I have been meaning to work out a system of organizing John's clothes. It is challenging when he is always growing. It makes me appreciate that I have stopped growing ...for the most part ;)... and don't need new clothes all the time! Anyway, I found an inventory sheet on the internet and modified it to fit our needs. Today I have been going through ALL the clothes we have for John and categorizing them on this inventory sheet. This will help me to know what we have and don't have and when I go shopping I will know what his needs are. After I put everything on the inventory and sort it all, I will put them in boxes labeled with the size. We are hoping to have many little boys; this system will make it easier to access the clothes down the road.

2. John is big enough to fit in his car:



3. Did you notice the pictures we finally have on our wall from my post about Labor Day?

4. I am trying this new thing where I keep the kitchen clean. It is hard. I love cooking and baking. Cleaning... not so much! But I have been thinking lately about how I feel when the kitchen is messy - like I have a huge burden on my shoulders. I just know that I am generally a happier person when the kitchen is clean. I thought that moving into our new apartment with a very large kitchen would help. On the contrary, I have found that it is worse because if I make a mess I can just move to a clean area of the counter and make another mess. Finally, when all the counter space is messy, I break down and clean the whole thing. It would be a lot easier if I cleaned as I cooked. This week I realized that another reason I need to keep the kitchen clean is it is my JOB! That is part of my job as wife and mother. So wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I endeavor to keep the kitchen in order. I'm on day 3 of having a clean kitchen...

5.Right now John is laying in bed - post nap - and talking. He does this frequently. He will wake up and begin making all sorts of happy noises. I sure wish I felt that way when I wake up!

6. I started brushing John's teeth. He really likes it! I'm trying to develop healthy habits for him, so we do it every day!

7. On Tuesday, September 8th, the Church celebrated the Blessed Virgin Mary's birthday! I made cupcakes and decorated them with blue frosting (it's a Marian color) and put Marian symbols on them. It was fun, but it will be even more fun when John is old enough to do this stuff with me. I am so excited to teach him all about the beauty of our faith!

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 6

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. Well, I just put John down to bed. He is going to bed earlier lately. He used to go to bed with us (around eleven). Now he goes to bed around nine. It is kind of nice to have a couple of hours to get things done and relax with out needing to tend to John.

2. For the first year of our marriage we had no pictures of us on the walls. Sure, we had some printed out to put on the walls, but we could not settle on frames we liked. Last week we finally found some good frames at Michael's craft store... and they were %50 off! We had no clue they were having a sale that day, we just happened to decide to go and check out what they had. God sure does provide! So now we will finally have pictures from our wedding up on the wall! =D

[... forget about quick take #1 because John just woke up and I had to sooth him for a while. So now it is 9:40 and he is asleep again...]

3. I was supposed to do student teaching last spring, but my little love bug was born then. So I had to postponed it until this Fall. Then I decided I will postpone it until Winter because I want to nurse John longer. So in the winter I will be student teaching full time. For now, I will be doing a practicum, which will involve me going into the school for a full day on Fridays. Hopefully this will help me, John, and my mom (she will be caring for him while I am gone) get prepared for Winter.

[...speaking of John he is up again, but my wonderful husband will attempt to get him back to sleep...]

4. John is grabbing his feet now!


5. I have always been frustrated about the quick decay of cilantro and parsley. It seems that whenever I buy either of them, they go bad within days. I did a little research on the web and found the idea of treating the herbs like flowers - clean them, put them in a vase (I used a Mason jar) with water, and keep the water fresh. I tried this and it worked really well! Every few days I changed the water and picked out leaves that were going bad. It has lasted for almost two weeks! The best part is when I used my parsley, I just snipped off what I needed with scissors and I felt like I had my own little herb garden on my kitchen counter! I also think it makes my kitchen look nice!


6. We went on vacation a couple of weeks ago. I have been working on a blog post about it - loaded with pictures! =) I promise I will finish it soon and get it posted!

7. John is up again, so I should go... maybe I jinxed myself by writing that first "take"...

Our First Anniversary! ~ August 9, 2009

Last Sunday we celebrated our first anniversary! I really can't believe that it has already been a year! I have loved every minute of our marriage and I look forward to living the rest of my life with Andrew.

To celebrate we went camping (see previous post), and then when we came home I packed a little bag for John and he spent the evening with his Grandma and Grandpa Stockton. We went out to Tony's Pizza - Yum! - and enjoyed the beautiful view. When we came home, I brought out a surprise: At our wedding, we did not have ordinary cake. We don't really like cake, so we had a desert table with pies, cookies, and an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. While we were camping, I had my mom go to Cold Stone and buy the same cake we had for our wedding (cookies and cream). Andrew was really surprised when I took it out of our freezer! I love to see his face when he is surprised! =)

We didn't really get to eat any of it at our wedding because it was gone fast. We tasted whatever we could scrape off of our faces ;) Now we have more time to enjoy it and it is really good! It's a pretty big cake, so we have been eating a little each night. I mentioned last night that it's like celebrating our anniversary for a whole week!

Andrew, dune. It's hard to find words that don't sound silly or cliche to describe how happy I am with you as my dear husband. Thank you for sharing your life with me and for giving me the gift of your unconditional love!

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol.4

1. As you can see from the videos I posted, John is really growing and developing fast. I am really enjoying this stage. He is smiling a lot more. There is nothing better than when I glance over at him and his face lights up with a big grin. I feel loved.

2. Adjusting to John's schedule has been a challenge for me. For the first two months, I lived by his routine (which was non-existent). My mom suggested that I try to formalize a nap time for him. This has helped tremendously! He takes a nap from about 11:30 to 2:30 every day. With this time, I am able to get things done around the house... or take a nap with John. My naps are not nearly as long as his, so I can usually take a brief nap and then get stuff done. Sometimes he takes cat naps in the evening, but that is not guaranteed.

3. Now that John is on a schedule and I have more structured time, I have also added structure to my duties in the home. Mondays are menu day, Tuesdays are floor day, Wednesdays are surface day, Thursdays are laundry day, and Fridays are organizing day. In addition, I have instituted "Muffin Monday" and "Cookie Wednesday." I put all of these days on my google calendar and it sends me a reminder every day. I have been good about getting the floors cleaned on Tuesdays, but the other days have been challenging for me. I hope juggling these tasks will get easier. I think I am off to a good start in just trying to be more purposeful about my duties.

4. Not only has John been taking naps, but he has been doing so in his co-sleeper. Up until a week and a half ago, John was sleeping in our bed all night and sleeping in random places for his naps (the swing, his car seat... where ever he happened to fall asleep). Now I put him in his co-sleeper for his nap and he starts out the night in his co-sleeper but then joins us in our bed when he is ready for his night-time snack (around 2:30). I figure if he begins the night in his co-sleeper, he will just stay there when he starts sleeping through the night. This has been a difficult transition for me because I love sleeping with him! But I know this will help him transition when it is time for him to have his own bed.

5. We went to Joe and Anna's wedding last Saturday. They are friends of ours from Bellingham. They have both been living in Minnesota for the last few years. Now that they are married, they will be living here in Washington. We are excited to have them close again!

6. Tonight we welcomed Sr. Mary Joseph into our home. She came up from California to help with Vacation Bible School at Star and will be staying with my parents for the next week. I am excited to have her here and we feel blessed to have her as our guest.

7. John will be baptized on Sunday!!!!