One Year Old

Habemus Papam!

Pope Francis!  

What happy days we have had lately.  Pope Francis is the first new pope I have had as a Catholic, and the whole experience has been fresh and new and wonderful. 

I feel like such an impostor calling this a Catholic blog when really I just post pictures about my children and the messes they make.  It's tough to capture, especially in photographs, the daily rhythm, quiet prayers, unspoken offerings and gentle shepherding.  In those moments, my camera is away and I don't have much of a desire to share that in this space. 

But now we have a new shepherd to guide us, and his picture is all over the internet :) 

The boys enjoyed 'watching history' with me, which I think to them just means watching video clips online. 

Everyone we saw for the rest of the day heard the same thing, twice.  First from William, and then echoed from Thomas:

"We have a new pope.  His name is Francis, just like my middle name.  I am going to pray for him TWO times a day because he needs MY help to be a good leader."

Oh, to have the faith of a child.  And now, the lady at the coffee cart, three young teachers at swimming lessons, and a nice gentleman in the checkout line at the grocery store all know about our new leader. 


The boys went to work making their own sheep to shepherd.

And Katherine, the good baby that she is, stayed happily out of her big brothers' way.

Happy Friday.

3.14

I am married to a mathematician, but we didn't celebrate with pie today.  No, at 5:30 this evening I whipped out some frozen fish fillets set aside for Friday, and now I have to figure out what to do for tomorrow's dinner. The crock pot and I have become better friends lately, and slow cooked meals are alternated with quick cold sandwiches, artisan breads served with cheese and plates of fresh fruit.  

Spring is just around the corner.  

I have not yet mastered 'the dinner hour.'  I'm not sure if that time of day is something that can really be improved upon or not, but I certainly haven't figured it out. I can handle the food part. 

But there's something about the children part that just gets a little bit tricky.  It's that antsy, hungry, mischievous energy that only pops up while I'm chopping and simmering and altogether not paying attention.  The other day it involved ink. 

Caught red-handed

It starts out innocently enough.  Sweet boys who want to make stamped artwork to decorate their walls.  You know how the rest goes. And since that day, I gave up the chopping, the simmering, the stirring, and the ignoring.  I embraced sandwiches and cans of soups and throwing something together at the last minute so that the dinner hour altogether disappeared.  Not forever, of course, but for this sweet season of young children, of inky fingers, of longer spring days with warmer weather.

So maybe tomorrow we'll pick up a take and bake pizza and call it Pi Day, because really, my children don't even know what day it is (or what pi is).  What they do know is my love, my attention and my presence. Choosing my family and children first?  Well that decision is as easy as pie.

Milestones

Today was a day of milestones.  William swam unassisted to the pool wall.  He rode his bike without training wheels.  Katherine took her first steps.  Thomas didn't fall out of his chair.   And I don't have pictures of any of it.  I almost never bring my big camera out of the house, and while I'd like to get a little bit better about that, I love not feeling tied to it.  I love watching my children with my own eyes and not always through a lens.  

I did snap a few of Katherine on her first day of walking.

 

I just love Mondays and today was a great one.  I folded laundry (rare) AND put it away (rarer still).  I childproofed dangerous cupboards.  I finally disposed of old paint that I've been driving around in the back of the van for two months now.  I filled up the gas tank and filled our fridge after a Costco trip.  I love the back-to-the-grind feeling after a weekend where chores slip and routines are lax. 

We've had back-to-back company over the last week, and between Michael's aunt and uncle, my aunt and uncle, and Michael's parents, it was time to stop the party and get back to business. We sure did have fun while it lasted:

Aunt Judy feeding Katherine

Shaving with whipped cream from Michael's birthday cake

 Happy Monday.

Is this normal?

My children seem to have a major problem with crumbs.  I don't quite know what to do.  I'm sure at some point I allowed them to break their graham crackers along those dotted lines, and all of a sudden, one graham cracker became four.  But why stop at four when you can have more? Break it into five and then into six, crumble that cookie until your mother gets ticks!

And here's where this blog post devolves into a Dr. Seuss rhyme but much, much worse.  Those stories are at least enjoyable... my stories I have to clean up. 

This is not a one time thing.

You might wonder where the plates are.  The napkins.  The separate chairs.  The manners.  I find those to be a waste of time and resources...  more water for dishes and trash in the landfill because truly, all the crumbs end up on the floor no matter what.  Might as well just embrace it.

Luckily, Katherine's favorite spot is right under that table, and she cleans up crumbs like a pro.  I knew I always wanted a daughter. 

Little Sister learned how to smile for pictures, and grins to show her teeth off when she hears the flash pop open  on my camera. 

So I click away at my little girle, and send the savages outside to fend for themselves.

William yelling, "MOM! Thomas just poured mud on my head."

Libraries, Lent, and Love

Our family has fallen in love with the library again. This happens every two years or so.    Weekly, sometimes even twice a week, visits are a nice change of pace from nights in at home. As we head back home, Michael and I always exchange glances as we leave with an armful of books and movies, almost in disbelief as we take everything home for free.  And then, for whatever reason, the visits slow down.  And the books that you can borrow for free start to cost money when not returned.  And I get nervous about disapproving librarians so I opt to stay at home.  And then a year and a half later I get a an itch to be a bit more frugal, brave enough to face the librarians, and discover that I only ever owed two dollars and seventy cents.  

Last week I came across a wonderful book called The Story of the Easter Robin.  We've read and reread.  We've drawn robins, we've observed robins, but William wanted more.  He wanted to create a robin.

 It was perfect timing, as a wonderful Catholic mother's journal came in the mail the other day and included a pattern for a bird.  Of course, the boys wanted to make red-breasted robins, just like in the story.

Soul Gardening is a fantastic magazine that I always look forward to.  You can subscribe at soulgardeningjournal.com

I spent Katherine's nap cutting fabric scraps and sewing by hand.  If I thought about it a bit more, I would have shifted the tummy up higher to make more of a red-breasted robin, but the boys didn't seem to notice. 

He played while I worked on the wings

I don't tend to do much crafting these days, but this project had such a reward.  From the story, we learned how the kind brown robin helped Jesus by pulling a thorn out of His forehead, staining his breast red with Christ's blood.  And now, the boys have their own person reminder of the Lord's sacrifice for us, and can literally pull their birdies close to their heart and know what Love is.  Thank you, Soul Gardening, for bringing such faith and beauty into our home.

The rest of the weekend was sweet, cooking for neighbors who we thought could use a little extra help after surgery. 

And lots and lots of this:

Signs of Spring

Another day of sunshine had me throw open the windows and add ice to my coffee.  That turned out to be a bad idea since it's only 52 degrees out, but I threw on a sweatshirt and some wool socks, soaked up the sun, and shivered only a little bit as I drank my cold coffee.  Katherine was born on the first day of Spring last year, and I remember watching snow falling outside of the hospital window as I held her on her first day of life.   Even when cold weather persists, there is something so hopeful about longer days, bits of green poking out of barren ground, and the first birthday of my daughter approaching.

Poor Thomas has had a rough time lately.  A two year old's emotions are just plain tough to deal with.  From what I remember with William, three was even harder.  We've been dealing with lots of meltdowns lately.

Poor boy has incorrectly buttered toast.

Luckily, his low lows quickly turn into even higher highs, and before I know it he's helping someone else be happy.  Sweet boy wears his heart on his sleeve, and it's a blessing to know what is going on with his thoughts and feelings as he experiences them.

Most days I send him outside to be alone.  This boy craves nature and I indulge his requests for fresh air whenever possible.

Fishing in a hole of muddy water

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Thanks to Lent, I have been so much more productive than I normally am!  God is merciful in increasing a mother's workload a bit at a time.  A new mom is taxed by a single newborn, a mom of two feels overwhelmed by being outnumbered when she's on her own, and with three little ones there is more laundry and less free time than ever.  I can project in my own life how in the years to come my free time will wane, my challenges will change, but He will equip me to handle it all.  Any mom is right to feel challenged by her current state of life and number of children.  God's grace is sufficient, yet we constantly plead for more.

Notice the beauty of the stock photos and our own children tipping over.  A few blank spots were left intentionally for a few things coming in the mail.

Welcome to the family! 

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William has become quite the author.  He usually tells stories about baby animals who have lost their mothers - perfect for Springtime (baby animals - not lost mothers).  He narrates, I write, he illustrates.  Like most kids, his love of learning is just amazing.  He often directs me how he wants to learn, and at his young age I'm happy to follow along. We often begin by reading a story or a nonfiction book about a subject he's interested in.  Then he'll want to draw, write, and somehow create what we've discussed.  Since his interests are simple right now, we'll head outside in search of snails, slugs, birds, chipmunks, leaves, pine cones - whatever it is we're looking for.

 And that's the end.