Mother's Day 2014

Made by Xavier (with assistance) at Cheekwood's Tuesday for Tots

Leading up to this Mother's Day, I was holding my breath hoping that neither of my kiddos would need an emergency trip to the ER.  Thankfully, God blessed me with the most relaxing and wonderful day that I could ask for.

The night before, my dear sweet Lissie showed off some of her threenager colors during her bedtime routine which left me frustrated and had to call in reinforcements (i.e. Justin) to take over her bath so that we could all calm down.  After saying a few Hail Marys for patience and apologies on both sides, everything quickly reverted back to normal.

But the whole experience served to remind me that Mama Mary is my most perfect example of grace, patience, and love.  In my times when I am at my wit's end, I just need to remember to look to her for guidance and ask for her help and pray for her intercession.

Which is why, as much as I wished that I could celebrate Mother's Day with my own mama, I am thrilled that she is spending these two weeks with my dad on a blessed spiritual pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes, and other amazing places that I can only dream of going one day.  Because what better way to spend Mother's Day than with everyone's mother: Mary.

So, to start off our Sunday, I saved a few of the flowers that Lissie and Xavier gave me so we could offer it up to Mary after Mass.  We also had a delicious breakfast of strawberry (freshly picked a few days before!) pancakes and a couple of presents and pretty artwork to open.

Butterfly by Lissie at MDO

Thumbprint flowers by Lissie (yellow) and Xavier (blue)

After Mass, Justin graciously took the children off my hands for a few hours all to myself.  I decided to spend the time cutting fabric (my next project: mother/daughter matching skirts!), sewing (I finished a few reusable sandwich/snack bags!), and going on a short two mile run.  It.Was.Glorious!  A win-win for all, for sure.

Daddy/Kiddo picnic outing at the zoo

Crafting Time!!!

The day ended playing outside with the kids while Justin grilled tasty spinach/feta/turkey burgers along with oven baked fries and a dessert of strawberry (of course, right?) pie.  Delish!

I am blessed beyond belief for my little family and all of the graces God has given to me because of them.  I am so grateful that Our Father entrusted me to be the mother of my two wonderful children.  I am a Happy Mother.  Indeed.

A Long 40 Days Leading to Easter!

Yasay Kids Easter 2014

It just so happened that right before Lent this year, Lissie started to take a very serious liking to church and Mass.  So much so that we decided to put Xavier in the nursery so we could sit front and center at church so she could see all the action and talk to her about everything that is taking place without her brother's distracting screams and cries.

Also, leading up to Lent, her favorite thing to sing at church was the "Alleluia."  She loved all different versions, and we would sing it at home - often right before bedtime.  It was her favorite song.

Which is why I knew that she would be very interested in Lent and "burying the Alleluia."   She enjoyed using her countdown calendar to note how many more days were left until she could sing "Alleluia" again.  She looked forward to her tri-weekly Lenten videos that taught her more about this special season.  And she was very intrigued by the Stations of the Cross that we did every Friday - especially because she had her simplified Montessori version that I made to help her understand Jesus' journey to the Cross in her own way.  Of course, she loved the Fish Fries that she went to afterwards, as well.  Haha.

She was a little too enthusiastic about Easter and tried to jump ahead.

Holy Week has been extra special, too. She made palm crafts with Daddy to mark Passion Sunday. And while we didn't get to go to Mass on Holy Thursday (although I just know she would've loved watching the washing of the feet and the Eucharistic Procession!), she enjoyed going to church twice on Good Friday - once for Adoration with me and Xavier, but again for Good Friday services with Lolo and Lola where she was especially pleased to get to kiss the cross.

Making her own Crown of Thorns on Good Friday

She also had two Easter egg hunts: one at MDO and another at the zoo with her Lolo and Lola.  And, while she was very excited about them and had a blast at both, she kept insisting that we shouldn't celebrate Easter because "it's just not Easter yet, Mommy!"

Eagerly awaiting his first egg hunt!

Getting the hang of it.

Mommy, these eggs are empty.  What's the point?

An egg hunting pro!

Sibling Love

Loving Lola

Lissie and friends and their baby siblings

Xavier, Lola, Hippo

Lissie, Lolo, Lion

Too cool for the bunny

And today, Easter Sunday, we started off the day by singing Alleluia when we woke her up for Mass.  We took a quick peek at our Easter baskets before heading off to Mass to rejoice and sing more praises for the Risen Christ.  Lissie loved noting the differences in the church today compared to during Lent.  We continued the celebration by eating way too much at Easter brunch with Lolo and Lola and will continue our rejoicing tonight when Daddy comes home from work with a lovely Easter dinner, complete with Resurrection Rolls.

I can't wait until next year when Xavier will (hopefully!) be ready to begin to understand Lent and Easter, as well! 

Happy Easter!  Christ the Lord has Risen Today!  Alleluia!

Lissie Goes to the Dentist

Some say kids should to go to the dentist as soon as they sprout their first tooth.  Others say by age 1.  Still others say by age 3.  I'm sure there is research to support every one of these arguments, but I was not in any rush to take Lissie to the dentist when I myself am not a fan of going.

But, alas, at Lissie's 3-year well check-up, her pediatrician highly recommended a particular dentist that I had already heard some great things about so we went ahead and made the appointment.

I'm sure it helped that I had my routine dental visit a few weeks earlier, so I had started talking to her a little about what a dentist does.  And it definitely helped that one of Lissie's friends had gone to the dentist, and Lissie enjoyed seeing pictures of it on her mommy's blog.  In fact, all this hype about the dentist made her super excited, and she kept asking when it was her turn to go.

I'll admit that when I perused our dentist's website, I was very nervous about the fact that they don't allow parents back during the procedures.  Their rationale is that it fosters independence and allows the staff to gain a "closer rapport" to the patients.  Knowing my timid daughter who can get separation anxiety just from a routine dropoff at school, I wasn't sure what to expect.

My worries were for naught.  Lissie was bouncing up and down all the way to the dentist's office, and she and Xavier (who was just along for the ride) were enjoying being silly and watching Elmo and reading stories in the waiting room.  As soon as the hygienist  called her name, she dropped what she was doing and ran back.  Not even a glance at me to say good-bye.  Phew.

After just a few minutes, they called us back to tell us that she did absolutely awesome during the initial cleaning, and we were free to take the obligatory pics and play video games in the kid room while we waited on the dentist.  The final report was that everything looked great, and they'll just see us again in six months!

Lissie loved it so much that she has asked every day to go back.  It might be a long six months, haha.

Oh, and we decided to make a fun morning out of it and went to Cheekwood afterwards for Tuesdays for Tots and to just enjoy the beautiful spring day.

Yay!

Day Trippin' - Chattanooga

Lissie and Daddy on the Pedestrian Bridge

Justin and I have decided that we need to make the most of his crazy work schedule and his random weekdays off and do more fun day trips and out-of-the-norm activities.  Especially since we have learned that time moves quicker than we think, and soon - too soon - our kiddos (and most likely I) will be heading to school full-time, and those weekday-adventures-when-places-are-not-so-crowded will have to come to an end.

And so, last week, we made the two-hour trip to Chattanooga for the day.  We had done it once last summer and had so much fun, we decided to do it again.  The debate was between the Creative Discovery Museum (which we knew the kids would love since that's where we went last year) and the Tennessee Aquarium (a place where I knew that Lissie would enjoy, but I wasn't so sure about Xavier).  Thankfully, I posed this quandary to a friend who had just been, and she solved my dilemma by giving us a free pass that she had to Creative Discovery.

We left Nashville shortly after the kids woke up and arrived (due to the time change) around 11am.  We had a blast playing outside on the roof (which we couldn't do last time because of a storm threat), playing inside at the water tables, enjoying the little yellow house, doing art projects, and just perusing everything the museum had to offer.

He couldn't believe the piano keys could move on its own.

My 'lil kayaker

For a late lunch, we decided to meander over the pedestrian bridge and head to Coolidge Park to check out some of the restaurants out there and then ride the antique carousel before heading back to Nashville around 4p to be home in time to make homemade pizzas before bath and bed.

We'll have to come back in the summer to enjoy this cool splash pad!

Riding the carousel

Of course, she chose the camel.  One of her favorite animals.

Whew.  A super fun adventure.  Can't wait to plan our next one - hopefully soon!

Spring Break 2014

Ahhh, Spring Break.  That little taste of summer vacation that makes the rest of the school year go oh.so.slowly in anticipation of the freedom of responsibility to come.

Even as a teacher and a mom of two littles, the beauty of Spring Break is still there.  A much needed respite to get recharged for the remaining two months of the school year.  We may not have gone to the beach - or really ventured too far from home - but our "to-do" list is now a little bit smaller and lots of fun was had by all.

It started off with a bang with the Preds Run and game and celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick.  We also enjoyed our favorite indoor playground, made it to storytime at the library, and finally ventured to The Discovery Center - a place we enjoyed enough to grab a membership to come back more often!  Of course, we also enjoyed the beautiful weather with lots of trips to the parks, a zoo day, and just going on long walks outside in the neighborhood.

Discovery Center Fun ala Lissie

Discovery Center Fun ala Xavier

Painting with water and old toothbrushes

Xavier pushing Lissie around

Enjoying the giraffes at the zoo

As for me, after spending some time working on basic lesson plans to get me through the end of April and also planning a few upcoming summer vacations, I finally had time to get a little sewing in - making a skirt and dress for Lissie, a pair of shorts for Xavier, and a few cloth napkins.  Plus,  I bought all of the materials for my next few projects: reusable snack/sandwich bags and more cloth napkins!

My favorite spring break project

A feeble first attempt at summer shorts for the boy

Phew.  It was a busy Spring Break, but it sure was a blast!  Now to refocus my energies on school for a couple of months before we get rewarded with our Memorial Day week-long trip to Puerto Rico!

St. Patty's Day 2014

  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Aside from wearing our green and drinking green milk, the bulk of our celebrating was yesterday since Daddy was home to partake in the festivities.

We did festive art projects: Lissie painted a rainbow, both kids did a sensory split pea bin that ended in a fun shamrock, and they also made a fun suncatcher for the window.

Someone thought it would be fun to eat the paint.

And, of course, for dinner, we had Irish grub: Irish bangers and colcannon "mash" along with some brussels sprouts (instead of cabbage) and Irish soda bread to round out the meal.   Yum!