Dear Xavier - 2.25

Dear Xavier,

You're just over a quarter past two now.  And, my how you've grown!  You're talking more, getting into mischief more, growing more, and, yes - discovering the art of tantrums more.

You definitely have an opinion about things, and you'll make it known when you don't agree with me.  You've got a mind of your own, that's for sure.

You love your sister so much -  You look up to her, you copy her, and you miss her when she's not there.

The biggest achievement is moving out of Mommy's class at school and into Art Camp across the hall.  You've taken the transition like a champ - way better than I expected!

You're also a little, tiny munchkin even though you can out-eat Lissie (a difficult feat) any day!  You're still comfortable in 12-month clothes, and the 18-month pants we bought you for winter are just swimming on you!

A few of your favorite things:

• Playing with your toy airplane set.
• Reading books.
• Being with Lissie.
• Eating crackers with Lolo.
• Being a goofball.

A few of your dislikes:

• Sharing with Lissie.
• Not getting your way.
• Tomatoes and bell peppers.
• Bouncy houses.

You're learning and soaking everything up like a sponge.  I love seeing the world through your eyes.

I love you very much.

Love,
Mommy

And here are a few fun pics:

You wanted it on, and it did look good on you.

This is where you hid during a round of hide-and-seek.

You rolled off of the red mat to the hard wood floor at school.

Loving getting dirty.

Dear Lissie - 3.5

Mommy/Lissie selfie at Laurel Falls

Dear Lissie,

I'm starting to slack a little - you're half-birthday was almost a month ago! It's crazy to think that you are closer to four than you are to three!

You're still my sweet, smart, smiley, and shy little lady.  I love our nightly Jungle Dances (thanks Daniel Tiger) and singing songs off-key into your hairbrush "microphone."  I also love your manners - especially when you thank me without prompting for fixing your meals or taking you somewhere.  Oh, and I love that you take your little purse with you on our daily walks with Rupert, and you fill them up with nature treasures to keep in a mason jar at the kitchen table.

Here are a few of your favorite things:

• Road trips.
• Sleepovers at Lolo and Lola's.
• School.
• Reading - especially the Tickle Monster book with Daddy.
• Watching Daniel Tiger and Team Umizoomi.
• And, of course, cooking in your play kitchen.  (You did tell me that you want to be a "cooker" when you grow up.)
• When Xavier goes to school and you can play together at recess.
• "Shower the People" by James Taylor
• Talking in Spanish (both real and pretend.)
• Putting together your U.S. map puzzle.

And some dislikes:

• Being woken up from nap (which makes picking you up from school challenging since I always have to wake you up!)
• Eggs.
• Unexpected changes in plans (like when Daddy got you up and ready for breakfast because Mommy wasn't feeling well, and it took you all morning to get over that.)
• When Xavier doesn't share.

I am enjoying watching you learn and grow.  I love you very, very much.

Love,
Mommy

And here are some random, silly pictures over the last six months:

A hair cut and a lollipop.

Training for your kid's race.

Pretending to be an altar server.

Dress-up mommy.

You found an old nursing bra, put it on, and declared yourself a nurse.

Pretending to be a pregnant mommy.

Getting all dolled up.

Getting Used to a New Schedule

I always knew that I wanted to take time off of teaching when I started having kids.  I wanted to be home with them during their first years. Plus, let's face it, the cost of daycare just about negates my meager teaching salary.

But, of course, the teacher in me missed the classroom.  Which is why, last year, I came upon a perfect solution: working at a starter hybrid homeschool.  As much as it was a perfect fit for me, unfortunately they are taking a "yearlong hiatus" to work on finding a better location, increase marketing, and up enrollment numbers.

I was looking forward to being able to spend more time with my kiddos -  but when I found out about a very-part-time easy-peasy position at a nearby YMCA to work in the Yplay, where I could bring my kids AND get a free membership (which would help greatly during the winter marathon training months) - I just couldn't resist!

At the same time, I felt compelled to tell the director of Lissie's preschool that I would love to be a substitute teacher, and lo and behold, I somehow end up teaching the supplemental Wednesday class for the two-year-olds - which now includes Xavier!  So far, I'm loving working with five little young'ens each week - playing, singing, and doing crafts.

So, let's just say that after a very loose and carefree summer, it's been an interesting transition to the new schedule and routine.  Lissie's often worn out after a long day at preschool, Xavier's starting to get used to school himself, Justin's having to do the always fun bedtime routine solo more often, and I'm trying to figure out how to juggle meals, chores, marathon training, and my two jobs.  It can definitely make for some long days for us all.

I know, I know.  I brought this on to myself.  And, for the most part, I think that this is a great thing. I love that I can bring my kids to both places of work, and that they also enjoy going with me.  

My primary concern now, of course, is when can I find time to sew?  Haha.

Happy Birthday, Mama Mary!

After spending the night at Lola's house over the weekend, Lissie informed me that Mama Mary's birthday was coming up.  I had totally forgotten about this special feast day, and since Lissie brought it up and wanted to celebrate, who was I to deny her?  I want my children to learn to love the Church and the saints and the feasts - especially since I truly believe that the heart of parenthood is to bring our children closer to God.  What better way to do this than to celebrate the Mother of Jesus' birthday?

We started the day by singing Mary songs and watching short videos about her.  We made birthday cards, and Lissie was thrilled to learn how to spell Mary's name!  We then went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for Mary's birthday cake (I'll admit that I'm sort of using this as an excuse to make a sweet potato cake to use up the sweet potatoes we got from our CSA share this past week), and of course we had to make a pitstop at the playground since today was a perfect fall day.

Watching a Mary video on the laptop.

Making birthday cards!

If you try really hard, you can sort of see "MArY" written in blue on the top right.
It's a little disjointed, but I think Mary would like it!

After lunch, the kids helped me make the cake....or rather, lick the bowls and spatulas clean.

We ended the day by saying a Hail Mary prayer for each of the ten candles (to represent a decade of the rosary) we placed on the cake.  And what's a party without singing Happy Birthday?  The kids LOVED it, and I loved that they were eagerly learning more about Jesus' mother.

Xavier wasn't exactly keen on having to pray a Hail Mary for each candle.

But he did enjoy having a turn putting a candle on the cake.

Singing Happy Birthday, Mama Mary

Blowing out the candles

And I just found this pic on my phone.  I guess daddy was more excited about Mary's birthday than I thought.  

Lissie told me that she really wishes that she could go to Heaven to celebrate the day with Mary, but I told her that celebrating with our family is the next best thing.  She was also a little sad that Mary wasn't able to eat the yummy cake, but we assured her that Mary's celebrating up in Heaven with her Holy Family and all of the saints.

Happy happy birthday, Mama Mary!

Queen of the family, Pray for us!

Lissie's New Friend

Earlier this summer, Lissie was quite intrigued by the pictures of Pope Francis and our bishop that she saw at Mass.  She kept asking about their hats and their clothes and said that she really wanted to meet them to see what they were like.  I told her that they are both very busy people, but if she wanted we could draw them pictures and write them letters.

To our surprise, not even a week later, we got a response from the bishop!

Lissie was ecstatic!  She treasured the picture greatly and was quite thrilled to be invited to have breakfast with the bishop.

I called his secretary to give her a few dates that would work with our schedule, and she called me back to formally invite sweet Lissie to breakfast with the bishop at a lovely restaurant!  I was shocked!  I was anticipating a little meeting in a conference room at the Catholic Center with donuts or something, but he went all out and invited her to go out for a special meal that she will cherish forever.  His secretary said that he was really looking forward to meeting her and was a little sad that we had to wait three weeks for the big day due to his busy travel schedule.  And, of course, Lissie was pleased as punch to be going out to eat with her new friend.

I think I was the only one who had a bit of anxiety about the breakfast - I prepped Lissie on not eating too much or too fast and we went over things that she could tell the bishop and talked about questions that she wanted to ask.  We made him a picture the night before, and she couldn't wait to give it to him.

Breakfast was fabulous!  Lissie learned a lot of new things about her friend, and she told him about her family and pets.  They sang songs together ("Twinkle Twinkle" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider") and discussed a little theology ("What's heaven like and how do we get there?").  At the very end, Lissie - without warning - told the bishop that she wanted him to come to her house to play.  I tried to laugh it off, but the bishop was excited about the invitation and wanted to make it happen in the next few months before Christmas.

All day long, Lissie has been talking about her new friend.  She already can't wait to show him her dog and "cook" for him in her play kitchen.

I'm so very blessed and grateful that we have such an awesome bishop for our diocese.  It really warmed my heart that he took the time out of his very busy schedule to meet with a little three-year-old. Without a doubt, I think that Lissie will remember this breakfast for a long time.

Oh, and Pope Francis?  He also sent Lissie his picture!  Lucky goose!

Road Trippin' - Alabama

Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Also known as our family.

My parents made plans to go to Alabama to visit the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the Feast of the Assumption Mass, see some family friends, and attend the EWTN's Family Celebration Weekend.  Since Justin just happened to be off that weekend, we decided to tag along and also add the Huntsville Botanical Garden to the list of fun!

However, we knew that Xavier wouldn't care for a lot of the pilgrimage festivities and we wanted to head home to take care of Rupert, so Justin, Xavier, and I only stayed one night, while Lissie stayed an extra day to enjoy the two things that she loves most: hang out with her Lolo and Lola and spend time with Jesus.

It was only a two-plus hour drive to our hotel, so we made our way down to Alabama early Thursday evening, stopping halfway - at the huge rocket welcome center at the border of Alabama and Tennessee  - to have a picnic dinner.  By the time we got to our suite, we were all ready for bath and bedtime since we were going to wake up bright and early to be ready for 7am Mass at the Shrine.

At the rocket welcome center with Lolo and Lola

As expected, Lissie was mesmerized by the beauty of the church, and Xavier couldn't have cared for it much less.  Luckily, Lolo and Lola had Lissie near the front (her preferred spot every time we go to Mass), while Justin, Xavier, and I stayed in the back - alternating going outside when Xavier had his fill of holiness.  One day he'll like going to church....right?

After Mass we went to a breakfast reception celebrating Mother Angelica's anniversary into the convent and we said our hellos to my "aunties" Nelly and Nena before making the trip to the botanical garden.

Oh, the botanical garden!  We went mainly to check out the special exhibit, Alice's Garden Wonders, but we also enjoyed spending time in the amazing Children's Garden and the splendid Butterfly House.  We could have easily spent all day here.  My only regret is forgetting the kids' swim gear so they would feel more comfortable splashing in all of the fun places to get wet!  

A little surprised that the teapot sprays water.

We are all pawns in his eyes.

Prepping for the ultimate tea party.

Beware the jabberwocky!

Seasaw fun.

The kids wanted to join in on the fun.

My Tweedledum and Tweedledee

A flower girl in a flower maze

With Lolo and Lola

Trying to catch butterflies in the butterfly garden.

Mesmerized by the beautiful butterflies.

Hangin' in the hammock.

An awesome sandbox castle

Water play!

After a picnic lunch at the gardens, we said our goodbyes to Lissie as we headed home.  Lissie had a grand rest of the trip where she went to her Lolas Nelly and Nena's place to pick vegetables and have dinner, attended another Mass at the Shrine, prayed and learned and saw new things with her Lolo and Lola at the grotto and Eucharistic Center, and enjoyed going out to eat one last time before I picked her up on Saturday from her Lola's house - just in time to attend a friend's birthday party!  Whew - busy weekend!

My parents never did make it to Birmingham to attend the Family Celebration Weekend, but I think we all agree that introducing Lissie to the Shrine and appeasing her natural curiosity of the Mass and her faith was totally worth it!   Next up?  Her special breakfast with the bishop!

As for Xavier, we're taking baby steps to get him to appreciate the Mass in his own way.  Lissie is helping us teach him about church with our new Mass kit that we made.  We're workin' on him.  Slowly, but surely.....

And, in all, it was a great little road trip weekend.  I can definitely see us going more often and even checking out more of what Huntsville has to offer.