Friday, February 29, 2008

Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

Ok. I know it's Lent and all, but it's my birthday, and it only comes every four years! This is one of my all-time favorite 80's songs. Just indulge me for a few minutes. The video's not too clear, but the music's what I really want to hear.

The week has flown by and now I'm getting ready for a busy weekend.

First, a bloggy item, Jane recently tagged me for the middle name meme. I did that one before, and you can find it here.

Our neighborhood puts on garage sale weekends four times a year and this weekend is one of those weekends. It's in the city code or something that we are not allowed to hold garage sales unless it's during those certain weekends in the year. It ends up working out really well because you can plan ahead and then drive all around checking out the sales. The kids are searching around their rooms to find things to sell, dreaming of the riches they'll make, HA! I'm going to put out a few things to see what luck I have. Even my mom is here to do some selling! We'll see!

Ryan has his first baseball game tomorrow. This year, his team is the Chicago Cubs. His uniform is cute with the pinstripes and blue and red cap. This is his last year with the Shetland division, then he moves up to the Bronco division (I think that's the one). Kathryn starts her soccer season next Saturday.

Ryan and Emily both need haircuts. They've been postponed because of sicknesses, but now they can't wait any longer. Appointments need to be made NOW!!

Today is my 44th birthday. Steve and I will be going out dinner. Not sure where yet. My mom will watch the kids. We haven't gone out on a date/dinner in ages, so this is a nice treat.

Everyone have a blessed weekend!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Sweetness from My Boy

I can get weary hearing things like this:

"Why can't you buy us a playstation (Gameboy, such and such DVD, or any substitution of your choice) . Everyone else has one!"

"I don't like this chicken!"

"Can I have some cookies?" Requested at 7:00 AM.

"You're so mean!"


Then I hear from my sick Ryan, droopy eyed and feverish, looking me right in the eye:

"Thank you for doing your best to make me feel better." Then he kissed me on the cheek.

I wouldn't trade being my children's mom for anything in the world!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Zoo Day

No, I'm not talking about the zoo at my house, but the day (Sunday) that we went to the LA Zoo.

Ryan is on an animal kick and is into reading about animals, watching Animal Planet, and playing with animal toys. So we decided to make a day out of going to the zoo.




This is Emily, Kathryn, and Ryan standing in front of the pelican exhibit.




And here are the pelicans!




The kids behaved well for the most part. We enjoyed seeing the koalas, giraffes and gorillas. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures, but these are some that came out OK.









There was also a spider exhibit going on but I didnt' want to see that. YUCK! But I was able to get a shot of Ryan with one of those photo boards.






In other news, we've got the sickies again. Ryan has developed a cold that's making him feel miserable. He's missed two days of school because he has a low grade fever. He was complaining that he thinks he may be getting an ear infection because his ear hurt a little. That was enough for me to make an appointment with the doctor. He's had plenty of ear infections in his lifetime and I didn't want to wait for it to get bad enough where he wakes up in the middle of the night with ear pain. No fun! So we see the nurse practitioner who examines him and says that his lungs are clear and his ears are clear. She says he just has a cold and it could last one to two weeks. I was so happy to hear that his lungs and ears were clear. Hopefully he's in his worst days and he should be on the way back up. Let's just hope this doesn't spread.



We're supposed to have four more days of rain. I don't mind the rain. I just don't like having to go out in it. I think it's rained more this winter than last, but I don't think it's enough to stop our drought. Our rainfall levels are way off. At least it's been enough to keep the grass green.



Now I'm off to look for some lunch. I haven't been good at getting my menus together so I think I'll be heating up some leftovers!



I hope there's not too many typos. I need spellchecker back!!!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Blogging Slump

I've been in a blogging slump. Not much inspirational thoughts going through my head, nothing exciting to share. Just my ordinary life, so I think I'll write about that.

I've been doing some reading from Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. So far, it's been inspirational for me and I'm only in the first couple of chapters! These kinds of books I like to read a little slow so that I can absorb what it's saying to me. I wish I could leave a quote right now, but I can't seem to find the book right now. Gosh, I just have so many books laying around that it must be buried among a book pile! I'm sure I'll find it.

I don't know if I mentioned that I finished knitting a hat for Ryan. I also finished a pair of mittens for Kathryn. Next up are some scarves and some dishcloths.

Yesterday, I took Emily to the park to play and feed the ducks. She just loves the ducks. She wishes we could have a pet duck. I told her that would be cute, but I don't think they make good pets.

I also took Emily to storytime at the library. She/We made a cute Valentine's card. She was quite proud of herself. We enjoy our little outings to the library. Maybe she'll be my bookreader out of all my kids?!

I'm looking forward to this three day weekend. We will be busy. Ryan will be attending a birthday party for one of his school friends. We will also be going to the zoo.

This week has been quite ordinary, but it's been a blessing, too! The ordinariness of life is still an oportunity to live out my vocation, to guide my kids, to practice virtue. It can strengthen me when the not so ordinary times come. Those times when the kids are sick or bickering, the car breaks down, the money is not there for some needed expense, etc. Thank you, Lord for the ordinary times.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Tracy at Tracy's Simple Life for this middle name meme.

The rules are:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each leter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

My parents did not give me a middle name so instead of doing my maiden name, I'm going to do the middle name that every Lisa I know has - Marie! Or so it seems!

M - married to my sweetie for 13 years.
A - amiable. I think I'm friendly to most people.
R- reader. I love to read
I - inquisitive. I'm curious about many things and usually like to find out more about something.
E - enthusiastic. I'm enthusiastic about my Catholic faith!

I'm going to now break the rules and just tag whoever wants to do this!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Making the World a Better Place



Sweet Suzy at Sailing by Starlight (her site is temporarily off at this time) passed this award on to me. It touches me to think that something I might say can enlighten, encourage, or help someone else. I thank God that He can use me in even a tiny way.


The rules are that I need to link to Ukok's Place and award this to five others.





Lori (an invitation only blog)

All of you make the world a better place!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Lent

On Ash Wednesday, I went to the Liturgy of the Word service at my kid's school. That service was for the K-2 kids. It entailed having the readings for the day, a little homily by the priest, and then the distribution of ashes. Steve took half the day off of work, so we took Emily and went to that service. Ryan was there with his class so we got to take a quick peek at him.

Kathryn and her class went earlier in the day to the Mass. I couldn't make it to that.



Tonight I went to the Stations of the Cross. I took Ryan with me. I'm not sure if the kids will be doing that at school, so I want to expose them to some of the devotional practices of Lent. When I was younger, single, and living at home, I was able to participate in many devotions at church during Lent. I remember them being very meaningful to me and they helped me tremendously in my spiritual life. So this year I want to try and do a little more. I plan on doing the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent. I also want to go to Adoration once a week.



I have a handful of books I would like to read during this time. I don't plan on getting through all of them and I'll just pick the one that I'm led to at that time. Here's my list:

The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur
The Lamb's Supper - Scott Hahn
Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms - St. John Fisher
Encyclical Letter God is Love - Pope Benedict XVI
The Art of Praying - Romano Guardini
Introduction to the Devout Live - St. Francis de Sales

I'm limiting my computer time during this Lenten season, so I may not be visiting or commenting as often but I'll get around to read what all of you are doing!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Monday

Today was not a productive day. And it just goes to show that when I mess up and am not disciplined to do what I'm supposed to do, things kind of stay a mess. It seems I go in spurts. Last week, I was very productive in my work. I was focused and things got done. Some areas of the house actually looked presentable. So with that, it usually follows that with all that work, I tend to slack off a little afterwards.

Today was one of those days. I started out fine. Did some of my morning routine, then realized I really needed to get some necessary items from Target. Did that, but then I thought I would rest a little before picking up Kathryn & Ryan from school. I kind of got the knitting bug so I did a little of that. I saw how much progress I was making on Ryan's hat, that I continued with that. Needless to say, I never got back in the work groove. So I'm a little frazzled now because I'm playing catch up with kitchen clean-up, laundry sorting and general getting stuff ready for tomorrow. But at least I have an almost completed knitted hat to show for it! And I have to say that I did enjoy that! :)

Tomorrow we're going to have breakfast at school. They are having a Fat Tuesday Pancake Breakfast and we are looking forward to it. We have to leave even earlier than usual to make it, at least by 7:00 AM!

Lately, I've been having such a precious time with little Emily. She's been my little helper when I unload the dishwasher. Her favorite task is cleaning the bathroom, believe it or not. I don't give her any yucky stuff to do, just things like straighten things out on the counter. She does like to swish the toilet with the brush, but I make sure that I've done the main cleaning. And of course, we both thoroughly wash our hands! She loves to come up to me and say, "Hug and kiss!" Then she'll reach for me, give me a kiss, then rub her little face against my cheek. That's her hug! I just love those! I thank God that I've been able to be at home to experience all this. These are such precious times that will be over before I realize it. I want to truly savor these moments.
Thank you, Lord!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

David Crowder Band's

Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.