Odds and Ends

I think the hard part of the kitchen work is finished! After all the wallpaper came off, I sanded the window panes that needed it, then taped aaalllllllll of them up. Very tedious!

The primer has been applied everywhere. All that's left is the final painting! Yeah! My friends and I will work on it this coming Monday.

I know this is blurry, but these are the little chrysalides doing their hidden work to become butterflies. After seeing Suzy's butterfly/chrysalis post, I wanted to do this too with the kids. She has a beautiful picture of the chrysalides. Ours look just like that, but of course hers aren't blurry. I think we may have four or five more days before the butterflies emerge.

Today was Emily's last day of preschool, sniff, sniff. She had a little party, then afterwards, many of the kids and their parents met at the park for a little fun. She is now looking forward to being a big girl and going to Kindergarten and being at the same school that Kathryn and Ryan attend.

Last night was the last meeting of the parent meetings I've been attending all year at the elementary school. It has been such a blessing. It hasn't been well attended, but those parents that did attend somewhat regularly were greatly aided in trying to be better parents. We discussed problems that we have in trying to raise Catholic children in todays world. We had discussions about our spiritual journeys, we prayed the Rosary, we had Adoration in the chapel, and we had good laughs sprinkled in there, too. Hopefully, the group will continue the next school year.

Remember my tree story last year? My trees were dying. Well, I think one of them is finally coming around. Instead of seeing brown leaves everywhere, I now see green ones sprouting all over. It looks so nice and I'm hopeful that the tree is in recovery and we'll get our shade back. The other two still look sparse but maybe there's hope!

I know the tree looks exactly like it did when I mentioned it last year, but it did get worse throughout the year. There's more green now.

I'll finally end this post with some of my flowers.

Mentally Drained

Well, Emily has sure been the challenge this week. Maybe she's entering a new stage. She has been throwing the worst tantrums yet. I can't seem to take her anywhere without her going into a fit and major power struggle with me. If we go to Target, she wants to buy a toy. If we go to the grocery store, she wants to eat the chips NOW. If we go to the park, she doesn't want to go yet. It can be about anything. Sometimes I have to carry her out of the store, park, wherever. The hard part is that I'm only barely 5 feet tall. Emily is almost 35 pounds! It is quite a sight to see. Me carrying her while she's squirming trying to get out of my arms! I don't even want to imagine what it looks like - LOL! I think I need to think of another solution than trying to carry her away from the situation. Either my back is going to give out or I'll give myself a hernia - don't want that. I think I better pray and get some parenting books.

I know this seemingly endless season will pass but right now it's hard going through it. Most of the time she is a sweetie and a cutie. More about her tomorrow. Tomorrow is her 3rd birthday and I'll do a little entry about her.

Nugget of Hope

Sometimes parenting can be so difficult. There is constant bickering among the siblings, constant reinforcing of proper behavior, discipline doled out, etc., etc. Often I wonder if we as parents are making the right decisions. Will the kids ever "get it"? Will they learn to follow the Lord even with our many failures? Today I was given a glimmer of hope. Today the Lord allowed me to see a little reward for my clueless attempts at parenthood.

At Mass, all three kids acted better than they have in a long time. They participated and even two year old Emily behaved until the homily was almost over. That's pretty good for her. After Mass, we decided to go out to eat. I had a gift card to use up and I didn't really feel like cooking anything. Eating out can be a challenge right now with little ol' Emmy. Well, she surprised me and behaved herself! All three got along! All three ate their veggies! Oh my!

Today gave me hope that maybe some things I'm trying to get across to them are sinking in a little bit. Maybe my kids won't grow up to be ill mannered. Maybe I can teach them and I can believe that I am doing my part in producing future productive members of society. With God's grace, I can choose and I do choose, to do what He has called me to do...to raise up these children He has blessed me with. I cling to the belief that He chose me to be the mother to these specific children. He will give me everything I need to do it. I just need to seek Him first.