Category Archives: Family

2013 Photo-Palooza

It’s a linkup of photo fun with Dwija and her torpedo baby bump (cutest ever!)…13 in ’13. I love looking at pictures and looking back on the year. Looking forward to catching up with all these tomorrow a.m. with a big ole cup o’ joe! (because these kids are forcing me to stay up until Midnight. slave drivers, I say).

Here’s a smattering of 2013 in ’13 random-ish pictures. Enjoy and then head on over to the House for some mo’.

was this ONLY last year? OMGeeee and now that 11 yo is taller than me!! Note to self in 2014: stop feeding these kids!

Trying out winter hats and wishing we had more than a day to wear them and 2 sleepy boys. What?

This guy. Does what he wants. Where he wants.

Date night. This guy. My heart. This year: 20 years.

This kid. His photo. Some years they morph into young adults right before your eyes. It was this year.

Another year for the yearbooks. Love them to the moon and back.

My mom. My sis. Girls night out. Love them!!!

Cheer comp. What? You’ve never been? hit me up, I’ll bring you next time. And earplugs.

Friends of my heart. Forever. If we could just bridge the miles….

I won this. He read this. Laughed out loud. All the way through. You will, too!

A little baseball with the fam in town.

Even the ELF knows. BCS prediction? Hoping this guy has the inside track!

More girlfriends. Same trip. Left with a full, happy heart. These pictures still make me smile!

May your 2014 be happy, healthy and full of life, love and happiness!

7 Christmas QTs

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Linking up at Jen’s Blog today so that she has some reading material while she is under the weather. Moms really aren’t allowed to get sick, so I am always baffled when we do. Baffled.

Hoping Christmas was lovely for you and if not perfect, hopefully you found some moments to hold tight to….like I did. Ours was a great Christmas, however, for the first time in our family, I felt a shift. The shift of teens in the house and only 1 of 4 still blessedly smitten with Santa, the Elf and the whole shabang. It was subtle, but it was there. Compound “the shift” with having done our family dinner with the in-laws on Christmas Eve and grandparents and step-dad having come and gone after breakfast, mom and sis out of town, and zero plans for anything EXCEPT relaxing and enjoying the day……I was in a constant state of post-Advent Zombie-ness (if there is such a thing). Aimless. Lost. Shuffling. A month of bustling and scurrying to and fro to a sudden halt……what does one DO with that? I mean, WTH?!?!? Clearly a 2014 goal needs to be getting comfortable with relaxation and learning to embrace that idea. Anyhoo, it WAS lovely…Advent was wonderful and we are so very blessed to be together and loved and healthy and happy; there is nothing to complain about, because it’s ALL good.

Traditiona Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls for breakfast. So flippin' delish!

Traditional Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls for breakfast. So flippin’ delish!

Our tree. Pre-present carnage. Simply the best morning light, I’m not sure what I will do after our tree is down….it’s an essential part of my morning coffee and Daily Readings.

The Hubs on video, videoing me taking a picture of him.

This kid. 16 and questioning everything, BUT….he opted for Midnight Mass with his brother and I versus 11 a.m. Christmas Mass with Dad and the girls. MM wore us all out. He and the cat caught a few winks after presents. Smart kid.

Next year she will be in Middle school. THIS year she put Zebra cakes on her list for Santa and he came through. That will never happen again. 10 is an awesome age, is it not?

Headbanz. Christmas games and camaraderie. Love these moments.

When I don’t have anyone coming for dinner, I don’t focus. I misread the brisket times and well…..Christmas dinner was scrambled eggs and toast and PIE! Christmas dinner was served on the 26th and a total winner. Worth the wait. We’ll call it a win, even though it was a day late!

That wraps it up for today. As usual, I am going to be rushing to get out the door in time for work, so enjoy the day!! P.S. for those of you without cable, may I suggest Chromecast? The Hubs got it figured out yesterday and SO. COOL.

Blessings!!

#Affluenza: are you kidding me?

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It seems we’ve come to a whole new low in society, the final fruit of a generation of spoiled children and parents who (it would seem) have failed to set boundaries and actually parent their offspring.

If you aren’t familiar with the story of Ethan Couch in Texas and his attorney’s outrageously SUCCESSFUL plea of Affluenza as a defense in his drunk driving that left FOUR people dead, by all means click HERE or do your own Googling, there’s plenty of fodder. The gist of the story, as I see it, is that there are a group of young people (and for the minute, let’s leave affluence out of this) that steal beer, get drunk, drive and wind up killing 4 people and left 2 with serious injuries. This week the judge in the case sentenced Ethan to 10 years probation and a long-term treatment facility and NO JAIL TIME. Just chew on that a minute. It’s like grizzle, you simply cannot swallow that.

Parents, we have a DUTY to parent our children. Perhaps no one told us,or maybe we just weren’t listening/believing, but the sad fact is that parenting is the hardest flippin’ job EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR. From the time our sweet and precious bundle crosses the threshold of placenta to oxygen it is Game On. No joke. Sleepless nights and sleep-deprived parenting, potty training and 2-year-old defiance parenting, sibling rivalry and sharing parenting, school days and friendship parenting, tween angst and teen independence parenting, college life and young adult parenting and then…..then….then…..we can be friends. First we must parent. That, folks, is a marathon, so best fuel up!!!

Parenting means loving those kids and setting boundaries. Let’s clarify:

bound·a·ry

ˈbound(ə)rē/

noun

plural noun: boundaries

a line that marks the limits of an area; a dividing line.

Failure to set those boundaries leads to confusion when our kids are trying to figure it out for themselves. I’m not advocating helicopter parenting, however, I AM all for setting up expectations and explanations of WHY we set limits and the consequences and following through. The follow through is the hardest part and the most crucial, otherwise, where is the lesson learned? And lo, there are MANY, MANY lessons to be learned, and some a few times before the lesson is mastered.

Currently, our 8th grader has had a semester of slacking to the max in his math class. Now, it IS an 11th grade math class and we don’t expect an “A”; we DO expect effort. The effort has been lacking to the tune of a D/F which has resulted in some pretty uncomfortable consequences. Those consequences have resulted in 1)renewed focus, 2)more attentive and interactive child, 3)renewed vigor on task, 4)completed assignments, 5)increased understanding, 6) D/F to a C and 7)mature and tremendous communication among us and our son. It’s a challenge and sadly, we’ve done this last year and apparently we have short-term memory in this house at times and need to repeat lessons, however, as seen with our 10th grader….they DO learn, apply and adjust with much fruit to be shown. Like I said earlier, it’s flippin’ hard; parenting is hard.

In the words of Nike, JUST DO IT. and then do it again. and again. and again.

Otherwise, we will have more BS “Affluenza” nonsense diagnoses to deal with rather than just calling a spade a spade. If you mess up, there are consequences and if you REALLY mess up….there are REAL consequences.

Ethan (like MANY before him) made a terrible and tragic choice that dealt consequences that he will deal with mentally for the rest of his life. Sadly, his consequences aren’t much different from the coddling that led to his poor choices. Mamas and Papas, come on, let us ALL buckle down and hold our kids accountable for the choices they make, because Lord knows the mess we are in for when we don’t.

Galations 6:7-9

⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.⁸For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Sometimes, it takes LOTS of prayer

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Life isn’t always pretty or easy or fun. Life in a big family can just get plain crazy. Sometimes it all comes to a head at once. This is where I find God truly has a sense of humor. He knows I’m easily agitated by prolonged chaos, noise and things generally going in opposition to MY plan; so He gave us 4 children so that I can work on that. Repeatedly.

This Sunday, the first day of Advent I trekked it Mass with the kiddos (Hubby was working at went to vigil Mass Saturday) and they just took turns fraying my nerves with bickering, 16yo crisis of faith moments, etc etc. By the time we sat in the pew all I could do was pull out my devotional and start pounding the prayers. Any. And. Every. Prayer. I. Could. Find. All before the opening song. Good times, I tell you. Then I found this one that I never noticed before and I thought I’d share:

Father,

Sometimes the family gets me down.

The children are noisy and bills pile up.

Relatives and friends make demands of my time and attention.

I try to keep first things first and create and atmosphere where Your name is honored. Your word observed.

But I get tired and a hard edge creeps into my voice. Help me to cope with the daily strains of living in a family.

Help me to sustain a climate in which my partner can grow in Your love, to encourage my children to develop fully the talent You have given them and to make of my family the community of your love the Your Son came to bring.

Amen.

I don’t know. It spoke to me. It worked for me. The bickering stopped. The 16 yo came around. By the “sign of peace” all was restored and the day went on and we began the process of decorating and cookie making and I just shook my head at God and wondered how He does it, why I am worthy and so grateful He does.

ThankFULL

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‘Twas a different Thanksgiving for us this year. Mom and her Hubs stayed home in PA, sis and her family stayed put in Tally, my mother-in-law’s sister passed away last week and understandably they just weren’t up for anything and my step-dad and his family had his 1st wife and sister and boyfriend in town (awkward and loud and weird). so we stayed put. and cooked. and enjoyed dinner with my grandparents. This is how the day went down:

The morning started out brisk at 37 DEGREES!!!! and warmed up to the 60’s.

Macy’s day parade on for our viewing pleasure whilst cooking the bird and organizing the side dishes. (for me, I don’t get all crazy so it’s not the cooking but the TIMING of it all that makes me a little wired, and somehow it always works out even though I’m not sure HOW….but it does).

Finished up the Christmas cards (ready to mail tomorrow, don’t hate, but I truly can’t wrap my head around Christmas shopping until this is done. it’s the way I am and I’m ok with that). Sadly, I ran out of labels and had to hand write 1/2 of my cards! However, if my friend who sends at least TWICE what I send can do it, I’ll zip it…but those labels??? They are on the grocery list; THAT won’t happen again!

A little bike ride with our youngest around the ‘hood left me wishing I wore my gloves. I’m a baby, I know. Blame it on my thin Florida blood.

Appetizers at 1. Mountain Dew, it’s what the 16 year old brings home when you send him for drinks and Triscuits.

who knew the goat cheese and cranberry would be such a hit?

Dinner 1:30 ish.

I guess I didn’t need the WHOLE 5 lb bag of potatoes….

The kids opted to eat outside and so did the cat, thankfully.

we use these dishes ALL month long!!

Caramel got his first turkey ever. loved it.

Pie 3 ish with a little fire pit action.

Shower and PJs by 5:30. Is that so wrong? It sure didn’t feel like it!! Then……

Ordered my Free Shutterfly calendar for 2014 (use FREECAL as the promo code until Monday. I think. not sure.)

Ordered Nutcracker tickets for the girls and I for our annual ballet and cupcake fix.

Washed fire pit clothes.

Blogged.

Read.

Slept.

How was YOUR Thanksgiving? Hopefully blessed!!

making the trek

Trekking through life: Faith, family, friends and a whole lot of coffee!

Category Archives: Family

2013 Photo-Palooza

7 Christmas QTs

#Affluenza: are you kidding me?

Sometimes, it takes LOTS of prayer

ThankFULL