Category Archives: Parenting

Olympics=International AWESOMENESS!!!!

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image cred: CP entertainment

I love the Olympics.  Winter or Summer.  They are so exciting, motivating,and  inspiring and I love to soak up as much as I can get.  In between a full-time job, 4 kids and a Hubby it’s often not much, but thanks to technology…..I CAN get every bit of info and playback I need!  Phew.  I mean, there’s only so many hours in a day and there’s no medal in Olympic viewing….

So far, for these London Summer Olympics here are my Olympic observations:

1)Seriously over-the-top creative opening ceremonies.  Um, the baby thing was a teensy bit creepy but overall (what I saw) was extremely imaginative and told quite the story spanning decades.  I loved Daniel Craig and the Queen and got a kick out of trying to explain to our daughter how Her majesty got from the plane/parachute to her seat for the ceremony so quickly and gracefully.  Lots of unexpected twists, however, like it or lump it….that show was some SERIOUSLY creative work and immense effort and organization to pull it off.  My head almost blew up imagining the logistics of it all!

2)  Awesome commercials, WAAAAAAY better than the Superbowl!  My current fave is Ryan Lochte (local boy done good….except for the UF part, but hey this ‘Nole will let that slide…) swimming to London.  David Boudia “diving” off world’s tallest building for Visa is pretty phenomenal, too.  Of course, there’s the P&G commercial with the nod to Moms in the training of Olympians and the sacrifices made in getting to the Olympics. Truly though, if you look in the stands you certainly see lots of dads and other family members present as well.  I only have to look to my own friends and their swimming/lacrosse/running/baseball/soccer/volleyball kids (and my own) and see the sacrifices made on an ongoing basis.  The crockpot is your friend, repeat after me….

3)  Speaking of families, I also love the numerous olympic stories that we hear about.  John Orozco, one of the US Men’s gymnast hopefuls was one that I caught last night. The amount of drive and discipline ALL of the Olympians have is astounding and this young man is no different.  His desire to make a better life for his entire family is touching.  The dude’s strength and prowess on the pommel horse and parallel bars, sheesh!  These guys make it look so easy, meanwhile I am huffing, puffing and using a chair and maybe get my chin up over the bar for a second.

4) The watching of the Olympics itself is an event.  An all-day event (thanks to the time difference here in the States).  The weekend has been great, but now it’s back to work, what to do?  what to do???  Ah, but there’s an app for that (and an app for walking/running if so inspired by the Olympics….):

Sshhhh, don’t tell my boss, but I am hooked up for work-day viewing! Just need to keep it charged!

Of course there are also Olympic watching parties.  We went to one last night. A friend of a friend hosted it at their mansion house on the river.  Food out the wazoo and Olympics on about 72″ of HDTV.  New people to meet, watching boats troll down the river from a day out on the water, fireworks to the south.  It was exhausting!

This little hairless kitten was one of the host’s pets…oh the interesting things you come upon when at an Olympic watching party…

5) The outfits which so far have been mostly swimsuits and gymnastics-wear, which just further point out the differences between the Olympian’s discipline and my lack-of-discipline.  Whatev. (If AT&T comes knocking on my door for some sponsorship I may consider cutting out the sweets.  Maybe.) I was interested to see the US women’s beach volleyball and Australia’s women beach volleyball match and even more interested in the difference in uniforms.  Once I got past the fact that the Aussies were quite covered up I realized at least those girls didn’t have to deal with the sand digging into areas sand ought not be AND that they also didn’t have to keep yanking up their bottoms.  It was different for sure.  However, they may be on to something.  Don’t get me wrong now, I was FULLY cheering our US moms on and thrilled for their win to move on!!

**speaking of outfits, how about the Dutch women’s field hockey team.  Wow.  Beautiful ladies.  Eye raising uniforms…..

6) More watching today with rowing, swimming, synchronized diving–China is the SHIZ, but SO happy our girls did so well!!  I was so exhausted from so many sports I needed a 2-hour nap to recuperate from it all.  Sheesh.  We should get bonus workouts just from vicariously participating in all this activity, in my opinion!! Who’s with me???  No worries, I’ll still be up at o’dark hundred for boot camp, even without sponsors and fanfare. (or not, since apparently we have a little bug going through our house and Hubby and daughter are battling it out for my doctoring skills….and it’s 1:40 a.m.—–guessing this is the REAL reason God gave me a huge nap today!)

I’m sure there will be more likes and inspirations as the days carry forth with the medal watching and you can be sure I’M watching whatever I can squeeze in!!  How about you?  Are you cheering on your country and becoming a little bit obsessed, or are you like my boys:  all like….whatever??  I swear, I don’t even know who they are…

Speedbumps

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We all get them.  Those pesky little speed bumps along the way.  When life is just a plugging along and all is hunky-dorey and BUMP….not so much.  Like a car, we adjust our speed, take a little more care navigating and then move on along until the next one.  And there WILL be a next one.  It’s just life.  Therefore, there is the matter of how you react to each little (or big) speed bump.  You can let it completely derail your day/week/month/year or you can accept that such is life and do what you can to live your life IN SPITE of the speed bump nuisance.  I suppose personality has a lot to do with how we deal with problems, as well as faith, support systems and how we were taught to deal with life’s “unfairness” or inevitable changes.

This week we have been dealing with a “stomach ache” x several days with our youngest.  I HATE stomach aches.  When there are no other symptoms, I generally view it as a cry for attention.  Compassionate, aren’t I?  However…….when it continues for days, accompanied by sloth behavior and limited appetite?  Now you have my attention.  So off to the doctor’s we go and leave with a prescription in hand for Strep throat.  Again.  Now I just feel guilty.  Blah.  Stewing in it isn’t productive so I own my guilt for  a bit, realize I didn’t overreact (because seriously, if I went to the office for EVERY symptom, #1 I’d be broke (more than usual) and #2 I’d be Facebook friends with the entire office!).  Anyway, I went with my gut, it paid off, hugs and drugs administered….moving on.

We also had an issue come up with a dear friend who is really dealing with some challenging life choices and a denial of sorts as well as with poor coping skills.  It’s truly turning into a snowball of complications and it’s difficult to watch it happen.  Hubby was able to begin a dialogue with him, as his friend, and hopefully it’s the beginning of SOMETHING.  Sadly, we can only make our own decisions.  Sometimes we have to be the friend who steps in and speaks the hard truth out of love.  And that’s a tricky situation, stepping way out of the comfort zone.  At the end of the day though, we have to live with the choices WE make and if we’ve done the best we could, sometimes that has to be enough.

Here’s to navigating life’s speed bumps one at a time, fully focused and wisely adjusting our speed for each one!

He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says even the very smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things.

— St. Louis de Montfort

Life giving friendships

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These girls, ladies, women, amazing friends and sisters in Christ.  They’ve been an integral thread in my life for a dozen years.  We met during a women’s retreat at our parish and many of our husbands participated in the men’s retreat that took place after ours.  Our retreat group was probably twice this size after formation, but this group……THIS group struck a bond.  A bond that went beyond formation and providing the next retreat.  A bond strengthened over bible studies, rosaries, dinners and desserts.  In spite of busy lives and season changes, we’ve managed to stick together, each taking a piece of the other’s heart so that we are all forever sisters regardless of distance and life’s plans for us.  These are life giving friends.

This picture captures a rare moment of togetherness recently,  and marks the move of one friend and her family to Washington D.C.  The fact that we were ALL able to make the dinner (with school over and summer ON, one with laryngitis, one leaving the next day with her husband and 6 kiddos on vacation, myself being 4 hours away, and one with a newborn) was an amazing accomplishment in itself–on a Wednesday night no less!  It was a bittersweet dinner (saying goodbye is NEVER easy) however, we were ALL able to take turns “catching up” in a roundtable discussion and enjoy each other’s company, laughing at stories and enjoying super delicious food, too–BONUS!

12 years brings much opportunity for prayer, encouragement, hope, love and comfort.  What a blessing in these friendships, an abundant harvest resulting from following the prompting of our Lord to attend a weekend retreat.

These friendships are a tapestry of prayer and God reveals the image one story at a time.  Through the years He’s weaved that tapestry through praying for one another and sharing in each other’s lives.

Prayers for struggling marriages and praises for God’s gift of forgiveness, compromise, commitment, and strength in fighting through the challenges and the fruit of  healed hearts.

Prayers for babies born and unborn and praises for those who took their sweet, sweet time.

Prayers for being open to life  and praises for the many varied gifts of life in this culture of death.

Prayers for children’s health, novenas for treatment and praises in God’s gift of talented physicians, compassionate nurses and a network of prayer warriors storming heaven.

Prayers for children lost in the sea of peer pressure and hurt as they spread their wings and fly solo, praises for God’s path and the gift of  healing through angels on earth who allow the Holy Spirit to form their words and gently redirect their path.

Prayers for the unfairness of cancer and all the promises it robs, praises for the power of prayer, God’s will and the promises of His plan far exceeding our own.

Prayers for guidance and advice in the ongoing vocation of motherhood and marriage, and praises for God’s wisdom and love provided through friends as we all weave our families through this obstacle course of life.

Prayers through job loss and financial struggles and praises for jobs found, opportunities presented a faith to step out of comfort zones into Trust.

Prayers throughout a family’s prison ordeal and praises for a family restored.

Prayers for friends who move away and praises for the unexpected gifts received in stepping out in love and hope.

Prayers spoken, fears whispered, tears shed, hope restored, love shared, faith renewed.  Prayer warriors and lifetime friends.  A bond not weakened by distance.  A bond strengthened through prayer, sharing, love and faith.

Thank you, Lord for the gift of friends.  I am truly blessed.

Proverbs 11:14 

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

For more on friendship Scripture check here…

Friday is my favorite day….

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Good morning, Friday!!!

Friday.  A beautiful sound.  Even in summer.  Especially if you work all summer.  Friday. Ahhhhh.

Wrapping it up for the week with Jen and friends @ Conversion Diary….check ’em out!

1.   After taking the girls to their annual physical last week, it was time for “The Talk” with our oldest girl.  God provided a window and it went so well.  She was very attentive.  Lots of good questions.  Phew!

2.  GREAT workout week.  Gym @ lunch twice already and boot camp twice.  I even managed to somehow still walk after endless varieties of lunges and squats around an entire block.  (OK, maybe not a REAL block, but a HUGE parking lot!!!

3.  Our garden is huge!!! Who knew Hubby had such a  green thumb.  We have so many tomatoes that I am making homemade salsa this weekend….I even found my recipe!!!

4.  I’m mid-process of moving my old blog from apple’s iWeb over to wordpress….8 days left….2 years to go….I think I can, I think I can!!!  It’s crazy to think as user-friendly as apple is (for the most part) that they didn’t give more thought to helping people move their blogs more EASILY since they weren’t going to continue their service….I’ll continue to cut and paste, cut and paste, cut and paste!!!

5.  Hubby got our youngest to the eye doctor and she’ll be sporting some specs…she’s thrilled….thankfully vision insurance will foot some of the price tag….OUCH!  Eyes are important though!

6.  Great date night with my Hubby this week for dinner out.  Something about an uninterrupted conversation and finishing a thought……interesting concept, we must explore this more often!

7.  I finally managed to get my morning time adjusted to summer and made it to work ON TIME the last 2 days……phew!  Hate cutting my lunch short to adjust time.  GRRRR…

Happy Weekend, now head on over to Conversion Diary!!  😉

Sleepy cat!!

Trendy VS Classic…there’s a reason trends come and go

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I’ll stick with the trends that won’t wreck my life, scar me or put my children in position they are not ready to be in before they can handle it.

This came and went….

This will never disappoint….

trend·y (trnd) Informal

adj. trend·i·er, trend·i·est

Of or in accord with the latest fad or fashion: trendy clothes.
n. pl. trend·ies

One who is drawn to and represents the latest trend
Fashion trends are one thing.  They come, they go.  They add a little zip into your wardrobe and shake things up.  I like a trendy piece here and there, generally though, I am a T-shirt and shorts or capris kind of gal.  I put a little extra effort in for Mass on Sundays and date-night with Hubby, aside from that, I’m happy in my regular outfit, or even workout clothes, it’s all about comfort for me!
 
                                                                          I just don’t get it….
Then you have tattoos.  Quite popular these days.  We live near the beach and believe me when I say we are SO in the minority here, having fresh, ink-free skin.  Everyone’s got ’em.  From a little wrist or ankle tat, to the tramp stamp to the full on sleeves.  A day trip to the water park is a quick education in all the varieties and evolution of the tattoo from the fresh 19 year-old skin to the been-there-done-that 40 something, few kids later and some sun damage and suddenly it’s not quite the tat it was 20 years earlier.  Other people can do what they want, it’s just not for me.  I can’t seem to pick something that I think I’ll STILL love 5, 20, 50 years from now.  Tattoo removal is a big business, big money,  pain involved and you don’t end up with the smooth ink-free spot you started out with when you are done.  I’ll stick with the trends that I can pack up and send to Goodwill after a year or so….
The one parenting trend that currently “wraps me around the axle” (as my girlfriend says) is the Co-Ed Sleepover for high schoolers.  Time magazine even has an article with tips on how to run your own child’s co-ed sleepover.  WHAT?!?!?!  THE??!!?? (insert expletive here!).  You’ve got to be kidding me!!!  For our family, we limit sleepovers to a few friends and are slowly phasing them out.  We don’t even host them.  We have boys and girls and as they get older, it’s just a mix I don’t want to  encourage.  There’s just nothing to think about here.  Add boy + girls + raging hormones and shut out the lights.  Hmmmmm   Really?  I’m just flabbergasted that anyone would think this is a good idea.  Implement all the “safety issues” you want, but believe me, “IT” can still happen, even with safety measures in place.
Recently, a Facebook friend took a poll on co-ed sleepovers and with the exception of ONE person, the majority was mightily against the idea.  It turns out my friend was polling to show proof that most parents oppose to her high-schooler.  It was refreshing to see those opposed, but it also made me wonder:  if it’s the parents that are pressured into the sleepovers by their kids, then what message does that send about how to stand up against peer-pressure to the kids?  Kids will do what they are going to do (and I was a kid and I DID make poor choices), but as parents, aren’t we called to guide those choices wisely?  To guard them against youthful mistakes?  With medical proof that brain development is HUGE from adolescence to age 20 or so (nothing we didn’t already know….but now have  proof!), a teen’s frontal lobes are still developing and learning to master emotions and decision-making skills, why would we willingly thrust them into a situation to further complicate matters?
Kids are going to mess up.  It’s a fact of life.  I don’t want to purposefully make it harder on them.  They NEED us to help them distinguish right from wrong.  They NEED us to say “no”.  They NEED boundaries.  They NEED rules.  They NEED consequences.  So for us, and our children, we will continue to call and verify the occasional sleepover, say “no” to uncomfortable intuitions, enforce boundaries and consequences for breaking rules and testing limits.  These are things that will help our children grown into responsible adults.  It’s hard.  It’s painful for all of us.  It molds our society for tomorrow.  Until they grow up and spread their wings, I’m fine with NOT being the cool parent.  It’s a work in progress and we are far from perfect, but at least we are trying.
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.