Tag Archives: family

Yum, yum…the kids loved dinner!

All in favor of a two-day work week, say “Aye!”

Since taking three days off of work to spend time with the kids for their Spring Break, my “week” is two days at work and PHEW!, I’m ready for the weekend.

I forgot how HARD being a stay-at-home mom was. It’s been awhile, forgive me, but OH. MY. GOODNESS!! The chores. The needs to be met. Errands to be run. Sheesh. Fortunately for me, I decided early on Monday (about half way through errand running) that these days off would be about bon-bons and chillaxin’. The rest would take care of itself somewhere along the week. And this is what my week consisted of:

Monday-Wednesday at 9 a.m. attending our church’s Lenten mission to hear Father Richard Leonard speak on the history of the church and Mary, discernment and God’s will in our lives and forgiveness and faith. Tremendously uplifting and Living Water for this thirsty soul, right when I needed it. Very cool how “GOD-planned” to offer this retreat on my EXACT days off.
Monday, Tuesday, and today (Friday), hit the gym with my girlfriend and got our strength training on. And abs. And cardio. You know it’s a good exercise week when you are still feeling it on Friday from Tuesday!
I was able to have our girls’ BFFs over to play each day I was off. The boys are older and do “their own deal”, but it was nice to be able to get them breakfast and lunch and run them around a bit as well. Not to mention how great it felt to be able to help out some moms and provide a fun day for their girls. Having “been there, done that”, it is always a happy feeling when you know your kids are having fun with their friends and not bored at home, coming up with new ways to irritate the you-know-what out of each other.
Dinner was taken care of. Monday: chicken and rice for the fam and I went out with the girls to celebrate my girlfriend’s 12th annual 38th birthday! Tuesday: crock pot. Wednesday: leftovers. See? Dinner was taken care of.
We hit the beach. Every day. See previous posts from this week…..Sunscreen aplenty, boogie boards, beach toys, snacks and water. Recharged!
We tried out a scrumptious cupcake bakery in town. (sorry, no link, no web-based orders, local only) My youngest daughter and I had a hard time picking out a dozen minis to share with everyone. Though the price was quite affordable, the calories are simply not a luxury and we will be making a wide berth. Except for special occasions. Maybe.
Book 3 of Hunger Games, “Mockingjay” is downloaded to my Kindle. Which is charged. I have to work today, however, my lunch hour and free time between football games this weekend will be consumed by Katniss, Gale and Peeta and wrapping up this depressing, yet fascinatingly addictive series.

Things that didn’t get taken care of this week:

Laundry.
Spring cleaning
Reorganizing the pots and pans (a mess, let me assure you!)
Reorganizing the spices and pantry (I want it all in ONE spot)
Purging the girl’s toys
Purging the boy’s clothes
Purging my clothes

No big deal. It’s still there and it WILL get done. However, the world will go on regardless, right?

See what other’s weeks looked like @ Conversion Diary’s Friday Quick Takes with Jen Fulwiler!

Have a blessed weekend!

Spring football: American Style

Road trip…view from the backseat

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Last weekend, my girls and I took a road trip to see my sister, brother-in-law and nephews; while we were there, my sis, my girlfriend and I were going to see my friend’s daughter in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It was a whirlwind weekend, rainy, cold and eight hours of car time, but we had a great time.
Quality time with my sister: a play AND appetizers/dessert (I know you are jealous…you should be), something that so rarely happens without at least one of our children present.
Catch up (in fast forward) with a good friend and praising God for His mercies and the works He has done in her family’s life after just a year ago their son being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. To just visit with her after their year that changed their lives and see the grace and growth and the LIVING that continues…HUGE. God IS good. Even when the circumstances purely suck.
Mass at our old church with a powerful sermon by a young priest who is simply ON FIRE and IN LOVE with our Savior. Seeing and hugging old friends and their growing children. Life goes on. We are blessed with the richness of friends and family and this weekend was but a small example.

Back to the road trip portion…..the girls come ready, they pack their own bag o’ goodies. Snacks. Games. Books. They are veterans of this drive and they know what it takes to stay busy and pass the time. In the end, they barely touched their bag (aside from the snacks) and we listened to their music so we could hear Taylor Swift (Mama’s iPhone needs to be updated with T’s music), they made up car games, sang songs, played on the iPhone, watched the world go by and took pictures. Love. Them.

They packed their own snacks. And dad vaccuumed the crumbs when we got home. oops.

It’s a long boring drive

Hoping the truck gets close enough to do “the sign”…you know ‘honk your horn, mister!’ he didn’t.

Searching for horses….

Finally. No offense to country music. After 8 hours though….Mama needed a change-up in tunes!

10 and 2, baby! It was comin’ down!

Should have checked the weather before we left….

Love. Free. Apps.

More clouds.

Rewarded by a group performance in the garage by Ty and his crew…PRICELESS! (he’s the one commanding the lead from the cooler/stage)

So THAT’S how I talk…

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A while back I agreed to do an interview with Pat Gohn from the Among Women pod cast. She’s a wonderful speaker (voice like butter!) and I always enjoy her pod casts: part women Saints history and the other part an interview with various women on various topics. I love getting a glimpse into other people’s lives, their faith walk and how they incorporate their faith into this world. Her program feeds my “spiritual voyeurism” and encourages me to keep on keepin’ on. We all need that from time to time, don’t we? Back to the interview…..she asked me to speak about MY faith and how it was tested, evolved and sustained me through our own trials. For some reason I agreed. Completely out of my comfort zone, I assure you. However, I had prayed for a long time that if our suffering and faith walk were ever to be a comfort and encouragement to others, than “Lord, here I am”.

Pat was amazing. Having NEVER done anything like this in my life, she guided me each step of the way. Beginning with a draft AND a word count (sheesh!), she edited my story showing me where to fill in the holes. Once I got going, I didn’t worry about the word count, the story wrote itself. We Skyped a couple of times to go over things and prep and then came the interview. It was like chatting with a dear friend over coffee, which is exactly as she wants it to feel. HOW does she do that???

In the end, the show was aired this week. I listened yesterday and once I stopped counting my “uh’s and umm’s” (a public speaking gig I won’t be pursuing any time soon) I listened. And relived. And stepped out of myself. And praised God for a wonderful work that He has done in our family. (and continues to do so daily) I also realized that I need to get back to THAT place of prayer and faith that I purely lived in heart, mind and soul for so long. I hope it was somewhat of a tribute to how God blessed us so amazingly with family and friends in our life willing to do His work for us. It really does take a village and our family, our children, have been blessed mightily in spite of this period of difficulty.

So cling to Him. He will deliver you. Today’s Readings are of Esther asking for God to put the words in her mouth to release her people. She gives Him full reign, full obedience. Waiting on direction. The Psalms remind us that when we call on the Lord, He DOES hear us. We are to trust. And in the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus reminds us to ask, seek and the door will be opened. And if even we as earthly parents give our children what the ask for can we even IMAGINE what God can do for us. I’m here to tell you, it’s true. Every bit. It’s a huge step in faith. Easy to say, but that first step is a doozy and won’t be one you regret.

Blessings!

making the trek

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