Sisterly Moments

Kristiana has become a little mother to Annie—trying to soothe her when she is upset, telling her “It’s okay.”  I saw her holding Annie’s hand in the car.  Today Kristiana wanted to change Annie’s diaper. So she did, with a little help.  This is a welcome change to her trying to make Annie cry by bopping her in the face.  This is the behavior I had hoped for out of my eldest daughter.

I did not realize that the girls were doing the same thing in these photos until I uploaded them to my computer.  I was just trying to get a good shot.  I thought this series was worth sharing.

Holy Rites of Initiation for Annie

Holy

Exorcism

Anointing

Baptism

Cleansed

Chrismation

A trip around the Altar

Oh that Chrism smells so good. 
Thanks to our wonderful proxy who stood in for Godparents who could not make it last minute.

Holiness

We were fortunate that the priest from the Byzantine parish in Irving (http://www.stbasilsinirving.org/) came to  our Roman church to perform these rites for Annie.  Now she is a fully initiated Christian. “May God grant her many blessed years in peace, health and happiness!”

Twelfth Night

Well today was upside down as it should be on the twelfth night of Christmas, but it was totally unintentional and that is not a good thing. :-( I woke up early to walk the dog, but she did not do her business like usual, only to find out my husband took her out in the middle of the night and she had done it then.  When I arrived back home I realized Andrew had forgotten to put the garbage cans by the curb for trash pickup.  It is not easy to haul out big trash cans when you have a big dog pulling on a leash.  I went inside and began to rush to ready the children to go to our Adoration hour.  I barely made it out the door in time, but I didn’t get to have breakfast (that’s really unusual for me).  During Adoration Alex was really well-behaved and that is unusual for him.  Kristiana ran laps around the room.  We went to get drive-thru doughnuts afterward and then off to “the kid store.”  They have a play area, but there were no other kids to play with today.  That’s weird.  But, it gave me an opportunity to get the kids out of there quicker today.  We came home and tried to get organized.  Andrew stayed home from the office—strange, I thought he was going in.  I ate some strange leftovers for lunch (never a good idea).  I ended up with a tummy ache.  Then I put Kristiana down for an early nap because she was throwing fits all over the house.  She threw a fit in her bed for only a half hour and then went to sleep.  Alex and I put together some crafts and painted.  He became distracted and only painted for a short while and then became interested in manly hammer swinging with Daddy.  I continued to paint a little. Did I mention Annie did not sleep much except short naps all day.  Since, Alex did not finish painting and when Kristiana woke up the paint was still sitting out, so she joined in finishing the painting.  She was doing well until Alex had to suddenly help again because she was now painting his picture.  He mixed all the colors together and she kept painting. We ended up with a mess.  Thank goodness hubby didn’t make a big deal about having to get out the bissell carpet cleaning machine.  But, Kristiana painted the top part of the throne herself with my direction of what color she should use—not bad.  I was impressed.  Then the kids ran around being crazy for hours.  We were supposed to go to a Three Kings party in the evening, but didn’t make it.  We were putting our shoes on and getting ready to leave the house, when we caught Alex trying to gouge out Kristiana’s eye with her fairy wand.  And that is when the fun ended.  We punished the kids by not going to the party and going to bed early.  Neither one of them had behaved very well during the day and Andrew and I were two stressed out parents.  At least, I was stressed until everyone went to bed.  “It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

Three Wise Men

Three Fools

Theophaneia–“Appearance of God”

Theophany commemorates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan—the first time the Holy Trinity was revealed to man.  The Father’s voice from Heaven, Christ incarnate in the Jordan and the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove.

This icon was a little bit of a detail nightmare.  We worked on this one for two hours today.  Alex actually worked on it for 1 hour 45 minutes himself.  I went back later and went over the lines with the marking pen.  So, this is a 2 hour 20 minutes icon.  Of course, I did some other highlighting and details too.  The real secret behind getting this one done and doing it well was patience and mommy making up for the four year old dexterity handicap.  Alex would start on a section and then get frustrated on the difficulty, then I would go in and outline the edges with paint.  Then he would paint in the middle without fear of going outside the lines. 

Whenever we write icons together Alex says that is a gift and decides on who he will give it to, because the first one we wrote together we decided to give it as a gift to Daddy for his birthday.  He decided this one will be a gift to the priest who is coming to Baptize and Chrismate Annie this weekend.  I am kind of sad, because I hoped to keep these paintings and hang as many feasts as we can in his room.  If he remembers to give the icon to the priest (I am so selfish, I want to keep it), I will have to settle for my photos.  I will put a little book together of our year of icons for Alex as a keepsake.

Attic Abyss

As I dictated which boxes and more should go up into the attic, and then watched them disappear into the attic abyss, I thought, good Lord, I am never going to move again.  I thought it would feel good putting things away.  But, I can hardly bare the thought of hauling these things down from the attic and dragging them to another home.  I am ready and committed to get real comfortable and not over clutter my life, but simply be content where I am…God willing.

(Photo: Christ of the Abyss)

7 Quick Takes - 2011

 

1. If someone had told me ten years ago that this is what my life would be like in 2011, I would have said that sounds about right. Glad to know I am living the dream I imagined for myself ten years ago.  Although, if you had told me twelve years ago, I may have still been holding onto the princess complex in which I meet a true-life, handsome prince and we live a romantic fairy tale, happily ever after, somewhere in Europe. ;-) I think my reality is better than the fantasy.

2. Holidays, guests and moving has kept us moving at a breakneck pace for more than a month.  I am looking forward to getting back to our rhythm.  As soon as I catch up on laundry and finish unpacking boxes hopefully we will fill settled.  Of course, if it is not one thing it’s something else.  I have about eight pots on the back burner and I am not sure any of them will make it to the front.

3. Here is a thought running through my head lately: Is wanting to home school my children an unwillingness to release control? Is home schooling really a control freak thing? Is sending my children to public school a selfish desire to get them out of the house and let their discipline both personal and educational be someone else’s job?  I have chalked it up to being selfish on my part either way.  People tell me that the school district we are in is really good and Alex has a desire to go to school.  However, I think to how important my Catholic school education was to my overall formation.  We cannot afford private school, therefore it’s public or home school.   For now, I tell everyone that I am in love the idea of home schooling, but I can not figure out how to make it work for us. Am I lazy? Am I poor at disciplining my children? I feel like I work all day caring for the home and kids. How do moms fit in home school as well?  I have 18 months to think and pray about this.

4.  Alex has been looking at books for long periods lately and playing imaginative games in his Buzz Lightyear costume. Today, he and I played a whole game of Monoply and he was patient and followed along even when his little sister was being annoying.  BUT, when we ask him to do something he does not want to do it or punish him for being mean to his sister he gets really belligerent.  I am not sure how to handle him.  We want to punish him with gravity, but we don’t want to yell or spank too much, because he acts out similar behavior yelling and hitting.

5. Kristiana has been taking off her diaper after every time she goes in it, yet I cannot get her to go in the potty.  She is driving me crazy having to chase her around with a diaper all day.  So much for new carpet. She’s like having a puppy—puddles everywhere.

6. Dress up! – Oh cute!

7. Giggles and Tackles – Alex and Kristiana are always running around chasing each other and giggling.  This is a sample of one of those times.  This is not one of their cutest giggle races, but you get the idea.

House Guest

We have a house guest.  My sister’s dog, Nara, will be staying with us while she is deployed. 

I am not really a dog person.  Although, lately I have been toying with the idea of getting a dog.  It’s kind of nice having a temporary dog.  Nara is really not my kind of breed though.  She’s well behaved and she provides a good excuse to go take a 20-30 minute walk alone.  Too bad that walk has to happen first thing in the morning before a cup of joe. 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Kristiana getting a little too friendly with Nara.  She’s such a sweet dog.  Whenever the kids get a little too “in her face,”  she comes over to me for protection.  This is good because she doesn’t bark or bite.  She just walks away.  Don’t worry, Sarah, we are taking good care of her.  She’s made herself at home and is part of the family.

I swear I was telling Kristiana to get off the dog while I was taking this picture. I don’t know what message it sent Kristiana to take a picture of her doing something bad.

Holy Supper @ Claytonopolis

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Holy Supper begins at sundown when the first star in the evening sky is visible.  The star must be spied by the children.  Tonight the sky was overcast and we could not see the stars.  We joined at the table in prayer.  Father began by saying the Troparian.  Then he lit the candle representing the “Light of the World” and he tied a rope around the table binding us together. 

Then mother blessed everyone with holy water.

Father cut a cross into the Kolach bread (eternity bread) and served a piece everyone. 

Mother blessed the children’s foreheads with garlic and honey
representing the bitterness and sweetness of life. 

Each person ate one spoonful of Kutya (wheat porridge) representing bounty and the gathering of the family. Everyone thought is was so good.


Then each person was served a small portion of each dish.  Our Twleve Meatless Dishes for Holy Supper –
Twleve Dishes Representing Twelve Apostles.

And we all exclaimed “Christ is Born, Glorify Him!”

Home Sweet Home Almost

We’re officially Texans since we now own property. We are also trying to get all our things put away in to our new home.  I sort of wish we did not have so much stuff.  I keep thinking that we do not need all this stuff; and I wonder what would happen if I didn’t bring in anymore boxes from the garage, or didn’t open anymore and just called it good. We do not have as much as some folks, but I am a simple gal.  I want to keep it clean and simple.  Yet, homey and comfortable. It’s a fine line.

Our first home. It’s a pretty nice place.  (We’ll have sod soon)

‘Tis the Season – I read an article in the Diocesen newspaper about Advent and Christmas traditions and how important it is to decorate, because the ritual is apart of the development of the soul and not participating in the ritual is like losing a piece of your soul.

Annie wanted to give a little shout out to Aunt Annie. She enjoys riding in the mei tai on the back, but not the front.

Icon Writing with Kids – The Conception of Blessed Theotokos in the Womb of St. Anne

Alex has been feeling a little performance anxiety lately.  I painted most of this Icon.  He started to paint the right hand doorway and started to paint outside the lines and got upset and he decided he would paint the sky and the ground.  He did end up painting a few other areas.  But, it IS hard painting with tempera and our brushes are not ideal.  Anyhow, Alex was excited to paint and learn about the feast.  It was difficult explaining conception to a four year old.  I finally explained that it was the feast of Mary being in her mommy’s tummy.  Then he understood, because he knows that his sister Baby Annie was in mommy’s tummy.

Saint Anne (Forbear of God) is the patroness of housewives, so this lady has got my back ;-).  Holy Saint Anne pray for us.

Public Disturbance

I received a box of clothes and shoes from a friend and Kristiana instantly found some attire that fit her personality.  Now I always know where she is and so does every other human being.  It’s been funny taking her on outings.  This is a problem for going to church and the library, but perfect for taking her in stores where she might run away. Turn your volume up.

Feeling Homeless

We are waiting to close on a new home and move in. Our house is torn a part and walls of boxes are everywhere.  We were originally told we would close on December 1st.  That did not happen and now we are left sitting in the dark wondering when it will happen. 

I feel disoriented and cannot think clearly because our things are not where they ought.  Imagine that everywhere you turn things are not how you remember, things are not ordered.  You keep thinking you have to put them back, but you can’t and you have to figure out what else in the house you must tear asunder.  I have one pot in my cupboard and it takes skill to cook a whole meal each night with one pot.  I know I have not been praying with the children as frequently.  My mind cannot get from point A to point B.  Hopefully this will be remedied soon.

Alex performed wonderfully at his Karate test on Saturday. It was a total surprise to us how perfectly he performed.  He won the most improved award.  He broke his board on his first try and followed along with the big kids.  Then he followed it up by being perfectly behaved all the rest of the day.  It was Alex’s best day ever.

Here is my Annie Bear, smiling of her own volition.

And Happy Feast of St. Nicholas.  Each year I am more and more inspired by this magnificent Saint.