She Takes After Her Mother

I know this photo strip is not terribly interesting to most.  However, each night as we eat dinner I take great delight in watching our one year old gobble up her dinner.  The other children eat maybe one in four dinners I cook.  But, Lucy eats and eats and eats.  She begins the meal eating with her utensils.  Alas, she discovers that she can eat more if she eats by the fistfuls.  She enjoys it.  She asks for more.  She laughs and laughs, and is always the last one sitting at the table long after the other children have excused themselves and scampered away.  When the dishes are cleared and the surfaces wiped, she finally decides she's had enough.  Then she is wiped down by a loving parent and whisked to the bath for a playful soak.

I personally take delight in Lucy's eating, because it is a relief to see a child with hearty eating habits and a grateful heart.  I secondly take delight because she is much like myself as a child in eating habits.  Food is good and tasty.  While there are seconds, thirds and fourths to be had, nothing should go wasted, nothing should be leftover.  I often profess that I am a bottomless pit.  I almost always can eat more.  Some would say this is unhealthy.  Perhaps.  Moderation is good--a learned habit.  On the other hand, one could say it is a healthy appreciation of God given gifts.  All Glory to God.

I have a very early memory (a high chair memory) of loving tomato soup and asking for bowl-full after bowl-full.  I get it, Lucy.  Eat away.  Lucy asked for four bowls tonight and slurped it down straight from the bowl.  However, she did begin eating each bowl with her spoon. :-)

Holy Altar

Alex left Jesus a Lego present.  It's a Holy Altar.  Kids say/do the darnd'st things.

This is the icon I am working on.  It will be done tomorrow. Yay.

Sweet Success

Recently, Alex perused his copy of The Dangerous Book For Boys in search for that ever illusive "something to do."  He found a page about making crystals.  One of the neighbor boys had received a crystal making kit and Alex wanted to make crystals too.  I looked in the book and it recommended using alum powder.  I was not about to go out searching for alum powder.  But, I knew we could make some tasty crystals with ingredients from our pantry.  Yes, we made sugar crystals!

I had never made them before, so I searched it on eHow.  I ended up using six cups of sugar.  The site said I needed 3 cups sugar per one cup of water.  I wanted to make sure I had enough for all the kids.  This was a bit much.  I am using the remaining syrup to make another batch.  I ended up only making two crystals in the first batch because I had string troubles.  It kept floating up.  I did not have anything that would weight it down.  I ended up using a pipe cleaner.  I had plenty of popsicle sticks.  I should have used one of those. 

But we had success, and the look much grander than the store bought crystal kit, and they're edible.

 

Keep on Reading

To My Dear Children,

Keep on reading.  Read whenever there is time.  Choose reading over electronic things.

Love,

Mommy

Alex picked up this book on his own and read it through.  Last week Annie dumped a bunch of books off the kids bookcases.  I was perturbed.  I insisted all the children help put the books away.  As we sorted through the books Alex picked out at least 30 books that piqued his interests, and he piled them aside.  He has taken time each day since to look them over.  He doesn't always read the books he looks at, but I am glad he is taking more of an interest in reading.  It's so difficult to get kids to read with the temptations of technology. 

The Form of a Christmas Tree

The Greeks, specifically Plato, spoke of the form of a thing being the perfect idea of a thing.  I think we found as close to a form of a Christmas tree as possible. 

Since our first Christmas as a family we have had a plastic tree.  We were happy with this arrangement.  However, we have had two plastic trees in our short 8 years as a family.  This seems like a lot to me considering how much they cost.  Faced with having to replace our tree again this year our children wanted to experience a real tree.  We decided to oblige.  We may continue this trend for at least a few years.

After Thanksgiving, Kristiana saw that some of our neighbors had Christmas trees and began incessantly asking when we could get a Christmas tree.  When she waits in anticipation of an event she is quite relentless.  Friday, It had been two weeks since she launched her conquest for the acquisition of a Christmas tree.  So, despite the icy cold rain, and the inconvenient hour, we ushered the entire family off to a nearby grocery store to peruse trees.  We were not sure we would find one, but we were going to begin our search.  

We arrived at the store and there in the treed foyer was a Santa Claus character handing out mini candy canes.  It was instant magic for the children.  The store was having an event offering samples in every department and an entry into a $200 gift card drawing for trying 12 samples.  We decided to try for the drawing and hoped it would be fun for the kids.  After sampling, my husband went to dicker with the tree man.  I walked out of the store and my husband said the man would give us this tree at a 10% discount.  I gave a big smile and said, "Wrap it up!"  He did and we took it home.  This tree's size, shape, color and virility are perfect.  The needles are green and full of life.  We could not be more charmed by this tree.

I told Andrew stories of how my parents' tree always seemed to fall down at least three times before it was set right.  He exclaimed that his parents' tree never fell and it was always a lovely time.  I said, okay…We set our tree and had it decorated the same evening.  The next morning it was leaning.  All day we spoke of fixing it, but I had a headache, so the readjustment was delayed.  Then late in the afternoon, Kristiana tugged hard on an ornament and down the tree went.  We lost a very beautiful glass bulb.  The rest of our ornaments are impervious.  

Now Christmas seems wonderfully imminent. 

Christ is in our midst!

 

Thawed

It's hard to believe it was a year ago our family sat and watched Kristiana frozen for a whole hour at her first dance recital.  Well, guess what?!  She thawed out tonight.  She danced every move and it was adorable.

This was my favorite song of the evening.  The girls spelled out Jesus with their arms.  Kristiana's arms are supposed to be making a "J," but she's just turned five and perfect letter formation with her arms is not on her radar yet.

See how Kristiana is the only little girl in this line who has her arms outstretched.  That's because all the other girls in this picture are FROZEN.  Kristiana just happened to squeeze in between the three little girls in her group that froze.  I really had empathy for their families.  On the other hand, I was so proud of our little girl.

In other ballet news, I have found an adult ballet class and come January I am going to go play ballerina.  I have a friend who is going to teach a short five week ballet class.  Then my husband and I ran into a colleague and his wife.  She teaches ballet too and she said her studio has adult ballet classes in which I could buy a punch card for a reasonable price.  So that is a possibility if I must have more ballet in my life.  I think my learning ballet may be a good thing, because it is something the girls and I can do together at home during the day. 

Mno hya lyta!

Notes to My Daughters - On Beauty

This post origination is two fold.  First it rises out of my own insecurities.  I want people to like me and be friends with me.  I am an idealist.  I hope the best for everyone.  I believe there is a solution for every problem.  There is always hope in my eyes.  I feel like I have love and good tidings for everyone.  Therefore, I feel like I could/should be friends with anyone.  That sounds so nerdy…it is.  That's me.  Alas, I am not extroverted.  I am a borderline introverted and a little, eek, awkward.  It's bit difficult for me to start conversations. When people do not like me, or do not show the mutual camaraderie I desire, I immediately look for faults in myself, possible reasons for not liking me.  I cannot accept it.  I know it's unreasonable.  Not everyone is going to feel a connection with me.  Perhaps we have nothing in common.  As an introvert I should not desire this, because I could never maintain broad relationships and be happy.  Sometimes I reason that people do not like me because I am not pretty enough, thin enough, put together enough, or witty enough.  

Another reason for this post is that my daughters are one, three and five years old and they are obsessed with make-up.  I hardly wear make-up.  Mostly, I only wear it to church on Sunday.  So I do not know how they became so obsessed as though they watched their mom doll up everyday.  (Heh, dolls, toys with painted faces.  Maybe that's the problem)  I know children are naturally drawn to beauty, but I'd rather them not be obsessed with the commercial idea of beauty and how it is attained.  So I thought I would jot down some of the things I have learned about beauty thus far. 

To my daughters:

You are beautiful just the way you are.  I will spend your  entire childhood trying to convince you of this.  Hopefully, by the time you are grown you will believe me and come to the same conclusions I did.  I know at low points in your life it will be hard to believe.  I know that when you feel insecure about yourself you may want to blame beauty.  It's not so.  What makes you beautiful has very little to do with your physical appearance.  Just as every person looks differently, so too will your appearance be different to each other man's eye.  So do not ever try to make your appearance please another, because you will only end up confused and dissatisfied.

Part of the reason your mommy never wears makeup is because as a young teen I obsessed about my image and never felt pretty or perfect.  Then I started to wear makeup and I started to feel pretty and put together.  That's not a bad thing.  It is not a bad thing to put your best foot forward and look like you care for yourself.  There is nothing wrong in feeling more confident about yourself because you feel pretty.  However, you should find ways to feel confident and pretty and put together without putting forth a facade.  

One day when I was in high school I had a rushed morning and had no time for makeup.  I spent half the day feeling sad and insecure because I wasn't pretty enough.  Then a boy I liked took me to lunch.  I tried to look away from him as much as possible so he would not see my face.  I told him I felt ugly because I did not have any makeup on.  He shrugged and said he had not noticed.  He thought I looked the same.  I wondered why I was putting forth so much effort with makeup when the people I wanted to notice did not care.  That day I decided I was wasting my time on makeup because it made very little difference in the way people saw me.  People are going to see you the way they want to see you.

I told this story to one woman and she immediately rebutted that it was easy for me to say, a woman with beautiful coloring.  Fair enough.  I do have eyelashes that need no mascara and lips that need no lipstick.  However, makeup only goes so far.  It may add a little color and definition to your face, but no amount of makeup covers up a snarkey attitude, or selfishness.  No fancy dress will convince others that you are kind and full of humility.  No expensive handbag or designer boots will convince others that you are a worthy friend.  

Your physical adornments only make you interesting initially.  At some point you have to be more than a tattoo, or colorful hairdo, or blue lipstick.  At some point, you have to have depth, because beauty fades and what is fashionable, changes, but the consequences of how you behave and the friendships you make will stay with you always.  One of the things that heavily influences the way people feel about your beauty is your inner beauty.  Beauty is from within.  What does that mean?  It means you need to be good, kind and holy within first.  Be genuinely interested and concerned for people.  Be generous.  These things will win more attention than your lipstick color or pretty outfit.  Be confident enough to know you are beautiful and see beauty in others.

I look around me and I see beauty everywhere, because if there is something to love, there is beauty.  If there is something good, there is beauty.  If you look around and see how God has touch everything there is beauty.  Just be you.  That is beautiful enough.  You do not need makeup, or the best dress--you only need to emanate love and goodness to be beautiful.  Someday you will understand what this all means.  Until then I will try, in little ways, to help you see beauty in all things.  You will be so happy I did. 

Photographer

My new camera is a point and shoot.  I refuse to buy a dslr camera at this point because it would not suit my needs (not that I can afford it).  I am not going to make photography my hobby.  I just don't have time to learn how to make desirable shots with a camera that can do more.  Plus odds are someone little would get their hands on it and break it.

At first, I bought another camera and took four pictures with it and knew it would not suit my needs.  It was an inexpensive point and shoot.  Then after days of agonizing and reading reviews we picked another camera.  This time I was more than pleased with the camera.  Now I have to figure out how to use it.  As in, I need to be able to grab it, set it and shoot, because photographable moments are gone far too quickly around here.

Today, I played with settings a bit.  It was nice, because each setting it explained the conditions one would use that setting. It's a camera for dummies. ;-) Out of 19 pictures I took in a set this one below turned out perfect.  The rest were unusable.  But, they were all taken without flash.  One thing that is so great about this picture is that it was taken in a low lit room without a flash and with a free hand.  How this marvel was achieved I do not know.  It's totally amazing.  I am glad I found this setting.  It was the auto high ISO setting.

Here's a photo with flash. This little three year old has been spending a lot of time nudey lately.  I try to get her dressed, but she has been working on potty training and every time she has an accident she ends up nude.  Unlike my other kids, she seems to have mastered #2 first, but #1 is hit or miss.  Oh well.  You can't win.

St. Nicholas Coloring!

Veni, Emanuel

I wish we could say that we were more interesting, but we're not.  We're just an average American family, doing the things average American families do.  

We're preparing for Christmas.  I was not sure how we were going to pull of Christmas this year, but I think it will be as good as any Christmas that we have had before.  I think our family is particularly good at leisure. ;-)

I only let the kids put ornaments on our Jesse Tree every three days so they can each put one on and no one fights who's turn it is. 

I decided I wanted to make our Christmas season a little bit magical.  As in, I am planning on some low budget Christmas activities during the Christmas season.  I decided these can be done prior to Christmas or during Christmas.  The kids are not sensitive to timing at this age.  I am trying to line up twelve activities, but if I don't come up with twelve or some of these ideas fail I am not going to sweat it.  It will either happen or it won't.  If you have an idea, please feel free to comment.  Here's my list so far, Claytonopolis 12 Days of Christmas:

1. Drive around neighborhoods seeing Christmas lights
2. Hot Chocolate night and Marshmallows – Go outside, sit down, pile on blankets, and look for the biggest star
3. Popcorn and Movie Night (Nativity Story)
4. Make Christmas cookies
5. Make a popsicle stick ornament
6. Learn traditional Christmas Carols around the piano
7. Put together 500 piece nativity puzzle
8. Game night
9. Collect toy donations in the neighborhood 

I've been trying to prepare myself for Christmas as well.  I did a little St. Nicholas reading.  He inspired me to be holier.  Now I have to actually try to achieve my inspiration.  I can not say exactly what I found so inspiring about St. Nicholas' story except for his seemingly profound connection with the Almighty.  I get the sense that in years gone by people were a lot more willing to accept that which is mystical (e.g., miracles and visions), but it need not be something that those in our modern times have lost.  Think hard about times in your life when something seemed mystical.  You have a choice to shrug it off as a coincidence, or you may choose to see a Divine hand at play.  I can think back to many a time in which I saw something mystical.  I try to hold those moments in my heart always, because these are my glimpses at the Divine.  They are too few and far between and I now that I am at fault for not having a greater connection with God. 

In other news, I now have a new camera bought today.  So hopefully I will have blog posts with better pictures in the future.  Part of not posting recently was because my camera was totally kaput.  I have been taking pictures with my phone as you see in this blog.  I only discovered today my phone has different photo taking settings.  That would have been nice to know around the kids' birthdays.  It does not have a flash though.  Oh well.  I am grateful to have a new camera.  

First piggy tails - She's getting big.  But, still my baby.

Learning Cursive

Mno hya lyta!

Still a Little Girl

We played outside a while on a cold day.  Then the girls picked some mint leaves from my garden and we went inside and made mint tea.  It was a nice little party.  I hoped it would keep them occupied while I focused on Alex's home school lessons.  The tea party did not last long enough. 

 

Then the girls colored together.  They are pretty close friends.  It makes me happy to see them play well together.

After the coloring, Kristiana poured all the girls a bowl of cereal and milk and they happily munched away.  Or course, this made me very nervous, because I was working with Alex in the other room.  I started walking back and forth between rooms checking on them.  Finally, they finished their cereal and I cleaned up bowls.  Except for Kristiana's bowl, because she usually drinks up her milk.  I did not think she was finished, so I left it and went back to Alex.  Annie came with me.  Then Kristiana came.  Annie must have slinked away, because minutes later she came back to our home school room and said, "Mommy, I made a mess."  She spilled the milk all over the kitchen.  Story of my home schooling mommy life.  Lately, it's been like constantly putting out Annie fires.  She has me wanting to quit home school, because I feel I can't both stay on top of her and school my children.  I know this is just a phase--a really long phase, but she will grow out of this. [I had coloring pictures, but through some operator error, I no longer have them.

Lastly, I have been watching lots of ballet TV shows.  I took one year of ballet when I was 6 years old.  Then my mom decided to take me out for whatever reason.  I always longed to dance ballet.  But that is neither here nor there.  When I watch these ballet shows, I feel like I want to stretch and dance and look graceful.  Right now, I would love to put on a leotard, tights and ballet slippers and go to an adult ballet class.  It's such a weird little fantasy, but it sounds fun.  Truthfully, I can hardly stand in first position without almost falling over.  Maybe I should see about going to see a live ballet sometime. 

My favorite dance show of late has been Dance Academy.  It was free on Amazon Prime.  I watched the final season on You Tube.  I loved the ending of this series. 

Yeah, I totally stand in my kitchen pulling ballet moves.  I guess at heart, I'm still a little girl.

 

Because These Kids Dress Up Everyday

Kristiana changes clothing and dress-up costumes probably 5-7 times a day.  Yes, it drives me a bit mad, because the clothing is never neatly put away.  But, she wore this pumpkin fairy costume the entire week last week.  Well, she did alternate with her blue princess dress.  This pumpkin fairy costume is an 18 month sized costume.  It was supposed to be for Lucy, but Kristiana just had to have it.  It was way too short.  It does not go to her knees as it appears in this illusory photograph.  I made her wear shorts with it.

Lucy had to borrow the neighbor's costume.  But it was precious and suited her nicely.

Annie, the middle child, was just happy to be a part of the show.  She was going to be a ballerina, because she received a pretty pink ballet costume for her birthday.  But she really liked the idea of being "Kitty Woman!"  So she recycled Kristiana's costume.

Alex is a little difficult to nail down for a photo.  He was Batman.  If he had his way, he would be a ninja every year.  But we found this Batman costume at a second hand store for $5.  Batman is pretty close to ninja, right?

The little girl in the pink monster costume lives across the street and was born on the exact same day as Lucy.

The neighbor pulled Lucy and her bestie, Kyla in a wagon.  It was perfect, because I could then watch the other little girls carefully.  Lucy mastered trick or treating as soon as folks starting handing her candy.  She had eaten 7 pieces of by the time she arrived home and was drunk on sugar and power.  At one house the whole family sat on the drive with their baby boy in a camping chair.  When the little boy stood up, Lucy planted herself in his chair as though she were going to stay.

Sacred Heart Devotion

All right, I am starting to get a little creative with the art projects.  The book called for a simple line drawing of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  I quickly prepared construction paper templates and let the kids practice their cutting and gluing skills.  I recall doing a lot of cutting and gluing in kindergarten and first grade.  Not only does it improve hand eye coordination, but it is also fun.  

Alex and Kristiana did surprisingly well.  Annie had lots of help.  But, she always has fun when glue is involved.  They were all pretty proud and hung them on the refrigerator. 

My God, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the relief of the poor souls in purgatory.

Oddities

This guy was an impulse buy at the grocery store this week.  I had not planned on buying an eggplant this week, but I saw this guy and I just had to have him.  So I brought him home and made baba ganouj.  

As my daughter and I were walking around the produce section, she saw some peaches with noses.  She thought since we picked an eggplant with a nose, that we had have the peaches with noses too. 

--Fun at the grocery store with my daughter.  She topped off the trip with a dish of sushi from the deli, which she ate up all herself (spoiled, girl).

Mno Hiya Lita!

"Be of good cheer.  Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.  You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you preserver; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.  Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.  What I am looking for is not out there.  It is in me."  -Helen Keller

I needed to hear this today.  Someone little did not want to be obedient today--a real independent spirit.  The children all bickered a little too much.  Truly it drove me to the brink.  I really was not in the mood to deal with it either.  Halfway through the day, I decided we should sit down and have some ice cream and watch a little T.V. to calm everything down.  My ice cream party did not make life any better.  

Later we all went to the gym so mommy could blow off a little steam.  I felt 100% better about everything.  Then we went out to the parking lot and we were right at the car loading in, when previously mentioned someone little took off on an exploratory expedition of the parking lot.  Someone little is in a lot of trouble.  Let's just say I am putting this person on probation.

This bad behavior and how I felt about it (stressed) made me second guess our decision the home school.  Sometimes I feel like we must be a little too cooped up, because of the bickering and disobedience.  However, I know we would face the same problems whether the children went away to school or stayed home.  I know this is true because my siblings and I constantly bickered even though we went to good schools.  We never had good relationships.  For the most part, my children are friends and have fun. 

Part of their behavior is normal for kids growing up.  Part of it is the kind of environment one fosters.  I hope I can figure this all out, and help my family be holy. 

Mno Hiya Lita!

 

Poor Kitty

A kitten is not a toy.  Tell that to a 17 month old.  I told my husband that I think our kitten is not very smart, because he keeps letting himself be caught be the children.  Although, he already has a favorite hideout--under the TV armoire.  Someday he will learn to run away.

Mno Hiya Lita!

Art Class

Sometimes I feel I should be doing better things in art class.  I remember childhood art projects so fondly.  However with all the little ones it's hard to do anything special.  

Part of me feels that our curriculum is not very good in certain areas.  While it teaches line drawings appropriate for the age, it lacks the kind of creativity that I feel little ones need at this age.  Then again if it required more than basic supplies I would not do it anyway.

Indeed, I should be able to come up with some creative projects.  There are a few reasons I do not do more creative complex projects.  Firstly, when I sit down to lesson plan on Sunday or Saturday night I am usually pretty tired and not feeling creative.  I just want to slap together the lessons and launch head first into it on Monday.  Secondly, it's pretty difficult to conduct a proper art class with so many little ones around.  Lastly, owning lots of different art supplies is expensive.  

As they all grow more mature, I am sure that we will do more elaborate art lessons.  However, I worry for the older children that they did not get to experience it when they minds are most creatively fertile.  C'est la vie. I am sure they will turn out all right. ;-)

Here were are working on painting a Chalice

Lucy was getting in the way of the older siblings, so she was banished to eat pretzels.

Mno Hiya Lita!

Playground

We play in our Cul de Sac a lot in the Fall.

Sometimes other neighbor children join us.

But at the end of the Cul de Sac...

  …we have bulls and a white mule.

I love the way dead tree branches stretch to the heavens so poetically.

Mno Hiya Lita!

Why I Do Not Wear a Chapel Veil

It really bothers me when devout Catholic women write opinion pieces about wearing chapel veils in the sanctuary as though they were attaining some special  humility before Christ; as though their holiness were greater than those who do not wear veils.  Women practice the tradition of wearing veils in the Byzantine Catholic Church, the Orthodox church, Orthodox Judaism and Islam (to name a few).  Perhaps the arguments they make are true for them, but not for me.  

As an Eastern Catholic Christian I pray everyday the invocation of the Holy Spirit which goes as follows: 

          "O Heavenly King Comforter, Spirit of Truth, You are everywhere present and fill all things.  Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life, come and dwell within us, cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O Gracious God."

God's presence everywhere is a truth for every Christian.  Therefore, I do not believe one should only show this degree of humility and modesty in the sanctuary.  It should be practiced everywhere as a sign of humility and modesty.  Until women are prepared to do so in the public eye, I see it as hypocrisy and vanity.  You might as well be a pharisee advertising your holiness for all to see.  I prefer the publican's route, come to Christ with humility in your heart not on top of your head.  "O, God, have mercy on me a sinner" (Lk 18:13).

When I go to the gym I might wear a tank top and shorts.  When I go to swim, I wear a modern one piece bathing suit (personally, I could not afford a much more expensive swim dress).  I wear skirts that go to my knees!  All of these practices are considered immodest by historical tradition.  Until I am ready to wear a burka everywhere, which in truth is the only acceptable modest attire by tradition, then I also do not feel it a necessity to wear a veil to church.  All women of the one true faith should consider this question, "Am I as modest and humble in every aspect of my life as I am before the Blessed Sacrament?"  If not, then "Am I a hypocrite if I only do this where other people can see (people who are praying)?"  

Another reason I do not wish to follow this practice are simple ones.  First, I see it as a vanity: the delicate lace, the beautiful patterns, the expensive fabrics.  To own a chapel veil is a luxury for me simply because it is not an essential piece of attire for everyday use.  For me it's a vanity because I would fuss with it all during church making sure it was positioned properly.  One reason I would fuss with it's position is because I have four small children who would tug at it and play with it.  Then if it fell off, or was taken off my head, I would worry about the immodesty of it.  This is not a disruption I need in my worship time.

As far as I understand this is a mere expression of faith and is a more of a tradition of culture rather than a mandate.  If the tradition is rightly intentioned, then we may desire to practice it to do the proper thing amongst our Christian brothers.  As in, we do it because everyone else is doing it as a sign of modesty.  However, in our culture, a veil is not a sign of modesty, but an archaic symbol of oppression.  

Before we start writing devotional editorials on the virtues of veils, I think our time would be better spent teaching young men and women the virtues of modesty in attire in their daily lives.  Before we run out and buy a veil, let's run out and go to confession.   Let's come the Lord with humble hearts and not just humble heads. 

Mno Hiya Lita!