Small Successes

I am once again joining Faith & Family Live for the Thursday's Small Successes, because,

"It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that."

1. I got up before all the children one morning and enjoyed a truly relaxing moment with our Lord during my morning prayer time. Although He never tires of their constant interruptions, my simple mind usually lacks the clarity of thought to construct a coherent thought through them. This simple success I owe to another, though...

2. That other being, I went to bed at the time I should, despite the piles of potential good I could have done and the anguish it caused to know I would be greeted by those same piles in the morning.

3. And for the third, I have to offer quite a great success actually. I ate a hamburger this weekend that was a little on the burnt side, and by a little I mean, it crunched right up to the very heart of it. Normally, upon picking up my burger and realizing my hands were as black from the patty as they were red from the ketchup, I would have cut my loses, chucked the black disc to the Frisbee players, and waited for the picnic food line to shorten before trying my chances at a second lunch. BUT, I have been trying to find a simple sacrifice at each meal to offer up, hoping to temper my senses with a simple gift to our Lord, so when I saw the eager teenage server select the patty most resembling a hockey puck, just for me, I knew my Lord was offering me the grace to persevere where I might have chosen simply to eat.

Diapers

One of the unfortunate disadvantages of having so many bundles of joy bouncing around our lives, is that occasionally a detail or two will go unnoticed. One of those details, overlooked somewhere between the potential peanut butter face paint for snack and the narrowly averted toilet eruption by an over zealous wiper, was Daniel's post snack attire, but, for the sack of five pounds of Greek Meatballs in which I was invested up to my elbows, this detail seemed hardly significant. That is, until Daniel realized the absent shirt and shorts were, until now, the only thing standing between him and a whole new experience of freedom beneath those two funny Velcro tabs.

Hoping his diaper ditching might be the first signs of a newly developing appreciation for the tiny tot pot, periodically presented with dramatic ooo's and ahhh's over that last few months, I began showering his exploits with praises for my big boy going to use that wonderful new potty, but unable to deceive myself beyond the devious grin spread across his little face, I, as any reasonable mother with a fist full of raw meat and a father surely in ear shot would, bellowed, as my little nudest bolted from the room, "you better not put any pee in my house, Mister!"

By the time I caught up with him, he was standing on the front porch, grinning ear to ear, by an exceptionally large puddle for such a sunny day, obviously pleased with himself for listening so well.

Small Successes

1. I didn't make that comment. The one I really wanted to. The one that wasn't really that bad, and was true anyway. The one that was hanging on my tongue, eying that perfect spot in the conversation to jump right in. NO, I closed my lips tights, and refused to let him out.

2. I asked my children to forgive me after I lost my temper.

3. When I was pulled away from the table, having savored only one sizzling bite of steak burger and merely the scent of crisp homemade oven fries neatly piled on my plate, I was joyfully able to offer it up, thanking our Lord for the opportunity to remember my suddenly sick baby was more important than the growling empty spot in my stomach.

Ta DAAAA!!!

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Side effects from the use of this product may include, but are not limited to, drool spots, toy chewing, food aversions, sibling finger gnawing, sleepless nights, sore mommies, cranky daddies, and the occasional yelp of pain. Should any of these symptoms persist for more than 6 years, the dissatisfied parties my apply for an upgraded version. Upon receipt of the merchandise, the owner assumes all liability for the use of this product. The manufacture is in no way responsible for bites, bruises, yelps, drawn blood and other injuries that may be suffered by its misuse.

Reflections with Peter

Heaven

"In Heaven, when you run into doors, well, you don't even really get hurt. Yeah, you don't even get your head cracked open or nothing!"

(Peter has a running history with doors)

Sorry

I need to apologize to the persistent squirrel. It seems there is an over grown opossum who actually deserves credit for feasting on our entire cantaloupe plant. Opossums, we forgot, are fond of the night life, making a disco particularly attractive.

I am sorry Mister Squirrel, I hope the accusation has not caused offense enough for you to hurl nuts at us, but please remain insulted enough to stay out of our yard.

Only Two Wheels

Peter has officially ditched the training wheels. It seems all he needed was some wide open space.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Friday! I hoped to have more pictures from our Easter trip, but it seems a mistaken camera identity has left half our pictures on my mom's camera. But for now, this is a bit of what we did.

Luci and Peter after Easter Sunday mass.
(The only picture I have of any of us in our Easter clothes.)

I discovered these pictures when downloading what I thought were family Easter pictures.

Decorating eggs with Gia & Pop-pop's neighbor, Ellen.
(She is practically their Amarillo sister, as our van is not in the drive way more than five minutes before she shows up to play, and the kids love her company!)

They also decorated Easter cookies. Unfortunately I missed all the decorating, on account of my successful nap, but the heart ache of having missed the activities will likely prevent future mid-day slumbers.

We all enjoyed the beautiful weather, especially Peter and Isabelle. Peter moved every bit of dirt from one bucket to the other all day long.

And Isabelle enjoyed her reunion with Ginger, the bouncing horse, although I don't think that was her name when I was a little girl.

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday, and will enjoy the rest of Easter season. We intend to, starting with those homemade Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies I have been dreaming about all of Lent!

Small Successes

1. I took a bath with my eight month old. Not physically, but metaphorically. Watching her eyes light up as she discovered the fragility of that glistening surface and the delight of waves swirling all around her was well worth the fifteen minutes necessary to clean up my two year old's distraction during bath time. A large bag a cheerios can provide a great deal of stomping amusement.

2. I took a nap.

3. I MOPPED THE FLOOR. The same floor that was covered in apple juice almost three weeks ago, moments after putting up the just used mop and bucket. Three weeks of grim down the sink, and the euphoria was so intense that I didn't even cry when a bowl of milk was spilled on it the very next morning.

Spring is Here My Dear

Our Irises, ready for Easter.
(Photo courtesy of Peter Ellis)


In honor of the occasion, we have once again transformed our dirt patch into what we liberally call a garden. I had once been told that the standard rule for gardening was to plant after Good Friday, but having inadequate knowledge to defend the claim and experience that had produced two years of an abundance of mud, I conceded to my husband's prodding, and we planted a week early.

Two days later we froze, literally.

(Photos courtesy of Isabelle Ellis)

Who would have thought a little string and some old CDs could prevent a return of last year's pesky pokers, that is, besides an online forum and my husband. But in defense of the disco dirt pile, we have yet to find any of our little friends partying there. Perhaps there is some truth to bird's only enjoying their own music.

Current Score

Arctic Winter Blast 17 Seedlings, 1 Bell Pepper and possibly 1 Basil

Persistent Little Squirrel 1 Cantaloupe (roots and all)

Would-be Gardeners 24 potential producers

It finally happened...

in the middle of the night!

Luci has been working her way all over the house these last few weeks, in the best army crawl I have ever seen, and having recently discovered the liberties entitled to those who can pull themselves to their knees, has also excited many squeals from her siblings.

BUT...
last night, when a groggy mommy reached into the crib for a 3 AM rescue, in the place of a cuddly torso I found a pair of knees, only to realize my little girl was staring me in the eye, STANDING for the first time.

Rangers Win! Rangers Win!

Not a phrase that Ranger fans get to see or hear very often, but today was glorious! A chilly 47 degrees glorious with a brisk north wind at the start of the game!


Izzie joined the older boys this year to another Texas Ranger Opening Day. We had a great day with Dr. Pepper, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, and some candy as well.

President George W. Bush tossed the first pitch, and even a liberal couldn't call this pitch a ball!

I bet the Cleveland Indian fans wished W. would have kept pitching, because the Ranger ace Millwood threw a great 7 innings and only allowed 1 run.

The scoreboard showed this:

That is Indians 1, Rangers 9!

You have to LOVE that flag!


A parting shot as we left this afternoon.


And after five minutes in traffic!

Science Experiments

Upon the recommendation of an old home school book, we have been attempting to grow "ferns" from the ends of some of our recent side dishes.

And so, to all those who doubted our little plate of water and carrot tops...

They have sprouted, and Peter and Isabelle are delighted!

We shall wait to see what happens to these little plants in the backyard.

Peter Pie, our eldest, takes his role in the family very seriously, and as one in a position of such obvious authority over the other three children must, has made use of his power to dictate their every move. He has found subjecting Doodle to his rule of particular interest recently, which, aside from causing a two year old to retreat into a mode of absolute opposition to all authority, has brought rise to new questions about the paradigm in which Peter lives. After all, how can you enforce the truth when you hardly understand it?

This week Doodle's insistence upon renaming practically everyone has prompted increasing concern for Peter as to why he and his subjects are not allowed to call certain adults by their first names and yet are allowed to use nothing but other people's first names, despite the explanation of the "Aunt" and "Uncle" preceding the latter set of names. Of equal concern, seems to be the fact that we use no part of some people's names at all, but rather, such obscure words as "mom" and "dad," or "grandmother" and "grandfather." We attempted an explanation of familial ties, and how certain people are closer to our family than others and assumed his world was set right.

Yesterday, after dropping some friends off at their house, Peter, bursting with frustration, demanded, "Why do we have to call them Mr. and Mrs. when they only live five minutes from our house?!"

Small Successes

Another week, another set of successes...

1. I tackled all four calendars this week by Monday morning and had our meals planned, breakfast, lunch and dinner, our school days sorted, my cleaning assigned and our social engagements slotted. Seemingly, this is no success, as I had planned to complete it by Saturday, but as history is a very accurate indicator of future actions, completion by Monday morning is almost miraculous.

2. I was the proud mother of FIVE children five and under for two and half days this week while my sister was busy relinquishing ownership of her intestinal appendage. Best of all, through the constant onslaught of dirty hands, toes, diapers, and noses, I shared some great cuddle time with a nephew who is usually too busy for a pause with his aunt.

3. For a moment this week, through grace alone, I managed to embrace an understanding about my life which I have been seeking for a very long time. My daily work, in this case that nasty kitchen floor, is not swept and mopped so that I can check it off the list for another week, or that I can smile with contentment as my feet squeak across its gleaming surface, but rather, it is primarily a means to my sanctification and the sanctification of those in my life. It is with this grace filled realization that I claim success in not losing my peace while witnessing my glistening floor be christened by two glasses of apple juice as I returned from putting the mop bucket away.