Rain, Rain, Go Away

A rare quiet moment. They were being so quiet I was almost afraid to get up off the couch where I was "taking 5" and take their picture.

It's been raining since Sunday and is going to be raining tomorrow too. Yuck. I typically don't mind a rainy day here or there, but 4 days in a row is a little much. I swear the house is getting smaller by the day. It's probably because I know we are moving in a few months to bigger, beautiful, greener pastures that has made this house seem unbearable at times. Luke, because he knows me so well and before I even made a complaint, said to me the other day, "please don't drive yourself crazy between now and when we move, thinking every day about how much you hate this place and can't wait to get into the next one." Mind reader, that man. 

I think another factor is Casey. When we first moved in, he was like 8 months old. Now at almost 18 months, he's everywhere and into everything. I'm trying so hard to be patient with the toys all over the place, fights, and no space....but it's hard when I'm tripping over blocks to get to the dishwasher.

So today, oh today, we left. We went down to the mall in Frederick so they could play in the kids play area. They desperately needed to run around and climb on things. It was a much needed break for them, and me. 

Tomorrow we have story time at the library and I have some new play dough tucked away that I've been saving for a rainy day. I think day 4 of rain will definitely qualify as a good day to bring it out. 

What I Wore Sunday

It's been a while, but I'm back linking up this week with FLAP. And as an added bonus today, you get to see what my adorable son wore...

Someone gave us these gray skinny dress pants, seriously, they aren't jean, or cotton, they are like the same feel as a pair of adult khaki pants, only in gray. I thought I would hate them but they actually make him look quite trendy. Especially for being only 17 months of age. 

Definitely almost nap time.

And here's me.
18 Weeks today! And at the totally awkward stage where my regular clothes aren't quite fitting, but I'm swimming in maternity clothes. Putting outfits together is so annoying I've been in yoga pants every day, which although comfy, gets old. So it felt nice to dress up today for many reasons.

Overall, I didn't love it, and won't be wearing it again. I was complaining to Luke that I just look like I ate too much beer and pizza. His response, "I think you're just over-thinking it." He was right. I tried placing the skirt and belt up higher on my natural waistline but it was NOT flattering. 

Now the kiddos are sleeping and Luke is heading out to play golf with a student. He enjoys golf so much (played in college), I just hate how long it takes. 4 hours! I will be spending my Sunday relaxing, maybe doing some baking with the kids and perusing some of the other What I Wore Sunday posts. 

Hope you enjoy a restful Sunday as well! :)

7 Quick Takes, vol 4

It's Friday! And since I am alone on this fine evening, I have the chance to spend some time on the blog and link up with the crowd via Jen.

1) What do you think of the new blog design? Or not new to you if this is your first time stopping over. Anyway, I mostly have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to techie things but somehow I got this much figured out. If I still like it in a few weeks, it just might be here to stay.

2) Tomorrow we are going down to DC to see the cherry tree blossoms! We're going to go on a little boat tour as well that we happen to have tickets for. It's with Capital River Cruises and is 45min long. I'm super excited and ever since we told Hailey about it tonight, she hasn't stopped talking about it. The girl is a little obsessed with water and boats. And friend we haven't seen in a while who lives in that area is meeting up with us for it as well. And we're packing a picnic lunch for afterwards. Can't wait! We hope to leave around 9am. I thought it was kind of early but.....

3) As Luke pointed out, we have been up every morning at 7am anyway, due to a certain son of ours screaming, so what's the point in hanging around? Let's just get out of the house and go! See, Hailey wanders into our room and into our bed at some point every night. So when Casey wakes up and sees she is gone from her little toddler bed, he is SO mad and freaks out and screams. Let me tell you, it is the most unpleasant way to wake up in the morning. Awful.

4) Luke and I love having a show to unwind and watch together in the evening. I know many couples who do the same and we love getting recommendations from our friends. Some that we've watched in the past are: Lost, Prison Break, Downton Abbey, and now our current show White Collar. Luke just admitted to me he is a little bored with it, but I really like. And we are about to start Season 2 so I think it will only get better. What do you enjoy watching?

5) I'll be 18 weeks on Sunday and have been feeling those little flutters of movement which is super exciting. I've already been having some lower back pain though which is not fun and the SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction) that I had with Casey has the likelihood of showing itself way earlier this time around, I'm told this can happen....and may be happening. Please dear Lord, not yet.

6) This coming week is going to be intense. It's the last week of classes and Luke is swamped with end of the year stuff. I'm going to need to keep busy with the kids and plan simple meals to keep from texting him every hour with "when will you be home?" "I'm going crazy?" "will we ever see you again?" type of sentiments.

7) Today was full of messes. Water, pee, pretzels crushed on the rug, applesauce on the couch, and avacado that Casey pretty much decided to give himself a full body plaster with. Ohmygosh. He usually does ok eating with a spoon, he's 17 months old, but tonight was ridiculous. THANKFULLY, he was already naked because of having drenched his clothes with water (maybe it did feel good on his bare skin? who knows), so he simply ended up in the kitchen sink and getting hosed down afterwards. Those messes don't actually bother me that much. Its stains in their clothes I hate trying to get out. But I'm starting to get better at conquering those too!

Hope you and yours have a fabulous weekend!

"To the Mother With Only One Child"

This was so good to be reminded of the other day. Made me tear up a bit. If you are a mother to one, two three, I don't care how many....go read it, you won't regret it.

Daddy's Birthday

A friend visited over this past weekend, so Saturday night we hung out with him and another friend and had a little pre-birthday celebration of chicken wing dip, beer and ice cream cake. Don't worry, no one was counting calories, holy smokes.

Every year Luke requests ice cream cake. Hailey helped me make it (Snickers and chocolate this year) so we let her have a piece before bed and of course I had to get a picture of our beautiful masterpiece uncut. 

Sunday, Daddy's actual birthday, he had an event with the students from 10am-12pm so I gave the kids baths, dressed them all spiffy, and we made daddy birthday cards and made the house look festive.

Where'd it go?

excited!

singing

blowing!

We love you so much as are so blessed God gave you to us! Thank you for all you do to serve, provide, love and sacrifice for us every day! xoxo

Keeping Perspective

We have had quite a few quiet, slow days around here lately. And I know I shouldn't complain, but the days have just felt long. And it's weird because I do appreciate things slowing down and getting back into our routine (I love schedules), after things have been really busy. Its simply that being happy and content with the way things are in the present moment, can be difficult. We experience God in the present, so the devil tries to keep us in a state of anxiety of longing for the past or wishing for the future. Deep down I don't want my babies to grow up too fast. I do truly enjoy each stage they go through, every milestone along the way. BUT the mundane tasks of feeding, changing, bathing, feeding, butt wiping, putting to bed....can get so wearisome. I half joking, half serious said to Luke last night after doing dishes together, "and I have to feed them again tomorrow."

We do get out of the house, I promise. We love going for walks, going to play at the park, having playdates with other mom's and their kids, storytime at the library, students coming over for dinner, going to Luke's intramural games on campus...are all part of our weekly activities. And the school year is coming to an end and summer is round the corner, and we are moving in July so really this isn't going to last very long!

Right now it may look like: breakfast, do dishes, get dressed, play, go for a walk, eat lunch, do dishes, play, nap time, snack, play, make dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner, dance party, put kids to bed, watch a show with Luke, me go to bed. Then repeat all over again.

But I'm trying to remind myself today that this won't last long. Before long they will start school, whether it be homeschooling or Catholic school, they will start sports and dance classes. I'm sure my days will become way more busy. Some days are busy now, but I know 10 years from now I will be even more busy and not having many of these quiet days at all.

So off I go to try and be more grateful, enjoy the slowness, and try to take advantage of the opportunities God is giving me in all the cooking, feeding, and changing these two little rascals, to become a saint.

St. Therese, pray for me!

Celebrity Barista Day

Our local Catholic coffee shop hosted "Celebrity Barista Day" this past Saturday and they did it simply to support FOCUS at the Mount! The missionaries took turns helping out behind the bar and all proceeds of the day went to the team campus account. It was so kind of the the owners of the coffee shop to do. They all had a ton of fun and of course we went down to visit when it was Daddy's turn. 

Being instructed to "fill it to here." Um where?! It was a tiny little dot on the side of cup!

"Now what?"

I think this ended up getting dumped. haha

Taking an order

His biggest fans.

Monday blues

Today has been rough. The kids weren't even that bad, I think I'm just sleep deprived. And we had a busy weekend with a friend visiting and Luke's birthday so I kind of crashed today and did nothing. I felt lazy and fat, tired and just plain hormonal. I'm 17 weeks and so far the 2nd trimester has been great. I have way more energy overall and the morning sickness is gone. But the cravings, ahhh, why do I want chocolate all day long?? Ugh, but let's focus on other more happy things that have been going on lately.

Hailey has started called Casey "Little Face." She says it so sweetly, and sometimes touches the side of his face gently as she says it. We have no idea how she came up with this but it's kind of adorable. She has also started talking to my belly and coming over to give me hugs and kisses. Again, no one prompted her to do any of this, and it just melts my heart. She has such a tender heart, that girl.

As for Casey, he is starting to say more words each week and is now up to: dada, yes, shoe, tickle tickle, ball, oh no, cheese, duck...as well as signing a whole bunch of words and making lots of animal sounds. It's so exciting after Hailey being such a late talker. He is such a boy. I'm so fascinated watching him as he explores and tries new things. He LOVES to just wander around outside in our yard, picking things up, a rock or stick, inspecting them, walking them over to the porch or putting them in a bucket, then dumping them out....and of course, getting his hands dirty. He is so cheerful all the time too, unlike my sometimes moody little lady.

So for Luke's birthday, I bought him a new wedding ring. He lost the original a while ago and I kept holding on to some hope that it would turn up. It hasn't, and so I'm giving in. It's not easy and the whole thing has kind of been difficult to swallow. The ring I gave him on our wedding day, I had had made, and it contained my chastity ring, melted down in the center. It was a two toned ring, silver on the outside, my gold chastity ring in the middle. It was so special and obviously symbolic. But, in prayer, the Lord reminded me that yes, it was symbolic and I was proud of the fact that I gave my husband the gift of my purity on our wedding day. I had saved myself for him. BUT, I was too proud.  I. Me. I did it. I'm so great.

Um, not in the slightest. All good comes from God. He had preserved me in grace, kept me from sin, helped me not fall into temptation along the way, HE alone was the reason I was able to wait and give the gift of my purity to my husband on our wedding day. Not me. And that fact will always be there, not seeing the chastity ring in his wedding band doesn't change that.

Seriously, the ways the Lord chooses to humble me and draw me closer to Him are so often the last thing I would expect. I just need to remember more often it's Him loving me.

Playing Dollhouse

We're moving again this summer. Just across town, but a move is a move. We have moved every year since we've been married (4yrs this summer), and before that, Luke and I each moved every year since 2007. That's a whole lot of moves. For those curious, it went like this:

2007: Amherst, MA. We were teammates and both lived in the same apartment complex.

2008: Pittsburgh, PA - Luke. Champaign, Il  Megan. (Dating/engagement long distance)

2009: Loveland, CO. Newly Married :)

2010: Greeley, CO.

2011: Emmitsburg, MD. (Big house)

2012: Emmitsburg, MD. (Little townhouse)

2013: Emmitsburg, MD. (this summer, moving to medium house)

We're not in the military, we are focus missionaries :) And although moving can be exhausting, it forces you to not hold on to things you don't need. You part with furniture more easily because you got it from Craigslist, didn't pay a lot for it and don't care about it. Someday maybe we'll have nice things but for now this is the way it is. And I can't say I mind all that much. Aside from the opportunity to see and live in lots of cool places and get to know some amazing people, I have a small confession to make....

I love to organize. And clean. And decorate. And set up house. I think it could be called playing dollhouse syndrome. Each home has been so different and I have thoroughly enjoyed setting them up and making each feel warm and homey. I've definitely got sewing curtains down, but that's be honest that's like the easiest thing in the world to do. Still! Luke bought me a sewing machine our first married christmas and thinking back, I have used it to mostly sew curtains!

I'm probably nuts but I don't mind putting on my rubber gloves and cleaning an entire house before moving into it. And I mean deep cleaning. (Luke says every time I clean it's like spring cleaning, haha) but I like knowing its all been cleaned before moving our belongings and selves into a new house. I want it to be sparkling, dust free. I have high cleaning standards and what can I say, I'm only going to be happy if it's done by me. Or Luke. He can be even more meticulous than me.

I love organizing bedrooms, linen closets, medicine cabinets, although doing the kitchen always overwhelms me because there is just so much. And I like to hang pictures pretty quickly because it just doesn't feel like home until I have my familiar pictures on the walls.

I'm so excited to move into the new place this summer because it is bigger than the place we are currently in. I've already been setting up all the furniture in the rooms in my head. And we are allowed to paint! I really want to do the kid rooms.

Some days I do crave more stability but for now I'm enjoying the adventure and playing dollhouse.

Monday Musings

I had so much to do around the house today. Laundry that's taking me days to finish, leftover mess in the kitchen from last night, just general tidying up. And the kids wouldn't stop begging to go outside. It wasn't even that nice but I took a break and we went for a walk. We stopped on Main Street at the coffee shop so I could try the new drink of the month (and say hi to daddy and the team who were holding their Monday morning meeting there today). Then the kids and I went to the playground. Our tiny town has like 4 parks and they are all within walking distance. It's so great how independent Casey has become and can climb up the stairs and go down the slide over and over again all by himself. Hailey's newest thing at the park is climbing the rock walls. She's got some strength in that little body of hers. The fresh air did us a ton of good.

I don't know what it was about today but I ended up having a ton of energy. I'm attributing it to 1) 2nd trimester. Loving it. 2) After being sooooo miserably sick last week and finally feeling somewhat better I wanted to be productive.

After the walk in the morning, once the kids went down for naps (took Hailey forever and I was praying for patience the whole time) I did a Jillian Michaels work out. I had to take 10 second breaks a few times, but overall I didn't do so bad. I was sweating that's for sure. It felt so good just to move. When the kids got up from their naps I decided to cut the grass. It was starting to get long, the kids want to play in the yard with the weather being so nice lately, I didn't know when Luke was going to get the chance to do it, and I thought I would do something nice for him. I only got half the yard done and stopped because I decided I wanted the blades lowered so that it cut the grass shorter, I like my grass really short, and I couldn't figure that part out.

Now I'm waiting for Luke to come home from bible study so he can give the kids a bath. That's the one thing I'm not wanting to do this evening. He can have the dirty whiney kiddos all to himself :)

What I Wore Sunday, vol 9

Linking up again with the women over at Fine Linen and Purple. It's been a couple weeks due to our travels, so it's fun to be back linking up again! 

Here's what I wore to Mass today:

Me: Luke, can you take my picture? Ugh, there is no where good to stand in this house. And there's toys everywhere.

Luke: This is our life, hun.

Yes, yes it is. I laughed, grabbed the closest shopping cart and he snapped the pic. 

Nothing very exciting around here today, the kids were just ok at Mass, I made french toast for brunch which was a welcome change of pace from our ritual of pancakes and eggs. 

Later tonight we topped off this fine Sunday with getting custard at Rita's. Oh so good. 

Hope you enjoyed a beautiful Sunday as well! 

Easter in Kansas

 We spent Easter this year in Wichita, KS at Luke's brother and his wife's house. Luke's parents and sister also came from CO, it worked out well that we could all meet up there. So on Monday of Holy Week we loaded up the car with our TWO suitcases for our week long trip to drive through snow to the airport for our flight to Kansas. Now, 2 suitcases was no small feat. We left Maryland in snow, arrived in Kansas where there was snow, but the 7 day forecast showed that it would be high of 70, a week later on Easter Sunday. I was so stressed about how to pack for 4 of us when there would be a 40 degree climb over the course of our trip. So I simply did all the laundry and didn't pack till the morning of. It was stressing me out too much to even do it. And see, we were going to be getting a little rental car, so I really had to minimize luggage. 

Two suitcases was amazing. Not bringing a stroller was stupid. 

Like I said we drove to the airport in snow, but Southwest is the best and our flight wasn't delayed in the slightest. Hailey practically danced her way onto the plane, she was so excited. She had been talking about how "We're gonna FWY!" for days.

This is how she spent the 2 hr, 40 min flight. She required nothing from me, loved having her own seat, although the seat belt with heavy buckle on her lap took some getting used to, was thrilled that they brought her a cup of juice, and nibbled away on all her "special" snacks she packed in her backpack for the flight. She didn't even play with her doll.

 

This is how Casey spent the flight. 

At baggage claim in Kansas we discovered they lost Hailey's carseat. They told us we could  leave with nothing and have them deliver it to us when it came in. That wasn't going to work, um, my daughter is 2 and half and we have to drive 40 min to Atchison right now, thanks. What else ya got? So we were given one to use until they got it back and would hold it for us when we came back for our return flight. Much better. Until I saw it. It didn't have a 5 point harness, you just used a regular seat belt across it. Still wasn't great but what choice did we have?

Oh and THEN, Enterprise didn't have a car for us. Or even our reservation in their computer. And they were closed. But the manager was still around and helped us out and got us......a 15 passanger van.  

Remember how I was so worried about luggage space? ha.

We had a wonderful time in Atchison with our friends the Huelsings (who had just visited us a few weeks earlier), but sadly I have no pictures of our time with them! Benedictine College is  Luke's Alma Mater and I hadn't been there since focus summer training 2007. It was the summer Luke and I met and he was placed on my team. It was so much fun to walk around campus with him, hear his stories, have him point stuff out and just "see" the campus through his eyes. We even went back alone at night and explored some of the new buildings which was fun. 

Wednesday morning we drove three hours down to Wichita, but stopped by the airport to get Hailey's carseat, which had come in, Praise GOD!, and Enterprise to switch out our lovely ride. 

Here are some highlights from the rest of our trip:

Casey getting his finger bitten by this horrid goose. No joke.

"Hi quack quack, you eat?"

Good Friday Stations of the Cross at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. I don't think St Elizabeth liked being climbed on and I believe is telling Hailey, "my child, sit here and be still."

(Late in the afternoon on Good Friday I took Casey to Urgent Care for an ear infection. Poor dear)

Holy Saturday egg dying!

Baby cousins!  Emily 32 weeks, Me 14 weeks.

Easter Sunday! He is risen! 

Off to the airport again.These two love each other so much. I turned around and caught them like this.

We are so blessed!