1. Hannah had been begging me for flip-flops since the hot weather set in. I found a pair yesterday. As you can see, she is obviously pleased even though she has to bring an alternate pair of shoes with her on walks. Sacrificing comfort for fashion begins at a young age. 
2. Speaking of fashion: I finally got around to packing away the kids' winter clothes to make room for their summer garments. I asked the kids to help me by emptying their drawers. All of the kids were very helpful in the emptying-the-drawer part. Only a few of them stuck around for the sorting, folding and refilling-the-drawer part. I will mention no names.
Yes, those are life jackets on top. You never know when your bedroom might fill with water.
The little boy to whom the leg in the upper left corner belongs really enjoyed the emptying of the closet and drawer adventure. Nothing quite like your mother asking you to make a mess.
3. My mother sent me a recipe book called Saints at the Dinner Table. It introduces a particular saint, provides a reflection and suggests a full dinner menu to celebrate that saint. For example, celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita (of Sudanese origin) will be my first opportunity to cook an entire Sudanese meal - I will like it, the kids might prefer to never celebrate her again. Anyway, Jacob has been reading this new book and became very excited when reading about St. Claire. You will recall that little Jacob is blind in his left eye as a result of a pediatric cataract at 17 months. Well, it turns out that St. Claire is the patron saint of eye diseases and television. Jacob has been supernaturally affirmed in his most desired and most denied pastime. Guess what he'll be asking St. Claire for?
4. Hannah has certain words that she simply cannot remember. Instead, she substitutes an alternate version; most of the time I correct her. However, there are some substitutions that are so cute that I have let her continue to use them. My favourite is her word for capris: submarines. I know that there is an association, I just can't figure it out.
6. I ran into a mother of one of the boys in the twins' SK class today while walking to the post office. She is also a teacher but has been staying at home with her three boys and is expecting a fourth. Nevertheless, she volunteers frequently in the SK class. She told me that on one occasion the SK teacher asked her to assess Jacob's numeracy: that is, how high can he count? Jacob apparently got to 500 and asked if he could stop as he was getting quite tired. Previous to this morning, I had thought that his tale of counting to 500 was little more than an urban legend. Apparently, there is no debunking required.
The little boy to whom the leg in the upper left corner belongs really enjoyed the emptying of the closet and drawer adventure. Nothing quite like your mother asking you to make a mess.
3. My mother sent me a recipe book called Saints at the Dinner Table. It introduces a particular saint, provides a reflection and suggests a full dinner menu to celebrate that saint. For example, celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita (of Sudanese origin) will be my first opportunity to cook an entire Sudanese meal - I will like it, the kids might prefer to never celebrate her again. Anyway, Jacob has been reading this new book and became very excited when reading about St. Claire. You will recall that little Jacob is blind in his left eye as a result of a pediatric cataract at 17 months. Well, it turns out that St. Claire is the patron saint of eye diseases and television. Jacob has been supernaturally affirmed in his most desired and most denied pastime. Guess what he'll be asking St. Claire for?4. Hannah has certain words that she simply cannot remember. Instead, she substitutes an alternate version; most of the time I correct her. However, there are some substitutions that are so cute that I have let her continue to use them. My favourite is her word for capris: submarines. I know that there is an association, I just can't figure it out.
5. Benjamin watched a Youtube video with me of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi deconstructing and rebutting Barack Obama's Cairo speech.
At the end, Ben said to me, "Mom, talk to me."
"Yes?"
"Bwack Obama's bad."
I related this anecdote to Dave at suppertime that night and Hannah said, "Barack Obama: he's the bad pope, isn't he?"
6. I ran into a mother of one of the boys in the twins' SK class today while walking to the post office. She is also a teacher but has been staying at home with her three boys and is expecting a fourth. Nevertheless, she volunteers frequently in the SK class. She told me that on one occasion the SK teacher asked her to assess Jacob's numeracy: that is, how high can he count? Jacob apparently got to 500 and asked if he could stop as he was getting quite tired. Previous to this morning, I had thought that his tale of counting to 500 was little more than an urban legend. Apparently, there is no debunking required.
7. And, finally: Happy Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This Feast, and its twin, the Immaculate Heart of Mary (tomorrow) are moveable feasts (not always on the 18th and 19th of June). For example, Dave and I were married on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which occurred on June 7th the year of our nuptials. So, enjoy yourself: eat some meat, feed the kids ice cream, but, most of all, entrust yourself to that most Sacred Heart - it's the best place to be.
4 comments:
love the pic of Hannah..I think I did that with my berkinstocks when I first got them ;)!
Father Morris preached a good sermon tonight on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From what I can remember ... he said that the soldier pierced Jesus' side (really his heart) and out flowed water (baptism) and blood (the Eucharist). His Sacred Heart reveals the passionate love of God for us. Father emphasized the word passionate. He said that we really don't comprehend that God loves us with a passion.
He concluded by saying something like this "all the lonely, broken, depressed people would suffer much less if they encountered this sacred heart. This devotion is really very relevant to our world today."
The story of the flip-flops made me laugh, because Rhett has a pair of flip flops (they have a little elastic behind the ankle to keep them on his feet) and when I put them on him today he said "daddy! flops!" (Nathan only wears flip-flops; well, work boots very very occasionally.)
Also I have been meaning to reply to your last post for ages and haven't gotten around to it... first, when I think of having more kids, my default assumption is that I will not be able to get pregnant again, rather than that I will have more kids. Weird huh? Also, around these parts it is not (yet) rare to run into 4- and 5-child families, which is kinda nice. People are kind of tacky though, and often put decals in their back window with stick figures to represent all family members, sometimes with names beneath them and sometimes including pets. (Today I saw one that had both parents, four kids, two stick dogs and a stick fish.) Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!), recently I saw a big old econoline van driving around with a very loooong family decal on the back... I counted TEN, yes TEN kids. Wow. I am willing to admit that I am not woman enough for that.
(and no, we do not have and will not get a family decal.)
I found you through Jen's Quick Takes. I'm so glad I did! I am also the mom of four children, 7 and under. :)
My oldest daughter did the same word-substitution thing... my favorite was calling overalls "magazines" instead. :)
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