Poo Poo the Flu

The last 10 hours have brought:

- One boy sick in the living room last night.  When Mom tried to comfort him he replied, sorrowful, "Now you'll have to clean the couch."  To which I replied, "That's what Mom's are for."

- One boy woke up soaking wet.  When I asked him why, he simply replied, "Because."  

- One boy wanted to take a bath.  I decided he'd be out of my hair for a minute while I did some laundry (see above bullet points), so I agreed.  After putting in some laundry, I went in to check on him and discovered he pooped IN THE TUB.

Thankfully, the baby is on my side.  Well, until he gets frustrated that I keep setting him down to focus on cleaning, laundry, cleaning, and scrubbing bodies.

Now for  a status up-date on the house:

- Dishes?  Overflowing.

- Laundry?  Behind.

-  Unpacking?  Don't ask.

- Bedrooms?  Can't even walk in them.

- Boy's happiness levels?  Good!  They're all feeling better and really clean.

The good news is, the day can only get better.  Right...??

This morning, I'm thanking God for Lysol, waterproof mattress covers, and washing machines.

Earth Day

Many families celebrate Earth Day by planting a tree. We celebrated a bit differently...

A disclaimer to those that may be outraged: While two cedar trees were terminated on "Earth Day", please rest assured that their demise will end up saving energy in the long run. The offending, overgrown trees were blocking all passive sunlight to the living quarters of the domicile. While it is unfortunate that their end was carried out quickly and with such finality, the occupants assure you that the passive solar heat will thusly reduce heating costs. 

Telling Time

Mom: If it's half-passed 3, the long hand of the clock points to the...?

Kolbe: Six!

Mom: Yep!

Kolbe: Then is it 3 o'six?

Mom: Um. No.

Candids from the Road

Breakfast and cartoons to begin our day.

Easter, in an Egg Shell

Since we are busy closing up our Nebraska home and making progress towards our Wisconsin residence, I haven't had a chance to share our Easter with you.   The triduum (three masses of Holy Week including Holy Thursday (the last supper), Good Friday (Jesus' passion and death) and Holy Saturday (Jesus rising from the dead)) was kind of crazy.  As you can imagine, four boys under the age of six don't stare down 3+ days in a row of church-going with, well, Easter joy.  We attended church on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  After that, we cut our losses and gave them a one-day respite before attending mass on Sunday.  In the end, a the harried masses can't even mar the joy that is Easter.  After all, Christ rising from the dead is truly what Christianity is all about.  It is the crux of our faith. Alleluia!


The boys were excited to find a large basket loaded with trinkets and goodies on Easter morning.  The following is a photo-essay of the goings-on for the under-6 crowd in our house this week:




The boys are REALLY in to Star Wars right now. They watch the movies. They reenact the battles. They squealed as I opened the packages for these guys.




Marcel was REALLY excited about some water guns he received. He henceforth referred to them as his "Easter guns" for the rest of the week. I realize this isn't really the message of Easter, but he was undeterred.




Jozef had Obi Wan and Anikin Skywalker performing some death-defying stunts under our table...




It didn't end so well for Luke. Thankfully, the movies have a happier ending.

Aside from the trinkets and candy, we enjoyed a very nice Easter dinner with our good friends here. Coincidentally, they're Yoopers and embarking with us on this trek-of-the-midwest as we all travel together this weekend.

Whenever we spend a holiday as a family, away from our extended family, it fills us with joy knowing that upcoming holidays and celebrations will take place closer to the ones we love. As we travel to our new home, we are filled with joy and look forward to the future.

Alleluia! He is risen!

Gappy Grin

Please note:  This tooth fell out before consuming copious amounts of chocolate on Easter.

A Positive Note

A beautiful baby boy always makes Mom smile.  

No matter how rough her day was.

Crescendo

And this is how we ended our day today.  Yep, that's shard glass right there.

May the sun bring with it a better day tomorrow. 

If My Life Was Baseball

I'd be in extra innings and calling in the relief pitcher.

Good thing Dad will be home soon...

Chocolate Milk a la Marcel

How Lent Found Me

In between is no place to be. It's not pleasant or enjoyable.

As I look back over the last two weeks, I've noticed an increase in frustrating and stressful situations. This Lent, I began half-heartedly as I decided what I was going to take on in order to grow closer to God. Those efforts soon fell to the wayside as I busied myself with searching for a house, moving, and unpacking here at our rental. I figured my efforts were a lost cause, and I mentally moved on.

The past weeks have wrought challenging situations. Our rental has clear cold water and brown hot water. As you can imagine, showers are not enjoyable. The dryer blows a fuse each time we use it. I can only wash laundry in cold water (see prior statement on the status of our hot water). One night, our stove stopped working--another fuse blown. Then, this week, Jozef jammed up our furnace unintentionally (see prior rant on sub-standard in-house temperatures and resulting above-normal Mom-anger). Today, I travelled to the laundromat with all 4 little guys in tow. They were as good as they could be, but I can't help but become wary with the amount of frustration and work this present place. Marcel is not adjusting well to the rental and ends up in bed with us each night so Nate and I are not getting a good night's sleep. On and on.

The challenge here is to look at these situations as opportunities to perfect myself and offer my efforts to God. This afternoon at the laundromat, I really tried to respond with love to the boys as they performed various antics. I prayed for patience. Mostly, I asked God to help me respond as He would want me to.

A quote by Bernard William Cardinal Griffin from an article on CatholicExchange.com has really aided me in my attempts:

The best of all penance is that which God sends us. Acts of self-denial which we freely choose are precious in the sight of God. But far more precious are those sufferings which we have not chosen and which come to us unasked…To accept God’s will without complaint is the greatest contribution that any Christian can make to the cause of world peace

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May we all grow closer to God through our daily trials.