Testing Vimeo

Trying to upload stuff always leaves me with a few more grays and others unable to view it on their mobile device. So, this is an experiment. But seriously, if these don't show up on your fancy iPhone or iPad, they have these things called computers that you should check out. Enjoy:

carley from Alisha Landry on Vimeo.
If I had my act together, this would've been added to this post.

Same video. Experiment, remember?

Charlotte's actually been in pre-school two mornings a week since August, but since she's the middle child, you're just now finding out about it. Oh, and at their school, they ride bikes in the hallway when they read lots of books. Makes sense.

Simon has two teeth and loves to bite. I'm super sore. We'll leave it at that.

The girls playing Mass. Translation (I think):

We be honored to love bath him.

We be kind to be the book.

No, turn it to the other side.

We be honored to come to tear.

You may close the book.

You may bring the book.
We be honored to [?]

We be honored to have a cup and stuff.

You may close the book.

What I Wore Sunday & Easter Outfit OTI

It was so nice having my parents in town for Easter weekend - though I'm not sure "nice" is how they'd describe it... I was pretty grouchy and irritable. Many apologies, fam, especially since today is your birthday, mom. Hopefully your Lenten observations gave you much practice before you had to deal with my pregnitude. But as always, the kids soaked up as much grandparent spoils as they could before they left at noon.

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Today I'm linking up with Grace and her faithful followers for Easter Outfit OTI and with Fine Linen & Purple for their What I Wore Sunday (tomorrow).

And good thing, because I look like an giant, dyed Easter egg...

See? Told ya.

Dress: Old Navy maternity. Sooo comfy and on sale!

Cardigan: free from a friend

Shoes: Payless

Hallelujah! He is Risen (and this post is published)!

What I Wore Sunday

We're kind of late posting for WIWS (hosted by the lovely ladies at Fine Linen & Purple), because we're opting for the 5:30 p.m. college Mass. Charlotte has been quarantined to the rug-less living room since Friday at noon in the hopes of learning to use the powder room like a true lady.

Day one of camp potty wasn't horrible, but wasn't great: 5 flushes, 4 cleanups.
Yesterday was much better: 10 flushes, 4 cleanups.
Today (as of 4:30), she seems to be getting the gist: 6 flushes, 2 cleanups.
Most of the cleanups involve poop, unfortunately, which I'm betting will take a while to master. And so far she's only going when we ask her to; she's still never decided to go on her own, but that's ok with me.

Ok, I'll stop pretending that that's what you came here for. Here's my lessthanstellar outfit (a little too casual for Palm Sunday than I'd prefer, but the weather's weird today and I'm reserving the nicer ones for Holy Week):

*gosh, I feel like I'm full of excuses today. what's with me?*

Gray tank: Old Navy maternity

Black Vneck: Old Navy maternity

Cardigan: Target

Belt: Old Navy

Jeans: Old Navy maternity

Shoes: Payless 

Simon Jude: 34 weeks

Thanks for stopping by and pretending to be interested in the potty training adventures of my 2.5 year old. Bless your heart.

7 Quick Takes

1. I sortakinda (butnotreally) feel bad about unloading on you guys a few days ago. Sometimes, this nice clean white blog gets a little dirty. But if it makes you feel better, yesterday and today have been worlds better.

2. Not sure why today is better, though, because it's cold and rainy and officially potty training boot camp day. The run-down?
2:20 - pee in the toilet
2:25 - accident while eating reward candy
2:50 - accident 5 minutes before I planned on making her try
3:15 - sat, but no pee
3:40 - accident 5 minutes before I planned on making her try
4:00 - sat, but no pee
4:15 - sat, but no pee
And every moment in between:

3. I know there are lots of opinions on how to potty train, so my expectations for this weekend of nakedness are pretty low. We didn't have to do this for Joan, but I kind of think Charlotte needs a different approach since the whole I want to please my parents just because isn't really her style...

4. I haven't even mentioned that we took a Spring Break trip to LA last week to see some fam and left the girls with my parents for three days. I still had to babysit little Evelyn, but the biological break was so nice!

brothers.

ice cream truck treats from uncle mark

Big Poppa & Tootsie

Papa John & Madelyn (sorry Gigi, not sure why I don't have a record of you being around - we all know you were there!)

5. Charlotte regularly asks me in the van to, "talk more about Jesus is dead," and wants a list of names of the people who hurt him.

6. I'm currently eating a shrimp pasta bowl that reminds me of that pasta place on Louisiana Tech's campus - inside Tolliver. Remember that place, Jill and Sara? Yum. And remember when we went on that crazy fast and at midnight on the last day, I had a 20 oz chocolate milk and 2 bags of peanut M&Ms? I heart college.

7. Struggling to find a last one, here. So let's just put us both out of our misery and call it quits. But not before you head over to Jen for the others...

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I was trying all day yesterday to come up with some eloquent words about the Pope's resignation and his beautiful service to our Church, but I kept falling short and so many others have said so much more (and better) than I could have.

So, simply, I say how truly happy and proud I am to be Catholic. What a gift.

Happy Feast of the Epiphany

Fine. It's really just another What I Wore Sunday over at Fine Linen & Purple. But you won't get me admitting that the last post I wrote was another WIWS a week ago, with no meat in between these two, so I'm rolling with the Epiphany. Cool with you? Thought so.

And I'm certain it counts because our Christmas tree is still up and this morning we moved the Wise Men alarmingly close to Baby Jesus. Friends even invited us over for an Epiphany Party, that may or may not be canceled. (Side note: I can't believe this tree still looks so good. It's 5.5 weeks old and hasn't been watered since week 2 probably.)

This is the same dress from What I Wore to Thanksgiving (& Christmas) with a little more umph, if you will.

Dress: On Sale! at Old Navy

Tights: Berkshire Maternity via Amazon

Boots: Shoe Department

Baby Boy (still determining the name): 23 weeks strong

wear it up.

You're not crazy.

I am.

St. Nicholas's Feast day is today, the 6th.

Not on the 5th, like I thought.

So, may your celebrations be merry and your calendar be tidy.

Christmas is still on the 25th, right?

St. Nicholas came to town

The girls were so excited to dig into their stockings this morning. One year they'll remember that he almost always brings the same stuff: chocolate coins & new toothbrushes. Guess their tiny brains can't remember all of 2010 & 2011. Well, those years are a bit of a blur to me, too.

Adorable pjs courtesy of Nanny Chloe & Uncle Art

"toothbrushes are legit!"

Cinderella, her "bay-vrit"

I hope I never lose the link to these coin images 

and that Dollar Tree never stops selling them.

And because today's not just about them, we brought our gifts to the church 

for a family in need, in honor of St. Nicholas.

I can't believe I'm about to enter an Advent Season NOT waiting for a house to sell.

The last 3 seasons, my preparation & anticipation skills were at their peak performance levels (and let's be honest, they still weren't that great). But, I felt like I could really identify with the purpose of Advent, because I was so used to waiting and hoping for this great resolution and blessing to come our way. (The opposite was true for the Easter Season - those were difficult times for me.)

And now, even though we are expecting a baby, I feel like I'm a little out of practice with the whole waiting and wanting thingy. I finally feel like everything is as it should be. I have all I need. I'm not wishing for anything (other than stomach scratches from Jude and the occasional taco).

I don't quite know how to move forward with a spirit of yearning when it doesn't naturally exist within me right now. Will that just come from the grace of God? Is there something practical I can do to "get" me there? Do you have any recommendations or books that might move me along to where I'm supposed to be?

Are these questions too much for you to answer and you'd rather just come back on Sunday to see if I repeated the Shoe Department boots again? Probably.

Easter 2012

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Nothing to write home about.

That was my Lent.

Apparently, I expected more from it - to kind of knock me off my socks (is that the phrase?). I thought by at least Holy Week, I'd be glowing from all the graces I intended to receive.

But today, a small reflection is all that I can claim from Lent 2012: Even in my failure to bring Christ the Lent He deserves, He offers the Cross & Resurrection I so badly need.

His sacrifice is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever, when mine is lacking at best, and in this is my salvation. Our salvation.

"We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." Blessed Pope John Paul II

Now, that, is something to write home about.

Living Liturgically (or lack thereof)

Trying not to beat myself up too much today (although Ash Wednesday seems like an appropriate day for that kind of thing...), but I've been feeling the weight of neglect lately.

Last year, I felt sort of on the ball with stuff. I knew what feast days and liturgical seasons were approaching and I had my act together enough to work out a celebration, simple as it may have been, to honor and remember those important days. And in the mean time, I somehow found the time to work with Joan on school-type stuff. I made batches and batches of fruit and veggie purees, strategically placed at dinner. My house stayed fairly clean and picked up. Jude and I ran daily. I sewed lots of fun stuff. The laundry never seemed to get out of control.

But not lately.

I could blame my lack of time or energy on a million legitimate and illegitimate reasons (still trying to convince myself that Downton Abbey is legitimate), but the bottom line is that I'm having a hard time balancing it all.

Is that how parenting just is, (or life in general)? Phases of feeling put together and soon after, falling apart?

Maybe I just have to wait this out. But soon, I'd like to feel more balanced, more at peace again. It's why I'm looking forward to Lent. I feel like I'm starting off on the right foot (which is actually the wrong foot), realizing how weak I am and how much my life needs Christ for peace & balance, patience & grace. And sure, it could use a little less reality TV, too. But my answer to the age old, what are you doing for Lent? is really simple, and something I should have been doing anyway. But at least it puts me in my place, humbles me and hopefully prepares me for my Lord.

"Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;

Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he, 
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment."

Joel 2:12-13

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

It's nice being able to go back to last year on the blog and see how we celebrated this day back then. Today was not as elaborate, but still it was special.

The girls colored their Mary images and now she's hanging above their heads, with fluffy clouds this time around.

And now the babies are asleep and Joan's watching her Bernadette movie. Have a great Feast Day!

Happy All Saints Day!

This day was a little low-key for us because it was my first day taking care of a friend's little girl full-time. But we made sure to get some halo donuts this morning before Pop left for work.

Before Evelyn came over, I cut Joan's hair short - you know, like St. Joan of Arc probably had it (minus the bow, of course).

(Yes, she's holding a bag of Whoppers. 

How do you think I was able to cut 3 inches off in a straight line...)

For night prayer, we lit four candles for our deceased family members, friends, clergy, and those forgotten and we watched this short litany of the saints video that Bonnie posted on our tv (a nice feature of having our computer connected to it). Joan just loved all of the images and by the end of the song, she finally started singing, "Pray for us."

I'm not really sure what's planned for tomorrow. Maybe something will come by Divine Inspiration.

Happy Belated Birthday, Mother Mary!

Thanks for waiting until I could make it to the store to get your cup cake stuff!

I can't believe it's already been a year since we started celebrating life more liturgically. It's been such a blessing and hopefully very memorable for the girls.

Isn't Joan just so precious?!

Queen of Heaven

We put this crown on the picture of Mary to celebrate her Queenship today. It was easy as pie and Joan loved it. I just made an outline of a crown with a sharpie on contact paper, let her fill in the drawing with tissue paper and foil, sealed it with another piece of contact paper and cut it out.

We know her crown is kind of big, but being the Queen of Heaven is kind of a big deal.

Our Lady, Queen of Heaven,

Please pray for us.

The Assumption of Mary

We celebrated Mary's assumption in to Heaven, both body and soul, today with colors, glue, and popcorn.

And for every kernel placed on the glued paper, two went into a small little mouth. She was also pretty emphatic about all of the cherub angles at Mary's feet having rusty brown hair.

Happy Feast Day St. Clare!

Since we weren't all together (and I didn't prepare anything to send with Joan) for St. Joan's feast day, I wanted to really celebrate St. Clare's with the girls the best we could.

It started with monstrance pancakes for breakfast, (St. Clare warded off soldiers trying to invade the convent by holding up the Eucharist in a monstrance (or something similar))



followed by a letter C shirt in her honor.


Then they colored St. Clare pictures (aka ate crayons)


and then we ate at Chili's for lunch (C for Clare + C for Coupon = C for Chili's, $9 to feed all four of us!). We'll finish up with Mass tonight and maybe something from youtube if I can find anything.

God of Mercy, you inspired St. Clare with the love of poverty.
By the help of her prayers, may we follow Christ in poverty
of spirit and come to the joyful vision of your glory in the kingdom of heaven.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

St. Clare, Pray for us.

Sorry, St. Joan

Did you know that Jude drew this? 

Hasn't God blessed him with such great talent?!

On Wednesday, I realized that I forgot to celebrate St. Joan of Arc's feast day (May 30th) with Joan. Even though she was with my parents for the week, I wanted to send my mom some stuff they could do together to make Joan's day extra special. 

Well, I'm still bummed about it and I need to let it go. We'll try to do a little something special for our strong St. Joan tomorrow. I'm thinking shields...

In the meantime, 

St. Joan of Arc, Pray for us.

Kind of a big day!

There's so much to celebrate today - The Beatification of Pope John Paul II, St. Joseph the Worker feast day, and Divine Mercy Sunday. And since today I actually had time (and energy), we did a few little things to remember them all,

Joan made a paper mitre - well, I made it and she "bedazzled" it. And we watched some youtube clips of the beatification.

Then we talked about mercy (and tried to remember what it means) and colored a picture of St. Faustina with the Divine Mercy image.

And tonight our church will have a St. Joseph's altar and dinner after mass to honor our parish's patron saint. We'll be asking again for his intercession for our house selling stuff and continued peace because I can feel the small tinge of anxiety creeping in a little and I so badly want it to remain at bay.

Oh and today is the first day of May - the month in which my baby Joan turns 3! I'm looking forward to the Strawberry Shortcake Shindig on Friday. It might actually look like a birthday party.