More Organizing

Still on my crazy organization spree.  This is how I handle the end of the school year.  There's something fun to me about finishing up one year and getting ready for the next.  We won't entirely quit "schooling" this summer (I say that every year).

We just moved into this schoolroom a handful of months ago, but as is the case with any space, unless I am 100% sure of the way I want to use it, it doesn't take too long to get messy.  Even Brett was amazed at how quickly our space got "destroyed" as our kids would say.

Can't imagine why it takes so long to get things organized.

 

Gardening-Part II

More weeds!  If I knew how I would link back to my last "gardening" post, but can you believe it, I'm not totally sure how to do that and since I hear my oldest and youngest daughter's playtime coming to an end (per the baby's "request") I'm not going to figure it out right now.

The weeds of disorganization!  Oh my.  Since Felicity's arrival, even though we've had "seasons" of thriving, we basically been in survival mode.  With our sweet blessing came extra doctor's appointment, physical therapy appointments, not to mention just the energy it has taken to make sure that everything she does is "typical" and doesn't need addressing.  We've seen miracle after miracle with this baby, however, the day to day living has not been as smooth as it could be.  So weed #2: Goodbye disorganization.

I sort of resent the fact that people toss their hands up in the air and say things like, "Ah, you have 5 kids, you have every excuse to not have it all together." Have our standards really lowered that much? I would argue, but I don't like confrontation so I won't argue, that having 5 kids is the exact reason why I need to have it all together. 

To that end, enter the pantry organizing day.  Also known as, "bribe the kids with the rest of the Easter candy to get them to work on cleaning out the pantry and playing with the baby".

Disclaimer:  I'm only showing pictures so you can see what a task we had.  Don't judge the food you see in my pantry.  Like I said, survival. Sometimes that means, well, we have to survive.  To balance this some day I'll post a picture of all the lovely organic food we're getting in the local CSA that we've joined this year.

There's one of my slaves helpers.

The pantry taking residence on my stovetop and butcher block.

Empty pantry.  Note to self:  Clean garbage can lid.

Voila!  And yes, those are labels! 

  So there you have it.  The first step in getting better organized.  Today, cleaning out the refrigerator + science (I figure they'll go hand in hand...ick!)

The Family

I don't love the pictures we took on Easter morning.  We did something a bit different this year.  Brett sang in the Schola which is in the bigger city across the Bay so we headed to *that* Cathedral instead of our own parish (which is *our* Cathedral) at 7:30am.  Brett had to be there to rehearse at 6:30am, which means we had our little family up and out the door at 5:45am.  I'm quite impressed that we made it.  We didn't attempt the Easter Vigil which I missed, but there was no way we could do both.

Easter morning was beautiful.  The music of the chant group was beautiful.  The priest who presided had a beautiful, soft spirit.  Wow!  Christ is Risen, Alleluia!!!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We are planting a garden this year.  In the past we've not had very much luck with gardens.  Not enough water, too much water, too many weeds, not enough sun, too much sun, too many weeds.  You get the idea.  In an effort to feed our family good, healthy, organic food we are biting the bullet and turning a fairly sizable portion of our yard into a vegetable garden. 

The kids and I picked out the veggies that we wanted to grow, found some starter soil, some starter pots, and went home ready to try out our green thumbs.  On the way home we talked about the initial investment and how we have a responsibility to take care of our garden or all is lost.  We can't just plant the seeds and hope for the best, we have to nurture and tend our garden.

The words were literally coming out of my mouth and I wanted to look up to the sky and say, "Okay, Lord, I got it.  Nice subtly."  Only I wouldn't be sarcastic to the Lord.  It's simply not enough to just hope for the best with these little plants of mine.  I have to nurture them, yes that includes feeding and watering, but it also means helping them with the weeds and helping them with the fruits.  How often I am tempted to settle.  Settle for "good enough".  So as we prepare our vegetable garden, I am trying to assess how the garden that is our family is doing.  What needs tweaking?  What needs weeding, thinning, some fertilizer? 

Gardening, Step 1:  Internet Time

Do all "mom bloggers" obsess over this?  I was off of facebook for most of Lent.  Did I miss it?  Well, I missed some very important and even some tragic events in the lives of my friends.  But, did I miss "FB".  That would be, negative.  I really, honestly, loved the freedom from facebook.  How awful is that?  An internet social community really consumed that much of my life?  Well, not really.  I wasn't "on" facebook much, but much of my day was consumed by going over and over and over what all my friends were doing, and saying, and thinking, and not doing, etc.....  Once I go back on and collect email addresses from a few friends I'm deleting my account.  Do I need to be so extreme?  Maybe not, but I really don't want to be tempted by having an active account.  Weed #1- Gone!

(To be continued)

Around Here

We've been learning new games from cool priests.

We're being as cute as ever.

We can't get close enough.

We can't be silly enough.

We can't get any cuter.

But we can be a bit sillier.

We've been baking biscuits.

We've been making homemade playdough.

We've been running right out of our boots.

And walking right out of our shoes.

We've been learning about bees....

....from a distance.

We've been told to go outside and enjoy the fresh air.

We've been too caught up in our books to do so.

We've been swinging on ropes.

We've been having some girl time.

We've been making some memories.

Another Joyfilled Anniversary

A year ago today, after exactly 4 weeks in the NICU and 24 hours without supplemental oxygen, we brought our sweet miracle home  Looking back at these pictures she looks nothing like the healthy baby she is now.  However, she was healthy enough to bring home and that's exactly where we wanted her.  Those 4 weeks were the hardest our family has seen.  Going home at night and not having our baby with us was heartbreaking.  That heartbreak was a small price to pay though.  She's here, she's amazing, she is just what a 1-year-old youngest of 5 should be.  Spoiled rotten, getting into everything, and the center of our family.

Felicity Perpetua has brought our family closer, increased our faith in God tremendously, and taught us a new level of love.  

Advancement

The weekend of Felicity's birthday was also the weekend of the kids' karate tests.  They test every 3 months to advance to the next belt.  In this form of karate a solid belt is followed by a belt of that same color with a black stripe.  Solid, stripe, solid stripe, and on, and on.  The students with the stripes are supposed to show mastery of the skills since they have been practicing the material for longer than the solid belts. 

Aidan was not testing since he is at the last belt before he will be a black belt.  He helped out at the test.  Both Emma and Gianna advanced, however, it was Gianna's turn to shine.  She was promoted from an orange belt straight to a blue belt.  No orange stripe for her.  Skipping a belt is not common, although Emma has skipped twice.  I take no credit for their karate "awesomeness".  If you remember, I'm a white belt drop-out.