Happy 3rd Birthday, Kolbe!

Happy Birthday (3+ months late) Kolbe Christopher!  

We are beyond blessed to have you in our lives.  You were a scary surprise, one that rocked our world in all the ways.  We felt completely out of control, and we were.  But God brought you to us in that chaos, and you are the proof that God's plans are a thousand times better than ours.  You are the proof that joy springs forth even while we're still working through the fears and doubts that stunned us.  You are the gift that we didn't know we needed, but Jesus knew how much we would need your love, joy, and goofy grins and faces.  You are so loved and so, so precious to us.  

 

Your huge smile that makes your eyes disappear is my favorite.  Your love of cars and trucks and trains and planes and all things that move and make noise warms my heart.  My boy.  You even take your trucks to bed with you sometimes- all lined up.  

Your patron Saint, Maximilian Kolbe, is a wondeful inspiration to us all.  His sacrifice and true love is so, so beautiful.  We finally put up the beautiful print that my friend, Denise, got for us years ago when you were born.  I also put up the St. Maximilian Kolbe quote, " A single act of love makes the soul return to life,"  from my friend Megan (bought from beaheart.com).   

Aren't they wonderful?

Isn't he wonderful?             

Kolbe's last sleep as a two year old.  

He moved to a big boy bed just a few months before his birthday.  We really stretched out his stay in the crib and I am always a fan of that, especially for this guy who has no one following him kicking him out of the crib.  

 

Silly, sweet selfies with Kolbe.  

Kolbe, you are so snuggly and sweet.  You are constantly coming and asking, "Hold me, Mommy?"  and I adore it.  I am known to drop many a task to get all the hugs.  At night when I tuck you in, you ask, "Mommy, will you lay with me?".  And I often comply for a few minutes.  You snuggle close with your face so close to mine that I just can't resist a few kisses on your nose and cheeks. And your arm flops over my neck and pulls me just a tiny closer so we're cheek to cheek.  I wouldn't miss these moments for anything, son.  

This picture is from when you were 2 3/4 and you used to want to sleep in my bed with me if you woke in the night or when you woke up just a little early in the morning.  I love the way you love your mama.  You always reach out to hold me in some way.  Your hand on my face or my neck or my arm.  I am a security blanket and I'm just fine with that.  

 

On your birthday, you and I and Sophie headed to the library for library time.  You enjoyed the songs, dances, and rhymes, but your favorite was the bubble machine at the end.  

            

Your actual birthday fell on a Monday this year which is a crazy day in our household because 3 of your big sisters have dance.  We opted for a simple cookie with a scoop of ice cream and your three candles on top for that day since it was a mad rush. 

          

You received a fire truck for your birthday from Grammy and Granddad and you LOVE it.  When I ask you what you want to be when you grow up your answer is always, "A fireman."

You are often found poring over books especially if they are about trucks or cars or anything that moves and makes noise.  I'm happy that we have 5 monkeys who love, love, love to read. 

You may seem quiet and subdued in that picture (because you are when you're reading), but the majority of the time you are running, hopping, bouncing, and stomping around the house yelling, making truck noises, and laughing loudly. 

You love food, especially snacks. If we can't locate you, we generally check the cupboards and pantries first because you are usually there pilfering something to curb your appetite until the next meal. You climb up the fridge, you climb up our counters.  If you still can't reach you pull out a chair.  Nothing, and I mean, nothing in our house is safe from you. 

Multiple times a month (and often multiple times a week), you dump out a bag of flour, a box of baking soda, or a spice container.  You love to make messes and you love to play in them.  Most of the time when you make a mess with some smooth, powdery substance you are found with your cars and trucks rolling over and through the mess.  I guess everything looks like a construction site to you.  

A few days after your birthday we had Uncle Nick over and we had a S'more's making contest in celebration of YOU.  Here was the spread. 

You and your sisters each chose a few items from above to make the "perfect" s'more. 

You kind of loved this idea and so did the rest of us.  

 

The winner was chosen by a panel consisting of Nick and Daddy.  

           

           

Because of your love of fire trucks and firemen, 

your third birthday celebration had a fire truck cake.  

We invited over a neighbor family to celebrate with us and you were delighted.

       

You absolutely love to be delighted in, and you are.  You are doted on by all your sisters and practically the entire neighborhood.  Priests love you, all our friends think you are just the most goofy, silly kid.  You are wonderful. 

And for your 4th and last birthday celebration, we had a picnic on my friend Megan's front lawn.  You adore her and her sister Micaela.  They had a gluten free chocolate cake.  I brought licorice sticks.  And you were showered with love and gifts- all right up your alley.  A dump truck and airplane that her son passed down to you as well as a new duplo lego set of an airport.  

 

Thank you, Megan, for your love and friendship.  Thank you for making this celebration so special and getting ME flowers on top of it.  Thank you for taking all these lovely pictures to capture the day and so many beautiful little moments in it.  

        

Your sisters spent most of the picnic eating licorice sticks in Megan's amazing front yard tree.  

 

            

Kolbe, you are loved beyond measure.  

We are so grateful for your life and for your presence in our lives.  You are rambunctious and crazy.  You are sweet and snuggly.  You are a total ham making so many different faces that crack us all up.  You are smart and chatty.  You are imaginative and concentrated.  You are wonderful and WE ARE BLESSED.  

Chris' Birthday and Thanksgiving

Chris' birthday was two days before Thanksgiving, and since he isn't much of a cake person, but IS a pie guy, I made him a cherry pie.  The tart cherry kind, not from a filling can, because we're both snobs like that.  

A few days before his birthday, I took him to a Phil Keaggy concert (our second together) and it was great.  Phil had some technical difficulties, but he rolled with it, had a joke for it all, and it was a very enjoyable concert.  Wow, what a talented guitarist.  

Chris' actual birthday was fairly low-key.  The kids made him cards, I made a special (and now rather traditional) birthday meal for him plus the cherry pie, and we just had a relaxing evening.  

The following day is St. Cecilia's feast day (Kayla's patron saint and my confirmation saint).  

We celebrated simply that day too with a few prayers and a little family praise and worship in the evening since St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.

              

  

 

Thanksgiving was mostly quiet.  The kids played games (inside and out since it was like 80 degrees!).  I found these lovely orange and red lilies to grace our table.  The kids' game of Frozen memory also graced the table for a time while they played a couple rounds. 

We attended Mass at the nearby parish, and saw many of our friends (some whom we haven't seen in awhile) there.  The "highlight" of Mass was when Sophie tried to burn the church down.  I had taken her and Kolbe who were being disruptive to the back of the church.  Sophie asked to go back and sit with Chris a few times, and I let her as I could see him and make sure she walked back to him.  But she was getting silly with that too, so I kept her back with me the next time she returned to the back.  Unfortunately, trying to keep tabs on both Kolbe and Sophie in the back was a pretty big feat and Sophie made a slick escape move and ran to the door to go back into church.  The sweet usher tried to reassure me that she was fine, but I smiled distractedly and tried to peer around him to see if Sophie had made it to Chris.  I didn't see her in the pew, so I kept scanning.  Meanwhile he keeps telling me she's fine; she just went back to her daddy. 

What actually happened was that she went to the little shrine cove at the back of the church and grabbed one of the sticks to light a candle.  And light the stick she did and then proceeded to wave it around (I assume she realized it was hot and that she needed to put it out...).  Fortunately a fellow Steubenville grad was nearby and grabbed the stick and plunged it into the sand before harm was done.  In case you were wondering....Sophie is definitely our live wire.  She's the one who both scares me half to death and humbles me as she runs off acting as though she's never been disciplined before in her life.  Jesus, fill me with love so that I can be patient and endure her craziness.  But with her craziness comes also a great passion to live fully.  She is always willing to help, she loves to snuggle up to us, she giggles with glee, and gets completely lost in books too.  I'm so thankful that her antics at church did not end in disaster and that God had his hand on it all.  Whew. 

 

Chris brined our turkey as he always does (it makes it so moist and delicious) the day before.  On Thanksgiving we simply had to stuff it and put it in the oven to hang out for the afternoon. It came out delicious as usual.  

  

I tried a slightly more fancy pumpkin pie this year; one with a crumble on top.  It was yummy though I messed up cutting the crust, so it cracked a lot.  oh well.  

Some homemade cranberry sauce, rolls, sweet potatoes, and a mashed potato recipe from Chris' childhood and our meal was complete.  While we finished all the cooking, the sun set the evening sky on fire with color.  Wow, what a show God gave us.  

And the sunset colors were still blazing as we sat down for a quiet (well as quiet as it could be with 5 kids) Thanksgiving dinner with our family.  I'm so thankful to be doing life with them.  It is often humbling, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately beautiful and absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me.  

Kolbe's first taste of Thanksgiving food since last year he was on the Mom's milk diet only.  He loved it.  He didn't really enjoy my camera in his face while he indulged though.  ha.  

And then he got the privilege of licking the spoon from the beaters when I whipped up some whipped cream for our pie.  Mmmmm

Our friends invited us to their place for dessert which was really sweet.  We met his parents, several brothers and wives.  We are so grateful for our community here that is always so caring and open.  God has blessed us indeed.  

31 Days of Gratitude- {Day 25}- Saint Exchange

Yesterday was our Saint peg exchange.  We officially began this project back in late March of 2014 when we all submitted 3 Saints that we'd be interested in painting.  The organizers sent out a list of which Saints everyone was doing and we got our first choice- St. Madeleine Sophie Barat.  That was also when one of the two fabulous organizers of our exchange had this incredible way of ordering pegs in bulk and everyone got a deal and it was so easy!  I went and picked my bags up at her place just blocks away from us and *thought* I was ready to begin!   

And then I read the emails more closely and realized that the actual peg saint exchange wasn't happening until October!  So of course I got to work right away and got them finished with months to spare... procrastinated and thought to myself each month, Everything is so busy now.  Next month will slow down and I can work on the pegs.  October is still a long way off...

In all those months of putting it off, I did at least do a little bit of research and found this post and followed much of her advice about paints, brushes, etc. I shopped on Amazon sometime in July or August and scooped up some Americana brand acrylic paints, the paintbrushes she recommended, and the gloss as well.  Because we are doing an exchange and I was only painting one Saint, I opted to also get this Americana acrylic paint set so I'd have more colors to choose from without having to buy big bottles that I might only use briefly.

And then it was the beginning of September and I had all kinds of things on my calendar.  A big visit (hasn't happened in 7 years) from Chris' parents, an alumni event, a few parties, and I helped put on a bridal shower for my little sis.  I did my best to paint the pegs, but suddenly I started realizing just how big an exchange 37 pegs really is...

But I started.  Yay, me!

And I slowly began making some progress here and there.  Honestly if you had the time to just sit down and do a lot of painting at once without interruption (not my life with 4 littles at all) it really wouldn't be so bad.  In fact, I really enjoyed the painting and it was rather therapeutic.  The trouble is that with 4 little ones I get interrupted constantly (even when they go to bed, there's no guarantee that they won't wake up right when you are working on something and need to go to the bathroom, get a drink, throw up, nurse, cry for no apparent reason...).  So though I enjoyed the actual painting, it became increasingly more stressful as the deadline approached because I needed to paint, paint, paint, but I have kids, kids, kids.  :)  

But I tried my best to just take it a step at a time and do a little here, a little there and trust that it would all get done before the October 22 deadline.  

Luckily the two gals organizing our exchange are awesome.  They sent out regular emails (especially the last several months) to encourage and keep us all on track.  They sent tips here and there and one of my friends in the group posted some pictures of her progress which was helpful to me.  It's nice to see that someone else is moving along too and it helps to motivate one to work harder.  Plus it's fun to see some finished (or at least in progress) work!

In September, I also completed our short bio on Saint Sophie with a picture and sent it off to one of our group organizers who had offered to print up everyone's Saint bios.  She is also the organizer who hosted the party that we attended last night for the actual SAINT EXCHANGE!  

These apple muffins look a little weird in our poor kitchen lighting, but the picture showed some more progress on some saint pegs...

And then it was October.  

I had a number of the pegs at the point shown in the picture above, but I still had 7 that were back at blank stage.  I needed to move on with some of them to see that progress was happening and had just never come back to begin them yet...

Slowly, but surely I kept making slow progress as October (also a busy month filled with Ava's birthday, a backpacking trip for Chris and I, OktoBEERfest, the airshow, and more...) marched on. 

About a week ago, after getting most of the pegs to the point of just needing their glossy varnish coat, I finally got working on the last 7 blanks.  Fortunately, having done so many others already, the work was faster and easier because I knew what I was doing.  Kayla requested that some of them please! have pink mouths, so I complied.  

The lighting is poor, so it appears as if the pegs all have subtle mustaches and are carrying some kind of large horseshoe under the books and cross, but I just love how done they suddenly look with the glossy finish. 

Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat

(1779-1865)

Feast Day: May 25

Patroness of school girls

“Your example, even more than your words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world.”

"Let us fix our eyes on the crucifix in every difficult moment and that gaze will renew our courage."

On the night of December 12, 1779, Madeleine Sophie was born 2 months prematurely as the result of the stress of a nearby house fire.  Sophie’s older brother Louis, who later became a priest, took it upon himself to educate her which wasn’t typical for girls at that time.  Louis went to Paris to seek ordination and Sophie went with him.  While in Paris, she  considered becoming a Carmelite, but it was impossible because the convents had been abolished there because of the Revolution.  Later she was introduced to Joseph Varin who wanted to begin a women’s order involved in the education of young women.  So on November 21, 1800, Sophie took her vows and became one of the first members of the Society of the Sacred Heart. A school was opened where Sophie taught, and soon became Superior General. Eventually her leadership helped to establish a network of schools in more than a dozen other countries.  Sophie died in May of 1865.  

Next step was to turn them in a few days prior to the actual exchange, so that they could be organized, checked etc. to make sure all were there and everything was in order.  And then last night we went to the big Saint peg exchange party.

 

 

The saint pegs were all set up in groups with their little bio cards.  

We had refreshments (most gals brought an appetizer or dessert to share) and chatted and admired everyone's hard work.  

party seflie!

 

And then it was time to exchange.  We began with an Our Father, a Hail Mary, a Glory Be, and a Litany of Saints (with all the saints in the exchange of course).  

Then we started with the saints we had painted, and moved around the room (there were 3 tables with peg saints) counterclockwise to pick up each of the saints and their bio cards.  

I'm so grateful for the wonderful ladies who organized this big, sometimes overwhelming, definitely fun peg Saint exchange.  (the "head" organizer is in the coral dress above--THANK YOU for all your hard work.  You went over and above everyone's expectations and opened your home to us as well.  God bless you, Elise!)

All of our new Saint pegs.  The girls LOOOOVE them. 

They were very confused about one that had no mouth though.  Ava (3) especially was distraught.  "Please give her a mouth, Mommy.  She can't talk. " (this was said on the verge of tears). 

Perhaps the most sweet moment of all though was when (my) little Elise brought me our St. Madeleine Sophie Barat saint peg and said, "Mommy, I love it.  You did such a good job."  There was a whole range of talents and abilities among the different artists in the exchange, and I would say my doll was quite average, but it was really sweet to see Elise pick it first and play with it as if it were the most special and beautiful one in the world, simply because I had made it, and she knew it.  

So worth all the time and effort. 

 

Additionally, I'm grateful for the lessons in perseverance it taught me as well as the reminder that I should work on not procrastinating so much.  And now, having done this, the thought of doing some of my own Saints or making pegs to represent our family doesn't seem so scary. It fact, it actually sounds fun.  

 And I'm totally wanting to do a local Nativity set peg exchange.  

Or I suppose I could just make my own... 

But I totally want one.  

I mean, did you see how cute the one in the Ordinary Lovely blog post I linked to above was?