Welcome to my Newly Designed Blog!

Welcome to my newly designed blog! Isn't it pretty!? For my birthday, my sweet friend Jenny paid to have a professional blog-designer named Jennisa help me spiff up my blog, and she did an amazing job! Thank you Jenny and Jennisa! I love it :)

1st Day of School "Blues"???

Well, as you can see in these photos, the only thing "blue" about the 1st day of school was my boys' uniforms! The boys were so excited to start school today as big 1st and 2nd graders! Even Dominic thought he was old enough to start school and ran upstairs to grab his backpack when it was time to go :) I have to admit I was a bit "blue" knowing that my 2 big boys wouldn't be home with me all day, but it sure helped knowing that they were happy about going and that they have such a faith-filled Catholic school where they learn more than just the 3 R's. Just as an example, I lingered a few extra minutes in Michael's classroom this morning just to make sure he was "settled," and the teacher had all of the kids and parents make a big circle so that we could all pray together for a safe, productive, and holy school year. How blessed we are to have such a great school with such loving and holy teachers! I often ponder and pray about whether God wants me to homeschool again, and perhaps He does someday, but for now I feel so peaceful and confident about where my boys are at.

Do these boys look blue to you?

Joseph is ready for 2nd grade!

Michael is ready for 1st grade!

Dominic thinks he's ready for school too!

Holy Zucchini!!!

I jokingly said, "Holy Zucchini" to the boys when they showed me what they picked from our garden earlier this week, but in some ways my joking remark is true. Our garden truly seems "blessed" this year! It is overflowing with produce, but thankfully I have three eager helpers! The boys picked these three huge zucchini's which produced 18 cups worth of shredded zucchini...and we still have many more growing in the garden!!! I can almost smell the tasty zucchini breads, cookies, and casseroles we will be making all year long! Speaking of which, if any of you have zucchini recipes to share, I'd sure love to try them!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Michael is our "ACT BEFORE YOU THINK" child. He was simply born this way (but I sure hope he grows out of it someday!) I can prove this point with many-a-story, but here is the latest one... While we were on one of our hikes this past weekend, Michael jumped up on a huge rock that was overlooking about a 15 foot drop (at least). I promptly scolded him to get down while having a mini heart attack, and I explained that if he fell (which was a high probability since he's also our clumsy child) he could have died. The friends we were hiking with have a 3-year-old daughter named Agnes who witnessed and overhead the whole affair, and she immediately added, "Yes, he would need a very big band-aid." Truly, out of the mouth of babes comes wisdom. :)


I didn't get a picture of Michael on the rock with the perilous drop off because I was too busy trying to get him off the rock. So you'll just have to look at this sweet picture of Michael standing on some smaller rocks in the middle of a freezing, rushing, mountain stream instead. I sure hope his guardian angel has fast wings and is willing to work overtime! :}

A Great Time in the Great Outdoors

This past weekend we took one last camping trip to enjoy the great outdoors before the school year begins. We drove about an hour up into the mountains to a spot called Refrigerator Canyon. Perhaps the chilly name of the place scared away all other campers because we literally had the whole canyon to ourselves (except for a couple of mountain goats we spotted on the cliffs above!) It was truly a lovely spot. The towering cliffs make you feel surrounded by God's majesty, and the absence of cars and people make you feel God's presence and peace. As you will see by the pictures, all of us found something fun to do while we were camping:

• Paul thoroughly enjoyed sighting in his bow for the fast-approaching archery season, as well as taking afternoon naps in the camper (because, after all, pulling back that string takes a lot out of you!) :)
• The boys entertained themselves for hours capturing poor grasshoppers in their new bug vacuum, as well as riding their bikes, throwing rocks in the nearby stream, helping daddy retrieve his arrows, learning how to start a campfire, eating Smores, and having pine cone wars with their friends.
• Maria enjoyed capturing all the previously listed events with her camera, eating Beth's amazing "Cowboy Caviar," and making cord rosaries while watching the kids play.

The first two nights we camped by ourselves and then we were joined the following day by two other Catholic families who love the Lord and the great outdoors too. There is something very special and sacred about praying the rosary with your friends around a campfire. It was the perfect ending to a perfect camping weekend.

Paul teaching the boys "Firestarting 101"

Paul sighting in his bow and dreaming of shooting a monster elk

Maria capturing the beautiful wildlife...

...while her boys also "capture" wildlife!

Boy, girl, boy, girl, boy...dog.
All the kiddos (and dog) taking a snack break on our hike.

Deep Thought Thursday #5

I just love wildflowers, especially ones that are truly growing wild on a mountainside. They make me want to run to the top of the mountain, twirl around and sing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music...laaa la la la...with songs they have sung for a thousand years...laaa la la la..." :) Although my wildflowers aren't on a mountainside, they still make me happy just to look at them (I spare the neighbors my rendition of Julia Andrew's "Sound of Music" though!) My boys also love the flowers because they seem to attract bugs of every variety which delights them to no end. Poor bugs.

Anyway, as I was looking at the wildflowers this morning, the deep thought occured to me that my soul is kind of like those wildflowers by our walkway. If you look closely at them, you'd notice not only bugs, but also weeds of every variety. I also never took the time to thin-out the flowers as they were growing, which has caused them to be not only weedy, but also a bit overgrown or shall we say too wild. My soul lately has felt a bit "too wild," tangled with weeds (sin) and overgrowth (selfishness). And so I am reminded of the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation and how much I need to receive it again (Pope John Paul II actually went to Reconciliation every day...so I'm way overdue!) So today I am thankful today for wildflowers that remind me of how beautiful my soul is intended to be when I allow the Great Gardener to shower me with His mercy and weed out the sin and selfishness in my soul.

Deep thoughts, by Wild About Wildflowers Maria :)

"Sing for joy, O heavens, break forth into singing, O earth!

For the Lord has comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted."

Isaiah 49:13

Super-Fast

The boys and I rode bikes to the park this evening, and Michael (who just learned how to ride bike this summer) asked me:

"Mom, do you think you could beat me in a bike race?"

I smiled (to myself) and said, "Boy, I'm not sure anymore because you sure are fast!"

Then he said, "Well, I know I could beat you going downhill, because I'm super-fast downhill!"

I just love the things kids say :)

Thank you, Lord, for these sweet moments with my children.

They truly get me through the day with a smile in my heart.

Amen.