Saturday Morning Post

Happy belated Feast of St. Francis!  I thought I'd take the opportunity to put some fluffy kitty pictures up for your enjoyment (if you enjoy fluffy kitties).  

Here's Wilma in the morning, when she is all energetic and likes to play.  We took off her collar (that has a flower and bell on it) and let her bat at it like a cat toy:

And here she is in our schoolroom.  I was dictating a spelling list to Galadriel when I noticed our little friend asleep in one of her favorite places, the bookshelf!

If you think critical thoughts of the disorder of the shelving, I will stop posting pictures for you so that you can continue to imagine my home is in a state of perfect tidiness. :)

 Looks like Eowyn's looking for a good read.

 Nope! Just found her friend.

Not to be partial to the feline of the household, I should let you see Reina in action.

She happens to be loved by the toddlers around here lately.  Here she is with my niece, who most definitely takes after her Aunt as a dog-lover.

And tackled by Sam, also a big Reina fan.  He's a little more enthusiastic in showing his love.

We were so excited to be able to visit the first class relics of St. Sharbel, a Lebanese saint with a great devotion to the Eucharist.  He is known for healings obtained through his intercession.

And lastly, some pictures of Sam doing one of his favorite things, deer watching through our back windows in the mornings when he first wakes up.

Sam just turned 27 months on the 4th of October.  No, I don't celebrate his monthly birthdays at this point.  But he's my youngest, so I know.  Two years old!!

I hope I filled your tank with lots of sweetness and cuteness today!  It's the best I've got!  Fluffy pets and chubby toddlers!

Happy Saturday!

Wordless Wednesday

On Family-having

  

  I came across a pretty great post over at the "In Honor of Design" blog.  Anna answered the question "Is having 5 kids hard?"  She give a really balanced response, honestly admitting to the mere physical logistics and limitations of being a mother of many, and speaking to the joy and the gift that is a big family.

One sentence stood out to me in particular, and I'm just going to plunk it down here for you. She said:

"Maybe we can even start changing the language to more positive and respectful dialogue, because we never know the road that someone else has traveled, and the challenges they have faced along that road."
                                                                --In Honor of Design  (read the rest here)


I was so thankful for the inspiration of these words!

Can I share a few thoughts?

For years I had a baby just about every 20 months.  It was my body's natural rhythm of fertility, and while my husband and I always put thought and prayer into the family we were growing, we were mostly just happy to be open to God's plan.  For us, there wasn't too much stress or strain involved with being open.  We had stresses and strains, but it wasn't really the kids, for us, that caused it.  They were our joy.

So, for well over a decade, I would sit around trying to come up with new, positive, and quippy ways to respond to strangers' comments on the number of children I had.

Then I began to run into people who couldn't have children.  There were those who were unmarried and desperately longed for the vocation I had.  There were those who were infertile.  There were even those who had walked a very long and very painful path of battling their way through fertility centers while trying to maintain the teachings of the Church (i.e. no IVF).

My quippy jokes about my own infertility were no longer funny.  I no longer took fertility for granted.

Then, after baby number 9, I had my own health crisis.  While I had needed to work for "spacing" in the past, I was at a point that that "spacing" was looking like it might need to be for an indefinite time.  And for me, that was not a happy prospect.

I lived in dread of someone asking if I "was done".

It happened, more than once.  I sort of laughed and said I was getting old. Or just said "you never know".  The people who asked weren't trying to be hurtful.  They just couldn't have known.

Now I am at a slightly different place in my journey.  I feel that a new chapter has begun as some of my health issues are resolving.  That's why I can even write this.  Before it would have been impossibly painful.

But in light of the wisdom I gained though the pain I have seen others carry, and the path I too had to walk, I was so happy to see the subject addressed as it was on Anna's IHOD blog.

"Maybe we can even start changing the language to more positive and respectful dialogue, because we never know the road that someone else has traveled, and the challenges they have faced along that road."

I wish this could be read by every sales clerk, hair dresser and passer-by who feels it is appropriate to question any mother's family size, whether with snide remarks or rude questions. Remember that that Mama with 1-year-old twins and a baby on the way might have gone through years of heartache before being blessed with fertility.  You probably don't have to ask her if she "knows where they came from?"

She knows.

They are from heaven.

And if a middle aged mom with a cart-load of kids looks like a washed up, haggard mess?  She probably doesn't need to be troubled by you about those children.  She's doing her best, and I promise you, there are days ahead for her too.  She'll go home and feed those children, and tuck them in bed for a few more years.  And then they will grow, and she will get more sleep.  And decades later?  She's going to have a cup overflowing with abundant life.  

Let's have the humility and simple good manners to know that other peoples' private lives are not ours to question or comment on.  Let us encourage and never joke about something so precious as the gift of life.  Let us keep that dialogue "more positive and respectful", as Anna said.  For truly, "we never know the road that someone else has traveled, and the challenges they have faced along that road."

Mr. Fox

Just popping on to record the terrible cell phone pics I captured this morning of the red fox that traverses our neighborhood.

A big litter of about 7 kits were born a few blocks up in the Spring.  They were so darling and we watched them grow.

Since we have no bunnies to worry about anymore, and no chickens in our yard, I love catching a glimpse of him.

 I'm really just suburb-living here, but after being raised in the city I am still like a little kid every time a deer, coyote, fox or hawk is seen in our forest.  I run to the window with the rest of my children and delight in these woodland creatures!

Happy Weekend!

First Day of School (belated post, of course)!

Coming back from the Southwest with 10 days until the first day of school, we had to dive-bomb the last remaining school supplies left in the stores, rush order missed curriculum items, and try to get as clean and organized as possible.  A few days into the school year, breathing something close to a sigh of relief over actually getting up and running, I found myself in a dance store upon an afternoon in the pouring rain. (I'm not going to re-work that run-on.  Just hang with me!)

Three girls in ballet is a bit of a commitment for sure.  The tights alone!!  But they love it.  And I am refusing to buy Galadriel bigger pointe shoes until her teacher confirms that she REALLY DID grow out of them (I bought them in May!!!)

As for the first day of school?  I have thought of Elizabeth Foss' words of the subject every single year since she wrote her article on that here.  If I went to write my own thoughts on the first day of school, I'd just be doing a worse job of what she said there.

In a nutshell, after a decade and a half of homeschooling, I have learned that the first day doesn't really count as a school day.  It's sort of pretend.  We go through the motions of a real school day and just see what is missing, what is broken,  and how many kids are crying (unless it's me in tears) by 10am.

I just make a list of missing subjects, order them right away, and carry on as calmly as possible.  If I hadn't been in the Southwest this summer, the theory is that I would have had more time to be ready, but judging by past years, I bet it wouldn't have really made that much of a difference!

I just cheerfully encourage my children in as saccharine a voice as I can feign, "it's ok, yep, this is what I need to know! No Spelling book? Ok! No lesson plans? Check! I'll order it right now! Remember, we're just getting started! This is how it's supposed to be!"

And then I make a really great lunch.

Can you see something in Bilbo's desk?

Look close!  It's Wilma.

Like most 4-year-old girls I have known, Eowyn wanted a white cat.  She reeeeeallly wanted one.  As in, tears, all day, and lots and lots of persistent days of wanting.

Our last little kitten was given to us by my Mother-in-law's farm hand Pablo, who couldn't keep the little guy on the farm.  "Cooper" was a darling little stray, but he was super scrappy, scratchy, and soon...aggressive.  I just didn't feel comfortable with him in the home with my then one-year-old baby.  We keep in touch with his new owners, and he is full grown, fat and sassy!

We certainly didn't want to get another cat only to give him or her away, so we took a while to make the decision.

We are committed to this kitten and have every intention of keeping her forever.  Luckily, she is fitting in well.  Cats are so nice and....quiet!:)

To say Eowyn was pleased would be an understatement.

Wilma is a Himalayan.  We are all getting used to seeing our little puff ball sneaking around the corners of our home, or jumping out at a toy to play.   She's fun to have in the school room.

I put this art supply cart together for a handy storage place this year.  What happened on the first day of school?  Sam turned it into a scooter!

Amazingly, it didn't tip and spill everything out all over the floors!  haha! Nope, that happened on day 2!

Eowyn, 4-K

First day of school 2018!

Arwen-11th grade, Aragorn- 9th, Gimli- 8th, Galadriel- 6th, Bilbo- 5th, Rosie Cotton- 3rd, Legolas- 1st, Eowyn- 4K, Sam- Pre-preschool.

Up in my high schooler's study, Arwen enjoyed company on the first day of school when Wilma took a nap on her desk!

Hope your school year is off to a great start!

Summer 2018 Road Trip Photo Dump

You all know we head out to the Southwest to visit my in-laws as often as we can.  Last Easter vacation we weren't able to make our usual visit due to kids' activities.  Earlier this summer the boys were in baseball, so we headed out in later July.

We drove 24-hours in two and a half days.  We did it in two on the way home.

This summer was the summer of smoke.  With all of the wildfires in California, the skies were grey and hazy.  It was also just about 100 degrees all August.

But, we made the best of it, and discovered that one of the coolest places to hang out was the pond on my mother-in-law's farm.  Reina loved it there as well!

We made a day trip up to Colorado and Bilbo got to try his hand at trout fishing.  You can see the mountains are dark.  All of those pines were burnt earlier in the summer.  So sad.

An old man was snagging the trout right and left, and he gave Bilbo his spot, as well as a few pro tips.  It was awesome!

The kids had fun in a rusted out row boat hanging around the pond.  There weren't oars anymore, so they found big logs to row with!

usual road trip photos fro the car

Getting some exercise outside of the hotel before starting out for another day on the road.

Gathering up and ready to head out of the hotel.

We got home with about a week left to organize 9 children for a new school year.  It was a bit of a scramble, but today we are finishing our first week of school.  That's a post of it's own, but this is my best shot at catching us up!!

Happy September!

Twelve!!

We have a tradition to keep: Galadriel had another birthday, and you know that her birthday means candy-covered, colorful, beautiful cakes that she decorates by herself!

This year? Rainbow!

 Just as cheerful and pretty as the birthday girl!

Galadriel grew out of her old bike, so this year her present was a bike that the salesman said should last her through college and beyond! Yay! I love it when my kids get to the full-sized bike stage, so we don't have to buy new ones.  Hers is a pretty blue.

And, most special of all, my Mom made a "Junior Life Guard" jacket by sewing on an official, retro badge that she found on Ebay onto a red jacket.  She also found a retro, official, junior life guard pin, and put it on the collar.

My Mom was a lifeguard and is VERY proud of Galadriel for completing her Junior Lifeguard course this summer.  Galadriel worked so hard, and she deserves her coat!

I'm late on getting this post up, but I didn't want to miss the chance to document it: Happy 12th Birthday Galadriel!!