Try Try again...

If at first you don't succeed, the Toddler will be sure to point it out.


I was cleaning my coffee pot this morning, which involves "brewing" a pot of cleaning solution, followed by "brewing" several pots of plain water to rinse it through. Bella asked me if I was making coffee, to which I answered "Nope, this is just plain water."

After watching several post of clear water come out, Bella observes,

"You keep trying and trying but you still can't make the coffee!"

Holy Week

It begins with the *long* reading of the Passion of Christ at Palm Sunday Mass. Somewhere between silently cursing myself for wearing heels and trying to prevent Anastasia from continuously whacking the lady in front of us with her palm, I am struck by the power of Scripture's recount of Christ's ultimate act of Love. I never failed to be shocked at how quickly we turn from "Hosanna to the King of Kings" to "Crucify Him!" I am saddened that is it not simply a story in history but rather a testimony of my own attitude.

Suddenly I realize that Lent has flown by, and am tempted to be discouraged by a sense that I have not done enough. I have not sacrificed enough. I have not challenged myself enough. It can't be this close to Easter, I'm not a saint yet! This is the devil at work, and I refuse to be mastered by despair. Instead, I remember that the Lenten journey does not make us saints no matter how hard we try, or don't. Have I grown closer to my Lord? Have I emptied myself in whatever little way I can to make room for Him to fill me? My failures are mine to own, and it does not change the growth that has happened. Christ has used my frail efforts and has blessed them.

I will use the rest of this week not to try to make up for what I feel is lacking, but rather to simply continue opening myself to Him. I will contemplate the great Mystery of His Unconditional Love for us. I will continue my tiny, seemingly insignificant sacrifice to enter into His Sacrifice.

Montessori-Inspired

We color-sorted, which was really easy for her.

Then we played the "pattern game" as we have dubbed it. Definitely harder, and her attention span was waning, but she did alright pretty well as long as we alternated who was doing the copying.
Please remind me, however, the next time we play with manipulatives, to find NON-EDIBLE ones.

The temptation is just too great.

Quick Takes

The Mommy's musings edition:

~~~

Daylight Savings Time is the one day of the year that you are thankful to sleep in until 7am simply because the clock says 8am, but the rest of the day you go around wondering why your body is not nearly as thankful as your mind is.

~

Does anyone else have a paper towel budget? No, really, this thought honestly crosses my mind with frightening regularity. Such as on a given morning when I had used 8 paper towels in the span of 10 minutes for 8 separate messes!!! I'm the kind of person who buys the cheap paper towels and still rips them in half whenever possible. To use so many paper towels so quickly causes me to wonder just how much money we're spending on letting Anastasia try to feed herself.

~

The idea of sanitizing the toilet brush and plunger does not cross most people's minds; however, there is nothing like watching the 15 month old walk out of the bathroom with one in each hand that brings up the overwhelming urge to Clorox everything in sight.

~

I have been looking through some old pictures from my college days. There are so many opportunities to laugh, and to be thankful for the wonderful friendships that I still enjoy. It's always fun to look at friends who were dating, or not dating yet, and are now married with a bunch of kids. Also, there is nothing quite like letting a big ol' pregnant woman with 2 toddlers look at pictures from a time when she did not look atrocious in that bikini. Smiling at a picture from when Patrick and I were dating, I asked Bella who was in the picture. Her response? "I don't know!? Who is that?"

~

It haD been a really long time since we had a date night. A really long time. The on Tuesday my darling husband suggested we use those coupons and actually get out by ourselves. We dropped the girls at my mom's and thoroughly enjoyed a blissful 2 hours all to ourselves. In fact, we drove my mom's nice car with the satellite radio taking our time, leisurely sat through an adult dinner conversation, and were all-too-happy to run an errand for my mom on the way home. All. By. Ourselves. Thanks, Honey!

~
One of the Lenten sacrifices to which I felt called was
Adoration. I cannot even begin to express the benefits I have reaped from this time of quiet, intimate prayer with Our Lord! If you need to find God in the "gentle breeze", His "soft whisper" to your soul, then there is no better place.

~

I am in possession of a maternity mini-skirt. Now with that lovely image in your mind... Happy Weekend!


~~~

As always, go check out Jen's Quick Takes.

Quotable Quotes

I think it may be time to let Patrick get ahold of my computer and clean it up/out. Everytime I try to open my picture file, say to post pictures to the blog, it freezes up and forgets what we were doing. Maybe one too many head injuries from being bounced on the floor by Anastasia-Saurus, but I'm hoping the amnesia is more related to program-overload or something else easy to fix. Anyway, that's the biggest obstacle to blogging lately, as almost all of my stories have pictures to accompany them and I can't do anything about it. Interesting that the computer is the obstacle and not the kids. We've actually settled into a nice rhythm around here again (soon to be interrupted and require overhaul again, I'm sure).

I'm tying my sneakers -
Patrick: "Wow, not too much longer you'll be able to do that!"
Me: "I don't need help yet, thank you." (slightly offended that thought crossed his mind when I have a few months left to go!)
Patrick: "It doesn't matter, by the time you reach that point it will be summer and you can just wear thongs!"
... uh, ... ...


Sometimes the best quotes are actually a matter of toddler pronunciation.

What we heard: "Papa drunk again."
What she actually said: "Pop the trunk again." (she liked the automatic button my mom had, but the best part was that my dad had just pulled up outside!)


We all have those song lyrics we misunderstood for years and sang wrong...

Singing a favorite song: "Mimi in JAIL!!! Mimi in JAIL!!!"
Actual lyrics: "PB&J! PB&J!" (it's a whole song about Peanut butter and jelly, circa 1970something.)