Fair Trade sale!

Just in case you didn't get all you wanted for Christmas, I received a postcard from CRS Fair Trade/SERRV with a promo code for 25% off everything (except cases of chocolate) at crsfairtrade.org. This link will take you directly to their online catalog - http://www.agreatergift.org/crs
The postcard says "Mention code F08325 when you call in your order, or enter it into the coupon box during online checkout. Discount will be applied to final billing, but not shown online." (-I have email confirmation that it's okay to share the code). Also, my birthday is in February.
(Editing to add that the sale goes thru Jan. 17th)

Merry Christmas

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." - Luke 1:46-55

Zach's 1st Haircut!

At 15 months 2 days old, Zach had his first haircut yesterday, Dec. 22. As with Michael and Nicky, I put it off as long as I could, since that first cut can make babies look like (*gasp*) toddlers. He still has plenty of hair left to frizz up in the mornings, so I'm not too despondent.

My favorite Christmas Classic

heard at my house

Yesterday Michael came breezing in the room and said:
"Mom you wanna see the special features of the steering mechanism of this car I'm making?"
(Say what?!)
A lengthy explanation of his Lego creation's said features ensued.

Today he asked me if I knew lawn mowers only had one cylinder.
(Can't say I've ever given it a moment's thought.)

Adrienne asked if I could get a girl baby in my tummy because her brothers are driving her nuts.
(Sorry kiddo - no thanks. Y'all drive me nuts too.)

Zachary dumped cereal all over the kitchen floor 3 times in 2 days.
(Sigh)

Daddy and Nicky are in the kitchen at present, making jello cookies. Nicky cracked an egg all over the counter & floor before I came downstairs. I'm going to hide down here for a while.

things that make me happy

So Kelly says I gotta blog 6 things that make me happy. I've had some ideas festering in my head for a few days. I decided it's too much mental work to come up with the absolute top 6, so here are some of my random occasions of felicity, in no particular order.

normalcy - this turned out to be an exercise in blessing-counting. I'm glad to get through the day without any catastrophes.

date nights with my hubby - way too rare.

sweets consumption - probably seems frivolous, but so be it.

trips around the country or in the backyard - I'm not well traveled, so even small trips to conventional destinations are exciting. Think the Black Hills, Chicago, St. Louis, the Mall of America...

baby smiles - 'nuff said.

that one commercial with the runaway shopping cart - I don't remember what was actually advertised. For some reason I got a kick out of that silly cart rolling all around town.

Christmas trees and Monster Jam rallies

On Saturday we bundled the kids up and headed out to cut down our Christmas tree at a local nursery. It's kind of weird that one of the traditions of the season involves everyone grabbing a hacksaw when they walk into a public place. Actually, I’m not sure if it was a hacksaw, cuz I’m a chick and I don’t know my saws. Don’t care enough to google it either. Anyway, I snapped before and after shots for posterity, and for my loyal readers.

Later that night, Nate took Michael and Nicky to a Monster Jam rally. I meant to insist that Nate take the camera and get a few good shots, but I forgot. I'm bummed. I can hardly think of anything more blog-able than a Monster Jam truck show. Never fear, I'll post a stock photo of Grave Digger:

Apparently this big bad truck is a wimp. He lost a tire at one point, and the engine would cut sometimes after landing a jump. Probably some sort of safety mechanism. Loser.

one of those weeks

...been busy running the kids around this week. We had a few inches of snow a couple days ago that mucked up the roads more than a few inches of snow should, so the trips to preschool and faith formation and basketball were exciting.

Zachary got into the garbage today. This is not a new phenomenon. The trash can isn't big enough to hold everything the bag can, so as you can see, it sits in the corner being filled up to the brim and is then raided by our resident 14 month old.

I took this picture in the heat of the moment. It doesn't show the extent of his pillaging. Now that I've had time to cool off a bit and concede that a pile of refuse is probably irresistible to any one year old, I'm only interested in renting him out.

Pilgrim's Unprogress

Michael brought this home two years ago when he was in 2nd grade. I can't save most of what the kids bring home (unless we rent space at Public Storage) but this just might be displayed at his high school graduation party.

If you find it hard to read, it says "Our class learned about the Mayflower. I learned that people died. The most interesting part was someone went overboard. I think it was not fun at all."

Michael D.

Tina, eat!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and all the good eats we look forward to, here's one of my favorite Napoleon Dynamite clips.

changed my comments setting

Nate pointed out that it seemed only google-ers could comment, so I switched the setting.

Vanilla ice cream is gross! Country music is for losers! Idaho sucks! C'mon, I dare ya.

This result is a bit high. I think the likelihood my cat will murder me is more in the 20-30% range, but maybe I'm duped. Relaxing on the couch, I captured Bruiser lost in thought ...it never occurred to me that he could be contemplating homicide.

Halloween '08

Last week before carving pumpkins Michael asked "Can we use latex gloves so we don't get that stuff all over our hands?" Heh. I think he has a thing for rubber gloves - last year he snuck a pair to school and wore them in class. We found out about it in conferences. He wrote all over them with marker and when the teacher asked him to take them off, he said "But I like them." Finally she threw them away, which Michael later described in his social skills journal as a time when he was disappointed in his teacher.

Back to Halloween - we had a genuine scare when we lost Nicky while trick-or-treating. We went with the neighbors and their 5 kids and together they all ran to and fro a bit too quickly for our eyes to track. Luckily we hadn't yet turned any corners and we found Nicky heading straight down the street towards home.

As you can see in the pictures, we have Adrienne as a princess (3rd year in a row), Zach the tiger, Nicky as Anakin Skywalker, and doctor Michael.

Looking for Ghosts and Goblins...

p.s. Stay tuned for Halloween pics!

My heaven foods wish-list

Last year we bought some coupons from a fundraising door-to-door boy scout. Among them was an unlimited 'buy one blizzard, get one for 99 cents' DQ coupon good for a whole year. Genius. Naturally, we used it several times and got the largest possible size so that the $.99 one could also be ludicrously huge. Occasionally we even shared a few spoonfuls with the kids. Whenever I'd sink my teeth into that first bite of cookie dough w/M&M's blizzard, the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's Messiah burst forth from heaven. As I'd make my way through the deliciousness, I'd inevitably start philosophizing about the next life. How are souls in heaven truly happy without blizzards? Perhaps it's sacrilegious of me to even ponder this, but so be it. One of the orthodox Christian doctrines is that we'll be re-unified with our bodies at the end of time. There must be a reason for this - we were made to be both matter and spirit. The consensus seems to be that we'll be perfectly happy in heaven, but until we get our bodies back, will we ever think about the pleasures we enjoyed while in our corporal state? I've decided that if we do repine for our bodies, it must be in the happy way a child waits for Christmas day - the whole 'anticipation is half the fun' idea. This is sort of consoling.
I've been keeping track of a few succulent requirements that God in his goodness will surely supply me with, if heaven is all it's cracked up to be. Here, in no particular order, are a few of the foods I'd like to enjoy with my eternal taste buds.

• Leeann Chin Peking chicken and cheese puffs
• Mountain Dew
• M&M's and many other candies and chocolates, too numerous to count
• Pepperoni Pizza, preferably from B&B, Pizza Man, or Papa Murphy's
• French toast
• cookie dough w/Oreo or M&M's Blizzards or Concrete
• chocolate cake
• cheesecake
• pumpkin pie
• Cinnabons
• Godfather's dessert pizza
• Abdallah dark chocolates

There are others that I can't think of now. Maybe I'll add some in later. You may notice the lack of fruits and vegetables on my list, and that's because I only grudgingly eat anything remotely healthy. And although I'm pretty sure it won't be a concern there, I'd like to make note that for my heavenly dental hygiene I'll require regular Colgate, due to it's superior taste.

Little Piggy Destruct-o Boy

Here we will observe Zach, the savage ravenously hungry beast, house ripper-upper and terror of the cul-de-sac in his natural habitat during the 3rd week of October, 2008.

Our 1st YouTube video!

And possibly the last. 'Little Princess Bride on the Prairie' was directed by yours truly. Once again, Nate did all the behind-the-scenes work.

Hanging on my fridge...

...is this joke I cut out of a Reader's Digest a few years ago. I enjoyed it so much that I even 'laminated' it with packaging tape. I tried to scan it, but it's too small and hard to read. My lack of techno skills betrays me again.

"I promise. That bird is so well behaved, you can

take it anywhere," the pet-store owner assured

the woman. Delighted, she took her

parrot to church. Things were great until, halfway

through the sermon, the bird blurted, "It's damn

cold in here!" Embarrassed, the woman ran out

and went to the pet store. "This 'good bird'

swore in church today," she told the shop owner.

"I'm sorry. It sometimes does that in new

environments," he explained. "Next time,

grab its feet and swing it over your head a few times.

That should stop it." The next week the

woman and her parrot were in church when the

bird yelled, "It's damn cold in here!"

Quickly, the woman grabbed the bird and

swung it above her head six times. Then she put

the bird back on her shoulder and sat down.

"Damn," the bird said. "It's windy too."

Home Video Clips

Here are a couple clips from some recent home movies. A thank you to my hubby for handling the behind-the-scenes technogadgetry work so I could upload these (upload is the right word, no?).

The theme for these clips is the Psalmist's verse, 133:1 - "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell together in unity!"

You may need to crank up the volume to hear my kids' sophisticated exchanges.

I am Mary and I approved this message.

Big Bro takes a Wife

My brother Andrew wed his lovely fiancee Monica yesterday (9/27) in an outdoor ceremony in Maple Grove. The weather was cool and the sky overcast but no rain fell, and everyone enjoyed the reception at the park. It was great to catch up with some friends and family that we've not seen in a while. And since my parents didn't provide me with a sister, this alliance pumps some much needed estrogen into my side of the family.

Congrats to the happy couple!

My baby is one!

We just celebrated Zachary's first birthday! He turned one on Saturday, September 20. Gentle readers (both of you), I suspect you will soon get used to my lamenting the speed of my children's growth and the frantic pace of time. Nowhere is the transformation that time brings more evident than within the first year of a child's life. Zach loves to crawl up the stairs when mommy's not looking. He eats like a little pig, just like his brothers and sister. They love to love on him. He tests the limits of our ear drums with piercing happy squeals. There's nothing like the magic of a new baby - a fresh whole new person who didn't exist before and will never be duplicated. Every curve of his face must be studied, every coo and goo marvelled at. And the magic continues, with every smile and milestone and big baby belch. We love you Zachy!

Phalange photo shoot

I offended some toes on my left foot last Friday when I whacked them into one of the baby gates at top speed. When the pain finally started to subside, it occurred to me that through my new blog I could force the world to share in this small tragedy. I rejoiced. Then, sadly, I could not properly capture the extent of the bruising with my camera. I despaired. But I decided to post the best one of the bad photos of my toes anyway. And I learned my lesson. I won't run around the house like a maniac without steel-toed boots.

A squandered week

The weather has been beautiful this week, but we haven't been out to enjoy it because of too much busyness. On Tuesday we kicked off a sacrament preparation period for Adrienne with a meeting at church. She will have her first reconciliation in late November and first holy communion in the spring. Though reception of these sacraments will be reason to celebrate, parents are expected to attend too many explanatory meetings in the meantime . In my not at all humble opinion on this subject, this is due to the wretched catechesis lay Catholics have received over the past several decades. Annoying though these meetings may be, I'm glad our parish is concerned enough to take the time to re-educate its members, and hopefully there will be fewer ignorant Catholics in the pews. Do I sound a little bitter? Alas, I am.
Switching gears - yesterday Adrienne had 3 teeth pulled at the dentist, poor kid. Her teeth are too crowded and the permanent ones are coming in a little wonky. I'm sure we'll be regulars at the orthodontist in a few years. The tooth fairy had pity on her and left her $5 instead of a quarter. Nicky also had an appointment yesterday - he'd been having eye pain and apparently has a small abrasion on his cornea. Some ointment 3x a day for 5 days should help it heal. Goodness, what kids won't do for a little attention! He is looking forward to a field trip to the apple orchard during preschool today, though mom and dad are still trying to figure out why it costs eight bucks to go. I have mentioned in a previous entry the &$#@ amount of homework my kids get assigned every night. *begin vent* This is a major time killer. I really think their teachers underestimate how long it takes to do. Michael typically has homework in multiple subjects - read 20 mins, write 20 minutes, study spelling, math worksheet, Word-A-Day (takes him forever to look up the word!) weekend geography homework etc., and he needs supervision to stay on task. It seems too close to the late high school/college model of instruction at school, and then do all the homework on your own time. The system needs an overhaul. Argh...I shouldn't even go there, as homework could be it's own blog entry. I'll leave it at that and try to think of something more positive to share next time. *end vent*

Summer '08 in pictures

I'm not ready for fall. Remember how winter had a late surge, and spring was chilly? I didn't get enough summer. Harrumph. I've decided central AC is not all it's cracked up to be. It's better than the alternative - I grew up in an old house without it - but sitting in a cool house from June through August is not really 'experiencing' summer. I missed the breezes through the windows, and I'm sure the kids could do without being barked at for leaving the doors open. And since Nate likes to keep the temp lower than I do, I had to go warm up outside every once in a while just to keep my fingers and toes from freezing and falling off. Anyway...here is a run-down of our summer vacation in photos. Notice miss 'thang Adrienne striking a pose at Pike's Peak bluff in Iowa. Michael looks smashing in his ball hockey get-up. Nate and Adrienne's b-days are in August, and A enjoyed a go-cart ride with Papa Duane on the farm. Nicky and Zach each ham it up for the camera.

Back to School for '08-'09

My kids insist on getting older at a rapid rate. Michael has now started 4th grade, Adrienne 2nd, and Nicky is in a preschool class for 4 year olds. Pretty smooth sailing so far, except for the $#@& amount of homework for the older two.

New Specs

I finally got new glasses this past weekend. My old pair were quite outdated, so I always wore contacts. Witness the horror -------->

Dissatisfied with my gargoyle-in-unfashionable-eyewear appearance, I attempted to select frames that were slightly more en vogue. I daresay the difference is dramatic.

Adrienne got glasses as well. The very first night

she had them, she left them in the neighbor's

backyard overnight, despite promises that they

were in the case on her dresser at bedtime.

Sheesh.

Welcome!

So this is it. Everyone has a blog these days - why not 'lil old me? Check here weekly or so for my 2 cents on worldly affairs and poo diapers and a few things in between.