Williamsburg

Mother's Day weekend the Diocesan Youth Council adults had a meeting in Williamsburg to scope out the campus and make sure we have all our ducks in a row. I hitched a ride with Cathy and Nadia and dragged the kids along for the fun!

We stayed at Mike's timeshare, which was quite a nice place, unless you wanted to sit in the hot tub! We laughed at John's attempts to heat it up by boiling huge amounts of water on the stove (never worked, by the way). The kids and I shared a King-sized bed which means that even though they both did their regular nightly 360s, I slept fine.

Saturday morning we went out the see Walsingham Academy and the campus of William and Mary. Here is the gym we are going to use for all the large group gatherings:

We had a good time visiting campus-I hadn't been there since I was a senior in high school and considering going there for school. We did a lot of walking, which was problem since some dummy (me...) packed socks but no tennis shoes. I had to walk all over the place in a pair of wedge sandals.

Afterwards we had lunch, did some more talking and packed up to leave.

We never did get our ducks in a row...

...they kinda just milled about; chasing the kids. And one of them got tired of waiting for Frances to tear her piece of bread into bite sized pieces and just helped himself.

Henry acted quite brave throughout the whole thing, but at heart he's a bit of a chicken about ducks!

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Give me a laptop and I'll waste lots of time.
2. Whenever I am tired, I am a real *****.
3. I wish I didn't procrastinate so much.
4. Graciela's guacamole was the last thing I ate that was utterly delicious.
5. To live in this world is a privalege.
6. Other than this one, Cake Wrecks is the last blog I commented on.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the Youth Council meeting, tomorrow my plans include hanging out with the teens and Sunday, I want to come home to my family again!

10 on Tuesday

10 Wonderful Things That Happened This Summer...

1. Henry turned 1
2. Pre-school Field Trips
3. Youth Convention
4. Julie got married
5. Cow Appreciation Day
6. Henry learned to walk
7. Rockingham County Fair
8. Ken and I celebrated 7 years of marriage
9. Aayana spends the night
10. Bunny chasing
    
    

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

...Into the future! I lost another week?!!? How does this happen. Last weekend was crazy busy because of the Diocesan Youth Council retreat in Abingdon. I am excited because we have a really awesome group of young people to work with this year! We drove home Sunday afternoon in time for me to turn around and rive over to church for our religious ed kick off. I think the night went rather well and I am glad to have things underway.

My mom wanted to make sure I posted a few pictures from when Henry and Frances stayed with them last weekend. These are the pumpkins that my brother, Alan, grew. They are huge!!

They spent a lot of time in the garden picking grapes, blueberries and raspberries. My mom commented several times on what a good eater Henry is. And he is, especially in contrast to Frances who has a very small appetite and eats very slowly.

He got a new a hat as well. Yes, that is the potty seat! I couldn't use any of the other pictures because they all have Frances in the background...p**ing. :)

This has been a good week, but busy. I have been spending a lot of time on getting things ready for church this Sunday. I am really excited about the way our program is turning out this year. Things are going well at the pre-school too. I am up to nine kids in my class-three boys and six girls. They usually get along really well and LOVE circle time in the mornings-especially the message time we do.
There was a fire at the ABC store across town which has created more work for Ken, but today he doesn't go into work until 4:15, so we had a nice morning of cleaning house and hanging out. The kids are sleeping now, so hopefully when they get up we will have the chance to do something fun.
Please pray for Frances and Henry who both have the "coffes" (That's what Frances calls it when she has a bad cough.) I have been giving them their allergy medicine as well as some breathing treatments. This happens about once a season, and it can be a miserable two weeks for the two of them (and consequently mom and dad too). They don't sleep well, or eat much or behave well at all.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. If I was to walk into your life, you'd probably trip over all the toys that seem to follow me around!
2. Catch a bright star and place it in Frances and Henry's bedroom.
3. And you can send me dinner any night of the week.
4. With Frances around, I'm dealing with a memory that never forgets.
5. I'm the innocent bystander / Somehow I got stuck in this wonderful life.
6. What's keeping us apart isn't selfishness, it's the chaos of life.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to the DYC retreat, tomorrow my plans include the DYC retreat :) and Sunday, I want to leave the retreat in time to get home and get ready our religous ed kick-off!

Thankful Thursdays

This week seems to have flown by! I spent Thursday through Monday of last week in Lynchburg for our Youth Convention. I came home Monday afternoon, was lazy all day Tuesday and went back to work yesterday. I have not had a very good chance to sit down and do much blogging. This very busy week I am thankful for:

• My little brother, Alan. He gave up his weekend to come to Lynchburg and help out with Henry while Ken and I were busy. He spent a lot of time in his dorm room watching movies so that Henry could take his naps and go to bed on time. It was not a glamorous job, but it was a very important job. It left me available to minister to the teens that attended. Thanks Unkie Alan!!


• My laptop! I store everything here. I can take it with me anywhere and be able to keep in touch with anyone I want to. I have pictures on here from when Frances was born. I try to periodically go back through and label them so they are more organized, but when I dump them, I always label the folder with the name of the event.

• My car. Okay, I complain about it a lot, but I am thankful to have reliable ttransportation for my family. I know that there are plenty of others who are not so lucky.

Thankful Thursdays

I am headed out of town, so this will be short. However, I am no less thankful for the following (just in a hurry):

• My parents-They are spending a month in Alaska (and, yes, I'm sad that I couldn't go) but I am very fortunate to have them as my parents. They raised me in a loving, Christ-centered household. They were "mean" to me when I was younger, especially when I was a teenager; and because of it I am a better person as an adult. I try to model my parenting on the parenting I remember (and still receive) from them.


• Ken's parents-Ken was also raised in a loving, Christ-centered family. Both of his parents are involved in church as readers and Eucharistic ministers. He enjoys spending time with both his father and brother with male-bonding activities (hunting, sports, golf, etc...). They are keeping Frances for a long weekend while we are at Youth Convention and I know that she will have a blast. We are very fortunate to have both sets of grandparents close by and eager to be involved with the kids.


• The Diocesan Youth Council-This amazing group of young people spends a whole year planning our Youth Convention which takes place every summer. Ken and I were both part of this group as teenagers and we now serve as adult advisers. These teens give up their weekends in order to plan an event that will help them to spread the Gospel to more teens around the state.

Where has the time gone?!

I haven't been able to blog for a few days. I feel so behind!! Last weekend, we went to Newport News for a DYC meeting. We finished up and polished our plans for this year's Convention!! We spent the weekend at a convent on the campus of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church. We got to Newport News a little early, so we took the kids to the beach. Henry loved it! He tried to eat all the rocks and crawl right out into the water. Frances loved getting in the water and jumping up and down.

This week at Day Care, the kids are going to Bible School. They LOVE it! It is "Power Lab." The church we go to does an awesome job of putting it all together. It is great to hear all these kids come home talking about scripture and Jesus' teachings. Some of them don't hear it much otherwise.

Friday Fill-In

1. A smile is a great way to start the day, especially when it's from your kids.

2. Sequence for Kids is my favorite board game. Frances got it for Christmas one year and we love playing it together. She calls it the "chip game."

3. I would love to have more organization in my life and less clutter.

4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think of long, lazy summer days.

5. I just remembered I need to pack for this weekend!!

6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this:

"And I'll praise you in this storm

and I will lift my hands

for You are who You are

no matter where I am

and every tear I've cried

You hold in your hand

You never left my side

and though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm"

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to seeing DYC friends again, tomorrow my plans include lots of Convention work and Sunday, I want to see the beach!