A Wedding Weekend

Last weekend we traveled out to Fargo to celebrate our sister's much anticipated wedding! This wedding has been in the planning for a while now and we were just super excited for Kensie and Winston to be in holy matrimony through the eyes of the Church! It was quite the morning, with bridesmaids getting up as early as 3 a.m. to start on hair designs to the great reception that lasted until 10:30 p.m.

For our little and growing family, the morning started at 4:30 a.m. when our darling babies woke up with teething pains. Bumblebee was in such pain that she was granted the gift of sleeping with Mommy and Daddy (a HUGE no-no since she LOVES to kick while sleeping :) and little T clung onto Mommy for a solid hour as I rocked him back to sleep only to startle him when lying him back to bed... just my luck I suppose. After falling back to sleep, Mommy had to wake up to get to the bride's parents house to get my hair done. It was quite the process, since it was to one side with a braid and a bun-like effect, I think it took some 50 pins to keep it up! And then when I got home to help P with the kiddos our little boy thought it'd be fun to pull Mommy's hair in one swoop! Thankfully Cousin Liz was able to fix it pretty nicely before pictures!

When we arrived at the church, we were able to get ready with both sets of bridal parties, and then the pictures started! BumbleBee loved her dress, and felt like a princess until the dreaded shoes were forced on her... she loves picking her shoes, but doesn't like wearing them for prolonged periods of time.

All in all the kiddos were good, both fell asleep in the car to the reception hall...so we let the rest a little before waking them up for the party, where BumbleBee danced the night away, well at least until bedtime at 9 p.m. where T the Tiger had great fun with Great-Grandma Ellie and Great-Grandpa Ed as he scurried around the place.

Here are some cute pics!

Bumble Bee in her "Belle" dress... she LOVED the flowers in her hair, but she kept wanting to smell them as well!

T with his smirky smile! This is his mischievous smile! He's ready for a party!

BumbleBee having fun lining up shoes!


The three piece suit was lent to us by Missy, who was so sweet enough to watch our pup over the weekend with her family back in Monti. T LOVED his outfit!!

THE face... this is the face of "Daddy, I'm tired, I'm ready to rock and roll and be the bestest little Bumblebee all day!"

Last Week

Last week, we hosted a beautifully excited 7 year-old, Landon, who also happens to be Super Hubby's brother. It was an exciting and fun week, where I took all three kids to the zoo! It was quite the experience, especially since Landon really wanted to RUN everywhere... being 30 weeks pregnant, that kinda wasn't an option for the whole day. But I will say we DID run through the water towers... yes WE as in all three kids and myself! It was really great! Here are some great pics!
The boys lookin at the sharks! Yup that's right the MN zoo has an aquarium too...with sharks and dolphins!

Bella LOVED the golden turtle!

B LOVES the tiger area! She kept roaring just like her beloved animal!

After running thru the water zone, look at T's face! Priceless...thankfully it was early morning when we ran thru, so no dirtiness was in our car later that day

Bumblebee LOVED getting all wet and chilly.. look at that smile!

Action shot taken by Lindsay...B wanted to cover those eyes from the water but was squeling with joy!

Cheaper by the Dozen

"What movie should we watch, Landon?" I asked my 7 year-old brother-in-law after I put my two tikes to nap. As he inspected our small DVD collection, his hands snatched up a personal favorite, Cheaper By the Dozen. I love this movie! Not only does it have solid acting (ok other than Hillary Duff), but it encourages large family values (and I think they are semi-Catholic from one of the comments about looking at picture of grandma and praying a rosary...altho I DO note that they are not following Catholic values since Tom gets a vascestomny...I digress)! I happily agreed to watching the family flick and Landon seemed content, even though he "wishes our house had more movies".

Why do I bring this insignificant instance up on my blog? WELL, a few reasons: 1. I LOVE this movie! So if you haven't seen it in a while, or ever, and live close by, just let me know and I will gladly loan it to you to watch with a big bowl of popcorn. 2. I think this movie embodies a LOT of my thoughts when it comes to having a large family... I mean when people ask us how many kids we want, our first reaction is "As many as God blesses us with..." followed immediately with "But I would LOVE to have at least 12; two basketball teams with some subs! And hopefully, we can help fill in some slots for the priesthood shortage :)"

And lastly 3. This weekend kicks off the National Natural Family Planning Awareness Week! YAY! If you haven't ever really sunk your teeth in the Church's teachings on NFP, this week is a perfect invitation to do so, whether you are single or married. This past weekend, Super Hubby gifted me with a brand new book to read, it's called " Life-Giving Love: Embracing God's Beautiful Design for Marriage" written by Kimberly Hahn (yes, Scott Hahn's wife!). I'm only 40 pages in and ALREADY I am so amazed!! I would suggest EVERY woman, regardless of age, to read it! Kimberly's approach is an easy-read as well as enjoyable since it brings basic language to Church's teachings which can be hard to swallow at times.

"Sometimes people approach others in a blunt way: 'Here's the Church's teaching. Tough it out. Others did!' This approach makes us feel bound in chains from which there is no escape. That is not the way of truth spoken in love. Rather than binding us, truth liberates us to be all we were created to be. That is why Jesus said, 'You will know the truth and the truth will make you free!' (Jn. 8:32)" - Kimberly states in her introduction... SO TRUE!

But this upcoming week, there will be many reflections on how amazing NFP is as a gift to us as Catholics, married couples, parents, everyone basically. So strap in and get ready for some awesomeness!

Basic Etiquette

In one month, I will have a 1 year-old and an almost 2 year-old.... in a little over a month, we will be celebrating a joint birthday party for my tootin' toddlers. Today I finished making all the invitations and they will be promptly sent out this upcoming week. The theme...well that's a surprise...but I will give a hint: don't veg around your house all day :). Why do I bring all this up?

WELL, there are a few things that really bug me in life.... I mean these things really, really, really BUG me... and it all starts with how a person was raised. That's right, I'm talking about proper etiquette to life. I'm talking daily activities, special events, how-to's when it comes to livin' like we were makin' our grandparents proud.

Maybe I was born in the wrong decade... I've taken a facebook test that says I'm a 50's girl. It fits me... it states: "you are a very wholesome person dedicated to your morals, values, and reputation. You have strong convictions and stand by them. Building solid family and friend relationships is important to you. You like traditional roles of men and women and find it in your natural tendency to fall into those roles. You enjoy the latest music, movies and other recreational fun with your friends and family alike. Although conservative in nature, you also like to be up on the latests and greatest. You are a classic American, who is hard-working and a quality friend to have. " Spot on facebook quiz, spot on.

This being said, I am a strong individual who does not enjoy others neglecting proper manners and etiquette to certain things...basic things like: saying please and thank you when asking for assistance; taking off shoes when entering a home (this is not a prairie hut, this is a HOUSE); forgetting manners at the table (please just use a napkin, so there aren't crumbs everywhere, including your shirt), or the major basic: men holding the door open for women. I think these things are pretty basic; is there really some need to instruct a teen, or even adult in this instances?


However, then we have the individuals who not only do not know these basic manner understandings, they also lack basic etiquette understandings... understandings such as:
when scheduling and notifying people about special events, individuals should give more than a 1 week notice. Typically for a party, invitations should be sent out at least 2-4 weeks prior to the event. Other typical etiquette understandings can include: limited use of cell phone use in a social event (oh teens, how I pray they learn this), when eating, it is MOST important to close your mouth and NOT talk with it full of food (no one wants see-food); when a person is new to the situation, the spouse/significant other NEEDS to introduce their partner (OH what a pet peeve!); OR when given a gift, the acquired giver should be thanked (and not slandered about how the person might not like it because it wasn't a gift card).

I bring this up for two reasons... A. it's been building up for a long time to make a post, especially if any of my readers don't know these understandings... and B. to state that it's never too early to teach proper manners and etiquette. Currently my almost 2 year-old knows "Please!" when she wants something and "Tanks" for thanking after being given something. I really think it's the mother's job to teach these understandings, but if your momma hasn't taught you, take it from this new Mom. :)

God Bless

This week in Big Red

My kiddos are keeping us busy this week! With T learning how to stand by himself (ok he can wobbly stand for like 1 minute, then he realizes Mommy tricked him to stand by himself, so he plops down)....but still! Plus he LOVES walking around with help from Mommy or Daddy! Meanwhile Bumble Bee very much likes being Mommy's shadow and attempting to help me clean things.

T is really enjoying the new space he has for eating in our new home! He really likes watching the dog outside while he gobbles up his food, then he throws some cherrios down on the ground so Kolbe runs under and eats it up.. Thankfully, B hasn't figured that the dog likes human food yet. Hopefully that won't happen for a while!

AND they LOVE playing on our piano! It was the BEST find yet.... an upright piano for FREE! One of my youth group girls' friend was getting ready to throw it out, and the youth thought of how much fun my two babies would enjoy playing on it; so she asked if I'd like it, she and her dad even brought it over for us!!! Believe me, it's getting plenty of playing time!

Have you ever felt that once you are done cleaning one room, move on to the next, all of a sudden you have to go back to room 1 and reclean due to baby fun??

:)