SJU Homecoming

Last week my doctor told me to stay pretty close to the hospital, just in case I went into labor quickly... which is the hope, right? That being said, I was thoroughly sad to find out I wouldn't be able to go with my teens to a huge teen mass down in the cities area. This being said, my Super Hubby came up with a GREAT plan to go to the SJU Homecoming Game and Alumni weekend. This being the plan, I knew I'd have to pull all the stops to get my little "team" all suited up for the game.
In prepping for this momentous occasion (it was T-man's first Johnnie football game), I found my old St. John's jerseys! PERFECT! Check out the cute pics!

Our little matching Johnnie Fans!

Then I found some pom-poms :) BumbleBee LOVED them!

T-man at the game... he's ready for some FOOTBALL!Daddy lifting up T-man so he can see! T LOVED cheering for the Johnnies!

So after we went to the game for a while, we decided it was time to try to induce some labor :) So we went with our great friends, Auntie EBs and Auntie SG for a walk around to the Stella Maris Chapel... it's only a 2 to 3 mile HIKE through forest with logs, twigs, leaves, and lots of rocks. BUT it was GREAT! And while it did help stir up some contractions... our little Blessing still did not want to come out on this great fall day...

Energizer Bumblebee

Well this week our little Bumblebee has been very busy! As she constantly comes and tells Mommy's belly to "Come out Baby!", she is very excited to have a new little tike around the house... her excitement has created many memorable photo opts this week (meanwhile little T-man has been sick with a sad cough and runny nose, so no pics this week)...

This is the "Monster" hat, whoever is wearing it has to make monster sounds

as we play tag in the house :) Bumblebee LOVES being the monster!
This cute grocery cart is a wonderful gift from our friend, "Auntie" Lindsey,
Lindsey gave it to us on Sunday and it goes everywhere with Bumblebee and her "Baby"
OH and the cute-o rocking chair? Well it's Bumblebee's reading rocker before bedtime
(and we got it at a GREAT homeschooling-family's garage sale for $2! All proceeds went
to a pro-life sign off a nearby highway!)


Bumblebee anxiously awaited Daddy's return from work on night.
She had set up a whole tea party for just Daddy, Monkey, and her to play...
Mommy was allowed to take photos, but NOT "siiiit duwn"

Well that's all for the updates of our Bumblebee! As for Baby Blessing, well I have been going in and out of early signs of labor for the past two weeks, so I'm a bit exhausted but all together alright....very much ready for our little man to make his debut...but hey maybe God wants him to be born on a certain feast day...like:

Oct. 1st: St. Therese of Lisieux

Oct 4th: St. Francis of Assisi

Oct. 5th: St. Faustina

we shall see! and we will be sure to keep everyone on blog world updated with more as it happens :)

God Bless

13 months old

My little T-man is already 13 months-old! As this past month he has not only learned to walk, but he is now at a great "jog" to catch up with his sister! We found out recently that he quite possibly has food allergies to strawberries, so for a while we will be avoiding all fruits and juices until our doctor tells us what to do next. He LOVES playing Hide and Go seek, although his favorite part is popping out to find the seeker! Another thing T-man has learned is the sign of the cross- well at least his "Holy Spirit" tapping after our blessings and prayers... what a great sign of our little priest man! Hehe :)

Sticker Day

Last week in MN we had rain on and off all week... and what can ya do when a 2 year-old does NOT want to take a nap because she didn't get her outside time? We pull out the stickers! If you EVER find a lot of stickers and you don't see yourself using them, feel free to send them to us! As the pics show, BumbleBee LOVES stickers!

First we put the Disney stickers (free from some mailing advertising) on Bumble Bee's shirt!

She was so proud of her shirt of stickers... so she wanted to share!

By putting them on unsuspecting Mommy's arm and back!

Lots of fun with stickers on rainy days!

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

also known as "Happy Birthday Mother Mary!"

As my journey as a mommy of two toddlers in tow progresses along, I find it very important to have my two tots grow in faith even as young as they are. In reading great ideas online, but also through my fun creativity, I want to take this vocation of motherhood seriously and bring our Catholic faith to life for my children. But HOW? Well one thing I've found is that my daughter has a true love for baking...so why not bring feast days and holy days to life with cooking and baking :)

Yesterday was super fun because my little BumbleBee was very ready to bake two cakes for our Mother Mary's birthday. Since Bumblebee just celebrated her own birthday a month ago, I found it very fitting to bake two cakes and teach her the "happy birffdee song to Mawry" song.

BumbleBee hard at work on her FunFetti cakes! She added the water, oil and mix...

Mommy only got to help with the eggs :)

Now, Mommy might have written the lettering, BUT BumbleBee was eager to help with

the blue frosting blobs/flowers

AND sprinkle as much blue sprinkles as she wanted on the two cakes

We even made a birthday card/information card for STFX church community..

Daddy was able to pass out pieces of cake to any parishoners who

came in that day to the offices! Plus we found that it helped others learn

what day yesterday was!

Fun Fact: The Church only celebrates 3 birthdays in the year: John the Baptist, Mary, and JESUS :)

Oh and what was T-man doing all this time?

Sitting having fun in his play kitchen... *note the spoon ;)

"So, how do you stay organized?" a fellow Mommy asked me recently... well, as the picture shows, my creative side came out with my O.C.D. counterpart-self needed a new way to list out my day's worth of work.

One night the idea came to me to make a chore chart. What's super fun about this little list maker is that Bumblebee gets to move the chore to the day we should work on them.. and by "we" it's mostly me...but she does a GREAT job helping Mommy with the first column of laundry... she helps me sort and put them into the dryer after I've washed them! She LOVES moving the chore pins over to the yellow strip on the right when we are all done, and it's a great way to track what I need to get done in a week... of course there are those extra special things that aren't necessarily weekly chores, but then we just tack it up right next to taht day's line worth of things to do.

What's more cute is that BumbleBee seems to want her own personal chart... so that might be in the works in a few months, but so far, she can:

- clean up her toys when asked!

- help Mommy bake!

- put laundry in dryer, shut dryer, and pull clothes out of dryer

- help fold small towels for the bathroom

- give Teigan his shoes, socks or toys!

She is quite the big sister and a GREAT helper for Mommy!

-

Great Witness to the Catholic Faithful Family

So this morning, BumbleBee, T-man and I went to our local grocery store to pick up some great cake mixes, frosting, and blue dye for creating our master piece birthday cakes... please observe the following conversation between the two check out ladies and Bella with myself translating.

Lady 1 talking to Bella: "Wow, it looks like someone is having quite the birthday party! Are these cakes for your brother?"

Bella: frowns, shakes her head no. Looks at me puzzled

Lady 2: "Oh! They must be for you (points to Bella)! Is it your birthday?"

Bella: "No!" frowns again

Lady 2: "So it's for your Daddy or maybe Mommy?"

Bella: *no exaggeration on this, points to the sky*

Lady 1 looking puzzled: "Who are the cakes for then?"

Bella looks at me as I smile.

Me: "Tomorrow is our Mother Mary's birthday ladies. That's Jesus' Mommy, right Bella? (Bella points to the heavens in excitement!) We are making two cakes to bring to our parishes so that they may pass out pieces to parishoners to teach them how special her birthday is. Right, hunny?"

Bella nods in agreement and hugs her puppy.

Lady 2: "Well Mary is very lucky to have you celebrate her birthday and teach us about her special day then!" Smiles



What a wonderful witness! Bella, T-man and I left the grocery store very happy and excited to teach others about how wonderful Mary is in our lives. So, how are YOU celebrating Mary's birthday?

For more information on why it's such a special day, please go here for a good educational piece on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary... and remember to do something special for our Lady!