Mama-luia

We have reached another milestone in our home: we now have a nine year old in the house. So far, it's a pretty nifty age. It involves bigness -- in opinions, feelings, ideas, and even sizem. It's like I woke up one day and realized my son is quickly gaining on me, height-wise! I do not know how I will deal with it when he outgrows me. Nine means independence: biking places by himself, devouring books by himself instead of always wanting me to read aloud to him, having strong opinions that may not be replicas to that of his parents'.  I had a foretaste of all of this when he was three -- he certainly wanted to do everything "by myself!" back then, but now, he can, and does. For reference's sake, here is Noah at three. Let us pause and sigh and whisper "tempest fugit" and WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP CHOPPING ONIONS IN HERE, I'm trying to BLAAAAAHHHG. While it actually does not feel like "just yesterday" that this picture...

One more guest post, from my darling daughter. I love Daddy and he loves me. I love when it is the morning. I love Mama. I like cake and I love the song "Five Little Ducks Went out One Day." I love Elijah and my cousins. Anna

Lovely little Anna turned four three weeks ago. Four is such a wonderful age! Suddenly your toddler-ish child seems so grown up and capable of new things, but with the precious imaginative innocence of a little child, too. We celebrated her birthday with family in the city, and my dear sister made her a beautiful cake iced in pink and turquoise, her favourite colours.  I just love her sweet expression here, just so dear and lovable.  Our little lady is getting so wise and mature! We then had a party with a number of her friends at our house. It was another slapped-together 'theme party' (in very loose quotation marks) in honour of butterflies. To give you a sense of the lack of preparation on my part, I actually hid the prizes for the scavenger hunt while the kids were already there. And I have no photo at all to prove it happened. She didn't seem to mind my disorganized state, though. Just to have a bunch of sweet little children over for pi...

One of my best friends in the universe got married this weekend! It was a beautiful, holy exciting day. First off, the bride: If you have ever seen a more beautiful, radiant bride, than I am a monkey's uncle.  In fact, this picture barely does her beauty justice. Also, not only was she stunning, she was the most gracious bride I ever witnessed -- taking time to welcome each guest, spend time catching up with everyone in attendance, even making sure me, the pregnant bridesmaid, wasn't too hot (it was a scorcher of a day!) or tired.  So here I am, at 24 weeks pregnant, decked out in my bridesmaid attire. I won't lie, I felt fabulous. So there. Also, I received a lovely and somewhat amusing compliment right after the wedding Mass:  "You look like Our Lady of Guadalupe!" (The woman who said this was referring to the fact that I had a pregnant belly with a sash around my waist.) Me and another dear friend.  She was my maid ...

Isaiah is two now. It's funny, really, because he embodies so much 'two-ish-ness' that it seems odd that it took him this long to reach his birthday. He is one unstoppable force of energy, that child! Shrove Tuesday. Joining in on the parish Pancake Race (which combined all his passions --  running around like crazy,  wearing a costume {the apron} and consuming carbs) But do you know what else he is? A really affectionate little soul. He is actually becoming more cuddly as time goes on, unlike Noah, who has grown into a stage (I hope it's only a stage!) where being hugged or kissed, even by my, isn't to his taste. Isaiah, however, he just loves to cuddle. Painting en plein air (the fancy way of saying painting outside) He also has the most adorable love and reverence for babies. When we were house-hunting in our soon-to-be hometown recently, we saw so many babies. Isaiah was just in awe. He wanted to touch their little faces, mak...

I remember reading a few months back Amanda Soule's blog post about her son's fourth birthday, and feeling excitement and joy at what was to come in the life of our oldest: "I do so love  four . This fourth time around for me, I think I can safely say that it's one of my very favorite ages. Coming out a bit from the early years of rapid growth and intense development,  who they are  begins to really emerge in definitive and unique ways." I see that already, too. I am so delighted in the little person Noah is becoming. It is quite wonderful and surprising all at once to see him emerge as: funny, creative, imaginative, opinionated, compassionate, clever, enthusiastic, 'game' for any sort of adventure or excursion, curious, rambunctious, introspective and much more, all rolled into a sweet little boy who loves to cuddle, be read to, paint, explore the outdoors,  play with Daddy,  and generally live, laugh and be with the people he loves. ...

Patrick's birthday cake. A slight improvement from what, you ask? This . Happy (belated, on the blog at least) 26th Birthday to the love of my life. I'm so excited to see what the next 26 years brings for us!

Saturday was Patrick's birthday. We were blessed to go to Mass in the morning -- and doubly blessed to be able to run into a certain red-haired Sister friend of ours while there -- and then get ready for his birthday party. He took off to the grocery store, and Noah and I began a cake-making flurry of activity. {That baby of mine, he does make lovely company in what seems like whole days in the kitchen.} I am not my sister. She bakes cakes professionally. She makes fondant from scratch and little Disney people from moldable chocolate as cake toppers. She... well... wouldn't have made this. My little Kodak Easy Share doesn't do justice to just how darn ugly this cake was! I don't blame myself entirely; here's what happened. Three days before Birthday: Me: You'll want a cheesecake again this year, right? Husband Dear: No, don't worry about that. A plain white cake would be fine. Me (in sweet wife-y tone): But cheesecake is your favourite ! And I wo...