Gratitude Day 7: Divine Mercy

Thankful for 30 minutes in traffic to listen to this devotion

St. Faustina, pray for us

Gratitude day 6: daughters

I could post pictures of these happy, healthy girls everyday. Additional gratitude for living in a neighborhood that we can "stroll" to school

Gratitude day 4: ballerina

Four year old ballerinas. 

Gratitude day 2: the Saints

I felt so lucky to go to a presentation of relics. He brought over 100 first class relics. Including a portion of the true cross and some of Mary's veil (2nd class, obviously). I said a quick prayer before entering. Something like, one saint speak to me and the first one I saw was Blessed Anna Marie Taiga. She is a patron of mothers and housewives. Perfect!!

Blessed Pier Giorgio 

Saint Therese of Liseux

Gratitude day 1

Thankful for first grade Halloween parades

Three Little Angels

Eden - 2008

Anna - 2010

 Catie -2013

 

 

September Quick Takes

I wish I could be more consistent in posting these every week. Jen gives good inspiration.....
Conversion Diary

1. I watched some of A Place at the Table documentary on Netflix. We watched the producers on the Daily Show talk about it and I was intrigued. It got me kind of depressed though. Food insecurity is a complex issue.

2. It led me to look up the town, Jonestown MS. In the documentary, they said this town didn't have a decent grocery store and a lady drove to Batesville to get fruit and vegetables. The graphic in the doc showed that Jonestown was west of Batesville but I didn't believe it but Google Maps proved me wrong.

3. So of course I had to put Jonestown into Zillow to see what real estate is like around there. I was blown away to see you could get a foreclosed 3/1 house in Clarksdale for $19,500. Um, most cars cost more than that. Then I found me dream retirement home in Marks, MS. A 9 bedroom estate on 6 acres, 45 miles from Oxford, for $425,000. Much, much different than California real estate.

4.  It has only been one week but I'm loving being a dance mom. Here is hoping Anna will keep loving dance class. She practices her ballet to "I could sing of your love forever". I mean can it get any cuter!! But check these out:

5. We were hoping Eden could do an art class at the same time but it was full. I think I'm going to make a chore chart for her but I don't think she will be motivated by allowance. Hmmmm...

6. Bumbo+Popsicle 

7. Eden told her teacher she will be playing in the backyard this weekend. Fun!!

7 QT - August

Happy to be joining Jen @ Conversion Diary....


1. Some back to school pics:

Eden is insisting that she is going to third grade and not first grade, funny girl!

2. I'm so behind the times but I just watched the Katy Perry documentary. There is a brief flash where she is wearing an Ole Miss jersey. So I googled Katy Perry Ole Miss and it turns out that her manager went to Ole Miss and she dressed up as an Ole Miss cheer leader for his birthday. I love her!

3. A good friend posted this on Facebook, so check them out!!:

Hi all! Inspired by Brian's mission of using our God given talents to bring others closer to Jesus, the kids and I have started Joyful Beads! We make personalized rosaries and jewelry to raise funds for Lumen and the kids extra curricular activities, which center on the talents God gave them. Here's a pic of one rosary that Rosi made for her friend as a b-day gift. We do have some pictures on our facebook page and hope to get more on there real soon! facebook.com/joyfulbeads. You can contact us at joyfulbeads@lumen.tv. You can take a look @ our examples and tell us what you'd like and we can share with you how we can create what you want. They can commemorate any sacrament, wedding anniversary, b-day, etc.

Brian has said that for every rosary/jewelry sold, he will give the pro-life DVD "Skiff and AJs Fantastic Voyage" to a kid in school. As some of you know, he is currently fundraising to get the DVDs into the hands of 2nd graders at all Catholic schools/ccd around the country.
Our works will soon be on Lumen's webstore so that you can buy them/contact me directly through there. Lumen's website is www.lumen.tv
Thanks for reading! If you like our mission, like us on facebook at Joyful Beads!

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4. The Sociology Major in me is really looking forward to this book:
David and Goliath

5. My four year old ballerina princess is going to start ballet classes soon at a real dance company. Is Ballet West in her future?? Is anyone else watching Breaking Pointe on the CW? It is my guilty pleasure for the summer. I'm always a sucker for dance shows.

6.  A family pic that my Aunt Eileen took last week. She was so sweet to bring the girls Backyardigan toys too!

7. I can be happy this Friday and the rest of the weekend because of the Ole Miss win against Vandy. Way to go Rebs!

 

 

Seven day challenge day 7 Garlic time

Well just five out of seven days, oh well. 

After almost 30 years, I finally made it to the gilroy garlic festival. Steve had no idea what to expect and there was so much to see. I wish I would have taken pictures of our combo plates but we were so hungry and had to eat them standing up. 

Seven day challenge Taco Thursday

Anna loves tacos but Eden hates spicy salsa thanks to this cute book:

Hardly any body goes to the Taco Bell near our house so I don't mind taking all three in there. And they play good music. 

Seven day challenge day 3 20 years

My 20 year reunion was this summer. I didn't go because I didn't like the restaurant or the people. But it still caused me some reflection. It really doesn't seem like that long since that summer before I left for college. A summer full of completion and expectations at the same time. 18 is such a strange time. I was ready to dive into adulthood but was still so young in many ways. 

I was so ready for the new adventure of college. Obviously looking more forward to the social growth instead of academic but luckily I grew in both ways. 

Our babysitter is in that magical summer now and I'm so jealous of her, ha!

How has my life changed in 20 years? Wow so many things to say. The obvious of husband and kids. Sometimes I feel it hasn't changed. I still feel like there are still so many opportunities awaiting me and like I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Summer as 18 is similar to that of summer as 23. Life has so many options and doors to take. I feel like I made good choices but of course mistakes happened too. 

What will the next 20 years hold? I can't wait to find out! 

Seven Day Challenge - Day 2 Dinners

Yet again, linking up with Conversion Diary for her “7 in 7″ challenge

We are in a dinner rut once again. Since Steve has been working in Oakland so much, we rarely all eat together. One dinner win I did have was Garlic Chicken with rice in the crock pot. I got this jar in the new section at Trader Joes.

Many Clove Garlic Sauce

James Beard made garlic "gourmet" when he published a classic Provençal recipe for cooking chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Inspired by this transformational recipe, we set out to create our very own gourmet garlic sauce. Rather than focus on the number, we focused on the flavor, leveraging many garlic cloves in all of their finest forms: fresh chopped garlic, garlic purée, roasted garlic and garlic powder. Mixed together with Chablis, chicken stock, cream, brandy and butter, our Many Clove Garlic Sauce boasts full flavor with great depth, complexity and mild pungency. Like the original recipe upon which it was modeled, this sauce is certain to inspire gastronomic garlic delight, especially at our great price of $2.99 for an 18 ounce jar.

It was yummy and superrrrr garlicky, ha!

After swimming lessons, the girls were super hungry of course and I was super grateful for the mini-pizzas and watermelon. They eat that almost everyday, yay pizza!

Here are some pics from the weekend at Japanese friendship garden

 

Seven Day Challenge - Day 1 Swimming 2013

Jen at Conversion Diary has proposed this challenge:

http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/07/7-posts-in-7-days-a-blogging-challenge.html

So we just finished two weeks of swim lessons. There was an array of emotions from all that participated. For me, it was exhausting. Getting all three children to one place for four consecutive days is more difficult than I thought. The fourth day was July 11, which is free slurpee day. So I told them if they put their faces in the water we could get a slurpee. Eden did not want to put her face in at all. After the first day, she said, "I do NOT want to float. I'm scared" So I told her teacher not to use the word F-L-O-A-T and maybe she would be more receptive. But then Eden said, "I do not want to float and and I don't want to F-L-O-A-T" Smarty pants! So for two weeks she floated on noodles and cried if her teacher gently put her under water. Anna floated on noodles too and she gently eased her face in but never voluntarily.
We are not going to do lessons again for the rest of the summer but just play at our pool and pray for a miracle, ha!
St. Adjutor, pray for us!!
The one photo evidence:

Adjutor

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Saint Adjutor
Statue of St Adjutor at the collegiate church of Vernon, Eure.
Born	Vernon, France
Died	April 30, 1131 Tiron, France
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church
Feast	April 30
Patronage	swimmers, boaters, drowning victims, Vernon

Adjutor (died April 30, 1131) is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. He was born in Normandy, France, where he was made a knight in the First Crusade. He is credited to be the patron saint of swimmers, boaters, and drowning victims,^[1] and the patron saint of Vernon, France. The stories given for his patronage of boaters vary. Some state that he was captured by Muslims in The Crusade, who tried to force him to abandon his faith, and when refusing, he escaped persecution by swimming.^[1] He swam back to France and entered the Abbey of Trion. There he became a recluse remaining up until his death of April 30th.

7 Quick Takes July

--- 1 ---
Anna had a playdate with her friend from the previous post. 

They were so cute together. Equally bossy if that is possible.




--- 2 ---
Heat wave in California so this week was pretty low energy. 

The girls are loving Team Umizoomi lately.




--- 3 ---
So sad that Google Reader is gone. I don't understand why, ugh. 

This is what the Feedly app on my phone looks like:

So lame: 

--- 4 ---
Eden had two days of ESY this week and it was so hard to get her out the door. 

But she has had fun once she is there. She made a cute Popsicle flag and 

a 4th of July coloring book.  



--- 5 ---
Eden lost her first tooth yesterday!! She was eating watermelon outside and 

came inside and said look. She kept the tooth too. 

She doesn't care about the tooth fairy. She just wanted a yellow lollipop!




--- 6 ---
There were a lot of fireworks in our neighborhood last night which was good so we 

didn't have to drive downtown and fight the traffic. Both girls got tired 

at 10 and put themselves to bed, aahhh!




--- 7 ---
Eden has been scripting from this book for a while. I finally googled 

"Buffalo Burrito" because that was one of the things she said a lot. I found the book

 and asked her if she knew what it was and she said she read it in Kindergarten. 

I got it from the library and it is so cute. The one with Poor Puppy is really cute too!




For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Preschool conversation

Anna has been asking for a play date with one of her friends from preschool. I asked Anna to ask her friend i f she wanted to come play at our house. Her friends response: "Tell your mom to email my mom and I can can come over tomorrow" 

Funny kids!

WIWS May 12

Actually took some pictures after Mass today so why not link up with the lovely ladies at Fine Linen and Purple.
Eden took that first picture.
This was my first Easter outfit before I switched to the outfit from TJ Maxx. The blouse is from Kohl's clearance and the capris are from TJ's. I originally was going to wear the blouse with linen khaki pants but I was so happy to find these capris to match.
We have a retired priest that substitutes often because our associate priest is helping out at the new mission parish in East San Jose. I think with the addition of first communion, he forgot about the Mom's blessing. I was so bummed because I look forward to it every year. Just did a private family blessing instead.
Lots of love to all the mamas out there.

7 QT

Happy to join Jen @ Conversion Diary!

1. This video/app is cracking me up. OK Go is such a fun band.


We love this video of theirs too from Sesame Street:


2. Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.  Oh my, this book cracked me up. I usually wait at the libary for a book but I donwloaded this and so happy I did. I have no problem supporting a Catholic Dad with five kids. He described his wife as a "Shiite Catholic", ha!

3. I wanted to do a post like Colleen's all week but just never got around to it. I'm having lots of thoughts about parenting lately but I can't seem to get them all together.

4. Look at these sweet sisters:

5. Our favorite episode for the week is from the Backyardigans: Legend of the Volcano Sisters
At the park yesterday, they kept telling this boy they were playing with: "I'm Uniqua" (Eden). "I'm Tasha" (Anna) He was not amused. I have to say the songs from Backyardigans don't bug me much (yet) like Dora.

6. I'm thinking about ordering these glasses. I haven't had a new pair in like 15 years so it is about time.

7. I'm kind of obsessed with Top Shop and I'm so not into trendy clothes. But I ordered a TopShop shirt and houndstooth pants. Is houndstooth still in? Probably not but they match my black and white sandals.

Beach blogging

We needed a cool down today so we headed out to the beach and boy was it cold. Catie was shivering but she had fun. Eden fell in the canal and didn't care to have bare legs. Anna was fine once she put her sweater on.
Unfortunately we waited until after chores and lunch so we got caught in traffic on the way back. But the good thing about the traffic jam Eden caught up on some much needed sleep!

7 Quick Takes

I'm able to join in with Jen @ Conversion Diary this week for 7 quick takes

1. Does anyone listen to Pray As You Go podcast? Just added this to Stitcher and it gives you a 10 minute reflection each day with the gospel reading and song. I didn't do any vetting on it but so far it seems on line with the church. I usually wouldn't recommend something without checking that so if you know any different about this please let me know

2.  I gave up my addiction to Bejeweled Blitz. I've been playing it since the last trimester of pregnancy so like a year and a half?? Not sure why it took me so long.

3.  Five more weeks of kindergarten!! Can't decide if that is a long or short time but I'm sure too long for Eden! I think it seems long since a lot of schools are out before Memorial Day.

4.  Re:Sound. Not many years left as a young adult so I need to enjoy this while I can.

5.  I took Anna to Little Gym this morning since she had such a fun time at the birthday party last weekend. She had a really good time

6. Flashback Friday: May 2010: Eden at the Giants Game

7. More Flashback: May 2011: Mud Sisters