Choose Your Own Adventure

A young mother ventures out with brood in tow in the hopes of getting her oldest to preschool on time. They are already running 15 minutes late and pull into the parking lot amidst a downpour. She thankfully has packed the golf-size umbrella. No sooner do they pull into a parking space, but she quickly realizes that some serious strategizing will have to take place in order to get all three young children, herself, mongo umbrella, and mom purse into the preschool in a timely and dry fashion.

She:
A) decides to ditch the stroller and go for the baby Bjorn, crawling over child #2, and muscling sweet infant into the carrier while huddling within the minivan to avoid the rain. She manages to unlatch the older boys and all process into preschool with mom's one hand on the umbrella and the other holding child #2, who is holding onto child #1. Whew!

B) decides to ditch the stroller and make a run for it with all the children. She props the infant on her hip, holds the umbrella with the same hand, and hopes for the best while grabbing both older boys' hands and making the dash inside. The two on the outside become unfortunately wet as they are the furthest from the center of the umbrella. Oh well!

C) opts for the stroller (who's on time anyway?) and requires child #1 to push it while holding child #2's hand and preventing both stroller and children from dashing in any inadvertant directions, thus threatening their precious lives. Lord, help us!

D) says to heck with Virginia State Law and leaves her car idling at the drop-off doors with the two youngest inside only to dash in with child #1 and get him there in the nick of time! Yes!

E) says to heck with child abandonment and runs the other direction without any children! She's free!! :)

Can you tell what a spectacle we were?? :)
The bottomline, if we had only been on time we would have been the picture of optimization and organization. Oh, if only! You can find what adventure we chose in the comments... and I can promise you, the answer is not E!!!! God bless!

Easter Blessings

On a rainy day, new paint, paper, and brushes are a real treat. The brushes and paints fit nicely in the Easter baskets and were a great and inexpensive alternative to candy. Don't worry, we did buy candy, but much less of it thanks to the paints.

And just because I couldn't resist, below is a shot of our kids at Easter Sunday Mass.


And as an aside, the weather is expected to be in the 70's this weekend, and I am officially over my 1st trimester trials. I'm ravenously hungry, and I officially gained 5 pounds in just 2 days. The flowers are blooming and so am I! MaryAlice's timely post has inspired me to start a daily walking routine and keep fit during my pregnancy.

Happy Easter Everyone!

First Communion Banner

I have the oldest builder child, and he is preparing to receive his First Communion in May. There are many things that we have done to prepare, but through our parish CCD we get to participate in a new tradition, The Banner. I had not heard of these before my godson's First Communion, but apparently it is the "done thing" now. At our parish, the banners are made during a retreat, but we were sick and missed it, so I was on my own for this one. I have decided to post this in case others are doing their banners at the moment, there is not alot out there in googling the subject. I was intimidated by this craft until I came up with a few rules, that apply well to the rest of our life as well:

1 -- don't over think it
2 -- choice within limits
3 -- it is the child's project

So, I suggested some possible shapes, and Peter chose these. We bought felt and I sketched them using chalk on the felt. After looking for templates online I just decided to do it freehand. He cut them out, decided where to put them and glued them on. The Rel. Ed office will add a dowel at the top and ribbons, and this will adorn our pew for the Mass.

I did give him the option of adding some glitter glue adornment and I was delighted that he chose not to. He added the cross in pencil to the host, and told me that a host is not sparkly. Good point.

I managed to walk the tightrope between his and my perfectionism, and because we kept it really simple we have a nice end product. He is really proud and excited to be preparing to recieve the sacrament. Also, we sat alone in the school room and did this, which was really nice time together, and isn't that the point of family crafts, after all.

6 Kids, 6.2 Miles

On Saturday I ran more miles than I have children, which is a lot! In a cold driving rain my brothers, husband and I ran a 10k road race in Central Park. The race was a part of Scotland Week in New York City, which was pretty funny because 1 -- none of us are Scottish and 2 -- there were runners in kilts. My husband held back and ran with me, and without him I would surely have quit, he is my coach in more ways than one, there were times during the race where it was eerily similar to being in labor, same misery, same dispair of finishing, same encouragement and bad jokes! In the end, though, it was a wonderful experience, I sprinted to make my goal time at the finish, and I would do it again. All of the runners on this blog have been a tremendous inspiration for me, and I am so thankful for the addition of running to my life.

Here we are, back at my mother's house, where we got to enjoy hot showers and yummy pizza. The next morning we celebrated the Resurrection by attending mass with my grandmother (so special) and indulging in an extravagant brunch with my family. The only thing missing from our Easter was a lamb shaped coconut cake, but I have decided tonight that since Easter lasts for many weeks I am going to keep celebrating Easter throughout the liturgical season by baking every weekend, which will mean I have to keep up those long runs!

Blessed Triduum

On behalf of all of us here at Building Cathedrals,

we wish you and your families a blessed Easter Triduum!

In order to celebrate most reverently with those we love most, the builders are going to take blog pause for a few days, resuming again at the start of the Easter Season. We hope you enjoy a most holy Easter! God bless!

Resurrection Rolls

A blessed Holy Thursday to all of you!

Here is a recipe for "Resurrection Rolls" that I found here. I think that I will make these on Holy Saturday with the children (and bake them on Easter morning), in addition to dying Easter eggs. We always struggle with finding the balance of activities with our children on Holy Saturday - it is such an in-between day, as it well should be! Good Friday has come and gone, and Saturday is a day of waiting for Jesus' Resurrection. We will be skipping the Easter egg hunts that are going on all around us, and will instead enjoy some activities at home that will help prepare us for Easter. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough

8 large marshmallows

Melted butter

Cinnamon

Sugar

Directions:

Give each child one triangle-shaped crescent roll section. This represents the tomb.

Each child takes one marshmallow, which represents the body of Christ.

Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.

Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow. Make sure to pinch all seams well so that the marshmallow does not ooze out.

Bake according to package directions.

Cool. 

Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there! Celebrate God's love!

Praising God Today

As I should do every day.

Many of you were praying, and for that I want to say thank you. We had our ultrasound this morning, and I was overwhelmed by how many of your prayers were answered. Ever since the birth and death of our daughter Therese, ultrasounds have been an incredibly stress-filled experience for me. I still vividly remember the day Therese was diagnosed with anencephaly. June 18th, 2002 changed our lives forever. The dim lights and hum of the ultrasound machine always bring me back to that day, the terrible news, the feelings of desperation, hopelessness, and the unending tears.

But today was different. We arrived at the hospital and were greeted by a wonderful ultrasound tech, the mother of a friend from high school. She knew about Therese, and she knew me. It was a joyful surprise, and I was immediately aware that God was present and taking care of us today. To some this would be a coincidence, but to me, it was clearly an answer to prayer.

As soon as the scan began, we saw a nice beautiful round head (pictured above). I began to cry. The tech immediately said, "see that nice round head, this baby does not have anencephaly." I grabbed Mr. Red's hand and relaxed. My baby looked beautiful. He or she was moving around and otherwise looking very normal for a 14 week baby. The tech carefully pointed out each thing she was looking for, and was full of assurances that our baby looked great. It is obviously still very early, and we will head back for a full anatomy scan at 20 weeks (where they will scan for another neural tube defect called spina bifida). But as of today, all is well.

She then scanned for the cyst that has been causing me so many problems this pregnancy. The cyst shrank considerably, and is now 1/2 the size it was just 1 month ago. This is fabulous news, as I will now avoid having surgery during the pregnancy.

Today was a day of answered prayers. A day when God said yes to the wishes of my heart. And for that I am VERY thankful. I am also keenly aware that it was not just my prayers he was hearing. Thank you all for your prayer for me and for our baby.

--And as a funny aside, I have a history of HUGE babies, and our baby was already measuring almost 1 week ahead in growth! Not bad considering I have eaten much in the past 2 months.