WIWS and a little about our religious education plans

Today Sadie and I were up and dressed for Mass when we found out that Paul was sick and in an effort not to spread whatever virus he had was staying home.  So Sadie and I made sure he was okay watching the three little ones for an hour and a half while we ran down the street to Mass.

Sadie snapped this picture of my outfit:

The headcovering is one that I made, the sweater is a gift from Paul from Christmas of '06 and the skirt is one that I got to wear on our pilgrimage to Israel in November of '08, when I was 8 weeks pregnant with Sadie (and found out the night before we left).

The boots are one of two Hush Puppy pairs of boots that I have and I have to say those two pairs are the first boots that I've had in years that didn't wear out in a few short months.  I've had them for over a year and they're still in good shape.

Sadie told me that she wasn't sure that her jacket was fancy enough to go with her dress, but when she stepped outside and felt the chill in the air she decided that I had been right to insist on something warmer.

In religious education news, I purchased the faith formation program we'll be using with Sadie this year, this afternoon (and was thankful that it was the same one we used last year).  Towards the end of August I started looking for information on when the faith formation classes would be starting at our parish.  We've always done faith formation as part of our homeschool (the Faith and Life program), but I was also planning on signing her up for the program at our parish.

After having Paul go by the office once and call a second time we finally figured out that there are no longer any classes offered in a classroom setting and the kid's faith formation for grades 1-8 is now entirely online.  So I guess that takes care of any questions about whether or not it would be okay to homeschool for religious education here, even though that wasn't what we were planning.

We actually go to a large parish (since that's the first question people ask when they've heard that the program is online) and have thankfully discovered a Little Flower's Girl's Club, so she will get a chance to have one social activity at the parish.

I can hardly believe that she's in second grade and the year she's been anticipating for so long has finally arrived.  It seems like just yesterday that she was a three year old trying to convince every priest she met that she was old enough to receive communion.  I realized the other day that she hasn't tried that in a very long time... since around the time Patch was born.

Time flies...

WIWS: Last Weekend in April Edition

One of the first things I said when I woke up this morning was "So how about one of us go to the 11 o'clock Mass and one of us go to the 5:30 Mass?" because I just wasn't up for a week like last week.  Paul, also likely remembering last weeks antics and probably hoping to actually receive this week, agreed immediately.  

And so I took Sadie to the eleven o'clock Mass and it was just as peacefully wonderful as I imagined it would be.  

Now for the What I Wore Sunday portion of this post (for more head over to Fine Linen and Purple).  

Today I wore one of my favorite Thred Up dresses (it's always best to wear silk when nobody is going to be spitting up or wiping their faces on my dress), with a leather jacket that belonged to my grandmother, one of my eternity veils (there's a tutorial if you ever want to make your own), and some snow boots since we were walking to Mass and I didn't want to walk in heels, there an home.  

Here's the dress minus the jacket:

It was a little windy when Paul snapped the photos for this post:

Sadie actually wore one of my pink eternity veils all through Mass.  She wore it with a jacket that used to be mine and one of her favorite dresses:

While these three stayed home with Daddy:

Moments before I took this picture she leaned over and poked an actual bumble bee with her finger.
It didn't sting her.

For more WIWS head over to FLAP!

WIWS: It Finally Feels like Spring!

Today the chill was completely gone from the air and it really felt like spring.  And so we made the most of it and spent lots of time outside.  

We started the day with Mass.

And since I'm joining in the WIWS fun over at Fine Linen and Purple I'll show you what we wore.  

I wore one of my favorite dresses with a little shrug that was part of a bridesmaid dress that I wore when I was pregnant with Patch, along with the Moby wrap.

I think that my blue wrap is quite a bit more stretchy than the red one because I wrapped it the way I always wrap the red one but by the end of Mass James was much, much lower than he should have been:

Sadie wore a smocked dress from Thred Up that she picked out for herself this morning.

Maggie... wore a tutu.  Which I'm pretty sure is a sign of how exhausting this week had been, because I just wasn't ready to deal with the hour of tears that getting her into any other outfit would have entailed.  But at least it's not a bathing suit, right?

Patch wore a sweater and jeans.  I don't really worry about finding dress pants for him since he's in the carrier for just about all of Mass and you can't even see what he's wearing.  And Paul wore him today which made Mass much less of a workout for me.

And James wore a little 9-month ducky outfit.  I cannot believe how big he's getting:

After Mass and lunch I took the kids and went on a walk.  And as we walked I snapped pictures of some of my favorite things that we saw on our walk:

I had to include this picture because when Patch saw this statue (of the man who was the governor of Michigan during the Civil War) he started pointing, laughing hysterically and shouting "Daddy!  Daddy!"

Patch is quite the character.  When we're driving in the car, anytime we come to a red light he shouts "No Daddy!  No!"  or "Goooo-eeeee!!!!!"

So perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that this was his reaction when he came to the conclusion that Mae's foot was too close to his seat on the stroller.  You can't tell, but she was laughing... hysterically:

After we walked home Paul and I took the kids to one of their favorite playgrounds:

They had a blast:

And then it was time to head home.

Once we were home I snapped this picture.  James hair is kind of still looking red (it's been looking more and more golden lately).

I hope you had a blessed Divine Mercy Sunday!

Now to finish up planning the start of a new school week/year.

WIWS: My Kids Think It's Summer Edition

I was a little nervous getting ready for Mass this morning.

You see a certain someone wanted to wear a leotard and tutu and while I'm pretty lenient in the "what they wear to Mass" department on those days when the girls are dying to wear a fluffy princess dress, I wasn't about to let her stride out the door wearing only tights and a leotard.  

I suggested a compromise.  A Dora dress where Dora is wearing a tutu. It is one of about three dresses that she is usually okay with. In the past it's been a hit.  This morning it was not.  Tears and hysterics followed.  

Somehow we made it out the door with tears still flowing and I wondered if we were crazy for even trying.  

At Mass I realized I had a binkie in my purse and in a moment of desperation I handed it to Mae.  She looked at it and mostly stopped fussing, but she was still pretty unhappy about not being in a tutu.  Then James started to cry. I patted him on the back and then realized that Mae was leaning over, holding the binkie in her hand trying to reach his mouth.  

I let her give him the binkie and she smiled and sat back in her stroller, suddenly content.  The day was saved.  The rest of Mass went (relatively) smoothly.  

Today I wore one of my favorite Thred Up dresses with a little white sweater and my favorite boots, because while it's warming up, it's not quite that warm (and there are still piles of snow here and there).

Sadie wore a dress from Costco with a jacket from Thred Up and her snow boots.  Maggie wore a Dora dress that was Sadie's back when we lived in Florida and she refused to put on a sweatshirt, even though it wasn't exactly warm.  James sported a sleeper and Patch wore his favorite dinosaur sweater with his Elmo shoes and played with Paul's phone (which was turned off) when he wasn't busy ripping off my hat.

Sadie brought her doll, Kate, so that she could show her how a lady is supposed to act at Mass:

And I finally snapped a picture that shows her two (newest) missing teeth. She announced last night that her top teeth finally feel loose.

After Paul left for work I knew that I needed to get the kids outside and I was hoping to get in a little walking too, so I put James back in the Moby, loaded Patch and Maggie into the red wagon (which was easy since they were so excited they actually ran to it) and Sadie and I set off walking back towards our parish:

Once we got there James insisted he get down and play and I realized I hadn't brought a blanket since I'd just planned on wearing him the whole time and so he laid on the sweatshirt that Maggie was adamantly refusing to wear.  Because, as anyone who knows Mae well may have guessed, the moment she got home she was out of that Dora dress and was wearing her leotard.

They went down the slide about a hundred times:

Maggie worked really, really hard trying to climb the monkey bars.  And she insisted that just below fifty degrees was the perfect weather for this outfit:

Also when I saw this picture I found myself rolling my eyes hard about that whole "secondary diagnosis" thing.

Then we got home and played in the backyard a little bit more:

Patch and Maggie were pretty sure we were going to have a pool party... but it isn't quite that warm.  

All in all today was a good Sunday.  For more WIWS fun head over to FLAP!

What I Wore Sunday: On Cold Days and Beautiful Masses

Today was lovely.

I was able to go to Mass by myself.

Okay, so maybe it's loveliness was somewhat tempered by the reason I was by myself... I am one of the only people unscathed by the bug that's going around our house, and so I was the only one to slip out into the snow to brave the cold to go to our parish.

The day started with a lesson.  If, when you're getting ready to go to Mass, you kneel down to pick something up and put your knee in tea that the four year old spilled, make sure to dry you're knee off before stepping out into the sub-zero (with windchill) temperatures (also, tights are always a good idea... mine however are hidden in the reorganization going on in the basement, so tight-less I was).  Lesson learned.  

Mass was beautiful.  And it was more than the fact that no one was crying or whining or pulling my hair.

I've mentioned in the past few weeks that our ordinary form Mass is now said ad orientem.  Well, today's Mass went a step further and today we had a schola that sang a good portion of the Mass in latin... and as I said at the start of this post, it was lovely.  And our pastor mentioned that it's going to be happening once a month.  A part of me hopes it might become a every Sunday thing, in at least one of the three Sunday Masses.  

Now, since this is a WIWS post, I probably should mention what I'm wearing.  Today I wore one of my favorite, most forgiving (in other words, I can fit into it) post partum dresses.  It's one that I purchased from Thred Up shortly before finding out I was expecting James.  I paired it with a belt from Target, my water proof leather boots and my new (also from Thred Up) diaper bag!

I have to run and find out why the girls are telling me my presence is required upstairs immediately!  I hope you are having a great Sunday and for more WIWS head over to FLAP!

What I Wore Sunday: Babies and Polka Dots Edition

Today's Mass was a bit of a challenge.  A certain someone was in fine form and seemed to decide that they were going to balance out last weeks stellar behavior with some high pitched screaming.

 

Now let me tell you about this type of screaming.  This past month I've found that I'm losing the hearing in my left ear (it just stops working on a fairly regular basis and it sounds like I'm hearing everything from under water) and it's is accompanied by dizziness and spinning rooms, so to say that these screams are loud is something of an understatement (and yes, I should go see my doctor, and yes, I'm sort of putting it off because the kids have far too many doctor's appointments in the next month already and I have no idea how to fit it in).  This pitch and decibel of screaming will set off the alarm system in our house when it's armed, or when it's not armed, cause it to beep and say "glass shatter" ever time a new scream sounds. 

 

So this was not you're average run of the mill scream during Mass.  Paul immediately removed the culprit once it was clear she wasn't going to be stopping and went to the car where he discovered that he could hear Mass, at least until the end of the hour, on the radio. 

 

Which left me with the other three.  I was wearing Patch and James again today, since Patch would really like to run wild around the narthex during Mass.  I didn't get the waist band quite tight enough in my hurry to get inside, and found I couldn't tighten it while I was wearing James, so I got quite the shoulder workout.

 

Here I am eighty minutes after I strapped them on.  I'm doing my best to look like I'm not about to collapse.  

 

And since this is a What I Wore Sunday post, on to what I actually wore:

The dress is the Lindy Bop 'Amie' Classy Polka Dot Vintage Pinup Retro Tea Dress.  I wore it with a blue cardigan that I think I got sometime around my sophomore year of high school (so that would be... 1998...).  Patch is in the Ergo Carrier.  James is chewing on the Moby in this picture (which is what he spent most of Mass doing).  And keeping my feet dry are my second favorite pair of Hush Puppy boots. 

Here's hoping that next week goes a little more smoothly and that everyone makes it thorough until the end of Mass!

For more What I Wore Sunday head over to Fine Linen and Purple!

WIWS: A Snow Storm Post



There was much debate this morning about whether or not we would be making it to Mass.  You see, my phone has been filled with weather alerts telling me that we're expected to get nine inches of snow this morning with winds up to 30 mph. 

 

Still. No one was sick.  And after months of someone (or three) always being sick I really, really didn't want to miss.  Who knows when some sort of horrible virus will strike again.  It is still winter.  And we live very close to our parish, although not quite close enough to walk with all the kids in the wind and snow.  Can you see how I was justifying going, even though the weather seemed to be saying that maybe it wasn't the greatest idea?

 

So I bundled everyone up.  James got snuggled in a sleeper:

 

 

Why yes, this is my bassinet in the kitchen
where I watch Mommy cook and am
safe from the affections of my brother and sisters.

And we piled in the car and made our way to Mass.  The roads weren't great.  But they weren't horrible either.

We knew we would likely have to leave right after receiving for Paul to make it to work on time.  Especially with the storm.



 

I don't usually snap pictures of the Mass... I was outside in the narthex and it's just so beautiful with the ad orientem novus ordo that I wanted to share it with all of you:

There was one moment in Mass that I hope I never forget.  I want the image to be burned into my memory for the rest of my life.

I was pacing in the narthex, trying to get Patch to fall asleep (or just not whine about not being allowed to run around). 

I had been trying to focus on the Mass, but my shoulders were starting to really hurt and I was exhausted and my mind was turning more and more to the ache than I'd have liked. Suddenly I heard Maggie let out a loud, happy squeal.  I turned around and hushed her, but as I hushed her I saw her... really saw her....and  as she fell silent I froze.

Her head was thrown back, and her eyes were dancing.  Her face positively glowed with what can only be described as pure joy.  She'd flung her arms out to the side and they were raised slightly with her palms turned up towards the ceiling.  There was no doubt in my mind that I was looking at pure, joyful praise. 

And then I looked past her and saw the priest with the Eucharist raised, being consecrated, and the beauty of the moment was so achingly clear that I wanted to hold on to it forever. 

I snapped a blurry picture a few minutes later... it doesn't come close to capturing the look she had in that moment... but it hints at it.

Then it was back out into the snow. 

There were teeny tiny blowing snowflakes everywhere:

I could hear Patch doing something behind me, but when I tried to snap a picture he looked away...

And so, for Mass, this is what I wore this Sunday.  It's my favorite brown dress from Talbots (via ThredUp).  With my Gap Maternity jacket (so perfect for wearing with a wrap and also from Thred Up) and my Hush Puppy boots, which stayed amazingly dry.

And so that you could actually see my dress I had Paul snap a couple of pictures before he rushed off to work:

For more WIWS head over to FLAP!