This Summer's Challenges

This has not been the summer I'd envisioned! It started out fine, but then the sickies started.



Kathryn started with a little cold. She got over that quickly without any disruption of any summer plans. Then Ryan got a cold, which turned into a cough, which turned into some upper respiratory infection. I held off going to the doctor thinking he would turn the corner any day. It never did, so we finally paid a visit to the dr. After his round of antibiotics, he's well. Thank the Lord. Now Emily has the cough and I have it as well! We've both been up the past two nights hacking away. Hopefully, it won't get worse.

Before the summer started, I bought four swim passes so we could hang out at the pool. Since people are getting sick, we haven't been able to use the passes as much I as thought we would. We haven't been sightseeing as much as I wanted to, but we are still managing to have some fun, even if its just playing around with sidewalk chalk, puttering in the garden, or just making up games.

Ah, such is life. It's what happens when we're busy making other plans.

During this busy time, I've been scarce in the blogosphere, but I hope I can catch up with all of you soon! I'm embarrassed to say my reader has over 500 posts and I may just have to press the dreaded, Mark All As Read!!

Duran Duran - The Reflex (2003 Digital Remaster)

Guess where I get to go tonight? Steve and I will be going back to the 80's to see Duran Duran!
I wonder how old they are now?

Photo Meme

I've been MIA for awhile in blogland. It's been hard to find the time while the kids are home. Aside from my household duties, I've had sick kids, swim lessons and just general summertime lazy days. Not to mention sharing the computer with four other people!

So, to get back in the swing of things, I'm doing this Family Photo Meme . Elizabeth at Divine Gift of Motherhood tagged me for this. I'm to pick a family picture with a story behind it and share it.

I picked this picture of me and Ryan because it's a perfect example of the tender heart that he has always shown his family members. He has always been ready to give hugs and kisses and let people know that he loves them. When this picture was taken, he was four years old. Whenever he was in a picture with me or Steve, he would always lean his head on our shoulder or just get close, like the picture above. Oh, how I love that boy! Now that he's almost eight, he's a lot more rambunctious, but he still has the tenderest of hearts!

God Bless the U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR GREAT COUNTRY!

How Sweet!

Isn't this the cutest thing? My mother's orange tree has a little hummingbird nest. There are two little babies in there!

This is a shot of the two little behinds sticking out of the nest! They are the cutest things! They just sat there in their nest while I snapped away taking pictures!

And then today, I saw this near my back porch!

A lizard! Not so sweet, but interesting. The kids enjoyed watching him until he scampered away.

Maybe we'll find more interesting things this summer!

North and South

Oooh, I just finished watching North and South, based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, and it was SOOOOOO good! I haven't read the book, so I don't know how true it stayed, but this was a wonderful movie. The actors who portrayed the the leads, Margaret and Thornton were amazing together. It was romantic without much romance shown. If you like period movies and love to get lost in a story you might want to try this one. I recommend it highly!

Hearts for Home - June 15

I've decided to join in with Gae and others in the endeavor to commit to fostering our Hearts for Home. Here is what it's all about:

In today’s busy and aggressive society mothers at home are not given much encouragement to be committed to their role in being home.

In my weekly 'Hearts for Home' post I am encouraging myself and others to commit to thinking about what 4-6 things we can do each week to bring our thoughts, prayers and actions to keeping our 'Hearts for Home'.

I am praying that a spirit of gentleness, generosity in thoughts and time along with loveliness and grace would lead us to be all that God wants us to be.

I pray also that each person involved in 'Hearts for Home' would also pray for any others involved as well.

May you be blessed by this initiative. I pray it brings you and your family many blessings.

For this week, I will endeavor to:

1. Tend to my garden so that I can bring a little loveliness to the yard and inside the home.

2. Keep the dining room table clear of clutter.

3. Devote more prayer time in meditation of the Sacred Heart.

4. Listen to uplifting music that nourishes the soul and brings serenity.

If you would like to join in, visit Gae's lovely blog, Cherished Hearts At Home

Odds and Ends

I think the hard part of the kitchen work is finished! After all the wallpaper came off, I sanded the window panes that needed it, then taped aaalllllllll of them up. Very tedious!

The primer has been applied everywhere. All that's left is the final painting! Yeah! My friends and I will work on it this coming Monday.

I know this is blurry, but these are the little chrysalides doing their hidden work to become butterflies. After seeing Suzy's butterfly/chrysalis post, I wanted to do this too with the kids. She has a beautiful picture of the chrysalides. Ours look just like that, but of course hers aren't blurry. I think we may have four or five more days before the butterflies emerge.

Today was Emily's last day of preschool, sniff, sniff. She had a little party, then afterwards, many of the kids and their parents met at the park for a little fun. She is now looking forward to being a big girl and going to Kindergarten and being at the same school that Kathryn and Ryan attend.

Last night was the last meeting of the parent meetings I've been attending all year at the elementary school. It has been such a blessing. It hasn't been well attended, but those parents that did attend somewhat regularly were greatly aided in trying to be better parents. We discussed problems that we have in trying to raise Catholic children in todays world. We had discussions about our spiritual journeys, we prayed the Rosary, we had Adoration in the chapel, and we had good laughs sprinkled in there, too. Hopefully, the group will continue the next school year.

Remember my tree story last year? My trees were dying. Well, I think one of them is finally coming around. Instead of seeing brown leaves everywhere, I now see green ones sprouting all over. It looks so nice and I'm hopeful that the tree is in recovery and we'll get our shade back. The other two still look sparse but maybe there's hope!

I know the tree looks exactly like it did when I mentioned it last year, but it did get worse throughout the year. There's more green now.

I'll finally end this post with some of my flowers.