And so it begins...

Ah, Lent... Yep, it's that time again. Pretty much everyone you run into is familiar with the idea of giving something up. If you are Catholic, it's almost an expectation from those around you. There are many people that aren't Catholic, other Christian sects, that will also give something up for Lent as well, but mainly, it seems associated with Catholics as accurate or inaccurate as that may be.

This time honored tradition is intended to be a form of self-sacrifice as we make preparations for Easter. We remember the suffering of Christ for our sins just prior to His resurrection and although our own "giving something up" would never match the sacrifice of our Savior, it helps to ground us and bring us back to the gravity of our sins. At least, it's supposed to.

When I was young, I noticed that giving something up for Lent became a very much a contest of who could be more sacrificing. A person who loved soft drinks suddenly took every opportunity to declare, "Oh, no, I can't have that, I gave it up for Lent." It almost becomes a competition prior to the start of Lent, "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" A challenge that, to me, comes off as, "How holy are you? Are you a good Christian/Catholic? Can I come up with a better sacrifice than you?" Lenten sacrifices take on a whole new face when during the six week time period things that are given up become new topics of conversation. "I'm sorry I'm so tired lately, I gave up caffeine for Lent and it's really wearing on me." Today's social media avenues are a great medium for expressing one's plight, "Day three of no chocolate. I would love a Snickers right about now." I can't help it, but all I see is, "Look at me, look at me, aren't I holy?" with a side of "Feel sorry for me and these religious practices I've adopted."

Another phenomenon that happens, though surely less frequently, I'd hope, is the sacrifice that really isn't a sacrifice. "Oh, I'm giving up skydiving" for someone who never goes skydiving, or "I'm giving up McDonald's" for a person who never goes. More often, this type of sacrifice is probably more likely seen from one who only has minimal interactions with the "negative" item, a person who eats ice cream once or twice a week to give up ice cream really isn't a sacrifice, or someone who gives up exercise when they really want an excuse to get out of doing it.

Possibly the most common habit is that of giving up something that the person perceives as bad. People choose unhealthy dietary habits that they feel have become excessive, intake of chocolate or soft drinks. Some decide to avoid certain spending habits they feel have gotten out of hand and decide to give up Starbucks visits or regular trips to the video store. More recently, perceived social media addictions are coming under assault with a large number of people bidding farewell to Facebook and Twitter for the next 40 days. While these things may fall under that category of sacrifice, I'm not sure that it achieves the purpose. In the case of some, it's an excuse to jump start self-improvement, but does that really do anything to bring glory to God? It may benefit your health, your pocketbook, your relationship with friends and family, but what about your relationship with God?

And all of this for what? Does giving up chocolate really bring you closer to God and closer to being the type of person you want to be for Him?

In more recent years, we've heard at church (at Catholic churches anyway) a recommendation to alter the perception of Lenten sacrifice. Rather than being encouraged to give something up, we are encouraged to take on something that brings us closer to God. Suggestions include attending daily mass or getting more involved in charity work. Sometimes it is difficult to work such things into our schedule. It is a sacrifice, after all.

No matter what we choose for our Lenten sacrifice, should we choose to participate, I think it's important to keep in mind Matthew 6:16-18. Just sayin'.

Welcome 2013... two weeks later

The last time we spoke, it was September. I could make excuses about not updating my blog, but the truth is, I was lazy and it wasn't a priority. How's that for honesty?

The holidays hit as they typically do, with me not planning nearly enough. What else is new?

Halloween approached and I only fleetingly considered taking the kids out, but had no real desire, so I didn't bother considering costumes. Ok, I really wanted to dress at least one of my kids as a pirate, but didn't really want to do the work, so I let it be a fleeting thought. Halloween morning, I was convinced (or was that guilted?) to take the kids out by one of my neighbors and spent the afternoon sewing a pirate costume for Noah and scrambling with items August already had to make him a train engineer for their first time trick-or-treating. It ended up being a great evening and the boys had a blast once they got a hang of the concept.

Our Thanksgiving plans seemed to change by the day. The in-laws were coming, then not, then they were, then not. We invited my brother and his family and they joined us. Preparations were in the works for one, then two Thanksgiving dinners. I bought two turkeys only to discover we had one in the freezer. Then we only ended up with one Thanksgiving dinner and my in-laws were unable to join us. Regardless, it was a wonderful meal. I was successful in my first attempt at cranberry sauce made with real fresh cranberries and my first time ever making pie - a fantastic pumpkin pie made from scratch all the way down to the homemade pumpkin purée. Yes, I'm bragging.

Christmas came upon me before I knew it. It didn't help that I somehow missed the memo that my in-laws wanted to celebrate two weeks early when they came for a visit. How I missed that, I don't know, but I went with the flow and had their gift shipped to them since I ordered it while they were here visiting.

I thought Christmas day would be a nice calm day with just us. We had gone to visit my family last year and since Taran's parents had just been here to visit, we decided to stay put. The morning was great with cinnamon rolls for breakfast (this time I cheated with cinnamon rolls from a can) and Taran and the boys opening presents. It was lovely and picturesque until the power went out. Come to find out, there had been tornadoes in the area and the high winds knocked some trees down on power lines. So, there I was, Christmas night cooking by candle light and flashlight. That was an adventure. At the same time it was kind of nice having the "mood lighting" and I was slightly looking forward to another candlelit evening the next day. Taran went in search of a generator since our fridge and freezer were losing their cool (ok, that was a bad pun) and came home early from work the next day to get the van and run to pick it up along with other supplies. I had been out that morning obtaining candles, flashlights, and other supplies to help us get through the next several days as the electric company predicted our power would be out for the rest of the week. We got the generator up and running. We had minimum power for the most essential things including the fridge, the deep freeze, and some to outlets for charging our phones. I was ready to hunker down and relax in the less hectic lifestyle of electronic "needs." A few hours later, the power returned. In the end I think it was only about 30 hours that we were without power. Despite not really needing all the supplies we gathered, it's nice to know we now have them in case we should need them again. Not having a generator was one thing that worried me living in Houston with the occurrence of hurricanes here.

A week later, my brother and his family came to visit again. They came bearing gifts from my family in the Dallas area where they had gone for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas for a third time with  presents all around and had a nice visit with them.

After the whirlwind, I finally have had the opportunity to realize it's January. A new year. I have projects to work on and books to read and more things I want to get done than I have time for. I'm not sure what this new year will bring, but I'm looking forward to getting things done. =)

Sleep deprivation

Lack of sleep is not my friend. Not just my lack of sleep either.

Stripped bed, drawers cleared of all contents

Noah has decided lately that he doesn't need naps. I whole-heartedly disagree. His behavior indicates that he needs them, yet he refuses and decides it's a better idea to destroy his room by stripping the bed, emptying the dresser, and getting into anything and everything he can. Several weeks ago, his antics resulted in knocking down the dresser and busting a hole in the humidifier tank. Good times.

A moment of rest. After destruction,
of course.

So, I attempt to have him nap, he continues to refuse. August most days thinks that half an hour's snooze in the car is sufficient for his own napping needs. This leaves him wonderfully refreshed to play the entire time Noah is avoiding naps in his room. With the two of them and their lack of sleep, they don't always have the best attitudes when the joke of nap time that I'm continuing to delude myself exists is over. I'm getting exhausted.

Turns out I need naps that I'm not getting too. Last night's insomnia doesn't help much either. Noah's internal alarm clock does not make exceptions for sleep I miss at night, no matter the reason, which for me, has been all to often recently. =/

Coffee, anyone?

Back to the daily grind...

I had hoped that a weekend away would help to reboot my toddler whose behavior seemed to be escalating to new heights of physical outbursts, but I was sorely mistaken. While he had a great time with his grandma and was relatively well behaved while there, returning home meant returning to his previous state. Oh well, the adventures in parenting...

At least we had a good trip. The traveling portion was filled with fewer cries and fussings than I anticipated, likely due to leaving at an ungodly hour so as to take advantage of sleep opportunities. We arrived at our destination only a few hours after the boys normally awaken in the morning and we only stopped twice to switch drivers and acquire sustenance.

We did the normal visits with the relatives and had a few extra activities like stopping at the natural food store which was also home to a small yarn shop. I have never seen such a huge collection of natural fiber yarn. I picked up some wool with plans of making some longies (pants that also act as a diaper cover) for wee man. I'm excited about the project. We also visited with a friend of hubs' and Noah had the opportunity to pet some goats and meet his first horse, so that was cool. With the exception of getting mauled by mosquitoes while we were there and August running a fever part of the time, it was a good trip.


So now it's back to the daily grind, keeping the kids from torturing each other and attempting to keep them free from horrible injury. Ah, life with toddlers...

Worst Blogger Ever...

I'm not sure if the problem is too many blogs, too much going on, or just plain laziness. Perhaps a bit of all three. It's seriously been almost two months since my last post and I can guarantee that this one will be neither riveting nor lengthy. You'd think that in that time period, I'd have all kinds of things to report and therefore I'd have at least a short novel, but no.

The summer so far has been low key. Not much change from our normal routine. So, what then, have I been doing? Well, here's the abbreviated version:

Female watermelon bud.

I've been keeping up with my container gardening. I've harvested about 8 or 10 cucumbers, 7 or 8 tomatoes, several beans (black-eyed peas, lima beans, and pintos), and some of my basil, oregano, and sage. I also have some peppers growing, I've sampled a few jalapenos and I'm just starting to see some bells show up. I have a watermelon plant that just got it's first female flower bud and a sweet potato plant that is doing who knows what under the dirt.

The boys have been doing their thing, making messes, getting into trouble. August has been working on teeth lately. I recently got him a teething necklace and no, that doesn't mean a necklace he chews on. It's an amber necklace that is supposed to help with pain due to natural acids that are in the amber beads. It's a super cool concept though I don't know that I can say I can tell a difference in his disposition as a result. At least it's one more thing I can do to try to avoid drugging him. Noah is still being Noah. Wild man. He is constantly surprising me with new phrases that come right out of my mouth. It's wildly amusing.

One of the gifts I made recently

I've been keeping crazy busy with diaper cakes. The orders are coming in regularly, along with some I've done as gifts. I also recently had a mama blogger review a pair of my shoes which was super exciting. I opted to do a giveaway too, so I'll have another pair of shoes to make up soon.

Aside from that I'm keeping up with my regular mommy meet-ups, mall trips, play dates, and meetings. Same ol', same ol'.

Hey look, I managed to type up quite a bit. I guess life isn't as hum-drum as it seems sometimes. =)

My little one is a year old today...

I can not believe it's been a year since my precious wee baby joined our family breathing on his own. 8 lbs 5oz of cuteness was born a year ago today at 6:31 PM. He was precious and started life as a champion nurser, knowing exactly what to do. He has turned into an adorable curious toddler who loves to explore and play with dirt. Of course he still loves his mama and checks back in for frequent nursing sessions, but he is incredibly independent.

This weekend we celebrated his birthday with a party. We had family and friends celebrating with us at a train themed party. It was a lot of work, but I think it was totally worth it. He won't remember, but he'll have plenty of pictures.

I had a lot of help to prep with my in-laws, some college friends, and my friend Laura. The food was the normal party fare - veggie tray, fruit tray, ham & cheese tray, deviled eggs, etc. I also made a cake, cupcakes, ice cream and cookies which was a bit overboard for dessert, but I wanted to make sure there was enough cake for everyone and I had ordered the train cookie cutters and wanted to make sure they got used. 

Decorations were a bit minimal, but hopefully, they were effective. I had railroad crossing signs in the front yard which my friends helped make and I drew a train track on the front walk in chalk. We had railroad signs sticky-tacked to the walls. The mantle was displayed with a banner of pictures of August throughout his first year as well as a slightly larger picture of him from a few days ago. I also set up a toy train and some play train engineer gear that we'd received as party favors. Thanks to the boy's great-grandma, we have several train blankets that were draped on the back of the living room couches and chair.

I didn't plan for much in the way of activities. I hoped that people would entertain themselves/each other. After sharing my musings about having a smaller house, a friend recommended using backyard space for small activities like chalk and bubbles and this sounded like a good idea. I picked up some no-spill bubble containers which were fantastic, and I offered a box of chalk. I also made a train out of large boxes. The engine had a door the kiddos could climb into and one of the cars with holes cut in the side was complemented with homemade hacky-sacs to create a bean bag toss game. For his birthday, August got a slide climbing toy from his grandparents so that was also set up in the yard. Noah's toddler slide was also set up. The final kicker was a toddler-sized mini bounce house that a neighbor generously leant us. It was amazing and I think the kids really had fun.

I made party favors as well, which I feel probably could have been better, but oh well. I included a train matching/memory game that I found online and printed up. I also printed my own sticker sheets with train stickers. For a little treat, I added chocolate train candies that I made up with some train candy molds I ordered. The favors were placed in paper bags decorated with train stickers. I would have liked to add more things to the bags or offer a cuter favor package, but there was only so much time. I also had more ideas for the party in general, but again, time was not on my side. Well, that and I didn't get started nearly soon enough.

We had a pretty good turn out, not too few, not too many. The house wasn't crazy crowded or empty and it appears I had just the right number of favors. I was so happy with how it all turned out. Now, I get to sit and be reminded that I no longer have a baby. =(

Time just keeps on going...

Walking around

Well, it apparently has been over a month since I last wrote anything up. I feel like things are status quo, but I suppose there has been quite a bit of change. The biggest thing is that August is walking now.


Let's see, what else...

Homemade tortillas

Homemade ravioli

I've been going a little crazy. My friend Laura tells me I'm becoming a sheep because I'm adopting more habits similar to the moms in our mom support group. In this case it's related to food and dietary habits. I've starting watching what we eat a lot closer. I'm trying to get away from processed foods. It's just that so many things can just be made by hand and though it takes time, often the fresher version is better. On my list of things I've opted to make instead of buy are ravioli (although to be fair, I think I've bought the canned kind once and never any other kind), tortellini, tortillas, tomato sauce, loft house sugar cookies, enchilada sauce, and sandwich bread. I've also made fruit snacks and fruit roll-ups for the boys, but I'd never purchased those for the kiddos; and I've been harvesting my own chicken stock, though that was something I rarely had in the house as well. I have many other things I want to try to make as well. For now, I'm trying to use up the items I have in my pantry before making their substitutes. It is a little hard though. Now that I've decided I want to be smarter about the way we eat, it's hard to eat those items, but that's ok. Otherwise, I'd feel like I wasted the money on them. My biggest thing is that for the packaged items we currently use, I want to find good substitutes for them rather than remove them from our diet. I feel that if I do that, I'm more likely to keep from purchasing them than if I try to remove them entirely. So far, it's been good.

My container garden

I've also started up a pretty decent garden this year. I've purchased a few seeds, gotten seedlings from friends, and used some beans I had and sprouted them. It's been about a month since I started. I tossed some of the peppers I tried to sprout which never came up, but I've had decent luck with most of the other plants. Good growth on a bunch of them, though no flowers yet. The only thing I've been able to harvest is some Swiss chard given to me by a mom in our mommy group. I really can't wait to see how everything does.

So, yeah. That's us lately. Add in an Easter egg hunt and crawfish boil last weekend and aside from that, it's been just about normal. Here's to more normalcy. =)