Rose Crawls!

She also got her first tooth today: right on the bottom in front! Go Rose!

"Spones" and the Spirit of Detachment

Many of you may be trying to guess what this image may be. I'll let you guess for a while...
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Some of you may have accurately guessed that it is a picture of today's lesson in humility. As many of you know, I take a certain amount of pride in putting my former lesson planning skills into use by making weekly menus. Some may think I'm a bit too much of a control freak about this (and yes, I am still aware of who fell behind on their shift on the Thanksgiving cooking schedule last year), but I do enjoy making my menus. I've really been on a roll the last few weeks too, organization and preparation have really worked out. And this morning the plan was to make blueberry scones before church so there would be less wait post-mass for our brunch. It all worked out beautifully, Mary Ann slept until nearly eight (I do love her help in the kitchen, but I have found that you can't rush Mary Ann through her cooking and she likes to make sure whatever it is passes a taste test as each stage of the preparation), Rose was in a good mood, Robert did dishes as I finished them. We could have been on Food Network...it was that good.
Mass was very nice, the girls were great, and I even got to pay attention to the readings. Perhaps I should have seen that Martha/Mary Gospel as a foreshadowing of things to come. (I know, Nana, I know!)
We get home, Robert starts breakfast, scones are in the oven, Rose goes down for a nap, Mary Ann's setting the table--eat your heart out June Cleaver.
The scones take a bit longer to bake than expected--no problem we have smoothies, eggs, little smokies and coffee to tied us over. After a third or fourth oven check, I decide that I've put them in the wrong pan and need to transfer them to a cookie sheet. (By the way, I absolutely do not recommend the silicon bakeware). In the process, these beautiful scones totally fall apart into the mess you see above. Insert here a few very choice words. After being pretty upset and disappointed for a bit, I discover that they still taste okay, life is still good, and maybe I can market them in some future life as "Spones" (spoon + scone)

The moral of the story is: Food doesn't have to look good to taste good, crumbled scones are definitely not worth getting upset about and don't trust pretty red baking pans.

A Peaceful Moment

I have just left the girls' room and both are asleep. 30 minutes ago that was not the case. Both went down without too much fussing, but occasional cries from Rose would elicit Mary Ann pounding on the door and the yell that Rose was "getting louder". This wouldn't really help Rose settle down, but eventually all was quiet. After about 10 minutes of this quiet, I again heard Mary Ann at the door informing me that Rose again was getting louder. She must have psychic abilities, because no sooner had she predicted this with her thumps at the door, but Rose indeed did get louder. Amazing! So after some snuggling and shushing and magic "bugga-boo" star light (Thank you again, Nana!) both girls fell asleep. The contrast between the two of them crying and they two of them sleeping is amazing. I'm sure the neighbors have noticed this as well. But it's a lovely time to spend with them and to thank God for His blessings.

On an entirely different note, my surfing of the web tonight led me to this website. Fun gift ideas for kids: http://store.padilly.com

And if anyone is curious about what a typical day in our life is like, check out this website: http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/index.php and look at today's strip

Blog Addiction

So I should be in bed now. Addiction is too strong of a word, but having a blog is as bad as surfing the Net. I just want this one to look as good as my siblings'! (punctuation on ending a sentence with a plural possessive?) I'm tired, have a summer cold, and am pretty sure at least there will be at least one major interruption in the night, make that one more, as we've already had a major wake-up call around 9:15. That was at least tempered by the fact that Rose had pulled herself up in her crib and, though she was screaming her head off, it was pretty cute. I'm not sure if she didn't know how to sit back down and that was what the big fuss was about or she liked adding a bit more drama to the whole "wake-up" the whole house act, but after 20 minutes both girls were back to sleep and it wound up being just enough time for the banana bread in the oven to finish baking. So all's well that ends well. And I should also go to bed so tomorrow can begin well. Gute Nacht, meine Damen und Herren.

Divebombing Robin

Since early May a husband and wife team of Robins have been nesting on the downspout just north of our back door. They are currently tag-team feeding their second brood of baby Robins. They are pretty adorable. However, not so adorable is the protective behavior at least one of these Robins, in my opinion, the Papa Robin, have adopted. Papa Robin likes to stalk you and then dive bomb you as you try participate in any activity that involves lingering around said backdoor, "lingering" here means more than 5 seconds. Today, while trying to water plants using the water from our wading pool, Papa mounted an attack. I swiftly ran into the porch through back door and Papa followed. What followed was a tense 3-5 minute period of waiting to see what would happen. M.A. was fingerpainting at the time, and watching a live Robin fly around her porch was probably one of the most exciting experiences of her life, right up there with Mitzi's yellow plane and Nathan slipping in the pool. During this time we could hear Mama Robin giving Papa Robin h--- for being so idiotic about his behavior and after he finally made it out, you could still hear her giving him a piece of her mind. I have to respect Papa for caring so much for his family, but I also feel some empathy with the Mama, don't ask me why, but I do.

Morning Came, Coffee followed: The First Post

A first post by K. Reddig! So far much better than doing HTML code. No promises will be made about the frequency of postings, however. Nap times and the nebulous concept of "Quiet Time" (i.e. M.A. spends time on our bed for the 50 minutes of the "Quiet Time CD". Quiet may actually be a stretch to actually describe those 50 minutes, as I hear her clomping around the room in my shoes and catch her making prank calls on the phone, but I will optimistically always consider it Quiet Time.

Hmmmm...so why do people blog exactly?? To stay in touch? Post random thoughts for all the world to see? Feel like they are doing something productive when they should be a) dusting b) getting supper ready c) organizing storage areas d) watering the garden e) finding flowers for the table f) cleaning the bathroom g) writing postcards h ) creating a to-do list ? Oh wait, I just did that! So that's what blogging's all about! Cool!

All right, so as I get used to this, maybe posts will be less goofy and more thought-provoking. But at least I know what I need to do now!