12) & {pretty, happy, funny, real} Mash-Up

By bobbi
December 22, 2012
3 Comments

Hosted by Jen.

AND

Hosted by Like Mother, Like Daughter

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I’ve been away from the blog all week. It has been crazy busy with Christmas and family things so I haven’t had time to post. I’m catching up a little today by posting a {pretty, happy, funny, real} and 7 Quick Takes Mash-Up. I only have half an hour, so I’ll set the timer…and start.

I just made a post entitled Ways to Help the Victims of Sandy Hook & Newton. There’s info on the Snowflakes for Sandy Hook, #26 Acts of Kindness and the letter from the sister of Fr. Luke Suarez, who is a priest at St. Rose of Lima parish, a Catholic church just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary. Ten of the children killed were their parishioners. (Fr. Luke is the younger priest in the above photo.)

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I’m still shaken up by the Sandy Hook tragedy. The other day my mom called and when she started talking about it I couldn’t speak. The tears wouldn’t stop. I keep holding onto that feeling every time I start to complain about something. I just think of those grieving moms. They would give anything to have my “problems” as their only worry. Consequently, I’ve just been wanting to spend time with my kids and embrace our family life. Since I love snapping photos, Beth Anne’s #adventphotoaday has been a welcomed distraction to the news. Here are my favorite photos of the week.

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{pretty}

#adventphotoaday Day 15 – Something rose or pink. I saw this small pink rose on an almost bare bush at a local church.

#adventphotoaday Day 16 -Candle. From the Mission’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

#adventphotoaday Day 18 – Heart. This is my favorite icon in our home, the Sacred Heart/ Divine Mercy. We bought this on our honeymoon when we visited the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Redwood City. (It was New Year’s Eve of 1999. Everyone thought the world would end with Y2K. We figured if we were going to die, this was the place to be.) Now look, we survived Y2K and 12/21/12. God still has work for us to do. 😉

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{happy}

On Wednesday we had two Christmas performances scheduled. Here are my three performers.

A class of 3 year olds singing is both sheer cuteness and unintentional comedy. I love this shot of John-Paul afterwards.

Andrew was my little angel. So precious.

My sweet Bella sang with her class and I am still astonished that she is growing up so quickly! Wasn’t it just a short time ago I was cradling her in my arms??

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{funny}

I found Trader Joe’s at the end of the rainbow.

#adventphotoaday Day 20: Free Day. Matthew was dreaming of a White Christmas so he used the flour to make one. Ugh.

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{real}

#adventphotoaday Day 17 – Christmas tree. When I go to look for a tree I usually drive Brian crazy as I look for the “perfect” one. This year I rolled the dice and bought a tree that was wrapped up and didn’t open it until I got home. I got lucky. It was perfect.

#adventphotoaday Day 21- Christmas tradition/ decorations. Every year we add a new ornament to our tree. Here’s a few of my faves – 1. House – for the year we moved out of an apartment and into a real house. 2- Our 1st visit to Disneyland as parents with our own kids. 3 – Baby angel for the two babies we lost in miscarriage. 4 – A little stocking for the year I was surprisingly pregnant with Matthew.

For 2012, I added a set instead of one ornament. To represent this year of really embracing motherhood & homemaking, I have four knit animals to represent my four kids. (Thanks to Target, natch). There’s an owl for Bella, my oldest girl. An owl for Andrew, my oldest boy who is so fond of Bella. A bear for my John-Paul who can be cute & cuddly bear but also a grizzly when he’s mad. Lastly, a fox for my mischievous Matthew who can cause trouble but then give a cute smile and win you over.

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Okay, time is up and I’m 5 minutes over. Have a wonderful weekend and last few days before Christmas!

7 Quick Takes (12/14/12): Baby Jesus, Santa & Star Wars

By bobbi
December 14, 2012
8 Comments

Hosted by Jen.

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Oh, Never Mind – My little spitfire conked out on me so now’s the prefect time to catch up on my one-handed blogging.

Well, it is Friday afternoon and I still haven’t posted my Quick Takes. Yesterday I thought to myself, “I’m tired of being #285 on Jen’s link-up. I live in Cali for goodness sake. I can post at 9 PM Thursday night and it will officially be Fri on the East coast…” So I started writing my QT after I tucked the kids in bed and I knew Brian would be busy for ½ an hour or so but I didn’t get very far. Brian finished early and I abandoned the QT’s and cuddled on the couch with him and watched an old episode of Parenthood. (We are just finishing Season 2.) Oh, well.

~~ 2 ~~

Trending Topic – Last night Twitter and Instagram were buzzing about Jen’s show Minor Revisions. I’m really bummed I missed it but frankly if I can’t DVR it, then it ain’t gonna happen. Maybe someone will post a play by play account of the episode so I won’t feel so left out. 😉

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Han Still Rocks – Do you know what online video HAS been played on my computer (and iphone and iPod)? This Angry Bird Star Wars video.

I finally got wise and when the boys ask me if they can watch it I say they can AFTER they clean the (fill in blank with the messiest room at the moment). Boy, do they get hopping! Between Santa and video rewards, I’ve got the most polite, semi-behaved kids in town! I just hope these good habits last after Christmas.

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Hey, and if you’re looking for one of the Angry Bird Star Wars plush dolls, they have them at almost ½ price at Amazon.com for around $7. I’m partial to Princess Lea and Han Solo. 😉

Or if you have a hubby or older child who loves Star Wars, they may enjoy this funny book I saw at the store yesterday – Darth Vader and Son. Here is a sample page.

It’s funny. It reminds me of another favorite Good Night iPad. LOL

~~ 5 ~~

More Than Just Santa – Okay, back to Take #3 about Santa vs Jesus, the other day I had a talk with the kids about the importance of being “extra good” not so Santa will bring them presents but because they want to show their love for Baby Jesus. They should want to do these things for Him. Andrew piped up, “Of course we know that, Mommy!” Okay, I was just checking.

Today I also posted Part 2 of Keeping Christ in Christmas Ideas. They are suggestions that were sent to me from various Catholic families. I love the suggestion about writing a letter to Baby Jesus instead of Santa. The mom says:

An old Catholic custom is the writing of “Christmas Letters” by the children. These letters, addressed to the Child Jesus (NOT Santa Claus) are written or dictated by the little ones some time before Christmas. They contain their wishes concerning Christmas presents, petitions for various intentions, and a promise of sincere effort to please Our Lord in preparation for Christmas. When they go to bed, the children put their letters on the windowsill, from where “angels” take them during the night to bring them to the Child Jesus in heaven.

This charming custom helps the parents to impress on the minds of their little ones the importance of a sincere spiritual preparation and at the same time great confidence in God who is concerned with our temporal and spiritual needs. Parents who favor this custom will often be deeply touched when they discover that some of their children put more stress on spiritual graces than on material gifts even on an occasion like this. I t can also alert parents to the need for more guidance and direction toward this goal.

I really love that. We were never really big on writing to Santa but I will have the kids write their Jesus letter this weekend and then work on their birthday cards to Baby Jesus next weekend. You can read the rest of the ideas here.

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Oh boy! – Speaking of babies, my sis found out today that she is having a BOY! She has three girls and one boy so this will even things out a bit. I am so happy for her! Stop by and send her some congrats. 🙂

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No Words – Lastly, I heard a little while ago about the horrific tragedy in CT. I am still in shock. I had to turn off the news because I couldn’t stop crying and I was freaking out the kids. Even now I can’t think about it without starting to cry again. But for now, go hug your kids! Kiss your hubby or if he’s not home, text him and tell him that you love him. Call that family member or friend that you are arguing with and apologize. Because you never know if the last word you said to them is the LAST word you will say to them.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Have a blessed weekend.

Saturday {pretty, happy, funny, real} vol. 53 / 7 Quick Takes (12/01/12) Mash-Up: Disneyland & Thanksgiving Recap

By bobbi
December 1, 2012
No Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

AND

– 1 –

Is It Really Dec? – I just looked at the calendar and noticed that it says December 1st. Is that correct? How did that happen? Then as I browsed Instagram and I noticed a number of bloggers that already have their tree and pretty Christmas decor up. Meanwhile, I’ve got scarecrows flying around the front porch during this winter storm and I’m tripping over plastic trick or treat pumpkins as I’m still doing laundry from our Thanksgiving trip. I’ve got until tonight to get all the fall decor down and at least get the Advent wreath and calendar project done so I’ve got to make this a fast 7 Quick Take/ {pretty, happy, funny, real} mash-up sharing a few highlights of our trip.

– 2 –

We’re Never Doing This Again!…Until Next Year. – For the last few years we’ve had the tradition of spending Thanksgiving week in So Cal. We are at Disneyland the first half of the week then we head to my family’s house for the rest of the week. The kids and I count down the days and debate which ride we will go on first (even though it is always It’s A Small World.) Brian on the other hand, well, Disneyland is more of an exercise of erasing any time he may have accumulated in purgatory.

However, to be honest, as much as we love the staff and larger rooms at Howard Johnson, there is always a moment (or two) during our hotel stay when I ready to lose my mind! At that point everything is usually chaos…the kids are hyped up and jumping from bed to bed, Matthew is emptying out the mini fridge again and pouring milk into our clothes drawer, not to mention that I forgot to pack a family member’s undies (hence, I even have to make a Target run while on vacay.) I remember at one point I told Brian that he should video record this moment and play it for me anytime that I have the ridiculous idea of taking this trip again. But he knew it was of no use since, as usual, a little time passes and I forget all the horror moments and only remember the warm and fuzzy times. Heck, it’s only been two weeks and I’m already marking off the calendar for next year’s trip! So with that, enjoy the photos. 🙂

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

– 3 –

I hijacked this collage photos from my sis Jacinta!

The kids in front of It’s A Small World.

One of the evenings we camped out on Main Street to countdown the lighting of the Christmas Tree and Main Street, followed by the Christmas parade. Granted, we had to bribe ourselves to sit there on the hard sidewalk with coffee, hot chocolate and churros but it was worth it.

Andrew and Bella

Main Street

– 4 –

I think the kids were most excited about going to Disney California Adventure and seeing the new Cars Land. It is so cute!! For lunch we ate at Flo’s V8 Café where the boys got Christmas Lightning McQueen kid meals. They couldn’t have cared less about the food, they just wanted the car!

John-Paul

– 5 –

I loved that we were able to meet up with family members while we were at DL.

My brother Jacob helped babysit his nephew/godson Matthew.

It’s a sisters (& Bella) day out!

Somehow I didn’t get a photo of my bro Rob with Maria & Max. Ugh!! And as for my parents, well, they are old school in thinking that you keep your private life private and not post it for everyone to see. Go figure. 😉

– 6 –

On our final night there, the lights were off and I was trying to get the kids to sleep in vain. Then at 9:30 pm the fireworks started pounding the sky so they crawled out of bed to watch from the window.

(Taken with my iphone while I was still in bed. LOL.)

– 7 –

Finally, Brian was rewarded with his favorite part of the trip…leaving all the crowds and the noise and getting to the quiet and subtle beauty of the desert where my family is now living.

Brian

The boys were in heaven with their dirt play time, especially Matthew.

The kids also got the treat of watching the original Star Wars for the very first time. Of course they then begged me for their own light sabers, and being the sucker that I am, I made another quick Target run.

John-Paul and Andrew

My favorite is this action shop that my brother IC snapped.

All in all, it was a lovely trip and we had plenty to be thankful for, especially for (almost) all the family being together and for the new friends/loved ones that shared the day with us.

One of the three tables we had set up.

(If you didn’t already read it, this is the Thankful Tree that my long-distance sis EL inspired.)

Have a great weekend! xoxo

7 Quick Takes (11/16/12): A Blogging Vacation Edition

By bobbi
November 16, 2012
No Comments

Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.

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I’ll be taking a blogging break for a week or so as we go to So Cal to visit family (and Disneyland) over our Thanksgiving vacation. I won’t be posting on the blog but I will be posting updates and photos on the RoL Facebook page so we can keep in touch there. 🙂

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On Monday, I said that I was hoping I’d have my packing all done (or close to it) by today. Did I accomplish it? Wait for it…

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I washed all the laundry and picked out clothes for the six of us for seven days…

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I packed a separated suitcase with food and snacks for the hotel/Disneyland portion of our trip…

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I even filled the car with gas, paid the bills and arranged for someone to pick up our paper and mail…

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…She sayeth never.
Sigh.
I guess I better get to work.

~~ 7 ~~

In the meantime, I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving!! Lots of love to you and yours!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} vol. 48 / 7 Quick Takes (10/12/12) Mash-Up: Preggers Boom, Words of Love & Target-aholics

By bobbi
October 12, 2012
No Comments

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

AND

Time for a Friday evening {pretty, happy, funny, real} / 7 Quick Takes Mash-up/ & fave Instagrams of the week.

– 1 –

{happy}

It’s Beginning to Feel A Lot Like… – We’ve had our first rain of the season this week and it was wonderful! It has become tradition that once the first rain comes I listen to Christmas music and drink a cup of hot chocolate in anticipation of the holidays to come. I love it!

– 2 –

{pretty}

Blue Heaven – The day after the storm the sky was so pretty as the clouds moved out and the sun broke through the freshly washed land.

– 3 –

Biological Clock Ticking? – I’ve got baby on the brain. No, no, I am not expecting, and frankly, Brian and I believe this may be the end. Of course, one can never say never with God. But I have been thinking about it more. Normally, when I talk to people (not other Catholic families who already have a lot of kids but acquaintances or strangers) they are surprised that we have four kids and tell me how my hands must be full, blah, blah, blah, blah. (Bella and I say this often in Hotel Transylvania style. 😉 The other day we met a woman we know from church. She is a retired pediatrician and had 5 kids of her own. After we chatted, she said she was happy that we had 5 children…I corrected her and told her we only had 4. No worries! She said we should have another baby because we are such a wonderful, holy family etc. I smiled because to this sweet grandma, anyone under 45 was still considered young, despite my bones that creak in the morning and the new wrinkles and dark circles I’m finding under my eyes.
A few days later we had our carpets cleaned by a great local company and the guy, who I am assuming was about our age, was asking about our kids and if we were going to have any more. When we said we weren’t sure but didn’t think so, he said we were still young and should have another! He had eight of his own and said it was hard work but worth it. I told Brian if one more person tells us we should have another baby we may have to pray about whether or not God is trying to tell us something. LOL

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Baby Boom – I may also have baby on the brain because there is a preggers boom in blogging land! Now, of course whenever you get a group of practicing Catholic mamas together, you are bound to have a number of overlapping pregnancies but it seems like every week another blogger (or two) is announcing the blessing of a little one growing in them. By the way, that reminds me to offer congratulations to Jen, Hallie, Jenna, and the recently announced Dawn. (I could also add Betty and Karianna but they are either farther along or on the home stretch.) Okay, who’s next? (And stop looking at me.)

– 5 –

{funny}

Touché – In the meantime, my little climber Matthew continues to scale the furniture. It has become a game to him. His latest is to climb up on the TV stand and sit in front of the screen. Literally. Usually he then calls, “Mama!!!” and when I walk in he either laughs and say, “Ge Dow” (get down) or he shakes his finger at me and says, “No, no, no.”

Although on this day Pocoyo came on the screen and he was too absorbed to repeat to me all the things I usually tell him.

That look says, “You know, Mama, if you were really mad at me you’d stop taking photos and laughing about it on your blog.”

– 6 –

Mother of the Zombie Apocalypse – There is nothing sweeter than hearing your kids say their prayers. There is often also a touch of humor as they are still getting the correct wording down. The other day Andrew was praying the Hail Mary and I just caught the end which sounded more like dialogue in a zombie movie…”Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our innards now and we are deaf.”

– 7 –

He Sounds Like Buckwheat from Little Rascals – In the past, since Andrew and John-Paul were both speech delayed (and A. having borderline apraxia) I would long to hear them say the words “I love you.” The other evening as I was kissing them goodnight Andrew said, “I love you, Mommy” and John-Paul echoed “I lub you, mama!” I was moved to tears. As I kissed them and told them to have sweet dreams I got JP’s signature, “Otay, mama!”

– BONUS TAKE 8 –

{real}

Like Mother, Like Son – Speaking of John-Paul, he is usually my shopping buddy but I think I created a bit of a shopping monster. Everyday this week when I took him to school, as I turned off the highway to go towards his school he would yell from the backseat, “No, no! Go Target!” Every day. This morning he was off from school and I told him he had to get dressed so we could run errands. He exclaimed, “Go Target, Mama!” Yes, we were going to Target. Brian looked at us quizzically and I explained that he loved to go shopping at Target. He just shook his head and prayed under his breath, “Save us, Jesus.” One Target-aholic in the family is enough.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: 7 quick takes

Saturday Evening 7 Quick Takes (12/22/12) & {pretty, happy, funny, real} Mash-Up

7 Quick Takes (12/14/12): Baby Jesus, Santa & Star Wars

Saturday {pretty, happy, funny, real} vol. 53 / 7 Quick Takes (12/01/12) Mash-Up: Disneyland & Thanksgiving Recap

7 Quick Takes (11/16/12): A Blogging Vacation Edition

{pretty, happy, funny, real} vol. 48 / 7 Quick Takes (10/12/12) Mash-Up: Preggers Boom, Words of Love & Target-aholics