Happy All Hallow's Eve!

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Quick Takes Friday!

Quick Takes Friday...haven't done this in a while, but hey, I'm up at 7 am and Josie is happily playing on the floor, so, why not?

1. Well, for starters, I think I should go pray first. You know, I am going to do that.....be right back :)

2. .....much better. Thanks for waiting. Let's see....now where was I? Oh, you want to know if I prayed for you? Of course I did! I mean, if I do not know you personally, I just prayed for all the readers of my blog, so you're covered. So, one of my favorite little prayers as of late is simply this: "God, please let _______ know how much You love them." I was told to do this actually, by a priest, and it's amazing how that prayer can change one's attitude about a person so quickly. I have been finding that so helpful when there is something going on and I know I'm not thinking charitable thoughts about that person. I try and contemplate how much God loves that person, and my heart quickly softens and I start to only desire good for them. It really helps - give it a try! (Another thing that helps, watch how a 2 year old prays. We just say, 'Louisa, who should we pray for?' and then she just starts to list all the people she loves! I like to think that's how God thinks of us. He just loves us, pure and simple, and wants the best for us)

3. I was told recently that I have a distinct way of writing. I guess I write like I talk? Hmmm...Well, after being told this I have felt very self-conscious. Honestly, I know I'm not a great writer. I am totally okay with that. In fact, I know I'm a terrible writer (no need to contradict me, it's really okay) and part of that is because I simply do not have the time to think about my writing or to edit it much after it is written. In school, I could write a mean essay. And, in another time of my life I hope to work on my rusting, deteriorating writing skills. I am attracted to the idea of writing well. But right now I just can't focus too much on it. I would never publish a post because I wouldn't find the time to edit it and make it perfect. When the kids get older maybe I could take a few writing classes. Actually, I bet I'll become a better writer as I teach my children to write (can any homeschooling mothers attest to this happening?) It will be interesting going over the rules of grammar and technical skills again. And spelling. And how to write in complete sentences and to make sure I don't write run-on sentences because run-on sentences are bad and also that you should never start a sentence with "and".....

4. Completely un-related to writing: we had great friend's over yesterday! (Okay, but now I am thinking about rules in writing, and I can't remember, did I use that colon correctly? Probably NOT!) ANYWAY - great friends. We have them. It's awesome. We love them and their kids. My heart turned to mush when their 2 1/2 year old was leaving and she said "Bye, I love you Mrs. C!" (except she said my last name) What a total sweetheart. She said it totally unprompted, and you better believe I love her too!

5. I am to the point in my photography journey where I get sad if I don't take that many pictures throughout the week. (This is one of those weeks....) It's become a thrill for me to take a bunch of photos, then bring them up on the camera card and go through them and look for the gems. Before I had a fancy camera, I always assumed people with beautiful photos just snapped one perfect picture. But you know, at least for me, it's really not like that. It's more like I shoot 5-10 pictures of *pretty much the same thing* and I pick the best one(s) from those. Especially when it comes to photographing children! But yeah, I hardly every just snap a picture and am happy with it. I take many many and then select the best among them. If I showed you my camera chip you'd see what I mean. Actually now I'm curious, is this how many of you do it, too?

6. I am excited for Halloween this year. Mike and I have cute, fun matching costumes. It's a surprise though so you'll have to wait and see! I am also looking forward to trick-or-treating with the girls simply because I'll get to go around and meet some of the neighbors we have yet to formally meet. I'm sure I'll be chatting up a storm in the midst of all the candy being handed out. Of course I'm not so much looking forward to having to be the moderator of all that candy in the hands of a now 2 1/2 year old who used to not care about the candy but now is very aware.....

7. Wow - this post seems to have lots and lots of words! More than usual for me, anyway. What I usually do is I like to put the pictures that I want to share up first, then I write. Ever since I started reading my sister-in-law's blog (before she even became my sister) I realized that people really like seeing pictures. If you want to write a lot, you'd better have pictures, because people get bored. Maybe that's not true for everyone, but for the vast majority of peeps. So, always strive to include pictures, especially if I feel like writing a lot. In today's post, I have not yet put in the pictures. So I think I will stop writing and do that now. I think I hear Louisa waking up though...better hurry....

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

As always, see more Quick Takes musings at Conversion Diary!!

Another collage

...and I call it the:

  "Daddy Left his iTouch at Home and I Took it When We Went to the Zoo, Even Though It's 40 Degrees Outside, Collage"

Te Gusta?
 You may have noticed (as did I, as I looked through the iTouch pictures) that I hardly took any of the actual animals. Oh well! The big gorilla is just a sculpture. I wish they had real gorillas. But, we do really like our little zoo anyway. The great thing is that it's so close. It's nice that I can just go there for a picnic lunch with the girls (which kind of horrifies Mike, who has a slight aversion to eating outdoors in general, but especially with a bunch of animals around. I rather like picnics, even at the zoo, and even in 40 degree weather ;) but then we have something to do that is interesting, educational, gets us good exercise, and it's relatively inexpensive for the membership (especially for us, as it was given to us as a gift :) So yeah, if you are ever in the area and want to visit the zoo with us, let me know and we'd be glad to take you!

A baby, a spider web, and a failed face-paint attempt

I hate spiders - but I love their webs. So pretty.

Josie hanging out, watching me mow the lawn. (Yes I know it's October, but I wanted to surprise Mike again and this was the safest thing I could think of. The door was only open for 20 minutes or so)

So Louisa is going to be a flower for Halloween this year. She got a hand-me-down outfit that she loves and wants to wear all the time. I thought I'd get a little more creative and draw flowers on her face as well. I practiced today and realized my idea is not such a good one. You know she smeared it after about two seconds. Also, it doesn't even look that cute - I think I like her little face just the way it is. She kept asking me ' mommy, you putting on my makeups?" 

Friday night Lights

 Friday afternoon I saw a friend on Facebook post about how our high school's Homecoming was going to be that night. For some reason, after all these years of not going to Homecoming games, it piqued my interest. My lovely husband agreed (albeit a little reluctantly) to attend with me. Wow - talk about strange emotions and flashbacks of crazy little high school Kayleen. It was WEIRD being back there after eight years.

I actually loved high school. I did well - both academically and socially. I have mostly good memories (except for some of the guys I dated...er, not sure what I was thinking, and neither did my friends...) I used to really enjoy going to football games. (And baseball games, and basketball games, and wrestling matches...) I got to visit with friends, perform at half time (since I was on the dance team) and then make plans to hang out afterward. I look back at my high school days fondly. If we home school, I know my kids would be missing out on some of the better aspects of a high school experience. However, on the whole, I'm not convinced that the fun social aspects outweigh the potentially damaging experiences that can and do happen to many kids. Especially now. I feel as though our culture is falling down the rabbit hole....there is so much crap out there. Not that I want to home school simply out of fear either...........Oh well, I have a feeling this internal conversation will take many turns over the course of the years. Good thing we have a few more to mull it over. No need to solve it all today. But, back to Friday night. Our team actually won - by a huge margin - and for the first time in my high school's history they get to go to the championships, or something along those lines...so good for them!

Ha. So even though the football team was doing great, my friend Kristina - who also went to the game - was not so impressed by the cheerleaders! They were, in her words: "ghetto"

The dance team did alright...they were cute out there, though I get annoyed with all the rap music. There are other genre's of music that you can, in fact dance to people

Lou actually had a great time. She was being awfully cute. Lots of new stuff to take in!

This is what really hit me hard: how could I have known how blessed I would be? That in a mere 8 years I would be returning to my alma mater with a handsome man and two beautiful girls, not to mention a whole new worldview? Man, that God of mine - He is GOOD.

Go Raiders!!! :)

My little student

Louisa has become a very inquisitive little girl. It's getting to be really fun for me to be a teacher to her. Yes, I know this has been going on since birth, but lately it's become pure joy because we have actual conversations about the world around us. I have been encouraging her to notice how the leaves on the trees are different colors now. She likes to point out while we are driving: "that tree is green, mom." or, "that tree is yewow." I explained that the trees are changing colors and the leaves are falling because it is Fall. She doesn't completely understand the meaning of seasons yet, but I think she is grasping that it feels different now than it did in the summer. We went to the library today and I meant to get some books on the changing seasons...but alas, my hands were full with Josie in the sling and I just couldn't navigate the book catalog very well so I didn't get one today. I plan on going back with just the two of us so we can look for some together.

There are many things about parenting that are tedious and tiring. I hope I never tire of exploring the world with my little ones. Right now I am reveling in it. It is rewarding to see her make connections and to be able to communicate to me when she does.

Oh, and we love fall, but when we were talking about how there are 4 seasons, Lou said to me "I want my summer, mommy"

prettyfunnyhappyreal

{pretty}

It's my mama's birthday (the girls' grandma) today.
Happy birthday pretty lady! Hope you have a great day.

 {happy}

Lots of good fruit 

 {funny}

Just some fun shots from the pumpkin patch this week

{real}

We've been dealing with lots of this. Louisa is too rough with Josie.
She loves to tackle her, hug, squeeze, push, kiss, and wrestle with her.
It's rough for all of us because we are constantly trying to balance out
being affectionate with being too physical!

You know where to go for more examples of every day contentment! Like Mother Like Daughter, of course!

Pumpkin patch 2011

This is Louisa's third year, and Josie's second. It's amazing how quickly time passes, isn't it? When we were there yesterday I could clearly remember going when Louisa was just eight months old, then again when Josie was still in my tummy. It makes my heart a little sad. I wish time could slow down sometimes.

But yes, it was a beautiful fall day. We went on the perfect day. Except that daddy could not join us, since he's been rather busy at work lately. We could still try to go on the weekend, but of course the next two weekends should be pretty crowded because Halloween is coming up. I got Mike a pumpkin and he's goign to make something cool, no doubt, so stay tuned for that :)

It's a beautiful {fall} day in the neighborhood

..and we took advantage of it this morning with a little walk.

two cozy sisters!

I love this little winter hat I found for .75 cents!
It reminds me of something my mom put me in when I was little

Lou had fun on the walk but toward the end she took off her hat and said 'I tired'
Now she is laying down in a little fort I made her and looking at books.
but I included this picture because I think my daughter's hair is getting so pretty!

And now I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie and hot chocolate because somehow that just feels like the right thing to do.

Cell phone photography

Hey - how many pictures do you estimate you have currently on your cell phone?

I have so so many, and always do. It makes me sad when I think about how many pictures I've lost as I've gone through cell phones over the years. It's my own fault, because obviously they didn't mean enough to me to take the time to save them when I would switch to a new phone. But, it's kind of funny how I do think of cell phone pictures differently than normal pictures. It's always nice to have the camera feature on my phone, because I always have my phone with me so therefore if there is something I want to capture, I can. It's especially nice since having kids. Though, I remember taking pictures of just Mike and I when we were dating, and now I wish I would have kept some of those! Right now, the camera sucks on my phone. The pictures are really bad quality, and the camera is slow. So I can't say there is much worth keeping. Except that they do help me remember the last 6 months. There are lots of pictures from this summer. Sometimes when I'm bored, I will browse through them, and it's the strangest feeling, going back in time, watching Josie and Lou get younger and younger....

Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this. What is your relationship with your phone's camera? Do you only use it when there is something so super cute? Or do you use it often because you just don't take your real camera with you much? Or do you just never bother with it? I do love the fact that I can send Mike, or my mom or other family members pictures throughout the day - just to give them a smile and to let them know I am thinking of them. Mike just got a fancy new smart phone and with it an excellent camera, and the best feature ever - being able to instantly upload to Facebook. I want that - but my Facebook friends are already inundated with pictures of the girls so it's probably better that I don't have it right now ;)

October Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...It's a chilly gray early morning. Also very damp - and will be for the rest of the week apparently!

I am thinking...About Josie's nursing habits as of late. I think she is either not feeling so well or on the verge of a growth spurt. It could be both - the girl wants to nurse quite often - especially at night. 

I am thankful...For my sleeping-in toddler. Gives me a few moments to myself! (Well, sort of, Josie is playing at my feet :)

From the learning rooms...(if this applies) Well, since I've got young children, every room is a learning room! But lately Louisa is really getting into learning her letters. She points at signs when we are out and about and says the letters she knows. She really understands how each letter has a sound. I love, love, love how she says "Lllll - Lllluuuoo-isa! (And she says it a lot!) This makes me believe she will be an early reader - but of course I don't know for sure. It's my first time with this so it's a learning experience for me as well!

In the kitchen...The dishwasher is still broken! Doing the dishes every day in the sink is putting a kink in my normal cleaning routine. Other chores are not getting attended to because it is a time-consuming task! Need to call someone TODAY. I'm a little nervous about having a stranger in the house in the middle of the day when it's me and the girls though, to be perfectly honest. Do you think that's silly?

I am wearing...Jammies! My peach colored ones that Mike got for me to wear to the hospital after Josie was born. They are my Josie-pj's!

I am creating...Some framed 'prayers' to go around the house. (Picture at the end) I have been wanting to make some to assist me in my daily prayer life. Both me and Mike have been working toward a more prayer-centered family life. We want it to be part of everything we do - not just something reserved for church or evening prayers.

I am going...to take the girls to story time today at the library at 10.

I am wondering...How some people will receive something I posted on Facebook. I often post things I know people disagree with me about, though, so this is nothing new. I wonder how much people actually do read and how many things people skip over or get outright angry about. I wonder this a lot.....but you know, I can't not post articles that I believe speak the truth. I mean, all of us should be seeking the Truth (objective truth) or what is the point of life? You can choose to just live in the reality of your own making but ultimately if you do that you could be setting yourself up for a big, scary disappointment. :( And I'm not saying I know everything, but I am actively seeking the truth, every day. And I will always do this, until the day I die. That is just what we are called to do. And it is a natural inclination in our hearts. We just have to make sure we do not ignore that desire for the sake of staying comfortable where we are... "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7)

I am reading...A Catholic fiction book called "Little Flowers" Pretty good so far....

I am hoping...To convert the world! :) (Really, I am hoping that)

I am looking forward to...Pumpkin patch trip soon (not sure when), OSU vs. WSU game in a few weeks, seeing friends, going on another coffee date with Michael (hopefully soon!)

I am hearing...Josie playing with Duplos at my feet. But starting to get a little bored and wanting my attention (now she is grabbing my leg and saying 'oooohhhh!'

Around the house...Things are pretty tidy. Not completely up to standard but not bad.

I am pondering...How would I cope with a tragedy in my life?

One of my favorite things...receiving packages in the mail. And I'm anxiously awaiting one from a friend on the East Coast....

A few plans for the rest of the week: Going to a farm with friends, going to see my grandparents and aunt, seeing my mom, going to Costco (with Mike, a treat!) Cutting Mike's offensively long hair ;)

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

This is the Angelus 


The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary....

Strong father

one of my favorite pictures I've taken in a while.

Maybe you could stop taking pictures, Kayleen,
and actually do some work?

All mothers out there - take heart.

"Women is capable of more sustained sacrifice than man. man is more apt to be the hero in one great, passionate outburst of courage. But a woman is heroic through the years, months, and even seconds of daily life, the very repetition of her toils giving them the semblance of the commonplace. Not only her days but her nights, not only her mind but her body, must share in the Calvary of mothering. She, therefore, has a greater understanding of redemption than man, for she comes closer to death in bringing forth life."

-Fulton Sheen,
Three to Get Married -pg 150-151

I quote again from what is quickly becoming my favorite book.  I am always amazed that priests can grasp the realities of life so well, realities that they do not experience directly. Fulton Sheen was not a mother, nor a father. But he was a spiritual father to many and he heard countless confessions. In counseling sinners and drawing closer to God, he was able to better understand humanity, and God, and the relationship between us and Him. I know I've said it before but this book is amazing. Sheen writes the truth, and he writes it poetically that I often feel tears welling up as I am reading. This is a book I will cherish reading over and over. When I am feeling overwhelmed about my vocation, I can pick it up and be encouraged. This quote is from the chapter on Motherhood, and I just have to say that taken out of context it could look like he is elevating women above men. He is not saying that a woman's sacrifice is more important to her family than a man's. You have to read the whole chapter to get the gist of it, but essentially he is drawing parallels between Christ's bodily sacrifice and a woman's bodily sacrifice in her motherhood. It really helps me embrace the difficulties in life because I know that in dying to myself, I come alive. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it" -Luke 9:24.

The chapter on Motherhood is overwhelmingly beautiful. I know there are some dear friends who are not yet mothers (some willfully, but others who are yearning to be) and I would just say this: I don't want to come off as being proud. Like somehow I did something to deserve the blessings in my life. Because I didn't. And even though I am proud of being a mother to my treasured girls, it is also deeply humbling and downright scary sometimes. It scares me how much I am responsible for. It scares me that I could lose it all at any moment. It scares me because I do feel inadequate at times. And it scares me that I could have decided to not be a mother when God was calling me to it. So, I just wanted to say to the mothers out there: take heart that you are doing great work for God just by loving your children. And to the mothers-to-be: don't be afraid of the sacrifices you will have to make. Don't be afraid to give yourself up for another. Don't be afraid to love until it hurts...because let's face it; that's what life should be about. (What else is there?)

Just, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. If you are already married, thinking about marriage, Catholic, non-denominational, Lutheran, Evangelical, atheist, Polytheist - whatever - it will be a great read for you. I mean, yes, he relies heavy on Christianity and the teachings of the Catholic church, but if you were to go back to even ancient philosophers you will see themes in this book that are universal and good.

Well, I should like to write more but my 'repetitious toils' await me! My children are sleeping but my home is messy and I'm tired, and my hair is still wet in a messy bun from my shower this morning. I have food to prepare and decisions to think about. (I say all this so you know all is not perfect in my life!)


Alright...I'm going....did you look up Sheen's book on Amazon yet???

{phfr} With video!

Well I wasn't going to do it this week but then I got all sad thinking about missing out. Plus some pretty funny (and happy) kinds of things were happening all around me so I knew I needed to share once more. Here goes:

Pretty

I have a soft spot for Martha Stewart crafts.
These window stickers were too pretty to pass up,
even though I probably should not have let them go.
But I do like them because they are re-usable, so I figure when
I need a little something pretty to cheer me, these will do the trick.
Of course they are doing that right now!

Happy and Funny:

This will be a {phfr} first! A video!

This is my Josie pie saying 'hi' and looking so gosh darn cute 

all covered in her carrot/apple/banana puree! 

Real

These cleaning products represent two new realities for me.

One: that I'm to the point in my life where I get excited when I purchase new cleaning products :)

Two: that I am starting to be more interested in 'natural' products.

I have to give myself a little eye roll as I say this because I've never before had a problem with Lysol 

or anything else nice and strong and toxic. 

It just never bothered me. 

I am starting to change my mind slowly but surely...if nothing more for the sake of limiting the toxins

going into my children's mouths (Louisa is 2 1/2 and still loves to lick, taste, and suck on pretty much everything)

Anyways, don't push me too hard because like I said; this is new and a little terrifying. 

I am not going to make a complete transformation over night. And frankly, that's what scares me; that I have to do it all at once and I can't. I need to go slow.

Well there you go. Hope you enjoyed this Thursday's edition. I've been super consistent lately, haven't I?

*Like Mother Like Daughter has more fun links!*