Light blogging ahead

Hello everyone! We had quite the weekend.

First of all, my Grandpa passed away yesterday morning. It was definitely his time and it was very peaceful. If you get a chance, please pray for his soul and for my Grandma, who is having a really hard time. She has short term memory loss, so basically every hour or less she forgets that Grandpa is gone and has to relive it again. It's really sad. Her name is Irene.

So the funeral home is tomorrow and the funeral is Wednesday. I'll be with my family so I doubt there will be posts for a few days.

I do have some good ones coming up though, so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Ken!!!

Some may own castles on the banks of the Rhine

and hear an orchestra each evening at nine

But richer than I they never will be

I had a dad who spent time with me.

Happy Birthday Ken! We love you!!!

New Dress

Inspired by my nine year old niece, who sewed this dress for Madeleine,
I decided I was going to give it a shot and sewed my first dress last week! I was really happy with how it turned out so she wore it today. I think I want to try something a little more challenging now. I figured out how to do buttonholes, but I'm not sure I'm ready to try a zipper yet! The buttons are my favorite part of the dress.

Mom was teaching her how to walk on her driveway today. We also went to the playground and Madeleine crawled all over the playground equipment! I was a little nervous because there were a lot of other kids on it, but she crawled up the steps and then sat and waited for me to help her down the slide! I have never seen her play like that, and it was really fun! She is getting to be a big girl :)

If you haven't already

Please take the time to read this story, and watch the video at the end too. Then pray for this family. Their hope and trust in God is amazing, and He has done great things for them!

Graduation Day

Madeleine graduated to the big girl car seat today! She's still facing backwards though - her doc said to keep her backwards until she reaches 20 lbs.

Shout to the Lord

Ok, did anyone else just about fall out of their chairs last night when the American Idols sang Shout to the Lord?! I could NOT believe it. I mean, this is one of the most popular shows out there, and they sing a BLATANTLY Christian song. And the gospel choir with them was great too. Wow, I was blown away. So this season they have mentioned Jesus a LOT, especially in the Dolly Parton week. I like this show even more now!

Go Jason Castro!! :)

First sentence, naughty girl, and the shoe saga continues...

Yesterday morning we (myself, Madeleine and the kitty cat) were hanging out in Madeleine's room. One of her favorite activities is chasing the cat (or "tee tat" as she calls her) around her room. The cat is not so thrilled with this activity, but she takes it all in stride. Anyway, she was crawling around after her saying "Hello, Tee Tat!" "Hellooooo Tee Tat!!" over and over. It was really cute :)

THEN, she decided to be really naughty. She crawled over to the night light, touched it, and said "no no!" She knows she's not supposed to touch it and that I'll say "no no!" This doesn't seem to faze her. So she kept touching it, saying "no no!" and looking at me and smiling. I was able to be firm for a few minutes and keep telling her no. But THEN, she decided she was going to touch the space heater. So she was standing precariously between the night light and the space heater, touching both of them and looking back at me and laughing! I tried REALLY hard, but I could not help but laugh - she was so naughty! She knew exactly what she was doing. Of course, my laughing only made things worse. Finally I had to distract her with something else, which is what I should have done in the first place.

I was telling my mom about it on the phone, and she said that I absolutely can't laugh! I told her that was impossible and then she proved that herself today at lunch, when Madeleine was throwing food on the floor and saying "No no!" and laughing. Mom tried really hard not to laugh, but she lost that battle and my naughty little girl can only get worse with this kind of parenting!!

And then the shoes. the 6 - 12 month pedipeds and robeez are just about too small for her, and the 12-18 month size looks like they would fit giant babies. Her feet are SO narrow too, so that doesn't help anything. I am going to try the Target brand that Angela suggested (thanks!), and if that doesn't work, I guess she'll just have to wear her robeez she wears every day until she absolutely grows out of them. I have a feeling she's going to be hard to fit. Her feet are long and narrow, and she is tall and skinny. She's in the weight range for some 3-6 month clothes, but almost in the height range for 18 months. 12 months works pretty well if she has a cloth diaper on. If she has a disposable the pants just fall right off of her. Oh well, it is not that bad of a problem to have!

Speaking of problems though, if you drove by Kohls today and heard alternate crying and laughing spells coming from the dressing room, that was me trying on bathing suits.

Our breakfast

Today I did something that I've never done.. cooked pancakes and let Madeleine eat breakfast in her jammies! It was great, we didn't even finish until 9:30! We are usually out the door by 8am. I actually made Banana Pancakes - milk and egg free - and they were absolutely delicious. We made so many that we called my mom - Grandma - and asked her to come eat with us and she did!

It was a big hit!
Ooh, Mama gave me a whole one?!
Delicious!
I'm ready for number two, Mom!
In case you're interested:

Banana Pecan Pancakes (without the pecans)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used some wheat flour in there)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of cinnamon

2 well mashed ripe bananas

1 1/2 cup soy milk plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar - mix and let sit for a few minutes

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I omitted this)

Mix dry ingredients together. In seperate bowl, mash bananas well and mix with soy milk, vanilla and oil until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix but do not overmix. A few lumps are ok. Fold in pecans, if using.

Cook like regular pancakes and serve with sliced banana and maple syrup. YUM!! This recipe made about 15 small pancakes. This is definitely going to be in the regular rotation of recipes!

The rest of the day was great too. We went shoe shopping again and tried on pedipeds and robeez in the next size up from what she's in now. They were both HUGE on her. I think we're going to have to wait a month or so to buy her shoes, and see if she's walking by then before I make this decision. We went to Starbucks and had lunch there. She took a great nap and I made her some healthy carrot cranberry muffins, which she loved. I made a delicious dinner of meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes and roasted broccoli with garlic, and had it ready when Ken got home - yay! Madeleine absolutely loved dinner. I guess beef is the only meat she likes so far!

Off to watch American Idol! Good night! And try those pancakes tomorrow - they are SO GOOD!

Roadtrip!

This weekend we went down to visit some friends in Louisville. We had such a great time! They are so thoughtful - they bought fresh flowers for our room, and had water, gum and candy in a bowl by our bed. They also put their OWN very nice pillows on our bed - they were seriously the best pillows I've ever slept on :)
They took us to a park for a bike ride and Ken and I realized JUST how out of shape we are!! We need to work on that. Then they cooked us a delicious meal of steak, baked potatoes and salad - with some great wine.
The church we went to on Sunday was so beautiful, and the brunch restaurant was delicious too. I only wish we could have stayed longer (and that Madeleine would have slept a little better!)

Thank you so much again for a GREAT weekend!

Today was just fantastic. I got a ton of stuff done around the house, went shopping for shoes for Madeleine, and took 2 great walks on the Monon trail. It was a beautiful day so I kept the windows open all day. I am loving this vacation so far.

Speaking of shoes, does anyone have any favorites for a one year old? I went to Stride Rite and they tried to tell me she needed these "walker" shoes with a huge rubber piece on the toes so she could still crawl. She tried them on and couldn't even stand up in them, they seemed so cumbersome on her. So then the guy (who was like 12 - why wasn't he in school?) said that MAYBE she wasn't ready for those. Um, yeah. She wears Robeez all the time, but she is outgrowing them. She doesn't walk yet, crawls everywhere, but is standing up and cruising, so I know it will be soon. I also had a pair of Pedipeds that she's outgrown. I like those too. I want to get her a pair that she can wear pretty much every day all spring and summer, and she'll probably be learning to walk in these next months. These shoes are so expensive so I want one that will last for a while. Any suggestions?

Last day of work for a week!

I'm so happy that we'll be on vacation next week. I'll get to play "stay at home mom" again. I don't have a lot of plans other than sleeping in, bringing her in bed with me in the morning and then eating breakfast together in our pajamas, instead of rushing to get dressed and out the door. I plan on playing on the floor a lot with her. It's supposed to be in the 60's all week so I'm sure we'll go outside for a walk every day we can. I plan on having delicious and healthy meals on the table when Ken comes home, so we can eat together as a family. I plan on catching up completely with the laundry, doing some deep cleaning, and maybe even tackling a few extra projects. For one thing I have a little sundress all cut out and ready to sew, but I have never made anything like this so I'm scared to try to sew it! But it was pretty inexpensive fabric so it's ok if I mess up. If I do really well, maybe I'll make her another one with some better fabric? Who knows? The sky's the limit :)

Another project I want to tackle is to start cleaning out my craft room. I could probably drop off several huge bags to Goodwill just from that room alone. I also need to go through Madeleine's clothes and see what she needs for spring and summer.

I know a lot of these may sound like boring, mundane chores, but I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to them!!! And I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to spend all this time with Madeleine, just her and I. She is just the most fun kid I've ever met, and I am happy to have this opportunity to slow down and just enjoy her.

Tagged!

By one of my favorite blog moms, Mum2Twelve! (She is studying to be a midwife (right?) and I am SO flying her up here next time I need her services!!)

Rules of the meme:

1. Post these rules of the game first.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the tagger goes to the blogs of those who have been tagged & leaves a comment letting new players know they’ve been tagged. The tagger asks them to find the meme and instructions back at his/her blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago:

10 years ago I was almost done with my first year of college at Ball State University. I was trying to figure out my roommate situation, if I would stay in the dorm for one more year, or if I would get an apartment or house with some friends. I decided to stay in the dorm for one more year, which was a good choice, since I had a BLAST my sophomore year. I was also really upset because I was one credit shy of getting a really good parking pass on campus and realized I still had to park at the stadium for one more semester. (Don't worry though, there are ALWAYS ways around these things.... :)

Five things on my To Do List today:

Oh my life is much different today than it was 10 years ago when I didn't have a care in the world. If you're in college and reading this, ENJOY IT!!!

1. Get up, pack breakfasts, lunches, diapers, get Madeleine ready and get to work by 8am.
2. Get Ava fed, dressed and out the door by 9am (their housekeeper comes today.)
3. Clean the kitchen, sweep and mop the floor.
4. Do at least 2 loads of laundry. Should probably do at least 3.
5. Get the kids up from their naps by 3:10, change diapers, get them in the car and pick up Grace from school. Drop her off at piano at 3:30, run through Starbucks drive through (really there's no point in loading and unloading 2 kids in 1/2 hour), and pick her up at 4:00.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Be a full time stay at home mom!!!

2. Take a trip, and let Ken pick wherever he wanted to go.

3. Pay off all my family and friends debt.

4. Give a ton of money to the Missionaries of the Cross in Tijuana.

5. Give a ton of money to our church and various other causes we believe in.

Three of my bad habits:


1. STARBUCKS
2. Laziness
3. Procrastination

Five places I have lived:

1. Kokomo, INY
2. Anderson, IN
3. Noblesville, IN
4. Thousand Oaks, CA
5. Muncie, IN

(Wow that's a depressing list!)

Five jobs I’ve had:

1. Bagel girl at Chesapeake Bagel Bakery
2. Babysitter for TONS of kids over the years.
3. Lifeguard (that was my favorite)
4. Youth Programs Director at El Centro Hispano
5. Abstinence Educator for inner city kids in Indy

Five people I want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!):
Heather, Lifehopes, Pa Beck, Ma Beck, and All You Who Hope

Remembering John Paul the Great

Pope John Paul II was the Pope for my entire life. The Sunday after he died they hung a huge picture of him up by the altar, and it looked like he was waving goodbye. I was so sad. Actually, I cried so hard during mass that my good friend Jenny had to tell me to get ahold of myself! But like the young people said, we were like orphans that night. I feel priviliged to have lived through his papacy, and I will forever remember him and teach my children about him. I got to see him in person 3 times while in Rome in 1995, and his Eucharistic procession is one of my greatest memories. I got within 10 feet of him. Thousands of people gathered around him, but his eyes were fixed on Jesus in the Eucharist the entire time.

Lord, help us to follow his example and keep our eyes fixed on You!

Awful awful awful

Yesterday, right when I was getting ready to leave work, I was putting in a Barney DVD for Ava when I heard a huge crash. I looked behind me and Madeleine had pulled herself up on the huge, heavy, metal fireplace screen and it crashed right down on top of her. The poor thing was pinned underneath it. I pulled it off her before she even had a chance to cry, but then she screamed and screamed, and had a huge bump on the side of her head and a big bruise all down the side of her face. I was SO scared. We tried to put ice on it but she wouldn't let us, and just kept screaming. Then she finally calmed down and laid her head on my shoulder, which she never does unless she's really scared. I was able to hold it together until we got home, but as soon as we walked in I started crying. It was just SO scary. I called my friend who is a doctor and he said to just watch for changes in behavior. But she was fine last night - I gave her tylenol and she ate a big dinner and played on the floor like usual. I checked on her several times last night and this morning she still has a big bruise but it looks better than yesterday, and she is acting normal.

I just can't stand when things happen to her and she gets hurt. I want to protect her from everything like that, but I just can't. But Ken says that she will learn that she WILL get hurt sometimes, but she'll get through it. But will I get through it?! I definitely think it was worse for me than for her. I better learn to hold it together though, because I'll have to be there for her when she gets hurt throughout her life - hurt feelings, skinned knees, broken hearts. But I just can't stand to see my baby get hurt.

Yogurt! Yogurt!!

Sorry, only my roommates from St. Francis will know what that title means :)

But anyway, Madeleine had yogurt yesterday! And she LOVED it. I have been drinking milk, eating delicious ice cream, etc for 2 weeks and she's had no reaction, so I bought some Yo Baby and fed it to her before mass yesterday afternoon. So far she's had no rash or anything..

And drumroll please.......

SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! And I mean 7:45pm to 7:30am! I could NOT believe it. Of course I kept waking up to check on her, because I was worried about her reaction to the yogurt, and also I kept thinking, "What the heck is going on?!" But she did it! Now I know she CAN do it - let's hope she keeps this up. It was great.

Of course she got up twice after I got home from Sarah's bachelorette party on Saturday night - well Sunday morning :) It was really the first time I've left her at night, except once with my mom when we went to hear Ken's band play, but she threw up all over her crib so I had to come home. This time, I put her to bed at 7:30 and she didn't get up at all, so Ken had an easy night.

And by the way, the party was really fun and it was nice to get out kid free. We went to PF Changs and then a sketchy bar called Nippers. They had karaoke and it was QUITE the place for people watching, let me tell ya!

Next week is spring break and the kids are going to Florida so I get the WHOLE WEEK OFF! I'm so excited :)

My kid needs to grow some hair

If she can brush her hair with a LINTBRUSH! :)

Actually, I finally cut her bangs yesterday! They've been hanging in her eyes for months. She looks SO cute - it made a big difference! And she has such cute little curls in the back.

Ok so I missed it by two days

But March 26th was the 8th anniversary of our first date. 8TH!!! Good LORD we're getting old. Of course I had just turned 20 when we met, and he was almost 28. Mom told me she hoped he was the one because each of my previous boyfriends had been getting older and older, and Mom said she didn't think she could go any older than this!

We actually met on New Years Eve '99. So we'd been talking for a few months, when I broke up with my boyfriend and decided to go out on a date with Ken. Was that a good decision or what?!

We went to the Indiana Repertory Theater downtown and saw Shakespeare's Othello. Great play, great date, great first kiss. (Kissing on the first date?! I know! I never did that!) What can I say, he was the one :)

How did I know he was the one? Well, for one thing, I told him on the first date that I wanted 10 kids. And he wasn't TOO scared. At least he didn't show it, and he kept calling me!

A year and a half later, he asked me to marry him. But that's a story for another day.

By the way, I wasn't kidding about the 10 kids! Love you Ken!

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys?

This is something else I remember from childhood that I snagged from Grandma and Grandpa's house before my cousins could get it! Madeleine LOVED it this evening! I'm going to remember this to bring to our beach trip - it kept her busy for at least 30 minutes!

Easter Message

This is from the CEO at Ken's company. I used to babysit for their kids - and they are some of the sweetest, most helpful and loving kids I've ever met. I'd love to have a family like them someday.

How great is this?!


Easter Message from Bryan
March 22, 2008

This week we observe the Christian Holy week leading us to Easter Sunday and the celebration
of the risen Christ. For me and for my family, this is the most special holiday celebration of the
liturgical year, even more so than Christmas.

Each year Maria and I look for a virtue for Lent to try and get our kids focused on something to
unite them with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. This year we selected Mercy as the virtue.
As has become a sort of tradition with our older children, we watch the Passion of the Christ, and
while there is so much to be taken away from the director’s portrayal of Jesus’ suffering and
death; we were moved especially this year by the scene where Mary comes to Christ on the way
of the cross. While not scriptural based, the writers have Jesus saying to Mary “Look Mother,
how I make all things new”. How ironic that scene appears. Here is Jesus, tortured, coved in
blood, horribly disfigured and yet this was the Plan to make “all things new” again. To fix what
had gone horribly wrong since the first sin.

When we discuss the virtue of mercy with our kids they immediately explain that showing mercy to someone is to forgive them for whatever wrong they have done to you. Perhaps to most mercy and forgiveness are one in the same; yet it seems to me like mercy has to precede forgiveness.

If we do not have a merciful disposition then forgiveness becomes more akin forgetfulness;
meaning we lack the specific intension to release or erase the wrongful act committed against us,
instead we just chose not to dwell on it. Yet it is important to be merciful and to forgive others
even if the transgressor is not sorry for their having harmed us in the first place. Hanging on to
that wrong, even if forgotten for a short while, will eventually be remembered and eat away at us and do us emotional and spiritual harm. It is from these emotions that more sin is perpetuated; for example vengeance; the need to feel as if we are getting even. How many times do you see an NFL player get called for unsportsmanship conduct when he is retaliating against a guy who shoved him? Yet it’s the second guy the referee sees and calls the penalty on. We certainly see this in our children as they try and get even with one another. It drives Maria and me crazy. Why is this lesson so hard for us to figure out?

Why was it that Jesus, the son of God, had to suffer so much in order to redeem us of our
iniquities? I’ve heard and read many differing “scholarly” opinions about the purpose behind the
Passion, but I think it boils down to balance. Think of the scale Lady Justice holds; there was just
so much sin in the world, the only way to balance it out was with the weight of the cross and
Jesus’ supernatural suffering. And what a merciful God we have to take that weight upon Himself to pay that ransom for our eternal lives: to balance the scale.

This abundant mercy lives on in the Church today through the sacrament of reconciliation. We
can balance the scales of our own sin through confession, the act of contrition and penance. It is
the perfection of God plan to recognize that we sin by our own darkened nature and accordingly
we will need a way to make ourselves “new” again. Not that the act of forgiveness makes the sin
stay away. We live under constant attack from evil. We invite it into our homes in the form of
cable TV and the internet. We live with danger from addictive behaviors such as gambling, drugs
and alcohol and sex. Elliot Spitzer’s downfall can attest that all people are subject to temptation
and in our own arrogance we feel we can control the addiction when it is the addiction that
controls us; with ruinous consequences.

The recent debate about race in the presidential campaign is another current event in the news
that shows the need for mercy in order to receive the grace of healing. The media sound bites of
Reverend Wright’s comments about the division of color in America offers an example of why we
need to get past the history of hate in this country. Can anyone honesty deny there have been
terrible offenses against black American’s and many other ethnic minorities in this country? Of
course not, but when we dwell on the hate we become mired in it and unable to move past it
towards a brighter future. Instead the hate consumes us and holds us hostage to a bitter
existence. But once again forgiveness is not the same as forgetfulness. We can not forget or
erase the past. The long-standing policy of segregation and discrimination that pervaded this
country for decades must be remembered so that we may never again repeat these offenses.
But with forgiveness comes healing and with healing the ability move forward.

Store up your treasures in heaven

This weekend, my parents moved my grandparents from an assisted living home into a nursing home. Grandma is 88 and Grandpa is 90, and they can't take care of themselves anymore.

About 5 years ago, they moved from their house into assisted living. At that time, the family went through their house and took some special things that they couldn't take with them. It was kind of weird, looking through their things and deciding what we wanted, especially while they were sitting right there. And although Grandma was sad to move, she was happy that her special possessions were staying in the family. I got her set of good china, her silver, and some "milk" glasses that were her grandmother's. I also got her huge collection of cookbooks, which I use quite frequently. She told me that she had collected them over the years, and would spend nights poring through them, searching for new recipes to try. Some of them were her mother's. Grandma was an exceptional cook, and her very favorite day of the year was Christmas Eve. That day, she would have the entire family over, cook an amazing Christmas dinner, and spoil us with presents.

When they moved into assisted living, somehow we knew it would never be the same. They went downhill very quickly after that. Dad and my uncle decided that they would have to take their car away. We never had another Christmas Eve at Grandma's house - it was always at someone else's house. Grandma started losing her memory, and Grandpa's sight and hearing got worse and worse.

In the past several months, it became clear to everyone that they could not live there and take care of themselves anymore. Grandpa is very depressed, laying in bed all day. Grandma has absolutely no short term memory, for example, she thinks she has just taken a shower when in fact it's been several weeks. They tried to send nurses and people to help them, but they refused the help.

So on Good Friday, my mom, dad, uncle, aunt, and a few cousins went over there to tell them they were moving, and move them the same day. Grandma asked over and over where they were moving, why they were moving, what did they do wrong. Mom kept telling her that they did nothing wrong, but Grandpa needed nurses and they were going to a place that had nurses, and that she needed to go with him to help him. Mom said this conversation went on for over an hour and a half, with Grandma just repeating the same questions and mom repeating the same answers. During this time, some other family members brought their two comfortable chairs and a rug to the new place. When they finally actually drove to the new place, Grandma immediately forgot they had been in the car, and just thought they were in a different room. But everyone made their room as comfortable and homey as possible, hanging their favorite pictures and bringing some of their clothes. They actually seem pretty happy in their new home. They were able to stay together, and Grandma is able to still get her newspaper and coffee, which she loves.

We went to visit them on Saturday. Grandma absolutely loves Madeleine, even though she doesn't remember that I have her between visits. She just kept saying how beautiful she is, how much she loves her dimples and her eyes, and commenting on her cute shoes. I made her laugh and Grandma loved that. We sat on Grandpa's bed, and although he can't see her, he touched her and she said a few words for him (including Papa, which is her word for the Pope, but he doesn't have to know that!) I told him that she has his blue eyes, and about the same amount of hair and the same amount of teeth! He got a huge smile on his face and said, "Aw, now you're just making fun of us!" He loved her and said she was a good baby.

This move and going through their things was much different than before. Grandma had stashed hundreds and hundreds of packages of cookies, crackers, and lollipops away in her dresser drawers. We were sure she was saving them for her grandchildren and great grandchildren, but as soon as she put them someplace, she forgot about them. There were 5 trashbags taken out the first day. One really sad thing was we had to choose their clothes that they will be buried in. Grandma's is a dress that she wore to all our weddings, and Grandpa's is his best suit. We also found pictures of them from just a few years ago. They looked so happy and so much younger. They were even a little "pleasingly plump." Now they are so thin and frail.

On Saturday, I went over to their old place as well, because mom wanted me to choose a few things that I wanted. Earlier in his life, Grandpa had been a very skilled woodworker, and I got a few of his pieces. They are really amazing. I also got a few of Grandma's most favorite "knick knacks" for lack of a better word. Mom found 4 hand embroidered pillowcases that we guessed had been a wedding gift. They were still in the original box and had never been used. The skill level on these are just incredible. They are absolutely beautiful and whoever gave them to Grandpa and Grandma took a very long time to make them.

One thing I remember about them is how they would always play games with us. Every time we spent the night over there we'd run to the game drawer and pull out Old Maid, Crazy 8s, Po Kee No, dominoes, Trouble, or any other number of games. They'd spend the entire evening playing games with us. So I snagged a few of the original games :) All the cousins wanted some of the games, since those were some of our greatest memories. I also got Grandma's most prized piece of furniture, her "secretary" as she called it. It's a wooden hutch which she always displayed her glass things, and it has a fold out desk and 3 drawers on the bottom. Grandma kept all her stamps and letter writing supplies in there, and also her magnifying glasses. My brother and I were fascinated with these things and would go around the house looking at everything "up close" through them. Grandpa would also take us bug hunting in the yard and we'd look at THEM up close as well! (They lived on a farm, and I was a tomboy :) I found the magnifying glasses so I took them as well.

We found around 40 decks of cards, thousands of pictures and letters, programs from all of our weddings, every card that she'd ever been given, tons and tons of clothes (I've never seen so much polyester!), and just more THINGS than I ever thought could fit in a three room apartment. Most of the things were packed away and never used or noticed. Mom told me when she was going through their stuff on the first day, she was thinking that at the end of our lives, we end up with just a few things, the bare necessities. We don't need anything else. Our family ends up going through everything, and while we have a few special things we can take away, we don't need to hold onto material possessions that we think we'll use "someday." Someday might never come.

It made me think that I have so much junk around my house. I am not using so much of it. Maybe someone else could use it. I'm going to get rid of a lot of stuff. I need to simplify my life. I need to give things away.

And, I want to really use the special things. Who cares if something gets broken? It's just a thing. Of course, sometimes things have good memories attached to them. I can remember them and enjoy them more if I actually USE them, instead of just saving them for "special occasions."

We ate our dinner on Grandma's good china tonight.

Happy Easter!!!

Beautiful Easter dress.
My little flower
I love my baby SO much!!
Godparents Jeff and Donna.

Alleluia!!!

Last Easter was very special to us, as it was her Baptism Day. I can't believe how much she's grown since then. And I can't believe how I love her more and more every single day! I'm just so thankful for her - my greatest blessing.