Friday, January 21, 2011

I'm a "Potty Train"

I had to laugh when my four year old son, while practicing his newly mastered skill, told me "I'm a potty train now."  Well, it's time for his younger sister to hop on "the potty train."


She's done a pretty good job considering she's known the "how" for a while - we're just working on the when.  Lucky for me though she responds well to the motivation of stickers and so our potty training experience is so much easier than it was with our first-born son and I'm looking forward to having only 1 in diapers.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I'm a JPII Catholic

Around seven years ago as I was discerning my vocation, I felt compelled to take the plunge and sign up on Ave Maria Singles - a Catholic dating site.  God was good to me and only 2 weeks later I met my now husband.  Yet, as I was filling out the many aspects of my profile on the dating site I remember trying to put into words what "type" of Catholic I was.   Conservative, Liberal, Charistmatic, Traditional, Orthodox, Cafeteria, Vatican II, "Christmas and Easter" there are so many labels out there to describe the "types" of Catholics and I didn't feel any of these quite captured the Universality of being Catholic or my experience of the beauty of the Church in its rich and varied manifestations.  I'd been blessed to grow up regularly attending a Tridentine latin Mass, had experienced the beauty and richness of the renewed Liturgy as Vatican II called for the Liturgy to be celebrated while in College, attended the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine tradition and Marianite Rites, seen the beauty and faith of the vibrant Charismatic community of Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, MI and travelled in Europe where I experienced the splendor of the Church and uiversality of the Mass said in any language but especially in Latin.  My experience of the beauties of the Catholic faith was so wide and varied, I could think of only one way to sum it all up - I am a "John Paul II" Catholic.  Praise God for this great saint who gave all for our Church and manifested Christ's love so completely and totally.  What a beautiful day Divine Mercy Sunday will be this year when we can celebrate as a Universal Church Blessed John Paul II soon to be Saint John Paul the Great.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lunch time at the Lawsons

Luke is the first of my babies to show any interest in baby food. With the other two, I had opened a baby food container around 6 months and neither William nor Miriam had finished the container. I think I may have even tried to make and freeze my own food only to throw it out later. I gave Luke some yogurt since he had to take antibiotics and he enjoyed it so much that we tried carrots. Here he is enjoying the carrots.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

On the 12th day of Christmas...

We had a White elephant Epiphany party.  It was so much fun we'll probably make it a yearly event!  In honor of the Epiphany I made "Kings Bread" with three silver rings baked into it.  Whoever found the rings were named kings and had to thing of a gift to bring our Lord. 

We also exchanged "White Elephant gifts" - great gifts exchanged homes though I think there may be a few items that return next year.  I would definately name the big 4 foot shaggy stuffed dog the most authentic white elephant gift, though my favorite addition was a snake that grows to 6 ft long when put in water.  I had my camera out to take pictures but in the fun of the evening I didn't get many pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination.