Happy Birthday!

It's amazing what happens in a year!! cooing, smiling, grabbing, sitting, eating, crawling, standing, cruising, almost walking! Lots of hair for an Eddyblouin, 4 teeth, deep throated belly laugh, bathtub splashing, lego ingesting. Blaise is a lovely, and well loved baby!

Christmastide video.

Untitled from Allison Eddyblouin on Vimeo.

Christmas so far

Pre-School Christmas Party

We made tamales, ate perogies, read a book about the Donkey carrying Mary and the Baby, sang the song "The Friendly Beasts," decorated gingerbread houses, and had a wonderful visit with the Hanleys.

O Adonai!!!

Second night of the O Antiphons. It has been a full day. In an effort to have my adolescent exposed to OTHER PEOPLE teaching her about time management etc I have driven over 200 miles today. Here's hoping that Leadership training has some pay off soon!

We all (including Birthday Boy Godson Jack) went to see Mary Catherine Christmas Concert. It is absolutely impossible for me to gaze upon my talented daughter, shining so brightly among the other radiant and hopeful teens, without crying. The music was beautiful, reverent, hear felt, and just perfect for the season. They began with "Veni Emmanuel" which itself is inspired by the O Antiphons--though I did wonder if anyone knew that. . .

And today I have reconnected with another birthday person who has been absent from my life for almost 2 years. I am so full of thanks!! I feel like the hours are full, the time draws near, sonething is about to happen! I am waiting, expectant, hopeful, and yearning for the Word made flesh!

St Lucy Comes to Visit

AWAKE!! The Light of Christ Approaches!!

Fun with the fancy new camera!!!

So far. . .

so good. We had our first annual Eddyblouin carol sing tonight. Last summer I scored a Tasha Tudor Christmas anthology book at a yard sale for 25 cents. It has such beautiful drawings, sweet stories, and beautiful carols. Just as I was getting all choked up, looking at a lovely drawing of Mary and Baby Jesus, which reminded me of my own first Christmas with a sweet newborn 15 years ago, John sang, "Glories streamed from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing Alleluiar."

He keeps me in the present moment so gracefully!

My favorites tonight were "I saw 3 ships" and "lo! How a Rose."
Also having 3 boys wrestling and spinning and running around for 3/4 of the hour long sing was quite enlivening, and a bit annoying. They eventually settled down, John settled down enough to fall asleep. He woke up during prayers when Thaddeus was praying for Dad. "Wha?" the sleepy man grunted.
Just saying prayers dear, go back to sleep.

When I'm an Old Lady and Live With My Kids

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid,
And bring so much happiness...just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they've provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues,
And I'll bounce on the furniture...wearing my shoes.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they're on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head,
And when that is done I'll hide under the bed.
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they cook dinner and call me to eat,
I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat,
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
And when they get angry...I'll run...if I'm able!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll sit close to the TV, through the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
And play in the mud 'til the end of the day!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh,
I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.
My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
And say with a groan, 'She's so sweet when she's sleeping!'

~ Joanne Bailey Baxter, Lorain, OH

Wordless Wednesday--Adolescent Girls and Boats

Shapes

Arveragus has been doing pre-school once a week, here in our home with another friend and his Mom and little brother. We have a different focus each week, with craft, gross motor skills, finger play, circle time, food prep etc. It is a lot of fun. Generally I am preparing for this the night before and the morning of. It's what I do--last minute prep is my speciality!

Today's theme was shapes. I had masking tape shapes on the floor, cheese and turkey cut into shapes, they made different shaped biscuits. SHAPES SHAPES SHAPES!!

We needed some appropriate music for damcing on the floor shapes. Here's what I got:

They Might be Giants Particle Man (cause triangle Man hates Particle man)
10,000 Maniacs I Dreamed of a Circle
Pete Seagar All Around the Kitchen
Paul Simon Boy in the BUbble (bubble--round--get it?)
Indigo Girls Airplane (?!)
I threw in some Gershwin too just for kicks.

No one was critical--they all danced around the shapes just fine thank you.

My Excuses

Well--y'see, I lost one camera, then bought a cheap one. The thing about a cheap camera is you get what you pay for. But I'd use it if I could, which I can't because my disc drive is broken so I can't upload the program for the camera--it's that time in the Great Recession when we Wear it out, Use it up, Make do, and Do without!!

Those are my excuses for not blogging very much. Those, and Facebook.

But now I have a couple of reasons to be blogging more. Mostly, I'm considering taking a Facebook Break for Advent. Partly, blogging seems less ADD, and a bit more thoughtful than Facebook.

That's like saying the cheesecake has fewer calories than the Brownie Pudding, but there it is; compared to Facebook, blogging is downright dissertational!

John and I had a funny conversation about the phrase "steep learning curve." As in, "I sure have a steep learning curve going on with this parenting an adolescent thing." He, with his precise, mathematical mind, is sure that the proper terminology would be "shallow learning curve." But this is about as satisfying as the St. John's Senior Math tutorial deciding that the Enterprise should actually get squashed together rather than stretched out when it accelerates to light speed. WHO CARES!! It's the right image whether it's right or not technically. Steep--like climb a mountain steep, like this is REALLY hard work steep.

Yup. That's why I married him. He's the details, I'm the image!

Saint Day Celebrations!

We have St Anthony by Moi, Saint Appolonia (with a bloody tooth around her neck!), by Sondra, The Assumption of Mary (notice the planets), by Thaddeus, Our Lady and Baby Jesus by Thalia, and St Joan of Arc by Cathy.

I think I will do another Artist Trading Card party in December with a Christmas Theme!

Worth Remembering

There are many images in my mind that I know won't remain. Maybe one day I will read this and remember:

Mary Catherine spinning around with a giant sparkler. Joyous, beautiful, on the cusp of womanhood.

Three boys running races outside the window, laughing together.

John Henry and Thalia playing a tough game of chess together.

John snuggled with his sons pouring over a Naval aircraft book.

Blaise seeing his siblings faces and cracking into a wide smile.

Thaddeus making the weird dinosaur noise, and Blaise belly laughing.

The 4 younger children having a conversation about how much they love Mary Catherine when she calls them "baby" and "honey".

Baby in my arms. Baby mouth on my face. Baby fingers in my hair.


I wish I could hold onto these moments, and keep them safe from time. Like that song that they did on the muppets "If I could save Time in a Bottle" As I recall there were some explosions in the Muppet versions, but with 4 sons, that's appropriate too.

Thaddeus Paul

Six year ago Thaddeus was born. He has taught me SO MUCH. Thaddeus, my fourth child, is the one I describe as my "straw"--you know--the one that broke the camel's back. I'm the camel. After Thaddeus I had to really get organised, and dedicate myself to larger family rearing. My volunteer work had to wind down. (though it didn't for about a year--that's another story).

Thaddeus is Loud, expressive, creative, left-handed, loud, exuberant, muppet-faced, small for his age, determined, has the sweetest tender heart, and he's loud. He thrives in the lap of order. Lisa is a favorite of his because her home is so orderly. Maybe he will have a vocation to a very neat and tidy order of priests!

His first verbal demand was "Sissy!Candy!!"

He loves his Godparents Sondra and Chip. They give him candy too. Last month at a contra dance, I was encouraging him to ask a little girl his size to dance. He said "I know who to ask Mamma." He asked the librarian.

I love Thaddeus, and thank God for his precious, unique soul.

Thalia

It is the end of Thalia's birth month. We have been celebrating for almost 3 weeks!! A full 2 days before her birthday she was accepting gift from loving family in Pittsburgh. On the very day (July 13) we had cake with the Delorenzo's.

A week later we had more cake at the beach party.


Then we got her gift (chess set) in the mail and got to celebrate again. THEN we got the book that goes with the chess set! I think we are all done now!

Timely Find

I went looking for a sample of my writting for the "I write like" website and this is what I found:

Reality vs. Fantasy

There are many benefits of being a mother with several small children and husband to care for. Often they are hidden in all the mundane tasks to be fulfilled. At the end, or even the beginning of the day I do not have a lot of time to consider the ideal. What could this house look like, what should this child be doing? I am ever, refreshingly, and exhaustingly pulled into the moment by the immediate task at hand. With faith this life of the moment becomes a blessed thing.

My times of prayer are sometimes meditative and abundant, sometimes at the sink with soapy water and fleeting. It is in the blessed moments that I am able to remember the love for Christ alone is my motivation to act. Every act for love of Him keeps me in reality rather than the fantasy of “if only I had this” of “if only we did that”.

Magazines and television bombard us with the fantasy world. The lives of celebrities and the happiness objects can bring us are stories that are fun to believe, but ultimately bring us the emptiness and pain of envy, self-hatred, and discouragement. I am blessed by having four little Christs who need to be clothed and fed and loved every day to remind me of the power of Love. But whether we have children or not, we are all given chances to encounter Jesus everyday in the people he put in our paths. Real love involves sacrifice, self-denial, humility, and is painfully real. Real Love brings us to the cross, where we look at the manifestations of Jesus’ profound love for us.

What a good reminder I just gave myself.
And I write like Leo Tolstoy!

Library Trauma Averted!

Fines happen, right? They happen to me quite a bit, despite my efforts at being really grown-up and able to return things when I say,or at least call up and renew books before they are due. What I really struggle with is my desire to have a no-fine library. But since that's not reality yet, I have to think of creative ways of dealing with fines.

Sometimes I pay them a couple of dollars at a time. Sometimes I have the kids pay their own fines out of their $ or the results of car seat diving. Sometimes. like today, I snag the ever sweet and patient librarian Jackie, and ask if I can trade my fines for two high quality movies (Finding Nemo, and Pre-Natal yoga). She always says yes!

Mothering Secrets

After leaving two boys in the lobby on our way to dinner, (they were playing chess with a cousin and didn't notice being left till we came back)and loosing a 3 year old on an elevator (Aunt Sally rescued him and took him to Mamma), I thought it best not to broadcast my lack of diapers while at our Fallingwater dinner. Instead I used Mary Catherine's bag from the gift store, and a combination of papertowels and toilet paper. After a few hours in his get-up, Blaise was still a happy boy!

We Are Ready

BANANNAS!!!

He's on the edge! The tongue thrust is still there, but so is the excitement at eating something yummy! Sweet baby Blaise, almost 6 months, tasting Banannas for the first time today!

Visit from Babci and Grumpere in Pictures

A New Skill

Well--I hope anyway! We are to let it age for at least 2 months before tasting my Goat cheese Cheddar! I just covered it with bees wax this morning. FUN!

Exploring

10 years into my homeschooling adventure, I still wonder at and appreciate the minds I see developing in my children. This week has included some insights into the parent child relationship, a la King Lear, more reminders on inverting the SECOND fraction before multiplying, goosebump at hearing "The people shall rise and listen to hear, the hurrying hoofbeats of that steed, and the midnight message of Paul Revere," recited for the umpteenth time, and SPIDERS.

Whatever it is that drives a 5 year old to withstand spider bites in an effort to get some samples into a beer bottle, seek out a spider book at the library, then spend an hour "studying" in a mysterious pre-reading way--whatever that is--I love it, and hope he keeps it!!

The Birthday Cake!!

Weggie turn 3!!

Breakfast birthday cake!

Sisterly love!

Siblingly love

Blowing out the candles.

Opening the much needed double ended traintrack.