MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May you find Joy in the Babe in the manger, Peace in birth of the Savior, and Happiness in your heart and home.

God Bless You and Yours,

Mrs. Smith

I'm Sensing a Pattern

-- UPDATE --

The very night of this post, Mr. Smith's brother and his wife (N&L), gave birth to a beautiful baby... GIRL!

only one chance left for now, for our boys to have a boy cousin. my sister and her husband have their ultrasound next week!

Dear Mr. Smith,

It's happening again.
My brother called. We're getting another niece.

In case you've lost track, here's a little chart:

Between us, we have 4 siblings + spouses

----------my side ----------------------------------------- your side--------------

- R&K- = 2 girls - --------------------------------N&L - 1 girl, having ??? any minute
- R&H- = having a GIRL in may
- A&S- = having ??? in may

-------------------------- mr.&mrs. smith = 6 BOYS -----------------------------


I've got ten bucks on what those ??? are going to come out as, what do you think?

Surrounded by Testosterone,
Mrs. Smith

p.s. You know this is all in good fun. I'm thrilled for them and love all my sweet nieces. And I wouldn't trade a single blue blanket or ounce of mischief for all the bows and tights in the world.

Advent Notes

First notable -- the reason I'm only doing about half of what my heart desires in homemaking, crafting, and baking this Advent: Totally worth it.

In a most prominent place, a reminder:

To be replaced with JOY for the Christmas season. With hopes that our hearts reflect our intentions.

The St. Andrew Christmas Novena--
Last year, I began making 15-beaded chaplets with St. Andrew medals for this novena. We never really got off the ground with it then, and I've since realized that beaded chaplets are not really ideal for us, with as many little hands as we have. This year I was a more determined than ever to say this novena. We decorated and laminated cards with the prayer on them on November 30th, the actual feast of St. Andrew. (I know. can you believe it? we haven't missed a day yet.) As a way to count the prayers, I came up with this:

I had wanted to pick up some wooden fish (since St. Andrew was a fisherman) that the kids could paint, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I grabbed these fish stickers instead and they do the trick (they're just stuck to card stock and trimmed around). We use a glass votive holder that Owen made for me a few Christmases ago. We take turns. One child is in charge each evening. They drop one of the 15 fish stickers into the cup, "on the Amen!". When the fish are gone, our prayers are said. It is truly a beautiful novena. I'm so glad we've finally adopted it into our Advent traditions.

Another work in progress -- Jesse tree ornaments:

I've mentioned before how we came to use our Christmas tree during Advent. I'm excited about these ornaments I started making (sometime I'll get around to doing a separate post on them), even though daily life has gotten in the way of finishing them. We've started switching over to our regular Christmas ornaments, so now I have a whole year to get the rest of them ready for next Advent!




Our Advent wreath, which I forgot I had purchased last year. I was happy to find it tucked away:
It makes a nice centerpiece, and the boys are fully dedicated to lighting it every night during prayers.

Even in this crazy hectic time in our lives, I feel like we're establishing some beautiful Advent traditions, which I hope our boys will carry with them throughout their lives.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit SouleMama and leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Another Year

Dear Mr. Smith,

I would like to take this opportunity to say...

Happy Birthday!

It's weird getting old, isn't it? I know.

Thank you for spending your special day working your pants off for your family.

Thank you for being born on such a beautiful day, and for appreciating that you'll forever celebrate your birthday at Mass.

Thank you for being you, the best husband and father, ever.

I will try my best to keep the children from calling you Old Man when they see you.

No Promises,
Mrs. Smith

A Timeline

1:30 -- Isaac walks in the direction of his bedroom.

1:45 -- I notice he's been quiet for way too long, "Where's Isaac?!" I say, jumping up and running for the hallway.
1:46 -- I open the bathroom door and find Isaac, dental floss in hand, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. I briefly think to myself, "Two feet of dental floss? That's all the damage he did in that time?", and then let the thought pass and pull him out of the bathroom.

2:10 -- I step into the bathroom to throw a tissue into the garbage. I notice that there's no spare roll of toilet paper where I keep one, where I knew there had been one earlier. I look to the floor, under the sink...nothing. My eyes go to the toilet itself, the lid is closed. My 6th sense kicks in and I know exactly what I'm going to find when I look.
2:11-2:13 -- I plunge my hand into cold water over and over, pulling wads of half-disintegrated toilet paper out and dropping it into the garbage.
2:14 -- I think to myself, "At least he didn't flush."
2:15 -- I realize it requires a special state of mind to be a mom.