Christmas Prep.

It amazes me to see how much we can accomplish when we put our minds to it. This time of year we do everything we usually do ( work, laundry, cleaning, cooking) and we add to it many other things ( Christmas cards, holiday shopping, tree trimming, parties and Christmas programs) . The list is endless and we seem a little stressed, but somehow get it all done. We add extra devotional time, advent readings and advent wreathes. God wants us to journey with him all the time and we manage to do a better job of it amid all the hustle and bustle. Why??

Are we lazy the rest of the year? Do we just find our feeble excuses too compelling to defy them? What must God think of us the rest of the year?

I think that God is not the only one who falls short other times of the year. We give more to charity during the holidays, we visit the elderly during the holidays, and we make an effort to get in touch with our relatives. These are all things that should be done on a regular basis and are not. What example are we setting for our children? Too often we let someone else do it. Who is the someone else and did they get the memo?

This Sunday I am starting a new tradition. In our family we put the tree up gradually. On Sunday we will officially light it after our family and friends join us for caroling around the neighborhood. We will visit some elderly and some other friends spreading Christmas cheer. When we return to top the tree with the angel and light it up with cocoa in hand the tree will be all the more beautiful and meaningful.

I think that the next few blogs will discuss some of our other family traditions. Everyone needs to try to add a new superpower. Add a new tradition that centers around people besides you. You will be a little closer to your inner "superhero".

Picture Update

Here are some of those Pictures from the trip to the Dominican Republic. This was an adventure above and beyond what the dirty diapers and dishes of everyday supermom life. I think momentarily I morphed into beach goddess.

Above you have the resort at night. Actually about midnight. It was amazing how there I could stay up so late without a problem and at home once the children are in bed my lids begin to droop. Perhaps hints of an unharnessed superpower.

Here we are going for dinner at a Japaneese Hibachi place on the resort with our fellow volleyball regulars. Form left to right: David, Mitch (Mr. Incredible), Me (Supermom), John and Andrew. Chekout my tan!

Sand crab anyone? Abby wanted to know if I was afraid. I had to explain that it was only three inches and we zoomed in to get this picture.


I talked previously about how poor it was off the resort. This isn't a very good picture and this isn't the poorest we saw,but I think you can begin to see what I mean.

I don't think that this one needs any explanation. Pure beauty. Thank you for this oppotunity to explore the world beyond my own.

Everyday Superhero

I have spent the last week running around trying to keep my head above the water. I think that I am swimming in a very turbulent sea called Christmas preparations. I have been holding Chocolate parties, Christmas cards, shopping, and school projects, cleaning and my favorite, Laundry.

CCD this last Sunday was on suffering. Redemptive suffering. This is a hugely abstract concept for 10th graders to grasp. Last week also held that a good friend of mine sister had a heart attack one week after giving birth. Her name is Becky Arganbright. She lives in the Twin Cities with her four children and husband. She is a perfect example of how suffering can be redemptive. How we all can benefit from suffering in the world. And how we can use suffering to help others. It is a great gift we have been given and Christ served as the ultimate teacher.

I have heard stories of people praying all night for her. I know that the students at my daughters school will be collecting money for Christmas gifts for the family. I know that all of these good things will be seed for even greater things. And all of them came from suffering.

I know that with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays that Becky reminds us to not take things for granted. We know not the time or the hour. She reminds me that the holidays need to reach beyond our family and friends, but to the communities we live in. Stop and look around you. Who needs help, how can we help? There is always time for a prayer.

Thank you for all of those reminders Becky. We pray daily for your speedy and full recovery. May you be surrounded by the Holy family's healing embrace this blessed season.

For more info and updates on Becky's condition go to : www.caringbridge.org/visit/beckyarganbright

Let's play catch up!

As promised here are some photos of the Dominican Republic. Okay, I take that back. My wonderful husband did not mark them as a shared file, so we will have to wait.

Today is a Superhero Day! This is one of those days when you start out with a mound of things you want or need to accomplish and some how in the course of the day you get them all done and more. Some tasks that you think will be hard seem somewhat easier. That is why I actually have time to blog!

These type of days I can't help but be thankful for all I have. The children seem well behaved and take the discipline well. I can even find myself only reheating my tea once or twice.

The last few days had me frantically trying to catch up after the holiday weekend. I actually did some black Friday shopping. I was up and at the stores by 2:30 and home by 7:00. The children were still asleep. I only went for one particular item that I got for about $80 off. I would say that I was successful. I think I forgot to mention exhausted. The kids got up and we spent the day watching movies and vegging on the couch.

I will sign off for now. but have no fear aspiring superheros. There will come a day when your powers will emerge and you will find strength that was heaven sent to carry you through.

traveling superhero

We went on a trip. I should clarify, my husband and I went on a trip with his company. We left on Wednesday morning along with 500 or so fellow co-workers and their guests to travel to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

This would be a good time to point out that we have never left the country before. We hadn't even really taken a honey moon. The number of times that we have flown on one hand and that would include both of us added together.

This trip was exhausting! I had to pack for us, plan where the children would be and when, pack bags for them and make sure that anything they could need would be there. We needed passports, signed over medical consent for the children and even wrote a will so if the worst should happen the children would be provided for.

We packed an entire drug store on the advice of others when they heard that we were traveling to a third world country.

As the date got closer, the children misbehaved more. they knew we were leaving and I can only guess that they perhaps felt we may not return. I truelly believed that once on the plane, I would be able to relax. That was not the case. I will save that for the next blog. I can tell you that nothing terrible happened. We all survived and will live to travel again.

Super shopping powers emerge

I am proud to report that I took four children under the age of four on a shopping trip to Ikea( which is two hours away) and I lived to tell about it. What is the trick? I wish I knew. I had to get the shopping trip finished, I had to go alone. I think that there was a lot of mind over matter. Mainly my mind over their matter.

I have found that when children are challenged, they will rise to the occasion. They like to feel important. They like to know that you are proud. If you set out those guidelines for them they will follow.

Ikea was a true test of my will and their patience. We drove two hours each way. We made our way through the maze of Ikea furniture. We ate the Ikea lunch. We then checked out only to discover that someone mis stocked the the shelf and one of the things we got was the wrong size.

Thankfully we noticed before we drove two hours home. So we waited at customer service only to discover that what would have taken an employee five minutes to do, would take me 45 with four children in toe and more line waiting. And lets not forget the two hour drive home.

All in all they were good. And my child controlling powers emerged a little stronger that day!

Perhaps next week we can tackle the Mall of America!

Trick or Treat

Really, what else did you think that I would dress up as. This is the first year that we all dressed up together. We have previously dressed up, but not as a group. As a matter of fact the year I delivered Max I was the oven, my belly the bun and my husband the bun baker.

These were some of the easiest costumes I ever made. They were not quite warm enough, we all had layers underneath.

We had a great time and got some great comments. Several people wanted to see my husband lift a car! And one women said that we were "Awesome".

The kids thought it was great that we dressed up too. They were so proud that we did this together.

P.s. Lily, who really looked more like Dash, said she was a second Violet. Anything to keep the peace.

Every which way

Have you seen the air freshner commercial with the mother octopus who is doing at least six things at a time. That is exactly how I felt last night and this morning. Today was another Friday (see Fridays from Hell for clarification). And things were worse than usual. One reason was my husband was working late and not home to help. Another is that we are taking a road trip after school today and needed to pack. Thirdly, we were planning a coffee for after mass to celebrate the Priest's birthday.( of course I was in charge)

Last night I was making chocolate pumpkin suckers for my daughter's class, frosting a cake, making dinner and doing the dishes all at once. I was exhausted. A few more legs or arms sure would have helped. By some miracle I got everything done and everything went smoothly.

Smoothly is a relative term. My son only disappeared once. My mother said he was sitting by my daughter and when I looked , he was not. So here I am with a frantic look running around the school trying to locate him and praying he did not go outside. Another father noticed the look and did a lap around the school while I searched within. Why does it seem like it takes hours to find them when in reality it is only minutes? I am humbled every time one of my children is not with in sight and I fear the worse.

Halloween is fast approaching and I promise you pictures of the entire family dress-up together. I will not say what, you will have to wait and see.

One more thing checked off the list today, I blogged.

Just a Quick Note

There are days when you feel all fired up and ready to go. There are days that you feel as though you are dragging yourself and everyone else through. Today, and yesterday, are those sort of days. You are having one of those days if......

• your head weighs 50 pounds
• The children are fighting every single minute
• your potty breaks are interrupted five times each
• Is it still only 10 a.m.?
• Yes, there is more laundry
• you are running out of corners to put the children in
• the children are spending more time in the corner than out
• The feed, burp, change, sleep, repeat for the baby isn't working
• you are cleaning up breakfast and realize it is time for lunch
• you have reheated your cup of tea five times and it is still getting cold before you can drink it

This list could go on, but duty calls and so do the poopy diapers. Cheer up there is always tomorrow.

Monday, Monday, Monday

I wanted to be up by 5:30 this morning. I work out in the morning. I love to run when everthing else is quiet. I love the feel of being the only one on the planet. However, when my husband took a managers position half an hour away from home that all changed. He will leave for work between 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning. This means that Supermom, who has been hard wired to wake and work-out, has to wait until he returns in the evening to work-out. My sleep has suffered greatly. If you work out to close to slumber time it makes your slumber restless. Well at least it does mine. And consequently by the time I feel I am sleeping well it is time to get up. So I have been waking late in an effort to take advantage of the good sleep I get when I should be up.

It is horrible. I spend most of the day feeling sleepy and achy. Today I was hoping to get up and lift weights. Needless to say that did not happen. Perhaps I can hit the weights during nap time. Or better yet, I might nap.

I am a creature of habit. Like I have already said I plan and when my well laid out plan is up rooted I have to juggle. I do not juggle well. Here is where Elasti-girl has everything over me. I try to improvise, but my body is not fooled. Clearly I am not as flexible as I need to be.

I propose a new movement. Mom's unite to have everyone's life revolve around them. Not the other way around. Why must we be the ones who have to wait? Why must our schedule be modified to suit every other family member? Why must we be in charge of all the appointments, sitters, and shopping? Mom's need to rise up. Pass on some responsibility to the older children, to the husband. Rise-up and have a little me time. Then hold on to it and do not negotiate it away. Only when we are cared for can we ever become the true Supermom they need us to be.

blog action day

Today is Blog action day. this means that many blogs written today will be talking about climate change. I would like to pose this question? Is this another way of saying Global Warming?

I have always thought that "Saving the Planet" was ridiculous. The planet had been around for thousands of years and never seemed to be in danger of blowing up or shrinking away. So why be healthy? Why recycle?

I think what needs to be addressed is the fact that humans haven't always been on the earth. We can't live in every climate on the earth. Therefore, what we need to fix is the way we alter the climate. If we do so drastically, it will become a place that we can no longer inhabit.

There is a great more to it than that. God gave us this planet. He made us stewards of his creation. This means that we are responsible for it. Failing to do so in any way possible is a failure to our creator.

I find that there are even more evils at work here. There is a great push to go green. This is awesome because we have more natural products than ever, more recycling, and new ways reuse all kinds of products. The bigger problem is that now we are being charged heavily for wanting to use those things. Green products are more expensive than traditional ones. Us Supermoms who want what is best for our families can't afford to pay the difference! We need to flex our consumer muscles to get companies to drop prices on what could be really great products. After all, if the prices dropped, more people could afford them and buy them and wouldn't the world be a healthier more natural place for all of us.

Little boy wonder

My husband was mortified the first time my son picked up his little sisters pink, sparkling purse. My son was only five months old, but we were in public. My husband did not want any one else at church that Sunday to see his son playing with a "girly toy".

Since then he has played dress-up with the girls on a regular basis. He puts their dresses on and accessories just like they do. When we play salon to paint our nails, he is the first in line to have his done. I am not the least bit concerned that my little boy will one day grow-up to be a manly man. I think that he is a perfect example of how children will play with what ever they happen to have.

He also tends to do things my girls never would have thought of. For example he has tried to shoot his sisters with Mr. Potato Head's arm. does it look that much like a gun? And yesterday he found a stick in the yard that was twice his size and was making firing noises as he tried to maneuver around the yard. While I don't like the children playing with sticks, I tried to give him a smaller one that had less possibility of tripping him. He gave me a funny look and promptly returned to the oversized bazooka.

There is something to the saying, "boys will be boys". I think in a way it is truer that boys will be boys even when there isn't a single boy toy to be found. They will simply make one.

The Plan

I am a planner. I always have been. I plan my grocery trips by aisle. I plan my workouts. I planned my wedding day down to the minute. I had a plan for my life. The plan went something like this: I am going to be a great artist and never get married. I planned to adopt three children by the time I was thirty. I wanted to have it all and a house to put it in.

But let's face it, life doesn't follow plans. I am some what pleased to report that my life looks nothing like the plan I had. I fell in love with the first man I ever really dated. (We dated for four and half years before the wedding.) We were married after sophomore year of college and on our first anniversary we were blessed with our first daughter Abigail. We continued to work our way through college and the summer my husband graduated Lily was born. Maximilion came just a little over two years later. We all share a tiny two bedroom apartment and my art is little but a side note in my life. Let's face it , three children leave little time for hobbies.














The only part of the plan that looks similar to my life is the part about having three children. I can assure you that I gave birth to all three. Adopting was not in our budget. I don't regret a sinlge part of my life. There are times when I wonder if my kids have everything they need? Or if we would be happier if life were a little different? I very quickly am reminded by my children's laughter as they play together, or they way they all snuggle together under blankets on the living room floor on movie night , that they are happy and they have everything they need.

At some point we have to step back from our life and stop planning. We have to let God lead us where we need to be. We need to realize that need and want are two different things. We learn that wants will never make us happy and needs are much smaller than we anticipate. I never got everything I wanted, but I do have everything I need and I am happily learning to embrace every moment. The upside is that I can clean my entire apartment top to bottom in less than 60 minutes! Now if only I could get a dryer that I didn't have to run four times to dry my clothes.

Fridays from Hell

Another day of chasing children and fighting off the evil bad manners in an attempt to raise well balanced members of society. Fridays are rough. I teach Art classes in the morning for 3-8th graders. Doesn't seem to bad until you factor in four children under four that I drag along with me.

Every Friday morning I ask myself, what was I thinking when I signed up for this? It is difficult enough to get students to pay attention and even more difficult with four small ones playing around you.

I got up and ran three miles this morning, in the dark. again, was I thinking? I should have known that every time the classroom door was left open even a centimeter that my son's radar would go off and he would bolt. Did I mention that my three year old niece would not be far behind? Why you ask? I do it all for the children who would not have art otherwise. And let me tell you that getting through a Friday is a great accomplishment. I love the feeling of coming home after working so hard and putting on my Pj to have movie night with my kids. Supermom would definitely do that!

Average woman

This is the first of what I hope to be many posts. I am a young ( i am using this term more loosely every year) mom of three. I have been married for almost ten years to the man I started dating Sophmore year of highschool. Yes, it is possible to fall in love with a highschool swearheart and live happily ever after.

This brings me to why I am blogging. No one lives happily ever after every day. It is a struggle and a lot of very hard work. There are good days and bad days. And if you are the average woman, which I am, than the dream of being Supermom will give you something to work for. Who doesn't want to have it all together all the time? To be the mom is calm and prepared for every situation? The wife who is always there and supportive of her husband?

These are all things that I struggle with everyday amid the poopy diapers and the laundry. Perhaps if I do the chores in my underwear and tights I may feel more like Supermom!