This Week's "Funny" - volume 1

We all need a little laugh every now and then, right?  After the CrAzY busy week I've had with this being our first week of school, I'm glad God sends plenty of reasons to laugh.  With my blog being poorly neglected, I thought I'd try to start something new.  I've got nothing to lose, right?  So if I fail to continue this sharing, then no biggie, I'm already failing at blogging regularly.  And if I get around to it every so often, then we'll call that a win!  So, once a week, I'm going to (try to) share with you a funny moment that happened during our week.

Before I get started, I thought I'd share some quotes from our Saint friends on humor and laughter...

“Laugh and grow strong,”

~St. Ignatius

“From silly devotions, and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us”

~St. Theresa

“The sense of humor salts all his escapades.”

~St. Francis of Assisi

“A heart filled with joy is more easily made perfect than one that is sad.”

~St. Philip Neri

“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”

~G. K. Chesterton

I used to be a fairly organized person.  Kept my calendar up to date.  Was on time to all our appointments and activities and obligations.  But then, God sent kids our way.  One right after another.  All the way up to 9!  Yeah, that's a LOT of kids to love, keep track of, feed, clothe, teach, bathe, and on and on.  Then they started with outside activities.  Music lessons, sports, theater, playdates, parties, jobs, and on and on.  It's hard to keep track of everything.  That little square on my wall calendar is too small for all that we do, especially on our busy days when we are at multiple activities and going many different directions.  Anyways, excuse, excuse, excuse (yeah, I'm good at those).

Last week, our sweet Rose got an invitation to a birthday party for one of her friends.  I read the invitation and marked the calendar for the coming week and realized we had less than a week to get something bought.  We went shopping with little notice and were ready to go on the party day.  She was so excited to go. We fed her an early lunch.  Got her all dressed as a princess and her hair all done up by her big sissy.  We hop in the van and head off.  With good time actually!!  We were going to show up like 5 minutes early.  Go me!!!  Total pat on the back moment, I tell ya!  Anyways, about a few minutes from home, I had a feeling that I better check the party time to make sure I was right with my times, as I am a very distracted person with constant interruptions in my days.  And by golly, I realize that the party was not that day - it was in ONE MORE WEEK!!!  We were not only headed to a party five minutes early, but a whole STINKIN' WEEK EARLY!!  LOL!!  Yeah, that's been my week - can barely keep track of anything.

Needless to say, when I call hubby to let him know and to laugh with me on my stupid error, he suggests that maybe we start using our phones to plan our calendar instead of our overfilled and crammed wall calendar.  Not really the reason for my screw up here.  Just a silly dense moment when I was planning so far ahead and was messed up in my weeks.

Anything funny happen in your neck of the woods this week?  Please share on.  Let me laugh a little about someone else's funny moment instead of my own.

My biggest "secret" for getting it all done

How do you do it?

A question that I get asked all too often.

People think that because I homeschool.  Because I have a crew of kids.  A crew of happy, sweet, good kids.  Because I seem happy.  And always seem to have a smile on my face.  Because I am joyful.  That I am some sort of super mom, super woman.  Golly, I wish I could take that credit and award!!  But, no such luck.

I have had to learn many things....

You must have limits!!  You must say "no" to many things.  Many good things.  Many amazing educational opportunities.  Many cool field trips.  No.  No.  No.  Because if I say "yes" to it all, then I am saying "no" to something else.

As a mom/homeschooler, my number one priority is to serve God and my family as a wife and a mother.  I have been called to homeschool, so this is also added to my plate.  These things must come first.  Nowhere does it say that I must send my kids to every single education opportunity, go to every field trip, or even leave the house daily to go to daily Mass or adoration.  You see, my biggest "secret" for getting it all done is to STAY HOME.  That's right, if I'm gone every single day, or multiple times a day, who is going to teach my kids?  Who is going to do the grading?  Who is going to do my laundry?  Who is going to do the cleaning?  Who is going to keep things tidy?  Who is going to cook the food?  Who is going to do the dishes?  ....no one!!  It is my job to keep things running smoothly on the homefront.  My job to keep up with the house and homeschooling and keep things running running peacefully and smoothly.

So when the world starts spinning and my house is starting to fall apart.  Mountains of laundry. Bellies filled with too much fast food and junk food.  Grading days and days behind.  My head so much in a fog that I don't know up from down, left from right.  Then I know it's time to scale back and STAY HOME more!  My kids need me.  My house needs order.  (not perfection, I must add, but enough of an order where we can all focus clearly without the mess starting to sink into our souls and making our head and hearts spin, and taking away every ounce of peace that once was)

This fall has been the busiest we have ever had.  I am so so so grateful that it is done and the busyness is over.  It was a huge blessing to offer our kids so many great opportunities.  But I quickly realized that this is the busiest I want things to be.  I don't want to go beyond the number of activities we had.  We not only ran almost every day, but we ran multiple directions in the evening.  Barely had one or two family meals during the week.  Laundry and the house, thankfully, didn't fall apart.  But it was enough of a "split" feeling, that I know I want less of that and more simple from here on out.  These kids will grow too fast.  I don't want them to remember all the running and craziness and rushing.  I want them to remember our home.  That haven of peace.  And joy.  And love.  The place where they spend most of their time.  And have the best of memories there.

A very good and holy priest friend of ours encouraged us that staying home and living fully in our Domestic Church is what we need to be doing.  We cannot miss these opportunities for holiness in the most simple of moments.  Eating family dinners and being together is such a grace-filled time. He shared with us that staying home and being together is a lot more important than doing everything and being in every single sport and activity.  Satan wants to rob us of these holy moments by constantly making us be on the run.  Sometimes we just need to say no, and ground ourselves at home.

HOME is where the HEART is!!  

What to do with old Birthday cards??

It's as easy as...1...2...3...!!!

1- take the birthday cards and 3-hole punch them
2 - cut three pieces of yarn/ribbon
3 - thread and tie the yarn/ribbon through each of the holes

There ya go!!  A simple, little "scrapbook" to remember your child's birthday by - created in less than 5 minutes!!  If you have time and want to spend another 5-10 minutes, simply open a Word document and cut/paste a few pictures from the actual party to print and that can be the title page to your mini-scrapbook.  For busy momma's like me who have NO time to scrapbook, this is an easy way to remember those special days without having to be away from the family too terribly long. 

**another tip...  if you look at the title page, you will see Max posed with all his birthday presents and it forms the words "Thank You".  Of course, this serves not only as the title page to the "scrapbook", but also a perfect little thank you letter to send out!!