Noah Sleeps

This is where Noah fell asleep tonight.

Rosary Group

Thanks to the G. family for having us today! The children had a great time and it was so good to see all of you moms and spend time with you again. The children were digging for gold outside in the sand pile, putting their "gold" in buckets, and storing it in the cabin. They got along so well! I'm always amazed at the graces we get while we're praying the rosary together; you'd think that we'd hardly get the prayer accomplished with seventeen (plus 2!) children to mind, but the relative calm during the rosary is amazing.

Wonderful Weekend

My grandparents came for the girls on Friday morning and took them home. The girls went fishing, canoeing, ate outdoors, fed the horses, played with the kittens, played Go Fish, and got lots of attention and love. They also went to mass with my grandparents on Sunday and got to see their Great-grandpa acolyte. Since the girls were gone for the weekend, this gave Jeremy and me some special time to spend with Noah and Isaiah.

After the girls left with my grandparents, I took the boys and ran to Target and we drove through McDonald's. Noah got a new toy in his Happy Meal, but what do you think that he was more interested in playing with? That's right--the free straw. I told him that he could not blow bubbles in mis milk at the table but I would let him blow bubbles outside after lunch. When he was finished eating, I rinsed his milk jug out, put a little (non-toxic) dish soap in it, some water, and let him blow a volcano of bubbles outside on the grass! He has so much fun. Friday evening, we took the boys on a couple of small errands and bought Noah a T-ball set. He slammed balls around the yard for a good part of the evening when we got home, then caught fireflies for the rest of the evening. We let him stay up past his bedtime (to catch the fireflies) and it was worth it! He was so excited. Saturday, we took him to Champions Fun Center and let him play ski ball and play in the children's play area (can't think of the name of it). He was soaking up the extra attention like a sponge! We went home, took a nap, and then ran a couple of mom-and-dad errands as a family. After that, we went to Nana's house for home made ice cream but it didn't set up, so we walked to a nearby ice cream store and had cones. Before we knew it, it was bedtime again! The boys really slept in on Sunday morning--I finally woke up at 9:00! We went to mass and headed down to Beatrice for the day.
The children fed the horses and played outside most of the day. They picked cherries off of the cherry tree and ate them. They tried to pick apples off of the apple tree when we weren't looking and even took some bites. They weren't supposed to be picking apples because they're nowhere near ripe yet, but they tasted them anyway and then threw some in the pond (sigh). Isaiah sat and took nibble after nibble of a sour apple. His face after the first bite was hilarious; he put his tongue out and blew a raspberry. Noah got to pile up walnuts and acorns and do his favorite thing--throw them from the yard all the way into the pond. Grandpa says that this is what Noah did on his solo weekend in Beatrice. On the way home, the children fell asleep before we even got into Beatrice (my grandparents live south of town) and didn't wake when we brought them into the house. What a weekend!

Today's Safari

We got up this morning and picked a spot on the Safari to visit. We packed a lunch and managed to get out of the house by 9:30. When we arrived at the park, it was sunny, muggy, and hot. At 9:00, it was 79 degrees! There were clouds in the southwest, so I knew that we might be in for some rain, but we stayed anyway. We played for awhile and the children explored the waterfall, calling it their castle. They played on the playground and then the clouds began to let rain down. The drops were huge! We moved under the shelter and waited the rain out and began to play when it lightened up. Thinking it might start raining again, we did our Safari rubbing. As we played, the thunder moved closer and then we saw lightning. The kids were so disappointed when I announced that we were going to pack up and go home, as we had planned to stay past lunch time. The good news is that we can always go back. For those of you who live in town or close by, this is a great park to visit--ask me about it sometime. By the waterfall, in the absence of mosquitos, would be a very peaceful place to sit and read a book. If you're me, you might go there to sit, close your eyes, imagine away the humidity and heat, and pretend that you're at Agnes Vaille Falls. ;)

In My Kitchen

Daddy is home, supper is over, and the dishes are done. While I sit and write this, there is a mess on my kitchen floor. There is a log of banging and a lot of giggling going on. My children have emptied my tupperware cupboard and it looks like this: If you were to walk into my kitchen, curious what all of the noise is, wondering where the one-year-old is, you would go to the cupboard, open it, and find the following:

In the first picture, the kids really are in the cupboard (with the doors closed).

Oh Deer

Today was a fun day at my Grandparents' home again. I'll post those pictures soon. We took Highway 77 home and hit our very first deer a few miles south of the Hwy 2 exit. Nature met man head-on and ruined our radiator and grill (the hood ornament was already gone). The stupid thing just stood there in the road, kind of crouching down and staring at the headlights while I slowed from 65 mph to a less intense ramming speed. It went under us a little and then flipped into the next lane. By the time we pulled over, it was gone. How could it survive this? I wonder if it's dying on the roadside right now? It's a full-grown doe. Let me know if you see it.

Addendum: We are all glad that the deer went under, not over, that we had ample time to slow down and didn't hit it at 65 mph, that there were no cars directly behind us, and that there were no flat tires, leaking fluid, or other debilitating damage. Also, the kids were all sleeping at the time (9:30 at night), so they weren't scared or hurt. Thank you, God! Also, our radiator is fine, just bent. Jeremy just left to go pick up a used grill at a salvage yard. (Imagine me here, rolling my eyes at myself saying, "Oh, the drama!")

Smoothie Saturday

How do you get your husband to buy you a new blender after the old one breaks? Why would your husband run to the store and buy you bags and bags of frozen and fresh fruit? How do you get your husband to provide all-day daycare and meals for four children while you lounge on the sofa? How do you get your poor husband to mow the lawn in addition to all those chores? Have a tooth out. That's right--visit an oral surgeon and have one pulled. I'd recommend #19. If you've ever had one pulled, you know you'll do anything at all to avoid having a dry socket. Dry sockets are more common when wisdom teeth are pulled (I experienced that, too) and less common with other teeth, so I've got my hopes set high. To avoid this (at any cost) I've been lounging on the couch, and I watched so much TV that I had a headache yesterday evening. I ate pudding and yogurt, craved chips and dip, drank milk and juice, craved a soda, and this morning, I am able to eat warm things, so I'm having chicken soup. All is well. What a wonderful husband I have!

My Grandparents' Outdoor Home

Gardening

Since we moved mid-Spring and didn't get tomatoes in, the cages have put themselves to use holding up a make-shift sun shade for the sandbox. Isaiah is still short enough to stand beneath it and the other kids can sit. It keeps his fair little head out of the light.

Super Noah

There is a 3 1/2 year old in my home running around in a Spiderman costume, rescuing his sisters' "babies" from upstairs, bringing them to "Dr. Sarah" and "Dr. Rachael" for bandages and stitches and to check their air pressure (blood pressure).

"Mom, can I be Spiderman forever?"

"Yes, Noah."

"No, say, 'yes, Spiderman.' "

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Our Madeleine turned five today! On their birthdays, our children choose how the day goes and what we have to eat all day. Maddie wanted french toast sticks for breakfast, Lunchables for lunch, and pizza for supper. She said that she wanted to go to the "dinosaur museum." This morning, we headed downtown to campus and explored the museum for awhile. The kids each had a little spending money saved, so they each chose a small thing to buy at the gift shop. This was a rare treat for them! Morgan and Madeleine chose a mini-archaeology project and Noah chose a dark blue shooter marble with a white swirl. As we left, we made a rubbing in our Safari book near the Mammoth outside. We went around behind Andrews Hall and found the great silver tree. Maddie wanted to eat at a park, so we looked in our Safari book for a park we hadn't been to and found a good one. We made our rubbing at that stop and went on to the playground for lunch. We came home, napped, and waited for Daddy to get home.
While we waited, the girls worked on their projects. There must be a little of my Geology gene in them! Each girl had a block of plaster that had a mammoth skeleton hidden inside of it. The kits came with mini wooden chisels and brushes. Morgan spent two hours digging the skeleton out, brushing it off, and cleaning it up. Maddie had a shorter attention span and dug until she began to find bones, then left the table to play with Isaiah. She's eager to work on it again tomorrow. Morgan is eager to assemble hers tomorrow. We'll use glue to finish assembling it. Noah wanted nothing more than his marbles on a cookie sheet at the table.



When Daddy got home, we picked up pizza. Maddie wanted to go "back to the park where we had Lunchables." We headed back, ate, and played. This time, we got to show Daddy the rubbing post because he hasn't seen one yet, as we've done all of the Safari stops while he's at work.

Can't believe that Madeleine is five! It seems that it was not so long ago when I was pregnant with her and praying that Morgan (at a mere 13 months) would be walking before she was born!

She also got to celebrate early, as we were at my grandparents' acreage yesterday morning and at Grandma and Grandpa Potter's house in the evening. The whole day, we celebrated Maddie's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and Father's Day. Cheers!

Water Logged

Noah, Maddie, Isaiah, and I visited Pioneers Park's Nature Center today, took a hike, and went on to Eden Park, ate lunch, and moved to Holmes Lake. (Morgan was at Totus Tuus again.) What an interesting, wet world we saw today! In the Nature Center, we walked into the woods but we found only flooded trails slightly past the bridge. The bridge was closed for safety reasons. We walked past it and approached the culvert. What used to be a trickle of water draining into the creek was a waterfall! Noah was very interested in the eddy on the other side of the culvert and stripped seeds off of the grass to throw in. He watched them swirl and disappear into the eddy and then into the culvert. There were tadpoles everywhere in the standing water, loud bullfrogs, and water bugs. The mosquitos left us alone for the most part, thanks to Off! Tropical Scent. Everything was so beautiful, lush, and green. A rabbit hopped ahead of us on the trail and we could hear wild turkeys and Canada Geese. We decided to head to Eden Park after this because it borders Antelope Creek and I was curious about how full it would be. The debris line was fairly high on the banks, but I've seen it higher. We ate lunch at a picnic table, where a small, green inch worm entertained Noah with his movements. We walked west on the bike path because Noah wanted to see where the water was going. When we came back to the parking lot, we decided that we had plenty of time and that we could head to Holmes Park/Lake. My, is it full! The banks are overflowing onto the walking paths and the tongues of land that jut out into the water (for fishing), which used to sit fairly high above the water, were just sidewalks out into the lake. There were benches, picnic tables, and trees partially submerged. There were more people fishing there today than I've ever seen before. The children enjoyed the morning out and I got a mild sunburn! Until I had children, I didn't fully appreciate our city's parks. It's worth every penny of every tax dollar that goes toward it. I'm grateful to have such nice, clean outdoor places to visit in our hometown!

Mourning Doves

Madeleine was entertaining a pair of young Mourning Doves who were sitting on our fence this afternoon. Noah was watering flowers and Isaiah was inside pulling all of the plastic cups out of the the cupboard and scattering them across the kitchen floor. Morgan is at Totus Tuus this week.

American English

Reading another woman's blog a few days ago, I discovered a discussion on grammar which turned to improper pronounciation and punctuation, slang, and pet peeves. I learned only a couple of months ago that complimentary has a cousin, complEmentary, and that the two words have different meanings. From a website (whose link I will post again below):

"When paying someone a compliment like "I love what you've done with the
kitchen!" you're being complimentary. A free bonus item is also a complimentary
gift. But items or people that go well with each other are complementary."

There's always learning left to be done! Words that have been twisted by popular use or nouns that have been "verb-ized" drive me crazy. There are also verbs that have been "noun-ized." Is recruitment really a word? I've noticed that in the media, the words is and are are commonly left out of stories during broadcast and although they are reporting in past tense, every verb is ended with an -ing. I suppose this is to catch us up in the heat of the (past) moment and make us think that they're really on top of things For example, "Police arresting John Doe earlier this afternoon when he ran a red light," or "President Bush beginning his last trip to Europe today."

Now as I venture into the realm of grammar, punctuation, and pronounciation (and spelling, for that matter), I fear that my own writing will not pass the test! Sometimes, I think that using proper grammar or refusing to use words that have been popularized is considered arrogant or conceited. We could all communicate so clearly if our written and spoken language adhered to the rules we learned while in school!

Visit this website to learn more about common mistakes in English.

Punctuation was drilled into us during school but many people still seem to be so confused. When I learned punctuation in school, we made lists with commas and remembered to put one before the word and. When I go to a restaurant, I order a salad, an entree, and dessert. If I say that I ordered a salad, an entree and dessert, it almost implies that the entree and dessert came on the same plate. Someone might write that he went bowling with Michael, Joseph, and Mary, but if he writes that he went bowling with Michael, Joseph and Mary, it makes me wonder if Joseph and Mary are a couple.

Now I come to the beautiful apostrophe. Oh, how I shudder when I see an attempt to make a word plural using an apostrophe. Apostrophes are to indicate posession and for making contractions! Where is the logic? If one plural word in someone's writing has an apostrophe, shouldn't ALL the plural words have an apostrophe? No! It would look ridiculous and would consume ridiculous amounts of ink. Here's the tricky part: when indicating that it owns something, we leave out the apostrophe and write its because it's means it is. When a word is already plural, you have to punctuate carefully. It is the Potters' house. It is the girls' room. This is the children's toy and that is the women's restroom.

"This morning I knew that the kid's and I were going to be at the park for
several hour's. After I did the dish's and picked up the toy's, I got out the diaper bag and packed Isaiah's diaper's, Noah's swimming trunk's, Madeleine's short's, Morgan's pant's, sandwich's, juice box's, chip's, and pacifier's. We left the bike's in the garage, remembered to lock the door's, and opened all of the window's in the van. When we got there, we saw animal's, took hike's, played on the swing's, and enjoyed the other kid's and mom's..." Can you imagine?

It is difficult to learn pronounciations simply by reading. I've never been able to decipher the pronounciation part of a dictionary definition. I'm sure that I'm quite guilty of mispronounciations often! There are many words that are mispronounced for which there is no good excuse. We don't drink eXpresso. We drink eSpresso. We don't say eXpecially; by examining the spelling, we see that it is eSpecially. Priests lay prostrate on the ground during their ordination; a prostate is a body part. We wear jewelry, not joolery. The comment below made me laugh hard enough to wake Isaiah up. Thank you, Alice!

"The grammar snob in me gets very upset when couples "cohabitate". The word is
"cohabit". Monkeys do not inhabitate the jungle and unmarried couples do not
sinfully cohabitate."

I could go on and on about careless mistakes that drive me nuts, but I'm far from perfect and hope you will finish the entry with your comments. If you bothered to read this very, very long post, please pardon my mistakes. I am still unsure of where to use which vs. that, for example.

What drives you crazy?

Wicked Storm

What a wicked storm it was that passed through Lincoln tonight. Without trees blocking our view and since there was no rain (at the time), I was able to try to shoot some of the lightning. Out of 118 shots, 13 showed lightning. Enjoy!

John Paul the Great

Found this ticket stub while unpacking a box today. My husband was at WYD 1993 also, with a separate group from our diocese (we didn't know each other at the time). Anyone else? It's hard to believe that all of this was 15 years ago because I can remember it like it was yesterday!