Lord, That I May See

1.   The Athleta Wherever Skort Love, love.  Its worth every penny.  Soft fabric, so comfortable, feminine and flowy, lightweight and cool, and very cute.  It fits really well, I feel good in it, and D. thinks its hot. ;)  Yay! 2.    Cara Espadrilles from Land's End I think these are so cute.  I want them! 3. Favorite new (to me) blog: The Fike Life I arrived on Blythe's blog (linked from several various others)at the post on the Soul Pancake video . I thought she was so charming and warm and a great Catholic representative. I enjoyed her I am a Catholic series ( part 2 , part 3 ) and this sweet post  too. :) 4.  This outfit for Sparky!   Seersucker on boys is so darling, but then add a tractor? Even better! 5.   And last, my favorite book on potty training:  Diaper-Free Before 3: The Healthier Way to Toilet Train and Help Your Child Out of Diapers Sooner....

My dear "spirited sprout," Rosebud, has always been a bundle of energy. I've chronicled her craziness on this blog before , such as her daily toddler adventures, mostly involving water (or pee) . The other morning I noted all the activities and "good ideas" that she had in a three hour period.  It was amazing to me -- what a girl! At 7:45, directly after rising, she peels and eats an orange. She dashes off eight pieces of artwork -- different pastoral scenes -- and then sets up a table with a sign reading "Artwork for Sale" and charges "$1 or 1 cent" per piece.  Mommy and sisters buy artwork. The sale is a short one, because then she wants to go and listen to an audiobook. Breakfast is ready.  She gobbles it down.  (No time for nonsense!) She does three workbook pages in her new Explode the Code workbook. She spots a package on the front porch, which she opens and then starts jumping on the packing air sacks. She finds a gro...

1.   The gardening book that's giving us encouragement to try and make a success of gardening yet again.  2.   Fun mixing the soil -- 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 blended compost. Wish that was our house and car in the background! :)  3.  The baby in the dirt "sandbox"! 4.    Little helpers making the square-foot grid 5.  Little sprouts of green hopefulness! More  Five Favorites  at Hallie's -- I would really like to read that last one of her book recommendations!

My brother graduated with a Bachelors in Business from Belmont Abbey this past weekend.  We traveled to be there for him! He's the one with the red academic hood showing fully.  (Sunshine was mezmorized by the bagpipes.) It was a whirlwind weekend. We arrived close to 10pm on Friday evening and didn't get home till almost the same time Sunday night.  Everyone was tired and the long trip home was commemorated by Turtle's nosebleed, Rosebud and Sunshine's carsickness episodes and Sparky's crying and discomfort from his diaper rash. Oh my.  But we are glad we went and are so proud of M!

Turtle and Rosebud had a great time with some woodworking and painting projects this past weekend. They used scrap wood and their own creativity, and then, with some construction help from Daddy, they succeeded with their plans!  They are proud of themselves! Rosebud made stilts. She really can barely manage to go two steps on the skinny bases, but, ever joyful and optimistic, she forges on. She wanted to paint them, and then, even better than one color, was TWO-colored stilts!  Turtle made a table and chair for her American Girl doll, Marie-Grace. She needed a lot of design help to start, but can use a drill and hammer quite well now!  She wanted to paint the set pink, but unfortunately, the leftover paint Mommy provided only came in limited colors. :) (Excuse me while I get all puffed up with pride over here!)

Etsy is like this lovely and expensive store that I love to go into and browse.  It is filled with so many various and beautiful things that I would love to own.  I love buying from people there when I can  (I have been very happy with these big thick burp cloths and this simple and beautiful first communion veil. )  But often I just look and sigh and "favorite."  Here's my top five favorites on Etsy today!  1.  Handmade quilts are amazing and I love this one from  Georgie Pie  2.  Beeswax candles smell so good, they clean the air and they burn slowly evenly with very little dripping, like these from  Farmer's Daughter .  3. We have a  paschal candle  in our home that I made.  We use it for Eastertime and on baptism anniversaries, but I think this one from SaongJai  is much better!  4. My girls all want "Laura and Mary" dresses to play games in.  I covet these ...

In this week, leading up to John Paul II's canonization, my Pope has been on my mind every day.  I have been remembering the Lent and Easter of 2004, when I walked the streets of Rome.  I have written a bit about some of my memories  (not as much as I would have liked) and I have been slowly working my way through my journal of those months and the pictures I took.   The journey back in time has been a poignant one and I am digesting the memories, viewing the present in the light of the past and seeing new patterns, new stories in the arch of my life.  (God's stories are long ones!) I have been am thinking about how I saw my dear Papa at least a dozen times whilst in Rome.   The first time I saw him was February 8th 2004 during a Sunday Angelus that he lead from his window and the last time was a Wednesday Audience on April 28th of the same year.   Every time I was in his presence, whether it was in the piazza, or in the Paul VI Audience Hall, in St...