Evelyn's Baptism and Mother's Day

Gah! I meant to post pictures from our weekend on Monday and then our house got hit with Strep. Oh how fun that has been.....

So although it's Friday, and Strep is still setting up camp here, I really wanted to post some pictures from the weekend, because it was a good one!

On Saturday we traveled down to Notre Dame for the Baptism of my niece Evelyn. She was baptized in the Log Chapel at Notre Dame, and it was really special. Chris's cousin's Fr. Josh and Fr. Justin baptized her.

Here are a few pictures from the day:





Evelyn's baptism gown is a family heirloom that has been worn by many including her mom Katie, as well as her uncles, her grandmother and many cousins. How cool is that? Colin also wore it when he was baptized.

We tried to get a picture of all the cousins, but Owen was having no part of it!



I love how gently Gabe and Colin are holding little Evelyn. :)

Brunch!

Owen fought taking a nap for as long as he could. Finally it caught up to him and at 4 pm he crashed. Right there in the middle of where six other boys were playing hard! But hey, when you need a nap, you need a nap!!

It was such a great day and we were blessed to be a part of it!

                                                                 ................................

That then brings us to Mother's Day! :) So on Sunday morning, Chris brought me coffee in bed, which was awesome, except that I didn't even have time to drink more than a sip. Carter came flying in the room asking if he could use glitter glue. Mind you, it was 8:45 a.m, church starts at 9:00 and from what I could see, everyone was still in their pjs.

"Sweetie, how about you wait until after Church to use glitter glue?" I say, still half asleep.

"You POOPY MOMMY!!!!!!!" he screams and runs out the door.

Even now, I can't stop laughing about that one. Ahhhh, Mother's Day..... so glorious, so perfect, right from the start.

We were 30 minutes late for Church, but we made it! And Carter eventually recovered from the crushing disappointment of no glitter glue at 8:45 a.m.

After Church we made a gut decision to drive to my parents house, about two hours east. I'd been on the fence about making the trip, especially after such a wonderful, yet busy day of travel the day before. Ultimately though, I really wanted to see my mom and my grandmother. And I knew that my grandmother, who is 94 and just moved to Michigan, would really appreciate the visit.

Boy am I glad we went!

Grandmother beamed seeing the boys again and it seemed to really make her day.

One cute thing that happened during this visit is that Everett held her hand almost the whole time! It was the sweetest thing and I'm not sure at all what prompted it. My kids haven't had the opportunity to spend much time with her since she lived out of state until about a month ago. Yet Everett and she were like two longtime friends. Holding hands, laughing, sharing bracelets and cuddling close.

It was such a blessing to spend the day with the boys, Chris, my parents and my grandmother. I feel so honored to be called "Mommy" by these five incredible kids. I love being their mom and feel thankful to be able to spend my days mothering them. Still it's not all sunshine and roses, right?!..... not by a long shot. I mean, heck, I was called "Poopy Mommy" (said with A LOT of emphasis I might add) right out of the gate, on Mother's Day no less!

One of the biggest lessons I've learned as a mother is that you have to somehow roll with the punches. You gotta be able laugh, let go of unrealistic expectations and be willing to simply begin again, over and over and over. The art of beginning again is something we talk about a lot in our house. Because some days are just rough. Some mornings are hard. Things don't always ever go quite as planned. Meltdowns happen and yes, even Mommy looses her patience sometimes. But we can always begin again.

After Church on Mother's Day, Carter, bless his little heart, threw his arms around me and said, "Sorry Mommy. 'Bout this morning. Me think me was crabby." 

"Soooooo forgiven little one. A thousand times over. Let's just begin again."

Minimizing and Mother's Day

I'm here.

The thing about blogging is that when you get out of the routine of it, it's hard (at least for me) to get back in the groove.

This last month has been a big one for us because we've had to make a few big decisions for our family. One was deciding where Colin will go to school come fall (kindergarten!!!). Wherever he goes, we hope the rest of the boys will also go. Michigan has "school of choice" and there are a lot of great choices in our area. This is a blessing..... but also makes for a very difficult decision! (I know I know, this is such a first world problem to have to wonder "which great school should we send our kids to?").

Still, this decision has felt especially overwhelming because we've strongly considered looking for a larger house and where we choose to live has an impact on what school is the best fit. The desire for more space reached a fever pitch when we were basically snowed in this winter with five little boys all climbing the walls!

But you know what? We love this little house. We love our neighborhood and our yard lined with pine trees. More is not always better. This house may not be spacious but it feels like home in a way no other house has. The thought occurred to us that maybe if we significantly paired down our "stuff", this house wouldn't feel as cramped. Don't get me wrong, we're not hoarders or anything, but we've accumulated a lot stuff both from the boys and boxes that we simply haven't gone through in years. Some of the "stuff" are things we've been saving for our dream house (when we'd have more space), not realizing until now that this might just be our dream house. We're here. Let's make the most of it.

So the past few weeks we have been working hard every night after the boys go to bed, going through our belongings piece by piece, determining what we really need, and shedding the rest. It is HARD and EMOTIONAL work to go through the belongings of your past. Most items have memories attached to them that make me second guess letting the item go. I often find myself thinking, "Well, maybe I'll use that again......" (even if I haven't used said item in years and didn't even realize I had it until going through said box)

What has helped us part with stuff, is keeping the end goal always in our minds. The end goal is to have a house that feels more spacious, less cluttered, and one we can comfortably live in, even with five sons.

Overall, it feels good. We feel lighter. This process of significantly reducing our belongings, deciding to stay in our current home for the foreseeable future and choosing a school for our boys, has helped us to really clarify what's most important to us as a family. One of the highest priorities is simply getting time together. As much time as we can. In the end, that desire for quality time together helped us choose the closest school, the one that we can walk to each day.

Anyone else going through this sort of process? Do you live in a smaller house by choice? Or are you considering living more minimally? If so, this article was one that really motivated us and helped me understand the difference between organizing and true decluttering. True decluttering is where the magic happens!

So tonight, I'm going to pour myself a glass of wine, and keep tackling our storage room downstairs. Piece by piece, memory by memory.

Also, I had a lovely Mother's Day. With five young kids it's hard to get a break and Sunday was no different. It was as busy as every other day but that's okay. We're busy because we are so blessed. I also held in my mind, friend's who have lost their mother's and friend's who want more than anything to be mother's.

This may not be the most perfect picture, but it sure does represent life right now! Silly, spontaneous, fun, dirty, loving, never still or boring and rarely quiet!

These guys? They are my everything.

Mother's Day and Our Due Date!

Sunday, May 8th was our due date!

Look how big we're getting!

Whenever mommy lays us next to each other, we link arms and cuddle in close!

For Mother's Day, we also took these:

All in all it was a good day- still filled with lot's of work, diapers, and babies hollering for milk but I was surrounded by these guys and nothing could be better.

Mother's Day

Dear little c- I had just the best mother's day with you and daddy. Thank you for making it so special. As you know (at least on some level must know), daddy and I have been working SO hard to get the upstairs done (especially daddy). In many ways it has become all consuming and some days I feel like living in a construction zone just stinks!!!! Sometimes it makes me crabby. So when Daddy said that he had a whole day planned for us to spend together on Mother's day, for a second I thought, "well, we don't have time for fun! We should be working on the house!"...... But Daddy convinced me and off we went out together as a family for THE WHOLE DAY! And we didn't even talk about the house to- do list once!

Oh colin, you were so cute in the outfit you wore with your hair combed over to the side. You are looking less like a baby and more like a handsome little man. My man. For now at least. You are truly the apple of my eye. No matter what stress is happening in our lives, you are a constant reminder of what is really important (love) and that miracles really happen.

Here's what we did on our special day (Daddy made each part a surprise):

Brunch at Park Grill at millennium park. They were giving away free mimosa's for all the mommies. I'm usually not a mimosa kind of person but I thought, what the heck! You ate grilled cheese, fruit and strawberry orange juice.

The Aquarium. We'd never been there before and so we went. Even though we had to wait in line for a while, you still stayed awake and true to your nature took in all there was to see at the aquarium. We wondered what you were thinking as you watched all the fish. You'd stare and smile and point and look to daddy and I to share the moments. For us, there's nothing better than watching you learn and enjoy life.

As soon as we got in the car, you fell asleep. And so Daddy and I made a split second decision to stop at one of our old stomping grounds, Rose Angelis. It's where we had one of our first dates and also where I once ate so much I threw up! Yes, the food is THAT good. You slept in your car seat all through dinner which gave Daddy and I some special time. And we didn't even talk about home renovations! We mostly talked about you and where we see ourselves in 5 years. Suburbs or city?

It was a perfect day. I'm so incredibly thankful that you have your daddy as a role model for how to treat a woman. But really, it's not only me that he treats well. He treats everyone with respect and kindness and always makes me feel especially loved and appreciated.

Sometimes in the craziness of day to day living I find myself getting stressed just thinking about all that needs to get done- assignments for school, renovations, laundry, dinner, renovations, etc etc.

But on Mother's day, while we gallivanted the city without a care, one phrase kept going through my mind over an over: "We're a family". It seems like such a basic fact, but really it's extraordinary. Not 5 years ago I was single, then it was your Dad and I, and then you came along and we became a family

The three of us

"We're a family"

I like the sound of that