Things go smoothly in my head...

I decided Thursday morning to take the kids to daily Mass at our new parish. It is something I have been meaning to do for a while. Years actually. When I was in college, there was a chapel in the basement of my dorm and I loved having Jesus there, available all the time. Daily mass at 9 every evening. So since I started having children, it has been a goal of mine to make it to at least one weekday Mass.

Well, for a while there, the prospect of taking 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4) small children to Mass by myself seemed a little daunting. But since we moved back and Adelle has gotten older (and Liam has gotten better during Mass) I figured I could handle it. No problem actually. I mean, daily Mass lasts about half an hour, how rough could it be? And at our new parish, it starts at 8:30 instead of 8, giving me the extra half hour to round up my little peeps.

So I did it. And in an honest assessment, it really wasn't too bad. Issy was great. Isaac was spacey and hummed a lot (he drives me crazy with this- he seems to have the inability to be completely silent with his mouth. there is always some sort of noise emitted from it. I give him a stern look, he looks contrite and then about 10 seconds later, the noise starts again. never terribly loud, but loud enough to be noticeable.)

And Liam. Well, he wasn't misbehaving, persay. There was just a lot of trying to snuggle with me. Which is fine when I am sitting on the couch reading a book to him, not so much when I am holding a squirmy toddler and giving Isaac stern looks for making mouth noise.

Adelle was a 17 month old that wants to get down and run around and was unhappy when I didn't allow that. And then Liam kept touching her to, in his words, "make her happy" but really it was making her shriek, "no no no no!"

Fun times.

All this left me feeling a little bit flustered. If it was just us, or a group of other families with small kids, their age-appropriate but not obnoxious behavior wouldn't bother me. But as it was, we were sitting with a lot of older folks, who I have found may or may not very forgiving of this kind of behavior. I always assume they aren't, though and this leaves me feeling self conscious and a bit like a bad parent.

So at about the first reading, I was seriously reconsidering my decision to come and was thinking that maybe I wouldn't try daily Mass again for a couple of years.

At communion time, I took a deep breath, stepped out of the pew, begged for the grace to get through the next few minutes and walked up with my crew (Delle in my arms and Liam whacking each pew on the walk to the front of church, despite my feeble efforts to discretely get him to stop).

And I got to receive Him, which is always a good thing.

We went back to the pew to pray and Mass was over. There had been two older ladies behind me and as I was walking out of the pew, they stopped me to tell me what beautiful children I have.

They thanked me for bringing the kids to Mass.

I told them, honestly, that I had been thinking that maybe it hadn't been a good idea and they told me that they weren't bothered at all and yes, please bring them back.

So we will go to daily Mass again and I will remember that no matter what happens, I am taking my babies to see Him. And I get to receive Him.

Which is always a good thing.

Life is pretty great right now

When we moved back here, and especially last January/February/March, I was concerned that Kansas would never feel like home again. I was so homesick for the mountains, Idaho specifically. Spring and Summer were better.

And then God gave me this Autumn to soothe my soul. Led us to live in a beautiful house with huge windows and gorgeous, leafy trees. Nature walks with the kids complete with gathering acorns like their very lives depended on it (maybe my kids are actually squirrels?). A husband that gets to come home for lunch most days- a beautiful break in our sometimes hectic days. My only complaint being my grouchy, teething toddler. Poor little Delle the Grouch. But she is so cute, most of the time it makes up for the grouchy. And I think the teething is subsiding some (for now, at least).

I feel like I have finally gotten the hang of homeschooling. Love it. Love to see them learning. Building community with each other, taking care of one another. The creativity. Joy.

I am so grateful. I still miss the mountains. So much, but at least it doesn't ache now. I hope to get to live in the mountains again. But I can be alright until then. Good even.

The following pictures are what happens when you allow kids to take the camera outside on a beautiful fall day:

Worm!

Mom (with leaves)

She is just so pretty, I can't get enough of her.

I asked Issy to get Adelle out an outfit when she picked out her own clothes. Not only did she pick out outfits, but then she posed them. Adelle's clothes are holding her Lamby, and Issy's are holding her bear, brushing her hair and wearing a headband. I love her, how precious.

Halloween

Pumpkin decorating. To me, pumpkins + paint + one-year-olds don't mix, so me and the Delle hung out while the older kids painted.

Ise concentrating very hard.

The cap on that glitter glue gave him some trouble.

Issy being theatrical with her pumpkin painting.

Cute P-p-p-piglet.

Marney cousins. About half of the participants of this picture were not feeling very enthusiastic about it.

Sullivan cousins young enough to dress up.

Dragon, Glinda the Good Witch, Piglet and Thomas. Awesome.