Saintly Lessons

It's amazing how realivent and insightful someone's thoughts could be who died in 379AD. Today during Mass Fr. Bill quoted St. Basil the Great.

Here is the quote:
“The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.”

The quote really struck a cord with both Michael and I. It even made me want to do more research on St. Basil. I was amazed by what an extraordinary person he was. I will not go into the details here on the blog but I could not help but share the quote since it was so moving to us. I hope that you find him as fascinating as we did.

For more info on St. Basil the Great follow the link below or just Google him!
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saintofday/default.asp?id=1248

Cute as a Mouse

Here is Addie being cute as mouse with her new computer mouse she got using some of her Christmas money. She loves being on the computer but has been limited to typing word documents (ie. learning letters) because our normal sized mouse was to big for her little hand. She also asked Santa for her own computer this year. When I asked her about it she said she wanted one that she did not have to share with us and one that was her size... Well, obviously this Santa was not getting her 4yr old her own computer but Michael and I thought that a special mouse would be good. We found this super cute Hello Kitty mouse at a local store.

She fell in love with right away. As soon as Michael got it hooked up to our computer she started buzzing around on the PBS kids website like an old pro! You should see this girl play games and listen to music on their website with out any help from me. I just sit behind her and watch quietly in amazement. The only problem we have found has been setting limits on the computer time. If she had her way it would be "her" computer! As soon as she learns to read and write watch out. I'm sure she will be blogging right beside her mom and dad!

Ice Skating

Last night Emily and I took Addie and her friend Moira ice skating. The girls had a great time despite the cold weather. They managed to hang in there for about 45 minutes before they were frozen ice cubes. Afterwards they were both very excited to go to DQ for ice cream. Yes, they loved their ice cream even while they were saying they where still cold. The local DQ has a nice play area inside so after an hour of running around in there they were both thawed out and ready for bed. I don't know about Addie's friend, but Addie did sleep well last night.

This is one of the short videos Emily shot of us ice skating last night. If you want to see more of the fun clips let us know and we can post some more of them.

Baby Update

One week left until my due date! Time has went fast with the holidays being here towards the end of my pregnancy. Obviously, the baby is not here yet. I had another baby appointment this morning. My body is still making some slow progress but I don't expect to be in labor any time soon.

We are all doing good here. Michael went back to work today after a nice 4 day weekend. The three of us had a great time with him being home. We really did not do much other then play, eat, and sleep. I think that it was well over due for us to have a nice family break. It was hard today for Addie and I to see Michael leave since we really enjoyed him being home with us.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday in whatever way celebrated it this year. I know that we did enjoy ours. Christmas day was perfect for all of us. We slept in, never got out of our PJs, played all day in the living room as a family, eat the most perfect feast made by Michael and took a nice nap in the afternoon as a family. I think that we all needed that relaxing day.

Pre-Christmas Fun

On Friday Addie had her Christmas party at school. I had volunteered to be help with the party. My mom happened to have the day off of work so she decided to join us as well. The three of us had a great time. I brought a large gingerbread house that Michael made out of cardboard for the kids to decorate. The other two tables had cookie decorating and ornament craft project. After the activities I read the Gingerbread Baby book to the kids and then they placed a gingerbread "baby" cookie into the house they decorated. All the kids had a great time. Addie really enjoyed herself and liked having mom and I at the party.

After the party the three of us went downtown for lunch and enjoyed a nice walk ducking into shops every now and then. In downtown they always have "street art". This winter they had snowmen. This is a photo of one of them. Addie loved checking out all the different snowmen and their costumes.

After all that fun Addie's day was not done. Mom took her to see the new Alvin and the Chimpmunk's movie. Addie LOVED it. According to mom she laughed and giggled louder then she had ever heard her. People in front of them even turned around to see who was laughing so loud! Mom and Addie spent several hours out on the town having fun while I was able to get a few projects down around the house like wrap gifts and make some dog chamoises people had ordered. Here are the custom chamoises I made.


Once Michael got home from work the two of us where able to go out to a really nice dinner for our anniversary. We enjoyed a two hour meal that helped both of us unwind from a busy week. It has been a wonderful 5 years of marriage and I look forward to many more! Thank you to everyone who sent us anniversary cards. It's always nice to know people remember you on such a special day.

Saturday Addie sadly said good-bye to grammy. By about 2pm she was complaining about missing her grammy. However she quit complaining when she found out that she was going to get to go ice skating with her friend and her family. She had a wonderful evening of skating. The report was that she did a great job and was really fast. Addie of course loved every minute of it. When she got home I had hot chocolate and cookies ready for our drive. We went for a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. The park at the bluff had a light display and the downtown St. Joseph stores where all decorated and lit up. We also went through a few neighborhoods as well. It was fun and helped to remind us that it is the holiday season not just the baby Margaret season! Addie, not surprisingly, fell asleep before we got back home that evening. It was a wonderful two days for everyone.

Baby Update

I had my doctor's apt. this morning. During my check up the doctor said that I'm apx. 60% effaced and 2-3 centimeters dilated! So it appears that my body is gearing up for the upcoming delivery. The doctor said that we could expect the baby to be delivered anytime between now and my due date. She was pretty confident that I would not go over and thought that there was a good chance Margaret would come before my doctor apt. next Friday.

It's a good thing we got the car seats installed last night! I also double checked my hospital bag and Margaret's. I think that we are ready any time she is. It's hard to believe that I might have her 2 weeks early! BUT we are being realistic about the fact that I might just go another two weeks and be uncomfortable the whole time.