1,000 things to do with a 3-year-old, #2

Play board games.  Our favorites:  Candyland(of course!), Zingo!, Dominos(ours have pictures of candy on them), Hi Ho Cherry O!, and checkers.  3's cheat at checkers, so watch carefully!  I am the worst strategist ever, so I just barely win at checkers.  Chutes & Ladders is also a good game, but ours has mysteriously disappeared...

Thoughtful Thursday-Judgement

I tend to shy away from controversial topics on Facebook.  This is intentional.  I can become very emotional about some of these topics, then I "respond in haste, repent in leisure."  I find I often express myself more clearly and with more charity if I take time to think my thoughts rather than blurt them out as they come to me.  A good example of such topic is traditional marriage, which I support.  I don't take this stand lightly, and I don't mean it as a condemnation of anyone.  Here's why it's not a condemnation:  I LOVE people.  I want what is best for everyone.  All of us sin.  I am far too busy identifying, confessing, and striving to overcome my own sins to waste time and energy condemning others for theirs.  You have something you're struggling with and want me to pray for you?  Love to!  Like some fraternal feedback and/or support?  Sure!  Condemnation--nope.  My yardstick of judgement is for my heart alone.  I don't even use it on my kids.  I'm simply passing on the faith to them and teaching them to judge their own hearts and actions in the light of Christ's teaching.  A tall order, to be sure, but Mother Teresa said something about God wanting my faithfulness more than success.  I just hope I'm faithful enough to give him something He can use.

Follow-through

When I'm tired or busy, discipline can get a little lax around here.  It can seem like the inmates are running the place.  Usually this can be corrected by careful follow-through on a promised consequence.  Philip & Gabe would NOT leave each other alone Thursday morning.  So help me, they sounded like they were straight out of a Bill Cosby sketch, or my own childhood.  I gave them an ultimatum:  if they couldn't get through 24 hours without fighting and/or calling each other names, they would become roommates on Saturday.

They just couldn't help themselves.

Now Eric has his own room and Gabe & Philip are roomies.  

The best part is, as soon as we got things switched around, the new roomies played great together for half an hour until Gabe's bath.

1,000 Things to do with a 3-year-old...

#348:  Change sheets.  This is especially fun if you poof out the sheets a-la the Gymboree parachute.  Stuffing the pillowcases is good for a laugh, too.

Homily(not mine, don't run away)

Every now and then I hear something at Mass that seems to be aimed at me like an arrow(and often as painful).  Today's wasn't painful, but it was good for my whole family to hear.  Our pastor reminded us that each one of us has a mission from God for our lives.  EVERYONE.  No exceptions.  As another priest I heard once put it, "There are no 'extra' people."  Don't know what your purpose is?  If you ask Him, He will tell you(or show you, whichever will make the bigger impression).  The cool part is that God won't force your mission on you, it's always like Mission Impossible(TV): "Your mission, if you choose to accept it..."  We get to CHOOSE!
The bummer is that when it gets hard, we have to remember that we chose and therefore:  NO WHINING(ouch).

Life after chocolate...

You know those cute mugs, t-shirts, etc. that say, "Is there life after chocolate?"  Well, I'm about to find out.  My lovely migraines have increased in both occurrence and severity to the point that I'm going to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get a handle on them, including the "migraine diet" from David Buchholz, M.D.'s book, Heal Your Headache.  This includes eliminating certain foods for 4 months, including chocolate, nuts, bananas, citrus fruits & juices, MSG(in all it's tricky forms), processed meats, aged cheeses, onions, yogurt, and fresh baked goods made with yeast.  Oh, wait, I forgot the alcohol, even the migraine-friendly vodka.  In addition to this list, there is the permanent cessation of caffeine consumption.  I'd tried to modify that last one by switching from regular coffee to decaf and having some iced green tea, but that's not really working.  Oh, and I'm supposed to pitch my caffeinated OTC migraine drugs.

Let my life without chocolate(coffee, cheese, nuts & other yummies) commence!
On the up side, I get to keep my garlic!

June's Project

I know, it's July and I'm FINALLY posting my favorite June project.  I made this for the granddaughter of my friend & neighbor, Tami.  Her birthday party colors were orange & fuchsia.  It looked so cute on her!