Easter Renewal

Homemade carrot cake

This year we celebrated Easter twice.  We spent "PrEaster" at my in-laws in the Poconos and Easter Sunday at my parents.  Lilly was amazing at Mass and Blue was amazing both at my in-laws and at my mom's.

For the usual holiday weekend illness, Lilly's allergies were very bad, making me question whether it was allergies or illness.  Claritin cleared it up so I am sticking with allergies.  (We have a bad habit of spending holidays in the ER.)  For the mandatory craziness, our kitchen sink faucet started spraying water all over the place, necessitating that we turn the water off under the sink.  It just adds a new dimension to cooking and baking.  :)

Though I may not be as regular a church goer as I used to be, or maybe even as I would like to be, I do believe that Easter is a time of renewal and hope.  When I was in church yesterday I prayed not only for God's blessings, but for my heart and soul to be open to all that God has in store for me and my family.  This year has been a tough one, but through our challenges we can and have experienced growth.  I really  felt very strongly for the first time in a long time that God has something wonderful planned for us in the coming year.


I know this may sound a little pie-in-the-sky, but I do believe that fear can hold you back from receiving the blessings that God is ready to bestow on you.  Fear is a very powerful emotion that is often a good thing: parents need to have a healthy fear in order to keep their children safe; children should have a fear of the street; my fear of being late to work makes me get out of bed.  But fear unchecked can inhibit you, hold you back.  I have been becoming more and more aware of what my personal fears are and how they might be holding me back.  Add to that the overwhelming feeling I had at Mass yesterday to shed my fears, and I really felt true renewal of hope.

I hope everyone was able to experience their own renewal of hope on this beautiful weekend.  

 

 

The holiday madness has descended

Oh. my. goodness.  I completely underestimated the insane effect of the impending holidays on my 3 year old.  She is a train wreck right now.  She needs wants everything.  She doesn't understand the passage of time (duh) so she thinks Christmas should be here already.  I mean, the poor kid has been seeing commercials and advertisements since practically the day after Halloween.

We have been trying very hard to explain the true meaning of Christmas.  She has gone to Mass with me and we talk about it a lot.  When I told her it was Jesus' birthday she was confused.  We even picked names off the giving tree together and she cried because she thought it meant that she was going to have to give her gifts to someone else.

I know that her reactions are pretty normal but sometimes I am still shocked at just how egocentric this 3-year-old can be.  I think that normally she is very giving and willing to share.  Well, she has a hard time sharing food sometimes.  But she is very generous with her toys and her stuff in general.

On top of it all we have not been keeping a great schedule.  We have had some later nights and some family visits.  She is way better at adapting than she used to be, but she is still very much a schedule kid.  The combination of all this led to these pictures today:

Charming, no?  It was 3pm-ish and right smack in the middle of nap time.  I actually think the pictures are hysterical!  She is with her (mine really) cousins Jack and Nolan, both of whom she adores.  We were able to get a few cuter ones after my cousin, their sister, Victoria talked her into it.

 
 Lilly was kind of smiling in the one with Jack's arm around her but I missed it.  I like the one where she is jumping, though. And why did we not get pictures of all the cousins?  Victoria? Do we remember why?  Next time...

Anyway, it was a great day spent with some wonderful family members.  I am hoping that now that I am aware of this craziness, I can be more calm about it.  Hoping...but maybe a glass of red wine each night will help with that this week!

Procrastination is my word of the season

I had such great intentions this year. House decorated Thanksgiving weekend and gift shopping finished by December 1st. Those were my lofty goals. I know people who do this so I figured that I could be one of those people.

Apparently that is not the case. I have taken down my pumpkin decorations but they are not stored yet. And that is all folks! It is driving me nuts! Every time slot I have scheduled to get ready gets taken by other menial daily tasks.

I need serious help here!

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