A Little Irish in Our Step

A new adventure for this family for sure.  You would think that with a name like Shannon from the clan of Maloney that I would have tried this before.   My children are not so happy that I have pushed for this adventure for them now.  The oldest ones are happy that they are too grown up for me to introduce a new thing for them to try.  I decided around Christmas time that I wanted the kids to experience this for this semesters PE.  As luck would have it, the day after I started contacting Irish Dance schools around here the homeschool group was notified that one of the schools was offering a discounted introduction homeschool class for our Bread Of Life group.  As you can imagine I was thrilled.  This opportunity fell into our laps.  The cost (for now) is a fraction of what it normally is so we will stick with this homeschool dabble-in-it version for the rest of the school year.  Then if the kids have interest and talent we will decide the best way to continue.  For now I have so enjoyed watching the kids jump around the house while keeping their knees in position and their arms stiff.  Not sure where this will end up but I am most thankful that my kiddos gave it a try.  My group even has some talent!

 

 

 

 

I will say that this was fun and I hope we can continue past our little trial.  If you have Irish Danced and have had positive experiences please leave us a comment.  If you have blogged about how much you loved your time dancing please send us the link.  My kids need to see that this is a normal fun activity.  It is way out of their comfort zone.

I love winter - but it attacked me!

I have not hidden the fact that I love winter.  I enjoy the colder weather.  I so enjoy building snow men.  I have even been quoted as saying that I even find ice storms to be beautiful.  All that is true until the winter attacked me personally!  Our third ice storm of the season was much colder the past ones.  It felt worse as it had come off of a warm weekend of 70's and now it was below 32 and raining.  The older kids headed off to school and got their with little problems.  We were watching morning news, all about the election when we heard a load snap and crunch.  We thought it was the van but no, it was dad's Volvo.  It is an older car with very little miles and is (I mean was) in wonderful shape. 

 

 

OK, we lost several limbs today.  I am so thankful that no one got hurt.  Ice and branches fell all day long but in the end the only real damage was to the car..  They landed all over the yard and on the garage.  In the end it was pretty.  Now how about some snow!?!

Welcome to the Catholic Family Little Guy

1 Peter 3:21: "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." 

Nothing better than the sweet smell of the special oils used at baptism.   I love that smell, maybe that is why I have so many children. 

We felt so blessed to be able to witness the baptism of our newest friend in the G family.  This precious little man is one of our newest fellow Catholics.  He is a real cutie and has as ultra clean soul. 

As soon as the baptism was over the Texas T's kids got a hold of the baby and were kind of greedy.  They never like letting go a baby.

The two big sisters let us play with them.  Such cuties, each and every one.

Eight little ones in total.  What a great day for our church and for our family. 

 

 

"By water and the Holy Spirit he is ready to receive the gift of new life from God, Who is LOVE!"

Goals for 2014 - UPDATED 3-1-14

As the New Year rolled in I set aside 5 basic things that I wanted to focus on for the year 2014. I promised monthly updates in hope that it will keep my focused on accomplishing these.  Here is the original post:  Goals for 2014 as posted on 1-4-14

1)  Replace Holy Mary Tree Topper:  Check
I never thought I would be able to replace this. Thanks to Mrs. W, at the very last day of the month - I have great news to report.  She gave me a new Mary and Jesus topper on the last day of February for my birthday.  I was so surprised and so very thankful.  She has been looking for one since we became friends.  She also wanted one for her tree.  When my Mary topper burned she decided to try to replace it for me before buying one for herself.  Now I suspect she and Jason have been bidding against each other.   That being said, I love my new (old) topper and I am very thankful for a good friend that has helped me reach my first goal - and so early in the year.

2) Create Heirloom Quality Christmas Stockings:
 No magic tricks on the rest of the goals.  I have yet to cut any of the fabric for our stockings.  March goal is to have the stockings cut, sewed, and prepared for decorations. 

3) Improve Flexibility and Stamina:
 No, not much to this goal at all, either.  Lent is coming so maybe I can tie the goal to my Lenten offering and get moving.

4) Move Into a Home That Better Fits This Big Family Needs:
We have been all over the board on this one.  J and I have found a new subdivision that is North of where we are now.  We like the location and have singled out one house that would be perfect.  The sad thing is that this neighborhood does not have a pool, and that might be a deal breaker.  I then pause and think that maybe we should just have our current house worked on .  I hate it but it would be a lot less stress, worry and change.  This leads to how I am failing at number 5.

5) Be Adventurous:
I don't know about this one either.  I have so many adventurous dreams but in reality getting the kids to Mass during the week without Dad and the big kids can be an adventure that I am not that good at.  We have had a few park days, and few walks.  Simple, little things.  I guess it is about baby steps.  I like finding comfort in the everyday.  Maybe I need to work at define "adventurous" for us.  Some would say that having 11 kids is already an adventure and I think I would have to agree with that.  Now how to have an adventurous heart within our already adventurous vocation of a big family.