your daily (hmm, well, not quite) dose of denja

went to COSI again this weekend. the girls got bored waiting for Mike to return from gassing up and vaccumming grandma Rose's car (we got to borrow it while she was in Florida) so they went for a quick sled ride - Mikey LOVED it!



















on Sunday, the girls had to try on grandma Paula's glasses...tell me Carmen is not the most hilarious poser EVER. go on, just try to tell me.

well, i should probably write more, but there's a little boy hollering (yes, hollering!) so i'm going to hit it.

the latest news is didn't get the job i interviewed for last week...argh! and it's Catholic Schools week so lots of fun activities for the girls this week.

ok, i'm off!

little prayers

i've been up since 5am so bear with me...

on monday, i asked "who wants to do a rosary?" and isabel shouted "i do!" and ran to get hers. i was saying it aloud and noticed she was praying, but not with me so i stopped to listen and it was so cute, something along the lines of "and we want to pray for God that He will be good. and the Blessed Virgin Mary. blessed are you. and i pray for grandma rose and grandpa bob and grandma paula and grandpa joe and grandma alice and grandpa bruce and may the Blessed Virgin Mary pray for us oh holy mother of God so that the Lord is good..." she went on like this for about 3 minutes while moving her beads through her hands and then put the rosary down and said "i'm done" and ran off to play...

on tuesday i went to mass at school and was stopped by the kindergarten teacher to tell me that carmen is quite "profound" i haven't read the story yet, but they illustrated a story and had to explain it to the teacher and carmen's was all about prayer and the teacher was just very impressed. i'm looking forward to it.

then maria's teacher, Sister Mary Grace, told me that maria was being quite prayerful and reverent at mass that morning and that she had told her how proud she was of her.

well...i'll take it Lord! i may not have any money, but i've got three girls well on their way to Heaven. that's certainly more important.

no word on my monday interview yet. should know early next week. here's hoping...and praying!

baby boy is awake and this mama is pooped, so i'm off...

the overacheiver and medjugorje

mikey climbed 4 steps today unassisted (i was behind spotting him to avoid the inevitable fall of the 7mo over-achiever). isabel was at the top of the steps and kept throwing down a scarf to him saying "you can do it mikey! grab the rope! i'll pull you to safety!" wish i had the camera so i could put up a video of that one, but alas, you'll just have to exercise your powers of imagination.

i just finished a book on medjugorje. i do a rosary from time to time with a mom from school who's BTDT and she reads me "messages" - this was mine from this past Friday:

October 31, 1985 "Dear children! Today I wish to call you to work in the Church. I love all the same and I desire from each one to work as much as is possible. I know, dear children, that you can, but you do not wish to because you feel small and humble in these things. You need to be courageous and with little flowers do your share for the church and for Jesus so that everyone can be satisfied. Thank you for having responded to my call."

bold is mine. as most folks know i run a little flowers girls club and i just was so moved that this would be the message i would receive. (we pick one out at random without looking) now there is some controversy surrounding it due to the former local bishop's feelings that it is a hoax but i'm pretty much convinced and though the Church has not so far "affirmed" the apparitions, neither has the vatican condemned them. it is a legitimate shrine as far as i know...so...if you have any interest at all, i encourage you to do some research. i find the messages truly beautiful and the stories of miracles and conversions and pilgrimages quite authentic.

okay. better get to bed.

ice festival

went to the plymouth ice festival today. lordy, lordy, what a bunch of whiners i'm in charge of. we stopped at the park first to see daddy's service stone. then a short walk to kellogg park. we watched them make a little elephant (what we're watching here) and by the time we made it to the big Detroit "D" below, there were two little girls in tears, whining about cotton candy and frozen toes and on it went for the entire walk around the park and back to the car.







i tried to get maria to do the "thumbs up" for this shot and she was all for it until people started looking at her. so, here's just the "D" no big whoop...

in cute stories lately, isabel has taken to covering her eyes during the "scarey" parts of a movie or show and then when it's done saying "phew! i'm glad that's over!"

here's a conversation from maria and friend, katie, from the other day in the van:
katie: do you know what you're going to do when you grow up?
maria: well, i'm either going to be a Sister or...
katie interrupts: me too! i'm going to be a Sister too! what order?
maria: hmm, i'm not sure yet, but i know we'll have a whole hour a day where all we can do is just play and we'll get to be with Jesus every day.
katie: i know! since you're older than me, when you decide what convent to join, call me and then when i'm old enough i'll join the same convent and we can be sisters together in the same convent!
maria: yeah, that would be so much fun!

carmen received her package from grandma rose today and promptly put together all her goody bags for her birthday party. grandma sent cups, plates and napkins for the party that carmen picked out and all of the party favors for the girls: sparkly tattoos, stickers, a bracelet kit and a little velvet art kitty with a marker set to color. now she's working on her "thank you" card to which isabel suggested, "why not write? dear grandma rose, thank you for the AWESOME gift. that's what i'm going to say when she sends me my package." LOL

mikey is babbling and whining at my feet as i type, so that's all for today. enjoy the winter weather all you midwesterners reading this - it's finally here!!

this is today...this was yesterday...this was some days before...

this is today...wow. and this means two "ice" days in a row for the girls as the ice killed today and the power is still out (at school, we're a-ok TBTG) so tomorrow is a no-go too. the first grade teacher told us to "stay sane" LOL, that's a good one :) Actually, the girls were pretty good, we hung out at Amy's for most of day.



i hosted a baby blessing for amy yesterday. a very nice time if i do say so myself. we did a rosary for little mary therese and enjoyed some yummy food together. the girls helped me make this quilt for baby.


this is a carrier cake that i made. the bottom is the quilt, the middle a no-sew wrap and the top is a denim pouch i made with a pair of my jeans. the top is a little onzie and you can see a little lady bug toy climbing up the side :) pink organic velour swaddlebees surround the bottom. sorry if that was all greek to you, but if you're any kind of ap mama - you know what i'm saying!


mikey much enjoyed the fact that our friend christine brought owen to the baby blessing. he couldn't get enough of the "big boy" and he gave him many kisses - LOL this will be good blackmail for later in mikey's life...first a pic of him in a skirt and now him kissing another boy.



this is from a few days ago(or a week ago - gosh it's been 11 days since i've posted!) i wish i could have gotten mikey crawling after the girls when he saw the popsicles, i've never seen him move so fast! baby likes a little frozen HFCS.


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same old, same old here. still looking. and can i just say...ARGH. actually had a nice week at work this past week, we hosted some district competitions at EMU and that was fun. i really like coordinating events and such, but alas, that doesn't seem to be my main job, but just a little here and there...ah well. hopefully something's coming. that tax return is only going to last us for so long...sigh.

mike's been working a fair amount over the weekend and this week so that's good too!

carmen is looking forward to her "dance party" - if you haven't heard, she's invited four 4th graders, two 2nd graders, one 1st grader and only one of her classmates. LOL - i think it will be a fun time though, it's a 2 hr party with dance lessons and party games and what fun!

well, better get to it. gotta get a few items accomplished before tomorrow as i have class tomorrow evening and need to work during the day since i took today off so mike could work.

the cuteness of isabel

knows no bounds...


in her "nest"

mike took the girls to an indoor play area a few days ago and met up with amy and her kids. the slide pics of isabel are from that...sigh...how i wish i could sit around drinking fancy coffees while my kids played in an indoor playland...alas i was at work. just kidding of course! (well, i would like to "sit around" and drink fancy coffees, but i'm sure that's not what mike was doing!)

the girls have been uber-obnoxious lately what with being out of school for three weeks. they just can't contain their energy! and i have adopted an online friend's new years resolution - no being a $hit. LOL, you can go ahead and ask mike how well i'm doing. i really don't think i'm being a $hit, but man i sure am grumpy!

money woes have got me down. still plugging away, applications in everywhere, trying to find something steady/more hours/more pay...we did very well at christmas not overspending or anything, i feel good about that, but you can only simplify so much when your income isn't equal to even your most basic necessary payments: mortgage, tuition, electricity, gas, phone, water, insurance, etc. ugh. join me in a memorarae for fruitful employment, would you?

remember o most gracious virgin mary, that never was it known, that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. inspired by this confidence, i fly unto thee o virgin of virgins, my mother. to thee do i come, before thee i stand, sinful and sorrowful. o mother of the word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me.

mikey just popped his fifth tooth (in between the fangs on top) he had a fever the other night and i wonder if this was why...no other symptoms. he is crawling all around and pulling up and moving along the furniture. very crafty this one. and built for speed! he is so quick! he's driving me nuts, we had 2 good nights of sleep (up only once or twice) but last night and tonight, ugh, he's up all night long...

isabel is enjoying dance class. she has two teachers now: miss molly and miss mary. i peeked a little this last time and she is too cute. can't wait to see her in a recital, she was made to dance...adorable! mike says "where's my bell?" and she has taken to calling him isa, "where's my isa?" she says. she's always throwing her arms around us and telling us how much she loves us. she is heaven on earth for sure.

carmen and maria (other than being terminally obnoxious) have been playing lots of "littlest pet shop" and wearing their sweaters from tita a lot. i have a pic, but this stupid site is giving me problems uploading and it's almost midnight, so i'll post it later with some pics of mikey in the sink (he loves to take a bath in the sink!) and maria's new scooter and some denja christmas pics long overdue...

not much else that i can think of to post for now. i should go to sleep. after a trip to the PO, grocery store and a blood draw tomorrow a.m., the carpet cleaners are coming! yahoo! so it'll be a busy morning, better rest...

mikey's first skirt...

well i laughed everyone off when they said my girls would be dressing my boy up, but it's happened already...poor thing.













mikey tried an orange today (didn't really get much in the old gullet, but hey! we had fun!)





give it to mikey...he'll try anything. hey! he likes it!

nice start to the new year today in that i got to sleep in and go to mass with my best friend. i just took mikey and though we were bummed to find out afterwards that trader joes was closed, we did do our grocery shopping. then we proceeded to "veg" the day away...it's back to work tomorrow so thank goodness for small favors.

a little scare, last night isabel spent the night at grandma paula's - she was going to take all the girls and watch mikey while we went out to eat, but she wasn't feeling well (had a cold - or so we thought) so anyway, we took the older girls and mikey home and mike went over there today to pick up isabel with the older girls and found grandma with a black eye and cut to the head, she had passed out this morning. after a day a the ER, thankfully, she has nothing more than a case of bronchitis for which she got antibiotics and the fainting was likely just "overdoing" it...so just another cause to be really grateful for grandma Paula in the new year! thank God she's "ok"!!!!!

ok, someone please convince mike that we need to rip this up:

YUCK. that's all i can say. just YUCK.

video from COSI the other day:



video from today, if you look close you can see the "fangs" when he laughs...