Last night, while we were praying our family prayers, I glanced over at Scholastica to see her looking sternly at Benedict and doing something strange with her thumb. I quickly realized she was trying to snap at him so that he could see that he was not folding his hands properly. She confirmed this by yelling across the room at to him and telling him to fold his hands right.

This evening we said prayers earlier than we normally do so that she could go to bed before the rest of the kids. She was dozing off while we were singing the Salve, but she kept singing along.

Everyone needs a Scholastica in their lives.

Just a note: There’s nothing better than assisting at a Mass that has been celebrated with all of the reverence due our Lord.

I’m sure my friend Andrea appreciated my text messages from yesterday’s marathon grand day out, so I’m going to share it with you all now.

As you know our kids participate in the South Georgia Strings Project. This program is supported in part by generous donations from many people in the South Georgia area. At the end of the semester, we are invited to play for the Symphony Guild, so off we went. Practice started at 10 am at Valdosta State, so I dropped of the three big kids and took the two little one to Joshua’s office for a morning of fun having. I headed back to campus to collect the other kids then head to the country club where they’d be playing.

They played their pieces beautifully (check here and here to hear) and then we headed out to find lunch then collect the little kids. Karol ended up staying at Joshua’s office, helping out with a mailing while I took the rest of the kids to my midwife* appointment and then to the park for a half hour. Oh, have I mentioned that I’m 35 weeks pregnant and that it was 90 in the Swamp yesterday. To me, anything about 68 is hot right now.

So, after playing at the park for a bit, we picked Karol back up then headed to the Little Flowers meeting/end of the year tea party. The girls finished wreath two and did a great job this year. We modified the program a bit so that all the kids from our family and the other family could could participate as well, so the tea party was for all of them.

After visiting for a while with our friends, we headed back to Joshua’s office where he was catching up on work (as we’d invaded his space for a good portion of the day). I left the kids with him and headed off to get my hair cut as I probably won’t be able to again until December.

So for us homebodies, let me recap that we left the house at 915 and didn’t get home until 630 (the kids and Joshua) and 8 for me. It was a long day.

*The midwife appointment was great. Everything is on target but I’ll admit that I’ve had a lot more body pain with this one and I’m ready to have him/her at any point now. (Holding on for 37 weeks though.) The baby has sat low for a long time, so my sciatic nerve feels permanently pinched, I have an awesome zombie walk right now.

I keep having dreams that I had the baby already and slept through labor, that’s a nice dream to have, eh? I’m a bit nervous to go through labor again and fear that I won’t be able to do it. How is it possible to be in transition a month before my due date? So if you could offer a few prayers for me that my anxiety won’t get the best of me, that’d be great.

We went to Florida last weekend and traveled about as much of the state as possible in three and a half days. Our trip started out with just a trip to Legoland. We found out they had homeschooling days with reduced ticket prices, as in $12.50 per kid. We could not pass that up, at all, so we planned the trip as part of the Easter gift for the kids.

 

Looking at the map and also realizing that this may be our last trip to Florida, we decided to add the Everglades to our trip. Then we decided to visit Joshua’s aunt and uncle in Sarasota, attend the Anglican Use Mass in Orlando, walk through the Holy Doors also in Orlando, then finally, added a visit to some Savannah seminarians in Boynton Beach. It was a crazy crazy trip, but totally worth it.

Our first stop was actually the seminary. We had dinner with Rev. Mr. Wright (who spent some of his pastoral year at our parish) and three other Savannah seminarians. We headed off to our hotel after that, in Boca Raton. We had thought of going to the Cathedral in Miami on Saturday but after driving for a good chunk on Friday then dinner being late, we passed on that trip and slept in a bit.

On Saturday morning we headed out for breakfast and a drive along A1A where we saw a Lamborghini, a Bentley, a Tesla, the ocean, cruise ships, yachts, and lots of cargo ships. I think we were most excited about the Tesla. We headed south toward Miami for a bit, then turned off toward the Everglades. It was also a beautiful day and we drove with the windows down and we even saw a few alligators along the side of the road.

We stopped in Everglade City and stamped our National Park Service Passport book and checked out the visitor center. It’s pretty neat to have kids old enough to be able to read the information and to get excited about the things they are learning. We did a walk along the shore line and the kids played with rocks and shells. Then it was time to head off to Sarasota.

Note: Culver’s is in South Florida, if you care. I may have moved across three lanes of traffic to get off at the exit where the Culver’s was. Okay, I did, but I did it safely. It was worth it, every bite of it. (In case you can’t tell, we don’t live anywhere near a Culver’s.)

Joshua’s aunt and uncle graciously hosted us at their house on Saturday night. His cousins came over and we all hung out, catching up. The kids ran around and I got to hear a few stories about Joshua as a kid. (Mostly that he was quiet, not surprising at all.)

After showers and a good night sleep, we headed out to Orlando to go to Mass Incarnation Catholic Church. It used to be an Episcopal Church but it is now in line with Rome and fully Catholic.If you have a few minutes, check them out. If you live near an Anglican Use (or Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter) parish, I highly recommend checking them out one Sunday. We visited for about an hour with parishioners who came up and said “hello!” and with the pastor as well.  I told Joshua that if we lived near that parish it would be our parish.

Our next stop was to the Holy Doors at the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe. Our diocese only has one Holy Door, in Savannah, so this just made sense for us to stop at. We were able to go to confession as well, so plenary indulgences all around!

Our hotel for Sunday night was great. If you ever get a chance to stay at a Drury Inn, do it. They may cost a few dollars more, but they have some many amenities that it’s worth it.  They have a “Kickback” buffet that is essentially dinner plus adult drink vouchers, if you are so inclined. The room was clean, the pool was nice, I soaked my legs in the hot tub for a few minutes. Oh and the hotel has a quiet time beginning at 10pm, so it was very quiet as well. Breakfast is also a buffet with tons of options, good options, not just bagels and muffins.

Then we headed off to Legoland. I’m just going to say this about Legoland: “Everything is awesome!” It is very much designed for smaller kids (meaning 3-12) in mind. Benedict was able to go on all but maybe four of the rides, and he’s short. Joshua rode the roller coasters with the kids (even Benedict!) and I walked around with Scholastica. There were rides for her too though and she loved them, especially the one where she could drive a car. 

The employees were super friendly as well. On their name tags, they have mini figures and you can trade them for one that you brought along or bought at the gift shop and our kids has the best time doing that. In addition to the rides, there were lots of Lego sculptures and even a mini village set up.

We were also allowed to bring in a backpack with waters and snacks. That kept us from paying $4 for a water and $15 for a pizza buffet, always a plus. I seriously would go back if our travels ever take us to Central Florida  again.

One more bit of trivia: We drove through every single diocese/Archdiocese in the state on our travels.

 

We’ve worked long and hard to get our house ready for sale. Today we signed with our agent and she stuck a for sale sign out front and listed the house online. I’ve wanted to share before and afters for a while and now that we have all the shots completed, I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From before the Easter Vigil Mass last night:

 

 

Karol served during the Mass and carried the incense boat for the first time. Margaret and Caecilia made sure to follow along with the missalette, including the parts in Spanish. I was impressed to see that Caecilia was able to keep up with the Spanish. Benedict tried to follow along, gave up, then worked hard to not pester anyone. Scholastica fell asleep five minutes after sitting in our pew.

The Mass this year lasted nearly three hours and was packed, a wonderful thing to see!

He is risen!!

My friend Andrea likes to text me and tell me how long it’s been since I’ve updated my blog. She’s funny like that. I know I’ve been quiet on this end for a few month, with the exception of bone throwing post last week in response to Andrea’s most recent blogging silence text. It’s been a busy few months around here. Actually it has felt like I didn’t get much of a handle on 2015 at all and in the end I was just in survival mode.

So here’s what’s up in our world:

1. Joshua has received permission to work remotely. Since he will be able to work from home this means home can be just about anywhere, which is a great thing. We are working on getting our house on the market so that we can sell and move. There have been many things to do to help spruce up the place, like patching and painting. We’ve also redone both bathrooms and the kitchen, so as you can see, we are pretty serious about this. This whole project has taken up tons of our time.

2. School. School always takes a lot of time. Add in music lessons and my days are full.

3. Cleaning. It’s like my kids smell blood. I need things clean and they leave a trail of destruction and the chore chart isn’t helping much. I’m trying to not be grumpy when I see a huge mess in a room I just cleaned.

4. Back to moving, that means packing. I’ve been trying to pack things up day by day, even though we don’t know when we’ll be moving. It’s been somewhat helpful. Toys, clothes, games and books have been mostly packed. There are a few things for reading and playing with though, because I’m not stupid. The Legos have been left out because they would play with those all day long if I let them.

 

5. Oh and this:

 

 

Scholastica (age 2.75): “Mama, how do you spell Scowasica?”