Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Ath00051Dearest, darling boy! You are my angel, my Christmas surprise. You are the baby God sent us when we were quite sure our hands were full. You came into the world at five ticks before midnight on a day that is forever transformed by it being yours. Yours is the first voice I hear every morning, my steadfast companion in the dawn. You are the gentle spirit who reminds me daily that life is very simple.  You are enormous and you are my baby boy.You are Nicholas Karol and you hold a place in my heart that could only be filled by you. God knew exactly what we needed when He sent us you. I am so very grateful.

Homemaking Inspiration

The winners are up at the Homeschool Blog Awards site. Hopefully, you had time early in the voting process to visit lots of those blogs and you've already added new inspiration and encouragement to your daily reading routine. Just want to add a quick caution: the winner of the Homemaking blog is horribly anti-Catholic. I think we all wish we'd caught this weeks ago. For now, don't go there unless you're really wanting to debate theology in the combox;-). And if you're looking for homemaking inspiration, you'll find plenty of it at the blogs linked on the righthand sidebar in the Real Learning blogroll. Catholic homemaking is a unique and beautiful vocation. We consider our families to be the Domestic Church and we try to live as the Holy Family did in that humble home of Mary's making.  Homemaking and homeschooling are challenging enough, particularly at this time of year--let's all be an encouragement to on another.Speaking of encouraging homemaking wisdom, have you seen Dawn's household archives, Kim's decorating genius and her generous sharing of planning pages, Danielle's Daily doses of Advent ideas, Kristen's and Suzanne's beautiful kitchen blog (and the fairs they've had there),Alice's wonderful watercolored wisdom, and the blessings in the cottage?

There is so much homemaking wisdom out there! Let's make each other aware of the positive.If you've got a favorite homemaking blog or post, be sure to share it on your blog.

I knew if I kept my mouth shut long enough, his brothers would do the job

Nicky and Stephen had some huge altercation in the basement involving a basketball or a soccer ball or some such thing that they aren't supposed to play in the house. There was much wailing and they both came up to find me. Michael was with me.

Michael (using his best "tough guy" voice") : Stephen, stop that wailing; you're being a girl.
Stephen: I'm not being a girl! You're being a girl!
Michael: At least I don't going crying to Mom every time someone bumps me.
Stephen: At least I don't wear her earrings!

And the point goes to Stephen. I'm still maintaining my earring silence.