Friday, February 27, 2009

Amelia

Our thoughts and prayers are going out to Uncle Matt and Auntie Jen. We are unified in spirit as you mourn the loss of your niece Amelia Heil. We are saddened by the short length of her life but also rejoice that she is where we all want to be. In this way she is our elder. We want to be with her some day united in the communion of love described by Christ that we so often fail to believe in.
Amelia Heil, pray for us!

Weekend at "The 4 Line"

After school today I drove the kids to 4 Line Road for a weekend visit with Grandad and Grandmom Pierce and Uncle Greg. Daddy has a ton of work this weekend so it was a great excuse to give him 3 days to himself. We got here at 3 p.m. and just finished a pizza dinner.
Here's why the kids love "The 4 Line":
1. The ramp...can we say kid heaven? Sliding down Grandad's ramp with indoor trucks and such is as good as it gets.
2. Orange Juice & Chocolate Milk...Mommy pretends not to listen when Grandmom Pierce offers these 2 substances on demand.
3. Toys A Plenty- As soon as we arrived Grandmom and Uncle Greg pulled out most of the most appealing toys and brought them to Grandad's room. You can barely walk in here what with the trains, trains and more trains.
4. Uncle Greg...when I put Monica in his arms she is quite delighted because she's taller than Mommy and looks down at everyone.
5. The Gator...another element of kid heaven. We've promised them a ride in the morning. Gabe will sleep tonight anticipating the morning as if it's Christmas.
6. The Wheelchair...another most intriguing element. All 3 of my children are mystified by it...they're convinced it's magic and dream of a day when they have unlimited access to this machine from heaven.
7. Space. This house has sooooo much space. Space to run, slide, scoot and do flips. We just don't have this kind of space in Old Town Alexandria. Kids like wide open space.
8. Crackers and Cookies. Somehow these two foods make their way into our diet more than I'd like to admit while we're here. The kids have radar for it. They know Grandmom keeps a full supply and sniff it out within an hour of arrival.
9. Grandad Pierce. John Paul and Gabe like to show off their trains creations to make Grandad smile. They also get more sports statistics here than anywhere else...they're loyalty already belongs to the Villanova Wildcats, Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles...all by Grandad osmosis. But it also belongs to the Minnesota Vikings due to Daddy osmosis. They don't know the difference yet.
10. Mommy chills out sometimes at "The 4 Line". Our little trips afford Mommy the opportunity to forget about any complications of life in Alexandria (like the fact that we recently had a gunpoint burglary happen to a neighbor walking his dog at 8 p.m. in the alley next to our house). Mommy is chilled out indeed...sipping some red wine with Grandmom and Uncle Greg, forgetting about the complications of life and being grateful for the Present Moment.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Note to Self

Okay I promise I'll start blogging about the grandkids very soon with pictures and all.
But I had to write this for myself and for any night owls out there that may appreciate it.
Here it is.
Drum roll please.
Luis and I went to bed last night at 9:14 p.m.
Yes- NINE FOURTEEN P.M.!!!!
Do you know how good I feel today?!!!
Note to self:
SLEEP IS THE BEST DRUG!!!

Friday, February 13, 2009

You know it's Friday night when...

You just know it's been a long week or it's just been a tiring day when...
You're kneeling by your kids' beds at night thinking you should pray night prayers. Your husband initiates by making the sign of the Cross...
He then starts "Bless us Oh Lord..."
You join with him in this GRACE BEFORE MEALS
all the way to the AMEN
and then you both look at each other realizing what you did.
You shrug it off with a little chuckle.
The kids don't even notice.
You pray an Our Father and say good night.
Such was our Friday night this February 13, 2009.