Two years ago, I did a Crazy Christmas Prep post in October, laying out our family plan for thriving during Advent and Christmas. In response to that post, I received quite a bit of negative feedback. From the very benign, “I’m stressed out and your post is only making it worse!” to the meaner, “you are so materialistic Red, and if you were as holy as some of us, you would just celebrate Christmas without gifts in a cold dark home... Read more
What’s the going rate for a tooth? That is, how much does the “tooth fairy” give your kids per lost tooth. I have heard that it’s up from 25 cents when I was a kid to $1.00 in 2013. But if Tex offers her kids 25 cents for finding something as valuable as a lost car remote, $1.00 seems high for a tooth. Moreover, in a large family with multiple kids simultaneously in their tooth-losing prime, $1.00 per tooth is... Read more
The beginning of Advent often sneaks up on me, meaning that I am only sometimes successful with family traditions like the Jesse Tree. This website has some great tips on planning for doing a Jesse Tree with your family this year, and it also contains a link that you can use to purchase the materials if you’re not feeling crafty this year (I would fall into this category most years!). In the past, I have also printed Jesse Tree ornaments... Read more
A few of my children are under the weather, and I am not feeling 100% awesome either, so I don’t have much to say, but here are a few things that I am thinking about this morning: 1) I love changing over our seasonal book basket. Out go the apple and pumpkin books and in come the Thanksgiving books, and it is so fun to see the kids grab their favorites and run for the couch. These books are old... Read more
Pope Francis, in a recent gathering of the Pontifical Council for the Family, “asked parents to ‘waste time’ with their children, so that they can realize that love is always free” (quote from this article). For those of us who spend a lot of time “wasting time” with our children, this statement is very encouraging! When we sit on the floor with our 3 year-old to assemble a puzzle, snuggle on the couch to read “The Yellow Tutu” for the... Read more
Do you ever feel like God keeps giving you little nudges about growth he wants of you either personally or in your marriage (or both)? Um…yeah. That’s where I am this morning, except for he is pushing, not nudging! My husband and I have been embarking on more robust nightly quiet times together for a particular prayer intention. What a great thing this has been for us! While I know God is leading us slowly to His will on that... Read more
Friends, Readers… I would be remiss if I did not link to this article (http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/fecundaphobia-on-the-fear-of-large-families) on the common phenomenon of the strange comments and judgements to which we expose ourselves by having families open to life. But, I would also like to point out that this article was published in Crisis Magazine. I remember when my mom was trying to help finance this publication as it got off the ground. Now it is solely online, not available in hard copy format.... Read more
Okay Builders, I want to see what all your cuties were up to this year. There will be plenty of candy math tomorrow at my house! Click through to see how young my children were, I can’t believe it!! Here is my clan. The baby didn’t want to dress in theme, so she is pictured below. And baby Josie was a lion. We wanted her to be Gimli but she knew she was cuter than that. QB, didn’t mean to... Read more
This year, our oldest started first grade. As part of first grade she has weekly spelling tests. Additionally, with her rapidly improving reading skills, she is increasingly able to decipher words that she hears others spell out. While there is much to celebrate in these milestones, it is also causing me a bit of a problem. Up until this point, my husband and I have enjoyed the ability to have relatively private conversations while our children are present (ages 6.5,... Read more
Can you believe that this sweet little guy steals like the dickens? I don’t know if lots of toddlers do this or if he’s able to sneak more things by since there are more children in the home now. But he takes and hides everything. If it isn’t nailed down it is gone! We had major tears before one baseball game as I delivered my standard, “if you aren’t responsible enough to keep track of you own baseball glove, then... Read more
Building Cathedrals
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In