The first stop on our Holiday Home Tour is down in San Antonio where Karen blogs at Nine Texans (although there are a lot more of them now) and capchessguy blogs at Who Needs Green?  Although their tree won’t be up until Gaudete Sunday, they shared what they’ve got up already! Thanks, guys! I’m in love with the snowflakes on the banister and the blinged out baby gate just waiting for the tree. If you want to share what you’ve... Read more

When I was a girl, there was nothing I like half so much at this time of year as seeing how other families decorated for the Holidays.  My mother and I would go on multiple holiday home tours just for the fun of the lights, the decor, and the obligatory mug of hot chocolate. Its funny, but while I loved taking those tours, I never understood why anyone would want their house to be a stop on one.  Then I... Read more

**Because it’s Monday, and we could all use a little encouragement** “I wish that I could homeschool,” my neighbor told me.  “I would in a minute, but their dad says no.  He prefers the public schools.  He’s afraid that they’d become freaks.” I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard this over the years.  There is a fear in all of us (even those of us who’ve been doing this for what seems like forever) that somehow our children... Read more

Last night, on our way to Confirmation prep class, #2 was talking about Christmas and Santa Claus.  After a bit, I asked him, “Do you still believe in Santa Claus?” “Yes.” He replied confidently. “Lots of my friends don’t, but there are all kinds of things we don’t see or understand and still believe.”  My heart both sank and leapt at the gentle trust and faith of my son.  “I just tell them they’re wrong, and that it can’t be... Read more

Once upon a time, I thought that the way health insurance worked was simple.  If you got sick, you found a doctor or a hospital on your list of providers and you went to them, because they were the ones in-network.  It all seemed so simple, in theory, that I would hear tales of people going broke when they got sick and think “They must have been sick for a really long time.” or “I wonder why they didn’t go... Read more

**I’ll be writing about homeschooling here every Monday.  I don’t have a cool thing for the top of the post yet, but I will soon!** When I started homeschooling my eldest 1,000+ years ago, I couldn’t imagine why I’d ever need a chalk/white board.  I only had one student in each grade, and could sit next to them and say stuff much more easily than standing in front of them.  I wasn’t a “real teacher” after all, just a mom... Read more

This weekend, we gain a new godson, and the world gains a new Catholic.  Please say a prayer for P and his whole family on Sunday morning as we wash the heathen out of him! God bless P! I can’t wait to meet him or to get a whiff of the baby before he loses his new-car smell. Read more

With the Health Care Debate turning into grumbles from people who feel powerless to stop it, and Obamacare seeming to be here to stay for the foreseeable future, it’s time we discussed who’s really paying for all this “Free” health care.  It’s those of us with health insurance who are covering the expenses of those who can not.  It is a big part of why it is so expensive to go to get medical care, and why so many people... Read more

I have a confession to make.  I’m not great about what the baby eats.  I’m not awful, but  I could definitely do better.  Last week, I realized that she was living on a diet of breast milk, cheerios, and Lucky Charms plus whatever the rest of us eat for dinner.  She would get hungry, and I would tell one of her siblings “Can you put her in her high chair and give her something to eat while I teach your... Read more

Yesterday afternoon, I look #6 out for a walk, just the 3 year old and me.  This house gets busy and loud, and he doesn’t get as much one-on-one time as either one of us would like, so we took the opportunity of the baby napping and the big kids watching a movie which was too scary for him, and we slipped outside. The sunlight reached out in the warm gold of late Fall as it cascaded through the few... Read more