{Pretty}
Coffee mug.


Girls in spring dresses
{Happy}


 {real}
This last bit of winter is dragging on and on and on and on....
Today is especially dreary, but we actually haven't even had a decently nice day in, like, a hundred days! Or something. It's just been so long and I'm feeling very claustrophobic and bored. I hope we get some relief soon. Someone said tomorrow is supposed to be nice. I'm not getting my hopes up but that would be amazing.
I am looking forward to making some planter boxes with Mike! Finally we are going to do it! This is our third year in the house and we are going to get to this project at last. I'm excited. Does anyone have experience with this book? I have heard only good things.

Well, that's it. My feet are freezing cold and I'm probably going to regret not napping when I had the chance. But my little man is awake and since the girls went down late for their naps it means only a couple of hours until daddy gets home tonight. I hope everyone is doing well!! Like Mother Like Daughter has some more to check out as always! :)

This morning the girls watched Curious George and saw George make maple syrup. They thought that was pretty fancy and wanted to make syrup, too. I suggested we just make waffles instead. They wanted pancakes, but they don't even like pancakes, so we made waffles and just called them pancakes.

It all started on Friday night. Mike and I had put the children to bed and we were downstairs cuddled up by the fire hanging out, talking about plans for the weekend and sipping wine (not very good wine) at about 10:30 we heard Lou crying. I found that she had thrown up all over herself, and I mean, all over. We had to throw her in the shower and pull everything off her bed and everything near by (books, stuffed animals, blankets) Then, once she was all cleaned up we decided to tuck her into our bed since she was so miserable. We figured it was over because she had thrown up so much we didn't think there was anything left in her! How wrong we were....because after she threw up in our room (thankfully she missed the bed) she proceeded to throw up and dry heave until the early morning hours. Yes, poor girl. And poor daddy who mostly took care of her since I had baby Michael to attend to.

It was definitely rough. Before I had children it never occurred to me how hard it was for my mom and dad to take care of us when we were sick. I always figured it was their job! Ha. I took it for granted that my mom would baby me, even as a young adult when I got sick! It is exhausting and heart wrenching. But there is something worse than that....and it's being sick yourself and taking care of healthy kids! (Which is what happened later as I'll get to)

Going back to the story. Saturday morning I figured that Lou had gotten food poisoning from some salmon chowder I picked up from the grocery store on Friday. I had eaten some too and felt a touch queasy on as well, though I had not thrown up. Lou seemed to have bounced back quickly and was cheerful as soon as she woke up, so we were convinced that's what it was. We decided that we would still go to our friend's house from church that evening for a game night. Since we were going to be there late, we asked uncle Pat to watch Josie for a few hours and to put her to bed. We had fun playing Cranium and drinking rum and coke (well, for me anyway) and came home late. The next morning we went to Liturgy and there was a baptism and reception. We got home super late, all took naps. Then sometime after that, around dinner time, Mike and I started to feel queasy. We stopped by Mike's parents for a visit, but at that point I knew I was going to throw up soon.  That night, the horrible-ness ensued. Mike and I alternated in running to the bathroom. It was wildly fun. The worst part, actually, was that baby Michael was having trouble nursing due to a stuffed up nose. I think he's teething and he has a cold. So he was miserable in that way and I wished so much I could just nurse him to sleep like I usually do. Instead, he wanted to be rocked or nursed upright. So you can imagine me, sick as a dog, trying to rock him and hold him.

Somehow we made it through the night. We were sick all day Monday, too, but started to feel better by mid-afternoon. So it was clearly a 24 hour bug. The worst, worst part though was that we got other people sick :( Uncle Pat got sick, our friends got sick. And I'm worried I'm going to hear reports from people at church getting sick. This thing is obviously highly contagious. We might be contagious for another week or two! I feel terrible for not being smarter and skipping the game night. This is the FIRST stomach bug our family has ever gotten! Lou has only thrown up like one time before this. So on the one hand we've been extremely lucky so far, but on the other hand, it made us make a bad decision and potentially make lots of other people sick. The good news is that it's only 24 hours, but the bad news is it's a miserable, miserable 24 hours.

In other, more cheerful news - Josie has thus far avoided it! Which is strange since uncle Pat babysat her and he got it. I'm happy though! Since this post was kind of lame and depressing, I'm going to do another post of Josie making waffles this morning. She's a cutie and I know you enjoy seeing pics of her :)

It's hard to believe Friday is here again! It doesn't happen often, but the end of the week kind of crept up on me. It probably has something to do with Monday being a holiday.

I had been wanting to blog all day yesterday but just never got around to it. Today I don't have a lot of spare time either but I'd like to get some thoughts down about the week. This time in my life is passing so quickly, and I find it good to record some of it so that later on I can look back and remember...

photo credit goes to Charlotte!

We had a lovely little weekend up in the mountains. The snow was a bit spring-like (dirty) but it was still fun. Daddy got to try out the snowmobile for the first time. The girls both loved it. I also just like taking walks around the cabin...over to the train tracks, into the snowy fields where my brother and sister and I used to go sledding. We are hoping to make it up one more time before the weather warms up. Then, if we go in the summer, we hope to do some hiking. We need to keep our eyes out for another backpack so that Josie can be on daddy's back and Michael on mine, probably. Lou is old enough to walk short hikes.

In other news, getting this blog post up has been incredibly frustrating! All 3 kids have had tried to prevent it all morning, it seems like. But I did it! I win! :)

Take that needy children! :D

Today's post is brought to you with cool pictures with this effect I found on my phone that combines B&W and one color; red, green, or blue. I don't know the name of this filter but I'm kind of obsessed with it right now!


Really, I should not be blogging. We decided to head up to the mountains before all the snow melts and are going to stay the night at my family's cabin up there. My uncle and his wife and two kids live there, but growing up it was just my uncle. We used to go there all the time and I have fond memories of skiing, hiking, snowmobiling, and playing board games at night. I should be packing right now while the kids are down, but I just have the urge to blog. I haven't posted anything since Tuesday, after all, and I won't be able to blog all weekend of course! Mike has a three day weekend so that's good. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully all the children will have a fun time and will sleep for us in an unfamiliar place!

Ready for some miscellany?

As I recorded on fb earlier, she promised me one night as I was tucking her into bed that she would "grow slowly up" and that she would still love me when she gets too tall for me to pick her up. Of course, I'm grateful for her sentiments!


Louisa Ann: our honeymoon baby. Our independent, sensitive, thoughtful, funny, artistic, smart, and motherly oldest child. She will always hold an extremely special place in our hearts. For me especially I can tell you the older she gets, the more I identify with her (I too am the oldest) as I see her personality characteristics emerge even more. She truly is an independent girl. She is self aware and by that I mean she has a good sense of her abilities and limitations. If you are thinking that is pretty mature for a 4 year old, you would be correct. I think of her as being quite mature for her age - a characteristic of being the oldest girl in the family. It's kind of crazy to think she just turned 4 and she already has two younger siblings! I picture her continuing to mature quickly and hence become capable of so much. She strikes me as a girl who will nurture and look out for her siblings, develop a close relationship with her mom and dad, and who will be ambitious. Time will tell, but mark my words. :)
She is starting to be more spiritually aware, although I am starting to see how I really need to step up in this area. But, she always remembers to say grace, even at lunchtime when I'm in a hurry, she reminds me by starting off; "bless us oh Lord..." But she still loves our priest, she loves her friends at church, and kissing the icons of Jesus. She always remembers people that she wants to pray for (I love how a 4 year old mind works sometimes; just very random. "OH, we need to pray for Tessa & for baby Luke. And daddy" :) Again though, now that she is getting older, I need to make sure I am actively talking about the faith and teaching her practical things like more little prayers (she can say the Our Father and Hail Mary, and even sings church songs in Slavonic as she's playing sometimes). My prayer for her is that she comes to develop a deep faith and a relationship with the Lord.

I look at my oldest daughter and I am reminded daily of how she made me a mother. That transition, for those who have not experienced it, is like nothing else. I couldn't have prepared for it, I couldn't have expected what would happen to me or what I'd go through - but I did and I definitely like the person I am now much more! I am a mother. I have learned what loving a child does to you, and I would never go back as scary and as hard as it is sometimes. I never felt a baby kick in my womb before her, I never nursed a babe before her, I never sacrificed sleep for anyone before her. She has been the force that's transformed me into something far better than my former self.

My big, little girl. That's all I can think to call her. She is not yet grown but she is growing too fast. 365 days times 4. It just doesn't seem possible. I love you sweet girl, and I will forever love you. (Even when you are tall.)