The beginning of the Lenten season, I pledged to gather 40 bags for 40 days and either recycle, reuse, donate or trash them.  So far, we're on a pretty good pace. Earlier this week, the kids gathered a fair amount of beloved books from their bookcases, plus we added all the books John Paul's friends brought to his birthday party.  We journeyed up to Dell Children's and happily donated an entire cart full of books.  Talk about gratifying.  The volunteers ...

Back when my kids were itty bitties, I thought parenthood was hard.  Now that my oldest is a few months away from middle-school, I know better.  Yes, it’s definitely physically exhausting when you’re changing diapers non-stop, getting up in the middle of the night for stomach virus bathroom runs and running after your toddler a bazillion times in one day.  I still quantify myself both as a “baby mom” and a “grown-up” mom.  My five children range in age from ...

"My brain can't think anymore." Will, after working for two hours on a word search.  You should've seen the drama.   "We should ask the saints to tell Mary to ask God to make it stop raining leaves." John Paul, clearly tired of raking EIGHTEEN bags of leaves in our yard.  It does look fabulous, though.  And, I like the way he thinks.   "We're just calling to let you know that your 7:30am appointment is cancelled because the doctor ...

You may recall that I gave up Facebook for Lent.  Boy, am I glad I did.  Yes, I definitely miss hearing about all the good news (babies being born, engagements, kid celebrations and milestones, et al).  What I don't miss?  All that bragging, complaining, arguing and stretching the truth. I'm certainly guilty, like many of you, for taking to the status update before really examining whether it should be written or reflected upon.  If you can't say something nice, right?  Being ...

Over the weekend, Will participated in the PSIA district competition (Private Schools Interscholastic Association).  It's kinda like the private school version of UIL.  There were a ton of events and Will participated in four:  spelling, dictionary skills, social studies and vocabulary.  He placed in the top six in all four - whoa.  He took home FIRST in spelling (he's state-bound in late April), THIRD in dictionary skills and social studies and SIXTH in vocabulary.  To quote twitter: #proudparentingmoment Spelling has ...

I'll be the first to tell you, Scott and I are picky when it comes to the people that care for our children when we are away.  The dynamics and requirements for a babysitter with one child are vastly different when you have five.  Nevertheless, I thought I'd share a few things we do when choosing a sitter. HDYDI:  FINDING A BABYSITTER (AND KEEPING HER/HIM!) 1.  When we had Will, Scott and I were also serving as volunteer youth ministers ...