Such a Joy Filled Occasion

 We have been able to witness many joyful occasions, but when we attended the priestly ordination of Father Brian Larkin, it was probably one of the most joy filled events to witness.  After making arrangements with Grandma and Grandpa to watch the boys, Naomi, Matt and I headed to Denver, Colorado.  Friday, we met up with some great Navy friends, Anna and Phil, who moved to Boulder, CO last summer.  I wish I would have take a picture!  It was great to catch up with them and see their two girls, Lillian and Sedonia.

Saturday was the ordination at the Cathedral in downtown Denver.  Even though we arrived 1.5 HOURS early, we still barely got a seat and it was behind a huge pillar.  I stayed there because as bad of a seat that it was, a) it was still a seat. b) no one else wanted to sit there so I had room to nurse and fuss over Naomi. c) I could easily exit.  The Ordination Mass was 3 hours long so we ended up being there for 5 hours!  It flew by and the baby was great!  We were all really hungry afterwards!

On Sunday, we attended Father Larkin's First Mass and it was AWESOME!  To hear the voice of such a good friend saying Mass, (sigh) I tell you, it is still very vivid in my memory.  (He is the one sitting in the middle, grinning from ear to ear!)

 

 

After Mass, Father Larkin was giving first blessings for people and families and he prayed for Matt and myself.

We also ran into Sean, who is a seminarian from North Dakota, and we were so thrilled to spend a little time with him too.

We stayed with our wonderful friends, Wendy and Sean for two nights.  They were married in December and still in love!!!  ;)  It was so fun to spend time with them and we appreciated their hospitality.

So in the picture below, we convinced them (well, I don't think we had to convince Sean, in fact, he was grateful.) to TOSS their WEDDING CAKE topper.  Ummm, they were married 6 MONTHS ago and it had only been in the fridge, not the freezer. I mentioned that I wouldn't want them to get sick from it.  And Wendy replied, "I guess your right.  The cake was white when we were married, not orange."  Blehhhh.

We also were able to meet up with some great friends from FOCUS.  Pictured are the ones at the reception, Matt and me, Kevin and Laura, and Annie.  We also visited Chris and Elizabeth and their three kiddos, but again, I didn't take a picture!

Sunday night, we spent the evening/night with Laura and Kevin in their new house.  Naomi was so excited about their dog, Moses.  She kept squealing and grunting towards him.

I love this picture because it looks like Matt and Laura are trying to make Naomi more interested when she was the one making all of the ruckus!

And the three of us--Julie, Laura, and Naomi!

Yogurt Smoothie Pops

In one of our kid magazines, they featured a recipe for Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie Pops.  John Paul has been begging me to make these and finally we had all of the ingredients and some pop-sickle holders.

 Step 1:  Wash Hands.  (This is Ethan with his hair cut!  He still looks cute, but the curls are gone!)

 Step 2:  Add 2 cups of fresh or frozen fruit.  The recipe calls for strawberries, but we used frozen raspberry/blackberry/blueberry mix.

 Add 1 cup of vanilla or strawberry yogurt, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and 1/4 c. of juice.  We used orange juice.

 Step 3:  Blend and pour into pop-sickle molds or paper cups with a stick.

Freeze and Enjoy!  While you are enjoying your pop-sickles, you can all enjoy some of these shots of Naomi.  She was pretty happy through the whole thing.

 

Notice JP reading the instructions in the background.  He is definitely our little rule/instruction follower.  I think he will be an engineer!

All things pirate!

 I love these boys!  After seeing the pirate skit, everything has been about pirates!  I had forgotten that I had bought some pirate costumes after Halloween (two Halloweens ago!).  So we pulled them out, and it is a good thing, because Ethan's is a bit on the small side!!

Ethan with his hat and without his hat.  The hat was really small so it didn't stay on too long.  Also, I had to post the picture with the curls because they are no all cut off!  The boys needed some summer hair cuts, but I miss the curls!  I'll post some pictures of that later.

John Paul looks a little 80s rockerish, but he loved being a pirate.

 We made paper telescopes and I printed a pirate treasure map off for them to go hunt for their treasure.  Arr!

 

Naomi didn't dress up, but that doesn't mean her brothers left her out of the fun!  Here she is checking out Ethan's costume.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

I just love my Mother's Day roses!!  Even if I am getting a bit frustrated, I see these beautiful flowers and I am reminded of God's beauty in all things--even my children and husband.

Then I connect it to the bigger picture.

I take a deep breath and a drink of water, and return to the situation much more calmly.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Ahoy, me mateys!

On Thursday, we went to the Kids Club at our local mall.  Each business takes a month hosting this free hour-long event, and this month, there was a Pirate Show at the bank!  Very cute about the pirates trying to find their lost treasure so after it was found, they decided that a bank would be a better and safer spot for their money.

Ethan and John Paul posed with Captain Amethyst.

John Paul looking a bet apprehensive before the show.

 But later volunteered to help find the treasure.  He did a good job, but was pretty timid up there!  I love the expression that I caught on the Second Matey's face!!

They sat down and ate a cookie and chocolate milk at the end of the show.  And walked away with a lot of loot!  Eye patches, pirate sticker badge, balloon swords, and even a certificate for $5 if you open a child's saving account!

 Our neighbor, Brooke, with her pink sword, pink tutu, and her best Arrr!

Naomi did awesome through the whole show!!  Didn't quite want her picture taken with a pirate, but obliged her mother.  Does the pirate look familiar?  I KNOW!!!

Watch Out!

Naomi is so close to crawling.  She has been lunging, rocking on all fours, and semi-army crawling for at least 2 weeks.  She can make it to whatever she puts her mind on, but usually gets frustrated and stops short.  Whew!  because my house isn't exactly set up for a crawler yet!

  I think this will be her, "Seriously, Mom?!" look when she is a teenager.

She has one tooth and a second will be in any time now.  The following picture is what you get when JP heard me say I was trying to take a picture of her tooth.  How could I get after him for putting his finger in her mouth?  It was actually quite helpful!

She loves to have her tongue out!

 Our little sweetie!

Soccer!

It's soccer season again!  John Paul is really improving, but still more easily distracted than some of his teammates.  He just loves to play and be goofy!

 Explaining to the coach why the other guy should get a red card and consequently ejected for the game.

 Isn't their coach cute??? Matt decided to get in on the Lil' Rascals Soccer League action this season.

 

 We also signed Ethan up this year.  The players are supposed to be three, but he is close enough, right?

 Let's say, he likes to kick the ball...

 And is having fun.

But most of the time, it is more like this:

 And this:

 And this:

Matt has his work cut out for him.  Out if the seven little 3 and 4 year olds, one is REALLY good, two are pretty good (JP is one of them), one is a crier, one falls ALL the time and says hilarious stuff like, "Coach! I just fell down!", and two are not quite three yet (E is one of these).  He learned very early in the first game to not have the youngest two out there at the same time, or he was holding two out of the three players' on the field hands WHILE running in the general direction of the ball.

But what can be said for all of his players, they love the water cooler!

About Me

 I spend so much of this blog blabbing about my kids and my husband and our lives, I thought I might start to have a few more posts about my interests as well.  So bear with me or skip this one because this is about me.

 I LOVE breakfast food!  Below are our favorite pancakes, but not my favorite.  My favorite are Matt's pumpkin pie pancakes and one of his omelets.  Seriously gives any breakfast place a run for their money!

 I like trying new recipes and occasionally find one that I repeat!  I think I'll post a favorite or two on here. I hate it when I absolutely love something and everyone else either thinks it is only ok or the kids won't eat it.  Then I only get it for my birthday or when I am feeling self-centered.

 I have a weakness for donuts, especially apple fritters or blueberry cake.  I try not to indulge too much as I still have about 15 more pounds to lose.  That is my goal for this summer.

 I am not afraid to bribe my kids for good-behavior or for good pictures.  Fruit snacks and marshmallows can go a long way.

Do you like my plate?  I painted it at one of those paint your own pottery places during a girl's afternoon out.  Such a fun afternoon and this reminds me of that time with good friends.