Five Years Ago Today

I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Today is the five year anniversary of Sophie's baptism.  I know that because, in the course of cleaning and organizing, I came across a photo CD marked with the date that my friend Amity gave me years ago.  Amity and her husband purchased a DSLR right before the big day, and, lucky us, she practiced on us and got some terrific shots.  

Things I remember about today's date five years ago:

*At three months, Sophie was the oldest of the five girls on her baptismal date.  My godmother, my aunt Peggy, made the special gown for Madeleine in 1994 who was baptized on New Year's Day at three days old.  It was a perfect fit for her.  I don't think I was able to close it around Sophie's neck!

*There were as many non-catholics as Catholics at Sophie's baptism.  Our friends Beth and John who were also our neighbors, came with their kids and Amity and her family came.  Almost all of the friends we made in Beaumont were whole family friends.  We knew each other's kids, spouses, the whole nine yards.  Being so far from home, Chris and I loved that.  It was truly a unique situation that we appreciate even more as we look back on it.

*Sophie's godparents, Hope and Ralph looked as proud as we did through the whole thing--an indication of the kind of friends they are.  Oh--and we were even at their house when I went into labor with Sophie twelve days early.

*The more kids we've had, the more special the baptisms as the big sisters participate in welcoming their baby sister into the Church.  Sophie's was truly awesome as you can see from all the beautiful pictures.

I hope you enjoy them.  I included a lot so they'd make it into the blog book whenever Jes does volume 10 :) (HA!)

 Miss Mary

I think Chris met her through his adoration hour.  She became like an adopted grandma to the girls.  She made them each a blanket and she made gorgeous wreaths for our hospital door when Grace and Sophie were born.  She also came over and taught us how to make Crawfish Etouffee.  It was wonderful but I haven't tried to make it since.  Not the same.

Hope's oldest daughter Rome with Mia and G

Now a grown up college student

our babysitter Lauren who insisted on calling me ma'am even when I threatened to dock her pay.

All of the girls loved her, Madeleine in particular.

Baby G with the Lost Beatle as Chris likes to call Ralph and Hope's son Christian.

This is pre-hair in the eyes.

Beth holding baby Sophie

The compulsory football game

It happens whenever we get together with Hope, Ralph and gang.

Our house in Beaumont had the perfect side yard for any field game we dreamed up.

I wish I could see G's face.  Not really sure what Ralph is doing.

Meanwhile, Beth and Hope are just where they were.

Sophie is definitely captivating (still is).

John and Grace

Hope doing "nanny" (Louisianneeze for god-mommy) duty.

Revisiting these photos has reminded me that there are some people I need to get in touch with.

Why is it so hard sometimes to do the most important things?

I resolve to do one important thing tomorrow.  A good start anyway.

Take good care.  See you back here soon.

Favorite Things

Frugal.  A great word.  One I think about and aspire to but sadly, one that has very little to do with me.  I'm not proud of that but there it is.  I have a huge weak spot for all things cute, soft, chic or--most importantly--on sale.  The following are a few recent splurge items that I had to share.

 ceramic measuring spoons

guaranteed to do all the baking for me

 set of four iron votive holders

If you know me well, you know that I already have the world's largest candle collection but I had to add these.  They are beautiful.

 very cool

This is a "vintage spiral memorabilia holder".  It came with 24 S hooks for hanging things.  Chris and I came up with a dozen different uses for this including birthday displays, quote collections, grandparent collages and of course, Christmas card holder.  I think the inaugural use will be for Chris' birthday in a few weeks.  As long as the messages are G rated, the stand can even stay in the foyer.

my very own pillow pet

all the girls have one and I felt left out--now they all want mine.

Half way to the weekend.  Hope you have something fun planned (like shopping)!

See you here next time.

Twitterpated

Flynn Rider of Tangled

I can't believe I'm writing this but Chris and I agree it's official.  Our little Ella, youngest Doyle Dame, has her very first crush.  I noticed that something was up when, every time she had an opportunity to choose an online coloring page, she requested images from a particular movie and then always of one, rather rascally yet rakishly good looking character.  Next, she started naming things after him, talking about him and even singing about him-- "You, Me and Flynn".  It's a catchy tune really.  We're wondering if we should be concerned that her first love is a cartoon character.  He's much too old for her and will most certainly get her into trouble.  (Mia points out that we may not need to worry as she has several other novios as well.  The list includes...Chaucer, Mickey Mouse and Fr. TJ)


And while we're on the subject of Ella...her musical talent is not restricted to singing the praises of Flynn.  A couple of days ago, I took her with me on a quick grocery run.  From the back of the cart, she serenaded the whole store with, "I love my Mommy.  Yes I do.  I love my Mommy.  She's so cute."  (I am definitely not cute.)  It was rather loud but I was enjoying it so I didn't try to shush her.  As we headed toward the checkout, a woman came over and said she'd been enjoying Ella's singing from several aisles over.  The girl working the register was smiling so hard I thought she might give us our groceries for free.  Just another day in the life of Ella's mama.

Dulci-Mia

Introduction:  Over the last month or so, I've been making my way through the works of Henri Nouwen, priest and spiritual writer.  I may write more about him at some point but today, I wanted to share a quote from the latest book I've started called  Here and Now:  Living in the Spirit.  He writes:  Birthdays need to be celebrated.  I think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion or a victory.  Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone, "Thank you for being you."  Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it.  On a birthday we do not say, "Thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished."  No, we say, "Thank you for being born and being among us."  I was truly amazed to read this because, in preparing this post, I was feeling self-conscious about our family's--and especially my--extravagance around birthdays.  Often, we have a big family dinner, dessert and gifts, an outing with mom, numbers on the wall, hats, a photo shoot and sometimes a medium or extra large party with friends.  Occasionally, in the midst of it all, I hear the DMB singing in my head, "too much..."  And honestly, I probably err in that direction more often than in the other.  But I love birthdays--mine, Chris' the girls'--I can even get excited about celebrating with people I don't know well but like a lot anyway.  Once, I was the lone guest at a birthday lunch for a woman who was more an acquaintance than friend.  Her friends backed out at the last minute and it was just me and her and her mom.  We had a great time and I felt privileged to be a part of her day.  As HN said so well, life is to be celebrated.  Every life.  No matter the resume or number of candles on the cake.   Birthdays are about as fun and surprising and special as you make them.  And since they only come around once a year, they are definitely worth the effort--in my opinion at least.

DULCI-MIAOur beautiful birth announcement for newborn Amelia proudly proclaimed, "For Mama, A Mia"--Chris' brainchild.  We had chosen her name long before we met her and the second we knew for sure that she was a girl, she was also a Mia.  The name Mia means "mine" in Spanish and when I call her, I often think of that--not just that she's mine but, more importantly, that she's His.  The other thing that always comes to mind with Mia is something my brother David said years ago when he brought her back after spending a few days with his family.  He was calling her "Mia sheep" because, whatever her older cousin Rachel wanted, she wanted--in everything.  From food to clothes to activities, Rachel led and Mia happily followed.  Years later, that's still the way it is with them and it works well.

David's sheep analogy stuck with me and, all jokes aside, is quite appropriate for Mia.  She is a quiet, calm and compliant child.  She enjoys spending time with friends but is just as content to be home with me.  She is sweet and loving and has a special affection for everything to do with her faith.  Next to her bed is a tiny altar-like table with all of her religious objects carefully displayed.  When I see the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd carrying His sheep, I can see Mia right there, in His arms.  What a great place to be.

It was fun and very easy to celebrate Mia's birthday this year.  Our traditions make things simple because there are a lot of things that we do automatically and do not need to decide about.  For the rest, Mia made a few requests but was easy to please.  She invited just four girls as well as her sisters to her first slumber party.  All of them came but only two slept over.  Remarkably, Chris and I got a normal night's sleep.

I was a little sad as I took the nines off the walls today.  Another milestone celebrated and passed.  Our family is in a really wonderful, peaceful place right now.  I don't know whether it's the kids' ages or just the calm before the storm of some big changes.  Whatever it is, I am 100% sure it won't last.  In three years, Madeleine will be graduating and Grace will be the one turning nine.  There will be all kinds of new blessings and challenges in our lives.  Thank God for all the photos that freeze these special moments before they're gone.

Speaking of which, I hope you enjoy these:

Chamber of Slumber

Chris set up the fort and the girls piled pillows, sleeping bags and soft friends underneath

(FYI: the girl to the left in the portrait over the dresser is two year old Mia)

I asked Mia how she wanted to arrange the seating and she decided to have her guests draw numbers for their seats.  We have done this before at dinner and she arranged the whole thing.  Right before dinner, I looked into the dining room and the girls were standing in line waiting to draw.

I had great ambitions of doing make-your-own pizzas with homemade healthy crust.

I ended up running out of time and ordering Pizza Hut which made everyone much happier.

Grace volunteered to make the fruit kabobs which were a hit as well.

Our mystery guest

Mia shares a birthday with this little girl, the daughter of a friend.

I knew she would be thrilled to have her at the party so I asked her mom to bring her as a surprise.
A huge hit.

the real cake

The girls like doing crafts so much that at many parties, our craft doubles as our favor.

This time, we painted flower pots.  After they dried, I applied several coats of gloss and then, this morning, the guests who were still here planted flower seeds in their pots.

(Chris made a pretty funny joke to a couple of friends about the relaxing potential of this particular craft.  I'll leave that to your imagination.)

Grace put so much paint on her shirt that it went all the way through her paint shirt to cover her good shirt as well as her stomach.

One of Mia's few requests--pass the package/ hot potato game

Always a hit--the package contained a bandana for each girl to wear during the next activity

beauties

wonder what they're up to

Madeleine, cutest cow girl around, taught the girls the Boot Scootin' Boogie

It started off well but they lost interest quickly

Caught up in the madness of March, Chris was only partially present for all of this

So, it was 9PM and my planned activities were over.  What to do?  Mia wanted to play musical chairs.  A huge hit and lots of fun for everyone but Sophie who couldn't bear to be eliminated.

It's so hard to be the littlest.  She got lots of mama love.

After musical chairs, I divided them into two groups and let them take turns choosing puppets from our collection to put on a puppet show.  Interestingly, this may have been the favorite activity of the evening.

Before bed, I gave the girls these boxes of slumber party themed questions, an activity right up Mia's alley.  Between that and lots of play with Littlest Pet Shops, we made it through the whole sleep-over media-free!  (To accommodate guests who had given up movies for Lent.)

Almost midnight.  Goodnight everyone!

Hope your week gets off to a good start.  See you back here soon!