7 Quick Takes Friday

Woohoo! It's Friday! 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1)

One of the big reasons I am so excited about it being Friday is that Evan comes home today! He's been gone to Washington, DC for a work trip and the day he actually comes home from trips is always the most exciting and the longest! The girls are really pumped to see him and for their own unique reasons--Elisabeth because it is Dr. Who date night and she's glad he'll be home so we call all watch it together, Julia because he is her favoritest person so she misses him something awful, and Vivian because she thinks he's been stuck on an airplane for 5 days so she's just glad he gets to get off the airplane finally.

2)

What do you think this flower is besides weird and fascinating? It was growing by the Quadrangle on Ft Sam and I just don't think I've ever seen it before.

3)

The weather has been SO LOVELY for Texas weather. Days in the high 80s, cool breezes, partly cloudy days that block the sun. We've actually been enjoying time outside more than normal. Well, except for Vivian. I think she is adverse to heat because she refuses to go out when it is super bright and sunny and seems to melt into a puddle of anger/tears/despair if outside too long. She may get that from me...

4)

Dude, you guys, last weekend there was almost a coffee emergency in that there wasn't enough for a full pot on Sunday!!! So, Saturday night I ran out to buy some and missed getting to the Commissary before it closed by 5 minutes which is just absolutely annoying. So, I went over to the PX (which is military speak for "the store that sells non-grocery items which is not at all connected to the grocery selling store, the Commissary, so you will have to drive to the one after having gone to the other if you need pens along with milk, eggs, and butter) and they had two coffees to choose from. It was already after 8pm, the next nearest store would have been at least another 20 minutes before I would be back home, so I chose the Dunkin Donuts brand of coffee. Wrong choice. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I had never bought that brand before ever, so had no idea that is was so sub par to our beloved Caribou or Trader Joe's brands (which have surpassed our old love affair with Starbucks). So, yeah, we won't be buying that ever again.

5)

Ooh, another Quadrangle new find from our last visit--we got to see baby peacocks!!! I am actually unsure what baby peacocks are called, but I will assume chicks. Anyway, there are so many peacocks that roam the Quadrangle and are very aggressively friendly (especially if you have brought any sort of food, even carrots!) but I'd never seen their chicks until last week! Here is one of the peacocks:

 And here is a peahen with their babies!!!! How cute are they?! And look, you can see their feather coloring already resembles their parents' patterns.

I'm sorry the picture quality stinks in that last one, but there was a goose patrolling the fenced pens that this peahen and a duck with her ducklings were living in with their babies. We got close and the goose came over and honked and then hissed at us in its creepy goose way. The girls got to learn about how hissing is a way for geese to warn you that they are angry and will bite you if you keep doing whatever you are doing to make them angry. I have no idea why he felt he needed to guard the ducklings and peacock chicks, but he did and he was all business, pacing back and forth the length of the pen, stopping to stare at us cockeyed to let us know he meant business. It was kind of funny in a "geese are quite frightening" kind of way.

6)

I'm really excited to share all the books I've been reading this month with you all. I will probably also share my reading log over at the new blog I share with my lovely friend Kara, Mea Cuppa. Sharing books is my favorite and I need to share it with all the people everywhere. 

7)

So, we have a Twitter and Instagram account going for Mea Cuppa which is super fun. I've been running them for about a week now and with Instagram I am gold because I already have had a personal account there for a while, but I have never ever ever ever ever ever had a Twitter account before. Talk about feeling out of your element. I definitely get the posting part and the challenge of only have 140 characters for a post. I've got the hang of retweeting. But responding? Uh...  I'm also not sure how the hashtags work with Twitter, but I use them anyway. Yeah...thank you for not mocking me too much, or at least not doing so out loud.

Have a great day, everyone!!!!

Elisabeth's First Communion

The Saturday before Mother's Day, Elisabeth had her First Holy Communion ceremony. Usually, children take their First Communion classes in 2nd grade, so Elisabeth was a few years older than most of the other kids. Being Elisabeth, though, she made the most of it and was sweet and kind to her younger classmates. She was relieved though when two other girls attended and were around her age as well.

The ceremony was beautiful. All these boys and girls, dressed in the finest, excited to partake in a sacrament they've all grown up watching their families partake in weekly. The front part of the church was packed to the gills with family members and friends trying their best to be as close to the participants as possible.

It's blurry, but I really love this picture:

I got there early enough to get a seat on the end of the pew so I got to sneak some pictures of her going forward to see Fr. Eddy.

Her dress was a Costco find, but, unbeknownst to me, most stores like Target and Kohls sell First Communion dresses. Her veil was a gift from her godparents, Kara and Zach and her shoes were a gift from her Nina because her Nina is the Queen of Awesome Shoe Finds!

 After Mass there was a cake reception. The First Communioners were all lined up by the Parish Hall stage to receive scapulars from Fr. Eddy. I thought the interaction between Elisabeth and the little girl she walked into the church with about their veils was sweet to watch.

Fr. Eddy told all of us that the priest at his home church always gave the First Communion recipients scapulars and he thought it was a tradition that should be brought back. The kids were pretty excited and I know Elisabeth has been wearing hers quite a bit. I actually had to look up were scapulars were and the history behind them because, well, I'm still learning.

It was a great morning. Evan and Vivian are not pictured in the picture below because after she ate her cake (and by that I mean ate all the icing and declared the cake part yucky) she darted around the hall like a crazy zoo animal that had broken free of its cage and Evan was following/chasing/trying to control her.

Julia is really excited to partake in her First Communion in a couple of years. She wants to wear Elisabeth's veil which I think is sweet.

Eat. Sleep. Softball.

 The softball season is starting to wrap up. Elisabeth has her last double header this Saturday and then we're done! April and May are super busy months with all the softball and tball practices and games. It really overwhelms our schedule, but it does kind of fly by.

I will say, though, that getting back our Saturdays back. All of Julia's games have been at 9am and most of Elisabeth's have been double headers on Ft Sam with the first game at 9am. We usually both bring travel mugs of coffee to see us through the morning. One game, one of the kids from Julia's team knocked over Evan's coffee in the dugout while he was at the first base coaching. I think Evan wanted to cry but didn't want to make a scene in front of all the children.

 This crazy kid:

 has her last game on the 31st, so I'll still have to keep the softball bag and 4 chairs we use from games in the trunk of the Flex. Holy cow, my car seems so empty after we clear out all the softball gear.

 Elisabeth's really grown in her softball skills this year, so she's been more enthusiastic about games. Her coaches keep her on 2nd or 3rd base during games and she rarely sits out. I kind of wish the season was longer so she could continue improving. Maybe the next place we move to will have a longer season.

 This is how big of an area we take up when watching games:

 Actually, we usually have even one more chair, but I'm pretty sure I had to drag it all from the car solo while making sure Vivian didn't get run over by a car while pushing her dump truck. We bring a bag of snacks, toys for V, a bag of all the mitts, gloves, and balls, and then a the 4 chairs. Oh, and if you look closely, Vivian had brought BOTH of her dump trucks to that game. It's like a traveling circus.

 I think I might frame this picture for Ebeth:

 Even though they keep her mainly on the bases during games, Elisabeth shows a growing interest in learning to pitch. When the pitching coach warms them all up, Ebeth usually joins them.

 Of course, it's hard to practice pitching your best when your sister is clinging to the fence you're throwing the ball to...

Or when your other sister decides to dig with her dump truck right up against the fence...

7 Quick Takes Friday

1)

Well, it's been a big week for me in that earlier this week my dear friend, Kara, and I launched our new blog--Mea Cuppa. It's been really exciting seeing people responding so positively to it all. I think Kara summed it up nicely in our facebook description, "A lifestyle blog geared towards a simple life. And wine and coffee and books". I'm so excited. If you haven't yet, go check it out. And, as has been asked of me a couple of times, no, I will not be ditching Elisablog. I love using this as a platform for keeping up with my little family. I told Evan last night that I've been blogging on here for 5 years (holy crap, 5 years?!?!). It's like a journal of our family life. :)

2) 

 Evan was whining the other day (and by other day, I mean every ding dong night) that the cats love me more than him. He's right, but I don't rub it in because 1.that's rude and 2.I would LOVE for the cats to show someone else in this house some affection. Figaro has never been a lap cat. He's more of a "sit really close to you so he's touching you but nothing too serious to be confused with sitting 'on' you" kind of cat. Eisenhower only sits on me. And when he sits on me, he walks up to my chest and either gets as close to my face as possible or lets his fat, fat lower end drag him to my lap so his paws are trying to touch my face but his bottom half is melted into my side. I'll have to share pictures with you all soon to show you what I mean. But, dude, I am not a cuddle-er, even with pets. So, back to Evan. He is all jealous because he is a cuddle-er and would love for the cats to sit on him. But, I keep telling him, they're cats. Cats are generally not cuddly. However, Evan had a cat, Tuxedo (which he will want me to tell you was THE BEST CAT EVER), that he picked out when he was in 4th grade. Tuxedo was a cuddle-er. In fact, she was kind of like a dog. So, last night, we had the same conversation we always have when Eisenhower invades my personal space--Evan complains the cats don't sit with him, that we have reject cats. I remind him that cats are not those kind of pets, what he is describing is a DOG. He then says, "Than why don't I have a dog?" to which I respond "Because we are in the military and can only have 2 pets and you kept on insisting on cats!". We're super fun, yes? ;)

3)

We're towards the tail end of the softball/tball season. The weather has been SO much nicer this year than last. Going to games has been much more enjoyable.

4)

So, every game, Vivian brings her dump truck. There is a little brother of one of the other players who has started bringing his dump truck, too, and they run up and down the sidewalk stopping to dig at the big dirt pile. One game our neighbors came to cheer on the girls (who, thankfully, always have home games in fields right next to each other so I just have to cross the sidewalk and turn the chairs around to watch the next game) and Mac brought his dump truck. The cuteness was unbearable:

5)

I need to tell you about one of our new favorite restaurants in San Antonio! It's called Cerroni's Purple Garlic. It's an Italian restaurant that is the closest we've found to some of our favorite Italian food fares from home (Avanti's, La Gondola, etc.). (Funny VA tidbit--La Gondola was my first place of employment ever! I used to get off work smelling like garlic bread and spaghetti. My friends said it made them hungry if I came to visit them right after work.) My neighbor asked us to go with one time and told us to bring V's dump truck because there was a giant sandbox for the kids on the outside patio. Dude, this place rocks. Not only can you smell the heavenly smells from outside, but then you walk into the restaurant and it just hits you right in the nostrils. The food is a good price, kids eat free Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the sandbox is a childhood dream come true. They have a huge chalkboard and toys for the kids, so you don't have to bring any from home if you don't want to. The girls had a blast and we've been back a couple more times since.

 Plus, with Texas weather, eating outside is possible almost all year round. They have a canopy over most of the patio and misters for really hot days over all the eating area and the sand. Plus, because they obviously love children and families, they have a sink on the patio for the kids to wash up before they eat so you don't have to go traipsing into the restaurant. I can not recommend this place enough!

6)

It's almost summer time!!! Elisabeth has her last day of school on June 6th, the girls have their recital the next day, and then all activities are done-zo! Elisabeth is taking a dance summer class in July for 5 Thursdays and I do want to enroll Julia in some swim lessons to help her out of her doggy paddle stage, but that's only for a couple of weeks. Otherwise, there are endless days of nothing ahead of us. I've got a few ideas for summer field trips, but nothing too daunting. I love having a free schedule.

7)

Yesterday the girls and I went to the Quadrangle to visit our feathered friends. I'll be posting more on that later, but thought you might like to see one of the peacocks who followed us around the whole time.

Please be sure to stop by Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary and check out all the other 7 Quick Takes from loads of other blogs!! It's such an easy way to get to know bloggers' sites and the bloggers themselves!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Man, I am so loving being apart of 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary. 

1)

Today, as has been the norm since they received it on Easter morning, we watched Frozen. However, today, when I turned it off and declared it time to get dressed for the day and to play, Vivian cried. Cried. "Waaaaa! I want Let It Go!!! Waaaa!" She wasn't crying in a whiny-I-am-being-obstinate kind of way but in a you-broke-my-heart-because-i-just-want-to-be-Elsa kind of way. Time to detox from Frozen? (Edited to add: She woke up from nap and asked so sweetly for Frozen, and since it is thunderstorming outside, I said yes. So much for detoxing.)

2)

If you do not have cats or are adverse to talking about cats and their litter boxes, please feel free to skip ahead to #3. For those of you with cats, oh my word!!!, I have to tell you about our new cat litter box. So, first, let me start by telling you that Eisenhower is a terribly stinky cat. Like, clear a room (more like the entire first floor) with his stench. The regular old litter box just wasn't cutting it, so we were looking into getting a self cleaning litter box of the electric kind. First off, dude, those are expensive. The nicest one was almost $300! I refuse to pay that much for my cats to poop in my house. Seriously. Do you know how many human toilets I could buy for that money?! The next price range was around $125, which, frankly, is still a lot of money for an inside cat bathroom box. So, I went to my good friend Amazon to see what it had to say. Allow me to show you our new cat litter box: 

The Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box

No, it is not electric. It was only $30 dollars and it works like a dream. Seriously. Even Evan, who is the king of skeptivity, was won over by how simple it was to use and how much it really does keep our house smelling like we don't have the smelliest cat in the universe. All you do is roll the whole thing to the right where there is a filter that takes the none clumped litter into one area and the clumps and cat poop roll into the drawer shown. You then roll the whole thing back to the left to allow the non-used litter to resume its place at the bottom of the box, pull out the drawer, dump the waste, and you are done. Best $30 investment I've made for these damn cats that live in my house.

3)

It is unbelievably humid here in Texas and I have been hermiting in my home. I just despise oppressive heat. It makes my hair frizzy, it makes me sweat too much, it sucks the joy out of life. But, unfortunately, I also hate feeling cooped up in my house. I'm a complex gal. So, I have been trying to suck it up and try to spend some amount of time outside during the least hot parts of the day because, honestly, I'm just being a big weenie--it is not even near as hot as it is going to be. Bleh. I hate Texas summers.

4)

Because my mother in law loves us so much, she sent us a donut pan this week. Well, I didn't want my family deprived of homemade donuts, so I went about whipping up a batch last night. I totally overfilled the donut molds in the pans, making 8 donuts instead of 12, but my family still scarfed them down and told me to keep trying to make the perfect cake donut. And to please try a chocolate recipe next time. I'm so glad they are encouraging of my hobbies.

5)

On Monday, Elisabeth came home with six fieldtrip forms for me to sign and $10 to go with them all. I do not understand why all the fieldtrips must be done on the last month of the school year. Why not sprinkle them about all year so the kids are not crazy stressed the last 3 weeks of school? One is for the final day of school pool party being held at the Ft Sam Houston Aquatic Center on base, so I do understand saving that for this month, but the trip to the art museum and the other random things I signed my approval to are all trips that could have happened anytime this spring. Not to mention, it's not just her school that is wrapping up, it's their dance classes (with the recital being held the Friday and Saturday after the final day of Ebeth's school), their last softball/tball  games and end of the season picnic, and the end of their Faith Formation classes at church. Dude, June is going to feel like a flipping vacation after the whirlwind of activity in May!

6)

I have totally made up for the lack of book reading I did in April and can not wait to share all the books I've been reading this month with you all! I was browsing my bookshelves looking for the next book I should delve into and I was overwhelmed with book love. One of my life goals is to have my own personal library, which I am well onto my way of having, and I have so many good books on my shelves to read. I truly wish there was a job that paid you to read books. I would dominate that profession.

7)

The bugs are back. Along with the heat, the bugs that enjoy infesting this godforsaken state begin their attempt to take over my home. They come in swarms like the plagues of Egypt--ants, crickets, cockroaches, spiders, moths. Oh, and then the lizards start weaseling their way in, but that never ends well because the cats definitely are more interested in lizards than bugs. We had ants come in through cracks in our old wooden windows (the tiniest of ants I have ever seen) a few weeks ago and, let me tell you, I declared war on those intruders. I sprayed them to death with a vinegar and water mixture, but that did not deter them. I put Elisabeth on ant killing duty while I texted Evan desperate pleas to hurry home and fix this situation. I was on the ipad googling natural ways to kill the ants (cause you know I can't put any sort of poison on a window sill or Vivian and the cats will become enamored with it and eat it all and then I'd have nothing to kill the ants with) and would every now and then manically scream, "Elisabeth! Check for ants! Kill them all!" to which she would hurry to the window sill and smoosh them with her fingers yelling "Die you dirty ants, die!". After maybe three times of this back and forth I over heard Elisabeth say, "I need to write about my childhood. We're so weird."

Yeehaw

I'm not sure you knew this, but Vivian is a cowgirl. Or as she likes to refer to herself, she is a YEEHAW!

I did tell her that, when we got to the store, the gun needed to stay in the car because firearms are prohibited in public places. She said, "Otay, Mommy." She's very gun law compliant. And very Texas.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Look at me! I actually remembered to participate in 7 Quick Takes Friday!!!

1)

Today has been a really great day. Evan didn't have to be in to work until 9, so I got to sleep in a bit, which is always appreciated. Plus, last night, V was the hardest to put down for bed that she's been in a really long time, so we went to bed later than anticipated. Sleeping in was such an added bonus after the hellish bedtime and burning my hand while making cookies yesterday.

2)

Uh, yeah, I totally burned my hand like I have never burned anything before. I was making cookies for our last RCIA class potluck. The stupid silicone baking mat started sliding off the baking sheet as I was getting the second batch out of the oven. The mat still had all the cookies on it, but was sliding from the cookie sheet to the oven door, which is slanted because our whole house is slanted, which meant the mat and all the cookies were headed for the bottom of the oven. Please tell me you understand my abundant fear of the cookies spilling onto the bottom of the 375 degree oven. What a freaking mess to clean up, right? Plus all the burn-y chocolate smell? Right?! Well, I took my toweled hand to try to stop the mat from actually slipping off the oven door, but the cookie sheet, which was also on the oven door, was precariously falling to the floor, so my non toweled hand instinctively grabbed it and...well, I won't type out the litany of swear words that ensued after I TOUCHED A 375 DEGREE COOKIE SHEET. Needless to say, I spent about 30 minutes with my hand in cold water and Evan and the girls helped me finish baking the cookies and went to the potluck ahead of me. My lovely neighbor, whose husband is a nurse and therefore has a huge stash of medical supplies for just such an emergency, was able to help me aloe vera and gauze my hand in a hilarious white mitten type of bandage to make sure Vivian (the most physical of my children) would remember not to touch my hand. I did make it to the potluck, which was nice because I am going to miss seeing them all every Thursday evening like we have been for 8 months. And, today, my hand is much better than I had thought it would be. 

3)

I went to a new-to-me restaurant today! Four of us from my neighborhood and most of our children headed over to an Italian restaurant called Purple Garlic. You could smell the deliciousness from the parking lot! True Italian fare and a beautiful patio area with a ginormous sand box for the kiddos to dig to their hearts content! My friend had already been there, so she told me to bring Vivian's dump truck for the sand. The kids gobbled up the food and we were there for over an hour. It was great!

4)

I had to take Ebeth clothes shopping today. She is in the last size of the little girls' section and I am sad...and not looking forward to traipsing about the juniors' section trying to find decent, modest clothes for an 11.5 year old. Bleh. Any good stores besides Target for juniors' clothes that are decent??

5)

Today, I got book mail! Jennifer Fulwiler (who hosts the 7 Quick Takes Friday!) wrote a book called Something Other Than God and it came out Tuesday. I pre-ordered it through Amazon and it was at my back porch this afternoon!  I have to finish my current book first, but all other books are going to be put on hold until I finish her book. So excited!!!!!!!!

6)

Today is Elisabeth's half birthday, but due to our air quitting on us (which is TERRIFYING when you live in Texas and it's already hitting the 90s daily), so she will be getting her half birthday cake tomorrow after the air is fixed and I can turn the oven on without killing us all by smothering us in heat. This also meant that I could try a recipe for an Avanti's type bread either, but no worries, I plan on tackling that this weekend as well.

7)

I need to tell you how much I love Dr. Who. We started watching it after much encouragement from Dr. Who fans in my life because we wanted something to watch on Friday nights with Elisabeth. Holy moly, we are hooked. We watch it every Friday night and, if she has a long weekend, we often try to squeeze in two episodes in one weekend. If we weren't having date nights with her to watch it, I think Evan and I would have already binge watched the series. I really liked the 9th Doctor (season 1 of the reboot since Dr. Who has been a show on the BBC since the 60s with a big break in the 80s and new seasons starting in 2006), but this 10th Doctor is just as fantastic as promised. If you are looking for a family show to watch with your older kiddos, I highly recommend Dr Who. We're in the middle of season two on Netflix and the BBC is going to be airing season 7 (with the 12th Doctor!) soon, so we have a bit to catch up on.

April Reading Log

Just to warn you, this past month I did not read as much as planned. I spent half the month reading a very dense book by St. Francis de Sales that was written in the 1500s, but I only got half way through. Anyway, that totally threw my reading numbers off for the month. But, here's what I did end up getting through:

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
I bought this book after seeing Malala's interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I had heard of her prior to the interview, but didn't know much about her background, but felt that her book was a must read. I was correct. Malala tells the story of her country, Pakistan, and growing up under Talibanization. She has a very simple but beautiful way of describing some complex and terrifying experiences. The book is also a very glowing tribute to her father, whom she obviously adores and respects, and how he, too, is trying to make a difference for men and women in their home valley of Swat. I already handed the book over to Elisabeth to read and will be having all my kids read it (not to mention pressuring everyone else and their kids to read it) as well. It's very easy to get complacent about the freedom of education and I felt this book was a great reminder to appreciate the total accessibility of education in our country.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
I totally bought this book based on the cover (it was pretty!). Thankfully, my randomness paid off because this was a good book. Brunt weaves a story of love, mourning, and friendship by having 14 year old June tell us in her voice about losing her uncle Finn to AIDS during the 1980s. There was supposed to be a parallel between June's relationship with her older sister Greta that mirrored their mother's relationship to her brother Finn, but the June/Greta thing felt forced and underdeveloped. However, the dynamic between June and Toby was well written and great. A good read overall. Someone else should read it so I can discuss it with another person!!

Yep, that's it. Two books. I'll have to make up for it in May, I guess.
20 books for the year, for those keeping track.