Thankful Thursdays

*whew* What a week! Cutting it close this Thursday!

I'm thankful for...

 1.) Friends, family, and work to keep me on my toes!

2.) Having finished N's sweater (it is SO cute on him!) and his hat to match XD

3.) A wonderful husband who brought me out on a very fantastic Valentine's Day date, and all 3 of the fantastic blessed guys in my life. :)

4.) Heat on cold days.

5.) Coworkers with sewing machines who mend my jacket. Yippee! :)

6.) Adorable phone messages left on my voicemail by my 2 1/2 yr old before his bedtime

7.) Delicious dinners

8.) Cuddlesome kittens

9.) This sweater, left for me by my now postulate nun sister who didn't know she was leaving it. I love it.

10.) God's graces in my life...through the sacraments, through my children, through the mere ability to resist temptations that once 'did me in'. :)

Thankful Thursdays

1. For N's continued love of cuddles, hugs, and kisses. I know that eventually it will come to an end, so I treasure it all the more for now.

2. For God's graces, getting me to Confession today! Yay! I went and it was gooood.

3. For my wonderful and loving husband who let me sleep an extra 2 hours this morning! :)

4. For the richness of the Church! I am working on a post about Mary and it is so great to have all of these established answers for the questions I'm asking! :)

5. For the knowledge that we are going to be okay. For the knowledge that even though D being between jobs is a little scary, we have God watching out for us and making sure we make it through! :)

6. For having finally gotten the dishes taken care of. I put it off and put it off but yay now that burden is off my back... for a little while anyway.

7. For sun! :) It's slowly but surely reappearing! :)

8. For quiet nap time during which I can get things taken care of around the house, and on my blog.

 9. For N & T's interest in books. I love that they love reading.

10. For all those who watch out for us, pray for us, think about us, etc. It's so nice to know that we have a support system!

7 Fri-er-Saturday Quick Takes

My thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting!

-1-

I am new to the 7 Quick Takes community, and am therefore a day late and a dollar short. Sorry, folks. I'm glad to be joining you all, though!

-2-

N has started using his words while crying for me at naptime. Let me be clear. He always cried for me at nap time, but now it's things like, "Mommy don't leave me! Mommy I'm lonely! I can't wanna sleep, Mommy! I'm not tired! Please I wanna hug you, Mommy!" Anything and everything to stall nap/get up. There is very little that I have experienced which wrenches my heart quite the way my 2 1/2 year old crying for hugs and that he's lonely does.

-3-

Learning to recognize when my emotions are damaging my relationship with God. For various reasons this morning, I found myself angry at D. It started to brew and then fizzed out with the distractions of the household while he slept in (not actually why I was mad at him, for the record). During a moment of peace, and with both boys secured in high chairs, I made my way upstairs to hug & kiss him good morning, but on the way, found that anger resurfacing as resentment. Funny, though, it hit me as I was walking that the resentment was a trick of Satan's. So, I offered up a quick prayer for grace, and found myself happily embracing my husband soon thereafter. Funny how evil works in our lives, carving out little pits of emotion and dwelling & digging in....

-4-

Filed our taxes. Woo-hoo! :) Yes, I know it's a silly thing to celebrate.

-5-

N's sweater now has a body piece, an arm, and the beginning of a second arm. I have intended to knit it for over a year now. I did not follow directions perfectly but I don't care because I think it looks great, aside from the fact that my tension leaves much to be desired.

-6-

Though I advocate thanking God for every day, strong dislike is a mild expression of how I feel about the phrase "TGIF"... Friday is my first or second workday. It usually signifies the start of a lot of running on empty for me.

-7-

Fruit smoothies are the new fad in our household. It strikes me as odd that I hadn't thought more about making the little ones a smoothie on occasion. I just use frozen fruit, 100% juice, and yogurt. No sweetener necessary, because the fruits they love the most are blueberries, bananas, and strawberries. It is an easy, mindless breakfast beverage that I can make while chomping on a quick breakfasty food like cereal or toast, and then I can worry about getting them some protein or grains as they suck down the drinks.

Godsons & Gifts

I have a godson with a birthday on Friday. I have a birthday present to bring him, but am curious, what do you folks do for godchildren? Anything special, or just fun gifts they can enjoy? Bring it back to God? Yes? No?

I ask specifically about godchildren because, well, they're a slightly trickier subject, considering that you're a spiritual guide of sorts. But I'd love to hear all about things you love to get for kids in your lives!

Things I Love

God

My husband

My sons

My family

My friends

Good days at Mass

Our church

Sun on my back

Clean rooms

Vacuuming

Writing

Reading

Feeling fresh & clean

Honey

A cold glass of milk

Walking into a house that smells like dinner

Perfect hair days

Hot cocoa on rainy/windy nights

The boys' smiles...and smiles in general

The smell of fresh coffee

For that matter, the taste of fresh coffee

Finding sweet home accessories for low prices, particularly at yard sales/Goodwill

Music

Dancing

Doing funny things for N to imitate

Wind chimes

Good food

Finishing projects

Brushing my hair

Long baths

Hot showers

Kisses & hugs from my favorite people

N's incredibly long eyelashes

Artwork with soul

When D lets me sleep in an extra 30 min or hour

Homemade gifts

The women at Fabric Depot who obviously made their kids' ADORABLE clothes

Delicious desserts

 

Brotherly Love

They were just being cute and I had to share! :) Now for a walk...

Knitting Adventures

In a recent attempt to be more productive with my time, I started knitting... and when I say started, I mean started. I used my good friend youtube.com to teach me how to knit, purl, increase, decrease, bind off, and after some time, what k2togtbl (or p2togtbl) means and how to do it... I am amateur at best, but I have 2 finished projects (rather, 2 of the same finished project) under my belt.

The first one I did wrong. Rather than moving the yarn in front of the needle each time I did a knit stitch, I moved the yarn behind the needle each time. This, it turns out, makes all the difference.

So here's N in my *first* finished project:

Having successfully (if incorrectly) completed my first ever knitted project, I started on another sweater vest, same style, for my 3 yo godson, KC. After researching why N's sweater vest came out so thick and bulky, I came up with this for KC:

So there it is! My second-ever knitted project! Looks a little lumpy in the left photo only because it's sitting funny, by the way.

Next on the agenda is this handsome sweater ... if I can actually figure out knitting on circular knitting needles and/or in the round. I have the tools, I have the ambition, do I have the skills? We'll find out, I guess!

Baby T Talking & Smiling

Love from The Hastings Home!

Yay!!!!

Well, after a looooong hiatus because of mommy's laziness and general distractions in our lives, N went pee-pee on the potty again today like a BIG boy! Yay!!!!

He is currently enjoying his orange m&m (I should comment that m&m was his sixth word, behind "daddy" "mommy" "hi" "no" and "yes"... not that he's had many in his little life, but they've always been mentioned by name and hey, they're sweet!)

We're all excited!

Okay, I was having a hard time with the camera so maybe I was a little strained.

But believe me when I say, EVERYone in our house is happy about this!

Haircuts.. How do you?

We recently cut N's hair for the first time...

I had no idea what a time we were in for when we started!

I decided to do it at home. *BIG* mistake, given that our tools were...lacking.

First of all, N is an extremely curious child, and didn't want to sit still at all while I ran the clippers through his hair.

Add to that, he has incredibly fine hair which flows right through the guard without getting any shorter.

Mix in a nervous mommy.

Stir a bit and come up with...

An uneven head of hair...

So, how do you mommas do it? Cut hair at home? Bring them to a salon? Let Daddy worry about it? Share advice, stories, whatever. Let me know! :)

Apparently I'm Not..

...to do any more paperwork today.

Jack says. Sorry.

Mommy's Little Helper

Apparently, I waited a little too long to put away the diapers.

 

He took them out of the box for me. What a good boy! ;)