tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48240237016390999922024-03-13T08:23:53.833-07:00The O'Neil Familyoneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-91176282967742510232012-10-23T05:19:00.002-07:002012-10-23T05:21:12.065-07:00St. Simons Island 2012St. Simons 2012 was a blast! We always have fun and are so grateful to Branden's Great Grandpa and Grandma for letting us stay in their place on St. Simons island! It is a blessing!
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oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-28361691674562632872012-10-22T18:31:00.001-07:002012-10-22T18:31:13.016-07:00Camping at Fall Creek FallsThis summer we took everyone camping to Fall Creek Falls. We arrived Saturday am and left Sunday pm. Oh camping how I love and hate thee all at the same time. I have mixed feelings about camping. It takes a whole bunch of stuff and a lot of preparation. Sleeping arrangements are a bit difficult but on the flip side there is nothing like sleeping outdoors and experiencing nature. Camping food is the best food ever and anything cooked over a campfire taste 100% better than being cooked on a stove. Campfires, smores, beer, roasted hot dogs are some of my favorite things! This camping trip began the same burdensome way of stuff and more stuff and grocery shopping for all the meals. Even though packing is difficult and getting us all out the door there is always a big motivation because the fun is yet to come! You have something to look forward to! Great drive down there! We ended up getting a walk in campsite that we loved because we were by our selves! Great first day of hiking and seeing waterfalls and swimming in the waterhole. Hotdogs and beer around the fire and everyone nicely tucked in bed! Branden and I were hanging out around the fire for a quiet fifteen minutes when Tristan starts yelling his belly hurts. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I make it in the tent just in time for him to throw up all over me, Gavin and Annaliese. Bedding is soaked with throw up and I take him out of the tent. Branden and I get the kids settled and cleaned up. This whole process wakes up Emmaline who decides to cry the rest of the night while passing gas all night. Branden slept with the plastic rain cover over him because he had given his sleeping bag to the kids to cover up with. One mile from the bathrooms made this extra special times for cleaning up throw up! The morning sun was a glorious site after so little sleep and smelling throw up all night long. We cleaned up and Branden started breakfast. Pancakes and bacon over the fire! SO AMAZING! It gave me great hopes for our new day and it nearly made up for the night we had just experienced. We went and hiked the big falls that day. It took all day. Tristan was feeling better and ready to go. We get back and Branden started feeling a little yucky and he starts getting sick. I packed up all of our stuff in about five trips back and forth to the car I finally had the van packed. We get going on the road and Branden, Tristan and Finn are all throwing up in cups, bags and on the side of the road. We finally made it home after the longest car ride ever! Craziest camping trip ever. Although when I look at the pictures I only have happy memories. oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-12826468351938920932012-03-13T05:57:00.003-07:002012-03-13T06:06:47.591-07:00Looking from Emmalines eyes...This is Emmaline's view. This is what she does nearly every day when everyone plays outside she loves being on the back porch. We will not be surprised if she starts walking really soon. She has been on the fast track for movement since the beginning. She has been crawling since our Disney Trip when she first turned six months and pulling up at Christmas at 6 1/2 months old and three weeks ago she started pushing herself to a standing position in the middle of a room. I think it will be soon. You can see in these pictures why she would be so motivated to walk. She is ready to be off the porch and with everyone else! <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7gGBmwGWgmE/T19FUNrkXFI/AAAAAAAABP8/HUxXH7FSVnY/s1600/DSC00482.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7gGBmwGWgmE/T19FUNrkXFI/AAAAAAAABP8/HUxXH7FSVnY/s200/DSC00482.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719366265355918418" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kzOVoMLDhrY/T19FS011D8I/AAAAAAAABP0/KQliOVMqq4s/s1600/DSC00481.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kzOVoMLDhrY/T19FS011D8I/AAAAAAAABP0/KQliOVMqq4s/s200/DSC00481.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719366241508200386" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tR9MrCzoyD0/T19FSq19C9I/AAAAAAAABPk/c_bcfIcYcww/s1600/DSC00480.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tR9MrCzoyD0/T19FSq19C9I/AAAAAAAABPk/c_bcfIcYcww/s200/DSC00480.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719366238824369106" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3fr_lsfYrmc/T19FUdwuhHI/AAAAAAAABQE/6kH7veM_e3g/s1600/DSC00483.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3fr_lsfYrmc/T19FUdwuhHI/AAAAAAAABQE/6kH7veM_e3g/s200/DSC00483.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719366269672522866" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-53184744755325612752012-02-29T08:45:00.003-08:002012-02-29T08:55:29.730-08:00A glimpse of my heart...loving vs controllingA glimpse into my heart...a struggling heart...a heart that is always learning because I am always falling...so far I continue to get up and try and again and learn from my mistakes. I do make the same mistakes often so I pray to persevere. The battle is constant and it is monotonous. <br /><br />A few weeks ago Branden and I were disagreeing and he said to me "Do you really love me or do you only love the things you can control about me". I stopped dead in my thoughts and words and stood dumbfounded that my husband had in all seriousness just asked me that obscene hurt my pride and my heart question. I didn't know how to respond so I didn't. I left the argument in silence and went about my day contemplating those words. They really bothered me a lot and in prayer I began to realize he was right. This is exactly what I wrote to him in response after really thinking and praying about what he said. <br /><br />You made a good point when you said you do not feel like I love you except in things that I can control. Unfortunately, you are right. The thing I would love the most is to be loved by you and ironically that is the very thing that I can't control at all. Love is freely given. Love cannot be controlled because that is in fact not Love at all, that is why God gave us free will so that we could choose to love. So in fact the thing I want the most cannot be achieved by anything I want you to do or control you to do it is a spontaneous act of your will to love me, not a Lauri controlled act. How deceiving love is and so often I fall for the path of control and manipulation. This is what happened during the fall of Eve women became controlling. It is inherent in me to want to control you and it is something I must strive to conquer because at the very depth of me as a woman I am seeking and yearn to be loved, but controlling and love are complete opposites and so contrary to one another. When trying to control everyone and everything there is no love from the other person that can be found, but in letting go of the control and loving the person for who they are and for their choices both good and bad for their qualities both good and bad and by not trying to change the person to be who I want them to be, but allowing them to become at their own pace or God's pace who God wants them to be. Maybe my vision of who I want you to be conflicts with Gods or maybe it is spot on, but neither matters at all because my primary concern should be with myself and making myself to be the best image of me. I do know that the controlling and manipulative woman I am is not who God wants me to be. I am sorry.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-48034052285892754052012-02-06T13:01:00.000-08:002012-02-06T13:02:56.683-08:00In a Contraceptive Culture, Women can never restThis is from the National Catholic Register a few months back. A friend passed it along to me. Wonderful article. <br /><br />Blogs<br /><br />In Contraceptive Culture, Women Can Never Rest<br /><br />BY Jennifer Fulwiler<br /><br />A recent study showed that one of the fastest-growing markets for plastic surgery is women who are over 65. According American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, over 85,000 people in that age group had cosmetic surgery last year; one 83-year-old woman recently made the news for getting breast implants.<br /><br />This isn’t a surprising turn of events, considering that our culture now tells women that if they are not sexy, they are not valuable. This idea is everywhere. Women’s magazines and websites are filled with well-meaning messages assuring women of all ages that they too can achieve this all-important status. For example, Joan Collins wrote an article in the Daily Mail on this topic (which I’m not going to link to because of some of the images it includes, but you can Google it). Here’s an excerpt:<br /><br /> Many women over 40 are beginning to feel unsexy—and with that often comes a tremendous feeling of insecurity.<br /><br />In a more sane society, here is where you might expect a rallying cry to remind women that there’s more to life than being sexy, a call to action for women over 40 to embrace their changing bodies and demand that our culture’s objectification of women cease. Instead, Collins posts pictures of 62-year-old Helen Mirren in a bikini and offers these words of comfort:<br /><br /> The truth is there are plenty of role models for them to aspire to: women like Dame Helen are by no means in the minority for looking sexy and stunning.<br /><br />When Sophia Loren was 71 she posed in skimpy lingerie for the famous Pirelli calendar, and women’s magazines everywhere announced with palpable relief that this proved that older women could be sexy. Sixty-year-old former Vogue model Nina Carter reports casually that her boyfriend will make remarks to her and her friends like, “You need your eyes doing,” or “You could do with a bit of liposuction,” and she hits the gym regularly to make sure she still looks good in a bikini. If that’s not enough, aging women are now supposed to be concerned about knee wrinkles.<br /><br />And then there’s the even-more-disturbing other end of the spectrum, with marketers now pushing tiny bikinis for babies, push-up bras for eight-year-olds, and racy lingerie for girls as young as three months. (No, that’s not a typo. I said months.) In other words, women are now expected to be sexy from the cradle to the grave. And the message is clear: If men are not lusting after you, you are “invisible.”<br /><br />We have contraception to thank for this.<br /><br />For better or worse, a woman’s physical appearance has always been an important factor in the way she’s perceived by others and the way she perceives herself. But before the widespread acceptance of contraception, there was more of an emphasis on being beautiful than being sexy. A woman with a few extra pounds, with wrinkles and stretch marks and callused hands and other physical indicators of a well-lived life, can still be beautiful; but, according to our modern definition of the word, she cannot be sexy. Whereas beauty takes the entire person into consideration, sexiness is about making yourself an object of lust.<br /><br />The Church totally called this one. Back in 1968 Pope Paul VI made four predictions about what would happen when the world accepted contraception, and in one of them he stops just short of naming toddler thongs and octogenarian breast implants specifically. Dr. Janet Smith explains:<br /><br /> Paul VI argued that “the man” will lose respect for “the woman” and “no longer (care) for her physical and psychological equilibrium” and will come to “the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.” This concern reflects what has come to be known as a “personalist” understanding of morality. The personalist understanding of wrongdoing is based upon respect for the dignity of the human person. The Pope realized that the Church’s teaching on contraception is designed to protect the good of conjugal love. When spouses violate this good, they do not act in accord with their innate dignity and thus they endanger their own happiness. Treating their bodies as mechanical instruments to be manipulated for their own purposes, they risk treating each other as objects of pleasure.<br /><br />The world now sees all women through a lust-saturated lens, and values them accordingly.<br /><br />It’s tragic to read some of these articles where women in their 70’s and even their 80’s report feeling bad about themselves because they can no longer rock a bikini at the beach, or to walk through the store and see racy, revealing outfits targeted at young girls. It’s bad enough that women in their 20’s face the pressure to objectify themselves, but now little girls can’t enjoy their childhoods free of worry about whether they’re five pounds overweight, and aging women can’t relax and embrace their new type of beauty. It’s a sad situation for a lot of reasons, one of them being the sheer amount of work women in our society feel they must put into their appearances in order to attain inappropriate and unrealistic physical ideals. In contraceptive culture, there’s never a time women women get a pass on not being sexy, and thus they can never rest.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-17932615237559930412012-01-31T10:37:00.001-08:002012-01-31T10:37:21.720-08:00Dinner This Weekoneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-52695445375585988832012-01-30T05:09:00.000-08:002012-01-30T05:37:57.996-08:00The Beat Train and Dancing with DaddyDuring our school day we do the Beat Train: We turn on music and dance. We also get common household items such as pots, pans, plates, cups, utensils, keys, bags from chips, oatmeal canisters etc...and use those to play the beat and make different sounds. We create our own music. The kids love it and so do I. We have a lot of fun with it. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UriiBDxpr6Q/TyacOQAkH-I/AAAAAAAABPE/KuWGqlMu2aY/s1600/DSC08039.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UriiBDxpr6Q/TyacOQAkH-I/AAAAAAAABPE/KuWGqlMu2aY/s200/DSC08039.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703417746740748258" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VBi3La8Z8J4/TyacNh5xSyI/AAAAAAAABO4/fbdR-LUW0dk/s1600/DSC08037.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VBi3La8Z8J4/TyacNh5xSyI/AAAAAAAABO4/fbdR-LUW0dk/s200/DSC08037.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703417734364220194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-icXaHiJmrk0/TyacM6z12cI/AAAAAAAABOs/AeMuEl_zx7o/s1600/DSC08033.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-icXaHiJmrk0/TyacM6z12cI/AAAAAAAABOs/AeMuEl_zx7o/s200/DSC08033.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703417723870370242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ghXXQuWbHPw/TyacL7NubCI/AAAAAAAABOg/iZhqo44KeJs/s1600/DSC08031.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ghXXQuWbHPw/TyacL7NubCI/AAAAAAAABOg/iZhqo44KeJs/s200/DSC08031.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703417706799066146" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yff2_RJHQOg/TyacLtAhOCI/AAAAAAAABOU/H0-F-x606kI/s1600/DSC08029.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yff2_RJHQOg/TyacLtAhOCI/AAAAAAAABOU/H0-F-x606kI/s200/DSC08029.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703417702985578530" /></a><br />Dancing in the living room. When daddy is home this is where we dance. We love dancing around here. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7kSEw_6zC_4/TyaYarpRENI/AAAAAAAABOI/UCaVn-vM70g/s1600/DSC00314.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7kSEw_6zC_4/TyaYarpRENI/AAAAAAAABOI/UCaVn-vM70g/s200/DSC00314.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703413562271142098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD9jrWks9JQ/TyaYZyET0nI/AAAAAAAABN8/Aqqt3Ta2S5Q/s1600/DSC00311.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD9jrWks9JQ/TyaYZyET0nI/AAAAAAAABN8/Aqqt3Ta2S5Q/s200/DSC00311.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703413546815312498" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AStJ_5DVmoo/TyaYZN6ky2I/AAAAAAAABNw/w8W5VyGiBAE/s1600/DSC00309.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AStJ_5DVmoo/TyaYZN6ky2I/AAAAAAAABNw/w8W5VyGiBAE/s200/DSC00309.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703413537110805346" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ovtK20gEomk/TyaYYX1T1AI/AAAAAAAABNk/GiKD5UZNYz8/s1600/DSC00307.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ovtK20gEomk/TyaYYX1T1AI/AAAAAAAABNk/GiKD5UZNYz8/s200/DSC00307.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703413522593207298" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xk9HceOt9qI/TyaYYP1ER_I/AAAAAAAABNY/Wi8n8v7GFtc/s1600/DSC00296.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xk9HceOt9qI/TyaYYP1ER_I/AAAAAAAABNY/Wi8n8v7GFtc/s200/DSC00296.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703413520444704754" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-78441904359505708932012-01-27T13:02:00.001-08:002012-01-27T13:07:47.518-08:00ahhh....lifeThis is an email from my wonderful mother in law. I thought it was great! She is the mom of 8 with my husband being the oldest and the youngest is 7. I was talking to her recently and telling her about my days to get advice. She sent me this a few days later. It is always nice to know you are not the only one! <br />The email was entitled ahhh...life<br /><br />Today (Monday)<br /><br />Have to leave for the March for life by 8am….<br /><br />Breakfast?… yes, you have to eat breakfast…no we cannot stop somewhere along the way… you know that…why do you ask every time even though you get the SAME answer???...<br /><br />Still cleaning up from Saturday’s party… slow and steady wins the race right?? trying to do a little before we left for the March<br /><br />Cleaning the big coffee pot …. Spilled the coffee grounds (a lot) all over the kitchen floor… great, this was supposed to go fast so I could get dressed and ready<br /><br />i am cleaning up the coffee grounds and Peyton yells…. “gross!!” “what iiiiis THIS??” ohhhhh she says, “someone barfed!” what? Who barfed?? <br /><br />Yuck….. the dog barfed… I am still not ready, I moved from the coffee grounds to the barf…. As I am barking orders…. Clean up after yourself…. Get dressed, brush your teeth… I don’t know where your shoes are… you should! You wear them!... get coats…yes you DO need a coat!! It’s rainy and cold… and yes you DO need socks …get off the couch…ect..ect…<br /><br /><br />Wrangle the kids… ok really?.... just kidding…more like herding cats… seriously!... we were supposed to LEAVE at 8…not sit down to START eating breakfast (hmm guess who that was?) the wonderful dog throws up in the TV room… again<br /><br /> <br />We leave at 8:27…. Mass starts at 9am at St Bens… yep…we were late… on a bright note, God blessed us with unusually light traffic even with the crazy weather.<br /><br />Got to mass 10 minutes late…just in time to catch the last of the Gospel… we gathered with the other families for the rosary. Went to lunch with everyone and headed down to the March traffic was horrible due to the rain… (we decided that God must figure “well they are doing it, let’s make it REALLY count” and He turned up the rain…so the graces would be multiplied!)…but, true to form… God saw fit to stop the rain right as the rally and march began<br /><br />All in all the March went well… not as many hecklers as in years past … powerful, as always to see the huge number of people, primarily Catholics, gathered for the same cause… the music concluded with an amazing rendition of a song I wish I knew the name of!! Then as always… they broadcast a real recording of the heartbeat of a baby in utero…. Then it stops abruptly…. And the trumpeters play “Taps”…. And I cry<br /><br /> We climb back in the car… tired, satisfied and changed… now … back to the same life… how can we make a greater impact though?... how can we be a bigger voice for those sweet babies?.... all within our state in life? how?<br /> <br /><br />Home again…. More barf… thanks Nikki… I offer up the cleaning of the carpets for an end to the killing of babies and for anyone affected by it. I can do that… it’s what I am being called to do right now … it is my state in life …right?<br /><br /> Several hours later… carpets clean (as much as possible) … house is still in disarray but ….dinner was made, I finished planning the school week for Cameron which got put off because of the busy weekend… the little people are in bed, the big guys are at hockey… off I go now to plan for Landen and Peyton’s school week…<br /><br />God Bless you my sweet daughter in-law!...<br /><br />Count on my prayers as you fight the good fight!!<br /><br />Much love,<br /><br />Ruthoneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-22935671785278801982012-01-10T05:25:00.001-08:002012-01-10T06:28:23.231-08:00DISNEY!We were Blessed with an opportunity to go to Disney for the first time! There is an older couple at our church (we didn't know them) that had booked a week at a resort in Disney and could not use the week. It was a non-refundable trip. Our family was attending the Advent mission at church and they were as well. On Tuesday the 6th of December Branden was running around the Parish Hall like a crazy man playing with our kids (he does this often and some times gets in trouble - he is a big kid himself). The man and his wife see him and they say I wonder if that guy in the plaid shirt over there running around with all of those kids would like to go to Disney. SOOOOOO Long story short....we said yes and left for Disney on Saturday the 10th!! We stayed for a week and had the best time ever! Disney is the happy place. It just makes you smile and for some reason we all seemed to have an odd amount of energy that propelled us from the wee hours of the morning to very late into the night without naps. Yes that is right we park hopped and would wake up to take the first bus to the park. We would get there as it was opening and stayed until they kicked us out. If the parked closed at 6 or 7pm we would hop on the tram and go to Epcot or Disney until they closed at 9:30pm and then after that we would come back to the resort at 10pm and swim. Then around llpm we would sit in the hot tub drinking wine while the kids continued swimming. Then we would start all over again the next morning! We did all of this with all of our five children. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true and it was a lot of fun! We unfortunately do not have many pictures, but we have a few. The more kids we have had the less pictures we get and slowly I am learning to detach from having pictures of everything all the time. It is a major stress to stop and get pictures of everyone when the moment is good and the attitudes are positive so we keep going in the good moments and stop in the bad moments, but in the bad moments I don't want pics either!! Can't win either way so I just let go of pics and enjoy the moments. Also in Disney to keep up with five kids with two adults is a lot of work. Adding pictures into the mix was at many moment just too much! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d3y2lQQ6a6M/TwxIIvm10iI/AAAAAAAABMo/-GEn-AnVgFQ/s1600/IMG_1168.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d3y2lQQ6a6M/TwxIIvm10iI/AAAAAAAABMo/-GEn-AnVgFQ/s200/IMG_1168.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006943772365346" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4-rhS0zDL7A/TwxIHhHu4WI/AAAAAAAABMc/5XzbOzncgMk/s1600/IMG_1149.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4-rhS0zDL7A/TwxIHhHu4WI/AAAAAAAABMc/5XzbOzncgMk/s200/IMG_1149.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006922703921506" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d3-znM9UQoU/TwxIHdy9hEI/AAAAAAAABMQ/hc9MNKYMnso/s1600/DSC09599.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d3-znM9UQoU/TwxIHdy9hEI/AAAAAAAABMQ/hc9MNKYMnso/s200/DSC09599.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006921811493954" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOWQSZdg9pU/TwxIGfSekwI/AAAAAAAABME/bosDh8WLWS8/s1600/DSC09597.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOWQSZdg9pU/TwxIGfSekwI/AAAAAAAABME/bosDh8WLWS8/s200/DSC09597.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006905032250114" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lf7eoBV0QTo/TwxIGNxIDVI/AAAAAAAABL4/lo_pWPkDo38/s1600/DSC09593.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lf7eoBV0QTo/TwxIGNxIDVI/AAAAAAAABL4/lo_pWPkDo38/s200/DSC09593.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006900328959314" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-52BgeoyJiQQ/TwxHbLR4P-I/AAAAAAAABLk/FNV3QA8ua80/s1600/DSC09591.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-52BgeoyJiQQ/TwxHbLR4P-I/AAAAAAAABLk/FNV3QA8ua80/s200/DSC09591.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006160926654434" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P5NAhzvcjAQ/TwxHaIO758I/AAAAAAAABLY/y7QC7DDfD7o/s1600/DSC09587.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P5NAhzvcjAQ/TwxHaIO758I/AAAAAAAABLY/y7QC7DDfD7o/s200/DSC09587.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006142929135554" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--wH-qTzqfiw/TwxHZwQsh7I/AAAAAAAABLM/CZippJskenQ/s1600/DSC09581.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--wH-qTzqfiw/TwxHZwQsh7I/AAAAAAAABLM/CZippJskenQ/s200/DSC09581.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006136494065586" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EqvvLJ-nAbU/TwxHYu_nxdI/AAAAAAAABLA/FSp3x3VsgeY/s1600/DSC09561.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EqvvLJ-nAbU/TwxHYu_nxdI/AAAAAAAABLA/FSp3x3VsgeY/s200/DSC09561.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006118974146002" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9m-j8ErRnps/TwxHYb22KeI/AAAAAAAABK0/rvz3Ih25sls/s1600/DSC09549.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9m-j8ErRnps/TwxHYb22KeI/AAAAAAAABK0/rvz3Ih25sls/s200/DSC09549.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696006113837066722" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dSKTG3r4hFY/TwxG3-cbJfI/AAAAAAAABKg/lIdJiwEjjck/s1600/DSC09544.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dSKTG3r4hFY/TwxG3-cbJfI/AAAAAAAABKg/lIdJiwEjjck/s200/DSC09544.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005556185802226" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zqv6OQl9TNw/TwxG3i7YQlI/AAAAAAAABKY/5Z-TIPoLxiA/s1600/DSC09541.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zqv6OQl9TNw/TwxG3i7YQlI/AAAAAAAABKY/5Z-TIPoLxiA/s200/DSC09541.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005548799443538" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FdlJOiDrEno/TwxG2cWmv0I/AAAAAAAABKQ/nPbi_BIwICY/s1600/DSC09540.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FdlJOiDrEno/TwxG2cWmv0I/AAAAAAAABKQ/nPbi_BIwICY/s200/DSC09540.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005529854721858" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RuT6izRM6Uw/TwxG2O2L9LI/AAAAAAAABJ8/A0TRf2pYgqI/s1600/DSC09527.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RuT6izRM6Uw/TwxG2O2L9LI/AAAAAAAABJ8/A0TRf2pYgqI/s200/DSC09527.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005526229087410" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxNqlY2AhlQ/TwxG1-LFOTI/AAAAAAAABJ0/iYeMM0aT2xc/s1600/DSC09524.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxNqlY2AhlQ/TwxG1-LFOTI/AAAAAAAABJ0/iYeMM0aT2xc/s200/DSC09524.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005521753323826" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3FFUOzMa7E/TwxGnNVbrcI/AAAAAAAABJc/w6fKhedBkqo/s1600/DSC09523.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3FFUOzMa7E/TwxGnNVbrcI/AAAAAAAABJc/w6fKhedBkqo/s200/DSC09523.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005268125232578" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKiMi8oVqXM/TwxGm9EPGiI/AAAAAAAABJQ/ZQn8b1gOVh8/s1600/DSC09521.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKiMi8oVqXM/TwxGm9EPGiI/AAAAAAAABJQ/ZQn8b1gOVh8/s200/DSC09521.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005263758137890" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ok7m-6aL2SY/TwxGmG0KEPI/AAAAAAAABJI/DrCOJxCxzI0/s1600/DSC09442.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ok7m-6aL2SY/TwxGmG0KEPI/AAAAAAAABJI/DrCOJxCxzI0/s200/DSC09442.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005249195184370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wSCgxyC6btE/TwxGlPkHdMI/AAAAAAAABI8/tvEF_z04aBI/s1600/DSC09427.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wSCgxyC6btE/TwxGlPkHdMI/AAAAAAAABI8/tvEF_z04aBI/s200/DSC09427.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005234363954370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmYOnzv24vA/TwxGk3eAtLI/AAAAAAAABIw/oNSYgalfnRQ/s1600/DSC09419.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmYOnzv24vA/TwxGk3eAtLI/AAAAAAAABIw/oNSYgalfnRQ/s200/DSC09419.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696005227895895218" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D2QHOm1LXLI/TwxGOHCWarI/AAAAAAAABIY/VmEnMiAcF2I/s1600/DSC09411.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D2QHOm1LXLI/TwxGOHCWarI/AAAAAAAABIY/VmEnMiAcF2I/s200/DSC09411.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004836937853618" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zU54vKfSAeU/TwxGONyc_YI/AAAAAAAABIQ/_zm87SzA-Zc/s1600/DSC09359.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zU54vKfSAeU/TwxGONyc_YI/AAAAAAAABIQ/_zm87SzA-Zc/s200/DSC09359.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004838750223746" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-10fMq_kcc3w/TwxGNk4T2hI/AAAAAAAABII/Gf40b_n02wo/s1600/DSC09358.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-10fMq_kcc3w/TwxGNk4T2hI/AAAAAAAABII/Gf40b_n02wo/s200/DSC09358.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004827768936978" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WD72E7hNGCE/TwxGMgS8G8I/AAAAAAAABH8/aJQVUZ5N92o/s1600/DSC09351.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WD72E7hNGCE/TwxGMgS8G8I/AAAAAAAABH8/aJQVUZ5N92o/s200/DSC09351.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004809358580674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qJWJ5bh4VU8/TwxGMXEcSsI/AAAAAAAABHw/Pi_RrjFNteI/s1600/DSC09328.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qJWJ5bh4VU8/TwxGMXEcSsI/AAAAAAAABHw/Pi_RrjFNteI/s200/DSC09328.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004806881856194" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQLAbxw2vhk/TwxFpcySarI/AAAAAAAABHk/RuLhYm4FQ0Y/s1600/DSC09320.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQLAbxw2vhk/TwxFpcySarI/AAAAAAAABHk/RuLhYm4FQ0Y/s200/DSC09320.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004207120902834" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JjZNBtJhTfU/TwxFpHiPHvI/AAAAAAAABHY/RvYDbO6TtF8/s1600/DSC09319.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JjZNBtJhTfU/TwxFpHiPHvI/AAAAAAAABHY/RvYDbO6TtF8/s200/DSC09319.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696004201416433394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wQx39v5Ak6U/TwxFYAdsKnI/AAAAAAAABHM/64njQAS_9og/s1600/DSC09324.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wQx39v5Ak6U/TwxFYAdsKnI/AAAAAAAABHM/64njQAS_9og/s200/DSC09324.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696003907460541042" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prIq2UQ_-QA/TwxFX6N9G0I/AAAAAAAABHA/J4Q2s0ICKOk/s1600/DSC09322.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prIq2UQ_-QA/TwxFX6N9G0I/AAAAAAAABHA/J4Q2s0ICKOk/s200/DSC09322.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696003905783929666" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-2840974809902861082012-01-06T13:35:00.000-08:002012-01-06T14:09:40.286-08:00and he noticed....We were in Disney at MGM Studios on The Great Movie Ride. We were on the ride and at the end of the ride they pull you up to a big screen that shows you clips of a bunch of movies. One of the clips was of a woman dressed in a one piece bathing suit with a low neck line. She is walking from the water in a provocative way with a look on her face that compliments the walk and everything about the image from her hair to her toes screams sexy and screams objectify me. And He Noticed...Our son (7) for the very first time noticed. In a loud voice he said ewww and turned his eyes from the image. His innocence was attacked. It was a knife to his soul and he felt it and he turned from the pain that it caused his innocence. I was obviously saddened by the opportunity for that to happen, but then I gave thanks that we were able to be there with him for that moment. I was so thankful that he gets to be with me at home during these early years to protect him and guard his innocence, so when it is attacked it can be known rather than go unnoticed. I was glad because that attack could be guided by his parents rather than his peers. I can limit how often it is seen by guarding him, but the fact is it will be seen at some point whether it is on a billboard or at a grocery store, but the part that I can change is how we shape what is seen. I can control being there I can help form his heart and his mind in a way that is pleasing to God and in a way that respects and loves women rather than objectifies them. I feel such a strong commitment especially to my boys to protect their purity to teach them how to love women and not objectify them. I want them to cherish and protect women. I want them to feel a responsibility for protecting the dignity of every woman.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-89491899067016744522011-11-30T19:03:00.000-08:002011-12-01T17:32:47.380-08:00Advent In Our HomeAdvent In Our Home... <br />1. Introduced the Theme: Watch, Prepare and Wait <br />We hung up the sign I made in a word document. I printed it, laminated it and then ran purple ribbon through it. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N_OtZ6v40M4/TtbybFJ3AjI/AAAAAAAABGQ/R6M2umHpRGg/s1600/DSC09235.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N_OtZ6v40M4/TtbybFJ3AjI/AAAAAAAABGQ/R6M2umHpRGg/s200/DSC09235.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680994527028380210" /></a><br />2. We placed our Advent Wreath in the middle of our dining room table where we eat dinner every night. We blessed our Advent wreath. If your candles are not staying in place melt them into place...Branden had that idea this year! Great Idea! Advent Wreath Daily Readings and Prayers can be found at www.churchyear.net/adventwreath.html <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_vl3iAC6ws/Ttbyld5cFrI/AAAAAAAABGc/bxkA4jKjUaU/s1600/DSC09238.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_vl3iAC6ws/Ttbyld5cFrI/AAAAAAAABGc/bxkA4jKjUaU/s200/DSC09238.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680994705469085362" /></a><br />3. We created a purple chain that has quotes from Saints on each day. I got all of my quotes from EWTN's daily readings and copy and pasted them into a word document. I printed it and then the kids pasted the paper on purple construction paper and then we cut each strip. Then we stapled each strip together. We will read one each day of Advent. Before Tristan could read I just put numbers in each. I will probably do Bible verses one year or maybe parts of the Catechism etc...<br />4. I took our big chalkboard I use for entertaining the little kids while I teach and we are using that to track our Advent Giving Mission. Every day the kids look for ways to be extraordinarily good or helpful or look for ways to serve someone. Every day after we read the quote of the day from our chain we paste it to the board and then that evening we talk about the things of the day. An example is when we were in Walmart a woman dropped her bracelet and Tristan ran to go and get it and give it to the woman. He saw it and acted. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YuXe_o9rUjY/Ttb1k6LNpKI/AAAAAAAABGo/4DMagObvYYw/s1600/DSC09222.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YuXe_o9rUjY/Ttb1k6LNpKI/AAAAAAAABGo/4DMagObvYYw/s200/DSC09222.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680997994414843042" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JWaABJq1_B4/Ttb1v2rSIwI/AAAAAAAABG0/INMiGVSon_I/s1600/DSC09236.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JWaABJq1_B4/Ttb1v2rSIwI/AAAAAAAABG0/INMiGVSon_I/s200/DSC09236.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680998182454174466" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-48472160931202309492011-11-21T05:18:00.000-08:002011-11-30T19:02:38.239-08:00Expecting More than I am Willing to GiveIn the realm of parenting. <br />1. How often I expect the kids to ask me one time for something and not ask again if I say no...because my no means no. They do ask more than once and sometimes many times leading me to great frustration and sometimes anger, but they have learned that what I expect is inconsistent with what I give them. On a rough day, when I am tired, when I am overwhelmed and sometimes out of desperation to get them away from me I will say yes on the fifth time after I have said no four other times and said the same exact words above...my no means no. So actually what I expect and what I am giving them with my actions are two entirely different things. What they are hearing is we should ask more than once and maybe many times just to make sure mom really means no because sometimes she says no, but then she changes her mind so maybe I should ask five more times just to make sure! Wouldn't you do the same if you knew that would be the outcome! They are smart. <br />2. So often I expect first time obedience or another way of saying this is listening the first time. Whether it be walking through a parking lot and keeping everyone together or getting out of the car or picking up their toys or coming to dinner. I expect them to listen on the first time and often when they don't listen the person it inconveniences the most is me and this leads me to great frustration and I wonder why they don't listen. I expect first time listeners, but I give them a wife that doesn't always listen to her husband. I give them a mom that is on the computer and to distracted to listen to their big ideas or look at their newest lego creation. Even in other very important areas of life such as meals and schooling I fall into thinking my things and my time are more important. So often during these things that I think are so important I tend to not listen to the kids. Whether it be an I can't listen right now, or get out of here and find something else to do or I yell at them for being in the way or I just say uh huh...oh neat...okay and I really am not listening to their story or looking at their creation or whatever it might be. They think and believe as we all do that we are super important. Fortunately for us adults we know there is an Africa out there with tons of starving people dying daily and we know that there are babies being aborted daily and we know that there are families falling apart all around the world, but unfortunately for us on a daily basis we don't choose to live in a world bigger than ourselves. For the little ones they don't know or understand where or what Africa is and they don't understand that children can starve to death because they only know their life and can only understand how they have felt. They cannot go outside of themselves and are not supposed to at this point which makes them really a big part in this world that they know. They are a big and very important part and that is the way God intended it to be, but as a parent I tend to not let them know and let them feel as important as I should by listening intently to their ideas or looking at the pile of rocks and leaves they have found...the mom that doesn't listen looks at their rock and leaf collection and sees just rocks and leaves but the mom God created me to be sees those rocks and leaves turn into the beautiful treasures that my children are seeing. <br />Children will listen if we listen.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-85694521884269028842011-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:002011-11-08T13:19:17.932-08:00A Day at the FarmA day at the farm. We have some friends who own a farm and we have been able to enjoy a few days out there fishing, having picnics, going on trails, riding horses, throwing rocks, playing in creeks and getting dirty! It is such a blessing! One day when we went out there we took some pictures. They turned out so wonderful! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73M43oSCpG8/TrmcHSB8quI/AAAAAAAABFo/l8NsiKotrUs/s1600/DSC07230_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 189px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73M43oSCpG8/TrmcHSB8quI/AAAAAAAABFo/l8NsiKotrUs/s200/DSC07230_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736854562876130" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJ22YBlxXjQ/TrmcHLVXTdI/AAAAAAAABFg/wDKdGZVNmq8/s1600/DSC07223.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJ22YBlxXjQ/TrmcHLVXTdI/AAAAAAAABFg/wDKdGZVNmq8/s200/DSC07223.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736852765265362" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KW250wtPUOI/TrmcF60hSkI/AAAAAAAABFU/95m6BX7_lGE/s1600/DSC07194.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KW250wtPUOI/TrmcF60hSkI/AAAAAAAABFU/95m6BX7_lGE/s200/DSC07194.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736831152671298" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P2OZpU_i__A/TrmcFjFtG_I/AAAAAAAABFE/ekBzuGNF-Wc/s1600/DSC07163_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 116px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P2OZpU_i__A/TrmcFjFtG_I/AAAAAAAABFE/ekBzuGNF-Wc/s200/DSC07163_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736824782298098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k8PmLcvzx5E/TrmcFlO58-I/AAAAAAAABE8/sj1-4YSuBlo/s1600/DSC07140.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vBr-H99WFZE/TrmbeadR5JI/AAAAAAAABEU/56bA-5IqJr0/s200/DSC07125.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736152450360466" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4itmNuJsm0/Trmbdj2X4KI/AAAAAAAABEM/uLxeKxOfIvk/s1600/DSC07105.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4itmNuJsm0/Trmbdj2X4KI/AAAAAAAABEM/uLxeKxOfIvk/s200/DSC07105.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672736137791660194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EU7KuQMuza8/TrmbdaeWviI/AAAAAAAABD8/SK1_qEgjk-g/s1600/DSC07099.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ctzwR2oZU-4/TrmZkGVTrLI/AAAAAAAABBY/EMUF_5io_ls/s200/DSC06919.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672734051104173234" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L-e5IscFyhc/TrmZjSybs6I/AAAAAAAABBM/ihyfiQ08maA/s1600/DSC06913.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L-e5IscFyhc/TrmZjSybs6I/AAAAAAAABBM/ihyfiQ08maA/s200/DSC06913.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672734037267690402" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XgqG4vyeS28/TrmZje2SoiI/AAAAAAAABBA/kXyyAxYEfWE/s1600/DSC06911.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XgqG4vyeS28/TrmZje2SoiI/AAAAAAAABBA/kXyyAxYEfWE/s200/DSC06911.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672734040505098786" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-18721581026062417702011-11-02T13:53:00.000-07:002011-11-02T14:02:09.538-07:00Babies and SleepingGreat Article. We co-sleep around here for the first year or so and love it! There is more and more research showing that co-sleeping is great for everyone! Read the article and read through the experiments. Very fascinating. Here is a little blurb from the experiment. To me it seems so natural to just have the baby right next to you especially when nursing. <br />FROM THE ARTICLE: <br />What to call it<br />Sleeping with your baby has various labels: The earthy term "family bed," while appealing to many, is a turn-off to parents who imagine a pile of kids squeezed into a small bed with dad and the family dog perched precariously on the mattress edge. "Co-sleeping" sounds more like what adults do. "Bed-sharing" is the term frequently used in medical writings. I prefer the term "sleep-sharing" because, as you will learn, a baby shares more than just bed space. An infant and mother sleeping side by side share lots of interactions that are safe and healthy. <br /><br />FROM THE STUDY:<br />Our study revealed that Lauren breathed better when sleeping next to Martha than when sleeping alone. Her breathing and her heart rate were more regular during shared sleep, and there were fewer "dips," low points in respiration and blood oxygen from stop-breathing episodes. On the night Lauren slept with Martha, there were no dips in her blood oxygen. On the night Lauren slept alone, there were 132 dips. The results were similar in a second infant, whose parents generously allowed us into their bedroom. We studied Lauren and the other infant again at five months. As expected, the physiological differences between shared and solo sleep were less pronounced at five months than at two months.<br /><br />http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/sleep-problems/co-sleeping-yes-no-sometimesoneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-52755654135371437542011-11-02T10:28:00.000-07:002011-11-02T11:39:26.600-07:00Inclusion - Teaching to the Family not just the individualWith Tristan in first grade and Annaliese in kindergarten and one more child added to the mix school has definitely become more interesting this year! So we change. With life you can never stay the same. Honestly to stay the same would be incredibly boring and very frustrating (I have tried before and it didn't work)! So we keep moving and keep changing as we need to. So here are a few things we have been doing with school lately. I am including everyone more and more in the activities we do if not there are more messes than I care to deal with and more crying than I can handle and a super frustrated mom! So I have changed and it is working...for now :) One activity we do for math on a regular basis is Mom's Shop. We do a lot with this and everyone is working on a different skill. For Gavin he is working on identifying the coins by hearing the name and pointing to it and matching the picture of the coin he needs to use to buy something. Annaliese is working on knowing the names of the coins and the values and Finn is working on using his words and manners. Tristan is working on adding and subtracting and substituting coins that have equal value! This makes everyone happy. I sometimes add special things to moms shop, but the way that we do it most of the time is for the kids to buy their 10am snack! They love having a choice and I love that they are learning. You can see we use a window and I sit on one side of the window and the kids on the other side and AMAZINGLY it turns into MOMS SHOP and the kids think it is so much fun and so do I! <br /><br />Another thing we do is we use laminated letter cards for different games. One is a hopscotch type of game where they hop from letter to letter saying the sound or blending a word or saying the letter name. Finn just has fun! Gavin is learning letter names and basic identification. Annaliese is learning sounds and works on blending. They love this game. Then we take the same cards and the kids are timed and crawl on their knees to identify the answer to a question I will give them and touch the answer with a bat. An example of a question is what letter says ____ or touch the letter a ____ or spell the sounds ac etc.... Pictures will hopefully help give you a better idea of what I put into words. <br /><br />The last thing that you will see a picture of that we recently did was learning the letter H. It was cool enough where we could all say the sound of h on the window and cause it fog up. Finn just fogged up the window and made it dirty. Gavin said the sound and fogged up the window and made it dirty. Annaliese said the letter the sound and wrote the letter on the fog and made the window dirty! <br /><br />As you can see we are just trying to include everyone in some way and it makes every one happy, especially me! <br /><br />And in the picture where Gavin and Finn are crawling through the window...sometimes we do make it window day. We don't use the door only the window...even me! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hF9tYxGF3GA/TrGD-EbxdwI/AAAAAAAAA-g/ih6C7w79dWQ/s1600/DSC07282.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hF9tYxGF3GA/TrGD-EbxdwI/AAAAAAAAA-g/ih6C7w79dWQ/s200/DSC07282.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670458508201522946" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_WpQqc3lgTc/TrGD9dsr5ZI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/yY6l1bnMaFk/s1600/DSC07279.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_WpQqc3lgTc/TrGD9dsr5ZI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/yY6l1bnMaFk/s200/DSC07279.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670458497803478418" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RNdTj-UrT2Q/TrGD9AWccwI/AAAAAAAAA-I/kf5StgE91C8/s1600/DSC07272.jpg"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zb24dHtKuM4/TrGNSf6_q5I/AAAAAAAABAE/k5PE6N-49Vs/s200/DSC07304.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468754782268306" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqj0A1l8pdU/TrGNR5rIMkI/AAAAAAAAA_4/KQvuW9er7UA/s1600/DSC07302.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqj0A1l8pdU/TrGNR5rIMkI/AAAAAAAAA_4/KQvuW9er7UA/s200/DSC07302.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468744515170882" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3FVg1PWBmo/TrGNRiQZBnI/AAAAAAAAA_s/pDb1Hasjf1g/s1600/DSC07299.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3FVg1PWBmo/TrGNRiQZBnI/AAAAAAAAA_s/pDb1Hasjf1g/s200/DSC07299.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468738229012082" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LDpmoM_s2cc/TrGMwJAZdfI/AAAAAAAAA_g/ZkwfCObIlm0/s1600/DSC07298.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LDpmoM_s2cc/TrGMwJAZdfI/AAAAAAAAA_g/ZkwfCObIlm0/s200/DSC07298.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468164515362290" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pMWafqhfpp0/TrGMux-X4MI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/zvNCmoMWghI/s1600/DSC07293.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pMWafqhfpp0/TrGMux-X4MI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/zvNCmoMWghI/s200/DSC07293.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468141152985282" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2khLILQc5c/TrGMutpCCfI/AAAAAAAAA_E/UMHyEtsnEN8/s1600/DSC07285.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2khLILQc5c/TrGMutpCCfI/AAAAAAAAA_E/UMHyEtsnEN8/s200/DSC07285.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468139989731826" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XdhuveCKE-U/TrGMuXYXccI/AAAAAAAAA-8/4GrEBcdLyzA/s1600/DSC07284.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XdhuveCKE-U/TrGMuXYXccI/AAAAAAAAA-8/4GrEBcdLyzA/s200/DSC07284.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468134014251458" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z5FAlhmQrP0/TrGMuIDuxUI/AAAAAAAAA-w/AHVhjH-vpT0/s1600/DSC07283.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z5FAlhmQrP0/TrGMuIDuxUI/AAAAAAAAA-w/AHVhjH-vpT0/s200/DSC07283.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468129901167938" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-38792025174854925352011-10-11T07:48:00.000-07:002011-10-17T06:51:14.969-07:00Boys will be BoysHappy Birthday to Gavin. He turned 4 on October 8th. His two requests were that he wanted a sword and a yax. So we decided boys no matter what will turn whatever is around them into swords, guns etc... Sticks have been our boys preferred way of waging war on each other with stick fights etc... We have piles of sticks sitting outside each door of our house. <br />How we celebrate birthdays....We don't have parties with friends until the age of seven when we feel they can really appreciate and anticipate the fun. Then from the age of seven on we will have a birthday party with friends once every three years. <br />So how do we celebrate...<br />1. A couple nights before the birthday party we let the birthday child stay up late with us and talk about what would make for a special day. <br />Gavin requested...a star wars cake with star wars decorations, a sword, a yax, a movie, and pizza. <br />2. So we decorate the dining room of our house with streamers, balloons and of course the theme of the party Star Wars! <br />3. We make a birthday chair that is decorated much more than the others.<br />4. We eat off of the themed plates and drink out of the cups for at least a couple days (a good wipe down with a paper towel makes paper plates last quite a while).<br />5. We can't forget the oh so important birthday cereal. We don't each much cereal around here and if we do it is definitely not the fun sugary kind. So each birthday they get to pick out a big giant box of sugar cereal the night before their birthday. This is their birthday breakfast along with a breakfast favorite like homemade cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles or french toast. Normally every one chooses the cinnamon rolls...they are amazingly yummy, but take more time and effort than the other choices which means we have them at birthdays and Christmas and that is all. <br />6. The birthday kid gets to make the decisions for the day. All day what they want to do and eat.<br />7. We sing happy birthday in all different voices each person yells out a different theme and then we sing it example...the spooky way, the hillbilly way, the soft way, the squeaky way, the loud way. We come up with all kinds of crazy ways and we end up somewhere around twelve different ways that we have sung happy birthday to the birthday kid. <br />8. The birthday kid gets to pick out their own present within a budgeted amount of money. We take them to Toys R Us, Target, Walmart and sometimes the Dollar Store and wonder the stores looking at everything. This is their favorite thing to do. <br />9. Date Night: We will do it every birthday for each kid because we find this part to be the most important of all. We take the birthday kid on a date. Mom and dad and only the birthday kid. This could range from going to the park and packing a picnic when money is tight or what we like being able to do because we rarely do it is taking them somewhere special like the bowling alley, ice skating, jump zone etc... Gavin wants to go bowling and eat pizza. Branden will probably take him bowling to cut down on costs and then I will get a sitter so I can meet them for dinner and dessert. At dinner we always make a list of the things we hope to see them accomplish in the next year and they tell us the things they would like to accomplish. (teaching them goal setting skills) We review their previous years goals. Branden tracks all of it on his phone and/or ipad. <br /><br />I think that is it minus the fact our kids with their theme like to dress up on the day of the birthday with the theme of their decorations. Birthdays are fun and birthdays are simple ways of giving thanks for the little person God has given us. <br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZ1QXDZnVK0/TpRXqfQ5bXI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/IcKfhmn9JGw/s1600/DSC06876.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZ1QXDZnVK0/TpRXqfQ5bXI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/IcKfhmn9JGw/s200/DSC06876.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662247018970049906" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDYsNUgfnc8/TpRXpwrDlYI/AAAAAAAAA8A/1N4WDKVETr0/s1600/DSC06847.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDYsNUgfnc8/TpRXpwrDlYI/AAAAAAAAA8A/1N4WDKVETr0/s200/DSC06847.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662247006463300994" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AIXxCEMOYSU/TpRXpgfn9YI/AAAAAAAAA7w/Q2ftuW7ls4k/s1600/DSC06867.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AIXxCEMOYSU/TpRXpgfn9YI/AAAAAAAAA7w/Q2ftuW7ls4k/s200/DSC06867.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662247002120385922" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8b_XjCzzXc/TpRXpdqp2BI/AAAAAAAAA7o/Xw_MuWaBdPk/s1600/DSC06820.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8b_XjCzzXc/TpRXpdqp2BI/AAAAAAAAA7o/Xw_MuWaBdPk/s200/DSC06820.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662247001361340434" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-52381406212331718912011-10-07T12:25:00.000-07:002011-10-17T06:50:27.085-07:00Moving...An Amazing StorySo we moved two weeks before Emmaline was born to an amazing house that we love! This house is truly a blessing. The story is so moving to me so I am going to share it. It starts out something like this...God is faithful...he is faithful in all things. He provides for us in so many ways every day. He provides for us more and more the more children we have. One month before Emmaline was born mothers day was celebrated and my mom came in town to be with us for the weekend. To say I love garage sales is an understatement. Nearly everything we own is from a garage sale! My motto "a coat of paint makes all things new". My mom watched the kids while Branden and I had an hour before a soccer game. We went to a few yard sales in neighborhoods we had been to and then we went to a garage sale I found on craigslist. We followed the directions to a neighborhood we had never been to before and turned in and loved it immediately. Older homes on big lots. We both commented on the lots and mature trees. Then we saw a house on the right with an amazing yard and a front porch and we both said wow that is an awesome house. We continued down the road to the yard sale. After the yard sale I said babe lets go dream. So we stopped at the house again (note: we were not house hunting nor did we need to we were in a lease that lasted for another 15 months and we never pick up fliers because it leaves my heart wanting)and there was a for sale sign and some fliers. We picked up a flier and it was definitely not in our league, but I said Lord I would love to live in a house like this some day. We took the flier home and put it on the fridge. Branden said it would give us something to work towards. <br />Two weeks go by and Branden begins working on the kitchen floor. He would exchange his work on projects in the house for compensation on our rent. So his latest project was ripping up the laminate kitchen floor and putting tile down. As he was ripping up the floor he found quite a bit of mold. I said YIKES and freaked out and we called a mold specialist. I knew we had obviously been living there with it, but I did not want to bring a new baby home to a bunch of mold spores. The mold man came and told us it was a certain type of mold that needed to be removed in a certain way and that we probably shouldn't stay there. So we house hopped to our wonderful friends homes while we waited for the mold to be removed. Much to our dismay our landlord lied to us and went behind our backs and removed the mold improperly etc...(there is a history here of a list of many things he had previously done to us to take advantage of us). So this was the icing on the cake and Branden said we will not bring a new baby into this house. Our landlord said I understand (him saying this in and of it itself is a miracle) and poof we were without a place to live. We did get our deposit back because our landlord broke the lease with his actions. So two weeks from baby and no place to call home. Branden was working on the floor on Sunday. Tuesday we broke the lease. Friday a friend from church called Branden and said he had someone he thought we should contact. Our friend had lunch with this man a month prior and when they were speaking the man mentioned he had a house for sale, but he was really considering taking it off the market because he wanted to help a young, big, Catholic family. He said he learned too late in life what was important and it was he and his wife job to help young families that are open to life. So Branden called this man John at lunch time on Friday. John said come on over I will meet you at the house in thirty minutes. Hey gave Branden the address and Branden came to pick me up. As we pulled into the neighborhood Branden and I were super excited because we recognized it from two weeks prior and we both said again wow we love this neighborhood. We continue down the street looking at the mailboxes for the address and we came upon THE HOUSE. The same exact house we had a flier for on our fridge. Okay if you don't know Franklin it is not a tiny city and I bet there are thousands of houses for sale in Franklin alone. So I started crying and Branden as well. We could not believe this was the house we were coming to look at. Both of us in the back of our minds thought we cannot afford this house be it a rental or purchase. We meet John in tears and explain the story and look at the house and fall more in love the more we see. He explained we are going to make it work and that is exactly what we did. John and his wife are being extremely generous to our family. We are so grateful to them and we love our new house. There are still boxes that have not been unpacked, but we are getting there. One thing I did do upon moving in and the month that followed was started coming up with systems and a better way to organize our stuff. I will post later some of the things I have done that are working for us with five kids and homeschooling two of them now. So in summary we Love our house it is more than we need and we are so grateful to God for his detailed love to our family.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-54188970901655658172011-10-06T07:23:00.001-07:002011-10-07T07:14:22.853-07:00Sweet Emmaline....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dxP4EbJPwL4/To8InVEw2_I/AAAAAAAAA7g/_cU_64_iKR8/s1600/DSC06808.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dxP4EbJPwL4/To8InVEw2_I/AAAAAAAAA7g/_cU_64_iKR8/s200/DSC06808.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660752728393047026" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Od6x9Xd33EM/To8InCq7ySI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/-AK5_aY-LBA/s1600/DSC06806.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Od6x9Xd33EM/To8InCq7ySI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/-AK5_aY-LBA/s200/DSC06806.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660752723452872994" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ftpX4Y-AZeU/To8Im_qB_jI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/EyNUcErUnxo/s1600/DSC06799.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ftpX4Y-AZeU/To8Im_qB_jI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/EyNUcErUnxo/s200/DSC06799.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660752722643779122" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xMwq_c0Lbig/To3Dqwod7ZI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OOc6wKK9lb8/s1600/DSC05710.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xMwq_c0Lbig/To3Dqwod7ZI/AAAAAAAAA7A/OOc6wKK9lb8/s200/DSC05710.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660395446051138962" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqFLVfjjkWI/To3DqvP4qcI/AAAAAAAAA64/uKRJaUFJyL0/s1600/DSC05596.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqFLVfjjkWI/To3DqvP4qcI/AAAAAAAAA64/uKRJaUFJyL0/s200/DSC05596.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660395445679598018" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-193PMxOw4bM/To3DqWw5szI/AAAAAAAAA6w/PQ4ATLvmui0/s1600/DSC06087.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-193PMxOw4bM/To3DqWw5szI/AAAAAAAAA6w/PQ4ATLvmui0/s200/DSC06087.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660395439107191602" /></a><br />So lots of life and lots of fun since my last post. We moved and had sweet Emmaline! <br />We are in love! Totally Smitten over her! All of us! It is amazing how a new little person comes into your life and you can't imagine life without them. She is talking and smiling all of the time. This girly loves her thumb. She loves to be around the action and is constantly being held or talked to by someone. I know some people think children may be deprived of attention when you have a handful of children, but I beg to differ I think Emmaline gets more attention than her previous siblings because there are more people to love her. Lately she loves to sit in the bumbo chair and hang out in the kitchen where I spend a good portion of my day and there is an insane amount of traffic coming in and out doing school work and playing. She is always entertained.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-45783473845688264632011-03-23T05:58:00.000-07:002011-03-23T06:16:02.585-07:00Cruise Fun With My Hubby<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j3elVHQMNjs/TYnycqvx5KI/AAAAAAAAA6k/6mSczhlNBD8/s1600/IMG_1256.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j3elVHQMNjs/TYnycqvx5KI/AAAAAAAAA6k/6mSczhlNBD8/s200/IMG_1256.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263387054761122" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsVV1XmCGso/TYnycc2zZeI/AAAAAAAAA6c/-iGaFm7KQXE/s1600/IMG_1239.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsVV1XmCGso/TYnycc2zZeI/AAAAAAAAA6c/-iGaFm7KQXE/s200/IMG_1239.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263383326123490" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6zRWES0GVjw/TYnycEcIwvI/AAAAAAAAA6U/WNMmIDaOYzE/s1600/IMG_1238.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6zRWES0GVjw/TYnycEcIwvI/AAAAAAAAA6U/WNMmIDaOYzE/s200/IMG_1238.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263376771826418" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IUEIItbExkY/TYnyb33vjwI/AAAAAAAAA6M/Y4GTDJXL0IM/s1600/DSC03614.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IUEIItbExkY/TYnyb33vjwI/AAAAAAAAA6M/Y4GTDJXL0IM/s200/DSC03614.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263373397954306" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sGzSm31yYmQ/TYnyKgp_MHI/AAAAAAAAA6E/ytaxBAyqre8/s1600/DSC03399.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sGzSm31yYmQ/TYnyKgp_MHI/AAAAAAAAA6E/ytaxBAyqre8/s200/DSC03399.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263075108466802" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cPr3TTWuyX0/TYnyKRCwc-I/AAAAAAAAA58/nO_8m1sqpfw/s1600/DSC03371.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cPr3TTWuyX0/TYnyKRCwc-I/AAAAAAAAA58/nO_8m1sqpfw/s200/DSC03371.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263070917391330" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCxqY6n8gtY/TYnyJ3s27tI/AAAAAAAAA50/TUcPqqm_Ae4/s1600/DSC03321.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCxqY6n8gtY/TYnyJ3s27tI/AAAAAAAAA50/TUcPqqm_Ae4/s200/DSC03321.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263064114654930" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dN79OzdntsI/TYnyJor_ngI/AAAAAAAAA5s/4qcZv0yHdkY/s1600/DSC03312.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dN79OzdntsI/TYnyJor_ngI/AAAAAAAAA5s/4qcZv0yHdkY/s200/DSC03312.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263060084497922" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RtGL3wPaI2M/TYnyJWlk-FI/AAAAAAAAA5k/81TQlnViz3o/s1600/DSC03239_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RtGL3wPaI2M/TYnyJWlk-FI/AAAAAAAAA5k/81TQlnViz3o/s200/DSC03239_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587263055225747538" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yZIhUSMN5-c/TYnxzkN59-I/AAAAAAAAA5c/REjSpppQIN4/s1600/DSC03236.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yZIhUSMN5-c/TYnxzkN59-I/AAAAAAAAA5c/REjSpppQIN4/s200/DSC03236.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262680927434722" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3G_ElQ-TCo/TYnxzb9OE1I/AAAAAAAAA5U/fFZo6M0DmMI/s1600/DSC03213.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3G_ElQ-TCo/TYnxzb9OE1I/AAAAAAAAA5U/fFZo6M0DmMI/s200/DSC03213.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262678709965650" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exLOfD4k79U/TYnxzO5wyzI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Ypfs3fQ2Xow/s1600/DSC03196.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exLOfD4k79U/TYnxzO5wyzI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Ypfs3fQ2Xow/s200/DSC03196.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262675205802802" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iBGnlw1BFpY/TYnxy5cateI/AAAAAAAAA5E/DtZ2y418iu8/s1600/DSC03191.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iBGnlw1BFpY/TYnxy5cateI/AAAAAAAAA5E/DtZ2y418iu8/s200/DSC03191.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262669445576162" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OMoD0nxXNeE/TYnxyh9vJeI/AAAAAAAAA48/SPjuXFamABo/s1600/DSC03184_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OMoD0nxXNeE/TYnxyh9vJeI/AAAAAAAAA48/SPjuXFamABo/s200/DSC03184_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262663142876642" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8pXUEw5LpGU/TYnxhBc1ZHI/AAAAAAAAA40/GW6IEKgclLg/s1600/DSC03173.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8pXUEw5LpGU/TYnxhBc1ZHI/AAAAAAAAA40/GW6IEKgclLg/s200/DSC03173.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262362357163122" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--sS-Rjl36UI/TYnxg9aiwRI/AAAAAAAAA4s/XXf9dknEchg/s1600/DSC03164_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--sS-Rjl36UI/TYnxg9aiwRI/AAAAAAAAA4s/XXf9dknEchg/s200/DSC03164_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262361273811218" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv9tGvYo3q8/TYnxgipybfI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Wh2I-ikw-IM/s1600/DSC03161_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv9tGvYo3q8/TYnxgipybfI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Wh2I-ikw-IM/s200/DSC03161_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262354089995762" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fEXFVm2hSHA/TYnxgTkbifI/AAAAAAAAA4c/2yLS7uT_HCs/s1600/DSC03158.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fEXFVm2hSHA/TYnxgTkbifI/AAAAAAAAA4c/2yLS7uT_HCs/s200/DSC03158.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262350040992242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jG3rSGpORKM/TYnxgPitsLI/AAAAAAAAA4U/RUtotrMTyXU/s1600/DSC03105.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jG3rSGpORKM/TYnxgPitsLI/AAAAAAAAA4U/RUtotrMTyXU/s200/DSC03105.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587262348960051378" /></a><br />So for the first time since our honeymoon Branden and I decided we needed to seize the moment. We had an offer from my mom to watch our kiddos for a week and we had some money. We could fix the broken ac in our van, get dental work done or go on a cruise. A cruise most definitely sounded like the most logical choice!!! We booked a seven night cruise and had the best time ever! We went on Carnival Cruise lines and we had three ports of call. We went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel. Oh we had a blast. It was so fun spending time with my hubby in a relaxed atmosphere with no kids around for an entire week. I love cruises! I look at the pictures and my heart aches to go back. We are definitely going to try and make it a priority to getaway every year. It was the greatest gift for our marriage. We had time together with no other distractions. Thanks so much to my mom for keeping up with our children for an entire week! We obviously couldn't have done it without her! We did everything there was to do. I realized relaxing away from kids for me is not laying on a lounge chair and reading books. It is playing volleyball everyday, putt putt golf, hiking, snorkeling etc.... I realized just how much I love being active and that was a rest for both Branden and I. We danced every night and went to the casino one night and got sucked into the cheap little games and came away with nothing. Cozumel was our favorite stop of all. We rented a jeep and had the best day there.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-51062913114068315432011-03-04T06:13:00.001-08:002011-03-04T06:21:20.359-08:00All in a Days PlaySo the temperature was above 60 degrees...62 degrees to be exact and of course the sprinkler and bathing suits come out. The water was so cold, but they had so much fun. I figure as long as they are not whining or complaining about it they can go for it. They love to play all day. All four them play and play and play! I love it! This I believe is what kids are supposed to do! We go from costumes to bathing suits many days of the week. The kids in the morning here are in their costumes. The boys normally pick one costume and stay, but Annaliese switches quite frequently from princess to super girl to ballerina...you know trying to cover all the basics. So as you can see from the last picture in the post it got a little messy after a bit. The kids by the time they were done were fully encased in a very thick layer of mud. It took a couple of baths to get the mud out of their hair. Am I crazy for letting them do this...probably! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ln_eN33xyk/TXDzwN-HxQI/AAAAAAAAA3k/HgMc-CUxrIE/s1600/DSC04075.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ln_eN33xyk/TXDzwN-HxQI/AAAAAAAAA3k/HgMc-CUxrIE/s200/DSC04075.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580227948021531906" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tsidq_8JvZA/TXDzvzZK-UI/AAAAAAAAA3c/PrphkaBPEwE/s1600/DSC04071.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tsidq_8JvZA/TXDzvzZK-UI/AAAAAAAAA3c/PrphkaBPEwE/s200/DSC04071.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580227940887230786" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEIfgqSV6jM/TXDzvtwknkI/AAAAAAAAA3U/RgBwo7fQ-20/s1600/DSC04068.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEIfgqSV6jM/TXDzvtwknkI/AAAAAAAAA3U/RgBwo7fQ-20/s200/DSC04068.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580227939374767682" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYh6Nlb0-Ew/TXDzvsZVsDI/AAAAAAAAA3M/EJIAw-fp3s8/s1600/DSC04065.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYh6Nlb0-Ew/TXDzvsZVsDI/AAAAAAAAA3M/EJIAw-fp3s8/s200/DSC04065.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580227939008884786" /></a>oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-23978217814883857732011-02-19T08:12:00.000-08:002011-02-19T08:20:30.795-08:00Trip to Kentucky<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JIYs2qXONtY/TV_twJErQpI/AAAAAAAAA3E/n8K8KVHLvqQ/s1600/DSC03098.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JIYs2qXONtY/TV_twJErQpI/AAAAAAAAA3E/n8K8KVHLvqQ/s200/DSC03098.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436275032998546" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vusR-K_S374/TV_tv6heJ7I/AAAAAAAAA28/2iudLWxj7nI/s1600/DSC03096.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vusR-K_S374/TV_tv6heJ7I/AAAAAAAAA28/2iudLWxj7nI/s200/DSC03096.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436271127242674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I5TXwJlI-Gc/TV_tvizIDMI/AAAAAAAAA20/UOIo-YNN2UE/s1600/DSC03090.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I5TXwJlI-Gc/TV_tvizIDMI/AAAAAAAAA20/UOIo-YNN2UE/s200/DSC03090.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436264758840514" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E8ITyYunztw/TV_tvvl7gsI/AAAAAAAAA2s/r3sVAoMZUco/s1600/DSC03085.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E8ITyYunztw/TV_tvvl7gsI/AAAAAAAAA2s/r3sVAoMZUco/s200/DSC03085.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436268193153730" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rhFmXsn4qw/TV_tgUdai3I/AAAAAAAAA2k/rt89hbjHFwA/s1600/DSC03084.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rhFmXsn4qw/TV_tgUdai3I/AAAAAAAAA2k/rt89hbjHFwA/s200/DSC03084.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436003211643762" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vv288aaa450/TV_tgKCw8FI/AAAAAAAAA2c/H7ZpXjFo-MM/s1600/DSC03083.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vv288aaa450/TV_tgKCw8FI/AAAAAAAAA2c/H7ZpXjFo-MM/s200/DSC03083.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575436000415510610" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T9GKzNuFE38/TV_tf-0DKqI/AAAAAAAAA2U/coeNIfDo26Q/s1600/DSC03048.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T9GKzNuFE38/TV_tf-0DKqI/AAAAAAAAA2U/coeNIfDo26Q/s200/DSC03048.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435997401000610" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7UqZiHhpOU/TV_tfscUyrI/AAAAAAAAA2M/7PBVlGBAPIg/s1600/DSC03042.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7UqZiHhpOU/TV_tfscUyrI/AAAAAAAAA2M/7PBVlGBAPIg/s200/DSC03042.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435992469654194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uh05FB-Jv34/TV_tfZVx42I/AAAAAAAAA2E/SgUiaSX7koU/s1600/DSC03041.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uh05FB-Jv34/TV_tfZVx42I/AAAAAAAAA2E/SgUiaSX7koU/s200/DSC03041.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435987341927266" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FMSVE1RtuBA/TV_tNE7wfDI/AAAAAAAAA18/MgX0Ln8f7V0/s1600/DSC03040.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FMSVE1RtuBA/TV_tNE7wfDI/AAAAAAAAA18/MgX0Ln8f7V0/s200/DSC03040.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435672626428978" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p5kM4tz0IdY/TV_tMyYlsxI/AAAAAAAAA10/zXgg76ZXNtI/s1600/DSC02980.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p5kM4tz0IdY/TV_tMyYlsxI/AAAAAAAAA10/zXgg76ZXNtI/s200/DSC02980.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435667647083282" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDIMnr8VRI8/TV_tMu0yPoI/AAAAAAAAA1s/Be0PjgsoGQM/s1600/DSC02978.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDIMnr8VRI8/TV_tMu0yPoI/AAAAAAAAA1s/Be0PjgsoGQM/s200/DSC02978.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435666691604098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dnYRLNr-ivg/TV_tMRtvF3I/AAAAAAAAA1k/yVl4k5gXrAM/s1600/DSC02976.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dnYRLNr-ivg/TV_tMRtvF3I/AAAAAAAAA1k/yVl4k5gXrAM/s200/DSC02976.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435658877409138" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vofg0c8jH3g/TV_tME9xS7I/AAAAAAAAA1c/Vccyjgwk6PU/s1600/DSC02970.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vofg0c8jH3g/TV_tME9xS7I/AAAAAAAAA1c/Vccyjgwk6PU/s200/DSC02970.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575435655455001522" /></a><br />My cousin Amber got married and we were so excited to go to the wedding. The kids were so excited about the dancing! Miss Laura Czarka has Annaliese and Tristan come over one day a month to do special projects and bake etc... They have so much fun with her and love going. We are thankful for the time she has them. Tristan was very concerned about dancing and he told Miss Laura that she needed to teach him some things. She asked what things do you need to learn and he said I need to learn how to dance because we are going to a wedding and I need to learn some dance moves! He was very concerned with learning dance moves and as you can see below many days leading up to the wedding we added dance class into our daily routine. I taught the kids some basic steps and some swing dancing. You will see in the pictures below Annaliese and Tristan trying out their dance moves at the wedding. They did great! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had so much fun with all of the extended family.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-65709225538511801292011-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:002011-01-27T08:36:41.511-08:00We made it.....Read the last post to understand it all. <br />It is 10:15am and Tristan, Annaliese and Gavin went until now to eat their eggs. The deal is you have to eat breakfast to get snack (another major temptation for me was to forgo this rule for today and bypass breakfast...I had not made it yet so it wouldn't be wasted)....so at 10:05 snack began and would end and they needed to eat those eggs to get their snack. There has been much whining and complaining and everything a whiny hungry child does here this morning, but I am proud to say we made it. Several other dynamics happened after I blogged this morning. After I blogged I began to realize the consequences of my choice of choosing to form my children. It would take time! It is always a surprise to me for some reason that my time is not my own. I planned on going to mass and running errands. We would leave at 8:45am this morning and head out, but it all changes because I could not take hungry kids to mass. There is no reason to put myself through that misery and fight of those circumstances. God was actually trying to teach me something different this morning and continuing with my plan this morning would have gone against his will for me. On a normal day if this had happened and my plans had to change I would go around basically cussing and frustrated moving about the house very angry that I was not able to go to mass and blaming the kids because it is in fact their fault! This morning only by the grace of God did I realize mass is not where I needed to be. I wanted to be, but my want is different from my need. I didn't choose not to go, but my circumstances dictated. So I could let it steel my joy and ruin my day or we could come up with a different plan. So here we go different plan I will try you today and meet God's grace along the way instead of meeting me and my frustrations. I loved choosing the different plan and my joy is still there and growing in the grace of God even though I didn't make it to mass. My children are better off for it and so am I! On the exterior this doesn't seem like it would outweigh mass, but without a doubt for today this was a gift from God and allowed me to come very close to him. How this crazy thing called motherhood is slowly teaching me and yet tomorrow I will probably be faced with similar circumstances and there is a really good chance I will choose to meet myself and frustrations rather than meeting the grace of God.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-63367974677737149592011-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:002011-01-27T06:20:35.709-08:00The Irony in disciplining your Children....is that it is actually a discipline for yourself as a parent. To be consistent, to do what you say you are going to do, to follow up with demands, to say no and not change your mind because it is convenient or easy, to not give into whining and complaining. Disciplining your children becomes harder the longer you wait the more you give in the more you let the lines of boundaries fade. Why would your children take you seriously when you give in every time they whine or complain enough...they won't. They are smart and they are learning how to work the system and know just the right buttons to push. This occurs every day for me and so often I cave in and I am inconsistent because it is so darn hard and so uncomfortable and the cold hard truth is I don't have enough discipline in my life and don't like it and when I am pushed for more than I want to give I squirm and it hurts and I choose me so often rather than the betterment of my children and their formation. A very small thing happened this morning that tempted me as many small things do everyday. Everyone was protesting against eggs. Things ranging from tantrums to complaints such as "they make me have a belly ache because I have allergies to eggs". You can see the range in age here. I know also that the longer they go without food the moodier they become. (like me!) I decided I would stick to it and no other options would be given because they all protested immediately after finding out we were having eggs for breakfast and right after the protest was can I have something else. The first thing out of my mouth was No. I told them no...My no must mean no because it is a boundary I want my children to understand. I want them to understand because I want them to listen in more serious situations and to respect what I say because I am their mom. I don't want to be their wishy washy mom who can't make up their mind and doesn't mean what I say. I want them to know when I say no I am not going to let them get the best of me. So we are here now at 8:10am and no one has had food except for Finnian (he eats everything)and it is going to get harder from this point on, but it will be a battle and my sensuality is not going to win today because my no means no and they must understand this. If they are hungry they will eat eggs today or they will go with out breakfast and have to wait a long two hours until 10am snack! Another little situation that tested me this morning in this area was Finnian begging for my eggs by screaming because he had eaten ten minutes before me and had plenty:) He had enough and I didn't need to share, but I wanted to get him to be quiet..right now, but I said no and for him to learn he cannot beg I had to stick with my no and decided I would listen to him cry for my eggs as I ate.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-53245128756498206222010-11-03T05:34:00.000-07:002010-11-03T05:36:05.692-07:00Losing TeethI thought this was so funny and wanted to remember it. Tristan lost his fourth tooth yesterday when Gavin through his cup at him. The cup hit Tristan's loose tooth and knocked the tooth out! I thought this was so funny and so did the boys. Tristan actually said that was a much better way to loose a tooth rather than mom or dad pulling it.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4824023701639099992.post-12369963497716498242010-11-02T11:05:00.000-07:002010-11-02T11:50:08.729-07:00With Every Baby Comes a Loaf of BreadThis is a saying my mother in law told me several years ago and I treasure the words to this day especially when we find out we are having another baby! Yes we are expecting number five and we are all so excited. The ETA of this baby is June 9, 2011. <br />I love these words because it speaks to so many concerns when allowing God the opportunity to bless you with another little blessing. There are so many excuses that can keep us from taking the leap of faith and conceiving another baby. Some of those things are money, time, energy, lack of resources, lack of patience, to busy, to crazy, to messy, can't keep up. You name it I have said it to myself and have heard many other people say it as well. Thankfully as in exercising or training for a marathon you grow a little at a time. You are pushed a little further each day you train. The process with children begins with the pregnancy. The exhaustion, sickness, uncomfortableness, the pain, the varicose veins, the indigestion and whatever else you may face in your pregnancy. These are little acts of love through suffering that are preparing your heart for a new little person that will rock your world. For the funny, the bad, the ugly, the messy and mostly the wonderful each new little baby totally rocks my world. If I thought any differently I would be deceiving myself. The baby comes and the grace comes and your heart grows and stretches a little more each day. Everything stretches to the point that you look back after having your fifth baby and four seems super easy now. Yes five seems insanely crazy right now and you can't keep up with anything, but heck four is a breeze now. Take one away for a day and leave me with four and I have a break! <br /><br />Lets step back for a minute when I had 1 I was 100% full and gave all that I had and thought there was nothing more within me left to give. No more patience, love, time, energy and no more money, but then sweet little two was conceived and the process began the grace began to flow, the grace did not come before we conceived but after and continues to flow from that point as it is needed. So two comes and wow does one child seem so easy because you are expanding and growing because of the grace of God. I think the grace of God is so evident in openness to life and having more children because I look at women with eight and ten children and I really believe it is not humanly possible and that is why there are so few people who take that leap so many times. They are having to rely heavily on God because their capacity is so limited. It all seems so unexplainable humanly speaking because the woman with one is 100% full and the woman with ten is the exact same. It is only explainable by the grace of God. He will always give the grace so take the leap when he is asking. I am not saying every family has to have a brood of 10, but I am saying God does have a number for each family and this is such an important area to listen and to put aside our worries and trust that if he asks us to bring another life into this world the grace will only come after we say yes after we take the leap.oneilfamilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02101814555637498082noreply@blogger.com3