7 Quick Takes (#5)


1) Today I am almost 12 weeks along.  For the first time in 12 weeks, I cleaned up!  This is monumental.  Unfortunately, now Jason knows without a doubt that I am feeling better.  No more excuses now ;)

2) Most of the pictures over the last few weeks were taken before I cleaned up.  I'm a little embarrassed to show them.  But these are too cute not to share*:

The kids found the perfect kid-sized hiding place behind the big chair:

They brought their grapes back there

And Leo fed a few to Elena.  I ran out to grab a large fern for him to fan her with but the don't grow in our climate ;)
*Disclaimer - I have been posting lots of cutsy lovey dovey photos lately.  As a habit, I do not take photos of my children fighting like cats and dogs.  But please rest assured that my children fight just like the rest of the world.  I assure you they are completely normal!  That material will just never find a home on my blog.  Although I DO have a great video of Leo smacking Elena square between the eyes with a foam sword...

3) In this next picture we see 2 things: 1) My daughter showing off her mad skills at locating her nose!!  and 2) Since I don't really 'do' belly photos, you can just take a look at this and picture my face on it.  This is pretty much what I look like right now :)


I'm somewhere in-between my regular clothes and my pregnancy clothes.  But more often than not, I end up looking like a fat man in a little jacket...or a trucker...

4) My mother-in-law and father-in-law generously bought the fiction book Fatherless by Brian J. Gail for me last month.  I ignored the fact that he spells his last name wrong and finally picked up the book after a full month of collecting dust in the corner.  I started it around 10 on Tuesday morning and finished the 542-page book on Wednesday evening after dinner!! 

It is hard to give an objective review of this book because I am so passionate about the subject.  As most of my friends know, instead of blaming the problems of the world on El Nino, I have blamed all the problems of the world on contraception.  In fact - I wrote my college thesis on it.  (By the way, this week is NFP Awareness Week!!  Perfect timing!)  The contraceptive mentality is what Brian Gail explores throughout the book.  He explores the effect of contraception on families, clergy, culture and health.  And I agree with him 100%. 

I literally couldn't put the book down and was so curious as to what would happen to each of the individual characters next.  It was well-written, educational, and thoughtful.  I strongly recommend it, and the rest of the series to all my Catholic friends (Motherless is available now and Childless will be released in the fall) .  The author has quite a resume and his expertise in business and individual life experiences help to shape the book into a believable and smart page-turner!!

Now - to all my non-Catholic friends: I would recommend this book to you, however, I'm not sure how it would be received.  But I am a curious fool and if any one of my non-Catholic friends would like to read it and give me their opinion, I would LOVE IT!!!  I love a good healthy debate and I always have fun attempting to explain my "outlandish" and "outdated" belief system :)

5) I'm a little worried about the future safety of our new baby coming in February..
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6) Recently, Leo has requested every item he sees on TV.  "I want rocket shoes!"  "I want a flying broom!"  "I want a helicopter!"  "I want a lizard!"  "I want a rocket ship!"

He basically sounds exactly like me when I watch the Food Network...

We attempt to invent some of the items he requests.  Recently we fulfilled 2 of the requests.


A helicopter and a remote controlled rocket ship!!!  The rocket ship is just a dish cleaner with a soap container.  The remote control belongs to the fan and Leo combined the two.


7) Elena recently met her family namesake!  My cousin Elana and my Uncle Doug traveled from Montreal and Vancouver, Canada to visit last week!

Elena loved her!!  But Leo wasn't sure what to think :)



Oh c'mon  Leo - You can do better than that!!


Visit Jen over at Conversion Diary for the complete list of 7 Quick Takes!!

Birthdays and Wicker Race Cars

In a family as large as mine, we have a lot of celebrating to do.  Almost every single month is covered with a birthday by my immediate family except for May and October...so far!!

When you celebrate birthdays every week (it seems) we get a little less picky about how extravagant our party is.  This year, I was in charge of picking up the cake for my brother-in-law.

As I exited Costco, the older gentleman at the door enthusiastically looked at Leo and asked who the birthday cake is for?  I answered, "My 41-year-old brother-in-law!"

The gentleman gave me a funny look and did his little smiley-face doodle on the back of my receipt.  Some people have no sense of humor whatsoever!

 Turns out, it was the cake of his dreams!

 Leo got a little trigger-happy and started blowing out candles.  MUST...EAT...CAKE!!!

Speaking of big families - how lucky are my kids to have creative older cousins?!?!?!
 


Philosophical musings

I have been really tired and lazy the last couple weeks.  Instead of keeping busy in the kitchen (sorry Jason...), the laundry room (...I swear I'm on the upswing Jason) and keeping on top of the kids (I might as well send Netflix my next 20 year deposit), I have been pondering the deeper meaning of life.

But not exactly like I did during my youth.

In my youth, I spent a lot of time debating the important things in life.  Like philosophy,

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The purpose of the human body and the decline of morality in modern culture

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The influence of technology on our modern culture

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Major historical influences over the ages,


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And relativism
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Now that I'm a big girl, things haven't changed all that much.  I still spend a lot of time deep in thought, although the content of my internal debate has changed completely

For example:
It is anatomically incorrect for the male cow on Back at the Barnyard to have utters.  Not to mention indecent!!  Why aren't these animals clothed??  I guess they are keeping it consistent though - none of the animals have any clothes. 

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Speaking of consistency... Why does the sweet little mouse in Thumbelina get a complete clothing ensemble?


What about the protective bear or the hungry wolves??


Even the insects get clothes!!  But the bigger animals get completely ripped off


If Handy Manny and Kelly finally got together, would it completely ruin the dynamic of the show?


Does the Lamington is Delicious Council know what the book Possum Magic is doing to ruin it's reputation?  Is lamington animal, vegetable or mineral?  It looks about as appetizing as a dead possum on a plate.


What exactly IS Velveeta?????

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Although the Van Zutphen family genes seem to be somewhat recessive, what if one of my kids ends up taking after my little brother???

Exactly how strong do the muscles in Giada's neck have to be to hold it up???
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And there you have it.  My brain is still ticking away quite enthusiastically despite the change in my surroundings over the years.  My future looks about as bright as this guys' :)

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Monkey see, monkey do

Elena keeps very busy.  In addition to all the toys to play with, books to read, food to spill, papers to rip and noise to make in a day, she also has a big brother to copy and follow 24/7.

This picture pretty much sums it up:

Whatever activity Leo is engaged in is one Elena has to try out.


Down to wearing his favorite shorts


She is like a hawk - watching his every move with fascination


Observe, imitate, repeat!





And she is sooooo lucky that Leo is too young for all that "Moooo'ooommm.  She's copying meeeeee" business :)



He is actually ridiculously nice to her and loves when she tries to be just like him.




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