The Month of Birthdays

I think I need a book of horoscopes. Do Cancers get along with Pisces? They must because I have five birthdays in March of people I love!

It starts with my sister-in-law. Thank goodness I love her because I LOVE my brother. It goes like this...no woman will ever be good enough for my four boys. That line of thinking started with my brother. I am so happy that he has a wife that loves him and is a good mother. It's funny when you look at couples and see the inside jokes they have. You want to know what they are saying, but at the same time, you're happy that they have something just for them. I see this a lot with them.

Then there is Stacy. I have a couple of partners in crime. She is one of them. There are few people who know it all. And even though a lot of my friends think they know it all about me, they don't. But Stacy does. Period. Dear Lord, never let me cross this woman! EVER. And I don't just love her because I've told her all my dark secrets, I love her because we think alike from our love of 90210, bean and cheese nachos and reading good books. She is the only person who gets it when I say "damn, I wish I were your lover." She has been there in person for the good and bad of all of my pregnancies, no matter how busy she might be at work. She finds the time to come hold my hand during the best and worst of moments. And for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you my dear friend for last week.

Then there is Carter. Carter is Terese's man. It started with me and Cindy as friends, then I met Terese, Cindy's best friend. And the three of us started doing dinners, then Carter started joining us. To this day, when we make plans, Cindy calls me and asks if I am inviting Lance. It's not that Lance and Martin aren't welcome, it's just always been the four of us: Carter, Terese, Cindy and me. We joke that Carter has a halo. He listens to girl talk, walks me to my car after our dinners and is just an all around great guy. He is a great listener and loves hearing our stories.

Next is Danielle. I met Danielle in law school. We shared a love of cooking and soaps. Danielle gives me her opinion even when I don't want it, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad. The best part, I can tell that I don't agree with her. Even though I don't get to talk to her often because she works so much, it's like no time has passed when we do talk. I know people always say that, but with her it's true. Despite living in different cities, I've been lucky enough to see her the past two years and will see her next month! I'm Godmom to her daughter which guarantees she is stuck with me for life.

Last is my friend Cindy. I met Cindy at my former job. It's funny that we're such great friends now because we didn't talk for the first two years we worked together. I don't know what got us talking, but once we started, we couldn't stop. No matter what the topic, Cindy and I can chat it up: sports, soaps, gossip, work stuff and so on. I used to Tivo soaps...there, I am the first stay at home mom to admit it: I watched soap operas! And lot of them. And I eat Bon Bons. (BUT, I don't anymore!!!) Lance would always ask if Cindy and I were talking about real people or our stories. Since having Kobra, I have gone weeks without talking to Cindy. We play phone tag, leaving important information on the phone or in an email. It totally stinks because I love talking to her. This week, I had the pleasure of spending two days with her. And we are doing our birthday dinner next Tuesday for her and Carter! Very happy about that!

Happy Birthday to all my Pisces friends. I am blessed by each one of you.

The Feast of St. Joseph

Daddy and all his boys!

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph. And what a great feast to celebrate. When planning Super Saints for the month, I didn't want to miss celebrating this saint. I asked a friend for a suggestion, and she told me to make an altar. She sent pictures from her church which were amazing. Our church doesn't have such a celebration so I found something online where we could make our own altar for this important feast day. Goose colored all the pictures, and Lance and I put everything together for the kids. The boys really liked the history of the altar and wanted to knowwhy certain things were represented on the altar. Quite frankly, it was a great learning experience for me too.

I had each boy take a picture with the altar and say a prayer for their father. I included so many pictures because the three little ones tried to explain different parts of the altar. I love getting confirmation that something is sinking in with them!

We really enjoyed learning about St. Joseph, and I hate to put his books away so soon, but Lent isn't over yet and I am really slipping at this point. I am hoping that if I try to keep my kids focused on Lent, I will become more focused again. We will revisit St. Joseph again in May.

St. Joseph, pray for my husband and our family.

There's a New Zierlein in Town

Congratulations to the newest Mrs. Zierlein! My brother-in-law got married today in Vegas! They landed last night, went to the courthouse for their marriage license and were married by 9 am Vegas time. Mike and Lisa are a great couple. They compliment each other well and are so in love. Lisa has lived in Austin her whole life and is moving to Houston because Mike started a new job here last month. When someone asked her if she minded moving, her only response was that she wanted to be with the man she loved. Lance and I couldn't be happier for these two. Welcome to the family, Lisa! We love you both!

My Daybook~ Spring Break

For Today...March 15, 2010

Outside my window...it's cool outside. The weather was perfect all weekend. I am hoping that it stays nice this week. We don't mind the cold, just please, no rain!

I am listening to...Little Einsteins. Goose loves this show. He loves to travel the world with Rocket and company.

I am wearing...burnt orange workout shorts and a black t-shirt. We are getting ready to go to the gym.

I am thankful for...the chance to spend time with my dear friend. Tonja and I clicked from the moment we met at a play group. She find friends wherever she goes, me, not so much. Since our first meeting, we have added two more kids a piece. BH and her second were born two days apart in the same hospital. I love Tonja and her family and so did my husband. This was the couple we could do stuff with...then they moved two months after our sons were born. I hadn't seen her since and quite frankly, since our last kids arrived over a year ago, we haven't spent too much time on the phone. It's like they did us in! Tonja was in town this weekend, and I had her all to myself for almost two hours! It was the best. Of course, I just miss her more, but I am so thankful for the time I did have with her. Lance and I are thinking a Michigan game might be in order for the fall.

I am hoping...that we have a great week. I hope the boys appreciate the time they get to spend together. I know I do.

I am thinking...that I hate the number five. I used to love it, but not anymore.

I am creating...plans to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's feast. The boys have been reading nonstop about these two saints and are ready to celebrate!

To live the liturgy...Lent was going good, now it's just going and that's it. Does it count if you blindly go through the motions?

I am hoping...to buy some new plants for the planters I got for Christmas. I have four empty pots right now! Five, if you count the big one with a dead plant in it!

From the kitchen...I have some ideas for the week, but nothing set. I guess I need to get going on that. I think I had my fill of eating out this weekend. I have given up on trying new meatless meals on Friday. Every Lent I have these grand plans to make new dishes, but end up doing the EXACT. SAME. THING. So, I am not going to try anymore. These are our options and I'm fine with it: quesadillas, eggs and biscuits, pancakes or go find some fried shrimp.

On keeping home...I think it's time for major overhaul.

One of my favorite things...I have four: ages 14, 5, 3 and 1.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

• the park
• get together with the twins
• the rodeo carnival
• get together with the Culpeppers
• Austin
• St. Patrick's party maybe

A picture thought (or two) I am sharing...

Spring Break

The kids are on break from school this week. We're not going out of town, so we're trying to find some fun things we can do together. We have some plans with a couple of friends, but overall, we just want to have a relaxing time together as a family. Baby Hulk loves having his brothers home from school. He really misses them when they are at school. We started off Spring Break by spraying silly string in the yard. Baby Hulk wasn't too fond of the activity, and his screams brought the weird old lady behind us driving around the block to see what all the screaming was about. (She must drive around the block a lot between me and BH.)

This afternoon, (as in we left the house at 3:30 pm) we went to Kemah. I can't say it was the best plan we've ever had, but we still had a blast. Squirt was spending the night out with a friend so he didn't join us. In a way it was good because he wasn't there to let the others know that we really didn't do much. We went without cash figuring we'd find a money machine. We did, but it didn't work. So we walked around and around, trying to figure out what to do. By the time we found cash, we were starving, but most of the restaurants had an hour wait for a table for five. We played a few games, then finally ate at Cadillac Bar. Basically, we drove over an hour to eat an okay meal, play over-priced games and walk around until 8 pm. Oh well, we had a blast just being together, and that is what really counts, right?

I think they were copying Kobra

Watching the seagulls

Feeding the seagulls

Parental Advice

Yesterday, I got an email from my dad thanking me about my efforts not to park in parking garages! I thought that was funny. What is funnier is that I give a lot of the same little tidbits that I received from my parents to Jessica and Chelsea. For example, Jessica is now driving, and her gas is paid for. Therefore, she should NEVER ever run out of gas. When I got my first car with a gas card, the rule was always keep your tank above a 1/4. If my parents got in the car and it was lower, I got grounded. To this day, I have never run out of gas. I'm working hard on this one for Jess! Chelsea is leaving for Spring Break soon, and I can't harp enough about her not going off alone and calling for whatever trouble could happen and so on. Who knew my parents were so smart that one day, I'd be using their lines on other kids?

Parking Garages

Don't you hate it when you bust ass to get somewhere and it doesn't quite work out the way you planned? I had to give blood this morning in the med center. I got up early, straightened my hair, put dinner in the crock pot, got the little ones ready, and managed to get out of the house without yelling at anyone. I dropped off the kids and was at the med center by 8:15. I drove straight to the valet parking and NO ONE was there. What the heck? I hate parking garages. My parents have always told me never to park in them so to this day, I don't. I think they are creepy and getting kids in and out of car seats in a dark garage by myself isn't a safe idea. BUT today, I had to do it. So I did, and then promptly went and complained at the front desk. When I left the building, someone had parked so close to me, I had to climb in from the other side. I wanted to complain again because with valet parking that never would have happened.