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Saturday, October 11, 2014

7 Quick Takes Friday - Marriage, A Mouse, Dresses, and the Justice Family Story



1.)
There's a wonderful Catholic writer (and I mean awesomely wonderful) who blogs at Mama Needs Coffee.  She is currently doing posts on 31 days to understanding the Catholic Church's teachings on Sex and Marriage.  She is funny, witty, intelligent, and knows Church teaching and inside and out… in other words, I wish we were friends in real life!  I feel not only more informed after reading her posts, but also encouraged and proud to be a Catholic who is trying (although not very well most of the time) to live out my vocation in Marriage.  It's tough to be faithful and thoughtful in every day life, especially in our society, but it's so refreshing to be reminded of what we believe as Catholics and WHY.  I know I don't have time to sit down and read that often, but I'm glad I found this blog and suggest that you read her stuff if you're even a tiny bit interested in knowing what the Church teaches and WHY!  It's that good!
Thank you, awesome Jenny, for giving all of us all such great material to read, share, and re-read again and again!

Here are the links to her posts for the month so far -



2.)
So we had a visitor this past week - and not the kind we actually invited in the first place.
We had a mouse.  Thank goodness that's in the past tense.  I know they are just little things but blah, they creep me out a bit.  Bill always says he's surprised we haven't had them before considering our old house has cracks and holes with easy access to the outside.
Bill took care of him as soon as he got home from a late shift (with mom's trick of using peanut butter in the trap); and thank goodness because that little guy was getting a little too comfortable around the kitchen for my liking.  All I kept thinking about (when he'd show up any time of day while I was cooking) was the rat my sister had under her sink while living in the Bronx… I know they aren't even close to being the same thing but I pretended that it kind of was…. and speaking of Janet, have you heard she's getting MARRIED in a week!  
(I thought it would be funny to mention a New York rat and Janet's wedding in the same run-on sentence). ;)

Walmart - pack of 8 traps for $3… that's what I'm talking about!  Bill got our visitor with 1 :)


3.)
I know I take pictures of random unnecessary things a lot of the time (like this one), but I got a call from my mom after she fed the girls lunch when they played over there Tuesday morning.  She called to tell me what a great lunch Addie ate.  And when I got to her house to pick up the girls, I saw this list she wrote down to actually read off everything that AJ ate to me.  I cracked up and just couldn't help but snap a pic.  Oh mom, you're the best!  

*Addie Jo is still 2… what will she eat when she's 3… and 5?  I love that she's a good eater - especially when a candy corn treat is involved as a reward! 


4.)
So, I don't know if you've heard, but we are headed to this wedding thing next week in Pittsburgh. ;) ;)
I thought I'd post what's going on with the flower girl dress situation, because after all, I hear that wedding attendees really just look at the bride but also the toddlers who sometimes cause scenes getting down the aisle - so there's pressure - just saying! 
If you avid Casa Williams' readers remember, we had lots of good, affordable options for these toddlers to wear for Janet's big day, like this for example - 


 But instead, we thought we'd take the easier route and have the dresses made from scratch… I kid, I kid!  
They will be awesome, but we just sure hope they'll be done in time!!!
So I just couldn't help but post some pics of our last visit to the dress lady.
Here's Addie's 3rd trip to the dress maker's and here's where she's at with the dresses - 
Waiting her turn.

She has a piece of cloth with sleeves pinned on and she's working it in the mirror.


Here is the back of the dress heehee.

She was so patient and good through it all.  
Then it was June's turn...
And I was afraid she'd get stuck with the pins because she was moving so much.

The lady barely got the measurements before the screaming began! 

Stay tuned for the finished products ;)!


5.)
EEEEK, I realized that Addie is really growing up this week when we took a trip to the zoo with good friends.  She held hands with her 5 year old friend, Audrey, and she even handled a bee sting on her tongue pretty well! 

Walking with Bridge.

AJ had to emulate Audrey the whole time.

And these two crazy babies (5 weeks apart), kept climbing in and out of their strollers! 
June checking out the orangutans! 
And the sharks.
And pouting.  This is the "I'm leaving you to sulk pic, June Bug" act.

*Someone actually commented that there was a baby by herself roaming around when they walked by, and I shouted, "I'M JUST LETTING HER THINK SHE'S BEING INDEPENDENT!"
Oh well, they didn't want to take her home so I figured we might as well. 

Then we had to get soft serve on the way home after the bee sting - 

Ice cream makes everything better.


6.)
There's this spooky house, and I mean SPOOKY, around the corner from us that is pretty intensely decorated.  The girls don't know to be scared of it yet, though, and were thrilled when the owners let them explore all the decorations.  


This thing looked like it was about to eat Junie! 


7.)
Bill was off this Friday and we had lots of errands to do, so errands we did - as a family.
Our favorite stop was Shoe Carnival, which I hadn't been to since 1997, but they were having a buy one get one 1/2 off sale so we ran in.  
Addie and June loved the music so they decided to have a dance party - 


June's starting to feel the beat! 



Just practicing for the wedding!

Good bounces, Jumie!


7.5)
On a not so silly final note, to celebrate RESPECT LIFE MONTH, I wanted to share an incredible STORY about loss and hope from an ex-Colt's player and his wife that I just read, and cried and cried through, who recently lost their 7 babies. 

(Their blog is at This Crazy Wonderful Justice Life.  Password - HisGlory)

The part of their story that stuck out to me so much was when the couple (already parents to a 2 and 4 year old), received the news at the first ultrasound that they were expecting multiples.  The Dr. suggested something that's called selective reduction, terminating some of the pregnancies to help give the others a better chance at survival.  They didn't want to decide which of their babies lives were more important than the others, and so they chose life for all of them...
here's their story at USAToday.

Happy Respect Life Month! 




Linking up with Jen and the gang at conversiondiary.com this weekend. 

Monday, October 6, 2014

The Best Pumpkin Patch Trip of All Time!

We went to a pumpkin patch yesterday on the south side of the Indy with the Sahms and aunt Katie.
We had the best time and it will be something I will always remember because of what Addie got to do - you'll have to scroll down to see what her surprise was! 











Addie was looking for the SMALLEST one she could find - she said they were all too grande and heavy.
June might have a winner!

They had the most beautiful pumpkins! 
This one passed June's inspection!
She even had uncle Andy join in the hunt for the smallest pumpkin.
Two peas in a pod.
These two, on the other hand, were trying to find the BIGGEST ones.

Addie had a hard time focusing on finding a pumpkin with the pony and horse walking alongside the patch.  She kept saying she wanted to ride one sooooo badly!  We thought, okay, she says that, but will she really want to (she's pretty timid with that stuff).




Oh hi.




We found some beauties! *Even a "kind of" small one.


Then we just had to take a pony ride - with dad of course! 


"Look at me, Mom."









And THEN, because she kept asking and asking and asking, the nice horse ladies let Addie ride the BIG horse, too!


But this time - by herself! 



Every cowgirl's dream!
Yep, by herself - with her dad no where near her! He must have trusted his 2 year old! 



June wanted to sit on Brandy, too!  But no walking for her.



Bye Brandy!



It was a beautiful, chilly fall day at the pumpkin patch (where a little cowgirl's dream came true)!


AND, just as I was about to post these pictures, I got an email from my mom that I thought I'd share too - Pics of me circa 1984 and Andy and Katie circa 1985 - 

Captioned, "Doesn't seem that long ago…"

Happy Monday and Happy pumpkin picking! 


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