When You've Got LEAVES… Make Leaf Piles!

Falling leaves mean it's time to make LEAF PILES...

Especially when the cousins come over!

And then make sure to eat popcorn afterwards:

Hoping you all are FALLING in LEAVES LOVE with FALL!

7 QUICK TAKES - Priests, Leaves, and Soup

A tree at our park - and this is why I LOVE FALL sooooo much! 

I wanted to write a 7 Quick Takes Friday for last week because it was such a FUN week, but then more fun things kept happening and I didn't have time to get it all together... but here's a QUICK (relatively speaking writing) wrap up of last week!

Linking up with the Lovely Jen, like always!

1.) Fr. Jay's Visit - I know I already mentioned Fr. Jay coming out to Indy to visit us when I wrote about all the FOOD we ate while he was here, but we really had so much fun catching up, having daily mass, conversing until late in the night, and watching the Red Sox!  Oh yea, and did I mention eating?!

The good looking ones around the fire pit.

Addie Jo definitely warmed up to Fr. Jay, eventually!

I teased Fr. Jay (nothing new there), about seeing him without his "blacks" because he ALWAYS wears them, except while on vacation! 

Junie didn't like the smoke from the fire or the camera flash in her face very much!

Fr. Jay and I got to go on a couple of walks and some of the leaves had finally changed!

Never gets old! 

2.) With cooler nights, we are looking forward to having fires in our miniature fire place and we are so grateful that Dad is sharing some of their wood with us. ;)

He said he finally smarted up and rented a log splitter!

3.) We celebrated Bill's birthday last week and just kept on celebrating, and celebrating.  We had a coupon for a free dinner for him at Sahm's Place that expired at the end of October.  So on October 31, nothing like waiting until the last minute, we made it over there for a healthy meal of fish and chips… and onion rings… and ranch for dipping...

When deciding not to order the meatloaf sandwich, Bill literally said, at least I chose a healthy option because I got fish.  The best part was - he wasn't kidding! 

Grrrr… We don't get out much!

4.) Addie helped me make Matzo Ball Soup this week:

5.) Then I thought she joined the clean plate club when she showed me this:

But then when she got out of her chair, I realized I'd been duped:

6.) We weren't able to take the girls out Trick or Treating because Halloween was postponed until Friday because of the bad weather on Thursday - which meant Bill wasn't off work anymore, so the girls and I handed out candy instead.  Which, honestly, was probably the funnest thing Addie could have thought of:

Checking out the Trick or Treater situation

And then the next day, she wanted to wear the dragon top as a jacket to the park:

At least she matches! 

7.) And finally, Halloween has come and gone so it's time to put away our few decorations and get out... CHRISTMAS MUGS!!!

I'm such a mug girl (someone who loves to chose a different mug in the mornings for coffee… that's a thing, right?).  Silly, I know, but we have so many great Christmas mugs and only get to use them for a month, so even though we won't get out decorations until Advent/December starts, I thought I'd ask Bill to find them in a Christmas bin so we can use them a little longer this year!

So until next week, I'll hopefully be happily drinking my coffee in festive mugs this November! 

And just one more shot of some FALL COLOR, just incase you haven't seen enough yet :)

ADIOS AMIGOS!

In our hood, around the corner

How To Shop with a CRAMPED Grocery Cart

Grocery runs have become one of my least favorite things to do. 

I wish I found it more enjoyable and relaxing, but all it seems to bring on is anxiety because I am trying to 1. hurry, 2. remember everything on my list, 3. remember the things I didn't put on my list, and 4. stop constantly thinking that June might be screaming for either Bill or Mom for the 1.34 hours I'm away.  

So I first wanted to share this text I received from Bill while at the grocery store on Friday:

You just missed quite a

show.  booboo hugs

buggie.  buggie starts

crying.  booboo gets

scared and gets in the 

chair.  i scoop up buggie...

booboo falls over 

arm of chair and

lands on bug exersaucer.

both girls screaming lol.

Translation - 

Addie hugged June.

June started crying because she was hugged.

Addie got scared and crawled into the chair.

I picked up June, 

and then Addie falls over the arm of the chair and lands on June's exersaucer.

Both girls are now screaming.

Haha.

This kind of message is typical when I go to the grocery store by myself.

I know I shouldn't complain because there are obviously MANY more awful things going on in the world, but I just wanted to share a recent trip to the store where I brought BOTH girls with me, making it a much more fun stressful outing than going at it alone.  

At least it meant not getting a text like the one above if they were with me haha!

So here's to being creative with grocery cart space and babies!

(And to not forgetting your wallet out in the car and having to run out to fetch it and then wait in line again next time):

Oh NO! June looks a little nervous about having to sit IN the cart

Where'd Junie go? Oh, under the bread.  
Opening multiple food items to consume is a good trick for the bigger one.

Oh hi, mom.  I can't believe you brought us with you AND that I have to put my elbow on the lettuce. 

Now for the tricky part.  How to unload the groceries from the car (in a detached garage) - 

Then this is how to bring it all inside with both the girls - just load it up in the double stroller and wheel it to the deck, then unload there.

Don't forget the baby in the back! 

So, there you have it!

Yes, we made it, allbeit a little creatively... but what's a little sweat (literally) and tears (literally, too) along the way?!

Maybe I'll go back to shopping by my lonesome and risk getting texts from Bill or calls from Mom!  

Haha, hope your grocery runs are just as eventful! 

What's in a Name? All Saints Day

I've been asked a lot about how we came up with the girls' names and I've been meaning to write a post on how their names came to be, so this All Saints Day (well, it's now All Souls because I had to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and finish this post today), I wanted to take the time to share!

***I also have to admit that I am super obsessed interested in name meanings in general and never get tired of learning about names.  I could talk and talk about new baby names and flip through name book after name book!

I even put June's name meanings on her birth announcement card:

I really like my and Bill's name meanings, too:

Sarah - Of Hebrew and Biblical origin, "Lady," "princess," "princess of the multitudes" 
William - Of Germanic origin, "helmet + protection," "strong willed warrior"

... okay, so here we go!

Adelaide Josephine:

Adelaide - Of Old German origin, "noble kind," "nobility"

We didn't decide on Addie Jo until shortly before she was born.  

We had narrowed her name down to two options and I thought we would go into the hospital and wait to see what she looked like before we decided between the two (which I think we still kind of did).  

We BOTH liked BOTH names but Adelaide was mine and the other one was Bill's.
And then, right before she was born, Bill said, "I think I like Adelaide over the other one..."

Even though there are a TON of Addies around, we have yet to meet an Adelaide.
Addison and Addylin are what we hear most, but never an Adelaide.  

So that's one of the reasons I really liked it!  

AND we chose Adelaide because I really liked the Saint - see the connection to All Saints Day here? ;-)  

As soon as we found out she was a girl in August, I was busy looking up saints around the time Addie would be born (we assumed she would come a few days early of her due date, and be a December baby, but oh no, a week late and almost 10 lbs she was - I can never really leave out the 10 lb part), and I came across St. Adelaide.  

Here she is - 

Feast day: December 16

Patron of: abuse victims; brides; empresses; exiles; in-law problems; parenthood; parents of large families; princesses; prisoners; second marriages; step-parents; widows

Adelaide of Italy (931 – 16 December 999), also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was the second wife of Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor.^[1] Empress Adelaide was perhaps the most prominent European woman of the 10th century; she was regent of the Holy Roman Empire as the guardian of her grandson in 991-995.^[1]

^{And a little longer version, if you have the time:} 

St. Adelaide was a marvel of grace and beauty, according to St. Odilon of Cluny, who was her spiritual director and biographer. Daughter of Rudolph II, King of Burgundy, she was born in 931 and at age 15 married Lothaire II, King of Italy. Later their daughter became Queen of France.

The court of the Roman Emperor at the time of St. Adelaide. Above, her grandson Otto III

Adelaide was 18-years-old when she lost her husband, who was supposedly poisoned by his political competitor Berengarius of Ivrea. The latter soon proclaimed himself King of Italy and proposed to unite Adelaide in marriage with his son. The widow refused and Berengarius confiscated her estates and held her prisoner in the Castle of Garda. St. Adelaide managed to escape and fled to the Castle of Canossa, property of the Church. From that impregnable fortress she directed a plea to Otto I, King of Germany, to come to her aid. 

Otto I hastened to her appeal with a powerful army. After defeating her oppressor, Otto became King of Italy and married St. Adelaide. One year later, in 952 he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. The eldest son of this marriage, Otto II, succeeded his father as Emperor. At first, influenced by his jealous wife Theohano, Otto II revolted against his mother. Fearing for her life, she fled to Burgundy. There she came to know St. Odilon and became famous for her charities to many French monasteries. 

Later, after her son repented, she returned to Germany where she continued her saintly life. She sent a splendid imperial mantle worn by her son to be placed in the grave of St. Martin. She wrote these instructions to the one charged with the mission: 

“When you will reach the tomb of the glorious St. Martin, say these words: ‘Bishop of God, receive these humble gifts from Adelaide, servant of the servants of God, sinner by nature and Empress by the grace of God. Receive this mantle of Otto, her eldest son. You, who had the glory to cover Our Lord with your mantle in the person of a poor man, pray for him.’” 

After Theophano died, Adelaide became the regent of her grandson, Otto III. She used her position to help the poor, evangelize, and build and restore monasteries and churches. When she felt her end was near, she asked to be taken to the Convent of Seltz in Alsace that she had built. She was laid to rest next to the tomb of Otto the Great, her second husband. 

Kind of looks like a princess who would become future empress of the Holy Roman Empire, right?

And then there's Addie's Middle Name:

Josephine - Of Hebrew origin; feminine form of Joseph, "God will increase"

Josephine is a family name from a few generations back and also my Confirmation name, but again, I liked it because of the Saints, St. Josephine and St. Joseph!

  

Okay, I love this stuff, so I'll keep going with it, but please feel free to jump ship if you haven't already! 

Moving on to JUNE...

Which is another story entirely!

This is what triggered how the name of our next girl came to be - 

Yes, because of Cameron Diaz's character in Knight and Day, June.  

We watched this movie back in January after we found out we were having another girl, and if you haven't seen it, there is a seen where Tom Cruise must have said YELLED June's name 16 times, so something must have struck a chord with Bill. 

And then he remembered how much he likes June Carter Cash,

and then he realized she'd be born in June.  

So he started calling her June Bug.

And the rest is history.

(That was back in January and he didn't budge on the name.  He wouldn't even listen to other name options.  Even though I liked the name, I kept thinking what if we don't have any more girls - this will be the last girls' name we get!  So it pretty much took me those 4-5 months to come around.  We did have a second name that he liked, too, at the end (at least he said so), but he just wanted to stick with JUNE).  Bien.

So he got that one.  Except now he doesn't even call her June!  

The June has been dropped and it's just Bug, or Bug, Bug, or Buggie.  

So there's our June Bug and here's her name meaning... 

(Not only is June not a saint name, but it's actually pagan; random right?!  But we still love the meaning... So we had to go POWERHOUSE Saint with her middle name - a form of MARY!)

June - "Young."  The month of June was named after the Roman goddess Juno, protectress of women and of marriage.  In modern times, June is therefore known as the bridal month. 

Mercedes - "Mercies." From the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary, "Our Lady of Mercy."

Here is Our Lady of Mercies in her powerhouse glory!

Kind of looks like a "young Mary of mercies?"

So there are our GIRL NAMES that we just love, including the SAINTS they are named after!  

Happy Halloween, ALL SAINTS, and All Souls days!