All This And Heaven

Eat Some Cuda Bubbles

2013-05-18T16:29:00.000-05:00

The contest is on between the two big rival teams. The fun part is that we are friends with many of these enemies. Over the years these two teams have developed a competitive spirit between the two groups. The Cuda record is not that great with this team We have lost to them many times in the dual meets. A few times we have come back to defeat them at divisionals. That being said things are not ugly they are just fun.

The new design for the shirts this year was super cute but nothing small enough for the babies. I was sent the design so I could create shirts for our littlest fans. They turned out super cute, and maybe they will bring us luck!

I think all these pictures show the three naps the babies needed while we were at the meet. It was super hot, super humid and lasted forever. We tried to keep every from hydrated. I was approached about 5 times from various team parent and was told that I have such wonderful swimmers. We are kind of the oddity, in the since that we do not swim year round or subscribe to tons of private lessons. There are many swimmers better that all of my kiddos but the Texas T's have some natural talent in this sport. Not sure where it came from as neither J nor myself have the same talents. I love that the kiddos try their hardest. They swim fast to beat their own score not beat others, so I like that. Goobers is an excellent coach and has found a good spot with the team as one of the assistants. After a very long hot day the score came in and we left the Hurricanes eating our bubbles! Good job everyone.

Softball Cheering

2013-05-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

Don't tell our Cuda coaches that after the Spirit party we didn't go home to bed, instead we went and cheered on another one of Pooker and company's games. (Oh I think they know because Coach Goobers was playing.) That is just what the T family does. We show up and cheer you on even if we are loud and maybe a tad embarrassing. I am always asked why my kids like spending time together and I think it stems from times like these. We always include each other, J coached Bear when he was 4 with Pickle at his feet. I coached Sugar that same year while pregnant with Princess. Pooker shows up to cheer the Cudas on and the younger ones show up to cheer on the Lone Star team. We also get silly and paint our faces, but it is mostly about the cheering!

Spirit Party - Go Cudas

2013-05-17T18:21:00.000-05:00

Beautiful on left and Adorable on right!

Summer is here, the temps have been in the 90s and the sun is shinning. Other than the fact that mom is hot hot hot. We are having fun. On Friday nights before home meets the swim team gathers for a team party. The kiddos have practiced hard all week and need to unwind. A little singing, a littl food and little open pool allows everyone to get their fears out. The kiddos go home tired, sleep and are prepared to leave the other team in our bubbles.

Morning Out

2013-05-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

Dad works from home. This has been great at times and a real pain at other times. J had a very important conference call scheduled. He needed to give the call his absolute attention. It was much easier for us to vacate the home for the morning. After morning Mass I took the crowd to a fun McDonalds (has a play place) for breakfast.

Beautiful - Adorable

It ended up being a fun morning. The twins are just days from turning one and they had a blast. Adorable and Beautiful preferred to be together in the tubes. They hated seeing each other but not being close from the tubes across from each other. Once together they had fun exploring. I suspect they are closer than the other kids realize. There is something very cool about this twin bond!

Mothers Day

2013-05-12T13:46:00.000-05:00

The van was covered with wonderful messages for me to start the day off right. I think my favorite part of the day is heading to Mass as a family. Dad and I had planned a big dinner but not much else. We ended up having a relaxing day making a huge home cooked meal for dinner. We did drive around a tad and got some ice cream from McDonalds in the afternoon but it wasn't a time crunch adventure. I love having my whole family together.

The food was good, and we had a great day. I miss being in St. Louis around my own mom on these type of days but my kids make me feel very loved. Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's.

The Pirate Party

2013-05-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

Jumba went to his friends birthday party and had so much fun. We were having so much fun at all the fun touches created by that birthday boy's sisters. Those girls 10 and 13 did everything to mkae sure that their brother and all of his guests has fun!

They even had a treasure hunt. So much fun. Thanks for inviting Jumba - we had a blast.

And a very happy birthday to J.

Twin Time

2013-05-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

J was so tired. He had just arrived home from traveling. These precious girls have grown so active. Always moving. Shortly after this picture they climbed out of dads arms and tried to escape out the door.

Goobers and her Beautiful are very close.

Adorable on right and Beautiful on left

Notice that while eating they touch each other, arms and legs.

I love this one with Beautiful swinging her leg over to touch her twin.

Back to jumping cause it wears them out. Notice that Adorable in the green swing is sound asleep.

It isn't jail. They thought it was hysterical that I was outside the pavilion making faces at them.

Senior Night

2013-05-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

The time for the Senior Dinner was here. Bear is a very young senior but will be finished with my input very soon. He has worked hard to build a good relationship with several of his peers. He has a few considering the priesthood with him. One of the other mom introduced herself to me at the very end and was very complimentary about Bear. I loved hearing what she had to say. She also added that she hoped our sons would remain close through the seminary. I agree, the path to priesthood will be easier if shared with a friend.

It is sad that I know so few of these peers of Bears. He loves them though and has made some wonderful friendships. Ironically he has grown close to a few of the guys that homeschooled or use to homeschool. When younger he didn't want outside friends from the family. Now that has matured into a healthy healthy balance of all kinds of friends.

The above picture is the priests and deacons came into the celebration long enough to encourage vocations and to Bless the seniors.

The twins were as good as any one year old can be. Then when you multiply that little noise times two, well lets just say we moved to the hall way where they raced each other back and forth.

I know this picture doesn't reflect it but Bear was proud to have his siblings with him. We missed Pooker, but she was working. (More on her new job later.) Bear is a s mart, bright and adventurous young man. I could not be more proud of all that he has accomplished. School work has never been easy for him and yet he doesn't shy away from it these day. He takes the bull by horns and does his best. That will serve him well in life. He encourages those around him to be better people and I love that about him. He loves God above all else and that is a beautiful thing.

Children of the Forgotten Forest

2013-05-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

Pooker and Daniel have been good friends since they met during LifeTeen and Confirmation as sophomores in highschool. Daniel escorted Pooker to one of his dances years ago as well. I know that she and rest of the kids miss him now that he is hours away for college. He is in school to get a degree in film. His final project for one of his classes involved him creating an entire short film. I don't know the parameters at all, but I do know he wanted to use the Texas T's in his project. He had to come home several weekends in a row to film. That was right in the middle of us being sick. so he went back to school during the work week, got sick, went to school, came back for more filming the next weekend. I was very proud of all the kiddos. If they felt sick, they knew they still needed to film. Daniel needed them and I love how patient he was with them. His final project was posted on you tube so I can share it at the end. Enjoy.

Thank you Daniel for making starts of my kiddos. They loved the process.

Cuda Up - Time for Time Trials

2013-05-04T00:24:00.000-05:00

Picture day was here for the swim team. Our team is super big. These pictures were taken by other Cuda mom's as I was at home getting twins ready for the day. We had a blast showing them off. My kiddos love the meets. I find them long and hot but not the kids. Jumba was so scared, at first. Like a true T family member, he was fine once he got in the water. I don't know how fast we will be this year. There are so many really really fast swimmers so our goal may be hard to reach. We have promised a new ipod touch to the child that gets his/her name on the record board. This is a very lofty goal and has been in place for years, but like I said we have a lot of fast swimmers in the neighborhood. Jumba and the rest of the kiddos did great. We got their times and fun was had by all.

Happy swimming to all you swimmers out there are you begin the 2013 summer swim season.

Trapped Twins

2013-05-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

Adorable

Beautiful - Adorable

The girls are on the move constantly! It gets old, or maybe I am old. They are on the go all the time. I can't keep up. They go for electric outlets in opposite sides of the room. Princess got tired of helping so she trapped them. They thought it was so fun.

A Great Investment

2013-05-03T14:50:00.000-05:00

Over the years I have tried different things to teach the younger ones about the Mass. My hope has been that the more engaged they were at a young age, the more they would grow to appreciate it as they got older. I also hoped that understanding would improve behavior during Mass.

Years ago I purchased the Mini Mass Kit from Our Father's House listed below and at a Catholic Homeschool Convention I found the vestments. These were quit pricey. I probably invested a little over $300 in a few years creating the Mass Box that the kids could only play with respectfully and properly. This means that we only allowed the boys the play priest and wear the vestments.

Jumba grew up with the Mini Mass Kit in the house and was not interested. When shopping for Confirmation gifts a month ago I found this cloth version called My Mass Kit. It was only $70. I liked it because it was very portable and self contained. It was also quiet making it just the trick I needed to engage my "very bored" 5 year old at church. He brought the kit to the car the entire first week but not into daily Mass. He would get to the car after Mass and then pull the pieces out and try to remember how the priests had used them. The second week he took it inside two times and only one time did we take it into the cry room and actually get the pieces out. We were alone for daily Mass and I let him set it up and then watch the priest to compare the real items to his kit versions. This is not a toy that I think should be brought to church all the time. I think of it as a tool that works wonderfully at teaching a young one about the Mass.

The learning book that came with the kit is pretty good. If you only have girls I would still get this version. They don't really play Mass with this version, it isn't real enough. I still think it is a fabulous teaching tool.
Wee Believers My Mass Kit
I was even more thrilled when I got home and examined the packaging. My favorite Cardinal is quoted on the box!

" . . . will capture the imagination of little children with regard to the most sacred realities of life."

~Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, D.D., J.C.D., Prefect, Supreme Tribunal of the Apostoic Signatura

Now it is time to go old school. I ordered this kit years and years ago, probably to help with teaching Pooker for her first Holy Communion. I know it is well used but I could not find old pictures.

Our Father's House Mini Mass Kit
The goal was never to try to convince the boys that they needed to be priests but to make the option real. Just like having a doll and pretending to be mom and dad, the kids have also played Mass over the years. In our play they don't have two girls get married and in the same way they only have a boy as a priests. This isn't political it is just the way it is.

Bear is actively looking onto several different seminaries and trying to decide which one is the better fit for him. I don't know that he will be a priest for certain but I do know that today he thinks that is what his vocation truly is. Pickle declared a few weeks ago that he also would like to become a priest. His true desire is to be an NFL star but a good back up option is the priesthood. I thought J was going to panic about the family name living on when Jumba announced the other night that he too wants to be a priest. I am not sure about any of them but most of all doubting the current dreams of this loving 5 year old. I say all that to let you know that even if none of them end up as priests I still think that the these investments were money well spent! (Oh and in your spare time, Please offer up a prayer for my boys and their vocations, whatever those vocations might turn out to be.)

Being Sick

2013-05-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

QUARANTINE!!!! OK, I am being a little funny here. So far no one has turned into a Zombie except for mom - due to lack of sleep! The long lasting flu is a pain. I can handle the bugs that last a few days but this week plus junk is for the birds. We are now officially on the next wave (not sure how many more will hit!). The Twins are better, just bored because Princess and Bagel are too sick to entertain them. I have currently employed Pickle and Jumba (Now feeling 100%) to clean up around the house. Last night was a long one as Princess and Bagel were on opposite shifts of getting sick, crying and then falling back to sleep. The babies are feeling better so they woke early wanting to play. Poor things find mom extremely dull, especially after a night of little sleep..

Please do not visit - for your own sake. We are good right now. My fear is that the big kids and I will get sick at the same time. I will let you all know if that happens. For now please say a prayer.

~This was my facebook post from April 15. That bug lasted 2 weeks, not every one got sick but the ones that did were sick for a long time.

In between that flu and the one that followed most of us had a bad cold. We were coughing and hacking all the time. Ourside weather wasn't helping as it is usually about 75 degrees at least everyday when we start swim team but we were having hot hot days in the high 80s and then low low days in the 50's, all the the kiddos were supposed to be going to daily swim practice.

We all get a little worried that we are way sicker than we are when it lasts as long as it did. The truth is our family rarely gets sick. We are all pretty healthy people (knock on wood (of the cross) three times -"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit") so this being sick is not fun. We are always very shocked by it. Every year it seams to hit at the beginning of swim team. I guess it is because we are all the sudden around all those germs that we avoided all year by homeschooling.

I was completely caught off guard the other day as I went to get jumba ready for swim team. (I plan to post about his first days on the team soon!) He just turned to me and vomited all over the place, and kept coming. Big sigh, how to rework the day to get people where they needed to be even though I felt icky all day and now I know that I have been fluish not just lazy. Within six hours 9 out of 13 people in the house were getting sick. This made for a fun conversation this morning. The big comparison of who had been the most sick. Only a big family can relate . . . I laughed at their stories but I know I was the one who got the sickest. YUCK!

It didn't last long and within two more days only Dad and Bear did not get sick. We are all hopeful that it is over, at least for awhile. A month of on again off again sickness reminds us how blessed we are to have each other for help when sick and to just not be alone in the stuff life throws at us.

April updates

2013-05-02T09:26:00.000-05:00

So I have been trying to update the April posts. They have been posted out of order and some with too much haste. I am truly blogging in Neen Style for sure.

Whatever - someone had the camera again! 4-1

Possible has a Birthday! 4-2

Hurt Finger 4-3

Happy Birthday Pooker and Possible 4-4

First Friday of April 4-5

Life with Us is a truck load of fun 4-10

Changes at Church 4-13

Bye Bye Books Bye Bye 4-13

Jump up Fun 4-17

New Cuda 4-17

Goobers Gets Glasses 4-23

Play Ball 4-26

Play Ball

2013-04-26T15:16:00.000-05:00

I admire Pooker so much. She is back at Lone Star community college because they have a fantastic nursing school. She realized that paying a ton of money for school might not be the best approach. She has regrouped and found her fit again. The only probalby with this college choice is that it isn't known for building a cumminity spirit. She wants college friends along with an education so she helped the school form a co-ed softball team.

In true T-Family fassion, when she didn't have enough players to even have a practice she made her sibling join in to help fillout the team. Goobers, Bear and Sugar enjoyed meeting new people as well.

Go Pooker!

In the end Goobers and Pooker could play and had fun. They invited us all to come cheer them on.

We may have been the only family there to cheer on our college aged kiddos but the kids all loved the chance and begged to go each week.

The team mates were very gracious to all the younger kiddos.

I think some people like going because they liked getting snacks from concession stand.

I don't think that their record was that great in the end.

To me that didn't matter. When you feel like you want something more from life, you can sit around and wait for it to happen or . . .

You can follow Pooker's example and do something to make changes. This might not be a group of friends that loast forever but they did have fun together and learned some skills. They didn't just sit and wait for life to happen they did a little something to enjoy life where they were today.

This is just one of the ways that Pooker is my hero. Good job girl.

Goobers Gets Glasses

2013-04-23T19:40:00.000-05:00

Goobers has bad headaches. She has for years. We had her eyes tested a long long time ago. We had some blood work done to make sure it wasn't the big C. She kind of learned to live with the pain. As bad as that sounds it is what happened and years went by. Recently the head aches grew worse. We started picking apart her diet and she would experiment with removing things and then adding them back in with no relief. We then tested for allergies and were shocked that wasn't the case. That lead us to the eye doctor. Were were almost relieved to learn that the doctor found an issue that might find relief with glasses.

Because of the nature of the issue she had to have her eyes dilated. This drove her nuts. Dad and I giggled with her as she reacted to what she was seeing.

As her eyes looked like they grew we teased that she reminded us of Bugsy from the movie Bedtime Stories.

Do you see the resemblance! Just teasing Goobers, you are so much prettier.

Later the next week Goobers wanted to order her glasses but not all by herself. In true T-Family fashion this became a family event. Each sibling given a say in to which pair of glasses worked best for her.

I am not sure if the Sam's Eye Department people were thrilled but they took great care of us.

In the end she found what she needed.

After a week we went back to pick up the glasses. The employees wondered where the rest of the kiddos were. I love it!

They made a wise choice. Goobers looks fantastic, and glasses compliment her nicely.
(Health update: It took about two and a half weeks but her head aches have gotten a little better. They are not gone completely but she can function again.)

New Cuda

2013-04-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

Another new swim year has begun. It was a cool day when Jumba had to get in the water for the first day. They let all the new kiddos swim for three days without the rest of the team. We have over 300 kids so it can get overwhelming for newbies.

Jumba wasn't sure at about what was happening. I think he was born pool side, he swims all the time but this organized stuff was a lot for him. You would think that he would just do this without any issues considering his sister Goobers is one of the coaches, that is at the pool every day. Bear, Sugar, Possible and Pickle are all in the pool as Jr. Coaches to help the little ones.

He still cries every time he is asked to swim across the pool. He can do it but it is a lot. We hope he gets there soon.

These pictures signify that we are embarking on one of our families favorite. Swim team is a blast.

We might not be the best swimmers but we add the spirit. There is coach Goobers helping the kids into the pool for the first time.

This is such a great family sport. Even Pooker stopped by from work and school to encourage her baby brother on his first day.

At least we see a little smile.

Look at all those fantastic Jr. Coaches: Sugar

Possible

Kat

Bear

Pickle

It is going to be a great swim season (hopefully it warms up a tad!)

Go Cudas!!

Jump Up Fun

2013-04-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

In these pictures Twin Beautiful is in the green jump up and Twin Adorable is in the pink one. The twins will jump for the longest times. They also like to swing until they fall asleep. We all enjoy hearing the non stop giggles when they are in these toys.

Kiss - Kiss

Bye Bye Books Bye Bye

2013-04-16T19:24:00.000-05:00

The involvement with Book Are Fun was a great experience that has reached an end.

It started as a part time way to have a side source of income and involve the kiddos. That was not what happened due to poor choices and unforeseen circumstances. Sadly we ended up with a full time pain.

It was almost therapeutic boxing up our inventory and returning it to the company. The project lasted longer and was more difficult that we expected. It was such a wonderful feeling to sit down at the end of all that work with some pizza and conversation with the kids. So in the goal of helping our family to grow closer together worked in spite of the obstacles.

There have been so many heart aches with this adventure. (Please offer a prayer that we can settle the accounting situation without needing to hire an attorney.) I will only say that I am extremely proud of my husband. J has an incredible drive to forgive and to do things for others even when they don't see it.

One individual is saying nasty things about J implying he isn't trust worthy. He wanted J to quit his real full time job. This is SHOCKING considering we know how little money was actually made. It isn't/wasn't nearly enough to cover anything like a full time position for two individuals plus the part time work of the young ones.

My children could not continue to work for pennies as they need to pay for college. We are most thankful for the four months of their "volunteering" with a little allowance and I mean little, the math was done and it was around $.40 per hour! Even if we had just "hired" one of our kids they would have worked many many hours with still no pay. Really the income is too minimal, hopefully J's departure will allow others to earn enough to make ends meet. It really is sad. It is amazing how differently people can see the same situation.

We wish all well and will continue to search for the business adventure that will fit us better. For now it is bye bye.

Changes at Church

2013-04-13T11:54:00.000-05:00

At the start of Holy Week the red sash was added to the cross behind the alter. I also see a platform under the statue that was not there the day before. Changes are coming so I took some pictures to show them off to friends as they happened. 3/26

This is where the Tabernacle is at the beginning of Holy Week at Sts. Simon and Jude Parish. This chapel sits opposite end of the building as the current alter in main sanctuary. This means that as people enter the building they turn opposite the main sanctuary to genuflect to our Lord and then turn around to enter main church.

We were so excited to see the holder for the sanctuary candle hanging on the wall.

I loved seeing the other changes too. A stone stand was now in place behind the alter table.

On Holy Thursday the alter was taken out of this small chapel and then put in a temporary place for adoration (in the garden) until Good Friday.

This was a beautifully done ceremony. I love how respectful it was to the true presents of Christ in the Eucharist. I love the devotion that I see from the people of this parish. Then the fun was to be found on Easter morning when the old Tabernacle had found a new home.

I don't love all the art work of this parish. The design is so late 70's but the parish has a feel of love that I have not found in the surrounding places. I mistakenly thought that the people were very non traditional based on the style. When I have grown to realize is that is not the case. The original parishioners are more than willing to make changes and I love the the priest has been incredibly respectful of blending the original style with more traditional features. Making the a place that really is the Church on Earth. I am thrilled that we have been told that the cross will soon have a corpus.

Life with Us is a Truck Load of Fun!

2013-04-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

First Friday of April

2013-04-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

Fun with friends documented in pictures.

Happy Birthdays to Pooker and Possible

2013-04-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

We were all able to go out to celebrate on Pooker's birthday. We were celebrating Pooker and Possible's birthdays. The girls picked BJ'S Restaurant & Brewery to enjoy their birthday meal together. The food was wonderful. We even ordered a huge treat at the end. YUMMY!

Pooker is a young woman that enjoys life to the fullest. She has set the bar pretty high and the rest of the bunch want to be like her, especially Possible. The ironic thing is that Possible looks more and more like her big sister every day. Happy birthday girls, we could not be prouder of each of you!

Hurt Finger

2013-04-03T18:02:00.000-05:00

Jumba and I went to visit Dr. Y because it somehow was run over with his sister's scooter. In the end it was ok just sore. He was scared it was going to fall off or something. Once the Doctor told him it would be ok he was thrilled.

Possible has a Birthday!

2013-04-02T12:06:00.000-05:00

Possible voted to officially celebrate her birthday a few days later so she and Pooker could have fun together.

What we have noticed is that this beautiful young woman loves to have fun. She enjoys spending time her siblings and has become a strong leader with the younger kiddos.

Possible is a woman of God that takes her lessons in life seriously. I don't know where she will end up in life but I am thrilled with the person she is today.

Happy 14th b-day Possible.