Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: #2

~Pretty~

Progress on the highchair! I really like the bright red! I sanded the most worn parts of it, but Anthony would be in high school by the time I managed to strip the entire thing. So spray paint it is! I was inspired by Rosie on Like Mother Like Daughter. She did the same thing to make a really sweet highchair for her little boy. I'm still in the process of sanding down the tray. I want that to be stained and poly-ed rather than painted so I can scrub it well all the time. Even that little piece is taking me a really long time to sand.

~Happy~

"Mama! I'm going pee-pee in the potty!" That's exactly what is happening in this picture. You'll just have to take my word for it, as that little drape of t-shirt is what makes it legal to post this photo. We've been encouraging Anthony's interest in the potty. He does do very well and he's so proud of himself! I haven't figured out out-and-about pottying yet, as public toilets are just too big and, well, gross. He really does need a potty seat with that tiny behind, but carrying one with us seems rather impractical especially since we walk a lot of places, and, well, gross.

~Funny~

Ryan was reading the paper Sunday morning and not really paying attention to Anthony and me. (You know, "Hun, should I make pancakes or waffles today?... ... Ryan?" "Sure.") So I drew our family on his toes. He didn't really react to this until the coffee you see in his hand was at least half drunk.

~Real~

This is how the housework really gets done around here! I do give Anthony the dustbuster and let him crawl around with that for a few minutes in the afternoon sometimes while I am doing my quick spruce-up before dinner. Yes, I have found yet another way for parents to use technology as a babysitter! But he likes to think he's helping, and soon enough he will be!

Yard Sale Finds

These photos are from a few weeks ago. I uploaded them and began a post, which I never finished in favor of the one for Katie's wedding and Sr. Victoria Marie's profession. So here they are now. $5 wooden highchair! I'm going to refinish it for Anthony to use. His current highchair is a nightmare to keep clean. Food gets in the little cracks and crevices of the padding, and UNDER and INSIDE the pad, which of course takes about ten minutes to take apart and another ten to put back together. Using it without the pad is not possible. It's probably technically an antique, as it came with a guide to carseat safety with this photo in it:


But that does not mean that I will be afraid of spray painting it.


I also got a huge bag of random fabric for a dollar. Here are some of my favorite prints:

And my very very favorite, is a crib skirt of this adorable bunny toile! It was crammed in the very bottom of the bag! I can make either four placemats or six napkins for Easter, as sadly part of it is badly stained. But look how cute!!!!!

Two Vocations Begun

“The first duty of the consecrated life is to make visible the marvels wrought by God in the frail humanity of those who are called. They bear witness to these marvels not so much in words as by the eloquent language of a transfigured life, capable of amazing the world.”

~Vita Consecrata 20~

My two sister-friends Katie and Mary Beth (a.k.a. Sister Victoria Marie) both entered into their holy vocations this summer: Katie as a married woman and Mary Beth as a professed sister. They both are amazing!

Katie’s wedding was lovely. If you have been following her blog you know all of the hard work she put into the preparations! And of course she was the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen, and Chuckie was a very happy groom! But what struck me more than anything on the day of the wedding is how both Katie and Chuckie knew it wasn’t about them. Everything about the wedding Mass from the way they knelt in the sanctuary to how they followed the time-honored tradition of laying flowers before the Blessed Mother’s altar, paid full attention to the Mass, how the groomsmen prayed the Rosary together beforehand, even choosing a Mass that doesn’t allow for “personalization” beyond inserting the names of the bride and groom spoke to their profound awareness that that this day was completely a gift from God. The mood of the day was certainly one of joy and thanksgiving, but also a deep appreciation of the solemnity of the vows they took, humble acknowledgment that they would need graces to take them every step of the way together, and childlike confidence and trust that those graces would be freely given. In all, a perfect wedding!

The above quote was from the program from the Mass for the Rite of First Religious Profession. Humility was certainly a theme for the sisters’ first profession as well. This was their wedding day, too! Just the fact that Sister Victoria Marie had to share “her day” with fourteen (!) other sisters and had limited invitations as a result must have been a humbling experience. It was also a beautiful ceremony. When the novices traded their white veils for the black of penance and mortification was especially moving. Despite this somber description, Sister Victoria Marie is absolutely radiant. It’s immediately obvious that she is exactly where she is meant to be.

Thank you two for being such amazing women of God. Your faithfulness has constantly inspired me in my own vocation, to give myself more completely and to trust more fully in God. It has been a privilege to witness His work in your own lives, and to call you my friends.