This is what we’ll be using as we pray our Stations of the Cross. Lance and I made this for the family today. (A little late). I am really excited about it. I found the idea online, of course, and instead of numbers that family used small pictures. We thought the numbers would be better since three of our four children are so young.

We are also using two different station books when we pray. We have a short little book to pray with the young children, which is still helpful for the rest of the family. And we have a fantastic Stations of the Cross booklet for the Family from my old parish. This past Friday Goose read two stations, then I would read two stations and so on. Goose picked that particular pattern. After each station we talked about what was said and how we might change our behavior. The little boys seemed to enjoy praying a bit more this year. Obviously, each year will be different as their understanding of this prayer grows, but even at three, Baby Hulk understands the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. BTW, if anyone is taking bets on us having a priest in the family, it’s my little cusser, BH. Of course, I probably don’t have a priest in the family, but if I do, I can promise it will be him.

ANYWAY…I am really excited about what we made for the children and can’t wait to pray the stations as a family again so that the kids can blow out each candle after a station is read.

I also have a basket with our different books regarding Stations of the Cross, a coloring book for Stations, The Giving Tree, and The Legend of the Three Trees. I see a huge Amazon order coming this week because I found a bunch of other books our library needs.

I don’t normally try to get preachy on my blog because it seems so not right coming from me, but I have to really encourage everyone to pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent. You won’t regret the time spent doing so.

The feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes was February 11, but we had so much going on that we never did this activity I found online: making a grotto out of Cocoa Pebbles. The boys have been reading about the Immaculate Conception, St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes off and on since December. They loved this activity, especially since they knew they would be eating this treat soon!

Melting the marshmallows

Helping Dad

The artist at work

Waiting for permission to have a piece

I’m done. Over it! Finally, pissed beyond reason. I will NEVER go to Pappasitos on Hillcroft again. EVER! I don’t care who wants to go, and that includes my kids, my dad and in-laws. That should show how serious I am.

I love Pappasitos and when we moved to our neighborhood, I was so excited that there was one just down the street. In fact, this was the one I had frequented years ago when there were only two Pappasitos in Houston. Back when my dad would actually wait more than an hour to be sat down at a chain restaurant. BUT, no more. At this point, the food at this location is mediocre at best and the service can only be described as shitty. The last two times we ate there, we waited over thirty minutes for fajitas and kids quesadillas. Hmmm…aren’t fajitas a mainstay at this place? Today, we waited seven minutes before being greeted by our waitress and another six minutes before getting our water. WTF? I HATE bad service. Lance got his salad before we had our drinks. We NEVER even got our food because I finally had it. I am done and will never eat there again.

To make matters worse, I had to come home and have another freaking turkey sandwich. I eat turkey sandwiches every flipping day. And since I had been eating chips at Pappasitos, I couldn’t have chips at home. UGH.

Can someone tell me where I can find a Pappasitos with good service????

And before anyone tells me that there are tons of great Mexican restaurants in this city, I know that. But I can say that I don’t like the fajitas at any of those restaurants except Lupe Tortillas and I don’t like their tortillas.

Yesterday, I was trying to explain the definition of the word brand to Goose. He could see the television from where we were talking, and I asked him if he was listening to me or watching the television. His response: “I can do both.”

Each child is “tough” in their own way. Some more obvious than others. (See recent post on Kobra). I have to worry about Goose because I have a feeling this kid is going to be more trouble than I was. I was smart, but this kid thinks faster than I did and probably do now.

Anyone wonder why Lance says no more babies?

Personally, I think we need to end on a positive note, and while I love my little Kobra, he isn’t always so positive!

Today was a great day! We celebrated and prepared the house for Lent, which starts tomorrow. Baby Hulk had a play date at the park today, I had a good workout, Goose had a performance at school to celebrate the Chinese New Year, we made a King Cake and the four boys and I went to church for the Mardi Gras celebration and sat with someone from our former church. Despite the fact that the little ones got to bed late, it was so worth going to the party.

Today was a true celebration for us and we are ready for Lent to begin. I think! I hope.

Here are pictures of the boys helping with the King Cake. Really tough recipe…take a tube of cinnamon rolls…you can figure out the rest. We ate the entire thing. I kept telling Squirt afterwards that it was only eight cinnamon rolls between four and a half people!

Our Lenten Calendar. Each day we will pray for something different. This year everyone except Kobra contributed in deciding our daily intentions. I like how personal it is this year.

Or rather their moms.

At Goose’s school party last Friday, a mom told this cute little story her daughter told her about Goose.

Other Mom: ” We were running late to school and I told my daughter she needed to hurry.”

Daughter: “don’t worry mom, we’re not late until I see Goose running.”

Thanks other kinder mom for sharing that with me. First of all, Goose isn’t late to school. Yes, we run just about daily, but we aren’t late. I walk/run Goose into school EVERY. FLIPPING. DAY. While every other kinder mom is now dropping their child off in the carpool lane, I park my car across the street and get out- sun, rain, freezing temps or not. That is what Goose wants, so I do it.

We don’t arrive early. I admit that. The kids sit in the cafeteria until the teacher picks them up each day at 7:40 am. I arrive in time for Goose to get in line on the way to class and walk with him to class. Squirt sits in the car with the other boys. Then I run back and take Squirt to school.

Are we always running? Yes. Sorry, kinder classmate. I have four kids to get in my car every morning and each one, even the fourteen year old, has their own challenges getting in said car. We don’t have one minute to spare most mornings, but we do get there. ON. TIME.

But again, thanks other mom for sharing that little story about us always running in the morning. I might have forgotten this is my life.

Last night was a blast. Squirt and I met my friend Shea and her son Will for our movie night. Four people who loved Percy Jackson going to see the movie on opening night- total geeks. I even bought tickets earlier in the day and arrived fifteen minutes early for the movie. Who believes this about me? It’s true. Shea is one of those people who is always on time, so I didn’t want to disappoint. (Interesting fact about me. ALL of my friends are timely. They must get so annoyed with me.) Anyway, being early didn’t matter. We still had to sit on the third row of the theater. It took some getting used to, but I handled being that close without complaining too much. After all, the night wasn’t about me.

Will sat there in silence the entire movie, while Squirt chit chatted throughout most of it. He is so like his dad!

I was a bit scared about this movie because of the director. He’s fine and all, did the first two Harry Potter movies, which were enjoyable until you saw what every other director has done with the series. I didn’t want to be able to tell that this was a Chris Columbus movie. While it was definitely Chris Columbus, it wasn’t bad. There were huge changes, which would have bothered me more if I had recently read the book. The acting was decent enough for a kid movie. Sounds like a good enough movie, right?

What went wrong? Well, the audience for this movie (and book) is about eight years old to maybe fifteen years old. The eight year olds are just starting the series this year and the fifteen year olds read the fifth book last spring. They have been waiting for this movie for at least three years. Nothing in these books was inappropriate. Yes, there were a few things to explain to an eight year old, but nothing sexual in these books until maybe book five where there is a kiss. The movie was a completely different story. The girls who were supposed to be Aphrodite’s daughters, and therefore beautiful, were identified by their slinky bikinis. The scene where the main characters are supposed to be playing video games in a casino is instead a scene where the kids eat Lotus flowers at a nightclub. You could totally tell the kids were “on” something. The entire scene was sexual and inappropriate for kids, even my fourteen year old. It was a PG movie. When we read the book, we imagined a huge arcade type of place, not a night club with people acting high on lotus flowers.

Lance asked me if I was uncomfortable watching those scenes with Squirt. I wasn’t and was actually able to discuss my opinions with him. I’m not sure if he fully appreciated what I said, but as a mom, I was really happy to have this opportunity to discuss what I found wrong with those scenes in the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, I just thought the changes that were made for the sake of money, I’m sure, didn’t need to happen. Afterwards, we went to eat and sat around and talked. It was really nice to spend an evening with a good friend who I don’t see very often and my oldest who I don’t get to spend a lot of alone time with either.

Thanks for hanging with the other kids, Baby. Hope your evening was as fun as mine!

My scale has a new trick. I weigh myself and it has a really nice number, one that I saw very regularly before the holidays. For half a second, I am happy as can be trying to forget my bad eating. Then it happens…a big flash that says: ERROR. I weigh again and five pounds have been added. I hate my scale.