It's Friday!!!

 

 

Wow, that week flew by! Let's see what's been going on.

 

 

1. Friends

 

God was wise when he thought up this "friend" thing. Even though I stink at it for the most part, it is so nice to have someone other than your spouse with whom to share important things in life. I'm still working out the full definition although I think I've softened a bit. I think there needs to be a "pre-friend" or something - those people with whom you share things in your life but not the one or two who are truly your closest friends. The pre-friends have the potential for being close friends at some point. This is compared with acquaintances, who will never reach that level of "friend". Am I overthinking? Perhaps.

 

It's been nice to watch my kids lately as they navigate this friendship thing. I have two who are more drawn to adults, two who warm up relatively quickly to their peers and one, well, he's still forming although he will sometimes strike up a babble with someone. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

 

2. The Backyard

 

Who knew that we would be enjoying the outdoors in October (without the benefit of sweatshirts and jeans!)? Little man has been working hard on his backyard skills and can almost (almost) be left alone to do his thing without someone very nearby (our backyard isn't what you would call flat).

 

 

G in the backyard pack n play trampoline

Big brother teaching little brother how to dribble (he's already a pro, btw)

 

3. Organized Sports

 

Son #1 entered the highly disorganized world of soccer recently. I signed him up for a nearby town's rec league because we figured he needed some time to run and exhaust himself. There have been pluses and minuses and since it's a dad/son thing, I'm not going to complain much. Still, I'm having a hard time believing people are lining up to pay money and rush around to practices and games and deal with all of these interruptions to family dinner, etc.? Ug. Not my thing. If DH decides it's not his thing, that will be it. Another plus of a big family...more like a sports team!

 

4. Junior Tammies!

 

The two oldest kids recently joined the Junior Tamburitzans of the South Hills. If you want to know more, click the link, but basically the kids learn songs and dances from Eastern European countries and perform them at public shows. Currently they are learning songs and dances from Croatia. I'm amazed at the ability of little kids to learn foreign languages. The dancing...well, we'll see. Not the most coordinated, these two. It's cute though. They got their costumes on Tuesday in preparation for their first performance at the end of October. Much fun!

 

 

5. Foreign Languages

 

So, when I say they're "learning Croatian" I mean they're learning a song in Croatian...and what a few of the words mean. I'm not really counting that as foreign language and yet it does get me thinking. I know most kids in 3rd grade are learning a language (not counting the highly-advanced schools who are beginning in kindergarten...you notice we don't attend there) so I'm wondering what we should do.

 

Bill, from 40 Days, said he knows how to say a few words in many languages because his mom thought it was an important way to show respect when you meet a person from another country. One of our priests is like this and it's really amazing. I can get behind that idea but then they don't really know enough of any language to be helpful. Our trip to Europe makes me realize that someone (many people) need to learn Slovak before we return. The typical home school language to learn is Latin and that's cool and useful for other things in life so I might like that as well. Ug. What to do?

 

 

6. Dinner

 

I kind of wish we were having a new baby because I'm really past the whole dinner thing. After being with everyone and learning and experiencing and shopping and washing and working all day, I'm kind of spent. I have a new respect for mothers who work at a job all day. At 5 PM the last thing I want to do is figure out what I'm going to feed all of these people. I guess it's time for some new recipe ideas. Got some?

 

7. Happy Memories

 

Don't you love it when something just sneaks up on you and the realization envelops you like a hug? We had a "pre-friend" (I know that sounds degrading but it's not at all...it means I have much hope that we will be close friends one of these days!) over for dinner earlier in the week. She brought a beautiful "bouquet" of spearmint and basil from her deck garden. I put them in a glass of water and into the refrigerator to keep for a while. Every time I opened the door this week, I got an amazing smell of these herbs and it always brightened my mood.

 

Mid-week I was talking to someone who read the Our Lady of Sorrows post and it made me go back and reread it myself. Suddenly, it all came together. Earlier in the day Bernadette was born, we had gone out for lunch with friends. The waitress brought a beautiful glass pitcher of drinking water to the table. It was so beautiful (I didn't take a picture, I know, I was otherwise occupied...sorry) because it had all of these herbs and fruits muddled down under the ice. The taste was so amazing. It was fresh and bright - like sangria made with water. Two of the main ingredients? Spearmint and basil!

So, I got my nicest cut-glass pitcher (it's a Czech thing) and tried to recreate the scene. When DH saw and tasted it, he knew exactly what it was. What a beautiful, happy memory from that most trying day. Aren't we blessed when God thinks to send us something that evokes joy? Shouldn't we be more constantly on the lookout for these things?

 

I used clementines instead of lemons...equally delicious :0)

 

Wishing you a blessed weekend!