7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 12)

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Wow so my last Quick Takes was back in February. Sometimes it's just too hard to keep up with these weekly blog posts. I've somewhat neglected my blog and don't write as many posts as I used to. Hubby even said to me, "does anyone even comment on your blog anymore?". I told him I don't post as much anymore, but I hope my faithful readers are still around. :)

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I must first comment on the shootings from last night. Oh how my heart breaks for those that were there and family of those who died. What a horrific tragedy. I've been listening to news broadcasts while at work this morning. And I must say whenever something like this happens I always find myself thinking "what if I was in that situation, what would I have done?". Anyone else do that? I just heard an interview from a man that was inside the theater with his girlfriend, I think I would've reacted the same as him. Play dead lying on the floor until it seemed clear to exit, AND most importantly pray to God and repent of my sins.

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2 pins I posted to my "Faith" Pinterest board this week...

"For this child I prayed." Such a beautiful idea for a baby photo - 1 Samuel 1:26-28

1945 U.S. Marines receive Communion from a Marine chaplain on Iwo Jima.

Doesn't God's beauty and grace exude from both of these?

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So this week for some reason my 8 and 5 year old brought up the ultimate childhood question..."Are Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy real!?" Gulp. Wanting to keep these guardians of childhood real for my kiddos just a bit longer, I convincingly told them "of course!". My daughter of course raised logical questions..."why does the tooth fairy have the same handwriting as you mom?" "there's no such thing as a gigantic bunny, can't be." "how does Santa get in our home if we have no chimney?". So I just simply said that mommy and daddy work with all of them to help them out. Of course they are in awe that we've seen all of them. So Madeline finally demanded, "Mommy I want you to tell me if they are real or not by the time I'm an adult, cause when I have my own kids I am not getting up in the middle of the night to help!". LOL. Kids.

Surprisingly there is a movie coming out this Fall on this very topic, wonder if I should take the kids or if this will spoil it for them?

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Hubby and my wedding bands

So next Saturday our dear friends will be making the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony in the Church and they have asked Stephen and I to be their witnesses. We're so honored. Looking forward to this joyous occasion and praying for God's grace and blessings upon our friends.

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So I want to start an exercise routine and stick with it. My hubby bought P90X a couple years ago, he never did it but we have the DVD's and pull up bar and weights. Thinking about taking on that challenge. Any of you do P90X? What are your thoughts and feedback?

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So the other day I had a couple hours worth of dirty dishes and a messy kitchen to clean. I decided to put on some music on my iPod player to make the time go by faster. I actually listened to Justin Bieber's first album the whole way through. Even if you're not a fan, you have to admit this kid has talent. I know Bieber believes in Christ. He also went to Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School for his elementary years. I'll leave you with his music video "Pray". Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 11): Pick it up up up

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I haven't done a quick takes Friday post in over 50 posts, it's difficult for me to commit to these weekly posts. But since this was a busy week for our Ohana and I didn't post anything all week I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick takes. 

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So this was our first week with our new schedules. Stephen has a 3:30am wake up call. I have a 6:30am one. And the kids have a 6:45am one. I was a little worried how it would go. Stephen said a few days it was rough and his body is still getting used to it. The kids have been awesome getting up. Madeline is still her sleepy-I-want-5-more-minutes-to-sleep self but as soon as she see's her brother jump out of bed it's a race to get to the bathroom (they're competitive like that). They get washed up and dressed. And then have about 20 minutes to watch cartoons and eat some breakfast. We've been out the door on time every day. So that's good.

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James is enjoying his mornings over at Ms. Kate's. She does school time with him and Aaron. And they've gotten into a routine. One day this week they went to a craft day Mom's group meeting and made these Abe Lincoln hats. :) It's a blessing knowing that he's safe and being taken care of while we are at work.

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Madeline is participating in the American Heart Association, Jump Rope For Heart fundraiser again at school this year. Last year she raised the most donations in her class and she's hoping to do the same this year. Her goal is $100 and she's raised $70. She has to turn in her donations on Monday, so if you're in the giving mood for a good cause...hop on over to Madeline's donation webpage and donate today!

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My best friend arrives in 6 days, her first visit to Texas. I can hardly wait! Both Stephen and I took some days off for while she is here. Still don't have each day planned out, but I know whatever we do it will just be fun to spend time with her. She will get to see Madeline and her school, the day she arrives the 2nd grade classes are putting on a program that evening and showing us the folk dancing they've learned. Aunty Robyn can't wait to see her perform!

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Madeline's First Holy Communion is now 3 months away! So I've been adding more pins to her pinboard with dress, invitation and party ideas.

Found these 3 new dresses, they are all really affordable prices. Which one do you like best? I will show them to Madeline and see what she thinks.

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I know Mickie will appreciate this quick take. Who would have ever thought one of my favorite inspirational songs (I really do like the lyrics) would be from a 16 year old (or how ever old he is now). So my 8 year old daughter and I love to sing this song in the car on the way to school each morning. She loves the song and the movie it is in.

Have a great weekend y'all!

7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 9)

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I love Fall and Spring weather here in Central Texas. The temps are always mild and it's beautiful to be outside! When we returned home from our California trip this week it was so nice to come home to mild 80 degree weather. We had a record breaking summer and it was pretty much in the high 90's low 100's from May to September. So when we got home I felt like saying "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh."

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James and Madeline received money from Oma and Opa to buy their Halloween costumes. We were looking at some while shopping in California. When Oma went back to the store to buy them, they didn't have them anymore! So when we got home we went to the store and Madeline found the Spiderella costume she wanted to get. James kept switching between spiderman, batman, transformer, pirate and a ghost. But he really wanted to be something spooky (he loves pretending to scare/spook his sissy and me, makes him laugh and giggle). So we have a spooky ghost. Kids can't wait for Halloween.

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Does your family celebrate the secular holiday of Halloween?

A few years back I did a post about All Hallows Eve (a.k.a Halloween) and how our family as Catholics views the holiday and the meaning behind everything. Click below to read my post:

All Hallows Eve

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So when Madeline went back to school she received her first report card for the 1st session of this school year. All A's baby!!! Woo hoo! So proud of her. This week at school she also had the school book fair. I always let her buy a book each year. She picked "Interrupting Chicken". And today is school picture day. This year she really wanted to be involved with picking out her outfit and jewelry, as well as deciding how to have her hair. When I dropped her off at school the principle opened our car door in the drop off line and said to Madeline, "Wow you look so pretty!". Hopefully that will help her have a good smile for her picture. Here is the blog post with her past school pics.

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Being in the Fall mood this week I decided to break in the new cupcake pans my mom sent home with us and bake the kids some pumpkin bread cupcakes. I used this favorite Pumpkin Bread recipe (it was a hit last year with my neighbors) and just put them in the cupcake pan and only baked them for 20 minutes (they bake a lot quicker than in a loaf pan so keep an eye on them!). Topped them with some vanilla icing (not that they need any more sugar after the 3 cups the recipe calls for, but who cares right?) and let the kids decorate with sprinkles. Yummy!

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So I taught my first class as the Catechist teacher on Monday. The curriculum topic was Mary and praying the Rosary. I have to say I have an awesome class of CCD students. They are all eager to learn and such great listeners! This coming Monday I am teaching them about Forgiveness.

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Now that I am a bonafide CCD teacher :) I've been researching for activities that my students can work on and came across this awesome blog called The Catholic Toolbox. They have some great encouragement, ideas, examples and activities on there. Can't wait to share them with my class.

Hope y'all have a nice weekend!

7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 9)

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Easy to make shower party favors. Prayer candles so the guests can prayer for the guest of honor. In this case it was for our neighbor and friend who is due mid October. I bought these cute little white favor boxes from the Dollar Tree. Printed the little labels myself. Stuck in a simple candle. And tied it with some ribbon.

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Working Your Way to Heaven

Came across this well explained blog post this week over at Aggie Catholics blog.

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I was so excited when Kristin posted this on her blog this week. I'm going to print it out for my kids to play on our roadtrip to California next week.

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Speaking of California...we're going out there next week. Stephen's cousin is getting married and we'll also be celebrating my father, my husband and my son's birthdays. Can't wait!

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Some favorite pins from this week...

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Madeline is making all A's on her latest progress report. :)

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I love my son. He is ALL boy. :)

7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 8)

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Big news this week, I posted my 1000th blog post! If you missed reading it,
click here.

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click on image to make larger

More big news, we have a 2nd grader who started school this week. She also had her first sick day from school yesterday. She's come down with a summer cold. :( Picking up school work from her teacher today so we can work on it this weekend. Fun, fun!

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Can I just say, my son is handsome. :) I gave him a little boy's haircut. We played pretend and he said we were at the Barbie shop. :)

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Have you checked out all the photos from World Youth Day??? Amazing, 1.5 million youth and young adults gathering together for Christ's Church!

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I love fonts. I received my BA in Graphic Design so I'm geeky like that. If you're ever looking for cute FREE fonts you must visit Fonts for Peas.

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So our Samsung Blu-ray player in our family room bit the dust last night. We use this thing daily to watch Netflix. Have had it for almost 2 years. After Googling the problem and seeing many have the same problem with this player and to get it fixed by Samsung would cost $100+, I think it's inevitable we need to purchase a new player. But paying $150 for a new player is not in the budget right now. We got a free blu-ray that streams Netflix with our TV earlier this year, but put that up in the loft for the kids to use. And they use it daily too. We'll move that one downstairs. They will be bummed. So I started looking into the Roku for upstairs in the loft. It's half the price of a blu-ray and then the kids would be able to stream again. Any of you have a Roku? Pros? Cons?

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If you didn't read my VIP blogger post for King's Hawaiian, click here.

Have a happy weekend! :)

7 Quick Takes Friday (volume 7)

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Aren't these cute? Apple slices with mini marshmallows, and I think you could use caramel or peanut butter to make them stick. I'm going to have to try to make these for the kids, maybe it will get James to start eating apples - the kid just doesn't like them, who doesn't like apples! Anyway, found this on Pinterest while searching for teeth images to put with this post about our dental updates. So Madeline's big $1800 (our patient responsibility after insurance is $475) procedure of a tooth extraction, crown and fillings, and sealant is scheduled for the 9th. Want to get this all done before school starts. James also has a cleaning appointment this Monday with our new pediatric dentist. Praying he doesn't have the same luck as his sister with his baby teeth. At his last check up 6 months ago he had no cavities.

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I have a question because I have been dealing with this topic of late...as Christians is it our responsibility to address immoral behavior of others who are close to us (meaning family & friends)? Especially if they claim to be a Christian as well. Awkward right? Judge not? Does the Scriptures really teach us not to judge others? "Judge not, that you not be judged." Most people will stop there. If we look at the next verse, "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get." it becomes clear that Jesus was not telling his disciples that they could not ever judge the behavior of others. Rather, he was cautioning them to live righteous lives themselves so that their judgment of others’ behavior would not be rash judgment and their efforts would be effective in admonishing their neighbors. Jesus indeed expects his disciples to judge but he warns that they, too, will be judged in a like manner. (So you better do it with a loving heart!) Paul shows us in 1 Cor. 5:12-13 as Christians we are to show another if they are at fault of immoral behavior/sinning in efforts to drive out the wickedness. 

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The tricky part about judging those close to us is to deal with it in a loving way. I mean what if they were showing behaviors that exhibited drug or alcohol abuse - you'd definitely reach out and judge those behaviors in efforts to drive that abuse away and help the person. So why hold back when it's an immoral behavior that is constantly exhibited - is their spiritual well-being not as important as their physical well-being? It should be more important shouldn't it? So often when we come across judgemental to those close to us, they will defensively fire back with, "I’m not judging you and you shouldn’t be judging me." But in reality they are making a judgmental decision that the reason you are doing this is unloving, putting them down, and being unkind - yet as Christians we are doing this with one reason: love. And that love comes from the Holy Spirit within us and working through us. 

"there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make ‘ours’ the same mind that was in Christ Jesus" (CCC 2842) 

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My advice, don't hesitate to reach out to someone close to you if they are exhibiting habitual immoral behavior - their spirituality may be in great danger! It's about your heart and the work of the Holy Spirit within you - do you turn Him down in using you as an instrument in fear of making things awkward? With my situation it did result in awkwardness, even communication ties cut. It's sad this person saw my reasoning for bringing all this up as unloving and unkind. But I don't regret doing it - because I did it with a loving heart. Hopefully a seed was planted.

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Okay now let's talk about food for our souls...um I mean grumbling tummies. :) So I marked this recipe by the Pioneer Woman to try this weekend, Grilled Chicken & Pineapple quesadillas. I even bought a "pointy pineapple" as James calls them ("Be careful mom!"). So cousin Mickie called last night. I shared this recipe with her on her Facebook wall last week as I had remembered them raving about grilled pineapples so I thought they would appreciate this recipe. She made this last night and her hubby gave it 3 thumbs up...it was that good she said. I'm hungry now just posting about it. Can't wait to try it.

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I dare all my pregnant mommy friends to recreate this photo! LOL I should have totally done this with Stephen.

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Here's a flower for all my avid blog readers and the thoughtful comments you leave on my blog (I love getting them!). Hope it brings a smile to your face and kick starts a happy, fun weekend!