WHAT did they say???

Is it bad that I think it's funny when my two little girls run around the house screaming

"It's naked time, it's naked time!!" 

before every bath?

There's not much more amusing to watch than two little girls playing in the bath together. I hope they have many good memories someday.

And when they are mopping up two towels-worth of water each night when they give their girls a bath, I hope they think of me. At least once...

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7 Quick Takes (vol. 3)

--1--
Katharine Hepburn: I love you

About a month ago, Emelie and I had a date. We went to the George Bush Presidential Library for a free showing of Little Women. Not the Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder version... but the 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn. What an amazing film. Katherine Hepburn makes a fantastic Jo March. And, for the time, her spunk and vivaciousness on the screen is just amazing. If you are a Little Women fan, like me, you must  see this movie...



--2--
Speaking of Katharine... my Katherine started preschool this week. She had a great week, except that they played Duck, Duck, Goose and she didn't like it. She wasn't sure where she was supposed to run and when she was supposed to stop. This, evidently, stressed her out. Miss Kelly hugged her while she cried.
--3--
At Katherine's school, they tell jokes during lunchtime. It sounds like the teacher tells a few and then the kids take over. Her favorites are... "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!!! Don't forget to look both ways. Chickens don't know to do THAT!" (giggles) and jokes along the lines of, "Knock, knock. Who's there? Pickle!" Crazy laughter.
I love how they obviously don't get the concept of a joke, but spend 15 minutes laughing with each other anyway!
--4--
At Hobby Lobby, I saw a letterpress kit ~ paper, ink and a desktop letterpress. I had to quickly walk away. I LOVE letterpress cards. Because... I love paper, I love fonts, and I love design. And there is rarely a letterpress item that does not include all three.

Here are a few letterpress shops I peruse on etsy.com:
Sycamore Street Press





Paper Dragonfly

PaperWheel Press

 --5--
Been reading children's books lately. There is something amazingly peaceful and solid about reading children's literature. The good stuff, of course. Over the past few weeks, I've read (or re-read)  

• Jacob Have I Loved (one of my all-time favorite books) by Katherine Patterson
• Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski and 
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

There's something you can trust about good children's literature. It's probably not going to give you bad dreams. You probably won't ever throw a Newberry Award Winner down in disgust when they kill off your favorite character. The characters usually end up better off by the end of the book. And, you get a little glimpse inside the lives of children ~ always good to have when there are 4 of them running around. 
--6--
I found these great free downloads at MomAgenda.com. No, I'm not a reseller or anything. I don't even have a MomAgenda (although I really want one... hard to justify $50 on a planner). But, their downloads are attractive and useful.

There's everything from a Back To School checklist to Holiday Planning and Babysitter Info. Free stuff is always cool.
--7--
Finally, I think that the media, the president, and everyone else should just ignore the nutty Pastor Terry Jones in Gainsville ~ the guy that wants to burn the Koran on Saturday. He's an attention seeker. If the satellite trucks drove away and the news stopped talking about how the president just might give him a call, then he'd probably wrap up his little show and go home. Just my thoughts...

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"The night will become as clear as day...

"The night will become as clear as day. 
It will become my light, my joy."

from the Exsultet - The Easter Proclamation at Easter Vigil

Here are a few photos from this past weekend.

Easter Vigil at St. Mary's

Easter Sunday

Annual Easter "Find Your Basket by Following the String" Hunt

Happy Easter!

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life is tough when you're avoiding bedtime...

bedtime is tough around our house. We're real nazis about it. I mean, when that clock hits 8 o'clock, you're OUTTA here!

No, I won't be finding any of my children hiding inside their Daddy's robe at 10:30 PM. Not me. And I definitely WON'T run and grab my camera and take 20 photos of them snuggling on the floor.

Nope.

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5 things I love about Katherine

This will be the first of a new series I'm starting. 5 Things. Keep an eye out...

5 Things I Love About Katherine

Katherine's 4th birthday was Tuesday. She has been waiting for a long time to be 4. She's disappointed that she wasn't quite a bit taller when she woke up on January 5th. But she had a good day anyway!

1. I love Katherine's name. Katherine Therese Gulde. We named her after the 3 women Doctors of the Church: Catherine of Siena (cool lady who told the pope to get back to Rome), St. Theresa of Avila (founder of the discalced (shoeless) Carmelites and author of Interior Castle) and St. Therese of Lisieux (the little flower hardly anyone knew about till her sister published her memoirs after her death at the age of 24).

Such a strong name. For a girl who will do amazing things in her life. Whether they get public acclaim or are done quietly in the sweetness of her heart. She will do great things.

2. I love Katherine's words. She says things like, "Can you please help me with my hungry situation?" and when she doesn't want us to get her face wet in the bath, she'll yell, "Don't touch my property!" (that one might come in handy in another way some day! :) )

If she's the slightest bit happy, she'll hop up and down, clap and squeal, "I LOVE IT!" like the ultimate cheerleader.

3. I love how Katherine's SO not like me!  She's an eternal optimist. She's an extrovert. If we were the same age in middle school, she'd probably be one of those girls that totally intimidated me. When she was an infant, the more people in the room, the more she smiled, giggled and cooed.  She tries to see the good side of everything. She's a performer through and through. She loves to sing. The other kids have dubbed her the "constant radio". She'll sing Christmas carols in June (as well as ALL Christmas long) and belt out Mylie Cyrus' "Party in the USA" like it was written for her.

At the dinner table, she want us to listen to HER. If we're all talking and she has something to share, she'll get up on her knees in her chair, clap her hands three times and yell, "Everyone listen to ME right now!" Sounds a bit bratty, but she's usually very justified. She doesn't let us ignore her. Which is good when you're the third child!

4. I love Katherine's girliness. She's very silly.She sleeps with her purse. She changes clothes on average of 4 times a day. She runs across the room and puts her hands behind her head so she can feel her hair flying behind her. She walks on her tip toes. Her favorite thing to do after dinner is wash dishes and sing. We think she thinks she's Cinderella.

5.  I love her mind. She thinks. At Curt's mom's funeral, she was the one of our children most concerned with heaven and where Grandma was.

During the Rosary, she told her cousin Michelle, "I don't want to die. Then I won't ever get to wear this dress again..."

On the way to the burial, she told us that Grandma wasn't dead, she was in the car behind us.

Last week she told Curt, "Grandma is in heaven. But she goes with Grandpa... Grandma and Grandpa are just supposed to go together, right? Like Nana and Pop and Grandpa and Dottie."

Last night, she decided that she might want to go to heaven. But, she had one request:

"Mom, can you just go up there real quick and see if there is ground. 'Cause I like ground."

"I'm afraid to fly."

I told her that if she wanted ground in heaven, Jesus would cover the whole thing up just for her.
That's how much He loves her.

We love you too, little Katherine!

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the little ones I love...

Jonathan: has a crush on our babysitter. He was recently quoted in his classroom newsletter: "Tooth Fairies are real, but magic, like making someone float, is a trick. I've seen it." He can draw just about anything. He played his last soccer game in the rain and had a blast!

Emelie: gets angry when Katherine calls Emelie's old imaginary friends on the play telephone. Likes to read Star Wars, Little Women and Nancy Drew. She's a super piano player. She likes to clean the bathroom. The other day, she walked up and said, "Mom, I really think we should clean the bathroom more often. It gets gross in there really fast!"

Katherine: likes to make her big sister mad by calling Emelie's old imaginary friends on the telephone. Katherine's imaginary friends are Belisa and Shalla. Belisa's mommy's name is "Big Belisa" and Shalla's mommy's name is, you guessed it, "Big Shalla". She likes to creep around the house at 6 am, turn on all the lights and search for candy. She likes to wear dresses and very fancy shoes. Some days she wants to be called "Callie".

Colleen: likes to crawl behind the couch and pull my lamp over. Then she heads over the the TV console and pulls the wii remotes off the charger, sits back and grins. When she smiles, she still gets her crinkle across her nose and her eyes still get squinty... and she smiles a lot.

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Katherine's Likes and Dislikes...

At lunch, out of the blue...

"I don't like to smell my foot."

After nap, I told her to stop picking her nose:

"I like to pick my nose. It's fun!"

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Isn't she cute...

March 31, 2008 017
Originally uploaded by laurengulde

I was supposed to be taking photos of Colleen, but Katherine was being a goof in the curtains, and her photos turned out pretty well! She's a cutie pie and loves to pose for the camera. Heaven help us!

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Another great Katherine shot...

March 31, 2008 019
Originally uploaded by laurengulde

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Katherine and Colleen

March 24, 2008 142
Originally uploaded by laurengulde

Katherine adores Colleen!

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don't you wish you were little again...

don't you wish you were little again...
Originally uploaded by laurengulde

Watching a movie in a laundry basket... how nice. At least we have enough for everyone. I did have to dump out some laundry in order to accommodate everyone.

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getting ready for Lent... and Katherine eats turtle food

Been thinking about Lent, which starts next week, and hoping that my Lent can be somewhat productive! Since this baby girl of mine is due on Easter Sunday, I figure I'll either really get into Lent this year, or fine a million excuses to ignore it, since my body feels like it's going through a Lent of its own right now. Hopefully, I'll choose the former! Having a baby arrive at Easter really should provide me with the perfect opportunity to prepare, to give up, to anticipate and to perfect myself for her, and for Jesus.

My friend Marcel has a great post on his blog about Lent.
Lent 2008
and
More Lenten Resources

I hope you'll take a look at his great explanations of Lent and his numerous suggestions and ideas for making your Lent holy and productive!

I also want to add (later today, probably) my list of books I'd like to read or reread this Lent.

Oh, and yes, I went to the restroom this morning (I do that... I'm pregnant.). Not really an option there. I was gone all of 60 seconds.

I come into the kitchen and have that automatic, "where's Katherine and what is she doing" panic feeling that all moms know and trust.

Then, there she is, standing in the kitchen, holding Rocky's FREEZE DRIED SHRIMP container with little pieces of dried shrimp on her lips. I just screamed and flopped my arms around for a minute (I don't handle crisis well), wiped the shrimp off her lips and called Curt to find out if there is anything toxic in freeze dried shrimp. He says no. My Curt knows everything!

So now that I know that Katherine is tall enough to reach the counter, the shrimp food will be moving into a new residence in the upper cabinet.

Do things like this happen to anyone else, or just me???...

(I knew the turtle food tease would get you to read through the Lent part of the post! Yes, I am willing to humiliate myself for your spiritual good!)

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