Happy 2nd Birthday Luke

My dearest Luke,

I cannot believe how fast these two years have flown by with you.  You started this year off as a sweet gentle little baby still and are ending this year as a fun loving, energetic little boy!  There has been so many changes, hardships and learning experiences for our family in the past two years but you continue to be an amazing source of joy throughout it all.

Last year we celebrated your first birthday as we also celebrated Pentecost.  It was so much fun to celebrate your big day along side of the birthday of our Church!  We enjoyed our last few weeks living in Minnesota and then packed up to move back to our hometown in Nebraska.  With all of our car trips back and forth from Minnesota to Nebraska during your first year of life, you got to be such a good little rider in the car.  You had such a fun summer last year trying so many new things and keeping up with your brothers.  You love to be in the water and play with anything outside in the sunshine. 

 

Mid-summer you started taking your first steps and by August you were a pro at walking.  At two you are a very active and very busy boy!  You started talking early as well and never stopped.  You listen to everything your brothers say and try to repeat it all.  At two years old you now are saying 4-6 word sentences and talk about EVERYTHING!

We started homeschooling this past fall and you love that we are all together all day and to join in with our learning fun!  You have learned so much so fast this past year.  You can count to 5, sing your ABC's, know most of your colors, a few shapes and pretty much all of your body parts!  You love "doing" school with us or playing in the playroom and listening to it all. We always find you around the house looking at your books.  You are such a good little learner.

 

 

You had so much fun with fall activities of going to the pumpkin patch, picking apples and celebrating Halloween.  You take it all in with such curiosity and excitement!

You have jumped right in with your big brother with your love of sports.  You scream "Win, win, win, WIN", as you throw your arms up in excitement!  You loved to go to the Hockey games this winter and especially loved baseball games this spring (although maybe it was because of the yummy peanuts that your Daddy introduced you to!).

 

You absolutely adored celebrating Advent and Christmas this past year.  We would find you sitting by the Christmas tree or the Advent wreath just looking at the lights.  You love baby Jesus so much and would sing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus and walk around with the baby Jesus' from our manger scenes.

 

We didn't have a lot of snow this winter, but what we did have you loved.  We spent a lot of time cuddling and just soaking your little personality up as you continued to grow into your own little self. 

 

You loved breastfeeding and your special time with Mommy.  We decided to start weaning when you were about 20 months old and you did great with the adjustment.  We always make sure to have special time together the two of us no matter what we are doing!

 

 

 

Your big brothers cherish you and you have developed such special relationships with both of them.  You learn so much from them (the good and the bad) and love playing with them all of the time.  The first thing that you want in the morning is to know where your brothers are and the last thing you want at night is hugs and kisses from them! 

 

You love learning about Jesus, Mary and the Saints.  You fold your hands together in prayer, have learned the sign of the cross and always say "Amen" at the end of prayers!  You are still sometimes a challenge at Mass and have Mommy and Daddy praying for special graces, but you are also working on getting better and better each week.  You always know what is coming next during church; bringing money to the priest at the offering, giving the sign of peace or going up for communion. 

 

  

You loved learning more about Jesus during Lent and Easter and had so much fun learning that you have a new brother or sister on the way this next fall.  This is the first time in our family that we have had someone make it to their 2nd birthday without another baby in the house and I think for now you are loving being the baby for now!  You are equally excited though for the new little baby to come along and always kiss Mommy's tummy and say "Hi, baby!"  You will be a fantastic big brother!

 

This spring we continue to have fun outside and you have been loving riding your trike and now your new balance bike and watching your brothers play sports.  You also love to play and cuddle with your puppies.  After seeing your brother potty train you decided that you should join in as well.  You are not fully potty trained but are doing a great job!  You are getting so big, so fast! 

 

 

 

 

You are such a joy and blessing to our family and I cannot wait to continue having the honor to watch you grow and learn.  Happy 2nd birthday to our sweet little Luke.

I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

 

 

June: The Month Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I love the month of June and finding ways to make Ordinary Time special after all of the celebration of Easter!  In June the month is dedicated to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and we also have three really special feast days that we celebrate within the Church!  First, we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday (the feast day is typically transferred to the Sunday following), followed by the Sacred Heart of Jesus 19 days after Pentecost, followed by the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!  It is such a wonderful time to focus on God's love for each of us, especially through the gift of the Blessed Sacrament.  As the month begins it is important to look for fun activities and ideas to help draw each of us closer to Jesus, and also to teach our children about these important feast days!

The Feast of Corpus Christi honors Jesus's institution of the Holy Eucharist.  With this feast day the tradition of a Corpus Christi Procession began back in the 14th century.  My hometown has a beautiful Corpus Christi Procession which you can learn about HERE with a great video and it explains it as "Processing through the community with the Blessed Sacrament on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is a venerable Church tradition. The procession is an outward demonstration of Catholic faith and belief in the real presence of the risen Christ, under the appearance of the Consecrated Host."  Make sure to take the time to see if your town has a Corpus Christi Procession  that you could attend and if not try to find some extra time in Adoration to appreciate the gift that Jesus gave to us in the Holy Eucharist.

As the month of June continues we are able to celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary!  The Catholic Company explains that "In 1672, Christ appeared to a French Visitation nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Over a series of visits, Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary the importance of devotion to His Sacred Heart. He asked that His heart, wounded on the cross and continually wounded by ingratitude of men for his sacrifice for them, be venerated and adored as an embodiment of His Divine mercy and love."  We can help show our love and dedication to Jesus by frequently receiving the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession. 

To help celebrate these feast days Catholic Icing has a lot of great ideas for crafts and other activities. In our home we will talk about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, do a fun craft and make a yummy dessert from the ideas over at Family at the Foot Of the Cross as well!

Sacred Heart Cake

Strawberry Sacred Heart Cake

If you are looking for something personally to help draw yourself closer to Jesus and enhance your prayer life, June is the perfect time to start the Do-It-Yourself retreat of Consoling the Heart of Jesus.  This beautiful retreat is very inspiring and is filled with fantastic insights and great resources.

"In the Sacred Heart, every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden.  In that Divine heart beats God's infinite love for everyone.  For each one of us individually."
~Bl. John Paul II~

Lessons of Motherhood

 

I am always trying to find creative things to do with our children when my husband is working night shifts at the hospital and is then sleeping the next day.  Today after mass we went to the park for a fun little photo shoot to try to stay out of the house and let him sleep.  As I was glancing through some of the pictures I took I was reflecting on the beautiful book Rosaries Aren't "Just" For Teething that I have been reading the past few weeks.  It is good for the soul.  A full review will come soon, but some of my favorite quotes and reflections are scattered below!

 

 

"What we do is no small task.  We may not be raising the Son of God, but we are bringing up the next generation of saints.  And in turn, I believe they are making us saints as well" (Mary Helen Wofford)

 

 

"Mary and Jesus, from the beginning, show us that we needn't be afraid of that suffering.  We don't need to shy away from the less-than-ideal reality of motherhood in our world.  Our motherhood, when accepted as a gift from God, has eternal meaning.  Mary gives us hope, so much hope, that motherhood is about more than this world tells us.  It is about love, true love.  And true love may lead to pain, but it also is a cause of joy. " (Michele E. Chronister)

 

"Being a mom isn't just about the moments of grace we experience because of our children.  It's mostly about, and lived through, the daily grind of parenthood.  It's "all that other stuff" we say and do as parents that doesn't necessarily pop out as anything special or extraordinary, especially when compared to the grace filled moments" (Katie Busch)