The Legend of the Dogwood

When I was a little kid, we had a magnet on my fridge that said this:

In Jesus' time, the dogwood grew 

To a stately size and a lovely hue. 

'Twas strong and firm it's branches interwoven 

For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen. 

Seeing the distress at this use of their wood 

Christ made a promise which still holds good: 

"Never again shall the dogwood grow 

Large enough to be used so. 

Slender and twisted, it shall be 

With blossoms like the cross for all to see. 

As blood stains the petals marked in brown 

The blossom's center wears a thorny crown. 

All who see it will remember Me 

Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree. 

Cherished and protected, this tree shall be 

A reminder to all of my agony."

Every spring I would wait for the one little Dogwood in my backyard to bloom to see if it would once again prove the poem to be true. 
And now, as an adult, I am again captivated by their symbolic nature.

A reminder that beauty can come from pain, and from despair, hope.

Happy Easter to you and yours.

A Bunch Of Pictures Of My Spoiled Rotten Children

Let's dive right into Christmas morning:

So in my husband's family, every Christmas morning, the kids had to line up on the stairs and take pictures one by one coming down. In my family, we were allowed to open one gift under our mini-tree upstairs and then could wait around the big tree until my parents had coffee. Apparently, I have a lot of my parents in me, because while Kev was running around turning on Bing Crosby and trying to get the boys to wait at the top of the stairs so I could take a picture, I was fumbling half awake, noting to myself that next year, coffee before stairs will definitely be instated. So this is the best picture we got. 

Sorry, Kev. 

 Bennett is OB-sessed with these Little People flap open books. When I found "What People Do" I was so excited to have something new to read with him. And we have read it 2981340928439028 times since last Wednesday.

 Wells. 

Poor third child. At first, we weren't going to buy him anything, because as long as we feed him, he is pretty unconcerned with life, but then we realized that the boys would notice and think he was on the Naughty List, so we ran out and grabbed a bunch of 12 month clothes and wrapped them up. On Christmas Eve we also realized that he didn't have a stocking, so we flipped the one around that said our dead dog's name and passed it off as Wells'. 

Parents of the Year over here. 

Christmas lights are ah-mazing!

 On Cullen's Christmas list was: A football, A football tee for kick offs, football gloves and a drum. He got all of the above, plus a few extras.

 Bennett asked for Monster Trucks and cars. His wishes were also granted.

I asked for wine. Check. 

Kev didn't ask for much, so we got him fancy bourbon. 

 Our sweet neighbor Gus was cleaning out his toys before Christmas and asked if he could give Bennett this Police-Fire house because B always plays with it when we are over at their house. It was definitely one of Bennett's favorite things and so sweet of Gussy to think of us!

 The aftermath

 Later that day, my family came over to celebrate Christmas Day and Kev and Bummy surprised me with this: 

Patent pending- don't steal our idea!

 Ever since Wells was born, one boy has to be in the third row of my Yukon and I always complain about what a pain it is to have to throw things back at them and how much easier my life would be if I had a basket and a pulley system, so Kev and Bummy somehow game up with this ingenious invention. It even runs on a motor and I have a little button to send it back and bring it back up to the front. Amazing, right? 

All in all, it was a wonderful, blessed day with our family (we spent Christmas Eve visit my Oma and Opa and going to Mass with Kev's parents, but no pictures were taken).

We are so grateful for all that we have and the people we have to share it with. 

As an end note, here are my boys, wearing helmets, singing songs about Baby Jesus. 

Merry Christmas!

Things

A few notables:

-We have been trying to do a lot of the holiday highlights DC has to offer and while we didn't cross off everything on our list, here are a few we did do:

Zoolights at the National Zoo.
We actually did this a few weeks ago but I never blogged about it. Luckily, my mom did. Here is the post about that.

Christmas at National Harbor.
We headed over to the Gaylord National to see the light/music show last Sunday. Upon arrival, Bennett scarfed down a cookie, and then threw it up... All down Kev's back... We didn't see the light show.

At least they looked cute on the way there

Season's Greetings at the Botanical Gardens
Last Thursday, just Bennett, Wells and I went on a little adventure into the city to 'see the trains' at the Botanical Gardens.

We are hoping to go see Christmas at Mt. Vernon this afternoon, but we will see if that actually happens.

-Wells had his 4 month check up on Wednesday morning. He weighs 17lbs 11oz and is 27 inches long.

Yay! I am giant!

-I updated my blog list over there ---> to all of your lovely people who I read often and who comment over here often even when I am behind on reading. So if you are looking for some new blogs, check out anyone on that list. Chances are they are funny and/or good photographer and/or have cute kids. If I left you out and you want to be over there, please let me know! I know there are some that I overlooked.

-Another blog business thing: do you follow your blogs through facebook? I have been toying with the idea of doing a 'fan' page to keep you updated on when a new post goes up. I am just curious how many of you would find that helpful?

-Friday morning I have the boys' Christmas Pageant, Kev's graduation from his Major course and my grandma's retirement mass from the Elementary school I went to as a kid. They all start at 9. If anyone know how to split themselves in thirds, please pass along the info! (For the record, I am going to the boys' pageant, my father-in-law and almost brother in law are going to Kev's graduation and my mom, brothers and several aunts and uncles will be there for Grandma, but o how I wish I could be at all 3!)

-Speaking of my future brother in law, my sister in law is getting married next Saturday and I got to go to her final bridal fitting last night. She seriously looks like she walked out of a magazine. I can't wait!

-You read that right up there: she is getting married next Saturday. So we are looking at Christmas Eve visiting my Oma and Opa and going to Mass with Kev's parents. Christmas morning at our house. My family and Grandparents over for Christmas Day, Christmas at Kev's parents on the 26th, Rehearsal Dinner on the 27th, wedding on the 28th. Whew. 

With all that said, I won't be blogging next week and will just be enjoying this special time with my family. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and Merry Christmas!

(There will likely be an instagram here and there, so feel free to follow along @katedaffodils)

On Choosing Traditions

The first holiday season that Kev and I were together, we spent Thanksgiving with his family. 

(It must be noted that we come from very different families: his is very emotional and mine is not.)

 That first Thanksgiving, he told me that we would go around the table and say what we were Thankful for before dinner (thank goodness he warned me) and I dreaded that moment because in my family, we just assume, we don't say those kind of thing aloud. 

Along came dinner and I was one of the first to share. I mumbled something to the effects of "Kev, and that we are getting married" turned bright red and stared at my plate for the next 20 minutes while everyone else spoke. 

(It is a miracle that his family still let him marry me after that awkwardness.)

A month later, it was Christmas and Kev was spending it with my family. My youngest brother was 14 and had spent the last 3 months in a wheelchair after a dirt bike accident and Christmas was the beginning of him walking on his own again. For the last gift of the morning, my two other brothers presented Tommy with a poem along these lines:

Rose are Red,

Violets are Blue

You no longer have to ride in a cart,

So here is a three second head start.

And then proceed to chase him through the house and beat him up. 

(It is a miracle that my family let me marry Kev after he didn't participate.)

The point? A great challenge of marriage, especially once you have a kids, is deciding which traditions to chose from each family. We are still learning, deciding and picking up on our own new traditions, even after 8 years together.

One family tradition that in a non-negotiable for me is the making of Gingerbread Houses. 

As a kid, I so clearly remember my mom pulling out my grandfather's hand written recipes and cutouts and making the houses with us (and often a houseful of aunts and cousins).

My grandfather's recipes

 I loved the touch and smell of Papa's recipe book (he passed away when I was in 3rd grade) and even though I cheated and bought the store kit from Michael's, I want my boys to know how special these houses are.

All these years later, I am thankful for both of our families and the traditions that they have taught us to share with our boys.

Sleep, Thanksgiving Part 2, Rollin'

Part 1: Sleep

I got 8 hours straight on Tuesday night, thanks to my Mom and Dad. I hadn't had more than two hours straight in weeks between the three boys and by Tuesday, I was extremely grumpy and frustrated. And since, as a mother, you want what's best for your children (even if they are 30 year old mother themselves), my mom offered to keep all 3 boys overnight. All 3! I felt bad, but the lure of a quiet, sleep-filled house overcame that guilt and off to the 'Tower' (my parents' condo just a few miles up the road) they went. Kev and I decided to go see a movie (Catching Fire- it was awesome, especially since I just re-read the book over the weekend, I was very impressed with the adaptation onto screen) and then I was promptly to bed at 11, woke up once at 3:45 in a panic because no one had been up, and then back to sleep until 7. 

Truth: I feel like a new person. I was a better mom yesterday because of it. 

I hope one day my boy's wives like me enough to let me return the favor.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Part 2: Thanksgiving, Part 2

We left my parents' farm after dinner on Thursday and continued another 30 miles south to my brother and sister in law's house to continue the celebration of Thanks with their kids, Kev's younger siblings and his parents. 

Friday morning, we decided to go bowling

I love Owen's prep

And Scott's hop

After a lunch of Five Guys and antiquing with the girls, we had dinner and then sang Happy 22nd Birthday to Uncle Mike and ended the night with spirited game of Catch Phrase.

Saturday morning, we were off early to head home to see my best friend Bridget, her husband Aaron and their sweet girl McKenna, and then of course, there was the game.

The sunrise at Kyle and Pete's, if you like that sort of thing

Sunday, we lazed around and started setting up for Christmas. 

Part 3: Rollin'

So we now have a turf field in our basement-basement (the lower 4th level of our house) and the boys are loving playing down there. Last night, we were hanging out playing football and Wells was laying on his tummy, and the POOF, on his back. He did it twice and the cutest part was how excited the boys were, especially Bennett. He was so proud of his "Baby Walls". 

This turf was in my parents' old house. Who knew it would become the family heirloom?

And I think that catches us up on everything! Happy Thursday!

The Post About Thanksgiving

As I mentioned last week, the holidays feel a little strange this year because for the first time in 5 years, we aren't jumping through hoops to get 'home'. Therefore, Thanksgiving seemed to appear out of nowhere because there wasn't a huge build up before showing up to my mom's on Thursday morning. Of course, it was still awesome, and the two hour car ride was so much better than packing our life for 3 weeks to trek across country. 

(Side Note: we actually had a big family dinner the Saturday before Thanksgiving with all my brothers and my two younger brothers' girlfriends. It was one of those nights where we ate too much, stayed up too late and laughed a ton. Of course, I didn't take a single picture in those 24 hours, but if I can include it in what I am thankful for, then know that I was very thankful for that day, my mom's friend chicken and the awesome friendships I have with my family as we are all now adults. It is a really special thing.)

So Thanksgiving... my brother Joey had to work on Friday and couldn't make it out, and Bummy and Leen went west to Nashville to visit her family, so it ended up being a pretty intimate dinner with just my parents, my boys, Kev, me and my youngest brother Tommy. 

We spent the day outside, throwing rotten apples with sticks (boy game, obviously), climbing the tree fort, making fun of Tommy, drinking the good wine with mom and eating a delicious dinner on a beautifully scaped table.

Pictures as proof:

What's wrong, Wells?

 Ooooo, you like Marme more than me. Clearly.

 And as the sun went down, we packed up the car again to head a little further south to my sister in law's for two days. But more on that tomorrow.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

(I haven't had any time to read blogs or respond to emails in the past week, but I promise I will stop by soon!)