Commence Container Garden Experiment

So last year at the end of the growing season, I wrote some notes to myself.  These can be summed up by the following:  Holy Banana Peppers, My Ground and/or Dogs Suck, Grow Everything in Pots Next Year.

Soooooo....pots.  Actually, containers of many variations.  Any kind of container I could find that could withstand the elements and contain dirt.  In my vision, they are beautifully jumbled and homey looking.  In reality?  Not so much.

Additionally, in the off season - or "frozen tundra of hell" season - I researched container gardening like the good little bookworm I am and found self watering do-it-yourself containers made from Rubbermaid tubs.  Less watering?  Count me in.  However....also not aesthetically pleasing.

So I have a collection of hodgepodge containers and ugly tubs - or as my husband calls it..."It looks likes someone threw their trash over our fence.". Being a wonderful husband and very smart man, he only gave this opinion after I talked about how I needed to do something to make it more attractive.  Then he told me he wasn't worried, because although he does not always see the rhyme or reason in my vision, he knows it always comes together beautifully in the end.

There could be a life metaphor in there, but this a blog about my garden....sooooo....

These are the before pictures, the ones I took today as we started raking out the backyard and pulling out the patio cushions and moving pots.  I know it looks a little crazy, but have a little faith.

It will come together beautifully in the end.

Bad Elbow, Good Aunt

Apologies to all my childrens' aunts, but Aunt Lucy wins best aunt of the year award today.

Our story begins at three this afternoon as we arrive at the roller rink for my nephew's birthday party.  It is Baby Boy's first time on skates and he is alternately thrilled and terrified.  Mama has skates on, too...and we make our way around the carpet a bit before braving the actual rink.

Our turn on the rink is too much excitement, and Baby Boy wants off at the first exit so we get off and stand next to a nearby bench talking to my brother.  I am holding a clingy, uncertain Baby Boy when I hear a woman yell behind me.  Before I can even turn my head she has plowed into me, taking my legs out from under me in a matter of seconds.

Because I have Baby Boy on the left, I turn my body to the right and land on my arm.  Baby Boy landed in my lap, his uncle having jumped out and helped guide him down.  He is totally fine, although he thinks skating is now the work of the devil.  Me?  Not so fine.  Fractured my elbow.  My right elbow.  My dominant elbow.  Ugh.

All of this went down at my nephew's birthday, so Jack and our kids stayed and Aunt Lucy volunteered to take me to the ER.  She was awesome.  She talked me through the med express and then the ER.  She made me laugh after two sets of excruciating xrays made me cry.  She let me have her cupcake.  She made sure I put something in my stomach when I started taking pain pills.  All of this....makes her a fabulous sister.

But THEN...

Before the party, I had gone to Joanns and gotten tulle and ribbon.  My 13 and 9 year olds are running their first 5k today with me (well, that was the plan)  and really wanted tutus.  I had started them and planned on making a little one for Baby Girl for the parade, too.  When we left for the birthday party I had almost two hours of work left on this project, all of it needing two working hands.

After five hours in the ER with me, Aunt Lucy stayed at my house after we all went to bed and finished all the tutus, including a cute little one for Baby Girl.  And she cleaned up all the mess.  And she is coming over pre-race to help them all get ready.  Best.Aunt.Ever.

For the Love of Church

Today is Sunday.  I love Sundays.

Growing up, Sundays were days we didn't have to do chores or be productive.  Sundays were days we all sat together in pretty much the same pew, week after week, learning about the power of prayer. Sundays were days we went out to eat for lunch and had fun afternoon adventures and visited grandparents who usually gave us treats and told great stories.  Sundays were relaxing and they were peaceful and they were...family.

As a young adult, sliding my butt into that familiar pew kept me grounded and brought me that same sense of peace that I remembered from childhood.  It was safety and comfort and rejuvenation as I navigated adulthood and landed where I am today.

And today...as a mom...I try to provide that same feeling for my family.  I want to give my kids that peace, that place to set down the rest of the world and just be family.  Our blended family is a little different in that our big kids are new to this church and this tradition I am trying to build, so I get a little extra joy when I see them participate or ask questions.  It makes me feel like I am being successful in creating this space for them.

So you can imagine how happy I was to see Big Boy paying close attention to church this past Sunday.  Every time I glanced over at him, he was looking around and checking out everything around him.  He watched the altar and eyeballed the stained glass windows and the cross and the baptismal font.  I smiled inside and expected to get some questions after Mass as we mini-vanned our way to lunch.

Here is what I got....

Big Boy raced home after lunch and immediately ran to the computer where he began to start muttering about walls and a roof.  About a half hour later he came to get me to check it out.  As of now, Corpus Christi Parish is officially...Minecrafted.

Yup.

Big Boy spent all that time checking out the dimensions and shape of the church so he could go home and recreate our church in his video game world.  It is located up the hill from his fishing shack, directly next to his giant treehouse.  And it has a giant cross on the outside.  And perfectly proportional windows, walls, and doors.  The inside even has pews and chairs - just like our church- and an altar with a font and candles.  There is even a cry room for all the noisy minecraft babies.  Big Boy is very good at constructing this stuff.  No detail missed.

I am proud of him.  And he may not have had any God related questions this week per se, but construction brought up a very educational conversation about the sacristy and baptismal font.  So my kids will learn about God and faith and peace -  through church and tradition and family...and Minecraft.