Today was a Sunday school day and since P had to work this morning, I had all 4 kids at church by myself. I actually feel like I'm getting the hang of it a bit--even though I'd rather have help. Omega took his morning nap again during mass, CD only needed to go to the bathroom once, LE had Sunday school during the mass and was happy when he came back, and TO was my biggest problem. Evidently, sitting through mass is just too hard for my 8 year old. My 4 year old has no problem--it's my 8 year old who feels the need to chatter throughout the whole mass. LE was doing his best at behaving until TO moved to sit next to him. Then neither one of them could keep their mouths shut. Very frustrating to me, but in reality, it probably wasn't as bad as I'm assuming it was.
I finished another winter hat for Omega--and surprise, surprise--it's too big. Six attempts and 4 are too big and 2 are too small. I'm giving up and moving on to another project. I'm going to make a baby blanket for my friend M (due in Feb) or P's cousin (due in Mar). At least this project will be okay if it's a half inch too small or too big.
Tomorrow morning I have Omega's 9 month check up. I'm interested to see how much he's grown. In my opinion, he's really pudged up quite a bit. In the afternoon, I have a meeting with the counselor at the tech school. I've been accepted into the nursing program, now I need to see what the next step is. I know I won't get into the core classes for a few more semesters but I'll be able to take some generals in the mean time. Hopefully I'll find out enough to make my worries about the program go away.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
a churchin' we will go
Not being a terribly religious person--I've gone through first communion, but not confirmed. I kind of always planned on letting the kids decide, once they got older, if they wanted to be religious or not. I figured that the baptisms would get them started in the right direction, but not being confirmed myself, I hoped that the religious education could fall on my husband's shoulders. And, I guess to some extent it did. He said sign them up and I did. Now, because he milks on Sunday mornings, it suddenly falls onto my shoulders to take them.
Now it's official. I've been to church more this year than I have in the last 3 years. And by the end of the year I'll have been to church more times this year than since I graduated from high school. Perhaps, I'm realizing the error in this when CD thought Omega should wear his gown to church again, as the last time we were there was his baptism.
I was honestly kind of dreading this morning. I'm not typically a children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard kind of mom--I don't think my kids would let me if I wanted to. But, I've always been terrified of having the benchful of unruly children. Today was our first test.
Well, five of us went to church and five of us came back--success! Actually, the kids did really well, considering their ages. We made a 7:45 run to WalMart to get some small notebooks and pens for them to have in church. Of course, they don't carry the cheap 97 cent pocket notebooks, and we ended up with some small $2.50 5-star ones. And I grabbed a pack of pens really quick, because they were all different colors. I assumed that they all wrote in the same blue/black color, but surprise, they wrote in the color of their barrel. Gotta love a surprise like that.
They called the 4 and 5 year olds (not age, 4K and kindergarten would be more appropriate) up to the front and they got a blessing from the father and then sent on their way. They stayed out until the offering--which meant that LE had to sit through communion. In all he did okay, but when he came back he wanted to loudly point out everyone who was in his class with him--there were about 20 or so of them. By the end he was crying because I kept telling him to turn around and be quiet. At one point in time, he was looking at the lady sitting behind him as she was praying and said to me "hey, I think she's sleeping." Sigh. Well, maybe next time he'll get it.
CD did really well, and was willing to fill page after page in her notebook with "A." Toward the end, she was busy looking at the hymnal and somehow managed to drop it--3 times!
TO kept busy with the hymnal and her notebook. She showed me her first page a few minutes into the mass "Dear Diary. I am at church." I'm guessing her entries each week will read about the same.
Omega fell asleep shortly after LE left. I had kind of planned for this--and saved his bottle for church. He slept until after communion, and couldn't ask for anything better--now I just hope that he keeps his same nap schedule for the next 4 years :)
TO had Sunday School (well they call it Faith Formation down here but that will take some getting used to). Came home with a canvas bag that she needs to bring back and forth each weekend, a huge workbook and flashcards. Somehow I'm thinking she might get a bit more out of this than I ever got out of CCD.
Next weekend there's no class and the weekend after that we'll be in Florida. But I'm giving myself permission to only go on the Sundays that the kids have class. At least for now that will be enough. I'm hoping that each weekend will get better in church for the kids. I may need to try to find some word finds to tape into LE's book to keep him a bit more entertained. I guess I will settle for behavior like today. No one seemed to be giving us weird looks on the way out the door.
All I really want to get out of church at this point in time is that relaxed feeling that I used to get. But I'll probably have to settle on just making it through without a scene. At least until the kids are older.
Now it's official. I've been to church more this year than I have in the last 3 years. And by the end of the year I'll have been to church more times this year than since I graduated from high school. Perhaps, I'm realizing the error in this when CD thought Omega should wear his gown to church again, as the last time we were there was his baptism.
I was honestly kind of dreading this morning. I'm not typically a children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard kind of mom--I don't think my kids would let me if I wanted to. But, I've always been terrified of having the benchful of unruly children. Today was our first test.
Well, five of us went to church and five of us came back--success! Actually, the kids did really well, considering their ages. We made a 7:45 run to WalMart to get some small notebooks and pens for them to have in church. Of course, they don't carry the cheap 97 cent pocket notebooks, and we ended up with some small $2.50 5-star ones. And I grabbed a pack of pens really quick, because they were all different colors. I assumed that they all wrote in the same blue/black color, but surprise, they wrote in the color of their barrel. Gotta love a surprise like that.
They called the 4 and 5 year olds (not age, 4K and kindergarten would be more appropriate) up to the front and they got a blessing from the father and then sent on their way. They stayed out until the offering--which meant that LE had to sit through communion. In all he did okay, but when he came back he wanted to loudly point out everyone who was in his class with him--there were about 20 or so of them. By the end he was crying because I kept telling him to turn around and be quiet. At one point in time, he was looking at the lady sitting behind him as she was praying and said to me "hey, I think she's sleeping." Sigh. Well, maybe next time he'll get it.
CD did really well, and was willing to fill page after page in her notebook with "A." Toward the end, she was busy looking at the hymnal and somehow managed to drop it--3 times!
TO kept busy with the hymnal and her notebook. She showed me her first page a few minutes into the mass "Dear Diary. I am at church." I'm guessing her entries each week will read about the same.
Omega fell asleep shortly after LE left. I had kind of planned for this--and saved his bottle for church. He slept until after communion, and couldn't ask for anything better--now I just hope that he keeps his same nap schedule for the next 4 years :)
TO had Sunday School (well they call it Faith Formation down here but that will take some getting used to). Came home with a canvas bag that she needs to bring back and forth each weekend, a huge workbook and flashcards. Somehow I'm thinking she might get a bit more out of this than I ever got out of CCD.
Next weekend there's no class and the weekend after that we'll be in Florida. But I'm giving myself permission to only go on the Sundays that the kids have class. At least for now that will be enough. I'm hoping that each weekend will get better in church for the kids. I may need to try to find some word finds to tape into LE's book to keep him a bit more entertained. I guess I will settle for behavior like today. No one seemed to be giving us weird looks on the way out the door.
All I really want to get out of church at this point in time is that relaxed feeling that I used to get. But I'll probably have to settle on just making it through without a scene. At least until the kids are older.
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