My Birthday Boy is 4 years old

On October 15th we celebrated our George's birthday.  This year I asked George what kind of cake would he like for his birthday and for some reason he said rainbow birthday cake.  I was surprised.  I was expecting him to say Mcqueen or Thomas.  I thought he would forget about it after few weeks.  I asked him again two weeks later and he still said Rainbow Cake.    Later I found out that he saw an episode in Cat in the Hat about the King who went after a rainbow and that is where this whole rainbow idea started...haha

I had to make this little 4 year old's wish come true.  I searched online and found the cake with a rainbow on it.  I was not planning on adding any decorations but I just had this urge to make some small simple decorations myself and added a rainbow and some clouds to our ceiling.  For a little 4 year old this was so very special.  Also he is experiencing this for the first time since we had never done any birthday specialties before.

Look at those expressions!!!

I had to add some color

The pic of him when he was only 4 months old

Loved that thrill and excitement on his face after waiting the whole day to see his rainbow cake

My heart was just filled with joy just seeing the brightness on his little face.  The many thank you's he kept saying through out the day for the decorations, the cake, the gift.  What a precious little boy you are my George!!  The Lord has shown his mercy upon me to bless me with a gift as wonderful and precious as you.  I can never forget the day you came into my life.  Just receiving you into my arms after the long 18 hours of labor felt like eternity.  My heart was overflowing with joy and I should say it has not stopped yet.  Everyday the new love that you bring into my life is just countless.  Your questions and your curiosity, your affection and love, your sensitiveness and your understanding amazes me.  You have a special grace that God has given you my George to bring so much happiness into everyone around you.

I am such a blessed mother that I get to stay home with you and Anna and see your beautiful faces everyday from the time you wake up in bed till you go to sleep.  I enjoy every minute I spent with you and I would not give that up at any cost.  I hope that the Lord will be merciful enough to continue giving me this opportunity to stay home with you.

I am so excited that I made the decision to home school you.  I think it is the best decision I have made, and I know it is a good decision when I see your joy in learning and spending time with me.  I cherish teaching you and seeing the excitement in your eyes each time you learn something new.  I love to teach you George and I hope I will be able to continue teaching you and Anna in the coming years.  I know that the Lord has great plans for you.   I pray everyday that the Lord will give me the grace to raise you up to become a Saint.

George,  thank you for being such a great son and teaching me so many different aspects of life through your little ways.  I hope one day when you grow up you will read this and know that you were a big inspiration for me even though you were so little.  I also hope that you will inspire everyone you meet throughout your life.

I love you my Georgu..and may Jesus protect you and Mother Mary cover you with her mantle and fill you with their love.  I love you.

St. Therese's Feast Day Celebration

On October 1st we celebrated the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.  That morning I had to take George to his Art class.  My friend also brought her son to the class. In fact  registered our kids together. Anyways, we were just sharing with each other how we want to celebrate the feast day of St. Therese but realized that I only have the cake mix and she has the frosting to decorate the cake.  We both thought it would be great idea if we could meet at mine or her house to celebrate it together so that we don’t need to go shopping for the cake mix or the frosting.   We both were not sure whether we will be able to do it or not but we went back to our homes.

Taking turns decorating the cupcakes

These two are waiting for their turns :)

That's the best rose we could come up with

Isn't it beautiful?

However towards noon my friend and kids came with the frosting and we were able to bake the cake and decorate it like a Rose remembering St. Therese’s promise of the Shower of Roses from heaven.  It was so beautiful and the children had a great time decorating and eating the cup cakes.  Isn't it wonderful to celebrate the saints feast days??  I really get the feeling of being in communion with Saints when I celebrate their feast days.  I get to read about them, and remember the good deeds they did and specially pray to them and ask for their intercession.   Every time I put in the effort to celebrate any feast days I can see how the Lord brings things together and make it a beautiful celebration just like how He brought the frosting and brought my friend and children to make it even better. 

Trying to get a pic of all three of them

Add caption

My friend Rosie was also celebrating her birthday on the feast day.  So along with the cup cakes I also made a cake with the rest of the batter.  I have to say she is such a special person and a very dear friend to me.  Since she lives just few blocks away from our house it is always fun to meet together and see our children play together and growing in friendship.  We actually met at a park and it is the name of her son that brought us together.  His name was a catholic Saint’s name and I immediately asked his dad whether they were catholic and they were.  Since then we have been good friends and we share our faith and love together.  Our faith is what brought us so close together. 

The cake was so hot the frosting melted

She is such a great mom who is really working hard to bring up her children in faith.  Taking care of her twins and the oldest one who is only 3 years old is a hard job but she still does it with such joy and love.  I have seen her go through the hardship of raising the twins when the oldest boy was only 11/2 years old.  But she did it and now they are almost 2 years old.   She is also homeschooling her children.  I am so blessed to have her in my life.  

lol My anna's expressions

awww

They are always on the move

I don't know how she does it

Getting them ready to walk back to her house

My Rosie

Dear St. Thérèse, 

thou wert always good and obedient 

and always did the Will of God. 

Now thou art a great saint in heaven with God.

Thy loving and tender heart rejoices 

to send down roses upon earth. 

O give me the sweet flower of a great love of Jesus!

Pray for me that I may have all the graces I need. 

You are What You Read

I have never been a reader.  I would always look at books, see the pictures and that would be the end.  However, recently God has been inviting me to read books/blogs/catholic magazines etc and he has been changing my understanding on many things and building up new insights and convictions in my life.  I look back at the past two years and I see how much Lord has helped me to grow spiritually as well as intellectually.  Thank you to the Holy Spirit in leading me and guiding me.  Especially as a mom it is hard to find time to read and with two children who are under 4 years of age really take up a lot of your time.  It was always my excuse because when am I supposed to read when I am surrounded by children 24/7 and with all the other responsibilities you have as a mom/wife/daughter.

This book really helps me to calm me down and help me change my style of raising and disciplining my children.  I am still not done with this book but in the process of finishing it.

I remember in 2012 a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog post of a young mother.  I read that post and it really inspired me.  So I did not stop with that one post, I went back and read all of her posts from when she started her blog back in 2007.  I did not read it in one day but within the next 6 months I made sure to read at least one post a day and I started to see how her life story and day to day little things she wrote started to change me.  Its funny last year her blog got the award for the most inspiring blog.  http://mychildiloveyou.blogspot.com/ .  It really is the most inspiring blog for a mom.  From reading her blog I found out how she made time to read with 8 children under 11 years of age.  She would read while she wait for her child to finish potty, or while she is cooking.  She said she will keep books everywhere, in the bathroom, kitchen, living room, basement so that wherever she is when she gets 5 mins or 10 mins she will pick up a book and read.  I was so amazed by this.  I also knew that if you have to raise that many children and home school them she does need to get some inspiration from somewhere and she said how reading books helped her in this area. By becoming a part of her life through her blog I started incorporating many of those ideas into my life.  I started getting convinced by the many good things she wrote.

This book changed my prayer life and my way of praying in itself.  God really touched me through this book.

Today even though I don't read many books, I do find time to read good books at least one or two a month.  I am so amazed how much a good catholic book can change you, your attitudes, change your lifestyle itself,  inspire you, challenge you and encourage you to be more than what you are right  now.  My prayer life and my relationships with people have changed.  I am able to bring changes everyday in my life.  I am able to see the joy in raising children and building up my relationship with my husband.

Great book for moms who have preschoolers or even older kids.  Gave me great ideas

I also like to share this article with you which I read recently.  It would be great if you can read this.  http://www.setonmagazine.com/catholic/spirituality/you-are-what-you-read-how-spiritual-reading-is-the-healthier-option  It would only take few minutes.