Mia is kicked back waiting for the parade to start at 11. (wonder how long she'll stay that way?)
Made it to Congress before it closed and managed to score a parking spot near a Starbucks - crucial to refreshment and potty needs, especially potty needs.
Weather is perfect temperature and cloud cover. Cloudy but not rainy. Little breezy but shouldn't affect balloons.
Only 3 of us this year. Emily and Alexa have play practice at church. Kara had sleep practice. Kelsie got up early to join Niblet & me.
Oops. Time to go potty.
The girls painted their pumpkins this week. This morning I painted a pumpkin* in honor of today being Mia Belle's due date:
What's more fun is that I had a doctor's appointment this morning, w/a non stress test. Thankfully the doc & nurse appreciated my attempt at humor, despite the trail of paint flakes I left throughout the office.
As for a baby update....ain't nuthin' goin' on. 1cm. Mia's OK & I'm OK so we are just going to see what happens.
*I'm not a big Halloween fan, which makes Mia's due date quite ironic. October 31st is also Reformation Day. Since I am a fan of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation I sometimes use that to answer the due date question. The humor of connecting Luther's October 31st posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on a church door in 1517 to me "posting" them on my belly 500 years later is a stretch. Imagine this painted on my pumpkinesque tummy:
...not quite the same the same effect as a pumpkin.
Is Cinco de Mayo a cooking term for synchronization of a condiment? Not so much. Neither is it Mexican Independence Day. My first year of blogging I did a post explaining it. Here's the do over of my May 2, 2005 post: (Just to prove I'm still a blogger and still breathing...not necessarily in that order.)
In Texas, we hear a lot about Cinco de Mayo this time of year. But how many of us actually know what it is? Allow me to help.
Literally, it is Spanish for the fifth of May.
Historically, it is a Hispanic holiday that celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over the French in 1862 in the Mexican town of Puebla.
It is NOT Mexican Independence Day. That is Dieciseis de
Septiembre or September 16th, which actually commemorates September 16th of
1810, over 50 years before the Cinco de Mayo battle. What Cinco de Mayo does celebrate is a battle significant because
the Mexican army was about half the size of the French army and much less
prepared, yet they managed to defeat them.
According to the History Channel, this was not a major strategic victory, yet was important in boosting Mexican moral. It also, according to Cincodemayo.org, played a major role in relations between Mexico and the United States.Some speculate that since it was during the United States’ Civil War, the U.S. may not have been able to counter a French invasion into the U.S. if the Mexicans had not defeated the French.
Researching this raised more questions than I have time to
answer, but I hope you now have a better understanding of Cinco de Mayo. I do.
For more info:
Go to mexonline.com for an interesting paragraph about who celebrates Cinco de Mayo. Reminded me of the recent beverage commercial with the scenario of a fake mariachi band in Cleveland getting exposed as posers. The drink was bottled in White Plains, New York - where all authentic Mexican beverages are bottled.
This link from about.com has a short, easy to read summary of Cinco de Mayo.
Also on about.com are other articles on Cinco de Mayo's history, activities for children and recipes.
Click on this map to become more geographically literate and to get a
better sense of what happened. (France landed in Veracruz, heading for
Mexico City 600 miles away. The US couldn't offer help because of the
Civil War. Mexican General Saragossa was able to stop the French. This will tell you the rest of the story.)
Added May 4, 2005: Educators (of all "branches") can find useful links and book reviews on the childrenslit.com Themed Review page for Cinco de Mayo.
I had a lovely Mother's Day. The morning was spent finishing up Aaron's b-day party, including a "church bus shuttle" to drop of some kids. When I got back up, Jack serenaded me and blessed me with flowers, chocolate, cards and handmade gifts from the kiddos. In the afternoon I got to take a nap. My sis' called and go to enjoy this month's phone message.
Another fun thing was this Hallmark e-card I got from a crazy ese. It dramatized how kids talk to Mom and what she hears. "We have a bleeeder!!!" is just one of the phrases from the card that are now part of our family vocab. Go see it. You will laugh.
Thanks, strong handsome Jack and kids for a lovely day.
Post Preface:
*An unintentional blog pattern this week was a male name in each post title. Go figure. I'll finish the week-and the pattern-with this post about my favoritest man in the world.
*This pic is the "World's Best Dad" trophy Fifi made, as part of her crafted from love gift basket for Dad.
Though his first & last names are somewhat common, my husband is definitely more than "Just Jack."
Today on Father's Day he played bass in the church worship band both services, came home for a brief rest, then went to prison - to preach. (Though that sounds like he's neglecting his family, he's not. We're careful about over-committing, he's regular serving gigs just happened to fall on the same day this month, which also happened to be Father's Day.) It is indicative of his heart desire to serve God.
I'm thankful Jack has proved to be the father to our children I thought he would when we were dating. How he adored his niece & nephew were indicative of his ability to love kids. He's also taught me about receiving the love of our Heavenly Father.
7 yr old dd Fifi: "My Dad is like Superman, but you should call him Spiritman."
9 yr old ds Gameboy: "He's a good Daddy. He plays games with me."
6 yr old dd Songbird: "He's a great Daddy because he makes me eggs & sings my song & scratches my back."
4 yr old dd Bellaboo (out of breath from playing w/him): "I love Daddy. I like him, he plays games with me. I love Father's Day."
Thanks to my Heavenly Father for my halfpastjack.
As a Christian blogger I would feel remiss if I didn’t post
about one of the two most significant holidays of my faith. (The other is Easter.) I celebrated in the traditional way with
family, friends, Christmas Eve church service, presents, etc. It was a lot like
years past, but there was something different. About 3 this morning I got a
special gift. Do I dare call it an
epiphany? I was thinking about the
irony of why we get gifts when it’s Jesus’ birthday…a simple thing that
confounds the wise. We talk of giving Jesus the gift of our heart, but what
does that mean? This morning I learned what it means for me this year, yet even
that revelation is a gift from God because apart from Him I can do nothing.
The bottom line is that this Christmas will be a memorable
one. I hope to share more later.
The night started off innocently enough as a
get together of 3 families who are “long-time, not seen enough now”
friends. We treated ourselves to pizza
from Papa John’s, threw in a salad for good measure and had plenty of Christmas
cookies. Midway through the evening we took a stroll around the neighborhood,
10 kids (ages 18 months to 12 years)
and 6 adults (30 somethings), to look at Christmas lights. We didn’t set out
with the intent to sing loudly off key as we enjoyed the lights, but on
the way home a few of the girls started singing the Batman version of Jingle
Bells. Kids are always a great excuse to do things you wouldn’t normally do
with a group of adults, so I took advantage of that and redirected their
singing to the traditional Jingle Bells, followed by We Wish You a
Merry Christmas. Then one of the 5 year old girls lead us in Joy to the
World. (Traditional carol versions, not the Three Dog Night Version.) Oh what
fun it is to exercise our 1st Amendment rights…hey!
I’m not much of a caroling fan if you have to stop at people’s house and bug them, but it was fun strolling around singing, especially when we were able to sing of the actual reason for Christmas…Jesus’ birth! I may have to add walk by caroling as a new tradition.
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