Lord have Murphy.

Devlyn had her 4th birthday this week. Happy Birthday, Devlyn! Devon, John and I stayed up the night before making a cute/ugly little Spongebob cake. Family tradition says the birthday person gets to pick what they want for dinner, but Devlyn kept selecting thing like Chili, spaghetti and fries! I don't remember what we had for dinner, but the kids tore it up. Why? Because they knew Spongebob cake was waiting. I think I could have fed them sardines and they would have eaten it that night! If you want to see more pics - slide on over to the linky dinks and click on shutterfly. Then select Devlyn's birthday album.

I mentioned last week that Dad and Devon went to Alabama for Jude's Baptism. Here is a snapshot of the reception. If you look to the sidebar, you can click on the link to my shutterfly account to see more Baptism day photos. (My mama made Jude's gown, which you can see if you visit the Shutterfly. Isn't it beautiful?)

Devon has decided to go through RCIA and has asked me to be her sponsor. It looks like we will be going to meetings every Thursday. Dad is heading up to St. Joe each Wednesday evening for RCIA meetings with my brother-in-law.

Abby had a follow up eye appointment to see how her eyes are adjusting to her glasses. The glasses are helping, but they aren't fixing her problem: Her eyes don't work together. We have to do exercizes with her 3X each day at 5 minutes a shot. We have popcicle sticks decorated with stickers for her to focus on. We hold the stick about a foot away from her face and slowly bring it closter to her nose. At some point, her right eye will pop out of focus. We tell her to blink and focus. If she can't bring her eyes back into focus after a blink or two, we start over. We have another follow up in 2 months to see how her eyes are doing. I think she is already doing better after 1 week of exercises. I'm excited to see how she will be doing in two months at her next follow up.

Melanie, Shelby and Noah came down for a day visit last weekend. Noah spent the afternoon with the boys, Devlyn, John and my dad. The girls came out to see Tell Tale Electric Poe with Gammy, Devon, Abby & Connie. This show is a series of 3 Poe poems and 3 stories all linked together, underscored and accented by electric guitar. Our middle and high school audiences have been enjoying it. Jack even came out one day to be with me in the booth. He got tired of listening to all the talking though and spent half the show engrossed in how the light from my mag-light made funny patterns on the carpet when pressed up against the carpet tiles... If you want to check out the Coterie, you can find a link over in the side bar under Linky Dinks.

Devlyn cut her bangs the other week. It seems she was in John's bathroom and decided to root through his cabinet. She found a pair of scissors and grabbed a handful of bangs - front and center. Then she lopped them off. Mom did her best to fix her up until we could get her out for a full on hair cut. (And here is a better picture of Devon with her new short do.)

Did I tell you Mom got a new car? She and Dad bought it a few weeks ago while John and I had the boys in Chicago. Mom called to tell me about her new car. I asked "What did you get?" She replied with "A tank." Wouldn't you know it, that name stuck. The kids love to ride in Tank. Every time we get ready to go somewhere, they are asking if we are going in Tank. Tank, Tank, Tank.

Did you know our washing machine bit the dust? Let me tell you that it was not pretty at our house the whole week we went without a washing machine. That was laundry for 10 people, yo. Anyway - John and I bought that washing machine and dryer with wedding gift money and for an odd reason I nearly cried when the thing died. Did I cry because I knew a replacement was going to run us $700 or more? Did I cry because it was a wedding gift? Did I cry because I felt gloomy and thought "This is an omen..."? Did I cry because this was just one more item in the stress bucket? Or did I cry because it was one more thing we got to charge on the olde credit card? I'm thinking all of the above. Well, the new washer is slightly amazing. It is one of those energy efficient front loaders. You should see these things in action - the tub spins faster than the drum in your dryer. The clothes are nearly dry when they come out of the wash. The thing has so many buttons that I am glad John is in charge of laundry. (We made a deal YEARS ago that I will not do laundry at home -unless we are desperate- because I do laundry at work.)

When I was little, my mom would use her finger to write love notes on our palms or back. She would always tell us what she was writing. I always called this "softing". I would ask her to soft me. She has started this up with the kids and Wy especially loves it. He asks if he can write on my hand, my face, my toes. He always writes "I wuv Mommy" while scratching a jagged nail across the sensitive flesh of my palm. That child always has a split nail. Do I ever notice that he has a split nail until he softs me somewhere like the top of my toe? Does it matter? I'll take the softing and deal with the nail.

Jack went to Sunday school with Abby and Connie last Sunday. This was the second time he has gone out with the rest of the kids. I think he is the youngest in the group, but I don't worry about him. He is a really well behaved little guy and he was with 2 of his cousins.

We are getting started on the little ones doing homework. Mom picked up a few books geared towards teaching Pre K kids skills to prepare for reading and writing. Jack is very excited each day about starting his homework, though he is quick to say "I can't do it." I keep telling him it is ok if you can't do it, but you always have to try. And after a try or two, he has completed the task! Devlyn could sort of care less about the homework. She is good to sit down with you if you want, but she is just as happy playing somewhere else. Here we have artwork by Jack & Wyatt. I can't believe how good Jack's hand-eye coordination is getting.

Remember I told you about Murphy cat? The one we took to a farm? Well, the boys bless Murphy in our night time prayers. Wyatt goes a little further than night time prayers though...We were at mass last Sunday and when we say "Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy." Wyatt said "Lord have Murphy. Christ have Murphy. Lord have Murphy." I know wander around the house sighing "Oh, Lord have Murphy."

And with that, I leave you until next week friends. Love and blessings to you all.
Owenland Park