Bases Loaded with One on Deck

The Story of a Name

Today is the feast day of Saint Catherine of Siena.  Catherine Siena happens to be the name our daughter will be given when she is born.  This is not the name we had picked out in the past, in case any of the boys would have been a girl.  This name was selected over two years ago by her brother Matthew, who when finding out that his Aunt Bryan, after having 8 boys was finally going to have her first girl, decided that God was going to give us a girl too and we were going to name her after the church we go to; Saint Catherine's of Siena.  Now he had already been praying on a regular basis for a sister, and since he picked out such a beautiful name for her we told him to start asking for St. Catherine's intercession as well, which he did, every single day. 

A few months after he had chosen the name, Matthew made his first communion.  The church he made it at was of course St. Catherine's of Siena, and the date; April 29th, same day as today, her actual feast day.

As each month, then each year went by, we all remained hopeful that God would add to our family, but it did not seem to be happening a quickly as we would have liked and most of us started to think that God had only four children in mind for us.  Matthew was the only one who never, ever doubted.  When we would go through the basement each year, there were certain toys we had to hang onto, even though nobody played with them anymore, because Catherine would certainly want to play with them.  We couldn't get rid of furniture, because where would Catherine sleep.  The only thing that could be given away were the boys clothes, because Catherine wouldn't need those.

When we found out I was pregnant, Matthew was sure it was a girl, but he humored us and decided to play along with the decision to pick out a boy's name as well.  He took out his saints book and decided upon Dominic.  It just so happens Saint Catherine had her first vision while walking past the church of the Dominican Friars in Siena, and later on entered a Dominican convent and took the black and white habit of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic. 

So....... it's a very good thing Kent and I happen to love the name just as much as Matthew, and her other brothers do, because after all the prayer Matthew has put in on her behalf, there really is no other name she should have.

THE JOY OF RAISING ANOTHER BOY.....

........will not be ours this time around.  Seems like we will finally get to dive into all things GIRL come August.  We are all thrilled, but we've been feeling that way since December, when we found out I was pregnant.  Most importantly, everything looked perfectly normal on the ultrasound. 

God is so good!

Picture fun!

On Sunday, I tried to take a picture of something and could not because the memory card was full.  I disposed of a few unwanted pictures to make some room, and finally downloaded the pictures (all 141 of them) to my computer on Tuesday.  I guess it had been awhile, so I thought I'd share some of our moments from the past month or so with you.

Here we have some "Nuts" eating "Dough"

Did you get pinched on St. Patrick's Day?  Matthew certainly didn't!

It might be a bit big, but he's doing an excellent job learning how to play it!

Michael, with his first and last copy of "Hunting".  A big thanks to Paula and her dear husband for suggesting a less offensive hunting magazine.  Our first copy of "Fur-Fish-Game" will be on it's way shortly!

Matthew with his game ball after hitting the first "in-the-park" home run of the season.

What we find on our deck several times a year, due to our very large, floor to super high ceiling, living room windows.  Sometimes they just get knocked out and will fly off a sometime later.  This one never did, Michael put on some gloves and put it out on a tree stump for the vultures.

   

Before the Easter sugar rush:

After:

And about one hundred of these from when the boys where in charge of the picture taking.

James-isms

If you were to have a conversation with James and he were to ask you about yesternight, he wants to know something about yesterday.

If he mentions, after the next morning, that would be tomorrow.  If he says it several times in a row, he is referring to many days after that.  (I wouldn't advise asking him when Mommy's baby is due, you might be there for a while!)

And my favorite; if he asks you if he can go outside in his "footprints", he wants to know if he can go outside without shoes on, in just his bare feet!

Food For the Masters

Kent mentioned to a co-worker last week that he planned on watching the Masters Golf tournament this past weekend, as he does every year.  It's actually one of his favorite weekends of the year, and since his allergies are usually so horrible, he really needs to be inside, seeing as he's too runny nosed and watery eyed to be of much good to do anything else. 

Apparently, in this co-workers house, the Master's is just as big of a deal.  And this co-worker also seems to be familiar with the food served at the Masters, saying it's very simple and basic.  There are a few select sandwiches to choose from and 2 kinds of beer; Bud and Bud Light.  One of the sandwich choices offered is a southern concoction called pimento cheese (leave it up to Mrs. Deen to have the perfect recipe).  This is what Kent decided on for lunch. 

Dinner was a little less southern, and certainly not traditional Masters food, but still very tasty none the less.  Thanks Emeril for the recipe!  Your roasted pork enchiladas will definitely be making an appearance at our dinner table again.  Yum!

America Has Voted.....

OK, I admit it.  I watch "American Idol".  Why?  I'm not quite sure, the show irritates me to no end, especially on nights like tonight, when they vote off one of the most talented contestants before at least 4 others that obviously aren't as good. 

Good-bye Michael Johns, you will be missed!  If David Cook goes, I'm never watching the show again!

A Dictionary Please!

Matthew at the dinner table: "John, you sure are stubborn!"

John, completely offended: "I'm not stubborn!" (short pause) "What does stubborn mean?"                                     

This and That

Well, it seems that a certain "little old lady, who lives in a shoe" has a problem with the lack of freshness in my blog (see comment section on my last entry) and my mom sent an email to me this morning asking if I was still having technical problems with my computer because I haven't been blogging.  I have come to the conclusion that it's time I post something new. 

I hope you all don't think I've been sitting around for weeks on end being depressed about my elderly condition, because the fact is I've been rather busy!

For one, Matthew and James are playing baseball, so right now we are spending half of our time at the field.  Par for the course James's games and practices are rarely on the same day as Matthew's.  For the few that actually are, they certainly aren't at the same time and you end up spending 5 hours of your day there.

Not that I don't have time to blog when I'm not at the field, but now that I'm approaching the halfway point in my pregnancy (as a matter of fact, I hit that mark today) I feel this overwhelming need to get ready for school for next year.  So the hours I don't spend at the ball park, I spend on line ordering books, and at my desk, drawing up game plans. 

My first order of books is actually on it's way as I type.  I love getting my book orders in the mail, makes me giddy!  A new box of books represents a brand new year! Another chance to make things more fun and exciting! Another year to try and perfect the virtue of patience! Another year to do all the things you never got around to last year!  Yes, even with a new baby to add to the whole scheme of things, next year school will certainly be better!  Optimism comes in a box, pessimism comes when you try to get back into the swing of things after Christmas break!  I'm still trying to figure out where to get some of that patience though!

So aside from baseball and getting my school ducks all lined up here's what else has been going on around here:

March madness came and will end tonight.  Matthew, Kent and I were the only ones who filled out our brackets this year.  None of us picked the winner (Matthew and I had Texas, Kent had North Carolina) and technically point-wise, Kent and I tied for 1st, but I'm the only one who actually picked one of the teams (Kansas) in tonight's game.   And Burke, I just want you to know that I picked A&M to upset UCLA in round 2.  Oh, so very close!  How awesome would that have been?

We ordered a hunting magazine for Michael, got his first issue last week.  Kent and I thought we better preview it, although I couldn't possibly imagine anything offensive being in there unless you belonged to PETA, but you never know!  Well after finding two advertisements for "male enlargement" products and one for better "whoopee" videos we had to take the scissors to a few pages before handing it over to Michael.  We will be canceling the subscription, and looking for a hunting magazine targeted at a younger non-PETA audience.  Paula, do you or Eric have any suggestions?

And, after some of the emails and news stories that have crossed my path over the last few weeks, I've decided to find a bigger rock to live under.  I know it's important to know what going on in the world, but I must admit I was much happier not knowing that the Girl Scouts are partnered with Planned Parenthood to help teach the girls sex education, and I would have been perfectly content not knowing about the woman who calls herself a man, and is pregnant.   

So if you pass any big boulders while in Georgia, you might want to check to see if I'm there so you can pay me a visit.  I'll be catching up on my favorite blogs (see blog roll on right) and trying post on my blog more often.  Sorry!  No Thin Mints allowed!