I recently started watching Kids by the Dozen : TLC Family Guide : TLC: with the kiddos. we also like John and Kate Plus Eight... But this show is more interesting because it focuses on many different large families. All of the families are treated in a very positive light. They all are unique and live their lives very differently yet they all are genuine and LIKEABLE people!! I went to the TLC site and saw that the families have short video snippits on different parenting/family issus. The advice and insight they provide is definitely worth checking out!! Now I only wish the mainstream networks would pick up on the fact that a large rowdy family with strong values and "kids by the dozen" can also make for good entertainment!! I'm so tired of seeing the same old Sex and the City-type crap rehashed over and over again!! - There is SOOOOO much humor potential in the life of a good family with a large crew...
Tune-in to Kids by the Dozen on Mondays at 10/9c beginning October 15."
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Dictionary Game - Any Takers?
My dad invented this game thirty years ago. Many a night I remember being kept awake by the grown ups laughter as they played this game together. I envied their fun and vowed someday when I was big I'd have lots of grown up friends and I'd play the dictionary game too! Not so.
I would LOVE to play the game. Tim loves it too now that he's officially caught the "nerd bug" from my side of the family. We are a family of Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and this, dad's game. We want to use our minds and we play for blood!! It's a riot!!
Usually our only time to enjoy this type of "play" is when Kelly and Martin are in town. They are kindred spirits in this respect. I'd really like to indoctrinate-rather invite others to play the dictionary game. Tim always stops me saying "Kris, they're not gonna like that." to which I respond "how do you know - they might like it if they tried it" - Tim continues his pessimism "NO, they're not like us..." Translation: they're not dorky like us...
The game plays like this:
In order for the game to be any fun you've got to have a minimum of 6 players - the more the better!
Everyone is issued uniform notebook paper and pencil.
You must have a very large very extensive dictionary.
One person chooses a word from the dictionary that they do not know and suspect that everyone else does not know the meaning of.
They pronounce that word. Spell it. and give the part of speech.
Everybody writes this down on their paper.
The leader (one who chose the word) writes the definition from the dictionary down on their paper next to the word. They can choose ANY of the given definitions (as there are often more than one) and they may shorten it if it seems lengthy. They may NOT however alter the definition at all.
The others all write down either what they believe may be the definition of the word or make up a definition out of whole cloth as they say. This is where it gets funny (as far as this dork is concerned anyway)
Everyone turns in their definitions face down to the leader.
When all the papers have been turned in the leader "shuffles" the papers to disguise whose is whose.
The leader then very carefully and very seriously must read all the definitions including his or her own (the real one). (this part is hilarious! Trying to keep a straight face while doing this can often be very difficult. It can be especially hard at 2am when you've begun to get slap happy and are high on caffeine and snack foods)
Each person in turn then must choose what he or she believes is the correct (true) definition.
The real definition is revealed.
The ultimate goal of the leader is to choose a word that stumps everyone - no one picks his true definition.
If one or some have chosen the true definition then the leader gains no points!
If the leader stumps everyone then he gets as many points as there are players in the game.
If you choose the RIGHT definition you get a point.
If one or some of the players pick a fake definition then those points go to the author of the fake.
Points are written down under each player's name on a score sheet.
You play a set number of rounds - meaning how many times round the table giving each person a chance to be the leader. One round with a large number of players may take a while.
It's a long game but it's well worth it.
The player with the most points after 3 or 4 rounds (or however many are played) WINS
Tricks to playing well: When choosing a word look for words that don't seem to correspond well with their true definition. Or choose a bizarre word with a very bland or plain definition making others look over your definition because it is so bland.
When writing definitions use your knowledge of language (Latin) if possible. Make your definitions sound "dictionary-like". For goodness sakes make the definitions MATCH the part of speech (some members of my family I won't name names have a hard time with this one)
After playing a while and with the same people you start to see patterns in peoples' thinking. THIS IS THE FUN PART!!! People have an extremely difficult breaking out of their patterns of thinking. There are those who make everything into some king of ethnic pottery "a Peruvian clay pot used for spices" There are those who constantly describe birds "a small yellow Bird part of the finch family" There are those who always say "small..." and those who always say "large..." You need to LISTEN carefully and look for word clues left in the definitions people try to create. This way you can rule out the fakes and shoot for picking the real one.
Well, so that's the dictionary game. I love it. So does Tim. Sure wish we had some fellow dorky couples, a plentiful supply of snacks and wine, and Friday nights or Saturdays would be so much fun! Maybe you all can try this yourself with friends and let me know how it goes.
I would LOVE to play the game. Tim loves it too now that he's officially caught the "nerd bug" from my side of the family. We are a family of Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and this, dad's game. We want to use our minds and we play for blood!! It's a riot!!
Usually our only time to enjoy this type of "play" is when Kelly and Martin are in town. They are kindred spirits in this respect. I'd really like to indoctrinate-rather invite others to play the dictionary game. Tim always stops me saying "Kris, they're not gonna like that." to which I respond "how do you know - they might like it if they tried it" - Tim continues his pessimism "NO, they're not like us..." Translation: they're not dorky like us...
The game plays like this:
In order for the game to be any fun you've got to have a minimum of 6 players - the more the better!
Everyone is issued uniform notebook paper and pencil.
You must have a very large very extensive dictionary.
One person chooses a word from the dictionary that they do not know and suspect that everyone else does not know the meaning of.
They pronounce that word. Spell it. and give the part of speech.
Everybody writes this down on their paper.
The leader (one who chose the word) writes the definition from the dictionary down on their paper next to the word. They can choose ANY of the given definitions (as there are often more than one) and they may shorten it if it seems lengthy. They may NOT however alter the definition at all.
The others all write down either what they believe may be the definition of the word or make up a definition out of whole cloth as they say. This is where it gets funny (as far as this dork is concerned anyway)
Everyone turns in their definitions face down to the leader.
When all the papers have been turned in the leader "shuffles" the papers to disguise whose is whose.
The leader then very carefully and very seriously must read all the definitions including his or her own (the real one). (this part is hilarious! Trying to keep a straight face while doing this can often be very difficult. It can be especially hard at 2am when you've begun to get slap happy and are high on caffeine and snack foods)
Each person in turn then must choose what he or she believes is the correct (true) definition.
The real definition is revealed.
The ultimate goal of the leader is to choose a word that stumps everyone - no one picks his true definition.
If one or some have chosen the true definition then the leader gains no points!
If the leader stumps everyone then he gets as many points as there are players in the game.
If you choose the RIGHT definition you get a point.
If one or some of the players pick a fake definition then those points go to the author of the fake.
Points are written down under each player's name on a score sheet.
You play a set number of rounds - meaning how many times round the table giving each person a chance to be the leader. One round with a large number of players may take a while.
It's a long game but it's well worth it.
The player with the most points after 3 or 4 rounds (or however many are played) WINS
Tricks to playing well: When choosing a word look for words that don't seem to correspond well with their true definition. Or choose a bizarre word with a very bland or plain definition making others look over your definition because it is so bland.
When writing definitions use your knowledge of language (Latin) if possible. Make your definitions sound "dictionary-like". For goodness sakes make the definitions MATCH the part of speech (some members of my family I won't name names have a hard time with this one)
After playing a while and with the same people you start to see patterns in peoples' thinking. THIS IS THE FUN PART!!! People have an extremely difficult breaking out of their patterns of thinking. There are those who make everything into some king of ethnic pottery "a Peruvian clay pot used for spices" There are those who constantly describe birds "a small yellow Bird part of the finch family" There are those who always say "small..." and those who always say "large..." You need to LISTEN carefully and look for word clues left in the definitions people try to create. This way you can rule out the fakes and shoot for picking the real one.
Well, so that's the dictionary game. I love it. So does Tim. Sure wish we had some fellow dorky couples, a plentiful supply of snacks and wine, and Friday nights or Saturdays would be so much fun! Maybe you all can try this yourself with friends and let me know how it goes.
I Hate Winter!
I hate winter, well winter in Illinois anyway. It is COLD! and gray and ugly outside. The neighborhood is almost dead with its silence and lack of movement. When we see each other outside running to get the mail from our frozen shut boxes we often say "hey! you're home?? we thought you were out of town"
I hate the 5-10 lbs of extra weight I seem to hang onto. Maybe that's due to the kinds of foods we eat in order to warm us up on cold night. As I type this there are brownies baking in the oven. Gotta let the kiddos eat brownies and drink hot cocoa. Mom might have some too of course.
I hate the bigger bulkier clothes and the keeping track of boots and mittens and hats times 5. This "bulk" creates more laundry which is the one thing I hate more than winter. Oh how the laundry multiplies in the winter. I long for the days when wardrobes consist of a swimsuit and beach towel.
I'd so much rather be gardening, growing my veggies, planting flowers, chasing Collin down the sidewalk as he speeds off on his bike. I'd rather be standing in the shallow end of our city pool catching Monica as she leaps off the edge towards me for the hundredth time. I'd rather be sitting at my patio table talking with Tim or Dawn or mom...
I'm counting down the days until spring and ultimately summer - I only hope I don't drown in laundry weighed down by beef roasts and pies all eaten to comfort my winter blues!!
I hate the 5-10 lbs of extra weight I seem to hang onto. Maybe that's due to the kinds of foods we eat in order to warm us up on cold night. As I type this there are brownies baking in the oven. Gotta let the kiddos eat brownies and drink hot cocoa. Mom might have some too of course.
I hate the bigger bulkier clothes and the keeping track of boots and mittens and hats times 5. This "bulk" creates more laundry which is the one thing I hate more than winter. Oh how the laundry multiplies in the winter. I long for the days when wardrobes consist of a swimsuit and beach towel.
I'd so much rather be gardening, growing my veggies, planting flowers, chasing Collin down the sidewalk as he speeds off on his bike. I'd rather be standing in the shallow end of our city pool catching Monica as she leaps off the edge towards me for the hundredth time. I'd rather be sitting at my patio table talking with Tim or Dawn or mom...
I'm counting down the days until spring and ultimately summer - I only hope I don't drown in laundry weighed down by beef roasts and pies all eaten to comfort my winter blues!!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
You Live and You Learn
I could relate to this essay from Brian Pessaro. At first my zeal for my Catholic faith and all the TRUTH it provides me with was like a cocktail which made me feel drunk with power!!! I felt so excited and privileged to know the Truth and to finally see the goodness my Church affords me that I perched myself atop that high place and looked at those below with contempt. Life teaches you differently. You begin to see the gift you've been given as an opportunity to SHARE the Truth not HOARD it for yourself!! We are all searching and seeking God, whether we know it or admit to it or not. Some of us are closer some of us are further away but we are all headed in the same direction...The best way to bring other who are far away from the Truth, the Church, God, is to love them and welcome them, with strong witness and good example. This approach needn't make us "squishy" on those "hot topics" like NFP, abortion, or sex, but rather more effective evangelists!! Thanks to Brian for the great article...
The Deadliest Sin, by Brian Pessaro: "We’re all working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). My spiritual director has helped me realize that the future of the Catholic Church doesn’t depend on me being its self-appointed bouncer. He’s also taught me to hate my own sins more than I hate the sins of others. Lust may be one of the seven deadly sins, but so is pride and wrath. Woe to me if I stood before God at my judgment thinking He owed me something because I used NFP only to be shown my place in hell because of my lack of humility and meekness."
The Deadliest Sin, by Brian Pessaro: "We’re all working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). My spiritual director has helped me realize that the future of the Catholic Church doesn’t depend on me being its self-appointed bouncer. He’s also taught me to hate my own sins more than I hate the sins of others. Lust may be one of the seven deadly sins, but so is pride and wrath. Woe to me if I stood before God at my judgment thinking He owed me something because I used NFP only to be shown my place in hell because of my lack of humility and meekness."
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Blessings and Sacrifices of a Large Family
Found this great article...
FamilyLife: Articles - The Blessings and Sacrifices of a Large Family: "The major lesson that Barbara and I have learned is to submit ourselves to the Lord and die to our own personal agendas. We had to die to some of our own dreams and desires. However, when I look back on what we’ve had to sacrifice compared to what we’ve experienced, what we gave up was petty and worthless.
I think our culture has its course set on the wrong star. We try to find life in fulfilling our desires, but Jesus said that whoever saves his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. If you die to self you will live. What we have experienced in having six kids is, admittedly, a lot of death to self. But in the process of dying to self, we have found Jesus Christ to be sufficient."
FamilyLife: Articles - The Blessings and Sacrifices of a Large Family: "The major lesson that Barbara and I have learned is to submit ourselves to the Lord and die to our own personal agendas. We had to die to some of our own dreams and desires. However, when I look back on what we’ve had to sacrifice compared to what we’ve experienced, what we gave up was petty and worthless.
I think our culture has its course set on the wrong star. We try to find life in fulfilling our desires, but Jesus said that whoever saves his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. If you die to self you will live. What we have experienced in having six kids is, admittedly, a lot of death to self. But in the process of dying to self, we have found Jesus Christ to be sufficient."
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Brown-Eyed Boy
Christopher has brown eyes. Worldwide brown eyes dominate. But, in our family he's the odd ball! He's my one and only baby with brown eyes. Mary Grace has hazel and she started out for the first year of her life with green (they changed color after that). Chris's are truly brown though. He's now 16 lbs. and pushes up on the floor. He is VERY strong, has big hands, and smiles and gurgles constantly. There is a steady stream of drool hanging from his chin which soaks his shirts right through. He loves to be held and cuddled. And of course he has my family curse (as far as my kiddos go that is) of refusing a bottle no matter how hungry and hating the car seat crying for drives, making his mommy crazy while driving. I always nurse my kiddos but an occasional bottle in an emergency would be nice - not for mine - they look at it like it's a torture device. They outgrow the hating of the car seat by 12 mths or so... Basically my babies let me know that I'm ALL THEIRS and I should have NO PLANS to be without them- EVER- for the first 12 mths of their life!! Tim reminds me of how quickly they grow and change when I start to complain about my little "wart". He's right of course! I should love the "wartiness" of my newest little brown-eyed "wart" and soak it all in as much as possible.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Love and Politics
I love Tim. Tim loves me. Together - we love politics. This is not to say that we agree on everything political 100% of the time. It is true however that we find ourselves joking about, laughing over and enraged by the same things.
Every Sunday like clockwork the coffee maker gets going and the kiddos get going to! "off to the basement or your rooms" The kids know mom and dad are gonna be watching the Sunday morning political shows. We watch and comment during commercial breaks when we get our fill ups on more hot coffee.
I love this about my husband. Truly it is something unique and special that he and I share. It occur ed to me last night as we watched the NH returns from the primary together how much I value this bond we have. As we talked and laughed and joked together, I realized that we speak a language, have our many inside jokes, and finish each other's sentences - thoughts even! To someone on the outside looking in we probably seem really goofy! Tim mockingly finished every other John Edwards sentence with the phrase "down at the mill" in a thick southern twang (which I laughed at EVERY time) I said to him "you know if you said 'down at the mill' to anyone else they wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about or else if they did they wouldn't know why it was funny?" But it's funny to us. Us. Tim and Kris. I like that. We are such a team and we really do "get" one another. This always seems most clear when it comes to politics. I started to rant and cut myself off saying "I need to get to confession" to which Tim responded "It's an election year Kris, we're gonna need a priest to live here in the family room and hear our confessions nightly!" We laughed...we're Catholic political junkie dorks - and we love each other for it!
I LOVE This Man!!!
I pray daily to Bishop Sheen. I listen to him on Relevant Radio at 9am daily too. Each day I marvel at him and love him more...
Men and Women
How Women Speak Part 1 of 3 - This is Alison Armsttrong. She has set out to study men and to pin down why and how the sexes are different. This is so essential I believe and I am only recently "getting" just how truly different we are. Her "research" dovetails very well with The Theology of the Body from JPII. her web site understandmen.com is very insightful...
I learned of Alison from Dennis Prager's show and I must say again how much I miss hearing his daily show - that darn 560am for moving his show!!!
marriage 'unnecessary'
I found this article linked from lifesite.net and couldn't agree more with the conclusion drawn by McManus. There is a real problem in our culture with a negative attitude about mariage. This negative attitude can be found both in single people and in those who are married too! Sure there are a lot of reasons people have for their belief that marriage is "unnecessary" but I believe some of that has to do with the failure of our church (little 'c' not big 'c') to emphasize the true value and meaning of marriage. Once the vows have been taken is not the time to start growing in one's understanding of the matter either! We need to be teaching our young people WELL in ADVANCE about the differences between the sexes, the NEED we have for one another, and the absolute NEED we have for marriage!
44 percent find marriage 'unnecessary' (OneNewsNow.com):
"McManus believes the church shares some of the blame for this trend. 'Churches really aren't very 'marriage-minded' -- they're 'wedding-minded.' They are equipped to be able to help couples have weddings, but they really don't know how to build marriages,' he argues. 'The problem is the pastors are picking safe subjects, and they're avoiding the subjects that could help us learn how to build relationships that can go the distance.'
The pro-marriage advocate expects similar survey results in the future if churches do not do a better job promoting the benefits of marriage and exposing the pitfalls of cohabitation."
44 percent find marriage 'unnecessary' (OneNewsNow.com):
"McManus believes the church shares some of the blame for this trend. 'Churches really aren't very 'marriage-minded' -- they're 'wedding-minded.' They are equipped to be able to help couples have weddings, but they really don't know how to build marriages,' he argues. 'The problem is the pastors are picking safe subjects, and they're avoiding the subjects that could help us learn how to build relationships that can go the distance.'
The pro-marriage advocate expects similar survey results in the future if churches do not do a better job promoting the benefits of marriage and exposing the pitfalls of cohabitation."
Friday, January 4, 2008
From This to That (x5) to This Again - Is It Possible?
I need to get in shape. I must have said that a million times by now. In college I ran daily and lifted weights regularly. Somehow I was able to stay thin regardless of my binge drinking. Most likely it's because I was in my 20's and I smoked instead of eating too.
Now13 years later and five kids later I am a much healthier, happier person, but also a much softer plumper person too! Ripped abs? What's that? Perky breasts? Ya right agter nursing 5 - I don't thinks so!
Long runs and hours at the gym are impossible now. I'm lucky if I can get through 20 minutes on the tread mill in the good ol' basement without some little person saying "Mommy, I need ______ or can you _____ right now?"
Do you kids understand the concept of "leave me alone?" NOOOOOOO!! they don't. Gone are the days when I my only concern was how little my bikini could be to minimize tan lines. God forbid I have tan lines! Now just the thought of a bikini sends me into a cold sweat!!! I even gag a little just thinking of it.
It's not that I'm out right repulsive but I sure as heck am a far cry from the girl in the 1st and 3rd pictures.
I don't need to be her anymore either but I would love to have the private alone time in my life to work out and feel good again.
I don't know how I'll achieve that as of yet but that's my resolution for 2008. I will try to MAKE the time to make me feel good again - maybe not bikini good but at least shorts and tank top good!!! I've got 4 mths...
Morgan's Bowling Party
Morgan's birthday is December 27th. We have cake together as a family on the day of but anything planned with friends comes later. Morgan had wanted a fancy dinner party very elegant and formal but I KNOW that what she imagined in her dreams could not be made a reality and so I talked her into going bowling instead. That's a radical departure from a formal dinner in fine apparel eh? No dresses and flowers just borrowed shoes and lots of hand sanitizer! Actually everyone had a great time. I love bowling myself but I decided to just watch the girls and opt out this time. Once again I sure wished Kelly and the kids could be here with us - it really stinks to have only one sister and have her live across the Atlantic!
Christmas Morning
"It's Christmas!, It's Christmas!" the children shout gleefully. "shhhhhhhhh....yes yes we know" Tim and I say in return with about as much enthusiasm as Ben Stein. "Be quiet and get back in your rooms and don't come out until I come and get you ok?" It's 6am and that means I've gotten all of about 5 hours of sleep. But I won't make the same mistake we made last year. We told the kids to go back to their rooms and give us 10 minutes to get up and get ready. We drifted off back to sleep and awoke to the sounds of joyful yelling and high five-ing coming from downstairs. By the time we got halfway down the stairs the kids were racing towards us with UNWRAPPED gifts in hand saying "look what I got!, look what I got!" AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Of course we KNEW what they got! But what we live for, what makes it all worth it is that momentary split-second look they have when they unwrap and see their wished for gift for the first time!!!! And.......we missed it!! BRATS all of them! Morgan was the ring leader last year and so this year I kept special care not to let her escape from her room. I threw on some pants and shook Tim's shoulder. "Get up get up remember last year?!" "You kids stay right where you are, hold your hands high where I can see them. Don't make a move." Mom and dad had spent the night and so we had to wait for them to get ready as well. I make a big deal about being prepared to see the unveiling of the gifts because there are literally only 4 gifts to "unveil" Each child only gets 1 gift each and so there's no long drawn out process of unwrap-squeal with glee-show off-on to the next one- repeat, repeat, repeat... We let Monica go first - a baby crib and baby stroller (ok so I bent the one gift rule for her but they came together...) Then Collin - 2 guns (again, they went together kind of...) Then Mary Grace - her own camera. Then Morgan - a guitar. It lasted all of five minutes. There aren't any presents for Tim and I. None for mom and dad either. That's it - that's all folks!! But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. The materialism and consumerism of this culture are corrupting kids. It's a sickness almost. Our kids have PLENTY and going overboard just makes them self-centered and shallow. Hopefully they'll look back on their Christmas 's and remember the fun we had together and the great breakfasts we ate and how much we laughed together and not feel like we begrudged them the "stuff" they might have wanted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)