Life over a cup of lemonade

So I decided that the most americana thing I could do today, besides eat too much, was to make lemonade; sorry but apples aren't in season for some tasty pie.

I went into the front yard, used my "fruit picker," and went to town on the tree, in all I think I picked about 25 or so lemons.

Having never made lemonade before, and being how I don't "wing" anything cooking related I went to my trusty cookbook which has literally never led me stray.   I proceeded to quadruple the recipe, in effect making 30 cups of lemonade, or 240 ounces, just short of 4 gallons of Lemonade.

Drew was napping, and when he woke up, wanted nothing more than to help me in the kitchen and it really ended up making the whole event a blast.  Hand "juicing" 50 lemon halves is more than a bit of a chore, but the end result was totally worth it.

When all was said and done, we grilled up some Kielbasa and mushroom swiss burgers.  All the while sitting out front and watching the kids run around.

Today was fun, just a sorta lazy afternoon around the grill, my kids were maniacs, but the few moments of clarity when all was calm was awesome.

Too often I hear people say they can't wait till  (fill in the blank) and I catch myself sometimes saying that with raising young kids, and wishing they were older so I can do X..Y...or Z.  But today and when I  focus on being in the moment with my kids, I really loved it.

I know when these days are gone, and making lemonade with dad is lame, I'm gonna miss that the greatest thing ever was getting the "squeezer" to juice the lemons with me.



A brief photographic view of this entry.



Drew's interpretation of "He lives in me (Reprise)" from "The Lion King Musical" our evening entertainment.

I can hear the homily

I know my family has to be the most distracting family there is in church.  And when people introduce themselves to us, and tell me "oh I know you guys, you sit in the front at 10am mass with all the kids," I am convinced we are as distracting as I think we are.

We sit in the same place every week, at the same mass, and well to be honest my kids are the same every week as well.  Drew in general sits, reads, does a puzzle, colors and plays with his little guys.  Sean is, well Sean, he eats, eats, wants to run around, walks laps around the church and dip his whole hand in every font of holy water and then "sits" back down for about 5 minutes and we start our laps again.  Eva is 3 months, this is not the challenging portion of child care in church by any stretch, and if she fusses mom just feeds her.

So needless to say I never really listen to much of anything in mass.  I sort of absorb, via osmosis, is my theory and pick up tid bits every now and again.

So when my lovely wife had to work at mass, and the grandparents were willing to watch our kids we took our date night and enjoyed mass.  I got to hold my wife's hand, and put my arm around her.  I really did listen to the homily and enjoyed it, and I received communion with that momentary meditation before receiving.  It was special "treat" and a simple time with my wife tonight.

I missed my boys at church today, and would never want this to be the norm, but the clarity I felt during mass today, will really carry into the next few weeks and months of the chaos.  The chaos has forced me to really focus to gleen what I can from mass, and when I am alone, this new found focus can be profound.

The Beginning

And so it begins...