Las Vegas Mama

 "God and Coffee" are the two words that sum up my first week of the school year. I was pretty nervous about handling things, what with the four children and all. But I did at least two things right each day this week. #1 - I prayed. A lot. #2 - I drank. A lot. Coffee , silly! I am the sort of person that messes up a lot, but all the same I am able to realize how much I depend on God to help me muddle through. So that was my strategy this week. We started each day off with a "Pleeeeaaaase, God, HELP ME!!!!!", as well as taking time to express our gratitude for the blessings we have already been bestowed with. We read about the saint of the day, and then we did the Mass readings. While we prayed I was guzzling copious amounts of black gold, natch. And by the time we were done, I actually felt a little bit normal. I could almost see us getting through the day and being ok! So then, feeling ready to face the day, I put on some music and we all danced toget...

It's that time of year again when we get ready for the kids to go back to school! While other parents are heaving a sigh of relief, homeschool parents are heaving their kids' school books out of its packaging. While other parents are making sure their kids have new backpacks, homeschool parents are making sure their kids have new art supplies. While other parents are organizing the details of the carpool or bus schedule, homeschool parents are organizing the details of a subject schedule that juggles a range of children's grades and ages (example: kids from 3 months to 7 years old!) My husband asked me if I thought we were depriving our kids of the "school experience" by keeping them home. My response is that our kids will be having their own school experiences that just happen to be different than the ones we grew up with. Whereas we may think our experiences were good and they should be experienced by our kids in the same way, the truth is that ultima...

Let me preface this by saying that I have ZERO interest in football and/or video games. That said, I watched possibly the funniest football video game trailer I have ever s....zzzzzz... whoa sorry I just fell asleep for a second there. The combination of the words "football" and "video game" knocked me out for a sec....zzzz-zzz-z-zz.... ahem! Sorry again. The point is that you absolutely must watch this trailer, it is EPIC!!!! ***immodesty alert*** If you are a gentleman trying to keep custody of the eyes, there are some dancers who are not modestly dressed. Just FYI, you've been warned! ***

I just came across an old picture of a cultural Catalonian dance group I used to be in! I'm second from the right, to my left is my mom. And fourth from left is my sister. The year was 1995 and the group was the Grup Dansaire Catalunya. We danced the traditional dances of Catalonia, Spain and dressed in traditional clothing. I look upon this photo with great fondness for the people in the group. I miss them. Some have gone back to Catalonia. Some are still in L.A. hanging out with the other Catalonians in town. But they all have a special place in my heart. This was our fearless leader, Joan Comellas Manubens. He was a hard taskmaster, but he whipped us into shape! We were a bunch of ragamuffins but he turned us into respectable dancers. He is back in Catalonia now. After he left it just wasn't the same anymore. Catalonia is where one branch of my family tree is from, and although part of that branch of the family split up and went to Argentina and then eventua...

I really think that children are cute to help them survive and to make their parents want to keep them around. After the bad day that I posted about last month, which was just one day in a long string of bad days, I realized that what I needed was a fresh start. I went to confession. It was a huge relief, and helped me to turn a new leaf in my parenting. The priest gave me a wonderful reading - Colossians 3: 1-17. Look it up if you are a mom struggling to keep patience with your kids, it will totally help you get a grip. After going to confession I felt I could see my kids more clearly for the wonderful people that they are. They sure are adorable. Maybe having my soul cleansed removed all the gunk preventing me from seeing the beauty of God's creation. How could I ever be angry at such cute children, even if they don't let me sleep? These kids were saying the most adorable things and looking all sweet and tender. They were shooting Cutie Pie Missiles at my heart and I wa...