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We had family in town last weekend! JR’s cousin Tricia & her beautiful daughter Clara from CO were visiting a friend a little over an hour north of us in Killeen. We jumped at the chance to take a drive in the country and see one of our favorite Andrews cousins. The girls were fast friends and we enjoyed hamburgers & Cokes & the warm hospitality of Tricia’s friend Amber and her sweet kiddos. It was great to see y’all – come back soon!
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The girls & I played outside for a good while this afternoon. We finally decided to go in because it was getting awfully hot. This was especially evident when viewing Molly’s sweaty little head. The curls were dripping with sweat. Molly might have a long summer – it was only 80 today!
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While folding clothes this afternoon I tried to catch up on some old episodes of Lost (I’m still 2 weeks behind, though). In one flashback, Sawyer saw Claire giving birth to Aaron on the island. Kate was there to assist. I found the scene quite humorous. Here’s what I’d like the Lost writers to know about natural labor. When you don’t have any pain medication during labor, you do not need someone to coach you to push. Kate’s counting “1, 2, 3″ and yelling “push, push, push” were completely unnecessary. If Claire had really been laboring naturally, she would’ve told Kate to shut it! The whole point of natural childbirth is that the woman’s body naturally progresses through labor (making it easier on mother & child) and there is only need for support (not direction). I suppose the Lost writers shouldn’t feel so bad for their ignorance – even hospital staff on a labor & delivery floor feel the need to coach a woman through labor. The only coach I’ve ever needed or wanted was JR and he has always done a fantastic job of providing emotional support, assistance with movement & communicating with hospital staff. He really does a good job running interference.
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I got my HS alumni newsletter in the mail last week. There was an article about the tuition having reached $1,000 per child per year (there was only a book fee when I attended – I think it was around $250). A new Catholic HS is opening in north Austin where the tuition will be $8,000 per child per year! Another reason to move ‘home’ . . .
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I met for the first time with a personal trainer this week. It is part of a 14-week program I started at NI’s gym that has a physical fitness portion & a healthy eating portion. It was really cool to work out with a trainer who could give me encouragement, tips & answer questions. I was inspired to try to reach his goal of working out for 30 min three times in the next week (he suggested we start with a day of rest between workouts since we are coming from a point of not having worked out for awhile). So this morning during the babies’ morning nap, I actually went out and spent 30 minutes on the elliptical in the garage. It worked amazingly well and felt GREAT! I’m excited to make it a regular gig.
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We went to an informational session at the local REI last night on family camping. It was fun to get out and there were some useful packing lists and stuff, but we realized that we are a bit unusual when it comes to camping. We tend toward the primitive and we have 3 kids under 3 and we take them with us! We’re weird, we know, but we have so much fun!! Read here and here and here to see what I mean!
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Last Sunday I went to an informational session on the Catechisis of the Good Shepherd at our parish. I am so excited for Livy to participate in this program next year! It is Montessori-based religious education for preschoolers. They introduce the children to the Bible & the Liturgy in such creative & inspiring ways. My favorite was the miniature altar complete with a tiny chalice & paten – adorable! I think this program will be right up Livy’s alley, too. “The Atrium is a prepared environment set aside for the children to worship God. It is characterized by soft lighting, candles, quiet voices, freedom of movement, meditative work, and careful handling of materials.” The child who walks around the house singing Kum Ba Yah will feel right at home!
Hope you enjoyed my 7 Quick Takes – be sure to visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Friday!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
I didn’t know that Neumann claims to have tuition. They’ve always called the $1000 you mentioned as tuition the book bill, and it increases every year from junior high to senior year. It might have been about $250 when you first started there, I really don’t remember. There are also costs associated with every activity–for example, there’s a $50 music charge for show choir, another for band, a fee for cross country, track, etc. I think the last year we paid about $1400 to Neumann as the book bill/tuition, but that doesn’t include the many fund raiser donations, gas, etc. Even so, it’s a great opportunity for people in our diocese (Lincoln, NE)–having the area parishes help support the schools was the brainchild of Bishop Flavin, God bless him! We certainly couldn’t have managed to send you all to Catholic school without it!
Yep, says tuition right there in black & white! Yes, God bless Bishop Flavin for creating such a commitment to Catholic school in the Lincoln Diocese! And thanks to you, Mom & Dad for sacrificing to send us all there!
#4 …and yet another reason to move right into our neighborhood: the tuition for our parish grade school is $150 per child per year ($100 for tuition, $50 books). I’ll give you the parish boundaries when you decide to go house hunting.
#7 We have Catechesis here, too! The girls both attended for a year. I couldn’t make the time work for Noah. I was so grateful for the program.
Oh, how I’d love to live in your neighborhood Aubrey! I’m curious to compare apples to apples on HS, though – how much for Pius?? It’s $5,000 for elementary here so $150 sounds like pennies!! Count your blessings (I know you do)!
#2 – We played at the park yesterday and the girls had on lightweight “spring” clothes. It was around 60 degrees plus a light breeze. They were complaining about being tooooooo hot!! Might be a long summer for them, as well!
#3 – Yep. Agreed. All “natural births” on tv (other than like reality “Baby Story” types… although rare that they are natural!) are soooooo fake. Nauseatingly fake and well, dumb! All four of my natural births were nothing like that! They definitely need to do their research on that!!
#4 – I hear ya on that one! When we lived in TN, it would have been cheaper to send our kids to a community college than to send them to Catholic KINDERGARTEN!! We homeschool now and we love it.
#7 – I wish that we had some young KIDS – any kids besides our own going to MASS on Sundays in our parish! Catechesis sounds great – and that would involve more children!!!
Where are the children during Mass? Livy will actually go to Catechisis during the week, but they are thinking of offering another one on Sundays for kids who go to daycare during the week. Our church has a couple cry rooms and also offers a nursery during Mass. We’re old school though and just suffer through it with them in the pew (and we’re not the only ones)!