Focus {Five Minute Friday}

There has been a mass panic among our family and friends. My husband and I deactivated our Facebook accounts.
{shock}
For me, it started in November of last year. I was on my Cursillo, and was cloistered for 3 days. Three days of not knowing what was going on in the world. Which of course meant no clock (because really who has a watch anymore). To know the time, I would have to listen for the church bells, and most of the time, I was listening to a talk and could not hear the bells long enough to catch the beginning or end.
When I came home, I took Facebook off my phone. I instantly saw how much my productivity increased, not only at home but work as well. It was amazing.
Over the holidays, I would go on Facebook via the computer, but would log off quickly. I wanted to see how my friends were doing, how their babies were doing, look for an occasional post that was interesting...but then the constant bs of negativity or worse flooded my feed. I was over it quickly. My husband followed suite (not by my doing at all!) and then a couple of weeks ago, we clicked the hidden "deactivate" button.
Maybe for a year, maybe for longer, maybe forever.

We are now able to focus on what is important. Our family & friends. We have to actually talk to them, rather than catching up on social media.  The difference in our own house is amazing. We can watch a television show together (and no spoilers!). My husband and I go to bed together, and rather than seeing what someone had for dinner, or a rant of some sort, we see each other and it is peaceful, loving and intimate.

Focusing on our family and real friendships has been a blessing.  We interact how God intended us too. Now don't get me wrong I am still all over Pintrest and obviously blogging, but the time I spend on social media now is not even half the time I spent on Facebook.

Until Next Time

Quiet {Five Minute Friday}

Even though the beginning of the year was 29 days ago, I really do not feel that the year truly begins until February. There are still holidays and events going on in January, and I usually need a 2 week recovery time from Christmas-New Years (aka Winter Vacation).  If you ask my husband, the holidays are over after the Superbowl,
Two days ago, I spoke with my older brother, T. We started with our normal conversation of life, he wants to move to Arizona, my nieces etc. Then he threw a curve ball at me, "Do you think we did the right thing with Dad?"
What? Why are you asking me this now, 5 years after he passed? Of course we did. He was on life support-something he specifically told us for years he never wanted to be on. All the doctors said was he would never fully recover, physically or more importantly mentally. He was half way gone already, you could see it in his eyes, he just wanted us to let him go.
Today, our dad would have been 75 years old.  Five years ago, he was struggling to walk on his own, and eventually became dependent on a wheel chair. He could not shower on his own, or even clean himself after using the bathroom. He was miserable, and told all five of us that he was just waiting for the end. He had good days, where he was optimistic about life, however it was all sadly a dream in his head. He knew there was no real hope of a normal life again, he was in assisted living (another thing he hated) and was slowly loosing his mind.
I answered T, "You know we did the right thing. He would have killed us if he could because we let him stay on life support for a week."
"I know, I just miss him"
"I miss him too."
Silence. Quiet.
Happy Birthday Dad. We love you and miss you.

Five on Friday {actually 6}

Well friends it is FRIDAY! The kids all survived their first week of school {well I am assuming so, as it is not yet noon}. This week has been a real doozy for me. First, I will start with last weekend my #1 son was sick with strep :( Then on Monday, I started to feel a little under the weather. I had the day off, so I called my boss and told her I would probably be out on Tuesday. Tuesday, I went to the doctor and they started to treat me for strep (hey if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck). However, Wednesday I was worse. I was having problems breathing and really just wanted to die. I went to the ER and turns out I have pneumonia.
All I have to say is I am not thrilled by this at all. I hate being sick.
Today, I am feeling a tad bit better, although walking around the house gets me winded.

OK so back to the post! I have 6 favorite PEOPLE I want to highlight this week. My darling children!

#1- This kid is in 8th grade? WHERE did the time go? He will be 14 at the end of the month and is already looking for a job?
Seriously, I cannot handle this.

 #2- Welcome to Junior High! Although I have only had him in my life for about 2 years, I have to say I am so proud of how he has grown. He is going to be an amazing man, just like his father.

#3- This firecracker is going into the big kid grade! While he is still a goof ball, he is definitely showing signs of maturity and I think he is going to rock 4th grade!

#4- Look out world, this girl is making waves! The spunky monkey is on her way to showing everyone that she is in control of her own destiny!

#5- Don't let her small stature confuse you, this young lady is proof that great things come in tiny packages! She is ready to take on the world, one step at a time!

#6- This beautiful girl has grown up so fast in the past two years. She has shown us all that she is smarter than she gives herself credit for and is definitely going to shine.

Watch out world, these kids are coming full force!

Five Minute Friday {Rise}

Well, it's Friday! And a three day weekend! Woot! Thankfully we have absolutely  NOTHING planned except spending time together as a family. Our kids have been going through a lot at their other parents house (co-parenting is challenging even if you get a long with your ex, which I do not), so we want to just spend the beginning of summer together with the kids, and start it off right.

So, Five Minute Friday is a weekly blogging community that I try to get on weekly. You can see more about it here.


This weeks prompt. RISE.

Ready. Set. GO.

I have always been an early riser. I am one of those people who actually enjoy being up early in the morning and get a head start on my day.
What I enjoy the most is that I can enjoy a cup of coffee in peace before the rest of the house wakes up. Then I take a few minutes on my devotional or prayers. On the weekends I will start on some quiet chores, maybe get a yummy breakfast in the oven and be well into my day by 9 a.m.
My goal is to have my errands and chores done by noon, so I can enjoy the rest of the day.

In Proverbs 31:15-16 it says " She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household, and a portion to her maidservants"
In other words, get up. Humans are the only mammals that rise after dawn. Americans are probably the worse. Yes I enjoy sleeping in just as much as anyone, but I also wake up at 3:30 to go to work, so to sleep until 5 am is blissful!

I try to give the most of my days to God, to serve HIM in all that I do. Serving the Lord is serving your family, your husband, your job, whatever God has called you to do!



And STOP

Everyone have a blessed weekend!
Thank you to all those who have given their life in defense of our country.

James' Confirmation & First Communion & Mother's Day {Weekend}

This past weekend was definitely one of the busiest weekends we have had in a LONG time. I don't think our wedding weekend was nearly this jammed packed. Oh hey-on that note, my beloved Timothy and I have been married for 6 months today! Happy Anniversary my love!!

Our weekend started on Friday, when my very handsome son, James received two of his sacraments, his confirmation and first holy communion.
As Catholics, we are sealed with the holy spirit on our confirmation. We chose a saint whom we admire or have some special connection to, to pray for us and guide us in our life. James chose Saint George, who you may recognize by him fighting the dragon. I am pretty sure he chose this saint solely for the dragon component, after all he is in third grade. None the less, I firmly believe that God was guiding him in his choice, and it works for him.

After the mass, we went home and ate pizza. How else do you get six hungry and tired kids fed fast?


The next day, we had James' party to celebrate his sacraments.  We had amazing weather for May in sunny Phoenix Arizona. It was only 79 degree's and was absolutely beautiful. My parents were here along with James' Godmother and her husband. We celebrated with our family and close friends. Being the Italian mamma that I am, I made sure we had enough food to feed an army (which, really our family is a small army) and at the request of the man of the hour I made over 100 meatballs! My husband, keeping up with his mad cooking skills made about 10 pounds of pork butt. A-MAZ-ING.

After we filled our bellies with all this good food, we headed up to Scottsdale to the Butterfly Wonderland, which I had never been, and we soon found out that our darling Zoe is the butterfly whisperer! She had about 3 on her at once, which kind of freaked her out. These butterflies are beautiful, but I have to admit are kind of freaky, and I wasn't too comfortable when one landed on me either.

We then went to dinner with my parents and finally called it a night. We were all so tired, that we passed out pretty quickly.

The next day was a little less busy. We started the day by going to mass, which was really nice to go to mass with my mom. It had been 15 years since I had been with my mom on mothers day. Crazy, huh?

We were able to take a three generation picture, which had not been done since Zoe was 2 or 3.

We then met up with my step dad and had a late lunch at the most amazing place, Fogo de Chao. They basically bring you all of these delicious meats and cut them right there for you.  Defiantly not a place for vegetarians.

After we ate our fill, we took our food coma selves home to rest.

It was definitely a blessed weekend, and I am so happy we were able to spend it with our family!