Lent

We are well into Lent now, but I wanted to share my Lenten resolutions, so that I have somewhere to be accountable to I guess:

1. Go to Mass every Sunday of Lent. No excuses. No being too tired, lazy, busy, etc. I've found evening Mass to be the best fit for me. I'm not a morning person at all, always been more "me" in the evening. I love that there have been Masses going on all morning in the church, so it smells extra church-y. I love that smell! Plus it is far less crowded, which I like. Even the days when I don't want to go, once I'm there I'm always happy I went. One hour a week to just be quiet, reflective and prayful gives me an extra boost to start the week. Plus, what is greater than turning to total strangers and wishing them that peace will be with them? I love that part. Everyone looks at me with such compassion and genuinely gives me good wishes, without knowing me. Very cool. Whether you are religious or not, that's very cool.

2. Stick to our diet. Bryce and I are on Weight Watchers, and man is it hard to stick to!

3. Get our house organized. We keep making excuses for our apartment not getting together. After seeing this house I can no longer blame the square footage of our place for it's non-homey feeling. This house is amazing, and only 382 square feet. It's so well thought out and not cluttered at all. It inspired me to get our house more organized and more like home, less of a basement apartment. I need to stop thinking of it as "just an apartment", like it's not worth making our home. The reality is we plan on being here for many years, so it is definitely worth our time and effort to make our home. Again, no more excuses!

4. Forget. This one is hard. I can hold a grudge like you can't imagine. I always forgive, but don't forget. Seriously, it's insane how I can hold onto things. Did you call me a poopie-head in 2nd grade? Give me a weird look in high school? Insult me 5 years ago? I'm probably still angry about it. And it's exhausting carrying around grudges! So one Sunday in Mass as I was saying "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" I was thinking, what is forgiveness without forgetfulness? It's not truly forgiveness unless you forget, also. Let go of it all, don't hang on to the memory of what upset you. So I've been working on forgiving more easily and also truly forgetting. Who am I to seek forgiveness if I can't truly forgive in return? I'm hoping to be able to let things slide more easily, and not let them fester inside me, because then it becomes toxic. Forgive and forget right away, and I will feel lighter, less bogged down - and who doesn't want that? I certainly do.

So I guess I'm giving up excuses, junky food, laziness and grudges for Lent. That sounds like a tall order doesn't it?

Show and Tell

Just wanted to show the necklace Bryce got me for Valentine's day b/c I love it!

(that's her birthstone)

Just random

Since I haven't posted in a while, here's what's up!

Same old same old around the Kucko household. Bryce loving his job more all the time, we filled our available apartment for March 1st (yay!), and just enjoying our non-choatic life (we tend to always have something major going on).

Some pics from hanging with Lily, big hugs,

Playing in the cottage,

Their hiding spot for secrets,

And Eleanora in her new Twins T-shirt going crazy on our new set up in the living room this morning -

If you tell her to say"cheese" she strikes this hands on the knees pose and says "teez!"

She definitely thinks this is HER rocker,

Pretending to sleep,

Climbing on the ottoman,

Look at that face!

This is what she tried to pass off as "sitting" when I told her she had to sit down - she's crafty.

That's all I got. By the way I hate my new camera. It takes crappy, blurry pictures and it takes like 30 seconds to actually take it. Boo. Kali, when can I have your awesome camera? Can you email me what kind it is again so I can see if possibly we can set aside some tax refund money for it? I hate having crappy photos of my adorable child. It's just not right.

My Little Rascal

Today Eleanora took my hand and brought me to the bathtub. She looked at me and said "Yeah, yeah! Baa!" while trying to take off her own pants. She's been pretty sick with a nasty cough and runny nose, so her face is crusty and such so I thought ok bath time it is. She loves her bath and screams when I tell her bathtime is over (even after a 30-40 minute bath). Today was no different, but I took her to our room to change her. So after she was changed and stopped crying at how mean her mommy is, I decided it was time for me to change clothes and brush my hair, too. So she's playing in our room /closet while I'm getting ready. I see her enter the bathroom and think she's going to go play in her room. About 1 minute later I hear a "plop" noise, that I assumed was her getting a hold of a soda can (again) and dumping it.

So I shout her name and walk to her room. She's not there. Huh? Then I hear a splash! Look to my left and my fully diapered and clothed little rascal has jumped back in the tub. It seems one of her Little People got stuck in the drain, which happens a lot, so it stopped draining. There was a good few inches of water.

Now I had NO idea she could climb in the tub. It's not like we say, "hop in!" at bathtime, we place her in. So imagine my surprise to learn she can climb in the tub on her own, clothed, to take another bath 10 minutes after her first of the day.

Here is she, you can see how excited and proud she is! We both giggled and laughed for a few minutes, and repeated the process of screaming at all done, changing into dry clothes...and removed the drain sized toys from the tub!

"Outside Villanova" Eric Hutchinson

It's been awhile...nothing much new to report so let's just get to the reason you all check this thing, pictures!

Some from nannying at the Ketchum's,

Strolling her baby around the apartment,

Eleanora and Daddy working on their laptops,

We went to Edinborough Indoor Park and Eleanora has NO FEAR. Jumped right into climbing all over,

Open gym area was by far her favorite though. She just ran and ran, and made us push her around when she got tired of running but didn't want to leave,

(this sour face is because Daddy brought her over to me to take a break, she prefers her pushers to NOT take breaks, apparently)

This is typical weekend morning, go get her from her room when she wakes up and bring her to our bed in hopes of getting a little longer to rest in bed. It usually ends up with Eleanora climbing all over us with books, poking us in the eyes, "Eyes!" and grabbing our faces and "say hi!".

Eleanora does this and says "Cheese!". She loves her camera,

Finally, her new bean bag chair. She loves this thing, she grabs her comfort items: blankie, paci and pup pups (she needs all 3, if one is missing you are in big trouble), and sits down for some relaxing,