A Beautiful Mother's Day and a Beautiful Life!

I am late with my Mother's Day post, but that's about par for the course for me these days!

We had such a special celebration last Sunday, because our oldest grandson, G-Man (who is the oldest of son #3's five offspring), made his First Holy Communion that day.  What could be better than spending Mother's Day seeing one of your precious children's children receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time ever?  It was beautiful.

This grandson of ours will always occupy a special place in my heart because of the four-and-a-half months we lived with him and his parents when he was a baby.  We were still living in NH at the time, and my husband was still working as an airline pilot.  So he commuted to work while I played the part of full-time nanny, so that our son and his wife didn't have to put the little guy into day care.  Our daughter-in-law had completed her three-month maternity leave from her job at UVA, and there was about a four-month stretch until the end of the school year.  She had decided that when that semester ended, she was going to quit her job and stay at home with the little guy.  We filled in that gap and it was a very special time for us--and of course, G-Man was often the star of my blog posts in those days, as you can see here.  

Oh my, reading over that old post has made me misty-eyed.  And also amazed at how surprising life can be, and how beautiful.  Two years after that post was written, we had moved away from NH and become Virginians--which we never would have imagined doing at that point.  (Best move ever: with three sons living close-by, we are no longer constantly in travel mode.)  G-Man has a little brother now who's just a bit older than he was in those old photos.  And he's often riding on my left hip and staring at my face, just like his big brother was in those photos from 2015.  Oh my goodness, it's like deja vu (all over again. Ha ha!).

After Mass, we went over to G-Man's house for a brunch with lots of beloved people: G-Man, his parents, his four siblings, and his maternal grandmother; son #4, his wife, and their four kids; and one of our boys' cousins (named after yours truly!), who lives in the area and has two delightful daughters.

We got a picture of G-Man with his grandfather (my guy, whom he calls Papa), his godfather (his uncle, our son #4), and his father.  All of his earthly fathers looking out for him, body and soul.

So that was Mother's Day, one for the ages.  

If you come here often you know that ever since we moved down to VA, the boys who live nearby come over to have a special Mother's Day dinner with my husband and me, without spouses or kids--so that we can relive the old days when they were just mama's boys.  (The gift of time spent together, which is my #1 love language.)  It's usually not on actual Mother's Day, because we want them to spend that with their deserving wives.  I've written about this tradition before.  Here's last year's post, which included a big surprise for me. 

Oh no, not again.  An old blog post, making me misty-eyed! 

Anyway, I usually only get three or four of my five boys at once, but I'll take whatever I can get!  I am so grateful for this tradition.  I didn't think it was going to happen this year, because everyone is so very busy with their kids' school and after-school activities, work, and other commitments.  I had said that we should skip it this year, and that our wonderful celebration for G-Man's First Communion was enough of a Mother's Day treat for me.  

But those boys...the Tuesday after Mother's Day, our VA sons (all three of whom live between 40 and 50 minutes from our front door) came anyway.  And we had steaks and baked potatoes, with cheesecake for dessert.  And we talked about the two brothers who were missing, so that it was almost as if they were there, too.  And we laughed. And it was wonderful.

I have the best sons.  Just sayin'.

I tell you what, I'll always be glad that I have this blog. It's keeping memories alive for me.  As the years pass, things tend to get blurry.  But all I have to do to remember exactly what I was doing and thinking and feeling during some moment in my life is to click on an old post buried in my archives, and I'm transported back in time.  It's a gift, this blogging thing.  I don't do it as much as I used to, but I don't think I can ever give it up completely.  I'll be 65 this summer; my memories are only going to get fuzzier with age.  I'm going to need to read the story of my life, and luckily, I'll know where to find it.

Deep thoughts about blogging.  Yikes, that's enough of that for today. 

A belated Happy Mother's Day, dear readers.  God bless you!

Falling Behind and Playing Catch-Up, as Usual!

When it comes to keeping this blog up to date with what's been going on in the Pearl family, I'm currently falling way behind--which is par for the course these days (months, years, what-have-you). Some people are just so good at writing regularly, and so fun to follow (Colleen and Madeline, you two blogging champs come immediately to mind!), but others of us seem to suffer from a constant state of blogger's block.  In my case, it happens because there's too much happening, too quickly, and so much I want to write about that I don't know where to start. Kind of like when you have an extremely messy house and can't figure out which room needs cleaning the most.

I have too much that I want to say.  And so I choose to say nothing a lot of the time.

Excuses, excuses--right?

I never even got around to blogging about our road trip to Iowa a week after Easter, to visit with our much-missed oldest son and his family (who lived nearby here in VA for four-and-a-half years, then moved away a little over a year ago--and boy, do we ever miss them!!). We hadn't seen them since November 2022, so too much time had passed! We were able to be there for the First Holy Communion of our firstborn's #4 daughter, City Girl. It was so beautiful, taking place during a traditional Latin High Mass at their parish.  She wore one of the two dresses I made back in 2019 for her oldest (identical twin) sisters. 

These dresses have now become part of this family's tradition.  I made one with a lace Peter Pan collar and the other with a plain neck and an extra band of lace embellishment at the waist; I wanted them to be slightly different so the twins could choose the individual style they liked best.  Sister Little Gal wore the one with the collar for her First Holy Communion in 2021.  And City Girl picked the one without the collar.  So each dress has now been worn twice.  

I dream of these dresses, made with lots more love than skill, being worn years from now by great-granddaughters whom I may never meet (although I hope to!).  I dream that they become my favorite sort of thing: family heirlooms.

Anyway--

Aside from celebrating this beautiful sacrament, we were able to become friends with our one-year-old granddaughter, who really doesn't know us very well, now that we only get to visit with her family a couple of times a year.  (Did I give her a blog name yet?  I can't remember.  If not, I think I shall call her Little Lady.)  She has big blue eyes ("lollipop eyes," as one of her aunts described them) and is just about the most adorable little person imaginable. But she spent most of the week we were there studying her Papa and me with suspicion from a safe distance, head down, raising her eyes to peer at us.  She warmed up to Grammy first, allowing me to hold her as long as one of "her people" was close-by.  Papa finally became her best buddy when we had to babysit for her and her four-year-old brother towards the end of our stay, because the rest of the family was going to her twin sisters' play.  The two oldest girls had parts in the chorus of the musical "State Fair," which was put on by their homeschooling group.  My husband and I went to see the opening night show on Friday, then we stayed back to watch the two youngest siblings while everyone else went to the Saturday matinee--and that bonding time with those little ones was truly a gift.

These girls, at not quite 12, kind of tower over me now, so they must be slouching
in this picture.  (I've been slowing shrinking while they've been quickly growing!)

"State Fair" is just wonderful, with songs by Rogers & Hammerstein.  And it is especially fun because the story is set in Iowa.

It was hard to say goodbye when we left; but we were fortunate to have the opportunity to drive our son to the airport about five hours from his house, as it was on our route back home anyway; this saved him a commute to work by plane and gave us that precious extra time in the car to chat with him.  (We did solve all of the world's problems on that drive, and even had some good laughs as well.)

Aside from the goings-on out in the Midwest, there's also been a recent Baptism, of Pearl grandchild #20; but unfortunately we were unable to travel to Nashville to attend it.  Our daughter-in-law's parents were able to be there, however, which is special because this is their first grandchild.  I've yet to see pictures of that sweet little girl, the youngest of our grandchildren (for now, anyway!), receiving her first sacrament.  But I've been assured that they're coming!  

Let's see, what else?  How about some recent VA news? 

Last Sunday we had son #4 and his family over for an after-Mass brunch.  He and his wife are the parents of triplets, identical twin boys and a girl, aged 5, and a 3-year-old girl.  Those kiddos love to come and play in our basement playroom (I've got a post in my drafts folder with my deep musings about playrooms, actually; maybe it's time to edit it and get it posted!  I bet you're thinking, "That sounds fascinating!”). That same night, we had Sunday dinner over at son #2's house.  He and his wife Ginger have four boys, aged 2 to 7, and another baby on the way, due in mid-June. Ginger is a great cook, so we enjoyed a delicious meal of Pioneer Woman steak bites, rice, salad, and homemade brownies with ice cream.  We stayed way too late talking, which we have a tendency to do when it comes to our kids.  (Isn't life grand when you not only love, but sincerely like, your kids?!)

Yesterday, son #3 had a birthday, and we were able to celebrate it with him by bringing over one of his favorite meals and his favorite cinnamon coffee cake for dessert.  I'm a broken record, so I'll add that we stayed way too late talking with him and his Preciosa after the kids were in bed.   It's so worth it, though, even though it means we don't get home and in bed until midnight or after.  We'll sleep when we're dead!

I don't know what's gotten into me today.  I'm feeling a little silly.

Anyway, I'd have to say that 37 is looking pretty good on this middle son of ours.  He is surrounded by lots of noise and activity with his energetic brood, and surrounded even more by lots of love.

God is so good.  Life is so full, I can't even imagine having time to get bored.  And VA is so ridiculously mild and lovely in the spring.  Everything is blooming and I am in Heaven, as much as one can be in this earthly life.  

Father Mike always says, at the end of each episode of his Catechism in a Year podcast, "I'm praying for you.  Please pray for me!" Ditto that, dear readers.

Okay then, until next time...which will hopefully be pretty soon! 

Easter 2023

When our boys were growing up, Christmas was definitely my favorite holiday.  I loved decorating (that is, over-decorating!) the house, decking the halls if you will--the tree especially.  I loved it when it snowed, so that we could enjoy a white Christmas (and we lived in NH, so that was a lot more likely than it is down here in VA!).  I loved our Christmas Eve tradition of pizza and Christmas crackers in the dining room, with our boys drinking sparkling grape juice out of fancy wine glasses. I loved the whole magic of Santa coming and stockings hung on the mantle--and just the whole kit and caboodle: the gifts and the yummy foods, the traditional carols, the Nativity pageants, and all the beautiful trappings of the season.

Easter was always such a joyful time, too, and that holiday came in a close second for me.

But in my old age, Easter has kind of taken the top spot.  Of course, there could be no Easter Sunday without Christmas; Our Lord had to be born first, so that He could suffer and die for the salvation of mankind.  But Easter is just the pinnacle, really.  The greatest celebration of the liturgical year.  We are an Easter people, as the saying goes.

Don't get me wrong; I still love Christmas.  But once all your children are grown, married, and starting family traditions of their own, it's just different.  They will want to be in their own houses on Christmas morning when their little ones wake up, which is exactly how you wanted it when they lived under your roof and exactly how it should be. It's all good, but it's just different.  Trying to pick a time to have a family gathering gets complicated over time, as each of your children makes plans with both you and the family of their spouse.  Also, there are such high expectations for the Christmas season--not just as far as gifts go, but in other ways, too.  And yikes, can we talk about gifts!  With 20 grandchildren so far (and another one currently on the way), trying to decide what to do for all of them is tricky.  My husband and I can't be the grandparents who spoil their grandchildren rotten with lots of expensive presents, not when we have so many to think about.  In past years, we've gotten them toys.  But I think the time has come to give the more traditional, less exciting grandparent-style gifts, such as books and clothes.  Or maybe a crisp ten-dollar bill, like my husband's parents gave to each of our boys and their cousins when the number of grandchildren got out of hand.  (They eventually had 32!)

Anyway, Easter in comparison is so easy and utterly devoid of stress.  I usually make each family a relatively simple basket filled with candy and small gifts.  And I absolutely love preparing for our big brunch.  I get a kick out of setting everything up and planning the menu.  I ended up rearranging the whole breakfast nook this year, so we could use the main kitchen table for a buffet, and it worked so well that I may have to do this for all Pearl parties moving forward.

For our feast this year I decided to put together a make-your-own-breakfast-burrito bar with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cheese, and other toppings.  All the girls pitched in, and we had some delicious sides: pasta salad, Caesar salad, fruit, deviled eggs, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, coffee cake, lemon bread, croissants, mimosas...and chocolates!  No one went away hungry, that's for sure.

It wouldn't be a Pearl get-together if during the post-party clean-up, Grammy didn't find something like this.  

Do you see the nibble marks?  LOL

Every year since we moved to VA in 2017, we've had all the Pearls who live near us here over for brunch, after they've all been to Mass and the kids have found their Easter baskets.  It's becoming a tradition that means so much to me. Between 2017 and 2021, our Easter celebrations included our four oldest boys and their families, and all of our grandchildren; but son #1 moved to Iowa early in 2022, so starting last Easter, it's been the families of sons #2, #3, and #4 and their children.  (Son #5 and his wife, parents of a new baby girl who will be baptized tomorrow, live near Nashville.)  This year, we were also joined by one daughter-in-law's parents, who live in the area, and a dear college friend of two daughters-in-law, a gal who is almost like family.  So altogether we had 11 adults and 13 children, aged 8 and under.  It was wonderfully chaotic, wonderfully noisy, and just plain wonderful.

We always have an Easter egg hunt.

We don't have a huge yard here in our sweet little cookie cutter neighborhood; it's nothing more than a strip of grass along the side of our house.  But somehow, it's enough.  

I dearly hope that these crazy days spent at their Papa and Grammy's house will become part of our grandkids' Easter memories, and that they will look back fondly on them when they have families of their own.

We feel so fortunate that a goodly number of our Pearls of great price live close enough to be able to celebrate this holiday with us, and we sure do miss those who don't--they are never far from our thoughts, that's for sure. We are so blessed, this Easter and always.  Deo Gratias!

Christus resurrexit!  Resurrexit vere!

Five Dads

If you come here fairly often, you know that our youngest son and his wife recently welcomed their first baby, a sweet little girl.  So now all five of our sons, incredibly, are dads.

For the past few years, my prayer has been to live long enough to meet son #5’s first child.  He's five years younger than his next oldest brother, and he got married about five years behind the last of the rest of them.  I felt like my husband and I had been very blessed to see our four oldest boys become dads (more than once each!); so I would pray, "Please God, let me live to see my baby become a dad, too!" 

Now that I've met his darling firstborn child, my prayer has changed to, "Thanks so much!  I am eternally grateful!  Now if you don't mind, I'd like to meet a few more of his children, too, if you're going to send more. I don't mean to be greedy, but you know: ‘Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.’  (Matthew 7:7)  Just asking, seeking, and knocking here…but Thy will be done, of course!”

                                            🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

It has been a unique blessing to watch our boys become fathers, let me tell you.  I can think of few things that have been more rewarding.  All five of them have embraced fatherhood with zeal, falling into the role as naturally as if they'd been born for it (and since they don't have religious vocations, I absolutely believe they were born for it).  

It's about the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen, watching these beloved boys with their children.  And to illustrate that point, I'm just going to end this post with a little photo dump (using some snapshots--not necessarily the most recent ones-- culled from the hundreds, maybe thousands, I have to choose from!).

Son #1 (father of 6 on earth, 4 in Heaven), 
with his youngest.

Son #2 (father of 4 on earth, one in Heaven, and one
on the way), with his third-born.

Our middle son (father of 5), with his firstborn.

Son #4 (father of 4), with his youngest.

Our baby, with his first baby.

I LOVE my family.  Love them to pieces.  These boys.  Their wives.  And the 20-going-on-21 grandchildren they've given us to treasure, as well as the five tiny precious souls who wait to meet us in Heaven (pray for us, sweet babies! We need your help!).

Thank you, God, for EVERYTHING!  Especially for these five dads.

A St. Patrick's Day Post (on St. Joseph's Feast Day)

There is almost nothing that makes me happier than having my family gathered at our house, to celebrate a holiday or even for no special reason at all.  But holidays are, of course, especially fun.

St. Patty's Day is a particularly special holiday for the Pearl clan, because there is so much Irish blood flowing through our veins (well, a whole lot more of it on my husband's side than mine, but I've got some of it, too).

Our bishop gave a dispensation, so we had a green light for eating meat on this one Friday during Lent, in honor of the Emerald Isle's patron saint; therefore, I was able to make traditional Irish fare like corned beef and cabbage and beef stew.

Our three VA boys and their families came over for the evening, along with the brother of one of our daughters-in-law and his wife, who were visiting from FL. Food was eaten, drinks were drunk (but not to worry, nobody got drunk!), and a house got very messy. When 13 grandchildren ranging in age from 8 down to almost a year visit your house, there will be sticky spots on the floor afterward, and lots and lots of crumbs to vacuum. (But if you knew how much I love to vacuum, you would realize that this is not a bad problem for me to have.  Ha ha!  No, but really, that wasn't sarcasm: I love to vacuum!)

Cousins make the best friends!

We had an overabundance of food; but too much is definitely better than not enough, right?

Here are the things we had that I would definitely serve again, along with the traditional corned beef and cabbage:

1. Martha Stewart's  Loaded baked potato dip with potato chips.  Delicious.  Practically a meal in itself.

2. Keogh's Sour Cream and Shamrock potato chips, from Ireland.  (Yes, SHAMROCK!  Did you know that shamrocks are edible?! I didn't.)  We discovered them at Aldi's when we were in TN.  My favorite chips ever.

3. Mule Punch--my own invention: dump one can of frozen limeade in a punch bowl, add five bottles of cold ginger beer, stir (and a few drops of green food coloring if it's March 17).  That's it!  Then have a shot glass nearby, with vodka for Moscow Mules, bourbon for Kentucky Mules, and tequila for Mexican Mules.  It's delicious as is for the underage crowd, but spiked it becomes a tasty adult beverage. 

4. These shortbread cookies, from Ina Garten.  (You can dip them in chocolate, but I left them plain.) Mouthwateringly good!

Here's what I would skip next time:

1. The Pinterest-y rainbow of fruit, with clouds (mini marshmallows) at one end and a pot of gold (gold-covered chocolate candies) at the other.  It's cute and all, but not worth the trouble.  Just having a bowl of cut-up fruit makes more sense, in my opinion.  We had both options going and almost no one picked fruit from the rainbow.

2. I asked one of my daughters-in-law to make a veggie tray in Irish flag colors.  She used carrots and peppers for the orange part, cauliflower for the white, and broccoli and cucumbers for the green.  It was AWESOME, but I feel bad about all the effort she put into it.  Because...dare I say this?  Veggies aren't always the first thing people go for at our parties.  What does that say about us Pearls?

Anyway, it's usually not really about the menu anyway, is it?  It's about the people.

Especially these people.  (Of the 13 grandchildren who were there, only one is missing from these two photos.)

So that's the recap of our celebration.  One of our young grandsons is studying violin, so maybe someday in the future he can fiddle us some Irish tunes at our St. Patrick's Day party!  Wouldn't that be grand?

I’m hanging up my St. Patty’s apron until next year, and already planning the menu for 3/17/24: maybe it will be an all-potato feast (rather than a famine)!  Keough’s sour cream and shamrock potato chips with that heavenly loaded baked potato dip.  Twice-baked potatoes stuffed with butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon as a main course, methinks.  ☘️  

Enough of that—I’ve got plenty of time to menu plan.

Slainte, dear readers! ☘️

Saint Patrick, pray for us!  St. Joseph, pray for us!

Catching Up: Our Week+ with Our Baby's Baby

We had a family St. Patrick’s Day party at our house last night, and I love posting about Pearl holiday celebrations.  But I’m behind on my blogging (what’s new?!), and I wanted to first archive memories from our recent stay in Nashville, when we had the joy of meeting our 20th grandchild and helping our youngest son and his wife as they transitioned into their brand new roles of mommy and daddy.

On the 14th, we drove back home, after spending almost two weeks with our baby and HIS baby.  My husband and I were privileged to have arrived on the 2nd, just hours after our new little granddaughter's birth, and to meet her very shortly after she'd made her grand entrance into the world.

Papa and Grammy had a wonderful time while we were there, taking turns holding that precious tiny human when her tired parents needed to rest, taking pictures of her, and falling in love with her.  All babies are precious; but this one is particularly beautiful and sweet-tempered (says her besotted but totally unbiased grandmother!). 

Also, I did a good bit of cooking and cleaning, and my husband got a few of the kids’ "honey-do" items off the list--there always seem to be a number of them when you move into a new house!

Mending fences.

Building storage shelves for the garage.

 

We got to be there at the little one's first Mass, and then went out to brunch with her and her parents afterward.

It was tough to say goodbye, and in a perfect world this little family would live less than an hour from us, as our three middle sons and their families do.  This son and our firstborn (our "bookend boys") may be far away in miles, but they are always very close in our hearts.

As we drove off, our son ”waved at us through the trees” (or more correctly, through the townhouse units).  And if you want to know what that quote means, grab a hanky and read this old post, written back when he  graduated from Notre Dame in 2015.  It's one of my favorites.

Okay...I'm not crying, you're crying!  (LOL)

Next up:  St. Patrick’s Day party recap.  Hopefully coming soon!  

The New Daddy

 

If this isn’t the sweetest thing ever, I don’t know what is!  (If you don’t know what’s going on here, check out yesterday’s post.)  💗