Playground Fun.

Today was such a beautiful spring-like day that we cut the schoolwork short and went out to enjoy it!    I even saw numerous large flocks of geese heading north again!

Gina (5) being pretty.

Gina being normal.

Philip (2) absolutely loved his first ride on the seesaw.

Course Mom had to do all the pushing, or else he'd be stuck 5 feet off the ground.

Noelle (top) and Natalie, 9 yrs old.

June.

Natalie with her patriotic berry shortcake!

Regina is by far the most tech-savvy kid I own.  She had been adeptly using our Kindle tablet for the first two years of her life (until I killed it).  The first time I showed her how to operate a mouse, she was spot-on.  

My beautiful hanging basket of Lantana, a gift from my wonderful oldest daughter.

Philip backed himself under his dresser and couldn't get out.

He's determined to fall and break his head.  This is the only place where the stairs aren't completely kid-proofed.  I really gotta get plexiglass on that side.

I won my first stuffie from the claw machine!

Regina's shiner is almost completely healed.

Saturday night Noelle tried to show me how well she could go hand-over-hand across the rungs on the swingset.  She almost made it.

Her face impacted the ground.  Hard.  At first I thought the bloody nose was the only injury, but while we were stanching the nosebleed, she started complaining about her arm.  At first she said the upper arm hurt, but later said it was the elbow.  No matter...either way it meant a trip to the emergency room.  Thankfully the xrays didn't show any breaks, so we're just managing the pain until the soreness goes away, and she can wear the sling whenever the arm bothers her.

Avid Reader

I snapped this picture with my phone...It had to be in March 2014 because that's when I moved the couches around to let in more sunlight through the living room windows.  This particular couch is now in the spot with the worst lighting, and yet there she was, reading in such dim light that I'm sure she'd go blind.  She is consumed with compulsion to read EVERYTHING.




She doesn't understand much of the funnies, but that doesn't stop her.   I love it.

Sacrament Prep

While preparing the girls for their Sacraments of Initiation this spring, I came across a great craft at a favorite Catholic Mom blog.   It was a color-by-number and was fairly intricate to color in, but Noelle and I were able to finish it in about an hour.

Folding it in a zig-zag was probably the most complicated part, but the finished product...wow!  When you view it from the left, you can see a monstrance...

but when viewed from the other direction, you can see Jesus Christ.

The object of the lesson is that when you receive the Eucharist, even though it doesn't look like Him and you can't see Him...He's really there.

Pictures from the Twins' First Holy Communion

Noelle (L) and Natalie (R) on their First Communion Day, pictured with Fr. Adam

Natalie with Philip and Regina

Natalie

Natalie

Noelle

Noelle

Today, Noelle...

decided to teach herself the Greek alphabet.

Two of a Kind

But which one is which?

February 24, 2014

Sock Babies

I found this craft idea and couldn't resist - making a Baby Jesus out of a sock.  You can read more about the tradition here.

As an added bonus, all the socks were matched from the sock-matcher basket while we were looking for stray white socks to use for the craft!

Wigs 4 Kids.

The picture is a little blurry...but the twins each had 11 inches of hair cut off to donate to a nonprofit wig organization...NOT Locks of Love, which I discovered does NOT supply wigs for cancer patients or burn victims, and DOES charge for its wigs.  The organization we chose is listed below.  We would have gone with Wigs For Kids (international) but they required 12 inches of hair, and we only had 11 to give.

Noelle and Philip

Get out the tissues.

Noelle and Natalie are thrilled with their baby brother, and are very protective and gentle with him.  They ask to hold him at every opportunity, and sink into despair when they cannot.  I can count on them to rock him or sing to him anytime he's fussy or when I need an extra pair of hands, and he knows their voices.  He will quiet down in the car when they sing to him.

Here is Noelle cuddling a sleepy Philip.

Last week, while we were cleaning the twins' bedrom, I found this piece of paper.  Needless to say, I have scanned it, laminated it, and will be keeping it for posterity.




Waaaahhhhh.

Worth A Thousand Words

I must add that although her first ride traumatized Natalie, a few weeks later she willingly went on this ride again with only Theresa and Noelle, and she fearlessly came down the big splash with a triumphant smile on her face.  Unfortunately I didn't buy a copy of THAT picture, but the memory is etched in my heart.

Picture Parade: Nice Outfit.

Picture Parade. Yeah. Don't Even Ask.

Noelle wants to look like Sam Sparks.

Picture Parade: Tuckered Out

This is Noelle.  No, she's not hiding.  This is how she fell asleep after a fun afternoon of pond swimming with friends.

Whaaa?

Noelle, our Deep Thinker: "Mom, if you were all frogs, I would be born a frog."

Picture Parade: Noelf.

Sing it with me:  Dum, da, dum... Link, he come to town, come to save the Princess Zelda.

Noelle loves Link almost as much as Conor.

My living room isn't untidy, it's lived-in.  If I stopped to clean up the mess before I snapped a picture, I probably wouldn't take another picture until 2022.

Before and After

Wrecking Ball

Cleanup crew

Fashionista

Mom, Can I Try Out Your New Chair? Sure!

Five Minutes Later...