A Picture for Today: Our Current Playmates

As I mentioned yesterday, we currently have 2 little boys spending their days with us while their mother and new little SISTER get to know each other at the hospital. They, of course, miss their mother dearly for a moment every now and then, but we have had a great time together. Oh, and I just have to mention that ALL 5 kiddos slept through the night! I tell you - PRAYER IS POWERFUL! It sounds like every thing is going well with mom and sister, so we will be saying goodbye soon. It has been fun!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: T's First 100!

Good morning! It is a little more busy than normal around here today. I have an extra 2 and 1 year old around here. My dear friend, Anna, just gave birth to her third (she is keeping the gender a secret until her husband contacts her from Afghanistan - or somewhere between there and the US - I think he is already on the way home for baby leave). So, James and Terry are here for the time being. They are sweet kiddos, though. So far, we've had some train set time, breakfast, and a piano lesson (Thérèse teaching James). But, enough about today... yesterday was a big day for T!

She finished her first (recorded) 100 books! She was so determined to finish them that she was only at 87 books when the day began... she was DETERMINED! She did it, and I am so proud of her! Great job, T! I hope that you always love books! (She is sitting behind me right now with a book on the couch - unprompted!)

To celebrate we headed on over to Barnes and Noble where they have a great summer reading program, of sorts. You just fill out a form with 8 books the kid has read and they get a free book! Pretty neat - and very timely that I found out about it yesterday so that we could do that for her reading incentive!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Blast from the Past - April Cutie-Pies!

Just some cute shots from back in April for today! Enjoy!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Blast from the Past - Meeting Benedict Elias

Sorry I am posting so late today. It has been a VERY full, but good Sunday for the family here. As I said yesterday, today is a picture of when I was finally able to meet our newest Godson, Benedict Elias, back in April. Look at that little red head!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Blast from the Past - David and His Godparents

Well, I am slowly getting all my old pictures posted by working backwards in my files every day I don't have a new picture. For today I am FINALLY sharing the super sweet pictures of David with his Godparents. It was a super last-minute visit back in April as the kids and I were working our way back to TX, and I am SO glad that it worked out! Maybe for tomorrow, if I don't have another current picture, I'll finally post the picture of me with my new Godson, who I finally met at this visit! We miss you guys SO much!

Thank you for praying for D! He needs it! Sometimes we aren't quite sure how his Guardian Angel does it... that Angel sure got a hard assignment (probably similar to your Angel's job, Jim)!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Yesterday's Rain

So, I was just finished blogging yesterday morning when it started to rain. Now, it had been raining all night long, so this shouldn't have been note-worthy. However, I felt a rain drop on my arm... and I was sitting at the computer. Something was wrong with this scenario. At first, I thought I was just really tired and not thinking straight, but I couldn't ignore the continued rain drops that were falling on me and the area around me. It was fairly dark in the house, so it took me awhile to figure it out, but I finally realized that it was, in fact, raining indoors! There was a constant drip falling from where the ceiling fan was connected to the tall, 2-story, ceiling in the living room. The drop was then hitting the fan itself and splattering all over the living room, which just happens to house all of our electronics!  What fun! So, I found some blankets and towels and covered things up, and then waited for 8am so I could call the housing office and hopefully get the drip stopped, because rain is forecasted OUTSIDE all weekend! The workmen did come last night and said that they fixed a crack in the cement above the fixture... we'll see whether or not the rain stays outside in the coming days!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Weekend Races

As a way to both fulfill the kids' desire to get out of the house and have some "park time" and to tire them out for a good nap, we brought them out to the big parade field for some races on Sunday. David got a significant head start, since his legs are about 2/3 the length of Thérèse's. Out of the three races, each won one, and they tied once. One thing is for sure... those kids can run and they LOVE to run! Sometimes, however, David confidently said that he understood the racing route, only to start and run in the opposite direction. We do still need to work on focus, D.

Look at the confident stride of that boy!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: David's Current Obsession...

Ok, so today's is an old picture - sometime at the end of April... black eye time. I just went back to find a picture of David alone so that I could highlight him today. 

I have no idea where David's current fixation came from. Maybe it is because a certain someone is praying for our family a lot and his guardian angel is whispering his name in his ear, or maybe it is simply because David has always seemed to be excited that he can say a certain someone's last name clearly, even though it is not the most common name out there. I will disguise his name for his privacy, but the following are only a couple of the many actual conversations that have taken place in the last weeks.

David: What are we having for supper, Mom?

Mom: Fiesta Chicken Soup.

David: Yay! Hey, is John Pustooka coming to supper?

David: Mom, I lost one of my Lego men.

Mom: Well, David, did you look though the Lego box?

David: Yeah, Mom. He's not there!

Mom: Don't worry. He'll show up sometime.

David: No, I think John Pustooka took him.

..................

As I said... I have no idea at all. 

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: A Gorgeous Evening!

We had an absolutely gorgeous evening here last night. It was thundering, blustery, and we had complete cloud cover... it was beautiful! I know, that may not sound beautiful for you, but for us it was AWESOME weather for outside play. The kids were out there for hours, and I had to make them come in for supper and bedtime... all 3 of them! Look at these cuties!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Bad Boys, Bad Boys

Maybe I was just lucky in getting a very cautious, careful, and fairly obedient daughter first, but my experience shows that boys and girls are VERY different, even when raised in the same household. Here are two very minor examples of my boys being boys, both from yesterday.

David's face after just a few bites of his "Captain America" donut after Mass. You can only imagine what his face looked like when he had eaten all of the frosting (and not the donut). And just FYI - in order to eat only the frosting part one must take bites at such an angle that gets the most possible frosting on one's face and not in one's mouth. He definitely looked like he had eaten a Smurf when he was done. 

And Patrick, who Joe and I placed in the school room for, literally, only a minute so that he could play with some board puzzles. I guess he very quickly bored of the puzzles and went on to more interesting endeavors - like taking down mom's classroom signs! Bad boy!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Blast from the Past - Sauk Rapids Visit

Once again, I went back in my photo files for today's pictures. My most recent ones I haven't posted were from the end of our MN trip in April. And, I thought it would be quite fitting to post pictures of the visit that the kids and I took to the monastery in Sauk Rapids, with today's reading being about Martha and Mary. These are definitely some beautiful "Marys"! It was a wonderful visit and Patrick got a front-row seat for the conversation!

Happy Sunday!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Last Day of the Reading Program

As I've posted about before, this time of year is the one time of year that we break our backs bringing enough books home from the library weekly to fulfill our needs at daily reading times. But, today is the final day! It is a bitter-sweet day, bitter because once in awhile you find a great book, and sweet because the kids and I no longer have to haul the immense number of books back and forth (and our library is down a significant flight of stairs) every 3-4 days.
We are back to reading from our own collection, for the most part, until next year!

Yes, learning about the seven continents IS that exciting! Oh, and I just noticed that she is wearing the reading program t-shirt from 2 years ago. How fitting!

PS - Good thing contagion doesn't pass through the internet. I am the third in our family to endure a none-too-fun flu bug this week. The two big boys are left - and time will tell if, once again, we end up having a stay-at-home weekend due to sickness. We seem to have a history of that recently.

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: A Rainy Day!

Yesterday was a VERY rare day... it RAINED! And it not only rained, it literally rained ALL DAY! Now, in midwest standards, I would have only called maybe a half-hour of it a real hard rain, the rest was  just sprinkles and drizzles, but in the desert that is a VERY wet day. It was SO refreshing!

We even had a little adventure in the rain. During Bible School yesterday Patrick had an appointment at the hospital. It is usually a very difficult thing to find parking at the hospital, but yesterday I was very relieved to find a fairly close spot right away. I thought fate was smiling on me, until I drove into it and realized it was in a puddle. I at first didn't think too much of this puddle, but then I opened the door. This was more than a puddle. We were cutting it close to arriving on time, so I knew I didn't have time to find a new spot. So, I "dove in". This puddle was up to my mid-calf. Luckily, it was only just above my ankles at the back door where I had to maneuver in getting the boys out. After the appointment, as I was getting Patrick in the car, I let David walk around in the puddle since he had finally been able to wear his rubber boots to an official outing. The water went over the TOP of his boots! I guess life gets a little crazy on a simple rainy day when you don't have gutters or drains!

Love, Us.

Some Pictures for Today: Wagon Day at the Park

We finally made it back to the park yesterday, and decided to bring the wagon this time. Patrick LOVED it, and Thérèse loved having another way to make him happy - taking him for a ride! Meanwhile, David chased a yellow butterfly - can you see it in the pic (it is very small)? Overall, a pretty awesome time!

PS - Can you tell Patrick is teething? He has three more poking out on top last time I checked!

Love, Us.

Some Pictures for Today: Blast from the Past - St. George Cake

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, so I had to go searching in my archives for today's entry. I decided to share the super fun thing that the kids and I did for the Feast of St. George way back in April. We made a Dragon cake! Oma and Opah were here to celebrate with us (we connected the Feast with Opah's birthday party) - so we had a blast, as you will see.

The Creators

The Finished Project

We made slaying weapons as well!

Slayers Ready for the Kill!

The Killing Blow.

The remains of the Dragon once the slayers were gorged on his yummy goodness.

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: T's First Day at Bible School

She LOVED it! When she got home yesterday, we couldn't find her "Turn Off the Excited Talking" button! She went on and on and on about how much she LOVED Bible School, and whenever she wasn't talking she was singing or humming one of the day's songs that she learned. Needless to say, she is VERY excited for her bus (actually a van) to arrive this morning.

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Our Messy Little Texan

In true Texas style, our little guy LOVES avocados! Last night (as you can see) he absolutely devoured an entire avocado entirely by himself in a matter of moments! Well, OK, in all honesty, let's say he devoured 2/3 of one... you can see where the other 1/3 went.

And doesn't Patrick have GREAT hair? Accordingly, one of his main nicknames is "Feather Head" right now.

PS - T starts a week-long Vacation Bible School today! Say a pray that she is brave and has a great time - particularly brave for the BUS ride she is taking to and from each day! Yikes! I know she'll do fine once she actually gets there, but she is definitely my little anxiety girl. I'll be reminding her about her big, strong Guardian Angel this morning!

Love, Us. 

A Picture for Today: Last Weekends's Creations

The creative juices were flowing over the 4th, and the results were...

...a Captain America shield for Super D!

And a magical telephone booth for Sweet T!

Oh, how I LOVE kids with imaginations!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Preview of Last Week's Fun

I need to wait until the kids get up to get some better pics (maybe even a video or two - we'll see how motivated I am) of the fun stuff that dad made for them last weekend on his holiday break. But, for now, here is a quick preview of some of the fun. Any guesses?

PS - Note how David is holding the marker - I'd give you a B- for that, D. I can tell you are trying, but we still need to work on it!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Homemade Popsicles!

Wow! David almost even gave a decent smile for this picture! Now THAT says something!

Yum!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Splash Park Fun

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but we had a great 4th of July weekend! Dad got his creative juices going with some kid projects (which will soon be featured here) and we had some fun outings to parks and even the zoo! For today, here are a couple shots of us at one of the splash parks here on post. It was super fun, and since a lot of people travel over these long weekends, we pretty much had the place to ourselves! 

David prepping for the downpour...

...and enduring it!

Thérèse attempting the same, but being a step or two off target.

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: Train Fun with Friends

We got to have a play date the other day with two little boys, 2 and 1/2 and the other 15 months, while their mom had a doctor's appointment. I'd gathered from previous encounters that anything concerning trains was tops in their book, so we broke out the train set on our activity table. It sure made everyone happy and the time go by quickly! Thanks for playing, James and "Hairy"!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: My Good Eaters

I just realized that I hadn't put something up for today, so luckily the kids just did a news-worthy thing: chomped down a super healthy supper! I made roasted veggies (which the kids and I have nick-named "veggie candy") and a Kale and Bacon Frittata (Yes, you read right - KALE, which is not known as the most kid-friendly ingredient, I hear). The kids not only chomped it down, David had seconds and Thérèse had fifths! Wow! Hope you had a delicious supper as well!

Love, Us.

A Picture for Today: The Result of Fun in the Sun

The kiddos had their first play session in their homemade backyard pools yesterday (which consists of splashing and "swimming" in large tubs full of water). They were having a blast, and Joe and I were enjoying some quiet time inside, noting every now and then how nicely they were playing. But, then we realized that they had been playing for quite some time... without sunscreen. Yikes! Good thing I had aloe on hand! Luckily, however, even though the burns are apparent, they don't seem to bother them at all... yet. We'll see if that stays the case if and when they start to peel.

Love, Us.