For Today: Back to Normal - Playing War

David had a great time with his cousins, and only momentarily now and then showed a great desire to put the trucks down and pick up swords, knowing that his cousins were more into wheels than war. However, when we got home it did not take long for him to pick up his sword and get out his Army men. And, of course, his little buddy was quickly there to complicate his well-laid-out battle field!

Love, Us. 

For Today: Photo Shoots with Grandma

We fit a lot of stuff in while my mom was with us for a few days: the watercoloring, labeling of all of T's fossil finds from MI, and even some photo shoots!

The first photo op was something that grandma can never resist: little kids in big shoes!

And then there was a photo shoot that my mom, unfortunately, realized she had to come all the way to El Paso to get: more pictures of T in her Little Sister habit. I had taken a total of one picture of her in it when she received it, and that was NOT acceptable in her book!

And, as you can see, it took David no time at all to get back into his "constant costume" habit around the house!

Love, Us.

For Today: Craft Time at HOME with Grandma

Well, we finally made it home! It had been a wonderful, but long, vacation, and it was good to be back on our desolate El Paso soil. 

As usual, my mom came with a couple projects in mind to do with the kids. And, as usual, they had to do with photo shoots and watercoloring! The first project they tackled together was making birthday cards for their cousin, Big Dave, who was joining T as a six-year-old during grandma's time with us.

And we even had fresh treats from Ruth's garden to fill their tummies while they created their masterpieces!

Love, Us.

For Today: The Ride Back Home

We were finally on our way back home! My mother was my aid on the ride, and we had great weather along the way, along with great conversation. The kids were very good, overall, and they enjoyed the new, fun experience of the van!

We left very early the first day, and it worked perfectly, putting us in my cousin, Sam's, current town just at supper time! We got to see little Charlie, along with wonderful Kara who helped us out so much 2 years ago during Patrick's time in the NICU. We had a nice dinner and, of course, some pictures!

Some construction the second day made it longer than desired, but the kids dealt very well with it, and Patrick even stayed dry for 6+ hours on the road a couple times during the trip!

The main entertainment for the kids on the drive was actually Thérèse reading her books for the library reading program. They would listen for hours to her reading… it was AWESOME (both listening to her read and listening to the other two not making a peep)!

Love, Us.

For Today: Dominic's Baptism Day

Good morning! Whew! I am finally done with posting Michigan pictures! Yay!

On to more wonderful family events, starting with little Dominic Patrick's Baptism!

We went to Mass at the Basilica before the Baptism, and that was special due to it being the location of my mom and dad's wedding! We were even so lucky as to find someone willing to take a family picture of us ALL, even mom!

David insisted on wearing his fancy new bow tie from Oma! What a stud!

The Baptism took place at Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale. Joseph and I were blessed to be asked to be Dominic's godparents, but since Joe couldn't make it up to Minnesota, my brother John stepped in as the proxy. It was a very beautiful ceremony, and Father pulled out all of the stops. Oh, and Dominic was just perfect as well!

Afterwards, we got the first three hours of our southern trip done by heading down to Marshall and having a couple more hours of fun with the cousins… and their berry patches!

After that, we were ready for an early morning and hitting the road for the long haul back home!
More on that next time.

Love, Us.

For Today: Just Us and Frogs in MI

Well, the title tells it all, except maybe the frogs. It being a very chilly week on the lake, for the last few days the kiddos went for outings the opposite direction of the beach, where they spent hours in the "bog" hunting frogs (of all ages)! They all had a blast and ended up needing to increase the little guys' holding area to a full-size garbage can! We had a "sunset release" the last night at which my sister Ruth and her fancy camera got some great picks of D (and the frogs)!

It all began when the girls got some teeny tiny tadpoles on their fossil hunt. Then, they got this guy and the hunt REALLY began!

Overall, I think 6 or 7 big adults were caught and many, many, many "teenagers", as they called these mammoth pollywogs. T and D both caught one and were VERY excited and proud of their catches!

But, the time came to say good-bye.

But, even apart from frogs, the kiddos and I had a really great time at the cabin! If only dad could have joined us, it would have been perfect!

Yikes! A little TOO much fun, P!

And to officially finish off pictures of our time in MI, some of the best "official" family shots from the week.

Love, Us.