Kneeler: 1, Patrick: 0

We had a classic time at daily Mass the other day. During the opening prayer I reminded Patrick that he is not allowed to play with the books and hymnals during Mass - not a new rule in our family. He, however, was obviously very upset by this revelation and decided to do the full-out throw-his-body-back-and-forth tantrum to show his disagreement. So, this resulted in him first giving his head a loud whack on the pew back, followed by throwing himself at our feet on the ground. This would have all been fine and he would have recovered momentarily if it was not for the kneeler in the way of his forward fall. Thank God for Guardian Angels! He got a nice, deep, bloody cut just half an inch from his eye. Oh, joy! The up side of all this? He seemed, for that 30 minutes of Mass time, to be able to connect the tantrum with the resulting pain. Since then, of course, he has forgotten. Silly boy!

Love, Us.

Our Big Superhero and His Bike

FYI: We DID actually get David his very late 5th birthday present a few weeks ago! 

God was awesome and after looking many places and pricing things out, we found the PERFECT bike at the thrift shop - a Spiderman Bike, no less! David also loves the attached basket, because it has made him the official mail-checker around the house, which he enjoys thoroughly. I noticed that I did a fairly poor job of tightening his training wheels, because they are so high up now that I don't know if he would notice me taking them off... maybe I will try that one of these days! 

Love, Us.

Our Ginger

Hello from our red head! He wanted to brighten your day with one of his big, (baby) toothy grins!

Love, Us.

Sorry - No New Pics... Throw Back Thursday

Yup. I have hit the bottom of the barrel and need to be more conscious of my camera during the day.
I will try my best to start snapping away for you!

But, for today, since it is "Throw Back Thursday" and we will be unable to go see ls Hallel for Easter... enjoy!

Love, Us.

Feast Day!

Happy Feast of the Assumption!

We have started out like we usually do on Feast days - a special breakfast, a little time catechizing the kids on the day's feast, and now the kiddos are snuggled in watching a special movie. Today's movie is the original Batman TV series that we got from the library. Yes - even T has learned to enjoy such movies. She has accepted her state in life with three little brothers.

Tonight we have a delicious supper planned, complete with special dessert. I'm also hoping that everything goes smoothly around the house today so that we can make it to confession and Mass - that would be great! 

Love, Us.

A Week of Firsts!

Romeo has added two more "firsts" to his list over the past week: his first double-ear infection and his first tooth! 

Poor kid! 

The ear infection is now over, though, so we just need to focus on keeping him in bibs so that his massive teething drool doesn't have him going through numerous shirts daily!

Love, Us.

Our St. Patrick's Day

Just FYI - we did celebrate St. Patrick's day in the small-t traditional ways... green breakfast milk and green clothes.
P was loving it!

Love, Us.

S is for Sunday and Skink!

Happy Sunday!

We have moved from a climate that did not support much life beyond jack rabbits and tumble weeds to one that supports a LOT of life! So... for your Sunday, here is a friendly papa blue-tailed skink (you can tell he is getting older, because almost all of the blue is gone from his tail) for your enjoyment. Our neighbors found him in their backyard and brought him over for the kids to meet. 

Love, Us.

Birthday Talks with Godparents

Being far from family and loved ones, we have definitely learned the ease and wonder of Skype/FaceTime.
Thanks to such technology, T had a special visit on her birthday. Her Godfather took some time out of his evening to chat with her and offer a special prayer for her. Also, her Godmother was also able to have a quick chat on the phone with her last week. She was traveling on T's actual birthday, so it was wonderful for them to have a moment a little early. God is good!

Love, Us.

Crossfit Kids

Sorry I missed blogging for St. Joseph's Day yesterday. We were out and about all day... but we did celebrate with some good food and a movie for the kids in the evening. The "good" news is that we postponed out hosting plans for this evening until next week, so we can have a normal Lenten Friday today after all of this week's feasting.

As far as today's pictures - here are all of the kiddos enjoying our bi-weekly time at Crossfit Kids.

T and D get to partake in the actual class. 

They have a lot of fun - even though T really doesn't enjoy getting sweaty.

Romie hangs out in the stroller and munches on toys.

And Patrick runs around, hiding from mommy between the barbells.

Love, Us.

T is 7!

Our Sweet T is 7... and just as sweet as ever! We love you, Thérèse!

Since daddy is so busy these days, we took advantage of Sunday to celebrate in-home with her.
She chose the menu and we had a wonderful, yummy time!

Isn't she pretty?

Here is how she has spent her day so far... she is determined to finish all of the Junie B. Jones books by this weekend! We are so proud of her!

She is even taking time "out" to read books to David. 

 And check out this AMAZING gift she received from Aunt T! Wow! She LOVES IT and will cherish it always! 

(Note: We thought it should be placed by the small acts of love jar for Lent - it is getting pretty full, as you can see.)

You are a beauty inside and out, T! Happy Birthday!

Love, Mom and Dad.

A Week of Feasting in Lent

I apologize if I don't get on here as frequently as usual this week. Even though we are in the midst of Lent, this week is a week of feasts here at the Librandi castle. Last Thursday T received her First Reconciliation. Sunday was our family celebration of T's birthday. Today is Patrick's feast day. Tomorrow is T's actual birthday (with cupcakes and lemonade and neighbors during play time). Then, Thursday is Joe's feast day. At least we'll get back to "normal" on Friday, but we are having a family over for supper... so it actually won't be, because we will be "forced" to partake in dessert! I don't know if we will survive it all. We will have to have a super Lenten last week before Holy Week to make up for this week!

Totally unrelated... here is a picture of the kids being imaginative one day when they were relegated to the front porch and not allowed to bike down the road (due to Patrick being outside and mom not being able to supervise). I thought this spaceship was very cool!

Love, Us.

Our Home from the Outside

I have received requests for a tour of our new home. Well, I haven't taken those pictures yet, so you will have to be OK with pictures of the outside for now. Here is our place!

The Front (and the truck that had all of our belongings in it)

The Woods (We have the community entrance to the path through the woods in our back yard, actually!)

And the Back (Yes - it is a duplex.)

Love, Us.

Family Visits on the Way Home

OK - I think I have finally reached the end of my pictures prior to getting to our new place. 

This is the last "old" installment. 

On the way to our new home we had the joy of visiting two special relatives who, although very close and dear to us, we had either not actually met in person or only on a couple occasions. It was wonderful to get some hugs, pictures, and spend some time in their homes!

The kids loved Aunt Diane's place, especially her puppy and yummy chocolate cereal! 

(Sorry we didn't take the photo before you left for work, Uncle Carl.) We love you guys!

And we finally met Aunt T and Beth! Like I told her, it didn't feel like I hadn't met her yet. I felt like I really knew her. What a great time we had!

 And what would be on the list of things to do with T and Beth?... The World's Largest Candy Store, of course!

We love and miss you both!

Love, Us.

Good Times in MN

Due to our waiting for a home to become available in our new town, we were able to spend an extended time with my family in MN. As I mentioned earlier, I was horrible at getting my camera out, in general. Therefore, I don't have all that much to show for the good times that we had. However, I am not completely without documentation. For today.. a few glimpses at our MN fun.

All of the cousins together!

Some long-awaited snuggles (and some group snoozing).

Cousin fun and silliness.

MUD MONSTERS!

Wow! That was quite a mix of pictures, but hopefully the good times were clearly seen!

Love, Us.