7 Quick Takes, or 8 or 9 or 10, because...a Liebster Award!

My sweet friend Dainty Cate, who I met at the Edel Gathering, nominated me for a Liebster Award, and I'm finally sitting down to write about it! Thanks, Cate! She had some fun questions and I'll elaborate on about 7 of them so I can use this as a 7 Quick Takes, too :)

1. Where was the last place that you took a trip?  
This past year included many, many trips back and forth from Corpus Christi to Houston as we transitioned to moving back to the Houston area, and about 6 weeks in an extended stay hotel, so we didn't have a big vacation this year.  But our trip to San Antonio for the Fullness of Truth Conference in August was a fun long weekend getaway and vacation for our family!  

2. What book are you currently reading?
I'm still plugging along through the Anne of Green Gables series. I am currently reading Anne of Ingleside, but ever since we left the hotel I haven't read much (I had been enjoying reading while on the elliptical in the hotel gym a few days a week).  I also finally bought The Nesting House, which I'm slowly reading.  It's the perfect book for me right now as I'm trying to find peace in a house that needs some updating!

3. Which candy do you covet in your kids’ Halloween stash?
I'm not a chocolate fan, but I like all the fruity candies like Starburst, Skittles, Runts, or gummy bears.

4. What did you wear in your hair when you got married?
I wore a veil that I made out of a soft sheer fabric (not tulle!), with ribbons and beads sewed along the edges.  It wasn't too long; just went down to the back of my knees or so.  I sewed the top of the veil onto a simple beaded clip and my hair was in a kind of fancy bun. Here's one of my favorite photos from our wedding day, before we went into the reception.

5. Do you prefer to hand-write or type? 
Type, totally.

6. Pickles: Dill or Sweet?
No thank you on pickles :)

7. Pies: Apple or Pumpkin?
I love Apple Pie!

8. Which do you enjoy more: cooking or baking?
I'm not sure if I really enjoy doing either one.  I guess I'd say cooking though. I like it when new recipes turn out well.  I don't like the messes from baking!  But the girls enjoy baking, and I'll clean up their messes for desserts that I don't have to bake myself :)

9. Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle or vespa? 
Nope!

10. Do you play any musical instruments?
I play the guitar, but not fluently ;) I can strum some nice praise songs, but I haven't played much since having kids.  One of these days...

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Now I'll tag Catherine at Catholic Mom Apologia, Mary at Counting Gifts of Grace, and Andrea at His Will My Peace.  I'll use a few of her questions and a few of my own...

1. What are you reading now?

2. What are you most looking forward to during the upcoming holidays?

3. What's your favorite spot in your home (especially for you in your new place, Mary!)?

4. What's your favorite Halloween candy?

5. What was your favorite song at your wedding?

6. Which of your children had the most creative costume this year?

7. Who is currently your favorite saint?

8. What was a special homeschooling moment you had recently?

9. Do you have a pet?

10. Do you have a favorite TV/Netflix series right now?

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Linking with Jen at Conversion Diary.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{pretty}

I'm not sure I can top the very pretty pictures from the All Saints celebration in the country, but here are a few photos from the past few weeks...

This week was the first Nature Club we were able to attend.  The classes are free and are held at a newish nearby nature center.

 We went down to the pond area where we had the great privilege of searching through pond water to find and identify the different critters that might be living there.  They had started with a classroom lesson about invertebrates.

{happy}

Well, it's not perfect, but I'm happy we got a decent family photo a few weeks ago at Steven's sister's house.  I'm hoping to gear up for a family shot for our Christmas cards soon.  This was a good trial run.  My plan includes: bribery, good weather, and coordinating clothes for Mass (not intentional on this day, but once I noticed it, I made the one clashing child change clothes!).

I'm not sure where this photo came from of this happy little cherub, but I like it.  Today a friend told me she looks like the children in the books illustrated by Eloise Wilkin,  which made me smile because she is one of my favorite illustrators of children's literature.  I love all those Little Golden Books!  And I love this sweet little angel with all my heart!

{funny}

Here are all the kids working together to make some chocolate chip cookies.

They may have eaten more cookie dough than was baked,

but I think they had fun!

{real}

A real moment with four of our crazy kiddos!

Thanks for visiting!  I finally took some photos of our house today, now that we are almost fully unpacked, so I'm hoping to do a little house tour soon!

All Saints Day at the Farm 2014

Today was our homeschool group's annual All Saints' celebration at a family's farm out in the country.  We were so happy to be back at one of our favorite yearly events!

Ellie dressed as St. Catherine of Bologna, patron of artists

Katie was the Blessed Mother holding a tiny Baby Jesus!

Steven avoided the camera but was St. George 

Mary Clare made her own St. Kateri costume!

The little baby Mary again!

Thomas was also St. George in a pseudo-costume.  Maybe next year we'll put together a real costume for him! 

And a bunch of photos of the saint parade!

The babies played together so sweetly, and Thomas helped :)

He also enjoyed decorating a cookie at the St. Martha's Baking booth!

Hayride 

Two friends and I manned "St. Patrick's 3-Legged Race"

SJ and his best buddy

But my favorite part of all was hanging out with the "companions."

(I often think about the martyrs who are honored as saints, along with their "companions" whose names we don't know but who we can ask for prayers nonetheless!) 

St. Peter's Fishing Boat

My lovely friend Ella with her husband :)

Katie was worn out!

Once again, a lovely afternoon with perfect weather, celebrating our brothers and sisters of the Faith who pray for us from Heaven and cheer us on in this earthly journey.  All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Five Favorites at our New/Old House

Joining the link-up today over at Call Her Happy to share Five Favorite things here in our new/old house.  We've been here about a week and a half now and it's slowly coming together...

--1--

Trees!

We had quite a few trees in our yard in Corpus, but the town as a whole is very lacking in trees, and so we're happy to be back in our old shady neighborhood! This particular oak tree in our front yard was purchased as a sapling for a grandparent gift at the rehearsal dinner for our wedding. We ended up swiping it from my parents' house since it was struggling in their backyard. Steven's sister's front yard holds the one given to his parents.  Love to see how big these trees are...representing our 13 years of marriage!

The girls have taken it over as their hangout spot, even hammering up a canvas laundry bag as a seat (which gives me a panic attack). Today Ellie was doing her reading up there...

--2--

Front porch

We have a front porch again! And since our back patio isn't covered, we've put our rocking chairs here on the front porch. And I've put my fall wreath there by the door :)

--3--

Entryway

We had some teens help us paint the entryway and a few rooms. The table looks a little junky but once I find the nails and can hammer things on the wall, hopefully it'll look even better. Right now it's one area that isn't a huge mess and makes me happy :)

--4--

Master

The renters wanted to paint this room but didn't get around to it, and I'm glad. I wasn't sure I'd still like the deep blue, but it's actually quite calming for a master bedroom. And since my curtains haven't made it here yet, at least the room isn't too bright for little ones to sleep (there's a baby on there somewhere).

--5--

Family and old friends

This isn't a specific spot in the house, but an advantage of living back in this house! NeNe and PaPa came over yesterday and helped with the kids and the laundry. They were all enjoying reading their baby books with them!

And I got to visit with old friends at my favorite restaurant LaMadeleine TWO nights in a row this week! This little sweetheart came along and had just a little taste of cheesecake!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope to share more favorites next week!