Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

not sure why God saw us so fit to entrust me with a BOY!

Our days are filled with:

Hoses


Broken statues


this little man should wear a helmet 24/7


eating math manipulatives


chasing after girls at the museum


self-explanatory


can you guess where this sand ended up?


eating dog food


found this in his mouth


and his worst find yet=


one call to poison control and a few hours of anxiety
making sure he was okay


That's what this little boy is made of!

(and unfortunately his mom is smitten by him and sees it so cute that she finds a camera in these dire situations...)

Trouble

this is what you see after mass...

when our pastor and the visiting priest doing the Lenten mission are both motorcycle enthusiasts! They had a bike blessing and a ride to the country after mass! Awesome!

Thank you, Grampatti

for the gorgeous dresses!

smiley sisters after going to a ballet performance on Sunday,
are they sweet or what?

bye bye,

Uncle Brice! See you at Thanksgiving! We'll enjoy these special months with your "girls" in town!

Steven Joseph is about 6 weeks older than Miss Addison. They play pretty well together, when he's not trampling the poor sweet lassie!

He loves her toys!


She likes NeNe's books


Mary Clare doting on her youngest cousin!


NeNe and her sweet little granddaughter


Brice and Addi


The cute little S family!


Addi chillin' watching TV with her daddy!

Hope you are all having a magnificent Monday! Blessings to you~

Stations of the Cross

Kid Edition, in the living room


After a few Stations, Mary Clare quietly comes and whispers in my ear,
"Mommy, just how many Stations are there?"

Steven Joseph spent the devotional time mounting his little friend like a horse (seen above), and climbing up to dance and yell on the fireplace.

Other young children kept entering the kitchen and grabbing the focaccia bread to bring back and snack on while we were praying.

Later that evening I asked Mary Clare if she enjoyed praying the Stations of the Cross. "Yeah, until I found out there were fourteen of them!"

Videorama

Mary Clare reciting her newest poem



Ellie trying her hand at that same poem.
Excuse the nose-picking.



and SJ doing what he does best-eating :)
We just had company for dinner
and I had tried to feed him some applesauce
since he (nor any of the children) didn't like
the spinach lasagna. I found him doing this
and was quite impressed!

Zippity ZOO da!

My brother and his wife and baby are in town from California.
We decided to take a little outing with them to the zoo!

Here are all the kids, ready for an afternoon at the zoo!
Perfect timing; we got there just before 2, when all the schools were leaving!


Me and my kiddos


Meerkat


Addison checking out the Meerkats


Leopard yawning


the new baby giraffe!


The elephant exhibit isn't quite the same
without baby Mac :(


they loved the Komodo dragon!


This huge male orangutan was hilarious!
The zookeeper was throwing fruit and veggies for him to catch!


Uncle Brice helped me corral Stevie


getting behind the ropes to dig in the mulch
right before I got in trouble by the security guard!


MC and Addi


Brice and his babygirl checking out the zebras


and the sea lion finale! What a fun afternoon!

Please send up a little prayer for my brother as he heads back to CA and soon after to leave for a tour overseas with the Navy. And for his wife (who managed to dodge the cameras in all these pics!) and little Addi as they spend these months with my parents, awaiting his return. May God bless all those who nobly serve our great country!

Thrift Store Score!

On Friday, I took the kids out to run a few errands. I'd been wanting to go to an area thrift store, and boy was I glad I did! They were clearing out to close the next day and re-stock with new inventory, so when I arrived that afternoon it was "THREE (big brown) grocery bags for $1"!!!! Yes, that's 3 bags for a DOLLAR! There wasn't much left, but we grabbed what we could. In the end I left with 8 bags and a few other things I didn't bother to put in a bag. Grand total=$3.19!!!!

Here's the corner where everything got dropped


the stuff a little more organized


a bunch of clothes, I bought a few things just for the fabric


curtains, pillowcases, etc for sewing


lots of throw pillows to re-cover!


some artwork, a mini trash can and wooden tray


a wreath and some flowers for future use


a fun Americana calendar
I already cut out a flag from inside
and put in one of these frames
and put a photo in the other one.
Who needs glass in your frames?
It just breaks anyway!


I didn't find him, or these clothes at the thrift store
but added the pic of the beautiful sweater and hat
that was made with love by my talented Aunt Maria!

Moral of the story: go check your area thrift stores before they clear out for spring inventory! Hope you've had a magnificent Monday! We're doing great and looking forward to the doctor visit in the morning to get an update on Mary Clare's progress!

Best Broccoli Ever!

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

We made this tonight; it really was the best broccoli ever! And we're not big veggie fans over here. Mary Clare loved it, Stevie tried it, and Ellie...well, maybe next time ;)

h/t: Elizabeth Foss

Nature Club

Thursday we met at a local park on the water for Nature Club. It was a gorgeous day in the mid-80s! Ellie actually got a sunburn. Here are some photos from our fun but hot afternoon!

Mary Clare hanging out with her friend

Finishing up our picnic lunches

Stevie and Ellie in the stroller
trying to hide from the sun!

We took a nature walk, looking for animal tracks.
We used plaster of paris to make molds of the tracks.
Way fun!

SJ was all into this activity, digging in the dirt,
stomping in the mud, finding rocks,
and throwing the rocks into the water.
He was a total mess.

It's days like these that make me so thankful for the ability to homeschool, when our classroom can be the outdoors and we can enjoy these great learning experiences together!