Honey Harvest with Videos, November 2011

(Videos at the bottom)
This weekend was time to harvest the honey! On Friday we moved the hive to our friends' house down the street.  The guys have had so much fun working on this hive over the past months.  Finally, it was time to see the fruit of their labors!

 Moving the hive in the back of the truck

Thomas enjoying their backyard toys while the daddies were working

The hive's new home

The next morning, it was time for the harvest!  The guys got some "real" bee suits this time!  Aren't they cute?

Again, kids playing while the daddies are working, at least until we got sent inside when the bees started swarming!

Checking out the frames full of honey!

Scraping off the capped honey

Then using the extractor machine to spin it off the comb

Time for a break playing in the backyard, he requested his photo taken!

Look at all that honey!  Much more than they expected!

Pouring the honey into a pitcher

and then into baby food jars

Our friends even made cute labels to put on the jars!

This has been a great learning experience for everyone!  We look forward to continuing our bee adventures, whether long-distance or close to home.  We'll see how things go.  We're also looking forward to joining the 4H group that our new homeschool group participates in.  Should be fun!

And here are the videos...

Halloween 2011

The past few years, we've spent Halloween night with friends from our homeschooling group.  With 4 families, together we have 16 kids (plus one on the way!).  It's encouraging that even though one family has moved overseas, they can usually still make it back for this special celebration.  It was an eventful 2 days with our All Saints party the night before.  I was so happy that Steven was able to stay in town to share this night with us. Lots of fun memories (and here is a link to past years)!  Maybe we'll make it back next year!

I was having some camera issues!  But here's most of the crew.

 

Thomas the sweet lion

Steven Joseph changed his costume plans multiple times, but ended up choosing to be a Texans football player.

 Ellie the ballerina

3 of the 4!  Mary Clare was an Irish Dancer and even wore her tap shoes!

As soon as we let them out the front door it's nearly impossible to keep track of this crowd.  The kids are on fast-forward and we end up in 3 or more groups of faster big kids, slower younger kids, and the little toddlers hanging behind with the parents :-)

Again, camera issues here, but I love Tommy's smile on Daddy's shoulders!

Somehow I convinced them to all take a picture before the candy fest!

 

Best buds!

Friends forever :-)

 And one pic of the candy fest!  What a fun night!


We are so grateful for our friendships and hopeful that they will continue over the miles!

All Saints' Day Festival 2011

Marching into the annual All Saints Day Party!

So excited!

 Little guy was dwarfed a bit by his habit; it'll fit much better next year!

He was a little St. Joseph with his hammer

 Ellie as St. Maria Goretti

 Steven as St. George, on his horse and ready to fight a dragon!

Mary Clare as St. Therese the Little Flower.

I didn't quite get the appropriate brown habit made.  Oh well.

 The saint parade begins!

 Daddy and Tommy

Games!

 Croquet?

St. Anthony's Lost and Found

Make a Bouquet for Mary

Sewing with St. Anne

All Souls Chapel

St. Patrick's Shamrocks

All Saints Bingo

Knock Down the 7 Deadly Sins Pinata

St. John Bosco Bouncy Castle

St. Sebastian Bowling

and top it off with a yummy potluck dinner!

Some real Dominican Sisters even came (see right)

And my sweet boy, sans costume, dipping a stick in the dirt and eating it.

Loving our night at the farm!!!

Another fun time celebrating the saints!

I'd love to write more...

And hopefully I'll get some Halloween and All Saints pictures up soon.  But tonight I've got to get to bed.  Because this adorable little guy keeps me going all day long.  He took one 45-minute nap today, and the rest of the day was spent eating crayons and board books, trying to plug things into outlets, throwing cabinet contents around the room, climbing on chairs like this, and just being as cute as can be!  My favorite thing is when he says "Mama" over and over again and just looks at me with the happiest grin.  Our conversation goes..."Mama!" "What?"  "Mama!"  "Yes, baby."  "Mama!" "Oh I love you!" and I smother him in kisses.  So adorable.

7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

We are really moving.  This is our rental home!  I'm very excited and tiring of this single-parenting thing.  The house is very similar to our current layout and I hope it will be an easy transition.  The thing I like most is the big sunroom behind the living room.  It will be a wonderful place for toys and other fun kid stuff!  The living and sunroom are both tiled, which should be a big help in keeping the floors clean in a rental!

--- 2 ---

My father-in-law ordered me to post some photos of our clean house last weekend!  After the garage sale on Saturday (which was a bust, by the way, hardly any traffic), the guys were outside cleaning up, fixing some siding, and our sweet neighbor was also helping with the kids.  I had about an hour and a half to clean the house for a showing.  I was AMAZED at how much I got done with NO KIDS inside!  It felt so good to be able to clean the whole house all by myself.

--- 3 ---

 We got Netflix.  Yo Gabba Gabba has been one of Steven Joseph's favorite shows to watch.  This might be the most ridiculous show I've ever seen.  Am I missing something?  What was so wrong with Mr. Rogers?   The kids shows these days are really, really strange and kinda creepy.

 

--- 4 ---

Our big boy had his one month post-surgery check-up on Monday.  Thankfully, Daddy had some meetings in Houston and was able to come.  He got the all-clear to go back to normal activities, everything except contact sports.  We're so happy he's doing so well!

Notice how Daddy was enjoying the Toy Story movie and SJ was up to no good, probably about to leap off the exam table onto the rolling doctor chair.  Then as soon as Daddy left and it was time for an x-ray, he threw a big tantrum.  I was just thinking we were over the doctor/nurse fears after being traumatized by what he went through those 4 days in the hospital.  But I guess he had to finish it off with a bang!  Thomas had a screaming fit there for awhile too, since I had to leave him with a nurse to deal with his tantruming brother in the x-ray room.

--- 5 ---

Thomas and Thomas.  Little guy warmed up to big grandpa last week.  Mama appreciated having another adult around the house.  I know the kids will have special memories of BopBop reading and writing about the Divine Mercy and St. Faustina, and teaching them good lessons.

--- 6 ---

 Thomas is really keeping me on my toes!  He can now climb chairs and likes to sit and color.  He's trying to talk and tell us all kinds of things, like in this first photo where he's starting to make the 'th' sound.  He likes to eat pencils and crayons.  But his FAVORITE thing to eat is cardboard.  Most of the moving boxes around the house have the corners eaten off, same with the board books.  He also likes regular paper and toilet paper, but I think cardboard is his favorite treat!

--- 7 ---

 SJ painted this yesterday for Daddy.  He's even learning to write his name, so cute!

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For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Our Lady of the Toothbrushes

This is the week of the year where we talk a lot about the saints of the Church.  The kids are trying to choose a saint to dress up as for All Saints' Day and this weekend's big celebration at the farm.  We're doing a lot of preparation these days, and not just for the holidays.  We have a house to prepare for new renters, our belongings to prepare for a new home, children to prepare for a move.  There are big decisions going on each day, and it's easy to lose focus and get caught up in the excitement.

At some point I inherited this sweet statue of Our Lady.  It has a container in the back, likely for a small bouquet or flower arrangement.  I'm not sure how it ended up in our master bathroom, but somehow it did.  And at some point, someone started putting toothbrushes in it!  I've hesitated about this; it seems somewhat sacrilegious to put toothbrushes, toothpaste, and even a razor in a Mary statue!  And I have to wonder what people think when they're touring our home and see this interesting juxtaposition.

But is it really a juxtaposition?  Don't we always remind ourselves that God is with us in the little things?  Like we are reminded by St. Therese (Mary Clare's saint of choice this year), we should be doing all the little things for God.  Even brushing our teeth!  And Mary, maybe more than any other saint, was someone who had a true juxtaposition in her life.  Being Mother to Our Lord, to God himself.  How she must have known that each little detail of her life was devoted to raising her Son in a Holy Family.  How they must have loved each other in the little things.  How prayer would have been central to every action she did as a mother.  I love this image of Mary hanging laundry with the baby Jesus at her feet.  A beautiful thing to ponder...

Whenever I'm tempted to move the toothbrushes to a more appropriate container, I end up convincing myself that they are just fine right there.  That having a reminder of Mary's example of quiet prayer and unity with God in her family life is something I can strive for as a mother.  I believe she was the perfect Mother, which is why God chose her for His Divine Son.  And though I am very, very far from perfect, I can emulate her actions and ask her to pray for me to be a good mother.  Even when I'm brushing my teeth.