Camping Day 2

Day 1, here.

On Monday morning, after the middle-of-the-night thunderstorms, we woke up at about 7:00am to the cool, damp new day. We ate a quick snack and then went out for an early morning hike!

Off we go!


Mom's getting left in the dust!


We don't see cacti much in our area!


The kids climbed a big hill with Daddy. Mom and baby (in the stroller) stayed back. Steven called this our "extreme strollering" adventure! We learned our lesson and used the backpack on the next hike.






Mary Clare brought her backpack with snacks and other goodies for the hike.


Here she's sharing a snack with Steven Joseph while Ellie ventures out.


They really enjoyed climbing around this area, but it was getting too difficult to navigate the stroller, so we started to head back to the car to go make bacon and eggs at the cabin!


But not until a few rocks were collected to bring home to friends and family!


We took a little drive after lunch to get Steven Joseph to fall asleep, and stopped at this scenic spot.


Thomas got a yummy snack of baby food that afternoon.


Peaches!


The girls took about a dozen photos of these dirt castles, so I had to include them!



We got suited up for a swim, even Thomas. He loves chewing on this bottle and taking a few sips of water.


But swimming didn't go over so well. The water was very cold and the lake bottom very slippery. Mary Clare and Daddy enjoyed it for a bit, but we went back to play in the water near our cabin soon after.


Here's the "Devil's Waterhole" area for swimming. I actually took a camping trip to Inks Lake with my high school youth group, but I only have a few vague memories. Swimming here in the lake is one of them!


After resting back at the cabin, we decided to take an evening hike. Here are some favorite shots from that:




Hard to tell, but this was a really big snake!










On our way back to the cabin, we stopped at a little playground and saw some deer.


The girls LOVE these hanging slide things! They are getting strong arms!


Thomas hanging out while dinner was cooking (spaghetti)


Another beautiful sunset


Eating dinner in their PJs!


We had s'mores again but got to bed a little earlier this night. Thomas went to bed really quickly too! I was still waking throughout the night, but enjoyed being out in the wilderness with the fam on this fun adventure...bugs and all!

Our last day...Day 3 to come!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. To see more, visit Soule Mama.

Camping Day 1

The day finally came! After waking early for 7:30am Mass, we came home to load up the truck (yes, we fit all 6 of us in Steven's truck!) and to make our way past Austin to Inks Lake State Park.

I chose Inks Lake at the recommendation of a friend who goes there every year. We had reserved cabins with some homeschool friends the weekend of Hurricane Ike 2 1/2 years ago, but never made it there until now.

The drive was a little long (left at 11am, and after lots of errands and stops arrived at 5pm!), but I think the change of scenery was needed for all of us. We had a great time!

Here are the girls when we first arrived at the cabin.


Thomas enjoyed his walker during our trip!


They immediately got their bikes out to ride around!


We were quickly warned that the "sticker-burrs" would pop the bike tires, and they did on the 2nd day. But they still got to enjoy their bikes for awhile.


Couldn't waste any time; fishing rods came out quickly!


But after a few minutes of fishing, the girls were antsy to put on their swimsuits!


Ellie is rushing back to the cabin, ready to swim!


You can see the kids swimming and playing under the tree with our "neighbor" camper.


Jasmine was 10 years old and the girls had a fun time playing with her the first night. But she had to wake up to go home and to school on Monday morning. They enjoyed building castles with her and her sand toys.


It looks like he's "popping a squat" but he'd actually just dropped his pants a few minutes prior to relieve himself in the lake. Oops! Still working on potty etiquette.


Love this one. It may be a false sense of security, but I feel so much better when my toddlers/preschoolers have a life jacket on near water.


I told the girls they'll be all ready for swim team now that they've braved the cold lake water!


Don't they look so old?


And look at those baby blues!


He loves to fish, this little guy!


Here's Thomas in the walker while Daddy is starting to prepare dinner. We had fajitas the first night and spaghetti the second night. You can see the neighboring cabins here. There were some more isolated ones, but the girls really liked #4. It did have a gorgeous view, nice water front, and beautiful oak trees. It would be fun to come with several other families and have this whole area together!


We got to watch the sun set both nights. It was beautiful.


After dark, we roasted marshmallows and ate Jiffy Pop popcorn with the camper-neighbors. Thomas had a hard time falling asleep, and I was grateful that we'd chosen a cabin so I could walk him around. I was also very thankful for the cabin during the thunderstorm in the middle of the night! I only woke up about 10 times, worried about kids falling off bunks or bugs on me. Only once was my intuition correct in that there was a spider on my bed! Everyone else seemed to sleep soundly, and they were all up as the sun rose on Monday morning.

To be continued...

Ballerina girls

(Practice class for their exams; I have video but it's too late...yawn! And if you're on Facebook, her bluebonnet pictures were just posted on my wall!)

Looks like we made it

This is part of the yard of scaffolding products that Steven operates!

I feel like our Lenten journey is coming to a close. Steven has just finished his big inventory which he was preparing for over the past months...working long hours all week, on Saturday, and even some Sundays has been trying on all of us. But we made it through!

We're excited to be going on a little family camping getaway and thrilled that Daddy will be taking vacation for a week! We'll enjoy some great family time, and then it will be on to Holy Week, during which we'll celebrate Ellie's birthday which falls on Good Friday this year. After Easter we'll be getting ready to celebrate Mary Clare's First Holy Communion on May 1st.

My body is feeling really weak today; hopefully it's just exhaustion and relief and not some kind of illness coming on! Please keep our family in prayer as we have this little week of rest and rejuvenation, and as we prepare for the different things coming up in the months ahead. I hope after Easter, I'll be able to write and blog a little more as we find a new internet provider with a consistent connection!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Photo Drama

About a year ago, Mary Clare started daydreaming about her First Holy Communion. She has watched many friends take part in this sacrament, and has been anxiously awaiting the day for a long time. As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist (or Holy Communion) is the REAL presence of Jesus Christ...body, blood, soul, and divinity. When he said that "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life," we believe that literally. So our First Holy Communion is a very special and significant meeting of God made Flesh, coming into our own mortal bodies and allowing us to commune with him in a special way.

But like the other tangible aspects of sacraments like baptism and marriage, there are other fun things to prepare for aside from the divine element...finding a dress, picking the date, and planning a party to celebrate! One thing Mary Clare dreamed about last year was having her picture taken in her dress in a field of bluebonnets. When my photographer friend Lerin mentioned scheduling bluebonnet sessions, I jumped at the chance to schedule one for Mary Clare with the mini-session I'd won on her website earlier this year.

After a lot of drama with the dress, scheduling, and driving across town, we arrived at the park for the session. It was quite a walk to the field of bluebonnets, and by the time we made it there, our little princess was hot, sweaty, with the dress scratching her, and nearly wanting to run away and not have her picture taken! Somehow I wrangled the veil onto her head (falling off the back), and sent her off, explaining that Lerin had gone to a lot of trouble to be there that day. I'm anxious to see how the photos turned out, and grateful to Lerin and to my parents for all they did that day.

As soon as her photos were done, she ripped off her veil and tights, and started running away!



I had hoped that after the photo session, I could get a decent picture of all 4 kids with my own camera in the bluebonnets. But since the field was a long walk, and I had one child refusing any further picture-taking, I had to settle for some simple park pictures with 3 of my kiddos.

And NeNe too!





One of these days, I'll get a decent shot of all 4 kids...and maybe even one with Mommy AND Daddy too! Drama and all, it was a beautiful day and I'm sure Lerin got some beautiful pictures!

Little Flowers--Industry

On Friday, our princesses had Little Flowers class.


I searched high and low, going to about 5 different dollar stores, to find a bunch of cleaning supplies to make them each a cleaning kit for the virtue of Industry! I bought buckets, dust pans, spray bottles, duster brushes, microfiber rags, sponges, and swiffers cut down to their size. Another mom brought aprons and helped them decorate with ribbon and silk flowers. They turned out so cute!


Here are all the girls with their cleaning kits and aprons (minus 4 who were absent). They were SO excited about these kits, and I've heard that many of them are working hard to help their parents at home!


It's such a sweet group of girls, and we've only got one class left! I'm going to miss them next year when we split into smaller home-based groups. I'm planning to work with the preschoolers again. Steven Joseph is very attention-hungry, especially during the time I'm trying to teach the Little Flower lesson, he's always yelling and making quite a ruckus! And then of course Thomas always needs to nurse at some inopportune time. Hopefully next year things will be a little more laid-back, and I'll enjoy some special time with my boys!

Pretty Pretty Princesses

Last week the girls attended a princess party!


LOVE this picture of my little "knight in shining armor," (who no longer says "shi-shining armor") wearing cowboy boots, with the princess castle pinata over his head!


A fun morning and we even made it to daily mass beforehand! Don't ask me if we got schoolwork done that day...

7 Quick Takes Friday!

Bummed I'm not heading to Boston for the Faith & Family mom's day with Jen and all the coolies, but at least I can hang out on her blog a bit! See more quick takes here at Conversion Diary!

1. Our parish had a wonderful pasta lunch and St. Joseph Altar for St. Joseph day a few weeks ago. Isn't it beautiful? All the big families with little kids were the ones who stayed for the free lunch. But I felt really guilty because my baby was babbling and fussing really loud during the homily when the pastor announced the free lunch. Might have been our fault that not many people stayed!


2. A little pic of BopBop and Steven Joseph, hanging out in the backyard last week. What a nice week it was, just to have the back door open, enjoy the beautiful weather, and have their grandpa here to help!


3. Ellie doing her Funnix reading lesson. Latest news on Ellie is that she's 2 days finger-free! She has sucked her first two fingers since she was 3 months old. The nasty tasting nail polish has worked wonders and hopefully our big girl is growing out of this habit just as she's about to lose one of her top teeth in the coming weeks!


4. Mary Clare has become quite a hard worker. We're doing checklists each week for homeschooling and she's really starting to get things done on her own without too much prodding from me. It's great because as the oldest, she sets the tone for the other kids, so when she gets busy doing her job everyone follows suit. Thanks, Mary Clare!


5. Speaking of MC, here is her dress with the sleeves I tried to make. After working on this all day last Saturday, I messed up the right sleeve by trying to add pleats. The seamstress is fixing it now, and we'll pick it up tomorrow and have her picture taken this weekend! I think her veil turned out really nice, so at least I succeeded at one part of this project!


6. This little man is too funny. He had on gloves and sunglasses with a ball-gun in his pocket the other day. He makes me laugh all day long.


Here is his first drawing. Daddy in his truck. See, Daddy has 2 eyes and a mouth, and 2 legs. And the truck has 6 wheels!


7. I have a bath-full of kids now!


Have a great weekend, friends!

10 Facts about me and my better half!

Hallie is having a little link-up with 10 Facts about Me and My Better Half! Here's mine:

1. I spotted him the first time he came to daily mass. New cute guy sitting in one of the last pews. My eyes were on him from the start!

2. We had a brief meeting (which he didn't remember), but a more formal introduction after daily mass one evening. I had just played the guitar for the mass. He told me, "You rock." I responded, "Jesus rocks." That was that.

3. Our first date was to a formal dance a few weeks after we met, and he asked me to go with him just a few hours beforehand! I happened to have my prom dress with me that a friend had borrowed. (That's the picture from our first date above...my roommate had some family visiting for her graduation and we all had a blast together and took a picture with the kids; I hoped it would be a foreshadowing, and now here with 4 kids...it was!) We went to mass and lunch the next day, and he helped me move home and met all my family.

3. He's the youngest of 7 kids; I'm the oldest of 2. Very different family and school backgrounds, but we mesh together pretty well.

4. We decided to homeschool our kids before we were even engaged.

5. He proposed in the Adoration chapel of the church where I grew up. Some old ladies were in there praying, and one happened to have a cheesecake in a grocery bag with her. She was so happy for us that she gave us the cheesecake! We both love cheesecake, but that one tasted like toothpaste.

6. We went out for Mexican food at a restaurant called Guadalajara after he proposed. It's still one of our favorite restaurants! My parents took the kids and me there a couple weeks ago, and they even brought it to me in the hospital after my oldest was born!

7. We got married almost 10 years ago! We went on our big honeymoon to Rome 6 months later. We got to wear our wedding garb and receive the Sposi Novelli newlywed blessing from Pope John Paul II on January 2, 2002 (photo down on my left sidebar). Mary Clare was born exactly a year later on 01/02/03. In a month, on May 1, she'll be receiving her First Holy Communion on our engagement day and the day John Paul II is beatified. Also Divine Mercy Sunday, which is a favorite feast of both her grandfather and her godparents who I believe got engaged on that feast! Fun stuff!

8. He is an introvert but is the life of the party. I'm an extrovert but like to people-watch and small-talk at parties. He likes to cook and I don't. He's got the smarts but I had the good grades. He likes sports, hunting, and fishing. I like dance and art. He likes camping; I like nice hotels. I'm not an animal or insect person; he's starting a beehive in the backyard next weekend. He likes falling asleep to talk radio; I like falling asleep to TV (we don't have one). We have nothing in common but everything important in common :)

9. Every now and then, he tells a story from his childhood that I've never heard before. It always surprises me because I feel like I've heard it all!

10. We make pretty cute kids, if I do say so myself :) Our girls might love ballet, but they also fish. And our boy likes baseball but also loves to draw. They're great mixes of their mommy and daddy! We hardly have any photos of all 6 of us, but hopefully that will change soon, thanks to Lerin!

I wrote out our love story one Valentine's Day, and just enjoyed reading it again. Thanks, Hallie, for the fun idea!