"Be Thankful

for all that you have! Be Thankful! From the bottom of you heart!"

I seriously WOKE UP with that song in my head.

Did you *heart* Psalty when you were a kid??

I couldn't find that exact song, but here is a link to a song that was on the same cassette. There are bunches on youtube. Enjoy and try not to tear up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlOc0_7FuMU&feature=PlayList&p=10BF85BA5005CC8E&index=72

Isn't it cute . . .

When this:Becomes this:

And cutely (that really should be a word) enough they are standing in the right order! Sweet little girlies!

And I am pretty sure that the photo above was taken exactly two years ago today!

My Little Server

Christopher was able to serve for the first time this past Wednesday. He is just barely seven and has not yet received his First Holy Communion (he will this spring), so this was quite a special experience!

The Legion of Mary is holding a special rosary service on the first Wednesday's. Christopher is already excited for the next service! The other little boys had only served one other time, but they were taught and mentored by a lovely college aged boy. And Father was unbelievably sweet and cute with his tiny servers!

Hijacked Picture

My brother and his family were visiting this weekend. I have zero pictures, since my camera has gone missing, but luckily the rest of the family got plenty. I hijacked this pic from his blog. As you can see, it was an energy-filled weekend. Nine kids total and all of them CRAZY!!! So fun! (And no, this wasn't taken on Halloween . . . we tend to wear costumes year-round in our family!)

Another Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend, Katie, who has sadly miscarried her little one.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for all former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne, said: Behold, I make all things new. ~ Apoc 21:4-5

Fall Pictures

Mr. I'm Never Serious
Doesn't this look like an album cover?

Barefoot and Beautiful

We went to our friends house today to take advantage of the beautiful changing leaves. Since I took over two hundred pictures, I actually got some good ones!

And Now We Are Six

Our litte Gracie turned six this week. And she rang in the year with a proper and girly tea party. My mom made her a princess dress, complete with tiara, and she was definetly the princess of the evening. And her Uncle Martin brought her a dozen pink roses. What more could a girl ask for??

In the afternoon, the kids decorated cupcake "corn on the cob" (Hello, Cupcake! we love you!). It looks like a jumbled mess in this picture, but it was really pretty cute. But no one can ever accuse me of saying "my kids made this" and then presenting some item of perfection which was clearly not made by a six year old. My kids made these . . . and you can tell=)

The kids also made place cards for all of their friends and the table was set with the girliest of china.

We had lots of little friends come sip tea and nibble sugary goodness with us.

Happy Birthday, Gracie! We love you!

We spent almost every moment of our weekend enjoying the sights and sounds of the Feast of the Hunters Moon. On Friday, cold and rainy, the kids and I went out to help with the Soap Making Booth. We learned SO much and had a wonderful time, despite the seriously nasty weather.

On Saturday, we picked up a few of our favorite pals, and headed back out. The weather was way better this time around. In fact, it was perfect Feasting weather. Cool and crisp, but warm in the sunshine. The girls made beaded necklaces and the boys threw tomahawks.

(Did I tell you that, Stephanie? Your son hit the target!)

They aren't letting the Indians test their abilities. They are seeing how tall they are in order to choose their distance from the target.

Today, it was so cold that Bella spent most of her time hidden under my cape. Sometimes I slung her on my back and then put the cape over her, making for a cozy ride!

We headed out again, Sunday morning for a very chilly, but lovely, Mass. And a miracle happened at the Mass -- we were early! And we got a seat! Every year, we can be found making a mad dash, dragging children, across the Feast grounds hoping the get to Mass before the Gospel! But not this year. (Ok, full disclaimer: I thought Mass was at 8, but it was at 8:30, but give a girl some credit!).

Perfect Angel

I just had to share this picture of Angel, who left the comfort of her mother's womb to rejoice in the Beatific Vision. Is she not perfect and beautiful? Her tiny feet and perfectly formed toes are a testament to the miracle of every life. Her family and all who know them have been so blessed by her brief life! Please continue to pray for her parents as the mourn the earthly loss of their little girl.

Prayer Request

I recieved sad news today that our dear friends had miscarried their baby at 18 weeks. Please offer some prayers for this beautiful family as the mourn their loss. They are people of great faith and will appreciate any pray you can offer as you go about your days!

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for all former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne, said: Behold, I make all things new. ~ Apoc 21:4-5

A Somewhat Whiney Post from a Stir Crazy Mama

What a week! I am SO glad that the weekend is (almost) here! We hunkered down this week, nursing runny noses, high fevers, and persistent coughs. We are slowly crawling out of the land of the sick, but I think we still need another day or so. I don't know how big families handle illnesses. It takes a long time for the "bug" to hit every person and then work its way through. With four kids, it's taken a full week to make its way through everyone and finally leave. If we had more kids, I think we'd be sick for a month!

I was bummed to be sick this week -- I had such grand plans! There were so many great Feast days this week. We did make a special dinner for Michealmas: Chicken Spaghetti Bake (angels make us brave, not chicken!), Spinach Hand Pies (spinach makes us strong in body, prayer makes us strong in spirit) and "Divinely Inspired" Apple Sauce (it was heavenly!). We met Andrew at the River for dinner, so we were able to have a fire and roast marshmallows as well.

For the Feast of St Therese, the kids all flopped on couches and chairs and didn't really move. I am hoping to get an angel craft done this afternoon, for the Feast of the Guardian Angels, but I may have to be happy with letting this kids watch "My Guardian Friend" and cheezy movie about a little girl and her Guardian Angel. I hope to also give the kids a good idea of the wonder of having a Guardian Angel and to instill in them this great, but often misunderstood fact: we don't become Angels when we die!!!

So there you have it: our sick and lazy week. Hopefully next week we will be able to get back on track.

Happy weekend!

A Funny Little Story

This is funny, if you are a "IRL" friend who knows the same people we know. To the other readers, sorry to bore you=)

While we were in Disney, I was continually impressed and excited with the care and attention we got as consumers with food "allergies". (They are actually intolerances, which are far less serious, thankfully.) Everytime we were enjoying hamburgers with gluten free buns or brownie ice cream sundaes, I would think "I HAVE to email Shawn and tell her about this!!" Three of Shawn's four daughters were recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease -- far more serious than our intolerances.

And then we went on Splash Mountain.

Heh heh. Look who else was on Splash Mountain!!!

Life is so funny.

A Vacay Report

Phew. We are all exhausted. My parents took us to Disney World this past week. And we used every.single.minute. It was great fun and now I want to sleep for a month!

We flew with Dumbo.

Plummeted down Splash Mountain (pictures to come later).

Christopher got to train to be a Jedi Knight and learned to defeat Darth Vader!
But Darth Vader must have sensed the Dark Side in PeterXavier, because he kept coming over to look at him!
And at the end of each day, we all felt like this!

Pre-Vacay Vacay

Here we are in this hotel in Indianapolis for our "pre-vacation" (next week, we are going on a mega-vacay with my parents!) for the week while Andrew is in training at the Indy Ivy Tech campus. The kids and I are just enjoying free cable, free breakfast, and a swimming pool. We met Andrew for a picnic lunch today, went for a swim, and now the kiddies are relaxing with some quality (ha!) TV time.

One of the joys of unschooling is the premise that "learning takes place everywhere" and, therefore, trips like this are prime learning experiences. Right?? Yesterday, the kids and I were at the pool and the sign said:

"Hours--9:00AM-10:00PM"

Christopher read it allowed and said:

"Whores at nine AM? What does that mean?"

Yes, we are learning all the time!

Drapery: The New Black

Here are some (really awful) pictures of my curtain skirt. (per Jill's request -- Hi Jill!) It's definetly not perfect -- the hem turned out a little funny, but it is still fun to wear. I hope someone comes up to me sometime and says "I have a curtain at home just like that!!"

Cute kids and Picasa 3

We spent our weekend pretending it was warm.
Maybe we'll just try to do that all winter.

Busy Days

Hello??


Anyone still reading this? Anyone? Bueller?


I apologize for the lack of posting. It's been busy around here. We have officially started our school year. Unschoolers that we are, that is a fairly loose term, but our pace and structure have shifted, marking the start of a (slightly) more structured learning. The kids have started memorizing some poetry (so fun!), doing a bit of math, and balancing this all with gobs of independent reading.


I have also re-instituted our afternoon quiet time. Ahh . . . I love quiet time! It makes such a difference for everyone. On the weekends, I have been doing some serious decluttering, which has allowed me a bit of freedom during quiet time. During on of my major decluttering frenzies, I uncovered my long lost sewing machine. Hooray! It was suffocating under a massive pile of ironing, which I actually ironed, instead of just moving it! And I was so happy to have my machine back. It has been getting lots of happy use lately.


We are going out of town in the middle of September, and I always find traveling easier when each walking child has a backpack. PeterXavier's was filled with holes, so I planned to buy him a new one. I mentioned this to a friend and she suggested making one. Great idea! So I harvested the back panel along with the straps from the old one and made a new front. Ta-da! Free new backpack, complete with "PX" faux appliqued to the front.

I also made a pretty cute, but less than perfect, skirt from a beautiful curtain a found at Goodwill. It was fun to make and it exercised my newly learned skill of putting in a zipper. And this zipper was extra exciting, because I harvested it from an old skirt that no longer fit.

Fun River Weekends

We had a fantastic weekend enjoying the beautiful weather and water at my parents river cottage. Our good friends joined us, as well as my parents and my sister and her family. We did everything you should do on a lazy Sunday afternoon -- nothing. Except eat. And the food was great. (That first picture is my promised cloth diaper picture)

The kids enjoyed the water, which was a perfect level for little people. And they even built sand towns in the new "beach" (Thank you, Flood!)

And this is my daughter getting drunk, unbeknownst to her Daddy. She repeatedly stuck her celery stick in his Bloody Mary and licked it off until my Dad finally pointed it out and Andrew made her stop!