Picture Perfect

Here are a few more pictures from Isabella's baptism and the party afterwards.
















My sister Annie and her hubby Martin are Bella's Godparents. I'm not sure why Andrew looks so goofy in this picture, but everyone else looks cute!





Christopher with his crazy gang of boys.



















Pretty girl, loving all the attention!
















I love the way Christopher looks in this picture. He kind of reminds me of my Uncle Johnny. That's a root beer, by the way.










And here is PX trying to make up for the fact that he just bopped his pal Toby.

"Here! Share my Cake, Boby!"

The Newest Little Catholic

Here's our sweet little saint!

I think Bella may have had the best baptism of the children yet! Grace's was certainly entertaining (when is Fr. Vath not entertaining??), but Isabella's was beautiful. We invited the children's friends -- three families, but a total of thirteen children. They all gathered around the Holy Water font and watched intently while Fr. Alex baptized little Bella. It was really sweet to see all of the little children excited to see what was happening.

Then we celebrated with a rousing Catholic cookout -- plenty of beer, wine, and wild children! I love being Catholic, and I am sure Bella does too!

*Hopefully I will have more pictures soon -- my dad and Margaret took more than I did!

A Late Happy Birthday

I had planned on making a slideshow of pictures to post for PeterXavier's second birthday, but I can't figure out how. So here are a few pictures to at least highlight how much he has changed in his two little years! Some things have stayed thw same though -- he is still a sweet fat little guy who can light up a room with his smile!

This picture was taken at his first birthday celebration.

Of course, the most thrilling part of the day for the birthday boy was the cake. When asked "how old are you??", he proudly announced "cake!!" And he thoroughly enjoyed eating it straight from the tray.

What a little man!

Monster Under the Bed

This morning at about 4:30, Christopher came into the room looking for Andrew, claiming: "The blanket under the bed is breathing! Or maybe Slow* came alive?? Daddy!! Come help me figure it out!"

So Daddy dragged himself out of bed to investigate the resident monster.

As it turned out, PeterXavier had fallen out of bed, blanket and all, continued to slumber peacefully on the floor.

*"Slow" is the gigantic-humongous-ridiculously-large-get-it-out-of-my-house bear who lives on PeterXavier's little bed.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from your children!

Thank you for being our mother! Here are some of our favorite mommy things: made to order breakfast in the morning, helping you put away the laundry, when you take us to play at our friend's house, we love the field trips with our friends, when you drive us to Daddy's work to have lunch together, TaeKwonDo Lessons, Ballet Lessons, being silly, when we are grumpy and you cheer us up with chocolate(oh wait...it might be Daddy that does that, although you have left half eaten candy bars in the butter-door of the fridge for us to finish), going on walks with you and Daddy, when we ask for Hot Chocolate and you let us make it ourselves, playing games together (mancalla, go fish, banana slap), and we especially like it when we are playing outside and you surprise us with a awesome snack!

We love you Mamma!

Field Trip!!

I always swore that I would never homeschool. And on most days, I still wonder when it was exactly that I completely lost my mind. Then there are the days that we get together with our friends to have a picnic, play some games, and learn even more than was intended. The other day we took a field trip to Prophetstown, where the kids learned all about the Indians who first inhabited this area, life in a 1920's farmhouse, and that when you raise your hand, you need to have something to say! All of the kids had a chance to milk "Pebbles", the worlds most patient cow.

Here we are in the Indian meeting house. Notice the randomly raised hands??

And here's the crew with our fantastic tour guide!

Buccaneer Bay

Last weekend, we took a little trip to Buccaneer Bay, where the kids had a fantastic time splashing around, watching cable (big treat!!), and chillin' in the hot tub (oh, wait, that was me). Here are some highlights.

Sorry about the neck cramp you'll get from looking at these. Here are my pirates, ready to set sail for adventure.

Christopher loved the water slides!

This is my fifth child. It is quite possible that he had more fun than the kids.

Real Motherhood

involves eating the "turkey-cheese- and double-stuffed oreo-on-crackers" sandwich with a smile. And no gaging.

Last night we went out to "return a movie" (aka drvie the kids to sleep) and as we were pulling out of Blockbuster and preparing to turn onto 52, we saw a helicopter landing in the visinity of the hospital. Since the bigger kids were still awake, we decided to find out where it had landed. We drove round and round in search of it, when I had a flashback to childhood and remembered seeing those orange ball thingys that they put on electrical wires so that airplanes can see them. I remember asking my dad about it and thinking it was pretty weird. (to a child they look like dodge balls suspended on a wire). Anyway, I told Andrew this and directed him over to where I remembered these things being. Sure enough, there was a helicopter landing pad, complete with helicopter and pilots! So we stopped and the kids got to look all in and around the helicopter and talk to the pilots. It was a pretty neat experience -- except that it was sad because they were only there to pick up a patient and take him to Indy. I love random adventures!

Overheard at Breakfast

Grace: Hey Christopher!

Christopher: Christopher's not home right now. Please leave a message.

A Blustery Day

This past windy Saturday, Andrew took the kids kite flying. I sat in the car with Isabella and watched. Five minutes into the adventure Grace charged back to the car and declared it to cold and windy, announcing: "My face is as red as a blueberry!!"

Happy Birthday St. Isabel!

Today is the birthday of St. Isabel(la) of Spain. AND today is the our Isabella's "two week" birthday! I had no idea she was born so close to the birthday of her parton saint (thanks for the tip, daddy!).




As you can see, we are having no "adjustment issues" with our previous baby and his loss of a throne. Sometimes I fear he loves his little sister a bit too much!


Three of the four just hanging out. All of the kids love to hold their baby sister. And she's generally pretty happy to let them hold her. Such a patient little girl.

A little bit of vanity, a little bit of crazy

We took our first outing as a family of six yesterday. We went to the mall in Indy where I indulged my vanity and bought a few cutie new clothes. I am on a quest not to become that mom with so many kids she can't even put a decent outfit together. We confirmed yesterday what we had assumed -- we have crossed the line into crazy big family (even though I don't feel like a big family) and everyone looks and comments. Part of it was because Bella is so tiny, and people always want to see tiny babies, but it was also a bit because we had four kids with us. Maybe it is vain, but if everyone is going to notice us when we go out, I am at least not going to confirm their assumption that a"big" family equals dirty kids and a frumpy mom!

Unfortunately, we didn't succeed in proving that many kids doesn't mean unruly kids. Ours were pretty crazy. Andrew and I fail miserably in the parenting department because we tend to laugh at our kids misbehaviour. But seriously, it's funny when Christopher leaps into a window display and pretends to be a mannequin!

Beautiful Bella!

Her Daddy declared her beautiful and decided that only the name Bella would suit her! So here she is -- Isabella Concetta Antonio


I've always kind of been jealous of those women who had pictures of the new baby surrounded by happy siblings. Now I have my own!


Big Brother is pretty pleased with his new little sister. I don't know what's wrong with her hat. Her head isn't that pointy!
Hooray for sisters! These two have a lifetime of fun ahead. Bella is challenging Grace in the hair department. She'll be wearing ribbons soon.

Little Baby Girl

Our beautiful baby girl is finally here! She came quickly last night at 9:28, after our arrival at 9:00! She is a petite little gal, weighing just shy of seven pounds.

I had a doula with me and this is something I can not recommend enough! She was fantastic and made the delivery experience so much nicer. I delivered her in the squatting position, which was great for me, but the doc wasn't to happy about it. And our poor little girl literally fell out onto the bed. Luckily she was fine and it didn't seem to phase her in the least.

Her brothers and sister are glad she is here, but still not quite sure what to make of her. I think the hospital experience really throws them off. One more reason to homebirth!

I will let you know when she has a name. We're debating still!

God might be laughing . . .

but I'm not.

Labor seems to have started. Conveniently after five o'clock. And Dr. Genaris is on call.

Innocent Voices

In amazement that the baby eats -- and supposedly likes -- everything that I eat, my daughter declared:

I can't believe that baby likes the Body of Christ!

John Paul the Second

I was hoping for an April Fool's Baby, but no such luck.

I took the kids to a little "Farm Day" at the PU Research Farm. Being the city kids that they are, they had a great time seeing all of the animals -- especially the piglets. Maybe because we are reading "Charlotte's Web" right now, I don't know. But they were really enamorred with the pigs. There were ten piglets in the litter. It made me glad that people don't have litters! After the farm, we went to a friends for lunch and the kids just played all afternoon. It is great to get out of the house and let the kids just run around with other children for the afternoon!

Happy Birthday to Zita! She is three today and off on another grand adventure to Gravagna. Don't you think little cousins should share a birthday? I think so. But I am not sure my baby does.

Tonight all three kids are spening the night at my mom and dad's. PeterXavier has never spent the night away, so this is our "dry run" for when the baby comes -- in case it comes in the night. Hopefully little PX will survive the night!

The fabulous "St Cecilia Circle" threw a shower on Sunday for all of the expectant Mama's in our group. It was great fun -- especially the foot massage! My crazy sister returned a c-section pillow to me, with modification. "C-C" is now sporting her name, in green embroidery thread. Now that the pillow has a name, my kids think it is a new toy. They spent yesterday chasing eachother and the pillow around the house yelling "C-C! C-Ceeeee!!" It was quite entertaining!

Check out the Easter Hope Challenge, put on by Jessica at Shower of Roses. If nothing else, read the story and pray for this family!

(By the way, many of you may know Jessica or her siblings from Christendom!)

Random thoughts to catch up

Boy, I am getting to be a real slacker with this whole blog thing. But I have a feeling that if I posted to often, it would just be a running stream of whining. The kids are sick, again. Christopher went to the doctor today and is on medicine and doing much better. The weird part about this all is that we seem to keep getting the same two things over and over again. We're either vomiting or we can't breath. Lovely.

And I have hit that "incredibly tired, I feel like a whale" stage of preganacy. When does nesting kick in? I am still waiting. eagerly.

Ever since PeterXavier weaned, he has become a really rotten napper. The upside to that is that he goes to bed nice and early. This evening, at 6:30, Andrew was changing him and getting him ready for bed and the poor child fell sound asleep.

On Tuesday, we braved the blizzard to celebrate my mom's birthday out at Historic Prophetstown.

Seven Grandkids . . .

And counting!

Deceptive Baby ticker

If you're watching the baby ticker on the side bar, you'll notice that it's gone back in time. The doctor moved my due date way back when I had my ultrasound, but I have been in denial. Now I figure it's better to set my sites on six weeks, than be disappointed when my original date comes and goes without a baby.

I met with my new doctor yesterday. That's right, I switched doc's in the final stretch of pregnancy. I think the worst thing is to go into the delivery room with a doctor you don't like, so I switched. I think (fingers crossed) that she will be much better than the last guy. At my second to last appointment with him, he looked at my chart and said "So, have we scheduled a date for that c-section yet?" AHH!! That is the last thing a VBAC patient wants to hear!! I think that was the last nail in his coffin. My new doctor actually told me that the last guy doesn't like VBACs and she has had other patients switch to her from him for that very reason. She was extremely supportive though and repeatedly told me that there is no reason for me to have another section.

Today I have an appointment with a doula, so we'll see how that goes. If I like her, I think I'll go with it, but I am not nearly as concerned as I was before. There was no. way. I was going in with that other guy without a doula!

Hooray!

My computer has returned! After weeks of trying to salvage all of the information on the crashed hard drive, we had to just cut our losses and start from scratch. Hopefully we have learned our lesson on the importance of backing up the computer!

The kids had their little "craft day" yesterday -- talk about feeling inadequate! Stephanie had crafts all ready with peices cut for the kids to make things easier. The "sewed" pockets to hold all of their valentine's and then made a Spiritual Bouquet of tissue paper flowers, each with a prayer intention on the leaf. I am not creative, crafty, or cute, but I love it when other people are so that I can just copy them!

Christopher had is long anticipated "belt test" on Saturday. He was SO excited! He did an excellent job -- he beat the required 75 kicks per minute by doing 93 and he broke his board on the first try. His doting parents were very proud=). If I knew how to upload videos, I would share with you . . . but I am pretty ignorant in that area. I think we will find out tomorrow whether he passed and will be promoted to yellow belt.

Today was the first Rosary Group at Annie's house. What a great way to start lent. I think you get extra grace when you are able to pray the Rosary with so many very energetic children running around. And I am sure they got some grace as well. I hope that everyone continues to come on Monday's because it was a fun group and good for all of us!

The kiddies are makiing Valentine's to give to their friends at their little "Craft Day" tomorrow. So cute! I better go help.

This might be dangerous to say . . . but I think we area all over the viscious diseases that have been attacking our house. Now that the entire family has been taking amoxacillin, I think we might live. And now maybe we can rejoin society. I feel like we have been quarentined in our house for the last two weeks! And without a computer! Ahh! I guess lent started early for me this year.

The kids and I went to the craft store today and got the things we need for our "Lenten Calender". They really enjoyed the little project last year and are excited to do it again this year. And now we are off the Mass. We are still computer-less, so don't hold your breath for a timely update!

Many Apologies

For the serious lack of postage lately. We were down sick for a week, then our hard drive crashed (and has yet to be fixed!), and then we took an impromptu trip to California for Andrew's grandfather's funeral.

The trip was quite an adventure. Due to poor planning, Andrew and I were on different flight. This meant splitting up the kids -- Christopher and Grace with me and PX with Andrew. My flights were fabulous. Andrew's were . . . not. Poor guy. Poor PeterXavier. We spent five event filled days with Andrew's very enormous Filipino family. We ate lots of yummy Filipino food and sang more karaoke that I care to remember. (What is it with Filipinos and Karaoke??) Andrew's dad is the oldest of 10 kids and this was the first time ever that all ten had been together. It was quite a gathering.

But now we are back and hopefully life will return to normal. And hopefully our computer will get fixed soon. If I am absent again, it is due to my lack of technonlogy!

Field Trip

I took my kidders and Angelica, and we met Stacy Martin and her kids here yesterday. It was really really neat. It is the oldest continuesly running glass factory in the world, which gives them the ability to renovate nearly any stained glass window. The kids loved seeing molten glass scooped up and plopped on big conveyer belts. The crabby lady in the gift shop seemed seriously irritated that we showed up with seven kids under the age of five, but they were super well behaved, so I don't know what she is whinning about.
The rest of the day was kind of a bust. The nature center and the art gallery we wanted to see were both closed, so we just took the kids to lunch and headed back to town.
Stacy, in all her insanity, then called us up and invited us over for dinner! I wasn't even planning on feeding anyone, so an invite was greatly apprecated! It turned out that Sean had been sent home from a meeting with all of the leftover food, so there was a ton and no one had to cook anything. Hooray for leftovers.

She's still a baby

And a darn cute one at that. Christopher was wrong. The baby was not all grown up when she arrived yesterday morning. Anna had a beautiful and healthy little girl named Julia Noel. How fun to have three sweet little Hatke girls! (Thanks to Annie's blog for the pic!)

This morning the kids woke up to find that the three wise men had left them beautiful cookies and tickets to the Nutcracker in their stockings. I was a bit concerned that they would get bored with the ballet, but they were completely enthralled! They really loved it and I must say, it was an impressive show.

Quotable

Christopher: "Wow! Aunt Anna's baby is going to be a kid by the time she goes to the hospital! Or at least a toddler."

To hit home his point that all babies must be born in hospitals, this evening at children's adoration when asked why Mary and Joseph were in a stable he announced:

"Because there were no hospitals!"

Some times when I haven't posted in so long I feel like I should recap on everything that has happened. Pictures would be the best means of doing that, but of course my camera isn't working, so I have nothing to show. Maybe sometime I can get over to my parents and hijack some of my dad's pictures.

So I won't bore you, only say that Christmas was wonderful. Midnight Mass was absolutely fabulous -- all you mom's (annie and anne!) who had a hard time or went to Mass on Christmas day -- just go to midnight. It is totally worth it. I think the trick is not letting them sleep before hand so that they crash when they get there.

This is a totally lame post. I have nothing to say, but I feel obligated to write something becasue it has been so long. Maybe PX will do something funny today or SOMEONE might have a baby and then I'll have something interesting to say. Sorry to bore you.

A note from the baby

Does anyone out there know how to remove Sanford Sharpie from the wall? I tried erasing it with my sister's underwear, but it didn't work. I think the picture is pretty, but my mom does not agree. (She has no taste!) Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
PeterXavier

Oh the things I do

Christopher, wrestling a jug of juice as big as he is, asks: "Mama, can you spill a drink for me?"

My son poo-poos GOLD!

Apperantly a little someone forgot to unwrap the chocolate gold coin before he ate it.

Eww...

How gross and weird is this?? Some people will do anything to avoid holding their baby!!

But I think I'll just get one of these. Might as well go whole hog!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I love celebrating St. Nicholas Day. The kids woke up to Gold Coin candies in their shoes this morning and we spent the day making a Slavic Sweet Bread and a German Almond Butter cake. Yum! Now we are feasting and trying to keep little ones from hitting the walls to hard as they bounce!

I also made slippers for each of the kids to celebrate the day. I though slippers were fitting for the celebration of the Saint who fills shoes. They are reminicent of my beloved robeez and turned out pretty well. The kids like them anyway!

I love Advent and I am glad it is here, but I am already feeling behind on my Christmas preperations. Isn't that awful?? I had such grand plans of being finished with all of my materialistic aspects of Christmas by the first Sunday of Advent. I failed miserably. I am not even close to being finished!!! Arg!

Fortunetly some "Adventy" things have been happening, so not all is lost. Last night we went to the Advent wreath making at Church. My wreath is pretty ugly, due partly to my lack of craftiness and partly to all my cute little helping hands. But it's not as ugly as the hilarious Baby Jesus that I made this afternoon with Anna. Good thing we can both laugh at ourselves! Again, we had many a helping hand. If I were more humble, I'd post pictures, but I'm not!

The most important thing I learned today is that Colby Stork is as obsessive about Junior Mints when she is prego as I am!! I'm not so weird after all! This was a very important and wonderful discovery.

It's going to be a long day

I'm in for it. PeterXavier just drank half a cup of coffee when I wasn't looking. When I caught him, he just laughed.

Like a maniac.

Fun Filled Weekend

This holiday weekend was busy, to say the least. We ate our way through Thanksgiving at my parent's house. All five very loud little monkeys played the day away while the Mama's knit and the Daddy's slept.

Then on Friday I spent my entire day trying to convince the doctor that I needed an antibiotic. Seriously. I called for the first time at nine AM and didn't get medicine until SEVEN IN THE EVENING. We went up to the river after that.

And we nearly froze to death.

After we got the cottage to a reasonable temperature, we had a lovely day playing games, reading books, and generally doing nothing.

And on Sunday was The Feast of Christ the King!!! My most favorite liturgical event of the year! Wow. It was so wonderful. Seeing all of the little children frolicing around in their fancy clothes is so fun . . . and hilarious! Such a great future ofr our Church . . . especially if we keep up this rate of procreation!!

What posesses a child to flush the toilet and then climb in?

Anja Louise

Here's the newest beauty!! She is such a sweetie. Weighing in at a petite 5 pounds, 13 ounces, she is a healthy little girl. She's every bit a Schap, not resembling the Hatke's at all!

Annie is doing very well. After a long day of induced labor, she had a c-section about about 10:30. She looked great today, even getting up to put on make up! And of course, the new Mama and Daddy are thrilled to pieces with their beautiful little girl.

It's a . . . .

sorry. I can't tell with out parental permission!! Baby Schap was born last night. Both Mama and Baby are doing well. Hopefully I will update with details and pictures later!

Good timing

It sure is a good thing we took that picture!! Enormous Annie is at the hospital waiting for her baby to arrive. I told my kids, which was a mistake. Christopher ran upstairs and came back all ready to go see the baby. I had to explain to him that it takes a long time for babies to get here . . . not to mention the hospital won't let the kids go in to the room anyway. They'll have to wait until baby gets home.

Some Fat, Some Pregnant, Some Just Cute

Why is it that Annie and Anna are cutie pregnant and I'm just fat? (If I'd known it was picture day, I'd have worn something more . . . revealing!)

Notice Annie's super cute new Mama due!

Here we're just laughing . . . we tend to do that.

And just for fun, here's a picture of PeterXavier. He was helping his Daddy make pasta.

Children's Adoration . . .

A view from the pew:

• Fifty little kid bums staring at you as fifty little people bow low before their Lord in the Eucharist.
• Fifty little people follow Father around the Church, completely enthralled by what he has to teach them.
• Fifty little people gather in the gym to eat pizza and sip lemonade . . . from Budweiser cups.
• Ten mothers stand around discussing what it is like to be pregnant . . . again.
• Ten dad's discuss their lack of clean clothing . . . .because their wives are pregnant. Again.

Who wouldn't love to be Catholic?

Birthdays, Farms, and Doctors

Happy Fifth Birthday to Angelica . . . sorry it's late!

Sunday was the annual Fall Farm Party at Uncle Johnny's. The kids had a super fun time roasting "mallows" (as Hope calls them), carving pumpkins, and going on a very crazy hay ride. Christopher and Grace sent the funniest little thank you cards to Uncle Johnny yesterday. Grace's said "That was a bumpy ride!" Of course, I didn't take any pictures. Maybe I'll hijack some from my dad's computer.

I had my first Dr. appointment yesterday -- baby is healthy and right on target for growth. I had to find a new Dr. since mine ditched me, but I think that this one is going to be really good. Any suggestions on a doula? To get or not to get? Worth the bling? We are still in the debating process here. Although the Dr. was totally supportive if we go the route.

It's one of those days . . .

The kind where you toss all three kids in the tub, scoop out the clean baby, get him snuggly dressed and sweet smelling, so that he can climb back into the tub.

And he didn't even have the courtesy to take his clothes off first.

A girly post for Anne

Unfortunately, I am ridiculously cheap, so I only have a crummy nursing cami from Motherhood. And I only have one. Seriously, someone who nurses like I do needs about ten. The best camis are from here. They are a little pricier, but from what I understand, totally worth it. Anna -- chime in here, I know you have at least one.

So there you have it, Anne. In return, you can give Annie the pattern for that totally adorable hat that Charles was wearing at Mass yesterday!! I can't knit, so I'll make Annie do it for me =)

Self Image

What exactly are you supposed to think when you still need the nursing camisole, but it no longer fits over your every enlarging belly?

Baby Salamander

Doesn't the baby in the ticker look like a salamander? I am going to imagine that my baby is WAY cuter than that one. I can't believe I am already over 18 weeks!! Wow, keeping the secret and pretending you're not prego really makes the whole thing go a lot faster. Maybe next time I won't tell people until after I deliver. I wonder how many people would not say anything in fear of accusing me of being fat. Besides my mom, I mean.

Since Annie posted about her little run in with the police, I suppose I better tell about mine. Although mine was a bit more self imposed. But it was an accident. . . I locked PeterXavier in the car. I think one of these days my friends a t CPS are going to come take the kids away! It was one of those time when, just when it's too late, you know exactly what has happened. I heard the electric lock trigger and I knew that both my keys and my son were inside. Luckily, a very nice police officer and an old tow truck man came to the rescue. The nice towing company even unlocks your car for free if there is a child inside! Thankfully PeterXavier is the most laid back child on the planet, so he bounced back from his little adventure in no time.

Fantastic Feasting

This years Feast was one of the best ever. What a great time! We got up early and sped off to the Mass at the fort. Of course, we had to hightail it across the Feast grounds to get there in time and were only a few minutes late. I was so impressed with how well the event is layed out and put on. I truly think it is the most well done festival we have attended.

Gracie making a candle. Both kids got to make candles and paper!

Christopher playing "graces" -- a traditional 18th century children's game.

The Family

Feast!!

I am super excited to be going to the Feast tomorrow. We are starting the day early with the Feast Mass. I was trying to get the kids excited about the Mass and telling them about going to Mass outside and Christopher said "oh! Then Jesus will be able to come down to us much easier!" (refering to the Consecration) I love cute children observations!

My wonderful mother made all of the kids super adorable costumes for the occasions and I found a dress fit for a winabego in the costume box, which should suit me quite well. Annie and I had some good laughs going through the costume box . . . if fact I was afraid she might go into labor at one point.

And Grace wants to name the new baby "Master the Pope". I think it has a nice ring to it . . .

Happy Birthdays!!

Happy FOURTH Birthday to our Gracie Girl!! She had a great day informing people that it was her birthday and she thought she was quite the princess.

"Am I still Beautiful?"
"Oh, yes, you're still Beautiful"
"I will NEVER be ugly!!"

Have we over done the self-esteem thing a little?

And Happy Birthday to Anna, tomorrow!

Sorry for the Delay . . .

First off, the promised update on the Fall Film Series -- it is awesome. Thye best thing to do would be to get a group of friends together and go with the big group.

Ben was here this weekend with his friend Bill. It is always exciting to have him here. The kids love playing with "Uncle Ben!!" But Christopher missed his pal Angelica.

And now the fun part. After weeks of evading my mother, the secret is out (brace yourself for the nasty phone call, Mary!!). No, I have not been drinking to much beer or eating to many chocolates. I have merely joined the ranks of my sisters, jumped on the bandwagon, killed the bunny. However you want to look at it -- I think s/he'll be here in March or April.

Did you see this post on Danielle Bean's site a while back (click the link)? Maybe the three of us can make the news!

Totally Awesome Date Night

In the past few years, the Lafayette Theater downtown has been renovated and used for various cool events -- it is rented for wedding receptions and parties -- but by far the greatest thing they are doing is the new "Fall Film Series". Every Tuesday in the fall, they are showing an old movie coupled with a dinner that matches the theme of the movie. The movies that are lined up are fabulous -- this evening is "The Godfather" with an italian dinner catered by Oliverio's. Later in the season, they are showing such classics as "Gone With the Wind" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". Check out their web site to find out more info www.lafayettetheater.com Oh! And the best part is the price -- $5 for the movie and $7 for dinner!! I'm so excited!! So support downtown and have a totally cool and cheap date night! (And I think I'lll pop over to Kathy's beforehand and smuggle some candy in with me!) We're going to The Godfather tonight -- I'll report back!

I am now, officially, a yuppy soccer mom. Except that my kids don't play soccer and I don't have a cell phone that starts chippering cutsey tunes from my over priced designer purse every five minutes, or a big SUV, and I don't wear pink warm up suits with enormous diamond earrings.. Yesterday, Chirstopher started his tae kwon do, which means that on Tuesdays I take him there, wait for him to finish and then hustle everyone to the Y for Gracie's ballet. They both love the classes and are learning a lot, but I REALLY don't fit in with the other parents . . . especially at TKD.

PeterXavier had a rotten cold yesterday and it seems to be working its way down the line of children. race woke up this morning, crawled into my lap and pitifully announced that she doesn't feel well. Luckely it seems to run its course quickly, as PX is back to his destructive self today.

Grace started ballet this evening. We bought her a cute little leotard and slippers. She was so very excited and had a wonderful time. Her teacher is really great -- an ex-teacher, now mama -- she is uber peppy and the little girls adore her. The only disturbing thing was the first line of the little note she sent home.

"No attire is required."

Did I just waste thirty bucks on that cute outfit? Maybe next week I'll just send her the way God made her.

Yesterday, we were all in the house when we heard sirens go by. We live pretty close to the fire house, so this is not an uncommon occurance. On hearing the sirens, Grace exclaimed:

"Aliens! Aliens! Quick, say your prayers! Jesus, I love you very much! Come and take the bad guys away. Amen!"

I woke up this morning to find my house clean (trust me, it wasn't when I went to sleep last night!). So unless I have learned to clean and sleep at the same time, my husband is awesome!!

Unfortunetly, I also found that we had no. food. No eggs, no bread, no cereal, not even any oatmeal. What kind of mother am I?? The kind that takes her kids to Big Apple Bagels for breakfast! They kids were great and loved our little adventure. And I found my new favorite quote:

"The only thing more overrated than natural childbirth is the joy of owning your own business."

I laughed out loud and the bagel girl gave me a funny look, but come on -- it's hilarious!!

Needless to say, when the baby wakes up from his nap, we are going to the grocery!

What a great idea -- National Free Museum Day! Any one want to go to Conner Prairie??

Christopher: "Daddy, why do you always call me 'Gray-stopher'?"

I love Labor Day. We headed out of town on Saturday, just in time for the kidders to fall asleep for the night. Then we spent a carefree two days at the river. It was grand. We never take vacations, so this was great. We took the kids miniature golfing, which they thought was the greatest thing in the world. PX slept in his stroller almost the entire time, which was fortunate, because he was a terror after he woke up. I have a ton of pics, but I am at my parents, so I'll have to post them later.

We ate dinner at the Oakdale Inne "Best Fish By a Dam Site" It took two hours, but was worth it. It was even worth putting up with the horrible annoying group of 50 that was there -- you know the type. Loud obnoxious women and dads who hate their kids. This group had it all!

Unfortunetly, we missed the Schafer / Schnerre shindig, but I was beat! Christopher was pretty upset about that, but it turned out for the best because when we left to go home, he was asleep before we got off our road!

Aunt Anna May has a blog!! Yipee!!

Yesterday we celebrated Franja by having a shower for Annie. Despite the fact the I had to wrong address on the invites, everyone came and I think had a grand old time. The food was yummy, and Annie got a load of happy baby loot.

The baby shower was also alive with little people. Christopher had a blast with chatting with his little friends and thinking he was a big boy.

Check out this site. I kid you not, Zita is a more popular name that Anja (in the US). Way to go on originality, Annie!! Although, I don't know how trustworthy it is . . . it says there are zero PeterXavier's!!

For Christopher's birthday, his loving aunt and uncle got him a pet frog. I think they underestimated the effect that this little pet would have on our entire household. The kids love him -- I think PeterXavier would sleep with him at night if I let him. But this little frog has led this little family on quite the adventure. For starters, we are already on frog number 2. Don't ask me what happened to the first one, because no one know. He's just gone. vanished.

The other thing about our frog friend is that he his a very finicky eater. Worse than my kids. He'll only eat moving food. So the meal worms that you purchase by the 50 count and then die, he won't eat. This means that my husband is running out to the pet store for live crickets every other day. So this morning, tired of going cricket hunting every night, (did I mention that the kids like to catch frog food?) he has now decided to breed beetles for the frog.

I can't wait until little Franja is old enough for pets. I'm going to drop a doozy of a creature on old Nana and Martin.

I think I believe in global warming now. This is crazy weather. Thank goodness for uncles with swimming pools!! Annie, my mom, and I took the kidders over to swim today. The water was the temperature of an average August day, but today, that was refreshing.

Andrew is going to take the kids to dulcimers at the fountain tonight and let them get nice and soggy. I think these "dog days" of summer should be renamed the "water days" because that is the only way to survive.

Don't melt!

I can't believe it has been over a week since I last posted. I apologize to all of my readers!! I hope you haven't abandon me.

We had a wonderfully successful garage sale at my mom's today. Hooray for people who paid me money for my junk. I love you all.

Tomorrow, Andrew is in the chili cookoff at Sportsman's Warehouse. Come vote for his awesome chili!!

And that is all I have to say for today, because I am tired. Soon, I will post pictures of my silly monkeys on their new bikes. Good night!

Here are two of the cutest little girls, all gussied up and being oh-so-girly. We went to a little birthday tea for Grace's friend Sarah. Complete with big hats, tiny cups, and yummy chocolates, these little girls both born smack in the middle of a family of boys, had such a wonderful time!

Kathy, from Kathy's Kandies on Main Street, hosted our tea. She also provided the fabulous hats (decorated by Jan at First Class Clutter!!), beads, and tiny tea cups!

Gracie loves to be cute!!

Kathy also served us the cutest tea. The leaves are sewn together so that when they are put into a (clear) tea pot with the hot water, they open up like a flower! Too cute!

Today's Funny:

Grace: PeterXavier's hair is yellow!
Christopher: It's blond. I'm sure glad I'm not blond.
Me: Why's that?
Christopher: Because then I would bump into things.
Me: Excuse me?
Christopher: Yeah. When you're blond you can't see anything.

Yesterday was Andrew's birhday, so he took. the. day. off. Which is something he hasn't done since . . . maybe ever. And even then, he still did a bunch of work in the morning. But the afternoon was free. We took the kids to the park, ate at Chipotle (!!), and went swimming at my hilarious Uncle Johnny's. Then Andrew and I went to dinner and this major dive in Battleground. It as dark and dingy, but the food was great. I mean, anytime you order something called the "Bear Special" it has to be good!

Dancing in the Streets was fantastic last night. Thanks to a few hard working friends, paid in beer, everything came off without a hitch. Well, except for the fact that we ran out of hot dogs. But that wasn't as big of a deal as it might have been. The crowd was HUGE!! All of the vendors were running out of stuff. It was a mad house, but tons of fun!

Tonight is Celtic Spring and the ice cream social at St. B. Ice cream provided by us. Good thing tomorrow is Andrew's birthday and he is taking the day off. He needs it! I think he worked 18 hours yesterday, running at full speed!

Someone got to my blog today by googling "Lady Comp Blog"!!! How great is that?!?!

I apologize for that rather obnoxious last post. Despite what some people may think, I did not do it on purpose. For those who have been sitting on the edge of their seats for the last week, it has finally been updated.

This weekend is going to be mad packed. We have Market and Dancing in the Streets tomorrow. If you want to attend Dancing, but have no ready cash (or just because you love me!), call me. If you work a "shift" for us, I'll pay your entrance fee and throw in a beer to boot! I am serious -- just give me a ring!

Some people are geniuses of the imagination. I am not one of them, but I have a grand old time imitating those who are. I found a pattern online and by some magic of the pattern, not the seamstress, this:

not so attractive man's shirt became this:

What's wrong with blogger all of a sudden?? It won't let me post pictures! I JUST DID IT AND NOW IT WON'T LET ME!! Well, you'll just have to guess what this shirt became and hope that blogger is nicer to me tomorrow!

**UPDATED**

And there you have it. The not-so-cute mans shirt becomes the super cute girls dress. Not bad, huh? I can take no credit though, all the difficult work was done by the pattern maker and the company who made the shirt in the first place!

Needless to say, this is my new project line. I am working on another one right now, complete with a headband which lived a previous life as a shirt collar!

There is a whole community outside of town that is truly hidden from us "city folk". And what a beautiful community it is! My mom, Annie, the kidders, and I went out to Flora today and visited all of the "horse and buggy" shops. (that is the term they use, not a derogative one). They're little markets are really cute and the people that run them are so sweet. The prices were pretty nice too! We got a lot of natural and homemade items but didn't have to pay the premium prices. I got "sorghum" which I have been wanting to try for a while now, but never wanted to pay the price for it. I didn't really even know what it was . . . but I have now learned all about it! This is the nutritional break down :

Potassium 200mg per tablespoon
Protein 300mg per tbsp.
Calcium 30mg per tbsp.
Magnesium 20mg per tbsp

Not to bad for sweetener! It is also high in iron. It is actually the "juice" from the sorghum grain, which is cooked down just like one would do to make maple syrup. It is the "poor man's syrup" which is perfect for us!

I also got an old feed sack to cut up and sew into dish towels. I think it's great, but I did wonder this evening just what my Grandma would say if she knew we had paid. money. for feed sacks to turn into towels when we could buy them at the store. I find it interesting that what we think is fun -- simply because we don't have to do it -- was a chore just a generation ago. (It's like when Annie got an antique coffee pot for a shower gift and Aunt Betty thought it was junk that belonged in the trash!!) We certainly take for granted just how easy life can be with all of the modern conveniences!

Everyone who read the last post and ignored it, you missed out! Riverfest, once again, was a wonderful little festival jam-packed with fun! I paddled in two races, won one and lost one. Smoked my hubbys team. Then lost the other race because we almost capsized -- paddling takes second seat to trying to stay above water! Either way, it was super fun and I highly recommend everyone participate next year!

Sunday we went to the river and canoed down to the Schafer's for a little welcome home party for Gwen. There was lots of swimming, chatting, plenty of beer, and lots of little monkeys on the trampoline. We had a really nice time and the hopped in our canoe to paddle home. That's when the adventure began. The river was as smooth as glass. It should not have been a problem at all. As we neared the island, we smacked into a rock and got lodged on top of it. Andrew finally had to jump out and get us moving again. Then, one stroke in and Andrew snapped his paddle in half. In the rapids, with only one paddle, Andrew jumps out to pull the canoe and breaks his sandle. He finally got us the short way through the fast water, hopped back, and paddled us on up the river. I sat back and pretended I was riding in a gondula. Lucky for us, my parents had dinner for us when we got back.

Don't you want to be them?? If you want to participate in the COOLEST festival of the summer, come to Tapawingo Park on Saturday and paddle in the Riverfest races! Here is a little historic info.

The part of North America in which we live was once a vast wilderness of mostly forest, almost impenetrable by anyone other than the Native Americans who had lived here for centuries.

The demand for quality furs, however, brought European trappers in search of the abundant beaver and other fur bearing animals that were so plentiful in this area. These trappers were dependent on the services of a hale and hardy breed of wilderness pioneer, the voyageur, to provide transport of supplies in and pelts out from this densely wooded land. Those pelts were taken along our waterways to Canada and out the St. Lawrence en route to markets throughout Europe.

The Voyageurs worked hard and they played hard. They ate, they drank, they sang songs, they played competitive games, and they raced their canoes.

Today you can see replicas of those canoes being raced on the Wabash once again, not by trappers and traders, but by bankers, firefighters, city workers, and many others who love to compete and who love the river.

This is your chance to become a "Voyageur for a day" and recreate an activity that was part of those events that resulted in our living today on the banks of the beautiful and mighty Wabash River.

The requirement for the boat is that we have 9 people paddling and at least 3 of each gender.

Come join the fun! We need plenty of "fill in" paddlers, so show up anytime Saturday, midmorning to early afternoon, talk to my dad, and have a good old fashioned good time!

Our three little monkeys have been upgraded to five this week. My brother and his ladies are here visiting for the week. All five little monkeys are having a grand old time playing in the mud, befriending bugs and frogs, and eating lots of food. Christopher and Angelica are inseperable little buddies.

The plan was to go to the Fiddler's this weekend, but the rain kept the weak and pregnant (Anna's prego, I'm weak!) away, so we went to the Bistro instead. We were warm and dry and had some great conversation. We missed the music, but sometimes warm is better!

On Sunday the Hatke's went off with the Hatke Majors while we Antonio's headed out to the Thistle Byre Farm to visit with the lovely Rider family. What a great time! Their farm is beautiful!! The kids had a really nice time running around outside and playing with the other young children. The grown ups had a wonderful visit and ate lots of yummy food fresh off the land.

Normal mothers would rejoice and enjoy the peace when their yound child took a nap on her own. Not me . . . I freak out and call 911. Gracie entirely covered herself with the pillow shams and fell sound asleep on her bed. In the shams, she was completely out of sight, save one timy lock of hair. Christopher and I called and called through the house for her, checking every nook and cranny. We searched outside, employing the help of some kindly strangers, I called my dad, got the neighbor . . . I was in full flip-out mode by the time Rita found her sleeping peacefully. I feel like a dope, especially since the police man had to come in a check on her, but adventures such as this make you realize just how much you children mean to you, and that is a good thing.

Speaking of peacfully sleeping children, little Zita, stark naked, is snoring at me feet!

I spent the day at odds with my sewing machine. Seems the darn thing has decided that it is angry with me. Probably mad because I have neglected him for so long. I can't blame him, but really, does he have to be so mean?

What a busy wonderful weekend!! Saturday was Father David's ordination, which was fabulous. It was such an amazing ceremony. It was not the first time that I had attended an ordination, but I don't remember the other one being so ceremonial. The reception afterwards was great too. I got all the kids clean and dressed well, and of course we were late. Grace fell asleep in the car, so I scooped her up to go inside, only to discover that she was not wearing underwear. I about died. Thanks be to goodness, for some reason completely unknown to me, there was a clean pair in the car. (See, it pays to have a car that looks like you live in it!!).

Father's Day was a wonderful day at the river. The Weeks family came up to join the fun. The kids had a great time -- the river level was perfect! The girls got a bunch of muscles and cooked them on the fire. Then tried to eat them. In all the many years that our family has been going to the river, never once have we tried to eat the muscles. (Although Ben and Denver did eat crawdads once). I think the girls prefered the s'mores.

This is hilarious!!! What kids doesn't want a live in playmate?

Every once in a while, Christopher goes on a special "date" with my sister, his "Nana". I am so glad that they get this time together. Christopher can be a sensitive little man, and being the oldest of three so close together, he needs one on one times to remind him how special he is! And whenever they have these dates, he remembers how much he loves his Nana andwants to spend the whole day with her! So today, after their breakfast date, Nana came to swimming lessons and then to the park with us. I am certain that we wore poor preggy Nana to exhaustion!

Later in the afternoon, my mom picked up the kiddos so I could get some things finished (my house is clean! It's a miracle!). Later we went swimming at the Reifenrath's. Christopher is getting a little too confident in his "swimming" abilities! He paddled on his little noodle all over the deep end of the pool! And Grace, the princess, just let Jack push her all over in her raft. That's my girl!

The Corpus Christi celebration at St. Boniface was a HUGE success. Mainly due to the fab food, I am sure (kidding!). The procession was the best yet, I think. Beautiful Mary Grace Rudolpf, having celebrated her First Communion that morning, sprinkles rose petals for Our Lord as we took him into the streets of town. All of the kids of the parish waved banners for Jesus and were SO EXCITED to be doing so! It was great. We were doing exactly what we should have been doing in order to celebrate the magnificent gift Christ gave to us. It was a perfect balance of prayer and reflection coupled with feasting, dancing, and just the right amount of alcohol!! It was a wonderful Catholic celebration. I am sure that God was happy and the Church Triumphant was rejoicing with us!

My little kiddos have been going to swimming lessons this week. It is one of the first times we have done any organzed activity, and the very first where I can not be right there with them. They are doing a wonderful job. Especially with Christopher, I can see the "attachment parenting" paying off. He is sweet, confident, and obedient. By the end of the two weeks, he will be swimming, I am sure.

Grace is enjoying her self. She is younger and a bit more shy that her brother. I think that if they were in the same class, she would have no problems. As it is, she is enjoying herself and that is all that matters!

After lessons, we stopped at the shop for a drinks and to say hi to the WONDERFUL and LIFE SAVING Cynthia!! Thank goodness for wonderful friends who need jobs!!

Yesterday, someone told me that wine at Meijer was only two dollars. So of course, being a self proclaimed wine-o, I made a beeline for Meijer. It was probably only the second or so time I have even been in this store. Why would anyone want to drive fifteen miles into no man's land for some pseudo WalMart? The real one is bad enough. Anyway, I went to Meijer. For the last time. They have taken our technologically dependent, material driven culture to a whole new level -- grocery carts with televisions. I am not making this up. Oh how I wish I could be so creative. For only one mighty dollar, you can "hire" a grocery cart to babysit your child as you blissfully glide through a mecca of sweat-shop made crap. I honestly wanted to vomit. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. What is our society becoming when we cannot even break from our TV induced stupor in order to restock our beer supply? We can't even put up with our children long enough to buy their diapers? Oh no, toss them into the cart and sedate them with the TV. I can just see the whole senario. Kids watching TV at home, Mom needs more frozen pizzza so she throws kids in the car, turns on the DVD moniters attached to the back of the driver's seat, cruises to Meijer, "hires" a TV cart for only one dollar (what a steal!) . . . you get the point. The media is infiltrating and taking over every single aspect of our lives. You can no longer get away from it.

It just makes me sick that their is no escape. We try so hard to shelter our children from the evils of the world, but we have to buy groceries! Any thoughts?

In other news, Farmer's Market was this morning. A cheerful reminder that we are not alone in our quest to raise our family with the best of the simple life. Like the happy Thistle-Byre family in their matching green shirts. My wonderful hubby bought me an adorable purse from some girls who make cute "clutch" purses and sell them at FM. And the kids ate enough flavor ice to last another week.

Happy 30th Birthday to my

Big Brother!!

Silence. Not something you hear to often in a house full of monkeys. I wonder how long it will last? All three kids and Andrew are sleeping. We have had a full weekend and everyone is mighty tired. One of the best things about summer is that the kids play out side almost all day long and then they sleep as hard as they play.

Friday night we went to the Klein Brat Haus the see Annie and Kim play. It is always so fun to go up there. I just love the local, laid back atmosphere. Jerry gave us these cute drinks called "Little King". It is a type of beer, but in super cute mini bottles. So neat!! The kids loved dancing to Nana's music and climbing all over Uncle Mart. (I think they should start calling him that.)

Saturday was the farmer's market. It must have been a hundred degrees out. PeterXavier played in the drink cooler the whole time and the nice man from Cleaver Farms (Mr Cleaver? I don't know his name.) kept us cool with flavor ice. And I bought some cute little plants for my sorry attempt at a garden. I planted it when we got home and let's all pray that something actually grows.

Good night!

We had a fanastic weekend with a "faux camping" trip to the cottage. We cooked on the fire, played in the river, and slept in real beds. The weather was perfect and the kids had a grand old time. I took tons of great pictures, but of course I left my camera at the cottage. You could have seen Christopher asleep on Andrew's head on a raft in the middle of the river, but now you can't. YOu also could have seen the kids unplanned summer hair cuts. The ones they gave themselves. I guess we'll have to go back to the river this weekend to retrieve the camera (and Andrew's watch and wedding ring!)

Today we went to he Brown Bag Concert. Always a great time! Wes and Rita showed up, which was wonderful. It's always nice to have friends to visit with while the kids run around playing.

Tomorrow is strawberry picking and possible jam making (or maybe Friday for the jam?). Picking strawberries is always fun, but I think it is the hottest, sweatiest job in the world. But anything is fun when you get to eat the product as you work!

Who'd a thunk this ol' chicken would have ended his days with a beer up his arse? I'm sure glad he did, though, because it was delish!

My parents came over last night and helped Andrew get started on our new "play yard." I am SO excited to get rid of the nasty weeding backyard! A few years ago, we tore up one side and paved it, but the other side has just been dirt and weeds since we moved in. Andrew put down that anti-weed black fabric stuff and a bit of pea gravel this evening and tomorrow I will order a load of gravel, so by tomorrow night, we should have a happy nice place for the kids to play. And I am hoping for a sand box as well!!

I made tortillas for dinner this evening. They were so easy and super yummy. Gotta love the King Arthur Flour cook book! I just noticed on their web site that they have a cooking with kids video. I'll have to check into that. The kids love to cook with me.

That's all for now!

Dear Uncle Ben,

When you come visit, please bring your spiderman suit home this summer so that we can be big and little Spidey.

Love,

Christopher

PeterXavier's birthday party turned out really well. The whole fam gathered at the park area at Prophetstown for a cookout. It was fantastic because I didn't have to clean the house to have everyone over AND the only cleanup involved was dumping everything into a big trash bag! Great party planning on my part!

I have inadvertantly started a tradition of making ugly cakes for the kids birthdays. This years attempt was a pirate ship. It isn't nearly as bad as some of my efforts and the best part was that the kids helped me make it. They got a kick out of coloring the sails and putting them on. When it was time to light candles, we put them in the sides like canons. It's hard to see, but our ship was complete with gold bountey and beer kegs.

Look who's turning ONE!! I can't believe that a whole year has flown by! Today we celebrate the birth of the smiliest happiest little monkey in the world! I can't believe the laughs the this little guy has brought to our family. Happy Birthday PeterXavier!!

We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut of as of late. Sunday we hosted the Zuzolo First Communion party at the shop. It was great! It was the perfect big Italian family celebration (with the wrong food though!). We pushed all the tables together and put my huge table cloth on it so that we had one huge table for everyone to sit around. And the entire Zuzolo family is just so nice. It was really a fun time.

On Monday we found out that Molly, the girl that works at the shop for us, and who has really become our friend, was in an accident on her moped. The moped that she got Thursday. She got out of ICU yesterday, so I went up to see her. She looks pretty bad and could use any prayers you want to toss her way. I have been working at the shop now that she can't -- so if anyone needs a little job . . . .

Also, TAKE NOTE!!! We are having a cookout on Thursday before Blue Jacket. Bring a side dish if you'd like, bring your kids if you have them, everyone is invited so call anyone who isn't cool enough to read my blog! I guess Thursday is only tomorrow. Sorry for the late notice.

Christopher and Grace fell in love with this little baby raccoon that Uncle Johnny found. They really wanted to take her home with us. And really, if they were just a little older, I would have let them keep her. She was really cute, but I was afraid that they would be really sad when we had to let her go -- I mean, you can't keep a raccoon forever! And since she is SO young, I was afraid that we night accidentally kill her. Besides, she already thought Uncle Johnny was her mother. He should keep her.

He found a raccoon den out on his property, so he is going to put her their and hope that that Mama adopts her.

While the little raccoon baby was the highlight of the day, we did some other fun stuff too. We had our first Market of the season and that was great. I got a few cute flowers to plant and some fresh asparagus from the Cooleys.

After Market, house and year work, we took the kids for a picnic at the park. They love to run around and play outside -- unfortunately picnics don't really inspire them to eat. Well, PX ate a great deal of sand, but that isn't very nutritious.

If, after reading this and this, you are looking at me as if to say "you're next", then all I have to say to you is "NO I'm not."

This time, I am sitting back, nausea free, and planning my position as the doting auntie.

Thank you very much.

I found a morrel mushroom growing out of the edge of the neighbors driveway this morning! I don't think Andrew has ever had a morrel before (poor deprived California boy!) so I will fry up this lonely little mushroom for him tonight. I sure wish I had more!

Farmer's Market sarts tomorrow!! That must mean that it is officially summer! We will be out with the cart serving up all kinds of yumminess. I can't wait to see all of our "market friends" that we never see in the winter time. 99% percent of the maket people are just so wonderful (we all know the other one percent. He is evil.).

Last night we all (us, Annie and Martin, Mr. A. and Margaret) went to my parents for dinner. It was really nice. Their patio just got finished so we sat out their and the kids could just play and have fun while we ate. Andrew got out the kids little pool and handed Christopher the hose to fill it up. Bad idea. Christopher, in all his four year old innocence, would kink the hose and sweetly ask someone to come and help him figure out what was wrong with it. Just as you bent down to help him he would unkink it and spray freezing hose water in your face.

That's all for now. I have a mountain of laundry to attend to. My dryer vent was broken and the laundry piles up. Now that it is fixed, I have some major catch up to do. The worst part is that I had been SO on top of it, and now that is all lost.

Christopher has caught the bug . . . the chapter book read-aloud bug, that is. And I am so glad. I have always enjoyed reading aloud to the kids, but it is so much nicer when it is a book that I can get into as well. A nice long chapter book is so much cosier that 75 picture books in one sitting.

Right now we are reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins." Christopher now wants a pet penguin and says that he will name it "Narnia." Grace will name her's "Fifia." Where does she come up with these things? What a goober.