Michigan adventures

Spanish Suntans

On our little vacation this weekend, we pretty much loafed on the beach most of the time. We soaked up the rays, resulting in some pretty nice tans for my Filipino children and a mighty crispy burn for me. Admiring her tan this morning Grace declared : "I look like I speak Spanish! Oopigdah!"

Doesn't she know that her dad is the director of diversity?? We can't be racist!!!

Birthdays, Weddings, Beaches, and FUN

We've been busy here in the Antonio House. Friday was Christopher's big Sixth birthday. We had a cookout here with family and a few friends.


In keeping with my Ugly Cake tradition, I made a racecar cake (per his request.). I must say, now that I have six years of cake decorating (and eating!) under my belt, you can really see an improvement (but not in my waistline!). They are getting to be somewhat recognizable!


Of course, guns seem to be a required birthday gift for this little guy. He was thrilled to get FOUR (ok, one was a crossbow, but close enough).




On Saturday, we loaded up to van and headed north for my cousins wedding and the our camping trip in Michigan. The wedding was really fun. What can you expect from a big italian family and an open bar?? The kids had a blast dancing with everyone.
Four cute monkeys making their Mama proud!


We had to get PeterXavier a kiddie cocktail so he would stop stealing our drink!



Here is Christopher dancing like a mad man right in the middle of the wedding party!! He's definitely not shy!

After the wedding we headed up to Lake Michigan for three days of camping and hanging out on the beach. We had a GREAT time. More pictures later -- now the sandy laundry is calling me!

Big Boy

Happy Birthday to our Big Boy Christopher, who turns SIX today!! Time sure flies. It seems like yesterday that we were held our tiny little boy and first knew the joy of parenthhood. It's been a super fun six years!!

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Daddy!

I'm in Love

Could he be any cuter?? Seriously, if I weren't Catholic, I'd convert just to be affiliated with Pope Benedict.

And he sends text messages!!

Faith and Family

I have been subscribing to Faith and Family magizine for years now and LOOOVE it. I was SUPER excited last week when I got an email inviting me to a sneak preview of their new and improved website Faith and Family Live. It is totally fantastic.

In your excitement and enjoyment try not to forget about your children. And your hubby might need dinner . . . or clothes for work tomorrow . . .

Quote of the Day

Grace: Mommy!! You're making my pants laugh!!

Truth Be Told

I think we are having a little trouble with telling the truth around here. Grace, frustrated with her brothers sleeping in, appraoched me this morning:

Sometimes, to wake up Christopher, Daddy dumps water on his head . . . so can I do that??

Daddy has never been known to do that. I just said no.

Growing too fast

Bell-ee is three months old today! I can't believe how big she is getting -- rolling over, smiling, babbling, and laughing! We have been so excited to have our newest little monkey. It is amazing how you are in awe of everything they are and do, even though you have had other children. It's so fun!

And lest you think she is all photogenic giggles and smiles, let it be known that it took me 29 shots to get this smiley one. Usually, she looks like a (cute!) goober.

Cannibalistic 2 year old.

PeterXavier said his first sentence today:

"Watch out, I'll eat you!"

Fossils. Apparently, their mom is one.

I can hear my kids playing out in the sandbox. The game involves excavating items from a time long ago. I keep hearing them exclaim:

"This is from the 1980's!!"

A taste of the hippie life

We spent the majority of the weekend pretending we were hippies at the Fiddler's Gathering. We listened to fantastic old time music and Andrew learned a bit at the fiddling workshop. We ate too much greasy food, took naps in the grass and saw an old friend propose on stage!!! It was a great, relaxing yet exhausting weekend. The weather was a little schizophrenic, bouncing from torrential downpours to hot sunny skies, but it was worth getting soaked and scorched!

There were four in the bed and the little one said

ROLL OVER.


My sweet little 2 1/2 month old baby is rolling over!! I thought they were supposed to stay snuggly and immoble for at least three good months. I feel jipped!


In other big news, Christopher learned to ride his bike with out training wheels the other night. He is extremely excited about it. We had an impromptu picinic at Prophetstown and decided to crown the night by the removal of training wheels.



Grace sweetly insisted that she too be the center of attention.












And just a little bit of crazy to brighten your day!

Motherly Music

"I finally had to face the facts in a dressing room at TJMaxx . . . "

Am I the last mother on earth to find out about Marie Bellet?? She's awesome! Check out this music video.

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.