You know you have a big family when your son sees the perfectly normal bottle of mustard and exclaims:  "Aww!  Look at the cute little bottle!!"

Bella

This is my sweet Bella, in her usual state of complete freak out over nothing. Pretty, huh?

I'm Melting.

I think I know what the Wicked Witch felt like.  Man.  It's hot.

 Today, we decided to spend the day inside, hiding from the heat.  Yesterday, Christopher spend the day at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs get creamed by the Phillies.  I think the temperature was hovering around 100.  I guess little boys can withstand more heat that Mama's!

The rest of us hit the fair yesterday, but didn't last very long.  Blistering heat and whining children isn't a very good combo!  We thought maybe we could cool off if we went to the pool.  I am pretty sure we didn't "cool off" but the water sort of, kind of, maybe just a little, took the edge off.

(Pictures are from the Fourth and Riverfest -- days we thought were hot, but upon which we now just look longingly and laugh at our foolish ignorance!)

The Humor Of Bodily Functions

Grace is reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and commented that the repeated use of the word "poop" was hilarious.  Which led to the discussion of why on earth is it called a "poop deck" (because heaven knows Lucy wasn't refering to her bodily functions!).

And don't you wonder, too?

So we looked it up (who doesn't love Wikipedia??)

Fascinating!

And I thought this was particularly interesting, considering it is one of Christopher's favorite expressions!

In nautical parlance, "to be pooped" means to have a wave come over the stern from abaft.

What To Do When It's Too Dern Hot Out

The kids and I had a ball making fabric flowers this afternoon.  It was way to hot / humid to be out, so we set to work creating!

We loved these little rosettes from V and Co.  So sweet and so simple!  But watch out for that hot glue!

These super easy "scrunch flowers" from Little Miss Mama were fun to make as well.  Talk about instant gratification!

Bella trotted around with them on her shirt, but Grace preferred them in her hair.  

It would be fun to cluster a bunch on a shirt, too!  (That may be next -- these are addicting!)

We wrapped a bit of brown fabric around a dollar store headband, affix the flower with a dab of hot glue and, viola!  Cuteness!

These quick and easy flowers were a great boredom buster AND a great way to use up a bunch of scrap pieces of fabric!

If only it were so simple!

by Grace - for whom this still unfinished project was, apparently, no big deal at all.

Self Incrimination

This is a picture of my dining room table.  I love my table -- it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture.  It is heavy and sturdy, just perfect for a large and rambunctious family.  But do you see those markings?  Carvings, actually.  Will that little boy ever learn to, at the very least, carve someone else's name??  Silly, silly little boy.

Seven Quick Takes --Catch Up Edition

Hello, July!  Where did my friend June go?  He must have been swept away in the rains.  We have had a busy, busy month.  Remember those long, lazy summer days of childhood?  I was expecting those in adulthood, too.  Ha!  I sure was wrong!  Here is our lightening speed June in Quick Takes

~1~

Christopher's scout den had a camp out at my parents cottage over Pentecost.  The wonderful Fr. Jeff came up and celebrated Mass for the boys.  What a special experience for those boys (and the families who tagged along!).

~2~  

We've been eating lots of summer foods and soaking up the sun when it decides to shine.  Andrew has poured countless hours into our back yard this summer and it has been SO very worth it!

~3~
We have had insane amounts of rain this summer, so the river has been really high and fast.  Andrew and the kids finally had a chance to get in a couple of weeks ago.  

~4~

What is a summer without firearms?

Nothing like walking out of the house to find your girly-girl shooting a gun!

And Christopher, too.  But that is nothing new :)

~5~

This is a fuzzy stolen-from-Facebook picture, but Corpus Christi was beautiful as always!  Christopher served, along with about 35 other boys!

~6~

FIDDLER'S!!!  A summer highlight for us and this year's event did NOT disappoint!  Best. Fiddler's. Ever.

Fun skirts required

Napping in the hot sun.  Shortly after this picture, Andrew used is Filipino innovativeness to build Avi a sun shade out of a pizza box.  He is turning into his dad!

Henna happiness!  If I weren't such a wimp, I would make this permanent.  I wuv it.

We ran into a bunch of friends at Fiddler's and that made the day all the better!

~7~

Andrew decided it was now or never for our dining room flooring, so the other day he ripped it all up AND tore down a fake wall that was closing off the French Doors.  Now we are knee deep in dust, mess, and the potential of fabulous flooring.  It's the fun kind of messy, right?

Seven Quick Takes -- Avi Edition

~1~

 I am in complete shock that an ENTIRE YEAR has passed since Avila was born.  Look at that sweet smooshy face!  Where did it go??

~2~

 She is growing and changing at lightening speed, but she is still one of her daddy's favorite nap partners!

~3~

 And is there anything better that sisters??  Grace was so excited to celebrate Avila's big day.  She baked and decorated a beautiful cake for her.  And she made her a sweet little clothespin doll and wrapped it up for her.  Big sisters caring for little sisters make this mama happy!

 ~3~

               

It wouldn't be a first birthday without a naked baby eating chocolate cake!  She loved it!

~4~

 Presents from her ever crafty and thoughtful Nana!!  (Can you see the card in that second picture? Anja is a genius!)  There were other gifts, too, but these are the only ones that jumped in front of the camera!

~5~

It was great to celebrate our Avi!  As the fifth child, she probably doesn't get the undivided attention that the others get -- at least not of the gentle variety.  Does getting knocked down by a reckless older brother count?  I don't really think so!  Also, as the fifth child, she is the literal embodiment of why it is so great to be Catholic, so great to go against the secular grain, and so great to allow God to control our lives.  So, hooray for Avila!  We are so glad she is here!

~6~

Seven is starting to feel like a really ginormous number!  Sheesh.

~7~

Happy Birthday to our sweet, messy, curious, ornery little monkey!  (Did I mention she can climb anything??  Like the backs of chairs.  Yikes.  I am to terrified in the moment to take pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination!)

Visit Jen for more Quick Takes!

Campfire Mass

Tomorrow night, Christopher's scout group is having a campout at my parents cottage.  Since the campout if from Saturday to Sunday, we have arranged for Father Jeff to come say Mass for the boys.  I was explaining this to PeterXavier, who at first was horrified at the notion of having Mass somewhere without a steeple!

And then he horrified me when he proposed we roast marshmallows during Mass!

Oh sweet little boys!

It's a Tough Job, But Somebody Has To Do It!

These cuties made it down the aisle and immediately fell asleep!

Yarn Along --Too Much Yarn Edition

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

This past Saturday, my sister and I packed her car full of small girls and headed to Southern Indiana for their annual Fiber Fest.  Too Fun!!  And now, poor me, I am drowning in beautiful yarn!

I was able to get a ton of beautiful blue-grey hand-dyed wool for Andrew's sweater.  And Annie and I got a hank of nubby cotton to try our hand at dyeing.  I am so excited to try.  I think we will use the instructions Elizabeth gave here.

The Monday after Fiber Fest, I found the hand-dyed wool I had scored through a Heartsy deal in my mailbox!  It is a fun "spearmint" hank of 80/20 merino/bamboo blend.  It's fate is yet undecided, but it will be fun to use!

 I haven't been reading OR knitting much lately.  I am still enjoying flipping through "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and have read a few of the short stories in Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now".  But with this intsense heat, we have just been hanging out at the pool, mostly!

And, I have the beautiful deep earthy skein of wool from Yarnology.  What will it become??  Maybe a small sweater for Avila?  Any suggestions for small, one skein sweaters?

(Visit Ginny for more yarn alongs!)

Packing up Sanity

 As I have mentioned, this past week my brother in law was married.  We packed the kids for an eight hour road trip to join the festivities.  Andrew was his Best Man and the kids all had various parts as well.  As the mama, I had the daunting task of getting every little detail and item safely to Minnesota and then to Wisconsin.  Any mother can imagine what this entailed!

Sometime back, I read about a packing tactic, which I chose to impliment for this trip.  Oh. my . word.  I will never pack another way again!  Here's what I did.

On paper, I divided out entire trip into events, for example "Friday Play" or "Friday Rehersal".  Many days had multiple events and therefore required multiple outfits.  (Because you can't really have a three year old wear her flowergirl dress to lunch four hours before the wedding, right!?) 

I purchased a package of gallon sized ziplock bag and with a Sharpie, I labeled one bag, per child, with each of my plotted "events."  So an example would be "Christopher, Friday Play" (actually, I just put a 'C' or 'G' instead of the whole name).  Then I put in EVERY SINGLE ITEM that went to that outfit.  Going with our example, into the "C Friday Play" bag, I put shorts, a t-shirt, socks, and underwear.  Somedays, the girls got hairbows or the boys got ties.  Whatever the event, everything was right there in the proper bag.  No more searching for last minute belts and matching socks!

This also made it a snap to match the kids on any given day.  Most days the kids had matching or coordinating outfits, so we always looked nice, even if we were just hanging out for the morning. Each morning, I handed each child his respective bag, along with their "PJ" bag.  The children dressed and replaced their pajamas in the "PJ" bag to be ready for the evening.

This packing plan drastically reduced the frenzy that generally accompanies travel and major events!  My only regret is that I haven't yet figured out a way to impliment this in our every day at-home life!

(This post has been updated and linked at We Are THAT Family - Works for Me Wednesday)