Red-Neck Play Pen and April Fool's Day

Here is our Red-Neck play pen that we used the other week while grilling out on the deck. It worked like a charm to keep D on the deck and his toys nearby.

We don't usually do too much for April Fool's Day, but this year I thought it would be cute just to do a few innocent little tricks/pranks. M helped me to mix up the cereals the night before, so that the kids would get a surprise when they tried to pour it into their bowl. I also colored their milk blue, since they always refer to their milk at the "blue" milk because it has a blue cap. That ended up being the funniest thing. B came into the bedroom early in the morning to inform her father that their milk was blue. He sleepily stated, "Yes I know your milk is the blue cap milk. Why are you waking me up to tell me that? Go eat breakfast!" I had to inform him that their milk really was BLUE . We both laughed for quite some time over that. E didn't even want to eat breakfast because he was a little leery of how it would taste.

Later in the day I cooked up some of our chickens we raised and butchered that were in the freezer. When I told the oldest two they were going to help me pull the meat of the bones, they thought I was kidding and it was an April Fools joke. The joke was on them, because I really made them help and I taught them where to find all the meat. When I let them taste it, they were glad to be the ones doing this job because it meant "free samples" as they put it.

Spring Fever!

Spring is definitely one of our busiest times of the year. We have chicks were are incubating and holding twice a day, seedlings we are growing and watering, Chinese praying mantis eggs we are hatching, 4-H projects were are working on, hair cuts for the warmer weather, and we are changing out our cold weather clothes for warmer weather clothes and getting rid of old ones.

We also just purchased some gold fish for T's 4-H Aqua Science project that will need to be fed 2-3 times daily. Of course, school work is also being done diligently Monday through Friday to ensure that we will have our first two quarters in before the summer break.

I am a little overwhelmed just listing it all. It is definitely an active time at our house, but there is so much to learn from each of these activities and projects. I need to keep reminding myself of that!

B with one of her 4-H gardening project activities. She was learning about plant parts and how they "drink". She really liked this one.

The Chinese praying mantis' are great for our science class and also will be a very beneficial addition to our garden. They eat all sorts of harmful bugs and insects that like to damage plants. The kit says that we can expect between 400-800 mantis to hatch! This should be interesting!

The purple basil sprouted in less than five days!!! I was truly amazed! Many of our other seedlings are growing now, as well, and it has only been a week! We are having much better luck with these heirloom seeds than many of the store bought, high bred varieties we've tried in the past. I am getting excited to get working in the garden and get some peas, lettuce, and cabbage in the ground. I hope the weather will cooperate so I can get them in soon!

D's first trim by Grammy. This was shortly after buzzing T and E's hair for the upcoming warm weather.

Long, Long Time, No Post!

This is definitely the longest I've gone without updating the blog. I've been trying to focus on staying home more and staying on top of the housework, as well as, school work. It has been easier said than done. I apologize for anyone I've disappointed with such a long delay in my posts. (JOE! that means you!) I will attempt to post some of our highlights over the past few months.

Grandpa come over to visit for R's birthday and posed for a photo with one of her gifts.

A picture of our home-made Advent wreath.

D with B, and R. He is almost 4 mo. old in this photo which was taken back on 11/30/11.

B was in her first play called The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever. She joined the other three oldest kids in this production at our local theatre. They did 10 performances and were excellent in all of them. So very proud of how well they did!

Here is a cute photo of D in his Christmas outfit and Santa hat. This was a week or two before Christmas.

That is E grinning. Did you notice that the Wise Men from our Little People Nativity scene are riding on his John Deere tractor in the background? That is not quite historically accurate, but I don't think he cares.

The kids with some of their home school friends after a free play called "Madeleine's Christmas".

We then went to a history museum to see an exhibit on the Civil War, called My Brother, My Enemy. They also had some hands-on activities for home schoolers. This was the highlight of the day! The kids got to try-on some of the helmets and armor.

D's Baptism

The day after E's 2nd birthday, D was baptized. We were so blessed to have many of our family and friends in attendance to witness such a joyous event. For those who couldn't attend, here are some of the sights you missed. I am sure you didn't miss all the noise! Even little D put his lungs to work and cried nearly the entire ceremony. The poor little guy was hungry and tired; that's not a good combination for a baby who can't be nursed right then and there.

We were able to get a picture of most of the kids who attended the bapism. We had more than 30 children, including two sets of twins. The kids ranged in age from 11yrs. old to 6 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised that they all played very well together. Balloons were the key to this successful party! I think the $2 investment in the balloons really payed off! They kept the kids entertained the entire reception and our little guests were so excited to take one home. Win-win situation. We are so fortunate to have such great friends and "church" family. It was a very blessed day!

Been Way Too Long!

I've been way too busy to update the blog. It seems that time is slipping by and I am barely keeping up with the kids, school, dishes, laundry, play rehearsals, science club, and home school outings. Here are a few of the things that have happened the past few weeks.

We went camping over Labor Day weekend with Ma and Pa. This was D's first time camping. We was four weeks old. It was one of the craziest weekends weather wise ever! It was the hottest day of the year on Saturday, then rained all day Sunday, then was very chilly and cold (high 50's) on Monday. These trips are always so much work, especially coming home to do all the laundry! All the extra towels, sheets, bathing suits, muddy clothes, and smokey jackets. I was finally done catching up on laundry about a week later. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves and I guess that makes it all worthwhile.

D has been growing so fast. His looks are really changing as he puts on weight, and I do mean weight! He has really bulked up. He was up to 10 lbs 1 oz. at six weeks old. He is looking more and more like his big brothers at that age, though he still looks more like dear hubby's side of the family and like M.

A beautiful sunrise I was able to enjoy because I was nursing D on the couch. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was simply awe inspiring!

More Visitors and Mischief

Aunt Anna and her kids (the cousins) visited us last Saturday and met Dominic for the first time. The kids were so happy to see their cousins again. They enjoyed playing kickball and swinging on the swing set together. The girls also played dress-up with cousin Ava. I think everyone had a nice visit.
Here is the latest result of E's mischief. He got into the markers again and this time decided that Dominic was his canvas. He even managed to color with orange marker all around D's left eye. Poor little guy didn't know what hit him, but he didn't even cry about it. Thank goodness they were washable and most of it came off with baby wipes, although the red stained his "peach fuzz" hair pink for a few days. D had better get used to being picked on, I foresee it happening quite often with mischievous E around the house!

Dominic's First Three Weeks

Hard to believe it has been over three weeks since Dominic was born. Wow! We have seven children! When my parents were here helping it didn't seem like there were seven, because I had three other adults doing my daily chores for me. Since they've left, I'm doing it all again. I have only ventured out of the house once alone with all seven kids...and it was a mixture of success and dismal failure. I fear that our daily Mass routine will have to be put on hold until I get E to behave a little better in church, or get someone from church to help me.

Here are a few pictures that show some of our latest adventures.
First Sunday going to Mass as a family.

One of the proud big sisters.

Grammy and Pa-Pa visit

Celebrating the feast of the Assumption with some of our homeschooling friends at a local Franciscan friary after Mass.

Young Adventurers Program on identifying bones and skulls. Aunt Olivia's 10th Birthday party.

D's first real bath. Yes, that is a tupperware bowl! I had given away our baby bath, mistakenly thinking we might not need it again. D didn't seem to mind and the girls were more than happy to help me hold D's arms to make him feel more secure. T was our photographer for this special moment.