Big Shoes to Fill

On the Catwalk

Thomas seems to think our treadmill is a catwalk and he is a model.

He likes to get up there and strut his stuff.

Work it, baby, work it!

Peach Picking

I love picking (and eating) fresh fruit, and so do the kids.

We found a sweet little farm on Saturday that grows peaches and apples.

We'll definitely go back.  All but 7 of our peaches have been eaten, and these 7 won't last long.

My guess we'll have plenty of fresh peaches and apples in our future.

Rare and Exciting

If you visit our house, feel free to sign up for one of these activities with our professionals

Rare:  Raid a Fridge!

Rarer: Dance with Magical Fairies showering fairy dust

Rarest of all:  Take a Nap!

Please feel free to join us in any of these exotic adventures, while they last.

Tie Dye Shirts Part 2

Here are the finished Sacred Heart shirts.

The heart on Clare's shirt was the only one that turned out to be a weird shape, so we drew the outline of the heart to make it clearer.

All in all, I think they turned out very well.

700th Post!

Wow!  My superstars, the main content of the blog, show off to celebrate.

"Don't worry, it's still us, we won't let it go to our heads" says Thomas

Hot Days at the Arboretum

Even in the heat the deer are still there.

Gregory touches an art tadpole in a pool

Even though our toad fountain was closed for repair we can still find ways to get wet.

And look cute

We saw a real snake and a toad.  Even though I didn't get a picture of the snake.

And like usual we got our faces painted.

I can handle my own spoon!

Thomas is insisting on feeding himself.

It's kind of fun and really messy!

Developing Minds

It never ceases to amaze me how much Thomas likes to figure things out.

He will spend time examining the way doors move, fiddling with door knobs, and pushing buttons. 

He cares about the way things are put together and gets a kick out of understanding them.

Tonight, the boys played a simple game of pass the ball from cup to cup.

Thomas tried to figure out every way to get the ball into the other cup.

Many of the ways were wrong, but that was beside the point.  His little mind was blissfully working away at several different concepts.

I was so proud of how patient Gregory was with his little brother, since Gregory knew exactly where he wanted the ball to be.

Tie Dye Shirts Part 1

Over at Catholic Icing, there was a post on how to make tie-dyed Sacred Heart shirts.  We decided to make some, and this is my in-between post.  We've done most of the work, but have not finished the details on the hearts.

First you dye the shirts and let them sit all day.

(In case you're wondering about the number of shirts.  I decided to make some for my friends' kids too.)

Gregory did not want a heart shirt of any type, so his was a bit different and is finished.

It's a good thing too, we ran out of blue dye and had tons of red and yellow dye left.

Hopefully, I'll finish the details on the other shirts in the next few days.  When I do, I'll be sure to post pictures.

A Boy and His Puppy

Thomas' First Popsicle

First, how do I hold this thing?

Ooohhh, that's interesting!

 

I think I'll keep on with this thing.  It's good!

Food for Thought

"The man who does good follows the lines of an architectural plan which has not been conceived by himself and which he does not understand as a whole, nor in all of its parts.  This architectural plan is revealed to man from moment to moment.  In each case he sees only a tiny segment of it, as through a narrow crack.  Never, so long as he is in the state of "being-on-the-way," will the concrete architectural plan of his own self become visible to him in its rounded and final shape." 

Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues

Looking out my window

Thomas loves standing on the coffee table watching the world go by.

Sacred Heart Brownies

So easy and cute.

All you need is a heart shaped cookie cutter, icing, red food dye, brownies, pretzels, strawberries and white chocolate chips to make the Immaculate Heart.

They could be done in more detail using different colors icing, but at this point my kids are happy with this and it's less work for me.

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

Quick Takes - June Edition

1)  Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart!

Jesus meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved in every place.

2)For my prayer times, I've been reading The Four Cardinal Virtues, by Josef Pieper.

I'll admit I haven't gotten far, I'm in the first section on prudence which is very enlightening.

One thing I found very comforting, is that although prudence is the virtue for properly making decisions it won't free us from some worry.

"'the certitude of prudence cannot be so great as completely to remove all anxiety' (St. Thomas Aquinas)...Man, then when he comes to a decision, cannot ever be sufficiently prescient nor can he wait until logic affords him absolute certainty.  If he waited for that, he would never come to a decision; he would remain in a state of inconclusiveness."

3)The big kids and I have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It's fun reading it and then finding Wonka chocolate and candies at the grocery store.

They thought everlasting gobstoppers were pretty cool and keep hoping to find a golden ticket.

4)Last night, Thomas found their book on the living room floor after they had gone to bed.  He picked it up and trundled down the hallway to Clare's room.  He pushed open the door and headed to her bed.  He was trying to give it back, alas, Clare was asleep.  He hit her bed with it several times and said AAHH loudly before I gathered him up in a snuggle.  I think that is what he wanted from her.

5)We went to the pool for the first time today.  There is a community pool right next to Clare's school that is super cheap, even cheaper when they don't have change.  Today they couldn't break my 20 dollar bill, so they let us in for free.

6)Today for the feast day we were supposed to make heart shaped brownies and decorate them, but we didn't get to it.  Hopefully we will tomorrow for the feast of the Immaculate Heart.  And then I can post pictures.

7)I wish I could think of a #7, but I can't at the moment.  I hope you have a great weekend.

More quick takes over at Jen's.

Mini Wild Kingdom

Our library has been having the coolest programs.  First the clowns and then this really nice gentleman (all in the same week.)

 This guy brought tons of animals to show the kids at the library, I can't even remember them all.  He showed off bugs, amphibians, lizards, birds and furry animals.  It was amazing.

The room was packed, but with 5 or 6 of the animals, he brought them around for all of the children to touch.

Frogs

Snakes (Gregory wouldn't touch this one)

.

A bunny

An iguana

Then he also had animals that volunteers were called up to handle.

Clare and Gregory wouldn't miss out on that.

I simply could not believe how nice the gentleman was and how patient he was with the kids and parents. 

He made sure that the parents always had a chance for a picture and didn't seem to be flustered by anything.

I guess when you own 30+ different kind of animals and take them everywhere with you, you've got to be pretty unflappable.