In a tight spot

Someone loves getting into small places.

 

I'm still not sure how she got into this cabinet, but it was hard getting her out.

November Recap

We are settling into our new house nicely, but I haven't quite found a niche for blogging yet.  I'm sure it will fall back into place, but here is my first and only post so far for November.

 

Halloween costumes

 

My fire fighter, greek goddess and Thomas the train.

Ree turned 1!

She had a ladybug Ree bug cake!

She liked the cake.

Celebrating Maria's birthday with a ballet at the Kennedy Center.

(Not Ree's but my good friend Maria)

 

The ballet was awesome!

John turned 33 on the same day as Maria, but somehow we didn't get any pictures of him.

 

And making my very first Thanksgiving Turkey

 

It turned out great, and so did the dressing recipe.

 

It's been a fun, full month!

 

Here's to more posts in the next few weeks.

Pumpkin Fest

It's been a long week filled with fevers, coughs, unpacking, and cleaning.

Today the big kids went to the dentist and did very well.  No cavities, sealants for Gregory, and vanilla ice cream tooth paste.

After Maria's nap we decided to go to a local pumpkinfest at Layng's Flower Farm.  I couldn't believe it was less than 10 minutes away.

The kids loved the bumpy hayride through the "spooky" woods, which wasn't too spooky at all.

Then they went down all the slides.

 

You can see them climbing the hill here.

 

 

Clare is so far away.

Here she comes.

Thomas was so light he would practically fly off the slides.

 

He ended up with dirt on his nose from biting the dust at the end of one ride, but that didn't stop him.

Here's an action shot of Gregory.

 

They also had a bunch of  these type of photo ops, which are always cute.

I'm not sure what that baker's been putting in his cakes.

Gregory was so excited about being a cowboy, but I think we need to have a word with Clare about modesty.

 

We each got a pumpkin to bring home with us, and I think I found a special little pumpkin in the bin

As we were heading home, they were lighting bonfires for an evening event. 

 

We only spent about an hour there, but it was a perfect break and end to the week.

 

Now I'm off to put the kids to bed while John cleans the carpet at the old house.

 

Moving Day Helper

We are getting settled in our new house, even though we still have some clutter in the old one.

It's going to be a rough few weeks, but that's alright.  I promise I'll be in touch soon with anyone whose calls I haven't returned, and I'll send out the address soon.

Quilted Checker Board - Auction Project

Like most other Catholic schools I know of, our parish has an annual auction/gala.  Each class is asked to contribute an art piece to be sold.

I volunteered to lead Gregory's class project with the following idea: a quilted personalized checker board.  This item can either be played with as a game, or hung upon the wall as a decoration.

Each child used their finger prints to make an animal on the white squares.

Click on the picture to see it enlarged.

They also put a thumb print on the checkers.

(That little bag there broke 2 of my sewing machine needles.

Needless to say I won't use that tutorial again. And I'm still afraid it might fall apart,

but as I am out of needles and time, the bag will have to go as is.)

Here is a close up of some of the animals the kids picked.

Gregory's is the turtle in the bottom left corner.

It's all wrapped up and ready to go.  Hopefully it will bring in some money. I think it is original and cute, always a plus. 

11 months and a little!

There hasn't been much posting on the blog lately.  Between buying a house (this deserves a post) and working on a class auction project (also deserving of a post), plus the normal duties of raising 4 children, I'm slightly past my normal busy-ness point.

 

Normally, I'm also on top of Ree's monthly pony pictures, but that day she had a stomach bug.  Since then we've been dealing with a variety of coughs and colds.

 

So here they are:

 

"Hello there!"

Someone is getting big and she's so proud of herself.  Yesterday she took her first steps.

"I'm riding my pony, giddy up!"

"Snuggle, snuggle!"

 

Stay tuned!  I'm sure Mom has big birthday plans ahead for me!

Finger foods

I can't believe Mom gave me a bowl of cheerios.

 

It's so much fun to eat these

Even more so when I've scattered them around the floor

Look there are some here, and here, and here too.

Book #46 The Magician King

When I started this project back in January, I was very much intrigued by The Magician King and it's predecessor The Magicians by Lev Grossman.  Grossman has created a new reality world that is a grown up version of both C.S. Lewis' Narnia and J.K. Rawling's Hogwarts. 

I read The Magicians and was rather annoyed.  The characters have discovered they have the ability to do magic and go to a special school for magic.  They all graduate and find their way to another world, Fillory, which they have all read about in a series as stories as children.  It's as if Narnia has become real, but isn't any tamer than real life is like most children's books.  This world was much darker than Lewis and quite irritating.  The characters seem to spend most of the time sleeping together, doing drugs or getting drunk.  When they make their way to Fillory, it is violent, grim, and magical.  The god of Fillory is dying and the author seems to take as many jabs at Lewis as possible.  I finished it in May and couldn't bring myself to read the next one.

For whatever reason, I decided to try the sequel.  It is more or less based on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but much darker and again is "more real". The main characters have decided to grow up.  Quentin, the main character decides he wants to be a hero and takes responsibility for his actions.  While still somewhat bracing, I found this story much more interesting, the characters deeper and the plot compelling.

Grossman has a way of making the familiar fresh here.   Since this is a series, I will read the next book and look forward to whatever surprises he has ahead.  Hopefully I won't be disappointed.

Laundry Baskets - a Tradition

I was glancing back through the blog and had noticed a theme.

 

I have pictures of small children in laundry baskets when they are a certain age.

 

Starting with Clare and Gregory:

 

Gregory and Thomas (Clare's at school):

 

And now Thomas and Ree (while Clare and Gregory are at school):

 

It's nice to know there are some constants in life, such as how much children love things they can turn into boats.

 

Lean on me

Adventures in Coaching

I'm not sure what John did to tempt the poop fates, but whatever it was, I don't want to repeat his mistake.  It seems that John and Gregory had a small but important misunderstanding at soccer practice last night.

John noticed that Gregory was walking funny, and asked him if he needed to use the restroom.

Gregory mumbled some sort of reply and John sent him off to the bushes, while he continued his practice.

Gregory then proceeded to fill his shorts with poop.  And we are not talking about a little drop, it was a massive dump.

http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Youth-Soccer-Short-XX-Small/dp/B003E418N2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1348665496&sr=8-3&keywords=soccer+shorts

John tried to salvage the situation, but there was nothing to do but head home with the stinky little boy.  Gregory was so bad, that John had him take off his shirt too and sit on that in the car to not get poop on anything else.  As soon as he got home, Gregory took a long hot shower. 

The rest of the players continued their practice with the help of a couple of other dads.

I called the mini soccer head to explain the situation and see what the protocol for the coach was.   After she understood the situation, she couldn't stop laughing.  She's never had that happen before in the many years she's been doing this.  Usually by the time the parents coach, children don't poop in their pants.

Talking to Gregory later this played out:
Me:  If you have to poop, tell Dad, and he will find a port-o-potty.  We don't poop on bushes.
Gregory:  Ok
Me:  Don't you think a port-o-potty would be a better option than pooping in your pants
Gregory: No, port-o-potties are stinky.
Me:  Yes, but you stink when you poop on yourself
Gregory:  --(blank look).

I think Gregory was quite embarrassed but didn't have the words to explain his feelings.  At least I hope so.  Pooping in your shorts in the bushes is never a good option.

Cute hat idea

These hats on Maria aren't perfect, but they were enough to spark an idea or two.

 

Clare and Thomas have been making some large tissue paper flowers.

They are large enough to fit on a head.

I was thinking that you could easily make these into flower fairy hats, using the right colors, and a shorter stem.

And if you have more hair than Maria, you can clip them in, and there they stay.

 

A cute cheap idea for party hats (think flower fairy, elves, etc) or ballet.

And could possibly be made with tulle for an Audrey Hepburn kind of look.

 

If we make a better one, I will have to post that too.

Another day....

another train track.

Thomas gets one almost everyday while his siblings are at school,

and after school, they help clean it up.

 

How sweet are his siblings. ;)

Multifaceted Maria

 

How could I not share of some of these cute expressions?

A day for Thomas

Today is the feast of St. Matthew, which we celebrate with Thomas, since it is his middle name.

 

 

We started out with Mass, and I think he ended up with the largest audience he's ever had.

 

Somehow he flipped out of the pew at the end of Mass and fell right on his forehead.

 

I didn't know some of those old ladies could move so fast.

People were checking him all over, trying to take Maria (who would have none of that), and generally blocking the school kids' path out of the church. 

 

I'm not sure what upset him more, his head, or having tons of strangers try to touch and help him.

 

He wasn't really hurt since the promise of a donut calmed him down, so off we went to Dunkin' Donuts to get a vanilla sprinkled treat.

 

Later he painted this lovely picture, which he titled his abstract painting.

Me:  Why is it abstract?

Thomas:  Because it have lots of bright colors!

 

We ended the day with a family walk to the grocery store to buy cookies and milk,

which the kids ate in their pajamas before brushing teeth and heading off to bed.

 

I'd guess that the kids like celebrating feast days, and I do too.



Book #45 - The Night Circus

I really enjoyed The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It is the type of book that I am naturally drawn toward, having fantasy and magic woven through the plot.  I'm not sure I would have discovered this one by myself.

The story centers on a competition between two magicians.  The circus is the platform, and the two players must somehow prove that each is better than the other.  Because of the competition the circus continuously gets better and better, more and more astonishing and whimsical.  But eventually the amount of magic going into it must consume someone.  To add another twist, the two adversaries fall in love with each other.

Visiting this world was very enjoyable, I just wish the Night Circus was a real place and I could wander around it, discovering all of it's wonders.