And....We're Outta Here

Well, not really. But, we do have a timeframe. Since Mark's brother has changed his mind and is willing to rent his empty house to us, we will be moving to Minnesota in January. That looks like a typo, doesn't it? Do people really move to Minnesota in January?

PVC Piping

This is only one of the many creations the kids have built over the past few days. They made a marble run all the way up the stairs. Even E2 quickly caught onto how much fun PVC piping can be.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The beautiful scene before morning chaos. I think we were even in bed by 10:00 on Christmas Eve. Aunt Ellen's gift bags look wonderful under the tree, don't they? I love using them. Our Christmas Eve was very, very nice this year. We didn't try to squeeze in Mass, a huge meal, and the secret evening activities. We decided to attend Mass on Christmas morning, and I think the change worked out very well for us. E2 woke up late Christmas morning. All the other presents had been cleared out by the time he got there. Here he is after he opened his last present. He wasn't assigned a theme this year, so he received a couple random toys - little plastic dinosaurs and a pirate ship. Both were huge hits for all the kids, but especially the boys.

Here is A6 opening her bags. Her theme this year was crafts/arts. She received four play silks (huge hits for all the kids), a ton of crafty stuff, and two miniature American girl dolls. She also received a puzzle, game, and book just like the boys. I had to get more school stuff under the tree somehow!

And J4...his theme was construction. He received child sized real tools, a birdhouse to build, and PVC piping. What is PVC piping? Well, it's awesome stuff for any 4yo boy! You can see some of the pieces in the picture above. We bought PVC piping at our local Lowe's, and Mark cut it into 6" and 12" sections. We bought all kinds of connectors - elbows, cross, straights, and 45 degree elbows. They all have had a blast building with the piping. The best part? Marbles fit through it, of course.

Saint Nicholas Treats

We finally made our St Nick crafts. Three are gifts for friends, and the rest are for celebrating St Nick's feast day on Saturday. We will have a house full of guests, so it should be fun to see the kids wake up with a couple surprises.

Sometimes they surprise you...in a good way

While fixing lunch, I heard a chorus of voices singing Ring-Around-The-Rosie followed by laughter. I looked out the window and saw this. What a wonderful moment. E2 kept saying, 'Look at me, Mom. Look at me." He was just delighted to be playing a toddler game with his big sibs.

And another surprise! I doled out afternoon snacks, and all the little bodies disappeared one by one. I go to investigate and see that they made a little picnic for themselves. You can even see Little S escaping the house. No one stays still in this family!

Peek-A-Boo

An unnamed driver made a slight dent in the drywall in our garage. In the process of fixing it, Mark opened up the area under our stairs. The kids had fun playing in their secret room for a couple days.

Advent Has Begun

Advent has begun. We are trying to celebrate it more fully every year. We have put out our family advent wreath and the wreath that A6 made in Religious Education last Sunday. We are also unwrapping a nativity piece every day during Advent. It's kinda like our version of an Advent calendar. You can see the first pieces and the stable. The wrapped pieces are in the basket.

We put out our Fisher Price nativity too. The kids always love seeing it, and it's been playing music pretty constantly since last night. Isn't it cute to see all of them playing together? This was definitely a Kodak moment.

This week we are focusing on St Nicholas. I explained to the kids that St Nicholas was the first Santa Claus and all the Santas we see now are his helpers.

Field Trip!

We spent Saturday morning in the Hill Country at LBJ's Ranch. They have a German living history farm from the turn of the century. The kids made candles (see pic above), decorated Christmas cookies, and enjoyed seeing the animals. We saw a lot of things that reminded us of Little House in the Prairie, so it was quite fun.

Isn't she cute? The other kids would never have gotten a taste of ice cream at 7 months. I'm getting pretty lax.

I guess we wanted a silly tourist picture too.

Note to Self:

Do not type your ideas for the kids' Christmas gifts on your blog and then let your 6yo read the blog. Thank goodness that girl doesn't have any idea what play silks are.

Gravity Lessons?

Hmmmm. If I didn't know better, I would say that Little S is trying to show up her siblings. Yesterday she started an advanced study on gravity. She secretly climbed a couple stair steps and fell back to earth. She tried to re-create her study today, but she was foiled!! I swear she says mama, but Mark just laughs at me. I have the other kids almost convinced of it, too. If you visit, you'll have to give your opinion. Happy belated 7 month birthday, Little S!

Lentil - Five Senses

It's a big posting day! We were learning about the five senses this morning. Here are the kids smelling various kitchen items.

Here they are learning about the different taste buds. They tasted lemons (sour), chips (salty), m&ms (sweet) and cocoa (bitter). The cocoa spurred a fast furious rush to the sink for water.

And here's Little S hanging around below the action.

Samson Strong

We've been watching The Greatest Heros and Legends of the Bible on TV, and the kids (but especially J4) are on fire! J4 was showing me how strong he is - just like Samson - and the other two got in on the action. I have to watch our little Samson since he is a little dangerous in some of his strength challenges.

Our Zoo

They come up with some of the cutest games. Yesterday they made a zoo. Can you see the animals sorted by type in the cages? They had cats, monkeys, dogs, and rabbits. Then, A6 put on a red outfit and J4 put on a blue outfit. You might think they are just matchin' kids, but really, they are wearing zoo keeper uniforms. :) E2 is wearing all blue as well, but that's a complete accident.

Little S is always around somewhere. Here she is mugging for the camera with E2.

Thankful Tree

I did it! I made our thankful tree. It didn't take much to create. I put some pumpkin pie playdough in a vase, and the kids and I collected some dead branches from the bushes out back. I cut out colored leaves, and now we are writing what we are thankful for on the leaves and hanging them up on the branches. I found a leaf placemat on clearance at Walmart, so the little display looks quite festive. Both older kids made leaves for their baby sister. Aren't they sweet?

Current Obessessions

1. Creating a new breakfast schedule for us. I have found that our days start best when we eat breakfast together while doing our religion lessons/bible readings/prayers/etc. Eating breakfast together also creates a natural transition to chores. :) So, I've made an informal meal schedule of Monday = pancakes, Tuesday = egg bakes or oatmeal, Wednesday = muffins, Thursdays = toast/French toast, Fridays = leftovers or cold cereal. After about 10 days, my schedule is still working out. Absolutely amazing.
2. Celebrating the liturgical year. I'm planning on celebrating St Nicholas' feast day on Dec 6 and, of course, Advent. St Nicholas' feast day will involve some sort of trinkets left in their shoes the night before. Advent will include our standard advent wreath. This year I'm planning on wrapping all the nativity pieces and having the kids unwrap one piece every morning. By Christmas, the set will be complete. Then, the wise men will show up in January for Epiphany. I want to do a thankful tree for Thanksgiving too. We'll see if I get that up in time!
3. Christmas gifts. So far my best ideas are play silks for A6 and a box of building materials for J4.

The Glorious Flight Fun

We are back at schooling this week and working on finishing our The Glorious Flight unit. We started it two weeks ago to coincide with the Lackland AFB air show. The first pic is Dad working with A6 and J4 to make wooden model airplanes. The second picture is of the kids flying paper airplanes from France (pink blanket) over the English Channel (blue blanket) and the cliffs of Dover (dinosaur mountain) into England (green blanket). Sounds just like Louis Bleriot's trip in The Glorious Flight. I hope to finish up our unit with the kids coming up with their own inventions. Wouldn't that be fun?

Horsin' Around

Aren't Dads the best?

Oh, the mess when Mom's sick

I've been sick for over a week, and in our house, that = chaos. We were able to get school work done last week, but that's about it. This week we're skipping school and catching up on housework. You can see before and after pictures of the kids' room. You probably couldn't even find J4 in the first picture. Quite a transformation!

Well, skipping school really doesn't mean skipping school. We still have quite a busy schedule - music class and preschool co-op on Wed, Symphony fieldtrip on Tues, soccer Wed and Sat, two play dates, and our constant unscheduled learning. We don't skip religion lessons either.

(J4 wasn't really in the first picture. But, if he had been, you still wouldn't have been able to find him.)

Prayer Corner

After obsessing about how to setup a family prayer corner, I just did it. I took a few things we already owned, cleared a spot, and there it is. We try to light the candle during meals and during religion lessons. I bought candles which match the liturgical colors so we can follow the church calendar. I plan on finding prayer cards for saints as we celebrate feast days, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Simple and so very nice.

Halloween

Here is our Halloween picture and a couple of group shots. Our Halloween costumes were far from elaborate. Between being sick the past week and our impending job loss, I couldn't justify fancy smancy costumes. For $20 they all had something to wear and they were all happy, so that's pretty good. A6 was a cat, J4 was Spiderman, E2 was Randy Moss of the Vikings, and Little S was a Vikings cheerleader. We had great fun trick-or-treating last night. The weather is just perfect for it here in Texas. The other two pics are just random group shots. No fighting, whining, or other chaoticness (is that a word?). Pretty amazing. Those are the shots that make me smile.

Faaaancy

Last night the kids begged to eat at Pizza Hut with daddy. Showing that I can be a softie, I succumbed and out we went. Little S looked super cute sitting in a restaurant high chair like a big girl, but I digress. While we were making family chit-chat, A6 came up with a great idea. She said, "When we eat at fancy restaurants like this......"

Making Salamander Habitats

After painting the clay salamanders, the kids made natural habitats for them. They gathered grass, leaves, sticks, moss, and rocks just like in the book. We conveniently forgot to collect bugs, birds, and frogs. It was a fun activity, but what do I do with the shoeboxes now?

Making Salamanders

As part of our Salamander Room unit, we used homemade clay to make salamanders. The kids loved painting them - even E2 got in on the action. I'm always amazed at how much mess 5-10 minutes of painting makes. Paint is definitely a Friday afternoon activity.

Carving Pumpkins

A fun evening courtesy of the Dad!

By the way, if you have small children and pumpkins, you can use washable markers to draw faces, erase, and repeat. The pumpkins are kinda like a blank white board. Much fun!

This Sweet Thing is 6 Months Old!

She loves playing with her siblings and standing up. Actually, I should say that she is obsessed with standing up but is more than willing to be entertained by the siblings.

And, yes, your eyes do not deceive you. She has blond hair and blue eyes. Yikes! Three blondies for us. Who would have guessed?

Doesn't she almost make you want another one?

What would you hear if you were a fly on our wall?

Last night as I'm reading through next week's religion lessons and A6 is memorizing the American Girl catalog: A6: Why are these dolls so expensive? Mom: I don't know. (trying to ignore her) A6: I wish they were cheap. Mom: I know. (still trying to ignore her) A6: (silently pondering) Mom: (thinking maybe she'll leave me alone now) A6: I KNOW!!! I'll ask Santa for an American Girl doll. Then we won't have to pay for it! That's a great idea! I can ask him for everything I want. This morning at 5:30 a.m. a cute little blonde boy silently tip-toed into my room, creeped into my bed, leaned over me and whispered into my ear, "Mom, when are we going to make blueberry pies again?" Then, at 6:30 a.m. I turned on the heat for the first time this season, and I set off the fire detectors. Guess the rest of the kids aren't sleeping in after all.

School Days

We've had three great days in a row, and I thought I would post some pics. I learned today that if your child is staring into space in the middle of her math lesson, she's thinking and NOT goofing off. A6 was staring into space for the longest time trying to solve her math problem in her head without any manipulatives. She didn't get it right, but she was very, very close. I can't believe she's so close to adding two four-digit-numbers in her head. Amazing! Here's a cute conversation from today: A6: When did you start sitting in the front of the car when you were a kid? Me: I don't remember how old I was. Things were different then. I never had a car seat. A6: (audible gasp) You didn't? Did you ride in a wagon like Laura and Mary? I must look all of my newly turned 35 years! And, E2 finally has a name for himself! Here's his family list: Daddy = Daddy (pretty original) Mom = Mom (even more original) A6 = Ann J4 = Cho Little S = Baby E2 = I (cute, huh?) We had a great day - Four loads of laundry, three loads of dishes, and three baths for both boys. The boys were out in the mud all day.