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.