Time away...

Daddy and I go out (without children) about 3 times a year ~ may not seem like a lot, but it works for us.  Once in June to a homeschooling conference, once in October for our Anniversary and once in December.  We also go out once in November/December with some of our blessings (this year all but the little's!).

One of the trips in December is a day of Christmas shopping.  We went on Tuesday of this week.  As always it was awesome to have him all to myself!  I had done a lot of our shopping on line this year, so it lessened the load for when we were out and about!  Next year I think we'll do more on~line to make our day even slower and more relaxed (more hand holding, blah, blah, blah :).  Maybe purchase list items on~line and personal finds at the stores.  We were able to find some great things that actually brought to mind the people we were shopping for.  For the little's we did most of our shopping in one spot ~ at the store!  But, believe it or not they really weren't that easy!  We were looking for things that jumped out at us.  Something that we could say "Oh, they will love this!"  We did find them, but at different stores.  We did well avoiding the whole 'just buy it to buy it thing'.
This year it snowed while we were out shopping.  We felt terrible about it (didn't know it was in the forecast!), because Grandma and Grandpa have a long drive home without the snow!  We really appreciate the fact that they drive down as far as they do to "play" with the little's.  It is nice to be able to go and know that our children our safe and loved while we are out.  It makes for a much more relaxed adventure :)

Our last trip out for the year (until June) is to this concert.  For this we will have with us 4 of our 7 blessings!  We are excited about that.  We are extremely excited for Sister K and Sister E who have never been!  We hope they enjoy it as much as the rest of us :)  We are a little worried about the fact that it is VERY loud (as are all concerts!), so we are going to take ear plugs for them, just in case it bothers them!  Last year we saw some little's at the concert that looked like they were only about 4 or 5 and they seemed to do alright.  But, we will take them just in case! 
Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for snow again on the day of the concert!  Wouldn't ya know it...

Speaking of snow, according to tonight's forecast we are in for a lot of it ~ 3" - 5" tonight and 5" - 6" more tomorrow!  Woo - hoo!!  Got your sleds ready?

Talk to ya soon...

1st Week of Advent...

Our week has been full!  Monday and Tuesday all 3 animals had vet appointments.  That was a crazy bill!  On Wednesday the twins had Dr. appointments.  It was just a 3 year check up, and every thing went great.  They both are healthy and doing well! 
Wednesday was also the feast day of St. Francis Xavier.  I had purchased a movie for us to watch after supper.  I asked the boys if they wanted to watch it and they said "no" so it still sits here.  We ate by advent candle light (this we have done all week) and then for dessert we had some ship cake!


Yes, I know it doesn't look much like a ship!  It was actually supposed to look more like a sailboat, but... we couldn't find anything to work as a sail.  It is sitting in water though! :)
Thursday was pretty quiet (as quiet as it can get around here!).  Friday, I spent time preparing for the feast of St. Nicholas.  In honor of his feast day, the kids (all of them, other than sister K and sister E, we will celebrate when they come home on the 12th), received goody bags in their shoes.

The goody bags for the littles all contained a clementine, gold coins, a candy cane, and a little toy.  The two older kids received the same things minus the little toy :)  Instead they received tickets to see these guys in concert!  If your music is on then you heard a little bit of their music :)  They are AMAZING!  This is our 3rd year going.  When sissy opened her goody bag, she thought the little paper in it was a picture of St. Nicholas!  Daddy had to make her look at it, and she was very excited! 
After supper we enjoyed 'Black forest "good works" cake".

The cherries on the top are supposed to represent St. Nicks good works that were noticeable.  The cherries hidden in the center represent his 'hidden' good works.  Those done in secret!  It was YUMMY!
I purchased a movie and a book, for this feast day also.  The kids and us have watched it a couple of times.
Today, we lit our second advent candle!  Week two has begun!  This week we will celebrate the feasts of The Immaculate Conception, St. Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Lucy!  We also have Dr. appointments, Mom and Dad shopping day and a trip to the tree farm for a Christmas tree!  It's bound to be another GREAT week!

Talk to ya soon...

Advent...

Our new church calendar began on Sunday with the first day of Advent.  The first day of Advent also begins my favorite time of our liturgical calendar!  This year we are again using our Advent wreath and our nativity scene to help us count down or "prepare" for the birth of Christ.

I kind of spruced up our Advent wreath this year by adding new silk flowers in it.  I added pink and purple flowers to join the colors of the Christmas holiday and the colors of the Advent season.  I also went to our local parish and obtained some Holy water.

On Saturday, daddy blessed our wreath with a prayer and then sprinkled Holy water on it.  It was ready to use on Sunday!

We also set out our nativity scene.  Well, not all of it.  Each day we will add something new to it, building up to the big day!  Day 1 - the stable; Day 2 - the straw.  Last night the 3 littles, me and daddy added snow to the scene.  Each night after blowing out the Advent candle, the kids will pick an item to add to the scene.  On Christmas Eve, they will place Mary and Joseph in the stable.  Mary and Joseph have already started their travels...we placed them in our family room and each day they slowly move towards the stable searching for a safe place to give birth to Jesus.  I can't wait to see what is in the stable Christmas morning!

We also prepared our fireplace mantle for Advent.  Sister K helped me.  Originally I had the statue of Jesus off to the side and was trying to place the flowers and berries around Him there, but it just didn't look right.  Sister K suggested I place Him in the center "because He is in the center of the holiday anyways!"  So, I did as she suggested and it looks great!  Thanks, sister K :)

We haven't decorated for "Christmas" yet.  We will be doing that the weekend of Gaudete Sunday.    Gaudete refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon "rejoice", lighting the rose candle signifies rejoicing that we are over half way until the birth of Christ, our Savior!  On that weekend of rejoicing we will put up our Christmas tree and decorate!

Talk to ya soon...

"3"

Monday was the brother S and brother J's 3rd birthday.  I can't believe they are 3 already!! 
Sunday we had our families over for a birthday celebration.  It was loads of fun!  Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy...


The cake...created by sister K!

The cake...created by sister E!

Brother S...sneaking in some of his cake :)

Candle time!!!

This actually took 2 or 3 times, because they kept blowing them out before we were done singing (the time when we would have been ready to snap a picture!)

Our little peanut and sister E enjoying some cake and ice cream :)

Yummy, Yummy!

PRESENTS!!

Playing with our new presents.

Patiently waiting his turn :)

Talk to ya soon...

A View From Our Windows This Morning...

 

 

 

 

Studying For The SAT Subject Tests...

 

Mastering U.S. History and...

 

Dr. Suess!!

Life is SO good :)

Pictures, just because...

 

Our little lion!

 

Can you see the jack-o-lantern face on this spider?  Click on it to enlarge it.  Pretty cool!

 

Brother J

 

Brother S

Talk to ya soon...

Chimney sweep...

A few days ago, Daddy built a fire.  Sissy was downstairs taking a nap and came upstairs complaining she couldn't breathe because her room was filled with smoke!  When I went down to get her a book I couldn't believe all of the smoke!  It practically filled her room, you truly couldn't breathe down there! 

 So, daddy messed with the fireplace and finally got the smoke to go up the chimney!  We shoved towels around the basement door and sissy slept upstairs.  The next morning, I called a chimney sweep and they came out the following afternoon. 

The first year we lived here we used the fireplace frequently. The second year we didn't use it at all because of the twins.  The third year we rarely used it.  Towards the end of this past summer I noticed bee's were getting in the house, so daddy climbed up to the chimney and noticed there were hornets in it.  I opened up the fireplace door and could actually here them!!  Talk about scary!  So, daddy decided to light a fire and smoke them out.  This made the hornets so angry that they started coming into the house through the cracks around the fireplace!  It was aweful!!  Looking back it was probably a funny site to see me and daddy chasing a bunch of bee's with flip flops trying to kill them!

Anywhoo, the chimney sweeps came out and cleaned out our chimney and fireplace.  He has been doing this for 18 years.  He found a hornets nest in our chimney that was the biggest one he had ever seen!  He said it was as big in diameter as the chimney, and 2 feet long!  Here is a picture of some of the nest he pulled out (you can see where it was burned by the fire!):

 

We also had 3rd degree creosote?  Anyways, the rest of the nest fell down the pipe and they had to pull it, and a TON of hornets, out from the bottom in order to vacuum and finish cleaning.  He said they built up in there because we hadn't been using it.  He also said it has been a really long time since it had been cleaned, if it had ever been cleaned!

It is now safe again to build a fire and get cozy with a blanket, cup of hot chocolate (my favorite) and a good book!  Thank you Mr. Chimney Sweep :)

Talk to ya soon...

What we've been up to lately...

Lots and lots of stuff!!  Sissy's high school volleyball career is officially over :(  We had her volleyball banquet on Monday evening.  I took a few pictures but they didn't turn out.  Probably because I was also trying to hold onto a little man of mine!  Now on to the next chapter in her life :)  She had a recruiter from her college of choice contact her the other day and take her up to the campus.  They went to lunch, took a driving and walking tour, and also spoke with an admissions counselor.  She had a good time but was tired when she got home!  She has a few standardized exams to take yet, the SAT subject tests in U.S. History, Literature, Math, French and Biology.  She has also scheduled another ACT test.  She will take her last test on January 24.  Everything else is in to the colleges.  Keep your fingers crossed :)

The boys have been creating, creating, creating!  And our little peanut goes right behind them destroying :) Here are some of their creations:

   

Brother J

 

Brother J

 

 

Daddy enjoying their creations :)

 

Brother S's "airplane" (YES, he drew that himself!)

 

Brother J's airplane and spaceship, along with the beginnings of other creations!

Talk to ya soon...

Quinn...

Okay, you have to check out Quinn!!  Well, if your not my brother or his wife (the creators:), that is!  Absolutely beautiful!  Is there a White Forest wish list?  Ya know, kinda like Amazon Wish List?  Great job guys!!

Homeschooling/Unschooling...

This is an awesome essay written by an unschooler who decided to satisfy his curiosity about the public school!  Check it out...

Weekend pictures...

Two days after halloween we are painting our pumpkins.  But that is okay!  Nobody comes to our house for candy anyway, but most importantly sister K and sister E were not home until halloween.  So, we waited.  It was worth the wait!  We had so much fun!!