April Shower of Photos :: Day 30

As I mentioned earlier, today I went shopping for clothing!! I really should have been home packing--but, oh well! We had fun... All six of us!

Now, since I had all 5 kids with me, I bought more than I should have, and now I need to decide just which I should keep and which should go back... Maybe you can help me decide!

For those of you that don't know me personally, I generally wear skirts all the time. Occasionally when I am home or exercising, you will see me in sweats... But I don't wear jeans or slacks. This was a Lenten sacrifice I did a few years back, for a special intention, after reading this totally inspiring book, and it stuck. Don't you love it when that happens?

Anyhow, lately I have been feeling slightly frumpy, and nothing has been fitting right... It was time for a trip to my favorite (when I'm not pregnant!) store!

Whenever I am on a mission to find something, I usually strike out. However, today was my lucky day! I found a whole bunch of darling outfits that fit, and to top it off, I even convinced the sales lady to dig out an additional 30% off coupon for me to use! Gotta love it!! (Follow Dave Ramsey's advice, and ALWAYS ASK for a discount!! You will be amazed at the discounts you will receive!)

Alright, here is what I came home with.

Outfit 1:
White Wrap Front V-Neck with 3/4 sleeves
White Tank for under shirt
Light Blue and White skirt ~ Size 8



Isn't it cute??


Outfit 2:
White Cardigan (the sleeves hit my elbow.)
(use tank from above under, or other white tank)
SUPER CUTE Green Skirt IN A SIZE 6 (It MUST be labeled wrong!)



This was my favorite skirt... And not just because of the size!


Outfit 3:
Antique Brown Linen Pintuck Skirt ~ Size 8
White Tee



This one actually doesn't look that cute in the photo, but my hubby really liked it.


Outfit 4:
Black Wrap Front V-Neck with 3/4 sleeves
(white tank from above for under)
Denim Skirt (Size 10??)



I thought this was cute, but my hubby doesn't like the skirt. I think this will be the one I take back, but it is really comfortable...

I also got the white cardigan above in the light blue too. I just love the cardigan. It came in Black and Brown too, but the white and blue will be great for Spring and Summer!



So-- what do you think? Which should I keep?

Sorry to end the Shower of Photos with clothes... But I didn't have a chance to take any fun pictures today! Hope you all had a wonderful day!! Good night!

WoW ~ Week 9

Well... Up until yesterday I was doing good. Yesterday morning I was down 1.5 pounds... However, it looks like that big Italian dinner ruined it. The pasta was just too yummy! So, this morning I was only down a half a pound. I wasn't even able to lose the whole pound I gained next week. You would think that between eating healthy, and nursing a baby, it would be easier to lose weight! Oh well. I did have my blood drawn this morning, to be tested for allergies. I am very curious to see my results!!! I also really need to focus on exercising more--as in EVERY DAY! That was how I finally lost the weight the last time. There is just so much I would rather be doing... Like blogging for example! ;)

This weeks summary:

• Week five progress: -0.5 pound
  
• Total lost in WoW: -4.5 pounds

Goals for this week:

• Make healthy food choices while traveling.
  
• Exercise for 30 minutes on both Monday and Tuesday.
  

On a positive note... Those 4.5 pounds have made a difference!!! While we were in town this morning for Captain's Auditory Processing class we went to the mall. I wanted to see if I could find a new shirt. (You should have seen the looks on the employees faces when I wheeled the jogging stroller carrying 3 kids through the door, with 2 more hanging off the sides!) I ended up trying on a ton of cute clothes and found a few cute new tops, as well as a few new skirts!!! It is so nice to have real clothes fit again!! The strange thing is, my size is all over the place... Of the 4 skirts I brought home, one is a size 10 (which I am taking back since hubby doesn't like it), two are size 8, and one is a size 6 (it's my favorite!!!). All the same brand too! Isn't that weird? I'll have to take a couple pictures for you to see! :)

Anyhow, head over to Regina's to see everyone else's results.

Defending the Unborn

Not only did my little sister win first place on her last poem,

A Mother Mistaken...Another Life Taken,

she has just written another amazing poem:

An Unheard Call

I couldn't make it halfway through without crying.

God has given her such a gift with words, I am so glad she is using that gift to defend the unborn.

Way to go Mary!

April Shower of Photos :: Day 29

I just love it when I walk out to the living room to find things like this:

They were reading a couple of Spanish dictionary's just for fun!

This shot is blurry, but I just thought it was so cute:

"Mom!! STOP taking pictures of us!!!!"


Oh alright! They are ready for the April Shower of Photos to be over...
Just one more day!

The Feast of St. Catherine of Siena

Today is the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena. Be sure to visit Catholic Cuisine for a couple suggestions for celebrating this feast. I will be making Pasta Santa Caterina for my family, and Meredith shared a wonderful recipe for St. Catherine's Peace Bread! In fact, you could even make Lily Sandwiches for lunch or a snack, since the lily is one of the symbols associated with St. Catherine. I hope you have a very blessed day!

"O inestimable charity! Even as You, true God and true Man, gave Yourself entirely to us, so also You left Yourself entirely for us, to be our food, so that during our earthly pilgrimage we would not faint with weariness, but would be strengthened by You, our celestial Bread. O man, what has your God left you? He has left you Himself, wholly God and wholly Man, concealed under the whiteness of bread. O fire of love! Was it not enough for You to have created us to Your image and likeness, and to have recreated us in grace through the Blood of Your Son, without giving Yourself wholly to us as our Food, O God, Divine Essence? What impelled You to do this? Your charity alone. It was not enough for You to send Your Word to us for our redemption; neither were You content to give Him us as our Food, but in the excess of Your love for Your creature, You gave to man the whole Divine essence . . ." ~ St. Catherine of Siena

St. Catherine of Siena ~ Pray for us!

April Shower of Photos :: Day 28

So, I just spent the last hour trying to upload the one video/photo that I took today. It still isn't working, and I need to get to bed. Oh well... Since, I am so close to finishing the April Shower of Photos, and I don't want to miss a day, here are a few photos that were taken 2 years ago.

In 2006, we drove back to Nebraska for my brother-in-laws ordination. On the 36 hours straight in the car with 4 kids drive home, we stopped by Mount Rushmore for lunch!! It was so cool! The boys still talk about it.





I might try to upload the video again tomorrow... But for now, good night!

Busy... Busy...

It is going to be SUCH a busy week! I can't remember ever going anywhere and leaving hubby with almost all the kids, so I have a lot to do to prepare! I am really looking forward to everything but packing it, especially since I have never been to a Homeschool Conference before. I can't wait!

Anyhow -- my mind is too tired to post much of anything, but here is a fun quiz I just saw over at Amy's blog. I didn't realize I had changed so much since 1998!

You've Changed 80% in 10 Years

Compared to who you were ten years ago, you've changed a great deal. In fact, you're probably in a completely different phase of your life - and very happy about it!

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

While I was there, I thought I would try this one out too:

You Belong in 1951

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Oooohh! I miss our drive in -- we use to go when I was a teenager. It was always such fun!

If you have a second to waste play along, I'd love to hear how much you have changed, and what year you belong in! See you soon!

Happy Birthday!

May everything that is Yummy and Sweet,
make your Birthday happiness complete!! ;)

Happy Birthday
Regina!!!!

April Shower of Photos :: Day 27

My Girls...

...enjoying Spring!

Garden of the Good Shepherd ~ Week 6

I can't believe how fast the weeks have been flying by! We are already starting week six! The theme for this week in The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter is:

"Oh, What a Beautiful City!"

I haven't had much time to try and come up with ideas for this coming week... Plus, the weeks just seem to keep getting harder! Just what kind of crafts and activities can you do for bride and groom with little ones?? Well... I wish I had better ideas, but here is what I have come up with just the same:

The City Gate : Read Revelation 21:9-14

• Make a Heaven's Gate Collage
• Listen to Oh What a Beautiful City
• Since the above song mentions "twelve gates," one named for each of the apostles, you could read about the apostles! We will probably read Apostles of Jesus by Father Lovasik.
• Color the Gates into Heaven Coloring Page
  

The Temple : Read Revelation 21:22-25

• Make Cathedral Cookies or Church shaped Stained Glass Window Cookies
• Color page of Church in Spring
• Do the EWTN Kids Build-a-Church Activity (To get to this, sign into EWTN kids--it's free!--then go to The Diego's house, then to Javier & Manuel's Room, then click on the box with a church on it. My kids LOVE this game!)

Hallelujah! : Read Revelation 19:6-9

• Listen to the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah"
• Make Hallelujah Hats
• Make an Angel Food Cake, in honor of the heavenly choir!
• Have an Italian dinner in honor of St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast is April 29th! I'm planning on making Pasta Santa Caterina from Cooking with the Saints.
  

The Thrones : Read Revelation 22:1-5

• I can't think of ANYTHING!! Hum.... I know... I will take down the kids Puppet Show Tent and pull out the King, Queen, etc, puppets and let them put on a Royal Puppet Show! That should be fun! :) (I'm sorry I can't think of anything else!)
  

The Bride : Read Hosea 2:18-20

• Deliver Marian May Baskets since it is May Day!
  

The Groom : Read Revelation 19:6-9

• If I was going to be home, I would make Tuxedo Brownie Cups for snack time! But, since I will be gone... I will try to pre-make these for hubby and the kids.
  

The Crowns : Read Isaiah 62:3-5

• To keep it simple for hubby... Take the kids out to eat at Burger King!
• This Crown Cake is really cool though!
  

Thanks again, Matilda, for getting us started on this!!! If anyone else has any more ideas, I would love to hear them!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! God Bless!

April Shower of Photos :: Day 26

Captain ~ Age 7
(Wearing his Godfathers old cowboy hat!)

Making Progress

Thank you everyone for your encouragement! I am not done, but I am making progress!

Now, before I show you some more photos, I want to defend myself in regards to that HUGE mess. My closet is not a "typical" closet. First of all, I was moving around tons of furniture this past month, which caused many things to become homeless. Secondly, one of the drawbacks to our home, is that it has very little storage space. We don't have a basement. We don't have an attic. (I do have a small storage closet in the school room, where I save baby clothes... I'm so thankful for the school room!). Our garage isn't the greatest... It is detached from the house, and it is filled with lizards, black widows, rattlesnakes and bats, so I am totally scared of going out there. (We hope to finish it off and seal it up, but in the meantime, I only store our Christmas items and camping gear--carefully sealed up--and that's it!) Then to make matters worse, none of my children's bedrooms have closets. We were given my sisters old armoire for the girls room, and my hubby put closet organizers along one wall of the boys room, but it just isn't the same. So, basically my closet has become the storage place for everything that doesn't have a home in our house.

So, that said, I am very excited about my progress, even if I'm not quite done.

Here is a quick look in the door, and behind the door. Ah! So nice to be able to open and shut the door without anything in the way. There is still quite a bit of stuff that I wish I didn't have to store in my closet, but there really isn't any where else for it. For example, that big plastic tub has all the kids snow gear in it. Where else can I put it??

And the top shelf is where I keep serving dishes that just won't fit in my kitchen cupboards. Peter Walsh would disagree with this probably, since he says to keep everything in it's zone, but our house was built in the 50's and our kitchen is small. Some day we will remodel it, and add on a Dining room, but in the meantime they will stay there for now...

Here is a closer look at the shelves:

Looking at them all together like that, they still look cluttered, and I am sure there is even more stuff that I can get rid of, but I am SO EXCITED to actually have a couple EMPTY shelves!

Alright, now my clothes... A couple weekends ago I tried most everything in my closet on for hubby, and ended up getting rid of half of my clothes. I still have too much... at least too much that doesn't fit! So, I hope to go through it again soon. It's just so hard to know what to keep and what to get rid--especially when I have worn about 6 different sizes in the last few years! ;)

And last of all... Here is a quick glimpse at what I still need to find homes for:

The photo on the left is mostly all pictures. We need to go through them and decide what we want to hang up, and the rest will have to go. The pile on the right belongs mostly in the school room. I don't have a file cabinet, so today I picked up a file crate, and I hope to begin implementing Dawn's file crate system.

OH. I'm tired now! It was quite a workout running up and down the hall all day putting things away!

I'm so glad that I am almost done, and THANKFUL that tomorrow is Sunday. A day of rest!! :)

April Shower of Photos :: Day 25

Today the older boys went hiking with Daddy...













They hiked 3 miles total, and had a blast!!

(Photos courtesy of my dear Hubby!)