{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: From Instagram

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

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Walking from the the church to the coffee shop, following Mass on All Saints Day...  

Someone was having fun with his big sisters! 

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This past Sunday night we hosted a dinner at our home followed by a meeting for our "Latin Mass Committee"  - which included our pastor who brought along a seminarian, the pastoral associate, Father Kotas who travels from another diocese to offer the Latin Mass for us (along with his mother who had just flown into town for a visit), the president of our local Una Voce chapter, and Sean and I - to review this past year's masses and make plans for 2014.  Last year we were given Latin Masses once per quarter (4 masses total) and "happy" doesn't even begin to describe our joy over that number being increased to six masses in 2014, one every other month.  It still won't be weekly, or even monthly, but it IS a 50% increase over last year and such an incredible blessing.  Deo Gratias! 

And, yes, I couldn't resist serving a Cathedral Cake for dessert! :) 

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Apparently our 3 year old figured out how to open the air vent in her room and thought it'd make a great place to hide the wrappers from the candy she has been sneakily eating! That little stinker!!!

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Dress-up, Lincoln Logs, and the big kids were picking out a board game. I love relaxing evenings at home!  We are still recovering from our large All Hallows' Eve party and the busy weekend that followed.... Speaking of which I do plan to post about this year's party just as soon as I have a chance to sort through all the pictures! 

(Note: Here is the link to Rose's darling Reversible Silk Crown and Rose Fairy Pocket Playsilk.) 

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Home Again!

 

Sean and our five youngest arrived home Saturday afternoon, on the 13th day of their trip to visit his parents and introduce our little man to his grandparents!  I'm so glad they were able to finally make the trip, but I was also very happy to have them all home again!  I didn't pick up my camera at all over the weekend (I was too busy holding my babies!) but here are a couple pictures that were taken on Saturday with my phone, right after I was nearly knocked over by Twinkle Toes, Chiquita and Snuggles who beat the little ones into the house and tackled me with hugs!  

Yesterday, as we were about to leave for Mass, Bud refused to sit down in his car seat until he saw me open the door and get in the van.  I think they all missed me too!  

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

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Here is a peek at one of the headboards for the older girls new bunk bed.  So pretty!  

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The girls were so excited to move into the bunk beds and Rose was also very happy to have her very own big girl bed!  We went to the store last weekend and she helped pick out a new quilt for Twinkle Toes' old bed.  Plenty of pink and covered with little roses, it is perfect for her!  

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I've never been very good at gardening...
This year our garden is doing much better than last, but we still have so much to learn.

I have a feeling that whatever this random plant that grew in one of our raised beds (from seeds in the compost?) probably didn't need the tomato cage despite the little curly things (tendrils, according to google) that seemed to want to climb... Do I leave it where it is and if so do those (melons? spaghetti squash!) need more support? 

... and check out our compost.  Whatever is growing there is doing better than the rest of the garden! 

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Oh, how I am missing this oldest boy of ours!

Captain left for a boys camp on Monday morning and will be home again on Friday.  This is his first time attending a summer camp, other than camping with our whole family.   He has spent the night away from home a few times for various reasons, but always with at least a brother or two.

Actually, this week has been the hardest on Rascal, who has never been away from his older brother overnight.  (Except for one night when he was 9 months old, when we left Captain with my parents for  an overnight trip to the coast on our anniversary.  Actually, he didn't do well with the separation that night either.)  Rascal is definitely my hardest worker and on Monday he spent the day cleaning out the van, mopping the floors, doing dishes, and any other random job that he could think of to help me. He said that "If I stay really busy the week will go by faster." Awwww...  The afternoon at the Science Museum with friends yesterday helped, and the week is already more than half over!  Captain will be coming home tomorrow!  All his siblings are making cards and little handmade gifts to surprise him with when he gets home.  He has been missed!

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{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Yesterday we spent the day at my parents home and Rose enjoyed picking flowers with Grandma.

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Sean had to work last Saturday, but the kids and I spent the morning with my two youngest brothers watching our hometown parade and then the afternoon swimming at my brother Brian's house!

The kids loved watching the parade, and they were all very happy when the employees from the local building supply store handed out full size candy bars to each of them!

 

7 kids + sitting where the parade begins = enough candy to fill a piñata! 

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Bud was so cute playing peek-a-boo with himself at the doctor's office on Sunday, 

 as we waited for the doctor to remove his stitches! 

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Bud's injury wasn't to be the last of the "excitement" for the month of June...  On Friday this poor little baby deer was stumbling around our yard... We gave him water and called both the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and the Department of Fish & Wildlife and basically neither of them do anything to help save injured deer.   I was told that if they came to pick him up "he would just be Euthanized and his best chance for survival is to hope that the mother isn't dead already (from trying to save her baby from whatever attacked him) and that she will try and find him during the night once it is safer and has cooled down.  Otherwise this baby will just become food for some other animal (i.e. cougar)."  Ugh!  It was really hard to tell the children that we had to just let him go... 

Right after that I was sitting on the porch and Rose was playing with Snuggles on the swings when she did a face dive resulting in yet another mouth injury.  She had torn the frenulum on the top and had put a few of her bottom teeth nearly all the way through her bottom lip. Thankfully, she didn't have any loose or broken teeth, since it was on the inside of her mouth she didn't need stitched, it has healed amazingly fast, and we haven't had any injuries yet this week!   

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Happy 4th of July! 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

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Rose playing with her pretty pink kitchen while Bud napped and I cleaned their room.

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Last week I spent most of Monday sitting in waiting rooms.  Back when I was pregnant with Bud I had a mechanic look at the brakes on our Sienna since it would shake badly when I would use the brakes.  He said that the pads still had some life to them, but the rotors were warped.  He said we could get away with waiting a year to replace them. That was two years ago. We set aside some of our tax refund to finally fix the brakes and really needed to do so before any summer trips.  Despite the "one hour" wait (which turned into four followed by a trip to the tire store for new tires too, which were also needed "as soon as possible!") and a very cranky toddler, I was very happy to have them finally fixed. and can hardly believe the difference!  Now to see if we can still afford the gas for all these upcoming summer plans... 

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I just noticed that half of the pictures on my phone from the last week are of us all sleeping!  This photo is my favorite and was taken Sunday afternoon, on our way home from Catholic Family Camp, as we were trying to wake them up for the annual stop at Dairy Queen on Father's Day with all our friends.  I still can't believe that Snuggles can actually sleep like that... And Twinkle Toes' hands?! lol

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We actually didn't plan to go to camp this year... It was a last minute decision after a generous scholarship was offered to our family at the last minute!  The kids were all so excited, but it left me scrambling last week, trying to squeeze in the car repairs on top of packing, grocery shopping for camp, rescheduling some prior appointments, and trying to find new shoes for some of the kids.  I was in town until about 10:30 on Wednesday night, and then had a conference (Teaching Writing with Structure and Style!) I was scheduled to attend starting at 8am Thursday morning.  Camp started Thursday night and I thought I could try and go to at least the first day of the conference.  I made it until noon and then headed home to finish packing.  (I was definitely sad that I missed the rest of the conference, but I do own it on DVD so hopefully I can finish it this summer.)  It was a good thing too, after seeing some of what had been (or had not been!) packed.  Since we had to take two cars anyways I decided to stay home with the two little ones and head to camp the next morning.   Oh, it was heavenly!  Rose and Bud both fell asleep by 7pm and slept until 8:30am!!!  They also napped most of the drive to camp!  Of course I can't say the same for that first night camping, but at least I had gotten some sleep the night before! ;)

I do hope to post some of the pictures from camp, and then get back to all the other posts that have been piling up in my draft folder as well as all the emails in my inbox, but we have golf camp every day this week, tomorrow is the kid's Golf Tournament and Snuggles' 6th birthday, then we have plans to meet up with friends at the coast this weekend!   The two little ones and I both came down with fevers last night, so please say a prayer that whatever this is passes quickly... We don't have time to be sick at the moment!   I really miss visiting with you all and hope to get back to blogging soon.

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{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Last weekend we spent most of Friday and Saturday deep cleaning the girls bedrooms.  After we had finished, and after a bike-ride with the older boys, I took the girls out for dinner!  

It was a gorgeous day, so I choose to take them to a restaurant on the river. I had been there before, but it was a first for the girls. 

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We had a 30 minute wait, since I asked to sit on the deck overlooking the river, but that gave us plenty of time to walk around and explore! 

They were also very excited to be able to choose something off the children's menu (usually when we all eat out Sean & I choose a couple meals off the regular menu for them all to share).  Twinkle Toes choose the hamburger with fries, Chiquita choose the grilled cheese with Salad, and Rose asked for the Grilled Cheese with FRESH FRUIT! "I LUV Fruit-uh!"  Yes, she sure does! 

After dinner we walked around some more before heading to the store to pick up popsicles to share with the boys, and then home.   It was such a fun evening, and so nice to spend some special time with just the girls.

*For those that have asked on Instagram, Twinkle Toes skirt (and Chiquita's as well) were both hand-me-downs from a friend.   Twinkle Toes' is the Sunflower Fields Yellow Skirt from Gymboree in 2007.  It is so comfortable and cute, and can still be found on ebay. (Or scroll here for other sizes) 

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While we were walking around after dinner, none of us noticed this goose standing on the pillar, until I saw him hiss and nearly peck Twinkle Toes on the head as she walked by!  It was then that I noticed the older couple standing nearby laughing and enjoying watching the aggressive goose react to everyone who passed.  

Shortly after taking this picture, a young man walked by talking on his cell phone and the goose came within inches of getting him too.  We did try to warn him, he was too distracted. 

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My post on Facebook Sunday night:  

  We may be out of sandwich stuff, but at least Sean will have his favorite cookies for lunch tomorrow! #mustgoshopping

Yes, I probably should have been grocery shopping on Saturday, and we ended up having some pretty interesting meals the first few days of this week... Thankfully I was finally able to make it to town on Wednesday.    And that silver pot in the background?  Well, it has been sitting on my stove since Holy Saturday, filled with onion skins.  I'm still hoping to get around to naturally dying some Easter Eggs.  There is still time, right?! ;) 

We also had a very unhappy critter (a large grey squirrel) stuck up inside our car on Saturday morning.  I'm pretty sure our cat chased him up there, and he was squeaking like crazy for a couple hours.  That was an interesting call to animal control... They said they would call me back, and never did.  Thankfully he finally was able to escape.

And poor little Bud has been missing his Wheely Bug... I hid it last weekend, in an attempt to try and encourage him to start walking more often.  Who needs to walk when you can just cruise around the house all day?!  It has already made a difference, but he sure misses his wheels...

Here is a little glimpse of him in action...  My favorite part is his spin to a stop at around :35! 

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{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

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That checker at Trader Joes the other night was an excellent salesman!  In addition to the Cheese Blintzes in my basket, I ended up coming home with a jar of Imported Lemon Curd and a bag of Organic Frozen Raspberries as well.   YUM!!!  And, yes, I did share them with all the kids... There were only 6 in the box and 8 of us at home, which thankfully kept me from eating the whole box! ;) 

I also made these Coconut Creme Caramel Brownie Bites, after digging through the cupboards last Sunday trying to come up with a dessert to bring to the Potluck we were hosting after our second Latin Mass!  They didn't last long and I was told that they were really good. 

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Chiquita was more than happy to share her new books, which she received on her birthday last Saturday, with her big sister.  Twinkle Toes ended up reading the whole series before the weekend was over! 

And during the birthday breakfast, as Rose slid a barstool across the kitchen floor and over to the island so she could climb up and get her 3rd or 4th piece of melon, I said "Wow!  Somebody really likes cantaloupe!" She turned with a big grin and said "YES!!! I DO!!! I LOVVVE IT!!!!"  

She was one happy, and apparently very hungry, little girl! 

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The weather has been just beautiful all week and we have been spending lots of time outside enjoying the fresh spring air. Bud especially loves the swing! 

"AAaaaahhhhhh!" aka "Look at me, everybody!!!" 

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Do any of you ever relight the candles on birthday cakes?  Our older children always love having us relight them (when we are celebrating with just our family) for the little ones to blow out too.  

You can see all the other pictures from Chiquita's "Josefina" Birthday Party here. 

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