St. Padre Pio and the First Day of Fall

This is such a fun time of year to be homeschooling!

Today is the feast day of one of our favorite saints…

It appears we are in good company. The internet abounds with Catholic mamas sharing their ideas to celebrate St. Padre Pio’s feast day. Here are some of my favorites:
Padre Pio Coloring Pages (These are beautifully done!)
Cappuccino Mousse
Stigmata Rice Crispy Treats
Look to the right of our page, and click on Caveman’s drawing of St. Pio to learn more about  his life.

In addition to St. Pio’s feast day, we are celebrating the first day of fall and our county fair. The fair coincides with Gem’s preschool letter of the week theme—sheep. Our Friday will be spent visiting the fair,  writing in our journals, drawing and coloring pictures about our favorite fall things, making treats, and making animal puppets, which we will use to sing nursery rhymes and tell stories.

    

Who Needs Dolls?

When you have a real, live baby in the house?
One of kids’ favorite games is “fashion show.” They will keep themselves occupied for hours dressing the baby in different outfits, shoes, and bows. And sometimes, they get out the camera and props and take pictures.
     

 

“The best gift you can give your children is another sibling.”

  

Which Ones Should We Keep?

It was just one of those days. 
DaddyBear was home from work and was helping me juggle housework, homeschooling, meals, a cranky teething baby, a tantrum-throwing toddler, and bickering siblings. At one point he looked at me and remarked, "We have too many kids!"
I agreed. "So, which ones do you want to send back?"
His immediate reply was "The boys. They are too rowdy."
"The boys? Really? I thought you wanted to carry on your family name. And one of these days when they are older, they can help with heavy lifting and stuff."
"Hm. I guess so." After thinking a moment, he continued, "And if we kept the boys, we wouldn't have weddings to pay for. And if they went into the military, we wouldn't have to pay for college."
"Besides,” I pointed out, “if we got rid of the girls instead, the boys would have nobody to pester. Then we wouldn't have to listen to so much screaming."
"But the girls are so much help around the house and with the baby."
"We could get rid of the baby. She's where most of the work comes from."
"No way! She's too cute!" 

We thought about it some more.
"What if we just kept one of each?"
"Well, we’d have to keep Mojo because she's such a big help. She's the dependable one. She'll probably be the one taking care of us when we get old."  
"We’d have to keep Caveman because he's the generous one; he always shares with his siblings. Besides, I still think he's going to be a priest someday."

"Gem is such an affectionate cuddlebug. We can’t do without her hugs and kisses!"

"And Juju is just so funny. He keeps us laughing."

(“I not naked…see?”)

(“I in my cage!”)

And the oldest…well, she’s a senior this year. She’ll be leaving soon whether we like it or not.

So I guess we’ll just hang on to all of them. For as long as we can.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Juju!

 
Juju’s obsessions this year are kitties and “holly-copters.” He named his kitty Miss Kitty.
And in case you ever wonder why Juju's pictures are always blurry...well, just guess. :-)
Happy birthday, big boy!

Not Back To School

As most of my friends were posting their “first day of school” pictures on Facebook, my homeschooling friends met together at the almost-vacant splash pad for a “Not Back To School” celebration.

No worries about school lunches, what to wear, unreasonable teachers, crazy schedules, or bullies over here!

Thank you, Maury and Catherine for sharing your pictures!

July 4th, 2011

Gem thumb-wrestles and plays with Daddy while he takes a break from the grill.

Just sitting on the front porch. Relaxing. Enjoying each other.

My Bike Route

I had a small dilemma this morning. I needed some items from the store before hubby left for work (we still have one vehicle.) I needed to exercise--if I don't exercise first thing in the morning, it's less likely to be done. And most importantly, I needed to spend time with the hubby before his long shift at the hospital. I had about an hour and a half to accomplish these three things. What to do?
Hubby and I decided to jump on our bicycles and ride down the back country roads to the store.
Dilemma solved!
(We are blessed with a terrific teenaged daughter, who not only watched the younger siblings, but she also cleaned the kitchen while we were gone.)
I couldn't help but pause for a moment to snap a couple pictures of the scenery...
  
And a picture of my stallion. ;-)