What I Loved About Last Week (31st Ed.)

For those interested, here's a picture of the snake I mentioned last week, as it crawled up our window.

1. Last week, we spent Monday, part of Tuesday and all of Wednesday playing with friends. We did a few lessons, too, but it was nice to be able to set them aside for a while.

2. Friday was our last day of school! I am so excited to have some free time! The children are, too. We'll keep up with our math facts and some reading lessons, but it will be nice and relaxed...until all those summer activities start up.

3. On Friday night, we attended a lovely birthday party. The children ate and played outside and even roasted marshmallows. Everyone was happy and covered in dirt and sand when we got home, so we had a quick bath before a late bedtime (by which nearly no one was happy, but that wasn't unexpected).

4. Kansas Dad called me into the bathroom after First Son's shower on Friday night. He had drawn the Eucharist and chalice in the foggy mirror.

5. When one of the other kids will apologize to me, Second Son will repeat them, "Wahwy, Mommy." It's so adorable!

6. On Saturday, we enjoyed a BBQ lunch with Kansas Dad and the graduates of the masters program at his university. I wanted to do something to celebrate the end of the school year, so we took the children to a huge candy store in town. We had never been and it was certainly end-of-school-treat-worthy.

7. I had a lovely Mother's Day. We visited and played with friends after Mass, then met Grammy and Paw Paw for lunch at a restaurant followed by a visit to my favorite frozen yogurt place. The kids went on an errand with Grammy and picked out a beautiful blooming plant for me, then Kansas Dad and I had a little time all to ourselves to go out for coffee and tea. Kansas Dad made dinner and did all the dishes and got the kids ready for bed by himself.

What I Loved About Last Week (29th Ed.)

1. Early this week, I went in to get Second Son out of his crib in the morning and found him in the downward dog position.

2. Second Son says "Star Wars."

The real reason I got out the camera was to record First Daughter reciting the poem she memorized.

Second Daughter insisted on doing something for the camera, too. Here she is singing the Hail Mary.

I panned down so you could see what she selected to wear that day. You can't see it, but there's another skirt under the dress as well.

3. We had our last basketball session this week. First Son and First Daughter have been playing two hours a week at a wonderful "camp" where they show a few of the basics, get the kids running and playing and just generally have fun without making anything too competitive. My kids love it and I survived the extra stress of one more thing on my plate.

4. We also had our last Catechesis class followed by a family picnic. It was a beautiful evening and the children loved running around with all their friends on the playground and in the sunshine. Kansas Dad packed a wonderful dinner. The kids were thrilled to eat Cheetos, a very rare and special treat. Second Son dumped the water bottle all down his front (twice). Here he is with the paper towel he was using to dry himself off.

5. We had one last outing with our story hour friends for the year, a wonderful morning playing on a playground and enjoying strawberry popsicles.

6. Usually, there is a story hour graduation for the children going on to kindergarten. This year, for a variety of reasons, we didn't have one. We wanted to celebrate First Daughter, though, because she had been eagerly anticipating her turn in the graduation, so she chose a dinner and frozen yogurt outing.

Second Son licking up the marinara sauce

7. It was also the last week for soccer games. The weather was again beautiful and the kids received medals.

Ready for the final games

Hooray!

8. It was also the last week for CCD classes on Sunday morning. First Son finished a wonderful year with his first confession and first Communion. Kansas Dad also teaches on Sunday mornings. Now we have a glorious summer of relaxing for an extra hour on Sundays before going to Mass.

9. We had our spring choir concert over the weekend. Second Daughter chose to sit with Grammy rather than sing this time, but the older two did a great job. First Daughter was especially exuberant in her shaker shaking.

10. Second Son now points his finger and says "No, no" whenever someone points a camera in his direction. It's really cute, but also frustrating because it's now nearly impossible to get a picture of him doing anything else.

10. A very dear and generous friend has volunteered to watch our children two consecutive days this coming week so we can attend a memorial service and a parish dinner.

It was a very busy week! I'm thinking it would be nice to take a day or two off, but we have just a few more weeks of school and I am anxious to finish up our lessons. If all goes as planned, we'll be done with math by the end of this week! (Math takes longer than any other subject. Not the lessons so much...all the other stuff.)

What I Loved About the Last Two Weeks (25th Ed.)

Did you notice I didn't post last week? At all? My parents were in town and we took a bit of a spring break. I had intended to schedule some posts, but it wasn't as high a priority as mopping my kitchen floor so it didn't get done. So prepare yourself for an eventful post.

1. Second Son has taken to knocking on doors, especially my bedroom door. He'll yell, "Mommy? Dello!" (That's hello.)

2. At the end of our exercise videos, the people on the TV will give each other high-fives. Second Son insists on joining in, giving high-fives to everyone in the room. If First Son or the girls ignores him, he follows them around making annoying noises until they give in.

3. Second Son and Kansas Dad have a little game they play. Second Son will point to himself and say, "Dada!" Then he laughs hysterically when Kansas Dad says "No!" Now, he's extending the game to books, pointing to animals and saying, "Dada!" while laughing.

4. A beautiful Saturday for three soccer games and lunch with friends - outside!

5. Celebrating First Son's First Communion with one of his best friends with a "quiet" lunch -- as quiet as it can get with fourteen kids, four adults, a great big dog and a yard full of poultry.

6. A super-clean bathroom, thanks to Kansas Dad. He worked really hard on cleaning the master bathroom for me before my parents and sister came to town.

7. On a quiet night when half the household was at soccer practice and the little ones were playing outside with their grandma, I listened to the second part of Denise Eide's lecture (both parts available to download for free here) while washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. I am intrigued enough to teach First Daughter cursive next year instead of print for handwriting. I think our reading book (The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading) does a better job along these lines than the book I used with First Son, but I might modify it based on what I heard. Certainly it deserves more thought. (Thanks Brandy!)

8. I took Second Daughter to the Catholic bookstore and picked up a few Easter presents for the kids. She was very good and even picked out a small book to buy with her own money.

9. We spent a lovely few hours with my parents and sister at the local botanical gardens. They have a new children's garden that was wonderful and all the tulips were blooming. The kids had a great time, dimmed not at all by the special treat of ice cream after lunch.

10. Kansas Dad and I spent a quiet evening at a nice dinner without the kids (who were home feasting on frozen pizza with the grandparents) and then spent a relaxing hour at the bookstore.

11. A surprise day off from school. We had very few lessons during the week but I had planned on some for Friday after my parents left. I was tired and swamped with laundry, though, so opted to take a rare day off. The kids were a little confused, but they didn't complain!

12. Second Son's silliness

13. The joy of a box

What I Loved About Last Week (20th Ed.)

1. First Daughter lost her first tooth! Last Wednesday night, Kansas Dad started to brush her teeth and realized it was missing. She hadn't even noticed. She thinks it fell out while she was eating dinner and was consumed. The Tooth Fairy left a dollar for her anyway.

2. Second Son has developed a habit of exercising with Kansas Dad and me. While we're working out, he'll try to march with us or raise his hands when we do. When he gets very excited, he runs circles around us until he falls down dizzy, giggling away.

3. Clean laundry! Our washing machine, which was less than four years old, died a premature death this week. After almost three full days without washing anything (in a house with six people, one of whom wears cloth diapers), I ran the new machine for an entire day.

4. While the girls spent a night with Grammy making cookies, Jello jigglers and watching a movie, Kansas Dad and I took First Son (and his brother) out for a special dinner and then watched the three original Star Wars movies one right after another with just a break for sleeping a bit in the middle of the second one. It was remarkably fun to watch First Son watching them for the first time. It was also a nice quiet dinner. It's amazing how civilized dinner can be without a three year old.

5. Second Son has decided it's funny to point to himself and say "Dada" or "Mama." He just laughs and laughs.

What I Loved About Last Week (14 Ed.)

1. Early this week, Grammy treated us to the movies: The Muppet Movie. It was surprisingly good. The 8 year old, 5 year old and 3 year old loved it. The one year old loved running up the aisle and diving into rows near the front, hiding from me. Luckily there were only a few other people there and they seemed very forgiving. (He was quiet, but it had to be distracting.) I've never gotten that much exercise watching a movie before.

After the movie, we did some charity shopping. The girls went with Grammy and picked some gifts for a little girl whose name I picked. The boys went with me and Kansas Dad. The girls did a great job focusing on their goal, but First Son was terribly distracted by the Lego aisle. He only makes it to a store two or three times a year, so I'm not sure he realized there was such a thing as the Lego aisle. It was cute and I didn't chastise him too much; he did help pick a few things and he didn't ask us to buy anything for him. (He has a substantial amount of money now that his birthday has passed, but he's not allowed to spend it until after Christmas since he'd just buy many of the things he's going to receive as a gift.)

2. Second Son has two new teeth! They're just peeking through, his second two on the top. Everyone say a quick prayer that means he'll be a nicer toddler over the holidays than he has been this week. (Now he has eight teeth, which seems a bit low for 17 months, but we'll hope that just gives him less time to get cavities, right?)

3. We finally set up our Christmas tree. I had intended to have it up before the third Sunday of Advent. The older two were so excited to get out the ornaments. They each remembered some of them, asking for them before I even found them in the box. We hung all our homemade ornaments as well. I love those!

4. I received my first teacher gift. One of our families brought something for each of the Catechesis teachers. It's funny because I don't even think of myself as one of the "teachers" since the other two ladies present nearly all of the lessons. What's the policy on thank you notes for thank you gifts: required, acceptable or too much? One girl in Catechesis wrote me a thank you note and another colored a picture for me, too. How cool is that?

5. Story hour Christmas party - watching a Christmas bear version of Duck Duck Goose. Second Son running around the gym.

6.  We started handing out our annual Christmas ornaments, though I can't tell you what we made this year - yet. Some of the recipients read the blog. We made a lot this year so there are plenty to go around for all the family members, teachers and pastors. The more years we do this, the more I love them. I'm already considering some ideas for next year. For the first time this year, we had enough for each child to pick one to keep for our tree. I think we'll try to do that every year. I wrote their names on them and they can take them when they grow up and have their own trees (though then mine will be very sad, won't it?); at the very least, it relieved some of the unhappiness we had last year when First Son wanted to keep all of his ornaments.

7. Kansas Dad and I went to a party on Friday night without kids! Thanks to Grammy for giving up her Friday night for us. The kids, of course, would rather have her than us any night, especially when frozen pizza is involved, so they were thrilled.

8. We made a peanut butter cookie man for Kansas Dad's birthday. He he! I received this Gingerbread Boy Kit a few years ago. No one here on the Range cares that much for gingerbread, but we love this pan. I made our favorite peanut butter cookie dough and pressed about two-thirds of it into the pan then baked it up. Delicious! The kids love decorating it. (They often ask when we're going to make a cookie-man, but since it involves eating a lot of cookie, it's a special treat.)

9. The Nutcracker - I loved it. The kids had differing reactions. Though it took a whole afternoon during a busy month, I hope very much we can make this performance an annual tradition.

10. While I was doing the dishes this week, the girls stripped the Christmas tree of all its ornaments. When I asked, dejectedly, what they thought they were doing, they replied they were playing "earthquake." It was really funny. But also a bit distressing. We've already broken two ornaments this year and all the more fragile ornaments I'd put near the top are now scattered about, many low enough for Second Son to reach. (I made the girls put them all back, so now the tree is decidedly bottom-heavy.)

11. Ok, this is such a little thing, but I bought the third wise man for my Nativity set. I've been watching for it for years and it's always been outrageously expensive, but I found one on ebay and just bought it. I felt weird about it all day, which just goes to show how infrequently I buy something for myself. Now I can consider my set complete and I'm foolishly happy about it.

12. Kansas Dad's birthday was last weekend and I think he had a good one. I'm not one to get all gushy on the blog, but there's no doubt in my mind that Kansas Dad is the best thing to ever happen to me (outside of Jesus-was-born-died-and-rose-again-for-me, of course). I thank God for him every day and wish him much love and many blessings in the coming year.


We're celebrating Christmas with Kansas Dad's parents tonight to accommodate holiday travels. There are lessons to do, cookies to bake, presents to wrap and all sorts of other things like an eye doctor appointment and First Son's baptism anniversary.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures this week; I don't want to take the time to get any off the camera.)

What I Loved About Last Week (10th Ed.)

1. Second Son's 15 month well child appointment. The appointment itself was uneventful other than the fact that it happened. Due to various circumstances, it had been rescheduled twice. Third time's the charm. He's healthy and on track (despite not saying Mama yet; I think he can and just refuses). He weights 25 pounds and some ounces (65% for weight and 50% for height). The other kids were remarkably good, thanks to the goodie bag I had left in the van stocked with dot-to-dots, coloring books, and boxes of crayons.

2. Geoboards. First Son made a pirate ship.

3. Second Daughter's creativity. This is a ghost she made for me; it's actually "You, Mom, when you are a ghost without arms." I'm not quite sure what to make of that, so I choose to be delighted in her creativity.

3. Second Daughter's hair styling skills.

5. Messy baby pictures.

6. Second Son reading the Sunday paper.

7. First Daughter's reading lessons, which took a dramatic turn for the better this week. Without whining, giggling, complaining, or dramatics, she read. Just read, and quite well. Let's hope it continues after our Thanksgiving break.

8. Our first week without choir, and anticipating the coming week without choir or Catechesis. In fact, we're taking the week off.

9. Our story hour Thanksgiving celebration, when all the families gathered for the full meal. We have such a wonderful community!

10. Dear friends, who watched our four kids on top of their own five so I could join Kansas Dad for a treat - dinner out with another university couple and a visiting professor. We talked about politics, culture, American and British comparisons, and theology (of course) and generally had a lovely evening. Nobody spilled anything. Nobody fell off his or her chair. Nobody refused to eat dinner. Someday soon we hope to return the favor so our friends can enjoy an evening out.

11. The upcoming Thanksgiving, when I have the opportunity to eat so many of my favorite foods, Kansas Dad's apple herb stuffing being very high on that list. If I'm not too overwhelmed by cleaning before the holiday, I'm going to try to make some cinnamon babka. Mmmm...

12. Christmas shopping. I picked a fun toy for my parents to give Second Son (with the other gifts left to choose). We've also picked some special gifts for Grammy and Paw Paw to give the kids. They are so very generous and our children are going to be thrilled!

Have a marvelous Thanksgiving! When I post "What I Loved About Last Week" next week...it'll be Advent!

Missing the Resurrection

Our timeline card for the resurrection has disappeared. Nothing like missing the second half of the single most important episode in history. I'm afraid a certain toddler has run off with it.

Sigh.

What I Loved About Last Week (8th Ed.)

1. Halloween night - We had a wonderful time at Grammy and Paw Paw's house: pizza for dinner and then trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. I took six videos trying to get Second Son to growl for the camera. This is the best one:

Second Daughter as Elmo, First Son as Mario, First Daughter as Princess

Handsome Kansas Dad as lion tamer

2. Walnut bread for the feast of All Saints on Tuesday from the My Bread cookbook - delicious!

3. Second Daughter at choir rehearsal. She refused to go up on stage at first. When she did for the last song, she sang little but twisted and turned a lot. I hope the choir director did not find her too distracting. I thought she was adorable. (She will probably choose not to sing in the concert, and that's alright.)

4. We used a bunch of our Halloween candy to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Martin de Porres on Thursday with mouse cupcakes (original idea here). Then the kids and I delivered some to friends. I loved how they called to tell us how much their family enjoyed them. It was a wonderful lesson for my children on sharing our excess to bless others.

5. Library book sales - I had the opportunity to preview a sale at our little library and came home with about 20 books I want to read, plus a handful for the kids. I also found a copy of Unlikely Pairs (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures), which I think will make an interesting addition to our art appreciation for the year.

6. Dinner out and frozen yogurt on Friday for no reason.

7. A hair cut with a friend on Saturday morning. We went to an academy where students cut hair at a discounted price and it was wonderful! They treated us wonderfully, the stylist behind the academy made an appearance and complimented everyone and the hair cut is great. Of course, Second Daughter was inspired to cut her own hair...so now she has a few bangs again.

8. Last soccer game on Saturday! We have Saturdays free until the spring! Well, except for the choir concert coming up.

9. Planning week 12 of our year - I am loving my planning system and am looking forward to the week. We're starting Pagoo, finishing our second unit of Connecting with History (right on schedule), preparing for our choir concert and I'm starting to think seriously about Advent.

10. My first earthquake! Kansas Dad and I were awake for the aftershock in Oklahoma that could be felt in parts of Kansas on Saturday night. I was scared at first, but it was fairly gentle and over quickly and I gleefully announced, "I think that was an earthquake!" Who would have thought after six years in Kansas, I'd have never seen a tornado but felt an earthquake?

11. A handsome seven year old, First Son. I should have taken a picture of him hard at work on math or Latin or copywork or something! He still captures my heart when closely studying the Lego magazine (essentially a glorified ten page advertisement, sigh).

What did you love about your week?

A Few Ways to Tell Second Daughter Has Been in the Bathroom

1. Her sleeves and shirt front are soaking wet.

2. Little bits of toilet paper are strewn around on the floor, many of them damp.

3. A pool of water in the sink.

4. A pool of water in front of the sink.

5. Twenty or thirty wipes piled in the trash bin.

6. Water in the fluoride-free toothpaste, sitting on the sink without a lid.

7. Hand towels, sopping wet, are draped over the side of the bath tub.

8. All of the wash cloths wandering the house, wet, of course.

9. A baby doll left lying bereft on the floor, forgotten in the joy of water in the sink.

10. Second Son laughing in the bathroom; he knows how to take advantage of his sister's carelessness in closing the door properly.

11. A pile of things in the tub, dumped there by Second Son (who giggles gleefully whenever he has the opportunity to throw things in there).

You will not be surprised to learn I spend a lot of time cleaning the bathroom and it still never seems to be clean. That is one of the prices we pay for the blessing of a three-year-old in the house.

What I Loved About Last Week (3rd Ed.)

Illnesses (kids and mine) kept me from posting anything much last week, but I was determined to get a few pictures up for Monday. Here are a few things I loved about the last week.

1. Kid's Eye Views - While going through the pictures on my camera, I found a few from our trip to Medicine Lodge. I had let the kids take turns with my camera while we waited for the parade to begin. There were about ten pictures of the road.

2. Second Daughter's paten - In Atrium, the children can use tracing paper to trace alter items. Second Daughter doesn't quite understand how it works. She always just colors in the item with markers and then cuts it out. This past week, she also cut it up and glued it onto another piece of paper as a "puzzle." I should take a picture of that because it's adorable.

3. Missing Teeth - First Son lost his sixth tooth last week. He's always so excited. Of course, he doesn't understand that only two more little baby teeth stand between him and orthodontics. Sigh. But he's still cute. (By the way, he's wearing some deer antlers he made while we were learning about how Native American hunting techniques, found in More Than Moccasins. This is the project First Son selected for our unit craft.)

4. Outdoor projects, especially those overseen and documented by Dad. First Son is learning about rivers this year, so he and First Daughter built a mountain then doused it with water to see how the water would change the shape of their mountain.

5. Second Daughter as Doctor to Elmo (sometimes called Baby Felicity)

6. My kids are currently 7, 5, 3, and 1. I just like that. It will only last for a few months before First Son turns...8!! Can it be? 7.

7. Dinner with Grammy and a visit to our children's museum on a members only night to see a new traveling exhibit that included a squid dissection.

8. Second Son waking on Saturday morning and not crying. I could hear him jabbering away to himself in his crib.

9. First Daughter's baptism anniversary - The more we celebrate these, the more I love celebrating them. The birthday celebrations are full of planning, food, friends and craziness. The baptism celebrations are quiet but the kids still look forward to them. They love lighting the candle. Their faces are just as flushed with pleasure when we pray for them as when they are hearing a roomful of friends sing "Happy Birthday." I am also finding I like the little gifts we give. They are (so far) quiet inexpensive, but I feel like they are growing our faith. First Daughter received one of Brother C.S.C Ernest's books newly republished by Mary's Books, A Story of Saint Therese. I think she'll be able to read it herself before too long, with help. St. Therese's feast day is First Daughter's baptism anniversary. She's also a favorite saint here on the Range.

10.  Lion sandwiches to celebrate the feast of St. Jerome, after reading St. Jerome and the Lion.

11. Watching soccer games - First Son has improved tremendously. First Daughter made two goals.

What did you love about last week?

Hot Dog!

We celebrated Second Daughter's baptism anniversary last week with one of her favorite meals: hot dogs and cheese puffs (ice cream for dessert, of course).

Second Son made it clear he wanted some of those hot dogs when they were set on the table. He pointed right at them, made a happy noise, blew, and then panted -- the baby signs for hot and for dog.

Soccer Excitement

First Son and First Daughter were signed up for soccer this fall (and next spring). Grammy and I took them to pick out shin guards earlier this week. They were so excited, they insisted on wearing the shin guards home (with flip flops and sandals and no socks).

Sibling Rivalry

What does it say about my children that the older three fight constantly over who gets to talk with the baby, who gets to move him when he gets too close to the TV, and who gets to tickle him while I'm changing his diaper?

Who am I kidding? It's adorable! I love that they love him so.

In the past, they also argued over who would sit next to him at meals until First Son and First Daughter devised a schedule. First Daughter sits next to the baby's high chair at breakfast. First Son sits next to him at lunch and Second Daughter sits next to him at dinner. They keep careful watch over any who stray from the schedule, too.

Second Daughter Swimming

Second Daughter was pretending to be a whale. She would belly crawl across the floor saying "Mwim! Mwim!" (That's "swim" in Second-Daughter-ese.) Though I didn't catch it on the video, she was also yelling "Pash! Pash!" as she hit her feet on the floor. "That's my dail!" ("Splash" and "That's my tail," also in Second-Daughter-ese.)

Do you like her outfit? She's sporting a lovely top, a Christmas gift selected by my sister-in-law with excellent taste. She found it at The Children's Place. She's wearing a fitted diaper covered by the lovely Thirsties Duo Cover. I have no idea where the sock is from, nor can I explain why she is only wearing one except to say that she often wears only one sock. It's a mystery.

This video was recorded on May 7th, so it's not too old.

Through Their Eyes

I happened to look through our old camera and discovered over 300 pictures on the memory card. A few of them were ones Kansas Dad or I took when we were in two different places or couldn't find the new camera, but the vast majority were ones the kids took when we let them play with the camera. Here are a few of the most amusing pictures.

There were some good ones as well, but they're not quite as fun to share on the blog.

Second Daughter Packs

Recently, Second Daughter has taken to preparing for every journey in the van. First she puts one of her babies in the "car seat" (a baby doll stroller). Then she hangs some bags or, more recently, the Easter buckets on the handles and fills them with stuff. Most of the time, the stuff she chooses seems completely random to me - parts of games, some of the pieces of a puzzle, one play ballet shoe, half of the corn...interesting things.

Yesterday, as we gathered everything and everyone together to make a trip to the doctor's office to confirm Second Son's chicken pox (nothing like paying a $25 copay to have a diagnosis we already knew confirmed), she packed one bucket of underwear (five or six pairs) and one bucket of pants (three pairs). She said she needed them in case she went to the bathroom in her diaper.

She was unconvinced when I said her buckets were unnecessary because I had packed a diaper bag with extra diapers and that we weren't going to be gone very long. So into the van they came, baby doll in "car seat" and all.

What Second Daughter Wears to Church

Sunday morning was a battle. This was our compromise.

Second Daughter Makes a Mess

Saturday was bath night. I helped First Son and First Daughter take showers. When I came out for Second Daughter, I found this mess.

She was completely silent. Kansas Dad was only a few feet away and didn't have any idea what she was working on.