Birthday Time!

Friday was Nana's birthday. She turned 75! She visits about once a week and always enjoys fixing her first grand daughter's hair.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Pier-Jérôme turned four on Saturday! He had a weekday lunch joint celebration with Nana and Memere and Pepere came to celebrate with him on the weekend. Here he is with his remote control monster truck which Nana presented to him.

Nana wanted him to be born on her birthday, but he wanted his very own day, alas, his arrival happened the day after her birthday.
Happy Birthday to my sweet, snuggly blondie boy!

Separated at Birth?

When our little ones watch TV, one of their favorites is Charlie and Lola. I sheepishly admit that I find it a bit charming, too. Lola can be a bit spoiled and occasionally a teensy bit obnoxious, but her brother Charlie takes such good care of her. Our boys think that Lola bears a striking resemblance to their sister, Elaina. They take good care of her just like Charlie, too!

Elaina Helps Out

This is the way we wash the floor...
Daddy heard some rustling in the bathroom and was surprised to find that Elaina had taken to washing up the floor with a baby wipe. I guess a girl has to clean! No one here is complaining. Cheerful help is hard to find!

Our preview of Storyland

We planned our trip to Storyland on the Friday before Father's Day. We ended up calling it our "Storyland Sampler" because we only had a few hours there. First, we got a bit of a late start. Then Maximilian had tummy trouble on the way up. He insisted that he would be fine, so we stopped in North Conway for some seltzer for his tummy. Daddy remembered reading that if we arrive after 2 o'clock, we receive free passes to return again for a full day later in the season. Woo hoo!

Three hours was just right and Maximilian was just fine because the first two rides he went on was a tilt-a-whirl and a roller coaster. This park is just so gentle as far as theme parks go. It is really geared toward younger ones. For an amusement park, it is reasonably priced. Especially considering the fact that admissions were $5 off as well for customer appreciation day, plus under 3 receive free admission. Pier-Jérôme was still three on the day we went. So it wasn't the biggest budget buster.

Everyone is eagerly anticipating our next visit later this summer.


This ride was the new Flying Fish. I was waiting in line with Julian, Timothy, and Maximilian while Daddy stayed with Pier-Jérôme and Elaina. Just as it was our turn to enter the ride, I noticed that Pier-Jérôme was in tears. Daddy let me know that the tears were his change of heart. He suddenly wanted to ride as well. I motioned for him to come along when the ride attendant told me that neither Maximilian or Pier-Jérôme met the height requirement to ride without an adult and all three of us could not go together. What to do? Before I could speak, dear Maximilian "offered it up." We did not even ask, he simply said that Pier-Jérôme could go instead. This was such a special thing for Maximilian to do. It is really hard to think of others before yourself when you are just five-going-on-six. We were so pleased with him. Daddy told him that he set a beautiful example for not just his siblings, but all of the little girls and boys in line behind us.


Here is Maximilian with one of his favorite things. A frog!

Just a bit of what we have been up to...

I am a master procrastinator. I have been procrastinating posting to my blog. Today I was procrastinating another project by working on my blog. Just to catch up, here begins my blogging blitz.

After the weather turned warm this spring, temperatures dropped and it felt like winter again. So we put on our winter duds one more time. Since we are dressed in our Sunday best for Holy Mass, I often try to snap a few photos of our Sweet Treasures before they dash into the house and change into Sunday-Day-of-Rest-lounging/playing clothing. On this day, I could only catch our blondies, Pier-Jérôme and Elaina to snap their photo.















As soon as the warm weather was here for a good long time, our family took a Sunday afternoon trek on the new bike trail in our hometown. We were joined by Julian's Godmother's sister, father and mother. (Does that make them GodAunt, and GodGrandparents?). GodGrandfather rolled in his wheelchair, but decided to trade wheels with Timothy for a jaunt.

This was our first baseball season that our little guys played on teams. At one of the games, Memere presented us with a book titled Look What You Can Make With Paper Plates. Timothy could not wait to get started that he did not even change out of his uniform.

Baseball was really fun for our guys, but it did not start out that way for all of them. Julian was a bit discouraged when he would strike out in the early part of the season. By the end of the season though, his bat seemed to find the ball and he felt so much more confident and encouraged.

Summer Geography

"Look, Mom, my cracker looks like our state." said Timothy. I could not disagree. Can you tell which state we call home?

I needed to read this today.

I have been feeling that I am not accomplishing all that I wanted to accomplish these days.

This post from Donna Howey's beautiful Moments Like These Blog really spoke to me.

Indeed...

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

HT's to the Dublin Girls: Dawn and Alice

savor

Since we usually eat three meals each day, plus an occasional snack or treat, preparation for such takes a little chunk of our days. Certainly gives one something to blog about. To that end, I have decided to share my kitchen blog.

Sometimes our meals are thrown together at the last second. Sometimes they are served completely by the older three boys. Much of the time Daddy cooks - he's pretty good! Mommy plans and preps and sometimes cooks, too.


My kitchen posts have been even more sporatic than this blog, however, if I am going to post at all, I may as well share. Feel free to comment and leave your kitchen tips and hints - I am always open to reading them.

Catholic Homeschooling Blog Directory

Esther has a Catholic Homeschooling Blog Directory. Visit her site to include your blog in her directory.