When Jesus Speaks to My Children

During our evening prayers, we did an examination of conscience together as Hannah is preparing for her first Reconciliation.  Brian was trying to explain how Jesus speaks to us to help us in the face of sin, the little voice in your head that tells you the right thing to do.  The kid's responses to this were hysterical. 

Hannah said, "I just hear my own thoughts." 

Genna said, "I just hear this voice over and over saying, 'I wish Jesus was a girl like me.'" 

Isaac said, "I don't hear anything in my head, but when I am hungry my stomach mumbles to me."

I am still laughing about the last one.  Deep conversation over.

Bye bye, Papa Boat

My dad has been visiting us for most of November I would say, even though it certainly doesn't feel like it.  Time just flies in this house.  He has been so helpful and so pleasant that we have loved having him here.  He drove out this morning and we were all sad to see him go.  The kids will miss all the card games that Papa Boat has played constantly.  He played himself Crazy 8, I am sure.  He did some science with the kids for school and did all of Isaac's reading and math lessons while he was here.  He watched Drewy many times and enjoyed putting him down for naps since Isaac gave him some trouble with that back in the day when he was a little bugger around Drew's age.  Like I said, he was super helpful while he was here.  Thanks Dad!    Love you.  I hope we didn't wear you out too much!

I was able to send some of my Christmas presents with him, and among them was the stocking I just finished for my nephew.  My sister picked this one out back in the spring, but I didn't get around to starting on it until the school year began.  It has been my late evening project since then.  Sequins are not hard.  However, they take a lot of time, and let me tell you there are a lot of sequins on this thing.  The picture doesn't do it justice this thing is full of bling.  I hope my itty bitty nephew enjoys his first Christmas with his brand new stocking made with love from his Aunt Kelle.

Happy Birthday to Hannah!

My oldest turned eight today!  That means I have been a mother for eight years (more if you count in utero,) and I cannot believe it!  She is growing up too fast, as they all are.  I enjoy her company so much.  She went with me to Joann's the other day alone and we just had the greatest time together doing nothing too important, just being together.  

Today started off with Isaac and Genna making her a birthday hat to wear while she opened her gifts.  

 Genna helped me pick out her gifts from the siblings.  She chose a set of dangly earrings, a tube of glow sticks, a peanut butter and chocolate dip for apples, and some honey (because she asked for a container of honey that was her very own.)  Genna also picked out a "Fat" notebook to write in which Hannah has designated it to be used to write her sins in since she is preparing for her First Reconciliation in February.  I named it her "Fat Sin" book. That got some giggles.

She loved the honey!  It is so nice to have easy to please children...cheap to please too.

She got a Perfume Laboratory Set from us.  (I got it from the Rainbow Resource Center.)  She has been into mixing random liquids lately, and I thought this would go along with that theme.  She loved it and made a whole set of perfumes and some scented potpourri crystals this afternoon while the table-climbing monster Drew was napping.

Can't get enough of this girl and her smile.

The eight year old girl birthday privilege in our house is wearing dangly earrings.  Her Mimi got her these and gave them to her last week while she was here.  I expected Hannie to ask to wear them right away and I was going to let her.  However, she showed them to me and said that she would think about it and decide which of the two pairs she would wear on her actual birthday.  So I didn't say anything.  I love her rule following tendencies, and I certainly don't want to squelch them!

We went to Red Robin because birthday girl requested chicken tenders and fries and because when I told Brian we were going to Ruby Tuesday's he didn't really listen and drove us halfway to Red Robin before I realized it.  Hannah was very obliging since they have chicken tenders too!  It was a very peaceful dinner and Han loved the lime light when they sang to her and brought her a free dessert.  She's definitely not all me because I always hated that!  I'm embarrassed to say it gave me a stomach ache even thinking about the possibility when I was young.  I am glad I am not so weird anymore.

Her party is still to come!  So stay tuned for the ice cream party of the century.  Maybe that is setting expectations a little too high.  I do have four children to educate, feed, and generally keep alive, not in that order, of course.  So adjust expectations accordingly.

Oh Brother!

Brotherly bliss.  Sword fighting.  Train playing.  Soccer.  This was what I was hoping for when I found out Drewy was a boy.  I guess I forgot the phases the girls went through to get to where they are now.  They are as different as night and day, but they get along so well most of the time.  Isaac and Drew are also night and day, but they haven't yet worked out the kinks to be best buds.  Hopefully, they will get there one day, sooner rather than later.  Currently, the boys each get along better with the girls than with each other.  If Isaac would just stop forcing Drew to hug and kiss him they might just be able to have some fun together.

Right after I got this photo, Isaac leaned in for a hug and kiss and ruined all the sibling goodness.  Drew cannot tolerate hugs and kisses from Isaac at all.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

 We sure did!  My dad has been here visiting and my mom made a surprise (for the kids anyway) visit this week as well.  We had lots of family and enjoyed a full Thanksgiving meal at my uncle's.  We contributed two fried turkeys (one honey beer injected and one brined,) gravy, a bourbon pecan pie, green bean casserole, jellied cranberry sauce (my kid's love this kind,) and seven-up jello salad.

I  can't begin to tell you how thankful to God I am for my family and friends.  My children, especially, are such a blessing to me and Brian!  I love them so much no matter what they do.  Hannah even decided to test this theory on Thanksgiving morning, but that's another story.

I NEVER get all four in a picture looking at me without a funny face or something to mess up the picture!  I am so thankful I go this picture of all four of my little loves. 

 

I am thankful for my girls.  I am thankful for Hannah's helpfulness, her gift with babies, her servant heart, her organizational skills, her intelligence, her beauty, and her charm.  I am thankful for Genevieve's sweetness, her desire for holiness, her joyfulness, her memory, her rhythm, her beauty, and her charm.

I am thankful for my boys.  I am thankful for Isaac's faithfulness, his love for his mommy, his gentleman's heart, his cheeks and golden eyes, his gregarious personality, and his boyness.  I am thankful for Andrew's spunky spirit, his awe of God's creation (all those Wow's,) his to-die-for dimple in his chin, his independence, his love for his daddy, his toughness, and his boyness.

Of course, I am thankful for my dear husband who is my partner, my other half, and the love of my life.

Die Herbst (translation "Fall" in German)

The girls have memorized a poem about the Fall in German school.  I'll have to get it on video.

The weather suddenly was so beautiful that we all had to go out and play in between cooking for Thanksgiving.  When we got out there, the kids all asked for rakes and bags so they could rake the huge amount of leaves that recently dumped off our Japanese Maple.  Our tree is always the last to drop leaves.  This means that all the neighbors' yards have been long raked and no more leaves are falling in their yards.  Our tree still has a good amount. Our yard sort of stands out right now.

We didn't quite finish before nap/rest time, but we stuffed 4 bags and got the majority of it done.

They all had a turn jumping on the leaves to squish them down into the bag. 

Where's Waldo?  Hannah is inside the bag.

Buried alive by leaves

The Flu Shot Party

When I was little I had some traumatic experiences at the doctor getting shots.  To say that I was afraid of shots would be a tremendous understatement.  It took four nurses to hold me down for a simple immunization.  The fact that I remember this means it continued well into the teen years.  Embarrassing, but true.  Due to this wussy and ridiculous history of mine, I set out to make my kids tougher and better patients than I was. 

I started by always prepping them for any doctor appointment, especially those that involved shots.  This involves talking it out, reading stories about it, and reenacting it with our doctor kit.  My mom didn't tell me ahead of time because she knew I would fret, drag my heals, and, well, make her life miserable leading up to the appointment.  This, while she had good intentions, led to me never believing her when she said there would be no shots.  Therefore, I was scared every time I had a doctor appointment.

Next thing that was important to me was to be honest about the pain that is involved in various procedures and shots.  This was in the hopes that even if my kids developed a fear of the shots, they would at least be okay with all pain-free procedures.  I tell them that it really doesn't hurt me, but some people do feel a pinch and that by the time you count to ten slowly it doesn't hurt anymore.  For flu shots I get mine in front of them so they can see I am not afraid and do not cry.  I also have to get blood drawn a lot and I always let them watch me do this.  I still don't like to watch them put a needle in me, so I turn my head and talk to the kids. 

The thing that seems to be the biggest help for my kids is giving them a reward for their bravery.  Our standard reward is a lollipop immediately after the shot (I come packing) and ice cream later that day.  All they have to do to earn it is sit down and bravely take the shot with out anyone holding them down and without crying before the actual shot happens.  They can cry after the shot and still get a reward, but I encourage toughness, i.e. to cry only while it is actually hurting.  When the pain stops, the crying needs to die down as well.  We discuss the difference between bravery and toughness.  Bravery is doing what you have to do even when you are scared.  Toughness is recognizing that small pain needs a small reaction to pain or none at all.  Big pain is a different story, but for the most part they have yet to experience that.  Trust me.  I had two 10 lb plus babies with no pain meds.  I know what real pain is.

All this is to tell you about our flu shot experience this year.  We have all had colds the last week or so.  I had to prepare the children that they may have to get the flu shots since everyone was so stuffy still.  We went through the whole spiel I just gave you all with them again.  My parents are visiting and so no one had to watch anyone else get a shot.  (I didn't touch on this but in the past the flu shots have been the hardest on the kids because so often they do all have to get it in front of each other.  Not a good plan, and I was so thankful to avoid that this year.)  The morning of the shots you would have thought we were going to a party.  Everyone was super pumped about the trip to Chick-fil-A to get (buy one get one free) peppermint shakes that the flu shot was lost in the shuffle.  On the drive to the hospital, Isaac did have me go over a few things with him again exposing his apprehension.  "If I cry when I get the shot, can I still have the ice cream?"  "How long can I cry for?"  "How much does it hurt?"  All good questions from my sensitive, and somewhat wussy, son.  Hey, no judgement here.  I was a wuss too once upon a time.

Hannah volunteered to go first.  We counted by sixes to distract her and I turned her head so she didn't watch.  She cried only a couple of moments and then she put on a brave face for her sister and brothers waiting in the hall.  Genna was next and we also counted by sixes to distract.  She barely cried at all, no tears just more whining that it hurt.  She also put on a brave face and went out to collect her lollipop in the hallway.  Isaac was not so easy to distract.  He would not let me turn his head away.  He refused to count by sixes, refused to say The Owl and the Pussycat with me, refused even my attempts to sing Adeste Fideles with him.  He tensed his arm, but he didn't have to be held down.  So bravery prevailed.  He cried and then cried again when he got to the hallway.  Drew was a total champ and cried only until the band-aid was on.  He was fine before I even picked him up.  (I got mine after Hannah while Hannah held my hand and counted by sixes again with me.  I would have gone before her had there been a problem.  Maybe I should have waited and done mine in front of Isaac.) 

Oh, I forgot to mention that the "shot guy" said they could get the mist, but they were ready for the shot and were afraid they might not get the reward if they opted for the mist so everyone picked the shot.  Crazy!  I would have never actually chosen a shot just to get ice cream even though ice cream would have been a great encourager for me to be brave.

The Finished Product

 I finally got the pictures on the walls.  Here is our new and improved living room!

We love love love the couch even though it is a tad big for the size of the room.

This is the only place the white wainscoting (that I worked so hard to paint) shows in the whole room. We're keeping our old chair for sentimental reasons, at least for now.

We had some family over and almost filled up the whole couch watching my uncle's slideshow of pictures from his trip.  We fit six adults and all four kids with some room to spare!

Happy Veteran's Day, by the way!

Happy Veteran's Day!

 My dad has been visiting us for a few days now.  He has played more card games than you can ever imagine.  He and Drew have been good buddies since he's been watching Drew for me so much while I take the kids around to their activities and do errands that would normally take me weeks to accomplish.

An intense card game before heading to Mass.

Can't get enough of this guy's suspenders, right?  I cut his hair this week and you would of thought I traded him in for a new brother for the girls.  They went nuts over how different he looked and argued over who's son he was that day.  Taking turns apparently would not do this time since his hair might grow out too much while he sleeps and not be as cute the next day.  This may make no sense, but my weirdo girls like to trade off which brother is their pretend son everyday. 

Drewy's boo boo on his forehead is healing well.  He likes to spin around until he gets too dizzy to stand up.  The other day this led to him hitting his head on the corner of the kitchen cabinets and split his head open a bit.  He is a tough guy, but he did cry for a few seconds about this one.  However, it wasn't even long enough for me to think it was bad.  I notice later that blood is coming out of his head.  It wasn't deep though.

 "Happy Veteran's Day!" upside down to  you too!

Comedy meets Saintliness

Genevieve has quite the gift for comedy and saintliness.  Every so often these two qualities cross unbeknownst to her.  The result is countless laughs.

As Isaac was getting into the van he bumped his head on the top of the car.  He started crying his hysterical cry.  I went around to make sure he was okay.  As I was leaning in to give him a hug, Genna says with a smile, "Isaac, I bet it doesn't hurt as much as Jesus dying on the cross."  

As Isaac is screaming in my ear, I did my best to suppress a laugh for the moment, and said, "Genna, I don't think now is a good time to say that."  

"Well, it's true, Mom."  

I couldn't even get out the explanation about why it isn't an appropriate time to say that while her brother is crying because I was trying so hard not to laugh since Isaac was hurt. All I could say was, "Yes, but it's just not a good time," with a smile on my face.

I love that girl!

Mr. Wills

We have another visitor, and the kids call him Mr. Wills.  He came to hunt with Brian and the kids have really enjoyed having him around.  He had Hannah volunteering to balance an apple on her head so he could shoot it off.  Isaac eventually convinced her that wasn't safe.  

Had to capture the complete state of rapture of all four kids when Mr. Wills offered to show off his crossbow.  Drew was just staring and actually still for the first time in his life.

Heights and Fats

This is just adorable!  Isaac isn't tall and wide, he is heights and fats.  Love it!

The Drew Report

Drew knows the following body parts: ears, tongue, nose, belly button, hands, head, toes, and feet.  He may know more than that, but who knows with this guy.  He can stack blocks though.  My bet is he'll be building towers and hitting home runs before he can form a sentence.

Drew has been a more finicky eater since his big bad infection this summer.  He was on antibiotics for so long that his guts were all messed up and he was living on yogurt, cheese, and bananas for at least a month.  This kind of made him dislike veggies once we could start adding them back into his diet.  He completely spits out peas now no matter what they are hidden inside.  Most things I can sneak in or cover in sauce and he will eat though.

He is signing "light" and "thank you" now, but it took me a while to catch on.  His version of the signs wasn't self explanatory to me, and he is not attempting to say the word at the same time.  I think the reason I caught on so quickly to the other three kids' signs is that the signs were in conjunction with a verbal attempt at the word.  His mouth is always closed and he just makes a grunting sound to get my attention, if that.  Stinker. that I love. so. much!

This was our first successful fire in our fireplace.  Successful meaning Drew wasn't trying to dive into the fire.  He loved it though.  When Brian was blowing the fire and it was flaring up, Drew almost had a conniption.  We wen nuts with squeals and such.  Pretty cute.

Being cute again!

Eating some bacon pieces like a big boy.  Cute expression, right?

Drew loves his biggest sis!

Too Big for Our Britches

We bought a new couch recently when we decided that we were tired of having no where to sit especially when we had people over to watch football.  We also moved our TV onto the wall above the fireplace to make room for more couch.  The couch we had was as old as Hannah and was really cheap as far as couches go.  We decided it was time.  

This is an old picture of the living room from when we first moved in.

In choosing the couch we really had a great time with the whole family sitting on every couch in the entire store.  Everyone had an opinion.  Drew's opinion was, "Keep the stroller moving and the snacks coming and I'll let you guys keep me locked up for this nonsense."  The kids especially liked the couches that had buttons to move the seats, but that's a little too fancy for us.  We wanted a curvy "L" shaped couch to seat a lot of people.  We found more than enough of those.  We found the right one for us, bypassing the 100% real leather one that I really wanted and went for the more practical polyester fake leather.  My mantra to keep my head on straight was, "We have a cat and four kids."  I just kept repeating that to myself and had Brian say it to me more than a couple times.

We had one week to get the living room ready before the delivery.  We used the storm to do just that.  I painted the living room while Brian installed the TV on the wall and rewired and reorganized the electronics.  We put a baby gate up and let the kids run wild most of the week which left quite the mess to clean up multiple times a day so I could retain my sanity.  We finished by Thursday and moved out the entertainment center and the old couch on Friday.  Saturday while I was picking up the kids from German school, I got a call.  The couch had arrived, but it was a little bigger than we thought.  :)  Oh no, we didn't measure.  Don't judge.  Live and learn.

No pictures on the wall yet!  Sad thing is you can't see the wainscoting that I painted white except for on the other side of the room because the couch is too tall.  I guess I should have figured that.

Saturday football!  Superbowl party, here we come!

But we LOVE the couch even though it fills up the whole room.  It is super comfy and our whole family plus some can fit on it.  Much fun has already been had on the couch by the kids although I could live without the playing with the recliners. I joked with Brian that I didn't know why I was so excited about getting the new couch since I would rarely get to sit on.  This is obviously not because there isn't room, but because I just don't get to sit much.  However, I have found a few good excuses to sit on it this week, and they are called reading stories to the boys and doing Isaac's reading lesson on it.  Oh yeah, mommy's going to sit on this couch.

I'll get better pictures up when I can get the pictures on the wall.  I need a couple of frames before I do that so it may be a week or so.

Babies are the cutest!

 I know Drew gets more face time on this blog lately than the other three cuties do, but let's face it babies are the cutest.  This is true for several reasons.  First of all,  everything they do is for the first time in their tiny toddler bodies and is just so cute!  

Look at Drew drink his first smoothie!  

Just watch him put on that hat!  

Oh, he is so cute when he sits on the stool!  

Wow, he is eating his snack just so cute!  

Even the big sisters and brother say these things to me all day long.  It just is so true!  Those big kids have eaten more snacks than I can count and drank enough smoothies for it to be that cute anymore.

Drew loved my weight watchers pumpkin smoothies.  (By the way, I only got a taste of them.  Daddy came home late and was wondering where his went.  The kids really loved them!)

 Plus, they are mostly innocent and, at the very least, ignorant of the trouble they cause.  So unless his life is in imminent danger, it is just cute, cute, cute! 

Speaking of trouble...

 However, those big kids definitely have their moments of cuteness.

Genna is still pretty cute too, despite the lack of tiny features.

Brothers having an afternoon snack together, what could be better?  See Drew eying his brother's snacks?

Drew was trying to borrow Isaac's snacks.

I guess I just have always been a baby person.  That is probably what it boils down to.  But seriously, look at these cheeks!  Reason number three...the cheeks!

I drew and embroidered Horton on this romper.  I had planned to also embroider "Speck," since that is partly where his prenatal nickname originated, but I never got around to it.  If it still fits him next summer, I'll try again.

Sharp Shooter Drew!  This guy can hold his own, let me tell you.  He is ready for some action, so bring it on!  Due to the poor color choice, you can't see this in the photo, but I appliqued an airplane on this romper and embroidered his name too.

He stole his brother's cowboy hat since hats are his new thing.

Future slugger!  I was trying to get him in the car when he saw this bat and had to take a few practice swings.

Did I mention how much Drew loves bats, balls, swords, and the like?

Anything that can cause major destruction is high on this guy's list.  He's so very different from my sensitive soul, Isaac, but they do both love a good sword fight.

Genevieve so loves her baby brother.  She treasures every moment, as do I, when he sit still long enough for her to sneak a hug or kiss or take a picture with him.

This picture is a shout out to our dear friend and faithful blog follower, Jeff, who sent the children these adorable Thomas tables and chairs to color on rainy days.  Drew has enjoyed having something his own size to sit in too.

I'm a winner!

Guess what I won!!!  I actually won the raffle this year at the Carnival for Life for the baby quilt.  And guess what lucky little guy gets a new quilt out of the deal.  I think he likes it!

Best part is the reverse side with the light houses that match Drewy's nursery!

Edible Science

Last week we made a pizza to illustrate the four layers of the earth.  We labelled them with toothpicks and sticky notes.  Then they ate their experiment for lunch.

All My Little Saints

  The kids had two opportunities to wear their saint costumes, once at the parish Carnival for Life and once at our annual homeschool All Saints party.  I have to confess failure of getting good pictures of my sweeties this year because it seems we were always going to be late if I stopped to try to get a picture of them all. Let me introduce my little saints first.

Genevieve was Saint Anne, mother of Mary. 

This is before I made her cape to go with it.

Isaac was Blessed Jose Sanchez.  He chose this because of the Holy Heros Glory Stories we have, but you may know him from the movie For Greater Glory.  He was the young boy who was martyred.

I put the Cristeros' flag on his poncho and hat so people would know he was no ordinary cowboy.

Drewy was St. Juan Diego for one of the festivities, at least.  On the way to the All Saint's party Drew got carsick all over his costume.  I can't tell you how much that hurt since I thought his costume was the coolest.

Hannah, as always, picked an obscure saint.  She was St. Melangell.  She carries a rabbit because in the story Hannah read about her she saves a rabbit from some hunters.  This is somewhat ironic since her brother, Isaac, wants so desperately to be a hunter and fisher.

 I made these costumes mostly from scratch.  St. Anne's costume was made with a simple tunic, a basic cape, and a doll sling that helped to carry her baby, Mary.  She also borrowed a shawl for her head covering from my closet.  Blessed Jose Sanchez's costume was a collared shirt and pants, with a poncho made from one of dad's old shirts, a cowboy hat and stick horse.  I made the flag with felt pieces and printed pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the other part that is normally on the Mexican flag sewed on with plastic over it.  St. Juan Diego's costume was a made by reverse applique of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  To make the applique, I used a transfer pencil to trace the outline of Our Lady of Guadalupe onto white fabric.  Then I used fabric markers to color it in as close to the original as possible.  I added some flowers to the bottom.  For St. Melangell's costume was a simple tunic with a pocket for the rabbit and a short head covering sewn from a piece of white fabric.

Then I had the extreme privilege of making some pieces for costumes for some dear friends of ours.  I made Elizabeth Anne Seton's bonnet and cape from black felt so that it wouldn't flop down too much and to eliminate hemming.  The bonnet was made from a circle of fabric that I cut using a winter hat to gauge the size.  To make the cape meet in the middle I cut it twice as long as Genna's cape and gathered it a ton after sewing a running stitch and pulling it.  Then I made St. Kateri's Indian headband with black braids.  We had the headband from an old Thanksgiving project.  I sewed a piece of felt to make a cap inside of it since this cutie has lost her hair to chemo.  Then the girls helped me cut a ton of yarn to make the braids from.  I sewed them inside the headband.

Genna tried on the costume for me so I could trim it up.

Here's the real Elizabeth Anne Seton with St. Melangell.

I love this picture.  She is a dead ringer for St. Elizabeth Anne Seton, right?

Here's St. Kateri.  I can't tell you how happy it made me to give her braids.  She has blessed do many including our family, and I was happy to return the favor even if just a tiny bit.

I also made the shield accessory for their oldest brother, although it wasn't originally for the Saint costume.  It was part of the boys' birthday gifts.  I made this shield and a Spartan shield.

Funny thing, St. Kateri won one of the costume contests.  The other winners were St. Clare of Assisi and St. Kateri's brother, Blessed Emil Kapaun.

 And now you may see why it took me so long to get this up on the blog.  Lots of pictures and details!

All the saints after Mass and the procession of saints.  Then they were off to eat pizza and gather candy at the saint stations where they learn prayers of the great saints.