Hannah's 15th Birthday! Donut grow up!

We talked and talked about what she wanted to do for her party and she kept coming back to just a party at home with a few games and food.  I remembered that my Uncle Frank did a donut game for his girls when the were teens that they said was their all time favorite game he'd ever done.  I told Hannah about it and remarkably she said she was interested in that and then we actually built the whole party around that idea.

The cake turned out wonderfully.  I melted white chocolate candy with blue food coloring to make the icing look.  I pressed sprinkles into the sides and used straws to stick the donuts on the top of the cake.

For food, we ordered pizzas and had a charcuterie board and some other snacks.  I had board, card games, and DVDs in case they wanted something specific to do, but they mainly hung out on the trampoline and just giggled a lot.  They did do the donut game.  We hung two strings from the tree out front and tied on two donuts at a time.  It was a race to eat the donut first with no hands.  It's harder than it sounds.  I promised I wouldn't post pictures of that on my blog!

Luna was the star of the show and totally stole Hannah's thunder.  (Notice she even made the group picture!)  Hannah really enjoyed herself and Genevieve had a friend over during the party too.  The boys went with Brian to play with their cousins and give the girls some space.  It was a good party!

I love you Hannah!  Happy 15th birthday!  Now it's time to take that driver's course to get her Permit.  Yikes!

On her actual birthday, in the middle of Thanksgiving break, I took her out to go shopping, just the two of us, and to the Clinique counter to get face powder and under eye concealer.  I also bought her shoes for her Winter dance.  We also went to PF Changs for lunch, and I got her a Starbucks coffee which she is always pining for even though I hate to go to Starbucks.  Many thanks to Genevieve for babysitting nearly all day while we were out.

Birds of Prey Field Trip

The benefit to being the co-leader of a homeschool group is that you can plan the activities that you want.  I love birds, and when I found this gem in the middle of San Antonio I couldn't resist.

The world's cutest Owl ever...the Screech Owl.  I got a video of this little one blinking with these giant feathered "eyelashes" and it's too cute for words.

We got a full-fledged tour, and we had enough people sign up that we actually had two groups going on the tour, slightly staggered because the place is small with not much wiggle room.  As you can probably imagine, our group has quite a bit of wiggle in it.  

We learned about many of the species that they rehabilitate and when they cannot rehabilitate birds as well.  Our tour guide has worked there since he was a volunteer teenager.  Isaac and Genevieve were at school when we went to the Conservatory, but when they heard about that they both decided they want to volunteer there net summer.  

At the end of the tour there was a flight demonstration which, although it wasn't like the ones we saw in Germany, it was fun to watch nonetheless.

All Saint's Day

This year All Saint's Day fell on a Friday, making it a First Friday.  On each First Friday, we go to Mass and have lunch afterwards with the homeschool group (that I co-lead this year.)  Instead of lunch after Mass in the church, we went to a park and had a party.  

Drew was St Andrew (again!)  Judah was St Isadore the farmer, slightly against his wishes.  I'll eplain in a moment.  Bobby was set on being St. Francis of Assisi again, but when I got out the bin of old costumes that I had made for All Saint's Days past, he saw the St. George costume and changed his mind.

All the children got up on the stage in the pavillion.  One by one, they used the microphone to say who they were dressed as.  I was very proud that all three of them said their saint when the microphone was put in front of them.

Then the kids played games for candy and small prizes.  Isaac and Genevieve were at school during this party, but they helped make all the games the weekend before with the homeschool preteens and teens.

Isaac's class had Literary Character Day that same day and we had decided on the cheapest, easiest costume, Huckleberry Fin.  When I ordered the hat, I had to get two in order to get Prime shipping because I was too late ordering.  So I got two and told Judah he had to use it for St. Isadore because he was the only one undecided still on his costumes.  I rarely will spend money on costumes, typically we use what we have to make them or they borrow something.

Happy All Saint's Day...like forever ago!  (I'm always in catch up mode on the blog these days!  It's probably because I'm not having to sit down and nurse a baby anymore.)

All Hallow's Eve

This year we stayed home.  Brian took the kids out in the neighborhood, and I stayed to hand out candy.  I was not sure how Luna would do with so many knocks on the door and she was still a flight risk at that point.  She loves us more now and doesn't make a break for it every time the door opens.  Anyway, I put her in her crate and sat outside in the cold (Yes!  It was pretty chilly in Texas this year on this particular day.) on our bench and handed out candy for two hours.

This year we had Harry Potter (Isaac) and Luke Skywalker (Drew), like last year (no talking them out of doing the same thing) and then Black Panther (Judah) and Flash (Bob).  The girls didn't really dress up as anything, but they still went out and got candy.

Then came my favorite part of the evening ritual, the annual candy swap.  It's always so peaceful and joyful.  No one ever fights or argues.  It is an evening full of everything I want my children to be giving, sharing, and sacrificing.  It is not uncommon to hear someone giving someone else their favorite candy.

More Pumpkins: The Zoo Edition

This first picture is from after we went to adoration at our church during a school day.

This was a different day when we made time to use our zoo passes before they expire.  Pumpkins everywhere!  The boys all picked out a few animals to go visit and we took a bunch of pictures.

If you look closely, you'll see a lizard staring down Drew.  He came from the back when he saw us at the window and walked right up to look at us and give us the eyeball.

Isaac did nearly all the carving this year.  I just carved Bobby's after he came up with the design idea.  In fact, Drew and Judah also came up with their own designs as well, but didn't want to do their own carving yet.  Genevieve carved her own, and Hannah, as usual, didn't carve hers.

Second Best

One day while getting into the van, Bob asked for milk.  I didn't have any and he asked me why I didn't ever have any milk in the car.  I said, "Because I'm a terrible mom."  

Drew replied, "No, Mom, you're not a terrible mom.  You're the second best mom."

I asked who the first was, and he and Judah answered in chorus, "Mary!"

Melt my heart!

These pictures are from the bank.  The boys love these things where they can put their faces on someone else's body.

Last Beach Pictures of 2019

Oh boy!  I'm so far behind again!  This was in mid-October.

The last week that my mom was at the beach house, the three home-schooled little boys of mine and I went down early and stayed with my mom to get in extra beach days.  Why?  Because I can home-school anywhere!  That's why!

Then on Friday, Brian brought the rest of the crew and my sister came with her kids.  Our family moved to a different condo for the weekend.  We had a cold day on Friday and Saturday, but my big kids were out of school the whole net week and so we were able to stay a few days longer to get in some more sunny days.

While we were there a good family friend who also stays at this condo every year with my mom had her 90th birthday party.  That was on Saturday afternoon/evening.  Her family was in town for the festivities and so there were lots of kids for our children to play with.

On the chilly days, we played lots of games and tried out the beach without going in the water.  Although the boys were hard to convince to stay out of the water.  They'd insist on going in and then be freezing within 15 minutes.  Of course, then we had to go inside because the wind is so much colder when you are wet.  So there was a little in and out action going on.

Since we had to stay out of the water more, we went on some walks and discovered a sno-cone truck down the beach a little ways.  

Eventually, we got too close after scooting closer and scared it away.

Bob, Brian, and I saw this giant pelican while walking back from the sno-cone stand.

My Pumpkins

After Mass, we picked and bought us some pumpkins.  Bob sad he was going "to sleep" on his in this picture, so that's what he is doing.

First Two Homeschool Field Trips of the Year

I am the one in our homeschool group who chooses and arranges the field trips.  That means that I get to do what I want pretty much.  The first one was at a splash pad park in downtown.  We met in the morning and had a picnic lunch together before leaving.   Fun start to the year!

I think maybe this means he was having fun, but I'm not sure.  ???

The second one was volunteering at the Food Bank, working in the Urban Garden.  The boys and I had so much fun doing this before summer began that I knew it had to be on the list.  It was a great experience for the kids again.  We picked up trash and weeded a big field ready for planting.  Then we got a tour of the animal, hydroponics, and aquaponics section of the garden.  We ended with feeding the goats and sheep.  So much fun to work along side friends and to practice corporal works of mercy.  And it even cooled off for us just in time for this field trip, into the 80's.

In front of the hydroponics system in the greenhouse.