Merry Christmas to you!

One more sleep

Whenthe kids were very little, we would translate time into "how many Barney shows" or "how many sleeps" so they could understand how long until whatever it was they were waiting for would happen.
Well...it's just

one more sleep

until Papa comes home.

More funny business

The girls are getting funnier all the time. I recently found this note that Amy wrote to Sarah. She was teasing Sarah about how much she fusses when her hair isn't just right. While I certainly don't promote making fun of someone else, this was pretty funny, especially the way Amy said it.

Now we laugh about it all the time and Sarah joins in.

Aunt Shelia came to visit!

and we had a great time together!
She brought Iowa geods to bust open
They played "Mary Memory"
More geo busting
We made goo and had a lot of fun with it.

Thanks, Le-Le, for making the trip. We really enjoyed having you here!

While Matt's at the Boy Scout Jamboree,

we are having a demo/redo party here at the house. Can't give details because it's a surprise to Matt, but later I'll have a complete recap.

Isn't it just too funny that Matt is at Boy Scout Camp??? American Water is providing water and wastewater services for 35,000 boys at Fort AP Hill in Virginia. They actually thought he would stay in a tent--but that idea got nixed pretty quickly and the corporate staff have RVs now. Sounds like a pretty intense time--I'm glad to be here rather than there. You know, 35,000 boy scouts he is not responsible for---4 kids I alone am responsible for.......sounds about equal to me.

Took a picture for you all yesterday; it was

on our deck at 6:30pm.

Weather guy said it was hotter today but we wouldn't know--

we didn't go out!

2 days down; 12 to go.

Yep, I built that

This is the bookcase I built for the boys' room; the first of two.

The back is bead board, though you can't tell in this photo.

Here you can see the bead board better

(a new tongue twister!).

The whole thing is on it's side here, so I could paint the bottom.

It is too hot and humid to paint in the garage, so the dining room

has morphed into a studio of sorts.

I have also finished a book rack for a baby shower gift and a picture frame for

our bathroom today. Theo is drawing a picture for my frame.

I'll share that when it's done.

I am loving my new hobby! Learning carpentry has long been a dream of mine,

and I am happy to be working at it.

Watch out, Matt; I'll be pushing for that move to Alaska soon.

There, I can build my own house without any codes or conditions.

Happy Birthday to Matt!

Everyone likes to help open gifts.

(It looks like we have a rare, poodle-headed female in our family).
Here is the happy 49 year old, with his loot.
Notice the kids are wearing hteir swimming suits--
they swam twice today!

For Le-le to see

If you are on Facebook, you may have already seen this, but I know Le-Le is not on FB, and I wanted to show her how the pictures came out.

I really like having them all together on one wall for the first time. Usually we haven't had enough wall space to hang them this way.

At first I was unhappy with the space difference between the boys' and the girl's frames. However, I have lowered my standards and am just happy that they are on the wall, and done.
It took a while to get Marty's photos done and framed, but the gal in Fayetteville found the exact same frame as Theo's even with there being a 8 year separation between framings.

The only thing I would do differently (but I didn't think about at the time) would have been to have Marty's large portrait on the right side of the frame, to make it a mirror image of Theo's. This way, though, I can hang them anywhere and it won't matter. Any more kids and the whole arrangement will have to change!

My Mother's Day gift

Here she is!

I think I should name her, like we always name our favorite appliances.

How about Maude, or Penelope, or maybe Hortensia.

I'll get back to you on this....

A trip to the farm

We took a little field trip last week with some friends. This farm has been in the Gillis family for over 200 years; it was a nice quiet place where we could walk about on our own time and look at the animals and nature. When we were done, everyone enjoyed homemade ice cream, made right there at the farm.

Left to right:

Chas, Marty, Sarah, Euin, Theo, Charlotte,

ShaLynne, Grace, Amy, and Henry.

Theo and ShaLynne take aturn at the saw, while Chas supervises.

Left to right:

Marty, Grace, theo, Amy, Sarah,

Henry, ShaLynne, and Charlotte

(Chas and Euin were into something else right then).

Spring Piano Recital

More Easter

I want a large Risen Christ figure for the mantle and can't find one I like.

This was the year I tried to make one with paper mache'.

I guess it turned out a bit modernistic.

Whether I save it or not is yet to be decided.

Our prayer table turned out nicely, though. The floral arrangement was from my sis, and it was lovely. This is the litlle Risen Christ I usually use with the paper mache' tomb.

This year the tomb stayed in the closet, but I missed the boys putting their soldier figures in front to guard it.

Finally, I have found a Holy Week scene I love in a Catholic catalog.

It's $125.

Not loving that so much.

We're all about being trendy around here...

I keep seeing in magazines the trend to use furniture in kitchens, so we thought we'd get with it when we got our new sofa and love seat. Here you can see Theo and Amy relaxing in our kitchen.

It fit there just perfectly when the carpets were being cleaned.

Yep, we're all about trendiness...

Easter in the "Land of Pollen"

We had a very intense pollen season this year. Here you can see the girls' black shoes after they walked throughthe grass at church. I read that normal spring brings "high" pollen counts aroudn 500; this year the count was in the 3,ooo's!!! Just crazy.

Here we are, all together in our loveliness.

Timothy turns 1!

Timothy the Terrific turned 1 year old on March 30th. He is ornery as he is cute, but we sure do love him and are happy he is part of our family.

He needed this black and white candle to match himself

He thought wet food was the BOMB!!

(ps --Call our house when we're not home to hear him answer the phone. He's so talented!)

Where am I??

Oh no! It's been almost a month since I've posted anything. It feels like a year--this has been a long month for me. I'll try to get photos up soon.

Some of my wood working

This is my first piece of furniture.

I'm pretty proud of it, and think it's even better because I only spent about $8.00 for one board, paint, and screws. The rest of the supplies were in the garage.

It is sitting in the front hall now.

Two Rosary group families had baby girls last month, within 36 hours of each other, no less.We were invited to share their baptism day and I needed a gift, so I built each one a book shelf and added a prayer book.

They looked so cute in pink!

I pre-drilled holes for mounting and included screws and painted buttons ( I don't know the correct term for these)to cover the screws.

Fun for me to make, and nice gifts for them.

Can you say, "Psanky?"

We have been wanting to try our hand a t making Pysanky eggs for a couple of years now.This year I felt the kdis were mature enough to handle the elements of fire, hot wax, and raw eggs in combination, so I ordered two kits.
Pysanky is a Ukranian tradition wherein eggs are "written" on with hot bee's wax, then dipped in dye. The process is repeated over and over, starting with the lightest dye and darker hues each dip. It seems to me liek coloring a picture, but in reverse, because you would dye the egg yellow, then cover what you want to stay yellow with the wax. Then it is dipped in the next color, covering the yellow you did not apply wax to. When the entire egg is finished it is heated slowly in the oven or with a candle flame, and the wax is rubbed off, revealing deep, rich colors and designs. The final step is varnishing them to add a high gloss.
The symolism is nice, too. A continuous line represents eternity; triangles represent the Trinity; feathers or pine needles stand for long life; birds-fertility; dots-Mary's tears. There are many examples online, and they are fun to look at.
We have had some very nice times together writing our Pysanky. One night the girls and I were up until 1am just waxing and talking and dipping. The end results are some very beautiful eggs.

Marty's first (with a little help).
Theo shows an egg before the wax is removed--they aren't very pretty at this stage.

---concentration---
(please ignore that bag of clothes on the dresser--I'm sorting while we switch out seasons).

Pysanky in the oven (this one was Amy's first).

The 4 in the back left section are Sarah's.

Amy's are in the back right section.
Theo's purple egg is at the front left.
Marty's are both red, in the front center.

Mine are at the front right.

These pictures don't do them justice, really, as they are stunning to see and hold.

In no particular order...

I found this very nice basket (with a lid) to put my knitting in, because a certain dog tries to eat said knitting.

I was tickled to find a St. Patrick's Day table cloth that was actually cloth, on sale, at Kohl's. Here are the kids at our supper table that night.
Here is our SPD craft--you know, St. Patrick ran the snakes out of Ireland. Get it?

We had the privledge of meeting the Arch Bishop of the Military diocese at Mass one morning.

It seems all bishops love to take pictures with kids.

The kids made their own "I Spy" picture. It was really great!
Notice that Marty is still in his pajamas--they started this at about 8:30 am and worked on it for about an hour and a half.

Various things on my mind

Sunnie likes to go outside and say,

"Come here little birdies, I have a nice snack for you..."

I think I've found something to sit on Matt and the kids will like.
But it's not this!

It's not this, either,
but I did build this one myself.





Maybe it's this one--

and it comes with this!

So Matt, do you like this one?

(I mean the sofa, I know about the TV part).

Randomness around our house

A sofa I really like, because I'm looking for one.
One of five crown of thorns I made for friends and us.

We had visitors this week...this is Euin, the baby I made the christening gown for last February. He just turned one, and began walking!
Isn't he a dolly? I miss having kids in my cupboards :~)

Amy and Sarah made this cake for the family with the help of a dear friend. They surprised us with it for Valentine's Day supper. It was yummy!

.........Why we always use the sanitize cycle........

Other than that, not much is up. We had 4 inches of snow Tuesday night, to our surprise, but it made great forts and snowballs, and is GONE today. That's my kind of snow.
Sorry Iowejuns.

Something to ponder

St. John of the Cross

"Wisdom enters through love, silence and mortification. It is great wisdom to know how to be silent, and to look at niether the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others."

I read this quote today and it perfectly expresses why I got off of FB for Lent. While I don't think FB is a bad thing, I knew that for me it was something that was not helping me become a better wife, mother, or Catholic Christian. I can always use more help on those.

I had a heart attack at the grocery store this morning

and freaked out the kids

when I saw

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No kidding--Quisp is back!! These are the kinds of things I think about;

like, "I wonder why they quit making Quisp? I wonder if they'll ever make it again?"

I tastes just like I remember it

(which is to say, it tastes just like Captain Crunch, in saucer form).

Of course, the next thing I started thinking about was , "I wonder if they'll bring back Quake, too?" and the biggest question,

"Maybe they'll bring back --Freakies--with the little freak toys inside."

A Valentine song

To be sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you"

Happy Valentine's to Liz, Happy Valentine's to Liz,

Happy Valentine's to Liiiiiiiiz,

Happy Valentine's to Liz.

(hint, hint)
(I'll send $$)