Feast of the Archangels

We copied Waltzing Mathilda's raspberries for our devil's food cake

We always make pudding frosting:

your favorite pudding

1 cup milk

1 container of cool whip

Then we poked our devil's food cake with forks.....
Some got into it more than others!
Saturday is the feast of our Guardian Angels,
we'll make angels...
and angel kisses with beads!
Of course we will have angel food cake!
I wrote about my angel last year, read here.
My sweet baby below in the video, is my latest walker!!! (or non-walker) With her cheering section, you'd think she'd be running by now!!
(she's 13 months)

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful to God for my faith, my marriage and my beautiful family,

for my mom and dad whose birthdays were this past week.

For beautiful blooming mums on the porch.

For babies in cupboards

For big sisters who love babies

For wax paper leaf window thingy's that soon, our windows will be full of.

For being on the ball enough this past week to plan out a month worth of suppers and chopping and freezing veggies and meat for these meals. (I feel so organized)

For big girls who love to make pancakes on "Pancake Thursdays"

For big brothers who like to scare little sisters with big spiders!!

(yes, I thought it was kind of funny, that's what big brothers do, right?)

For 4 year old girls who love to paint all the time

For apple orchards....we are going this weekend!

For Cub Scouts (Webelo Scouts) selling popcorn and having a blast doing it!

For all the feast days this week, I want to say for each one, "This is my favorite!"

For my rich Catholic faith that has these wonderful feast days to celebrate.

I am thankful that my husband is able to take off work early today to see a Twins Game live in their new outdoor stadium with some friends.

I am thankful I don't have to cook tonight because of that.

What are you thankful for this Thursday?

Just post it on your blog or leave a comment, it's kind of like a

"Wordless Wednesday" thing. (no need to link)

Feast of the Archangels

Today is the feast of the Archangels, Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

"The liturgy celebrates the feast of these three archangels who are venerated in the tradition of the church.

Michael (Who is like God?) was the archangel who fought against Satan and all his evil angels, defending all the friends of God.

He is protector of all humanity from the snares of the devil. Gabriel (Strength of God) announced to Zachariah the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist, and to Mary, the birth of Jesus. His greeting to the Virgin, "Hail, full of grace," is one of the most familiar and frequent prayers of the Christian people. Raphael (Medicine of God) is the archangel who took care of Tobias on his journey."

(taken from Catholic Culture.org)

My favorite is St Michael.

Any stories of miracles he's worked for you?

Daily.

They are daily for me.

I need him daily.

Just the words of the beginning of the prayer,

"St Michael, the Archangel, defend...." and the icky feelings I feel,

whether it be anger, or complaining, or just stressed out
go away. Instantly.

Now, to remember every time, that's another thing.

I try though.

After I pick up the kiddos from piano, we will be off to the store to get "devils food cake" for us to poke with our sword forks for dessert tonight!

This week is so full of feast days, it's wonderful!

St Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,

be our protection from the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.

And do thou, prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God

cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits that prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

Wordless Wednesday

Her favorite cupboard!

This Weeks Memory Gem

Sometimes I think my first grader's memory gems are for the mama.


"Speak gently!
'tis a little thing
Dropped in the hearts deep well;
The good,
The joy that it may bring,
Eternity shall tell."

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful for oh, so much.....

Remnants of Summer.....a yellow leaf in the sand where the kiddos play all summer....

Last week I went blog hopping.

You know where you look up a new commenter and go from her blog to another blog, to another and another and all of a sudden go..."How did I get here, I'll never remember how to get back!"

Anyway, I saw somewhere something like 1,000 things to be grateful for and people linking up to join in and posting a handful every week.

It reminded me of a couple years ago, where we did this "Thankful Thursdays" thing.

Will you join me for this "Thankful Thursdays" on, well, Thursdays?

Just pick some random things and some maybe not so random things and be thankful for them?

Oh, and blog about it if you have a blog?

Comment about it if you don't have a blog but want to join in?

I'm thankful for the bursts of beautiful Black Eyed Susans still around and still beautiful....
Thankful for the beautiful changing trees, and the ones that have not changed yet,
The beautiful blue skies we've had this week and warm breezes....
That remind of God's Greatness and Beauty.

For kiddos who still love to bike to the park.
For a 4 year old who tries her hardest to keep up with her sisters,
and bright rosy cheeks when we get home from working so hard!
For kiddos who fight over who gets to go down the slide with the baby!
For a beautiful baby who is blessed to be fought over.

For silly boys who just can't put away their flip flops and shorts, and who will only pose silly poses!

For 4 year old girls who dig in the sand with their fingers and are not afraid to get dirty.

(and are always full of kisses)

For the wisdom of a 6 year old, who, this morning said, "I like winter, but it just lasts toooo long."

And lastly, thankful that this Red Snow Cone Juice came out of Sweetie Pie's socks, and outfit.

(I didn't think she could get the lid open and let her play in that cupboard...oops! Thank goodness it was sugar free and she had her nukie in...otherwise she would have been drinking it!)
OK, thankful for a couple more things,

For those "dirty baby straight to the tub" moments.

Thankful for my cousin and her beautiful new baby girl, Samantha Ann, missing her at the hospital, only to see her at Wal-Mart shopping!!!

Thankful we are almost done with week 3 of school and it's getting better.

SO thankful for a husband who wants more babies.

The Last Song

This was a very good movie!

It is PG-13 so not for the littles.

It had so much more than I expected.

I expected a love story.

A teen love story.

There was that, but there was so much more than that.

Greg Kinnear was in it, I should have known he'd have a bigger part than just that of a

dad of a teen in love.

Much bigger.

Great movie, might have to buy it.

Oh, 7 or 8 Things...

Margaret wanted cute kid stories:

Babycakes loves to hold Sweetie Pie, but Sweetie Pie usually does not like Babycakes to hold her.

Usually she cries instantly.

Not today.

"Mama, She's not cryin' at me! Mama, she's not cryin' at me!
Oh, she's hezzy, Mama, she's hezzy!"

(translation: Oh, she's heavy mama!)

After 2-3 weeks of living with our toy room in our entry way, my painting is finally done!

My nice, bright, white toy room!
Now, all we need is some bright art work and curtains!

This always, always melts my heart.

She loves her daddy!

She gets so excited when she sees him!

She just wants me for my milk.

My diamond is back!!!

I look married again!

It's so embarrassing walking into Wal-mart or the grocery store with 5 kiddos and no wedding ring. I felt like everyone was looking and noticing and wondering what my story was.

(I'm sure no one even noticed, but that's the way I felt)

Sweet baby is getting into lots...getting stuck in the laundry basket....

and constantly getting into the cupboards. She loves the bread cupboard, which is in the tupperware cupboard, which is also where we put our aprons. We multi task our cupboards.

This past weekend, we had a wonderful visit with my husband's sister Heidi and her husband Donavan. The kiddos had a blast. Jedi brought homework, but on the way home, he said, "That was so fun, I didn't even need to take out my homework!"

They have 3 cats, and lots of fish and sea creatures in their "Reef tank".

(It's actually Donavan's project)

It was so beautiful and interesting to see.

Ballerina Rosie got to name one of his starfish, "Bill".

(she thought that was funny)

September Apple Crafts!

Every year we do the same crafts, so I've probably posted these same ones before.

My goal is to label all my craft posts, so if someone is looking specifically for crafts on this blog, they can find them...but that takes time and, well, that just isn't happening right now!

It was actually Babycake's idea to use green and yellow paint for green and yellow apples, instead of just red. How brilliant! I've never thought of that one before!!

And look what you can make with all those colors?

Despite our crazy, crabby week last week, we did manage to

have a little fun!

These are the "hand trees" we also make every year. It's all brand new for Babycakes though!

Just bingo dab the apples on after drawing your hand tree.

How's School Going?

Oh, little baby doesn't like mama sitting at all.

These are my legs that she's crying by.

This is where she is every day, except when...

Jedi holds her or I hold her or

Ballerina Rosie holds her or Mary Hannah holds her.
My first 2 days were great. Then the next 2 days were "I'm sending you kids to public school!" days.


One of those "I wish I had time with my younger ones" day.
One of those "I'd get everything done, like laundry, shopping, playing with the littles, giving them the attention they need" days
One of those "I'd be a happy mama when they'd come home from school" days
One of those "It would be better than teaching them at home and being a crabby mama" days
One of those "you wouldn't cry or complain like that to a teacher in a school" days.
One of those "you'd be gone and I'd be happy" days.
Yes.
I did say that outloud.
I was feeling sorry for myself.

You know, if I did send them off to school, I still would not be happy.
I know that.
I know I'm called to homeschool.
I know this.
It doesn't make it easier.
When we choose to homeschool,
our laundry does not get done (OK, you organized people stay out of this pity party)
Our cleaning does not get done,
the shopping does not get done,
without the kiddos there right with us.
without a million interruptions.
(like I "fluffed" a load in the dryer at least 4 times yesterday before finally getting it folded)
When we choose to homeschool, we never get a break,
the kiddos are right there all the time.
See?
I'm feeling sorry for myself.

I had all I could take and ran to Jesus at our Adoration Chapel.
I cried, I begged for help, then, I did that thing where you open the bible and pray it is what God wants you to read and I read this verse:

Blessed be the Lord,
who has heard the sound of my pleading.
The Lord is my strength and my shield,
in whom my heart trusted and found help.
So my heart rejoices;
with my song, I praise God.
Lord, you are the strength of your people,
the saving refuge of your anointed king.
Psalm 28: 6-8

And I was able to go home and accept my crosses.
Accept my blessings.
Because I know having these beautiful children and being able to choose to
homeschool is a blessing.
It is a blessing and I'm thankful.



I'm thankful for beautiful prayers like this one
and a loving God who loves me despite all my imperfections and failings.
I am thankful for Confession and the graces and forgiveness I receive from this holy Sacrament.


Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for us.
(See what we did last year and the year before)
Brownies might tempt me too much, but we DO plan to bake them today and celebrate....after piano lessons!
And before I paint another coat of paint on that play room!

Orange You Glad?

Orange you glad we finally talked Jedi into burning his Lego boxes?

Big deal you say?
Oh, yes, it was a big deal.
He had his room lined with these boxes and every box of Lego's he's ever gotten.
In our room changing around thing we did last week, we finally helped him realize his
boxes are not worth anything and it would be better to have a burning party with his buddy and get rid of them!

Orange you glad my school room is done?

Well, I am.

White.

Yes, I painted it white.

It's bright and I love it.

I'm sorry to interrupt you Ballerina Rosie, I see you are working so hard here, but I must show the whole room!

We changed the arrangement of the furniture and it is so much better this way!

Orange you glad little Sweetie Pie is sleeping through the night

in her own bed!

We had to rearrange the bedrooms to fit her in with her sisters.

All four girls in this room now.

It's a very pink room.

Oh, and that cry thing,

She only cried the first night for 20 minutes...maybe a half hour around 2:30am

The other girls, however also cried,

wanting me to get her out and they were all so sad to let her cry.

I had to rock them and hold them and explain how I did the same thing with them.

I truly think she has done so well because of all the girls' prayers to their angels and saints to

help her to sleep.

I sure wish they would help her take a nap...

Orange you glad I made this super cute barn cake for Mary Hannah?

This has to be one of the cutest cakes I've ever made.

(I've made dragons, dinosaurs, flowers, cats....oh, lots)

Orange you glad the first week of school is DONE?

(well, after today it will be)
And, I am glad it's done!

"Orange you glad?" Shakes for the first day or week of school, or well, for anything

you are glad about!

Orange sherbet and orange pop

Easy and fun.
What are you glad about?

(besides the fact that this long post is done?)