A few things I learned this past week.

1.  Our family is not made to do school, as in driving to and from school every. single.  day.  My 4 kids attended a camp this past week.  Not a typical kind of camp you might be thinking (ha ha) but a homeschool camp where they learn now to write! haa haaa.  I'm such a nerd, huh??? They liked it a lot~!  THis was their 2nd year going to it and I didn't shove them into the rooms-they willingly wanted to....so that shows you that they HAD to like it! :P   Well, the kids were in separate groups that met a different times, which made the Mommy Taxi drive 3 different times to this place.  In.  One.  Day.  Ouch.  Naps were messed up, laundry and vaccuming didn't get done, and dishes and pots crowded my sink and kitchen counter tops.  It was a mess.  I was a total mess.  Interesting that their sleeping habits were disturbed too.  Very odd.  I know it was not a random thing.  I cannot imagine having to do this every day of every week of every month of every year.  Wow, kudos go to the mommas that can do this or can do this.  For me, homeschooling is our primary method of life.  Period.

2.  Playing a Saint Memory Game is very fun for kidos.  Keeps them entertained for a while!  I guess you can make your own and it would be easy to do.  But that means time and I don't have much of that right now.
3.  Ok, so we have some big news.  When DON'T we have news?!?!  So, you know about our baby so it can't be that and no, we are not having twins. (ha!).  The big news is that we are moving.  I have eluded to that point a while ago in some post that I am too lazy to  look up right now.  I may have even mentioned it a few times.  Well, it is official.  We are moving as in moving to a new state!!!! Boy, the most stressful things are having babies, moving and it seems we are doing both!  My hubby and I laugh so much at how sometimes we just invite this chaos-it seems it's been there our whole marriage-babies and moving every 2ish years.  This is just ridiculous.  So, we have decided this move if final, albeit God willing.  We are moving and going to settle there, giving the most needed stability to our family.  It is going to be soon and life is a bit uneasy right now with one contract with a house that we really liked and knew it was JUST what we needed, but the day we had our inspection and my hubby was down there-a very questionable future next door neighbor approached my hubby and real estate agent.  It was too creepy to ignore and after lots of talking, prayer and advice from our wonderful agent, we pulled out.  Again, a trial.  Again, a time to trust God's providence.  He knows what is best and we count this as a blessing that we found out now rather than later.  It was a blessing, even though big chunks of money was lost.  God will provide. 

4. Prayer. 
Doesn't God have a way to bring us to our knees?  Why, yes He does!!!  Lots of prayer and prayer in our family lately.  Again, a blessing.

5.  Lastly, Alpacas are super cool animals.  Check out this pic:

This sunshine girl got to give 33 alpacas a bath, feed them, and even take this one for a walk!!!  It was our long awaited special day out together (and it just so happens to be close to her 7th bday too!!! :)

God bless your day,
Mary @ Cheerios

#5 turns 5!!!

I love all the early stages and ages of life-they all are beautiful, all sweet, all amazing to watch as a mother but there is this one that I am drawn to the most...age 5.

B/c at age 5, life is in its fullness. 

The trees are more beautiful, and so is the dirt.

The leaves are more intriguing, the curves of them, the texture, the smell, the colors.

The wind is not so cold but the feel of it blowing on their faces is really coooooool.

Ice is fun-fun to touch, to break, to crunch beneath little green boots.

Every book is amazing to look at, to be read to, to hold in their hands curled up somewhere...totally content.

When something is funny, it is REALLY funny!  Giggles and all.

Life is clearer, more in focus.

When you are 5 and Momma tells you not to do something or touch something if it is hot, you obey.  Simply obey b/c you know Momma loves you and does not want to see you hurt.

Trusting someone comes natural, easy.

Believing what someone says is simple.  Accepting.

Being held is still a want and especially a need.  Snuggling is a must.

My Kid #5 turns 5 today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

You are a JOY to be around. 

Your smile is contagious.

Your laughter fills my heart with joy.

Your snuggles I cannot do without.

Your trust and obedience is beautiful.

I love you, my teddy bear.

May you always stay close to Jesus and Mary...always seeking and doing God's Will.

God bless you, little buddy.

Love,

Momma

Cake time!

Right now, we are making a homemade cake for a sweet little boy who is turning a BIG 5 TOMORROW!!!

I can't believe it!  woweee!

There seems to always be something to celebrate in big families.  We are always having a reason to celebrate-whether it be birthdays, name days, saint days, etc...!  Always something!

And today we are getting ready to celebrate someone turning 5!

Since it is our tradition of letting them choose what kind of cake they want, this little boy, my kid #5, is picking a chocolate dinosaur pan cake topped with frosting and a bunch of firemen on top.  Interesting, huh? :)

5 year olds are SO FUN!!!

Gotta go....baking to do!

God bless,
Mary

Birthday Baby

My baby turns ONE today!!!

How'd that happen?

Isn't it so funny how we all say that once our children become one year older.  But really, those precious young months go by so quickly.  But with this baby, our lil' Lady, I was determined to slow down and let it all soak in.  I was focused to savor those moments that are so fleeting, so quick. 

Much all too quick. 

What a birth-day one year ago....I am playing it play by play in my mind as the hours go by.  What a glorious day-a gift beyond words. 

We are celebrating BIG TIME today for the gift of her life in our family.  We are so blessed! 

We love you, lil' Lady!!!
Happy 1st Birthday to you!!!
God bless you,

Momma

Happy 6th Birthday to my Sunshine-kid #5!

I failed to mention that my sweet sunshine girl turned a big 6 years old about a week a half ago!!! :)

All she wanted for her birthday were twin tiny little baby dolls and a baby highchair. How Cute!  That request I could manage!

Off I went to the store to buy her the twin dollies.  But the ones I saw, I just knew, were not going to be to her liking.  Until I found these tiny little dolls-they were only $1~ and I was not at a tag sale!!! They really were that cheap~ and I could not resist so I bought her sextuplets-there were 6 different kinds so I picked one out of each.  She was so excited~the joy was priceless.  Her face lit up as she laid out her 6 teeny tiny babies on the table. 

She quickly began to name these babies:  Avila, Hannah, Johanna, Rose, Felicity and Theresa.  

Then her big brother wrote their names on their tags.  It became quite the family event!  In fact, by the end of her bday-day, she generously gave the pink teeny tiny baby to her big sister so she could 'keep her forever'.  This sunshine birthday girl has such a gentle, loving and kind spirit, unlike anyone I have ever met for her age.  She is only 6 and yet she is teaching us all how to live unselfishly.  She did not let those teeny tiny baby dollies out of her sight for the many days following.  She motherly wrapped them each in a little blanket, swaddled them, cuddled them, fed them and carried them everywhere.  I also came across a 'look-alike' Vera bag and so I picked it up b/c they could fit the dollies in each of its' 6 compartments inside the bag.

Sweetness is seeing my sunshine, with her easy going phlegmatic spirit, so content and full of joy on her birthday.  She did not need or want much and yet so content.  How we can all learn from her! :)

She did request a "My little Pony" birthday cake.  We had such fun with decorating it.  I can't seem to upload pics right now but I will try sometime over this weekend again. 

God bless,
Mary

9th Birthday Pics

Yesterday was my oldest daughter's 9th birthday and guess where we went!
It has to do with shoes and balls...

SHOES:

AND BALLS:

Those shoes always look so darn cute on little feet, huh?!?!

Now, check out my new 9 yr old daughter!

It was quite the adventure telling them over and over again to stay off of where the bowler is... I think they got it finally 10 minutes before we left! haaa

I love this pic:

Do you see his socks?  Only a sweet cute 4 yr old can pull that off!
And that cute big guy next to the cute little guy?  Yeah, he's taken.

Bowling!  We got a sweet deal of 2 free games (yes, FREE!) per week per child.  All we had to do was pay for the shoe rentals for them all.   We loved it, had such fun, cheered each other on-we were really loud!!! but, do you know what was louder?  The nasty music!  My hubby asked them to turn it down when we arrived b/c we could not even think, it was that loud.  But, we think they must have turned it back up little by little-it was SO loud when we left! 

And that music?  Oh my.  No thank you.  Let's just say that my kids were like

"What is that?  What are they saying?  Why aren't they listening to the Christian music station?"

But before we left, it was CAKE TIME:

Happy Bday to you!!!
God bless,
M

Happy Bday Dr. Seuss!!!

GO HERE FOR MORE FUN!!!
God bless,
M

4 on th 4th

happy bday to my big teddy bear!
Kidd#5 turned 4 on the 4th!

here are some pics:

If you can't tell...he loves MOOSE!

When he was little, he loved milk very much and even a little too much-as in when we started to lessen the amount he was drinking, he was not a happy camper.  He started with the nickname of "Moo Moo" b/c of all the milk he drank and then that nicknamed turned into MOOSE and it stuck b/c he is a Big Boy!

He is also very fond of Peter Rabbit and that cake was Momma's version of Pter Rabbit!

God bless you, big buddy!  You are such a gentle giant and you love your new baby little sister so much.  Keep close to Jesus all your days -we love you and thank God for you in our family!
God bless,
M

Happy 7th Birthday!

Yesterday, we celebrated my 2nd son's 7th BIRTHDAY!!!

It was Epiphany too, what a great day!

This kido is quite the artist for his age-very detailed about his drawings-esp. his original drawings.  Just recently, he entered into a contest w/Crayola and he won 2nd place!  He was so pleased w/himself as were we all.  So proud!  I am glad that he has let this beautiful talent and gift from God flourish.  His drawing is something that calms him, and makes his heart content.  What a gift to find that out at such a young age!

For his bday, among other things, he recieved 2 new how to draw-drawing books,-THIS ONE and THIS ONE,  and artist sketch pad.  He has drawn almost everything in those books already!!! haa!

Here are some pics from his Indian Birthday party that he requested:

Do you see the teepee and fire pit made from pretzel sticks?

M, L and I helped me set this cake up-they had as much fun as I did! 

I absolutely love to surprise my kids with special cakes. 

Those looks on their faces are worth every effort.  Priceless!  

Do you see those Indian people (thanks $1 store!  you rock!)

Playing with the Indians from the cake...



Happy Birthday to the best and my favorite
7 year old artist EVER!

May you always strive to be close to Jesus and Mary all the days of your life.  May you continue to think of others in your prayers.  May you always try to do what is right.  May you always smile your biggest smile.  May you always be content with life.  May you always give glory to God with your artwork.  May you become the boy and man that God has created you to be- so very special and so unique!

I love you buddy.

Love,

Your Momma

I have a 10 yr old son!

I have a 10 year old!

I have a 10 year old!

WOOOHOOOO!

Happy 10 Birthday to my "numba wahn sohn"!!!

We love you so much and we're so proud of you!

May you always strive to be holy and remain close to Jesus and Mary your whole life.

We love you!
Momma

2nd Birthday Pics!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little "baby"!!!

You are 2 and you do not have a little sibling out of Momma's tummy...yet!  This is the first for any of our children.  You are so special, you add so much to our family ;)

You love baseball....

You love to hit baseballs....

...and watch football w/Daddy....

...and cheer on your brothers and sisters as they play soccer!

As if you have not noticed, this lil guy LOVES any sport that has to do with BALLS!  Of course what did we get him?  A bucket full of balls-all kinds of balls and a new bat and he loved it as does his siblings playing along!

That is your baseball birthday cake-I tried so hard to make that pink into red but it was not turning red so I'm sorry lil guy but I guess that's what happens being baby #6!!!

God bless you, lil guy, we love you so!

May you always stay close to God and our Blessed Mother!

God bless,
Mary

Happy Birthday to my 2 yr old! AND happy feast of Padre Pio!!!

Pics to follow at some point!
God bless,
Mary

Happy Birthday Mary!!!

....Blessed Mother Mary, that is!

Along with everything else that I want to check off my long, never-ending checklist, I am going to add in making a cake for Mary's Birthday Feast day today.  I hope we can get to it!  I know my kids will be asking why we did not make one, if we don't get to it!

In hopes that we make one, my idea is to have white icing/frosting to symbolize purity and blue candles or icing flowers with this little statue of Mary that we have to be placed right in the middle.  I hope we have 10 candles b/c how fun it would be to say a Hail Mary for each candle....a decade of the Rosary!!!

And, I bet my child #3 will not forget to bring Mary some fresh flowers to place near her!

We'll be coloring some pics of Mary today too:
CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Blessed Mother, Pray for us and Happy Birthday!

God bless,
Mary

Happy Bday to my 5 yr old!!!

On Sunday, August 29th, 5 yrs ago....our most chunky baby was born!!!

WE love you so much, sunshine!

You bring such JOY to our family!

We thank God for choosing us as your parents and your family.

Having you in our family makes it a perfect fit!!!

You are an incredibly sweet child, very easy going and can get along with just about anyone.  (Love those types of kids!!!)

You are carefree and not much bothers you.  You have taught me to let go of a lot of things.  But one thing is for sure, you love your dollies, you love us, your family, and you love your God. 

For all this, Praise be to God!!!

Here are some pics of her special day:

Per request:

Homemade chocolate chip waffles!  They were delicious! I am glad she chose them!!!

Waiting to go to the EARLY 8am MASS!!! And we made it ON TIME!

AMAZING!

Oh, I wonder what's inside that wonderful looking wrapped paper bag present!!!

Keeping busy doing her own thing.  Her absolute FAVORITE THING....to play a Mommy to her dollies and that is what she got...a little baby bag complete with all items below... (but not her favorite dollie, Kelly!)

WE also had a surprise with her little friends to come and help us celebrate.  It was so fun!  Dress up, dollies, bella the dancerella ballet dancing, swimsuits and water, cake and ice cream.

What else could a 5 yr old want for her bday!?!?!

SHe said it was a perfect birthday!

That makes me so very happy!!!

I Love you, sweet L!
Love, Mommy

Summer 2010 in Pictures!

I finally, and I mean FINALLY!!! got my pictures on the computer.  Here are some from the summer.  I am sure there will be many more to come as time permits!

1)  Happy 8th Birthday to my kid #2~!  So much for a creative cake...I was down and out with first trimester blues and could only muster up cupcakes!!!  But having a party with her very best friends made up for Momma's lousy wanna be cake!

2)  Spring soccer!  Fun!  There's my kid #1 as goalie-he loves that position

3)  Random sunny summer day picture. 

4)  Lincoln log fort

5)  My monkeys on the monkey bars!

6)  Buddy playing time...

7)  What is summer without a pool and slide? 

8)  Roasting Marshmallows

9)  What is a hike without catching a FROG?!

more hiking...

10)  Ending our summer with a family vacation.  It was incredible!  Here is our youngest (almost 23 months) on a supposed to be 'pony ride' but with a real size horse.  Was he scared?  With Daddy by his side, he hopped up and even said "Giddy-up!"  HAAA HAAA!!!

11)  Lastly, do you remember my last post that included my son catching a butterfly?  (BTW, he is very good at this!  Indeed he caught another one this weekend too!)  We kept this particular butterfly in a special butterfly cage overnight.  The following morning we let him loose throughout our house and the kids loved it!  But it had to end when he landed on the rug under my son's leg and then my littlest son went over and stepped on the poor thing!  But we think he is okay, we decided to let him go after that incident and away he flew.  Each of my kids had a turn holding the butterfly on their fingers.  It was awesome!

...

..........Maybe there'll be more pics to come...!!! :)

God bless,

Mary

Happy 3rd Birthday I-Man!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my I-Man!!!

I love you, big bear! My Big Boy!

You are my teddy bear,

always ready and willing to hug and squeeze and hug some more.

You are such a joy from the day you were born.

You have helped others to realize the power of Love by just being you!

Others are smitten by your look of love, your smile, your sweetness.

You love to be where the action is, where the others gather.

You are rarely ever every by yourself!

You know your numbers and your ABC's b/c of hanging around your big sisters and brothers always.
You are a fast runner and can't wait to run the Labor Day race with your siblings.

Quite frequently, I can find you sitting quietly and looking through books, as as you say "reading books"...of course a sibling is in close proximity!

You are always willing to be the little buddy to do errands with-and you behave so nicely too! (which of course, makes others even more smitten!)

We thank God that He chose you to be in our family-

what would we do without you?!?!

We love you!

Did I say how much I love little kids' birthdays?

(Before the age is older and the hype of the super expensive gifts!).

• I love how giggly they get.
• How pleased they are by just saying "Happy Birthday!"to them.
• The way they hold up their pudgy fingers to show you how old they are now.
• How entertained they are by 4 jars of NEW play dough (thank you A-M-M!-we love you!).
• When asked what they want to eat for their birthday lunch, they ask for peanut butter and jelly! So easy!!! Yeah!

Happy Birthday to my I-Man-I love you!-Love, Mommy
God bless,
Mary

Birthday pics and traditions

(First off, just want to say sorry for the pics not being right side up- my computer is being quite fussy right now.)

Here is my birthday boy...my knight in shining armor. I told you it was so cool!


We have a few traditions that have enveloped over time in our family. This one is the birthday card from Mom tradition. I make a simple card and in it I start off by saying "Oh how I love you...let me count the ways..." and I make a list of how ever many years they are turning of the things they have accomplished or have stood out in my mind in that year. This is usually done the eve of the birthday when all the other family members are asleep, so that I can think! ;)

See these streamers? We also have a tradition that Momma stays up late decorating the dining room for the birthday child. Oh, and also his or her designated and honorary birthday chair. Funny the other day, my 7 year old daughter is convinced that Moms do all the decorating and that Dad's just don't do those things. Smart cookie!

Here is the bday cake for my *now* 6 year old son, "Baby Bear" cake. He loved it! and I truly enjoyed making it for him. We have a tradition that the soon to be birthday child gets to pick out the kind of cake I can make for them. I have a book from the early 1970's that my dear mother in law gave to me. It has to be the easiest recipes to make these cakes b/c my time and energy are limited! haaa haaa. So, do you notice the 4 and 2 on top? We keep those number candles b/c we go through them so quickly. Wouldn't you know it, but the #6 candle and its' wick had seen better days, and I had no little single candles so he had to do some math equation to get his birthday number! What a homeschool Momma I am, right?!?! haaa! :)

Would you like to share any traditions

you have in your family with birthdays?

psssssst...Now the kids are asleep. At least 4 of them- the 'older' boys are at a basketball game with Daddy and soon to be home. I have to get some sleep myself now. Good-night and God bless!

God bless,
Mary