Summer pics

I'm sorry for not posting more.   It's not that I am not thinking about it but that my lack of energy and my morning/day sickness is just very overwhelming most of the day.  Since I can't seem to think too straight lately, here are some summer pics.  And anyway, don't we all just love pictures!?!?! :)

Here ya go:

God bless,
Mary

Summer Pics

 Picture #1:  This is a super cute pic of my 5 yr old!  I found this so very funny!  Here she is looking studious and all yet sitting in a high chair!  haaa haaaa !!! I love LOVE my petite girls :)  They truly are so very petite.  We call her 1% b/c at her well check up this past week-she measured in only at 1 %!  But at least she made it onto the charts b/c my 9 yr old has YET to make it EVER!!!  I am glad God gave us petite girs-so girly and so sweet.  

Picture #2:  Now, you might wonder what this picture is all about and I don't think posting it gives it justice b/c it is really coooool!  I took it tonight of my oldest going into the kitchen and it was so bright in there.  We said it looked as if he was going to heaven!  It was a heavenly picture :)

Picture #3:  Cleaning and cleaning.  Lots o cleaning!  As parents, we are called to instruct and mentor our children, not just be 'their boss' telling them what to do.  We may be surprised at how the outcome may not meet our expectations.  Lately, we have been making the time to  really show them, step by step, what is expected of their duty and how to attain that goal.  This is truly hands on learning.  A big shout out goes to my wonderful husband who has taken a great deal of time really 'being' with our kids and showing them.  Esp. my boys.  Let us not forget how a father has such impact on his boys!!!  (Thanks sweetie, I love you so!)

 Picture #4:  Look at this marvelous piece of work created (without directions, mind you!) by my oldest!  Amazing, huh?  It is a satellite.  Cool.  Very cool, dude.

 Picture # 5:  Did I mention cleaning?  Oh yeah, I guess I did.  This shot was taken from ABOVE, as you can probably tell.  Pretty creative, huh?  That would be my 10 yr old son who climbed ON TOP of our 15 passenger van just to get this shot.  That thought creeps me out but this shot, I really dig it! :)

Picture #6:   Here is another shot from above taken of my 4 yr old little teddy bear man, working hard.  So cute!

Good night and God bless,
Mary

1st of July day

Happy feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! :)


Perfectly hot summer day.

Sun shines strongly.
Warm breeze a blowing.
Birds chirping.

I gave my kids the task of getting a clipboard, paper and a pencil.

Then told them to pick a spot, any spot, in our backyard and draw what they saw in front of them.

To my big surprise, they have been at it for a good chunk of time and that gave me time to get my camera! So, here are a few shots of our day:

Here is a pic of what I love to do-bake!  Not only is it fun for me, but I love to eat it too!!! :)

Yummy banana chochote chip bread-super yummy snack for this feast day.

Hey, Caught ya!

Catching frogs is a must in our family...our backyard, at the park or playground, on a hike...you name it, my kids will find a frog there...

Then my kid #3 loves to catch these beautiful creatures!  These I really like...

But things were to change....and then....just yesterday...we spotted this....

There.  Can you see him better now?

WOWeeeeee!

"Get a bucket!"  I yelled to my kid #3! 

"Hurry!"

Sure enough he did and kid #1 went for the catch.

Success!

Check out our big catch of the day!

He really is pretty cute, don't you think? 

We were really glad it was not this kind of turtle...

A snapper turtle!  YIKES!!!

What makes a playdate even better?  Just before our friends (from our previous state! :)) left, I noticed that lil guy walking in our backyard-and we caught him!  Needless to say, they enjoyed watching him immensely!  Our first EVER box turtle!  Now it's time for us to learn all about turtles...who knows what else we will find and catch in our backyard!

As you can easily tell, my kids really and I mean really enjoy catching all sorts of bugs and insects, butterflies, frogs and toads, and now turtles!

I have a feeling that SCIENCE CLASS is going to be REALLY COOL THIS YEAR!!!

We're off to a great start!!!

God bless,
Mary

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