The Superhero

Superman Joseph, with his trusty cape, is ready to save the world!

Superman is all tuckered out and the cape becomes a blanket once more.

Some of Our Current Spring Flowers

The elegant irises that smell so wonderful.

Lovely lilacs, also with a sweet scent.

Catherine with a little bouquet of those "snowball things" that come off a tree, the name of which I do not know.

Some pretty wildflowers growing out in the field, name also unknown.

We also have lots of random tiny wildflowers growing in our yard, since Dan has not yet had to mow.  I love the fact that we no longer "need" to have that homogeneous, perfectly green yard now that we no longer live in the suburbs.  Our yard here in the country is so much more interesting.

A Glorious Easter Day!

Easter baskets!

Anthony got his first taste of jellybean.  Do you think he liked it?

The family after Easter morning Mass.

Catherine and Anne after the Easter egg hunt at our church.

Catherine, Dominic, Anne, and Joseph pose with the Easter Bunny.

Easter dinner:  Ham, Parmesan and Chive Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Asparagus, and Rolls.  The asparagus and chives were fresh out of the garden.  The corn was from last year's garden!  The kids kept begging for more asparagus, if you can believe it.

We had 3 or 4 Easter egg hunts that afternoon.  Empty eggs, of course.

Those silly twins!

A Joseph close-up.

Anthony wasn't quite sure what to do with the eggs, until he figured out that you could break them in half.

Catherine hunting in the grotto for Easter eggs.

Happy Easter to you all!

First Tick Of The Season Award Goes To...

...Anthony Brungardt

Guess What I Can Do Now?

I can go down the stairs to the basement on my tummy!

My mommy is too nervous to take pictures of my new accomplishment.

So you'll have to be content with these.

Anthony has also just learned how to point, which is really cute.  Not so cute is when I caught him trying to put a used, wet diaper into the freezer!  Yuck!

Easter Egg Extravaganza

The twins practiced patience with a smile.

Catherine checking on Joseph's egg.

Anthony was entertained (for a while anyway) by this bunny.

Our setup for coloring Easter eggs. 

After we dyed the eggs and they dried, I let the kids decorate them with some special food coloring markers.  They spent a very long time decorating their eggs.

Catherine was proud of her yellow-on-yellow egg.

Look, Anthony is still happy!

Joseph came up with some interesting eggs.  Here is one.

Anne had a lot of fun doing this project.

Catherine showing Anthony one of her eggs.  He had just about reached his limit for Easter eggs.

Don't look yet, Mom!

We dyed and decorated 25 hardboiled eggs.  Would you believe that on Easter Sunday the kids and I ate 18 of them?  I only ate two eggs.  They even ate them for breakfast.  They ate the rest of them yesterday at lunch.  I guess I'll have to do more next year.  I don't think Dan got a single one.

Holy Week at Our House

Since we can arrange our school how we like, I decided to have half a week of school during Holy Week and the other half this week.  Somewhat of a spring break for us.  So on Holy Thursday and Good Friday we did not have any formal school, which was nice.  We could focus on the second half of Holy Week!  I thought I would write down what we did so I could be one step ahead next year. 

Holy Thursday:  I read to the kids while they colored in some neat Stations of the Cross coloring books, which I got from The Catholic Company.  They are produced by Pauline Books and Media.  The kids all loved coloring in these books, even the boys.  I read the story of the Passover from the Old Testament, then the story of The Last Supper from the New Testament, both from our children's Bible.  Then I read The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith, by Josephine Nobisso, which is a great book.  I also finished reading  Celebrating Lent (St. Joseph Picture Book), by Jude Winkler.  We also listened to a Gregorian Chant For Kids CD.  Dan took Catherine, Dominic, and Anne to the Holy Thursday Mass in the evening.  They did well, but we were glad we kept Joseph and Anthony at home as Dan and the kids did not get home until just before 9:00. 

Good Friday:  The kids again colored in their Stations of the Cross books, while I read to them from the children's Bible, going from the Agony in the Garden through the Crucifixion.  We listened to "At The Cross Her Station Keeping" from the Catholic Marian Classics Vol. VI CD, which is a nice CD made by Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers.  Dan came home early and we all went to the living stations of the cross done by the youth group at our parish.  Nicely done and the kids liked it.  I took the older three kids to the Good Friday service.  They were anxious to kiss the cross and they did well, although Dominic fell asleep during the homily.  :)  After the kids went to bed, Dan and I watched The Passion of the Christ (Widescreen Edition), which is difficult to watch at times, but oh, so good.  It will be more than a few years before the kids can watch that!

Holy Saturday:  This year my birthday fell on Holy Saturday, so we had a birthday party at lunchtime. 

In the afternoon, we colored Easter eggs (pictures still to come) and talked about Jesus in the tomb, and anticipated the Resurrection.  We did not take any of the kids to the Easter Vigil, as it did not even start until 8:00.  Sometime it will be nice to take them to that, but not any time soon!  I also wanted to make Resurrection Cookies, but I'll file that one away for another year. 



Yet to come:  Our celebration of Easter!

Did You Know?

The earliest Easter can be is March 22nd and the latest Easter can be is April 25th.  I was curious to find out this year because my birthday has never fallen in Lent before.  Yes, today is my birthday! 

I got the best birthday gift ever this morning.  Dan kept all the kids at home and I got to go shopping for some new clothes for myself!  By myself!!  It was great.  I felt guilty for not even looking at the clearance racks for the kids, but only for a minute.  :)  Then, when I got home, Dan and the kids had cleaned the kitchen, floor included, and we had birthday cake (I didn't make it!) and cards after lunch.  Thank you to my dear family!

We spent time this afternoon coloring Easter eggs (pictures later) and we are going to go out to eat for dinner.  What a wonderful birthday I am having!

Sandbox Woes

Oh, no, here comes Anthony!

He took my bulldozer.

Now he's sitting on me.

I don't like this!

Go away!

Okay, fine, I'm outta here.

I'll go play with my big sister, Catherine.  She likes to share with me.

It's all mine!

Starring Anthony

Buckethead!

Anthony with his cousin, Clara, at their joint birthday party at Grandma's house.

Here comes trouble!

Starring Joseph

Joseph getting a little brain surgery from his cousin.

Pausing during play for a cool drink.

Joseph looking fierce!