Cool Shades

Showing off their new sunglasses.




Joseph gets a little crazy:




This picture makes me laugh every time I see it, because it totally captures Joseph's three-year-old silliness. He is such a ham sometimes, though most people would never see it, as he mostly displays it at home.



Hey, Mom, what's happening?



I am so cool with my new shades on:

Onion Harvest

I'm all ready for some cutting and crying. :)

Pics From The Garden

Dominic and Catherine working "hard" picking the green beans. Catherine did fairly well, Dominic mostly ate them.

Joseph only ate them.

Mommy, look at the baby watermelon!

All the children in front of the tall, tall corn.

Another shot, you never know how it will turn out with 5 wiggly kids.

Bagworm Battle

Here is a somewhat disgusting post, fit, I suppose, for a Monday. Have you ever seen a bagworm infestation? Our evergreen bushes (I'm not sure what they are, Juniper maybe) in the front of our house were attacked, as well as several trees. So Dan and Dominic went on the attack one day. Here is a lovely picture:

And in case you can't see well enough, here is a close-up of one of the disgusting things. Evidently, the bagworm lives in this little case, and comes partly out to eat (and potentially destroy) its host. If you so desire to learn more about bagworms, go here.

Dominic helped Daddy pick all of the bagworms off the bushes and here he is with his "prize." Way to go, Dominic. He even picked some open to see the worm inside.

Pour a little oil on top of the bagworms and...

...light the fire! Destroy the bagworms!

Sing A Sweet Tune

Two weeks ago today was the culmination of our first year in the homeschool choir: The Summer Concert! We started last fall and our three oldest children sang in the choir once a week. It was interesting to see them develop from reserved kids to ones who loved to go and play with their friends and sing with gusto! Joseph came along, and even though he could sing the songs at home, he never wanted to participate when we were at choir practice. Which was fine. So here are all the kids above, ready for the big event.




Dominic, Anne, and Catherine are ready to warm up their voices and sing!



Here are the St. Cecilia's Little Lambs, which was the choir for 4-7 year olds. Anne and Dominic are in the front and Catherine is in the back, off to the far right. They sang their Litany of Saints, Father Abraham, This Little Light of Mine, and We Are Marching In The Light Of God.



Every week in choir practice, they would sing their Litany of Saints, do fun little exercises, play with instruments, sing fun songs with actions like Farmer in the Dell, and practice the concert songs. I was so proud of them, singing up there on the stage. They did very well!


This is the St. Gregory's Children's Choir, which is for age 7 and up:


Then the two choirs came together and sang Be Joyful, Mary and America (which I always think of as My Country Tis Of Thee).



Here's a close-up. Dominic was funny when it came time to take a bow. He did a very grand bow which was funny to see in a little kid. And every so often I will hear him spontaneously start belting out, " My country, tis of thee..."

Anthony Update

The kids and I took Anthony for his 4 month checkup yesterday and here are the stats:

Weight: 16# 15oz

Length: 26.5 inches

He is a big baby!

A Late Fourth Of July Post

Hey, at least it's still July! We had a fun Fourth of July weekend, despite the rain. This summer has been deluge, drought, deluge, drought. The Fourth of July fell smack into a period of 3 inches of rain in five days. So Dan started doing fireworks with the kids two days early.

Here is Anne, with her prize parachute:

This is typical of how the kids watched Daddy shooting off the fireworks: Joseph, up closer and very interested; Catherine, not sure what will happen; Dominic, covering his ears to muffle the explosion; and Anne, hanging back and hesitant.

How often do you get to shoot off an army helicopter fireworks and get to play with it afterwards? Joseph claimed this one from the moment he saw it at the fireworks stand.

Catherine with one of the paper flags we got at the library:

Even Anthony got in on the fun with a parachute. Okay, this was accidentally staged, meaning the kids dropped it in as I took the picture.

Here they are, lined up and ready for more fireworks, on the Fourth of July:

How did Anthony do with all the loud explosions? I fully expected to have to take him inside for the duration, but other than being startled a few times, he did great.

Anne was the least excited about the fireworks, preferring instead to run about the yard and play.

The kids inspect the loot as Daddy gets it out:

Joseph is so excited that out come "The Claws."

Running through the smoke of smoke bombs. Whee!!

One final shot of all the kids enjoying the fireworks. Despite the sprinkles, which you can see on the pavement:

Happy Belated Fourth of July! It's never too late for patriotism!

Water Fun!

What do you do when it is so hot out that the ground looks like this, besides looking for words in the yard? (That crack measures an inch across if you can't see it.)

Go swimming, of course!

Even though it is a lot of work to get everyone ready to go out to the wading pool, they have so much fun (and it wears them out, heh, heh, heh)!

Anne and Joseph:

Dominic and Catherine:

Anne with a smile just bursting out:

Ah, this is the life:

And when you get tired of the pool, you can always go make some mud:

4 Months Old!

Time for another Anthony Picture Fest! (Actually, I just couldn't decide which one was the cutest.)


Hi, Mom, I'm sticking my tongue out at you:


If I just try hard enough, maybe I can get out of this stroller:

Well, that didn't work. Maybe if I kick my legs and look cute, Mommy will get me out:

How can I pick just one picture?

Mommy must be doing something really funny. At least funny to a baby. That is another benefit to living out in the country: your neighbors can't see you acting really silly to get a smile and a laugh.

A close-up of that big toothless grin:

Oh, sweet slumber (sweet for Mommy, too). The earlier pictures were at the beginning of July, this was taken just a few days ago, when Anthony turned 4 months old:

Look at me, I'm a big boy now!

Okay, Mommy, I'm ready to go exploring. (I can't believe he is old enough to sit in here.)

You wouldn't guess it to look at these pictures, but Anthony has been one cranky baby lately, day and night. Poor baby, he is teething.