Starring Joseph

Joseph getting a little brain surgery from his cousin.

Pausing during play for a cool drink.

Joseph looking fierce!

Starring Anne

Anne with her little cousin, Evelyn, and Grandma.

Lifting weights.

"Planting" flowers.

Anne with the new wheelbarrow.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Mommy (seeming to be singing mindlessly to herself):  Can you, can you tell me, oh who wrote the book of love?  I've got to know the answer, was it someone from above?............Who wrote the book of love?

Catherine (seeming to not be listening to Mommy):  God.

Starring Dominic

Climbing in the "thorn" tree.

Dominic playing in the rocks.

Dominic and his twin with all the little doggies.

Throwing horseshoes.

Starring Catherine

Playing horseshoes.

Catherine holding her little cousin, Elizabeth.

Making sand castles.

Catherine, one of our spring flowers.

Putting flowers in front of Mary statue and Mary Joseph's cross, in the grotto.

Movie Review: Padre Pio, Between Heaven And Earth

I don't know what I was thinking to send for a review copy of a three hour movie.  Especially when I was pregnant and then when I had a baby.  Yes, it has been sitting around for that long!

But, it was about Padre Pio!  After all, he is the patron saint of this blog.  After all, he died exactly one year before Dan was born.  I know, I know, we already had a movie about Padre Pio.  It also was three hours long.  How could this movie be any different? 

And then, we finally made time to watch it.  Afterwards, I could not understand what on earth took me so long to view it!  You know a movie is good when it is over and you look at your watch in disbelief that three hours just went by.

First of all, I must say, if you get this movie, you must watch it in Italian, with English subtitles.  After about 5 minutes, it will feel like you can understand Italian and it won't even seem like you are reading subtitles.  Yep, one of those kind.

And yes, it is different from the movie, Padre Pio, Miracle Man.  This movie dwells a great deal on his relationship with Dr. Guglielmo and Emilia Sanguinetto, who are his friends and collaborators in starting up his hospital to serve the poor.  It also focuses a lot on his reception of the Stigmata and the difficulties this caused him with the Church.  Of course there are also scenes of healings done through him and of his extremely long confession lines, but there was one scene in particular that stuck with me.  A young Karol Wojtyla comes to see him while he is studying in Rome, and there is an interesting little scene between them.  Of course, I couldn't help but notice that the actor who played the future Pope resembled my brother, the priest!  :)   Then later, the future Pope sends Padre Pio a letter asking him to pray for a very ill woman, and then another letter telling him of her miraculous recovery.  Then, what struck me most is that Padre Pio, who received so much mail, told his assistant to save those letters, "one day they'll be very important." 

So if you are looking for a good Easter gift or a Confirmation gift, or just want a good saint movie to add to your collection, go visit The Catholic Company and check out Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth.   They also have many other items good for First Communion gifts.  The Catholic Company is also on Facebook and they have giveaways every Friday!


Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this movie from The Catholic Company in exchange for an honest review.

Baby Brains!

Do you remember the fad of reading to your baby in utero and playing classical music all in the hopes of making your baby smarter?  Well, in the book, Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World, Mr. and Mrs. Brains do that and are they in for a surprise when they bring their baby home from the hospital.  Only a few days old, he starts by reading the morning newspaper and fixing the family car, then he quickly progresses to college and medical school(which he finishes in two weeks!).  The funniest part for the kids happened when he went up into outer space and realized he was without his mommy.  The illustrations are great and very funny.  We all loved this book and will be reading it again!


Disclaimer:  While I was not asked to review this book and did not receive anything for doing so (we checked it out at the library), I will receive some small compensation if you click on the link at left and buy anything at Amazon.

Update

One hour after I posted the previous post, Anthony figured out that he could open the freezer door (we have a side-by-side model).  Next, I suppose I'll be finding frozen goods in the trash!

Anthony's Antics

This picture was from a month or so ago.  Anthony is a very messy eater and usually gets food in his hair, hence the wild and crazy look after the wipe-down.

You know how babies/toddlers get fixated on one cabinet/drawer/hidey-hole for a while?  And just when you can't take it anymore they move on to the next latest and greatest spot?  I thought I would document a few of them. 

Ready to go fishin'!

For a while Anthony was fixated on the cabinet with my bakeware, and every day I would have to pick up all the cake pans, cupcake tins, cooling racks, etc.   Again and again.  Or risk breaking my neck every time I tried to cook dinner.

Got my specs on!

Then he moved on to the lazy Susan cabinet, which was bad, because he was getting out heavy stuff, like waffle irons.  And one day, he got out a giant container of lemonade mix and somehow managed to get the lid off and then he dumped it on the floor.  Luckily there was not much left in the container.   But there was also the problem of pinched fingers.  Ouch!  So to solve that problem I stuck a 25 pound bag of rice in front of the cabinet.  It doesn't do much for the home decor, but at least it keeps him out of there! 

First time in the sandbox.

Another thing he liked to do for a while was get into the Master closet and pull off any T-shirt type shirts that were hanging on the bottom row.  Every time I went in there I would find 20-30 shirts in a heap on the floor.  Finally I got better at keeping the door shut and he forgot about that one.  For now, anyway.

Hey, what is this stuff and why haven't I gotten to play in it before?

Of course, he loves to get into the bathrooms when somebody leaves the doors open and pull stuff out of the cabinets, spin the toilet paper off the roll, mess with the plunger or the trash.  You name it.  One day, I let him be with me in my bathroom as I was putting on some make-up.  I saw him pull some stuff out of the cabinet, including a huge brand-new refill bottle of liquid soap.  Next thing I know, I hear a glug-glug-glug noise and I looked to see the bottle of liquid soap lying on its side, lid off, with soap spilling out onto the floor.  Ack!  Good thing I was there! 

I think he likes it.

Then there are the multiple drawers in the kitchen.  Most of them are rubber-banded together, after the bread got stomped on, and he cut himself on the saran wrap sharp edge.  However, there are still the drawers of the desk, where I keep scrap paper, scrap envelopes, stencils and miscellaneous pencils and such for the kids.  That often ends up spread all over the floor.  As does the basket of shoes, the basket of hats and sunglasses, and the refrigerator magnets.

Anthony loves being outside with Daddy.

Now he is fixated on the trash can and he loves to throw things in there.  Or get things out.  Ick!  This also includes his diaper pail, which I had to move into the closet.  I did not want to dig things out of there!  So now I am paranoid that something important is going to get thrown into the trash.  Like yesterday when Dan could not find the keys to the truck! (He found them, no digging in trash can required.)

He loves to play with this yellow ball.  Or the soccer ball, the basketball, the football, the tennis ball... You get the idea.

Last of all, he currently likes to throw things.  Like hard toys and books at your head!  Another thing he likes to do, which is funny, is climb onto someone lying on the floor and sit on them.  Then he bounces up and down, whether it be on your stomach or your head, all the while saying, "Aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa."

Time to get cleaned up after a hard day's play!

Now you know why Dan did not start any plants from seeds inside this year!

Our First Harvest Of 2011

Yesterday we ate our first produce out of the garden: steamed asparagus!  I did not take a picture, but it was delicious.  All the kids liked it and wanted more. 

Hooray for spring vegetables!

The Saga Of The Trees

At the beginning of March, Dan went and got 64 trees to line the north side of our property, mostly for privacy and a little for a dust barrier.  Here he is unloading some of them while Joseph watched.

Then the hole-digging and planting was begun.  It was cold that first weekend of planting trees.

All three boys love the lawn mower!

Dig the hole, with lots of "help."

Get the tree out of the bucket.

Put the tree in the newly-dug hole and fill in with dirt.  In this manner, Dan got about half of the trees planted.  Don't worry, though, Anthony only "helped" with this one tree!

Then the saga started. First we got called by one of the town officials, concerned about keeping the view of the intersection clear for turning vehicles. Then, the next day, a man from the electrical company rang the doorbell, concerned about the trees eventually growing into the overhead wires. (He woke up Anthony after a mere 30 minutes of napping, so I wasn't happy!) So, to make a long story short, Dan decided to plant the trees closer to the house, so all those trees had to be moved. The next Saturday his 3 brothers came to help. So now we have 2 staggered rows of trees on the south side of our big field and another two rows on the south side of the garden. There are about 12 trees left which will get planted around the house.

Two of Dan's brothers helping plant the trees.

Joseph helps with the watering. 

It Was All Worth It, Or, Sometimes You Just Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

To continue on with the story of the minivan that wouldn't start yesterday (see previous post):

Anthony does not like the 11:30 am Mass.  I spent almost the whole time holding him and walking around in the back of church yesterday, until my fingers grew numb.  And no, I can't stand and just hold him, I have to be moving, or he starts squawking. 

I was rewarded with a sudden feeling of wetness on my left side right before Communion.  Looking at Anthony, I discovered that his diaper was leaking (I probably need to move him up a size, but I'm on the last pack of the current size) and there were wet spots on the front of his pants.  I turned him facing out so my shirt wouldn't get any wetter and tried to cover the wet spots with my arm while I walked up to the front of the church for Communion.  Of course we ended up in the Bishop's line (he happened to be there yesterday), but I was comforted by the thought that he would never notice wet spots on my baby's pants.  Then I walked out to change him and realized that now most of the front of his pants were pretty wet.  And his change of clothes was out in the truck.  Naturally! 

So I got his diaper changed and just left him pantless.  After that we stood out in the gathering space until the procession came out.  Then we made a speedy exit. 

As the gas tank in the truck was running on fumes, I stopped for gas and Anthony did not like that one bit.  Then, we stopped at the auto parts store to pick up a new battery for the minivan, hoping that that would solve the problem.  The woman assisting me asked me questions that I could not answer so I called Dan so he could decide what we needed for sure.  Meanwhile Anthony was violently squirming and being very fussy.  And so, the pregnant cashier carried the battery out to the truck for me as my "hands were very full." 

Was it all worth it? 

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

Dan replaced the battery (which was 7 years old) and the minivan started up easily!  Wahoo!

And we were very thankful that this did not happen while I was out with the kids somewhere far away from here. 

You Know You Live In The Country, #4

You know you live in the country when dandelions are no longer weeds, but pretty, cheerful flowers left alone to grow where they will.

A Change Of Plans Required Today

See the new picture up at the top?  That was taken only today.  Everyone was ready to go to church this morning and we actually had an extra 10 minutes.  Dan had pointed out last night that I had a Nativity picture still at the top of the blog, so he got us all outside and we took some pictures out front, just like the ones we took last spring.  Then everyone got in the van, buckled up, and we were ready to go to church, with plenty of time to spare. 

Except that the minivan would not start!  Aah!

So we had to make a change of plans, since we can't all fit into the truck.  Dan took the older three to the earlier Mass, and Anthony and I will go to the later one. 

After getting Anthony to sleep I had some time to swap out the picture at the top of the blog and post this, so here you are.

Here is one of the pictures that didn't make the cut, but I thought it was funny:

Gardening 101

About a week and a half ago, Dan showed the kids how to plant their own little garden.  So far they have planted onions, spinach, radishes, peas, lettuce, and carrots.  Yesterday they were very excited to see something coming up, we think the radishes.  Above is a video made from clips I took when they were planting.  Anthony contributed greatly.  It's only 1 minute, 22 seconds, so take a look! 

Oh, by the way, Dan is the one who put this little video together.