BamBam grows up ...

... and makes his First Holy Communion today!

Today is the anniversary of John Paul the Great's death and so we thought it appropriate for our BamBam to make his FHC on the date when his patron was sent home to the Father.  As an added bonus, it was First Saturday, so we had Morning Prayer, Rosary, Confession AND Mass.  

LegoManiac was able to serve and String Bean was happy to have a chance to dress up and look lovely in pink!

Congrats, BamBam ... we are very proud of you and love you very much!

We have the best kids ever ...

... this was on the laptop this morning to greet Rick & I:

BTW, that would be a "pen flower" that our favorite mail-lady gave him one day -- a loved present indeed!

... and this just came from Kotch and the "littles":

Gorgeous flowers for this gorgeous (but COLD!) day ... the florist even put real lemon slices in the vase

 

What happens when you have a sister home for Christmas break ...

after her first semester of culinary arts study?

Chef Boy-ar-dee, of course!

Finally .... SNOW!

Last night about 5:30 p.m. ... a little dark but you get the idea!

Not alot of snow, but enough to keep dh home today ... to get the kids done with their work early so they can go out and play in it ... and enough for me to think about sittin' and knittin' all afternoon with a cuppa and a movie on the screen .... oh and the mandatory "snow baking" (olive oil chocolate chip cookies and fresh white sandwich bread) to ensure that the house is warm and tummies are full! 

A perfect day at the Lake!  Hope wherever you are, you're staying warm and cozy with loved ones around!

You can see how much snow by the "icing" on the bird bath



Max ... not sure if he likes this stuff!



Snow baking -- to keep the house warm (and tummies full)

 

Coming in April/May ...

and available for pre-order ....

More Knitting in the Sun: 24 Patterns to Knit for Kids, edited by Kristi Porter.  The designs are all knit in summer-type yarns (cottons, linen, etc) for kids to wear in the summer-time.  So the knitting is summer-able and so is the wearing.

Don't you love this cover .... don't you love the sweater in the middle?  That would be mine!  Cool, huh?  I knew the book would be coming out this spring from Wiley but that's all I'd heard.  Browsing Amazon's knitting books (ALWAYS looking for more to add to my library) ... I came across this.  Was I thrilled!

I'll be posting more details as the book nears publication, but so far this is all I can share!
 

Birthdays: Happy 8th to the caboose!

Today is BamBam's 8th birthday ...   he was born while we were in Austria.

  ... in our family spanning many years, all remember the Sunday we brought BamBam into the world:  we delivered the tyke in the Scheibbs County hospital ... on the Feast of Christ the King, 2002! 

He was baptized on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the ancient church attached to the school dh attended ...

He has been a gift to us ever since!  Full of love and fun and football ... he is all boy and all-loving!

God bless you, BamBam on your 8th birthday ... and may we share many, many more!

Family: Max, the mini

Our mini-schnauzer, Max, turn 4 months old on Friday!  Here's what he looked like at 7 weeks (just a week before we brought him home):

... and here he is at 4 months!

and for those of you who know my dh .... yes, he IS starting to like the little guy:

 dh distracted by LSU winning last night ....

 got a sloppy kiss from the little guy ...

and the kids thought it great that Dad was finally holding Max!

 

Blogs: Crafty Crow's got me again ... and again ...

I love the Crafty Crow as it's a one-stop shop for great crafting with kids ... something I REALLY think is a great idea.  Today, she's posted a giveaway for some cool things from Imagine Childhood ... check it out and while you're at Crafty Crow ... check out some of her other links.  I love the "ribbon spool ornament"!

Enjoy!

Homeschool: getting ready ...

How do you make two boys thrilled about school starting up in three weeks?

Head to a never-entered thrift store (aka, junk shop) down at the county seat and buy two beautiful desks.

BamBam loves his old style school-desk ... all wood and metal and virtually untip-able (a good thing for BamBam) and unbreakable.

Lego Maniac got a "big kid" desk that will carry him through high school! It's sturdy and tough and looks nice. Give him dad's old laptop and he's "sitting pretty".

As you can see, we're still working on their rooms ... but they're getting there! And while we're working on finishing them, at least they have their own study spaces that are as different as they are.

And the best part? I found a great thrift shop for house stuff ... lots of old, sturdy furniture, housewares and other fun things where the store is owned by a lovely family and not too far from home. I can't wait to take dh with me next time (Kotch went this time and we had a blast!) so we can spend ... I mean "save" ... lots of money.

And for those of you who might have THOUGHT we'd ever forget our sweet String Bean ... here's the desk dh and I built for her this past week ... right into a cool alcove in her room with a window looking out on trees ... she loves it (but hates the fact that we had to spackle and paint ... let the paint dry ... paint again ... etc). The sign on the back of the chair says "wet paint" and she was none too happy having to write that one.

Dh will allow her to "load it up" on Monday so I'm sure she'll be room-bound for a week or so while she makes it her own space! And yes, her room is pale pink ... which is perfect for our String Bean. Kotch doesn't like it much, but since she leaves for college at the end of August, it'll be just fine!

August ... already?

It seems like we just moved in and we're already in August ... a month where we lose our favorite cook (dh) to school assignments, Kotch goes off to college and the really hot days don't help with trying to plan school.

We've done so much since we moved in on June 25th ... we've cleaned, and scrubbed, and built, and painted, and cleaned some more, and generally beaten this house into shape. The real blessing occured yesterday when we got our gas grill hooked up to the HUGE propane tank for our fireplace so we can enjoy the "dog days" with a barbeque and not worry about the tank! WHEW! We still have the appliance guys coming Monday to move our washer/dryer into place ... no we haven't been using a rock to do laundry around here, just really poor efficiency appliances left by the previous owner and I miss our washer and dryer. Those will be hooked up Monday.

Then we have a couple of weeks of doctor/dentist/eye doc appointments and shifting things to get Kotch ready for college (leaving August 27th) and dh ready for school (starts planning meetings on the 24th).

So August is fraught with planning, and more planning, moving and shifting and changing and general mayhem till September 1st rolls around and we're in a grove again for a while ...

I'll be posting my curriculum plans over the next few weeks ... for Lego Maniac (5th grade!), String Bean (4th grade, but needs help with reading and confidence building) and Bam Bam (1st grade who really doesn't understnad WHY he needs to be kept back when he really should be in high school -- or so he thinks!).

Prayers for all my dear readers and their planning for next year, and their finishing their summers with a bang, and just generally for their well-being.

God bless you all!