Pumpkins

 Gianna and Mom working on her pumpkin.

 What is that slimy stuff?

 The boys were very diligent workers.

I don't think Blase's pumpkin likes people looking at him. 

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 I'm smilin' and I know it.....

 A picture worth a million words.  Stephen tends to have those kind of pictures.

 See me.  See me look like my pumpkin.

 Cute chocolate covered cheeks on one and rosy orange cheeks on the other.

 Looks like a great pumpkin gathering.

Spoooooky

Normal

Normal is just a setting on the dryer.

I read this on Facebook this week.  Yes, normal is just a setting on the dryer.  In all honesty we have been what I would call normal.  No cute pictures to post, no new stories to share, nothing of grave importance.  We have been normal.

We have been busy though.  School and normal stuff (see there's that word again).  Some wonderful person gave us three boxes of tomatoes so I will be canning tomatoes tomorrow - oh, I guess its today already.  We are hosting a small get together for some friends here at our house on Saturday.  We are patiently waiting for that day to come.  I am pretending like I am sewing costumes for All Saints Day, but all I've managed to do is dream about them and iron the material.  I still try to get a half hour to an hour worth of my schooling done in the evenings.  Twice a week I listen in to essential oil training classes or webinars. All just normal stuff in our lives, routine it seems. Ok, I guess none of that is really normal by most standards.  Perhaps I should say "We have been abnormal."

Oh, I guess something not so normal happened.  I killed Pete.  Yes, poor Pete is in fishy heaven now.  I wasn't even thinking about the water and, being the good person I am, cleaned his fish tank.  I filled up with our tap water, because that's what I did at the last house (old habits die a lot harder than fish!).  Well, our tap water killed poor Pete.  I should have used the filtered water.  Makes me wonder about what that tap water is doing to us!!  I have promised Stephen another fish.  You will have to stand by while we locate a fish that fits his needs.  We already have a name picked out, if it sticks.  Oh the suspense is going to get to you, huh!?!?!

Brech Earl spent last weekend in South Dakota with Darren.  He came home a happy, tired boy.  Its amazing how your kid can be gone for only 4 days, but when he returns you notice how old he has gotten in those 4 days.  I still look at him and wonder if that's the same kid that left with his daddy.  Gianna is happy to have her buddy home.  She was lost without Brech and couldn't sleep at night since her daddy was gone.  Darren puts Gianna in her crib every night.  I guess just having that part of her routine missing was enough to mess up both of our sleep schedules.

Normal is just a setting on the dryer.  Unless abnormal has become the norm.

Italy

The kids (and I) are taking part in a Tour of Countries with the local Catholic homeschool group.  We had our first tour today.  This month's country was Italy.  I picked the economy, money, and physical geography of Italy for the kids to learn about.  We made these displays for the tour and (unknown to us until today) gave a quick talk on them.  The poor boys were quite worried because I told them they wouldn't have to do any talking.  I guess I was wrong (for the first time ever - ha ha).

 Cormac and Rex helped me with this display.  While they couldn't remember any of the information, they did help pick paper colors and write in the money amounts for me.  The books, egg, and rosary were from Italy so we had them on display.

 Stephen did a display on the euro, which is the official money of Italy.  We are quite versed on euro and its design now.  The money beside the computer is what Darren brought back with him from his Italy trips.  We used the computer because we found a neat interactive program about the coins.  We also gave some play money to each child who wanted some.  We gave out a copy of each coin and the bank notes from 10 to 500.  I am glad to say I won't be cutting anymore out.  Those little coins were a pain to trim.

 Blase's display was by far the best one in our family.  He did a great job.  The first thing we did was get this wonderful cardboard chunk from Sam's Club for free.  Then we bought a physical map of Italy and decided to make it a raised relief type map.  We used packing peanuts glue together then glued to the cardboard to give Italy its mountain ranges.  It turned out better than I had expected.  Blase did the positioning and I did the map gluing.  It was a joint effort!  We then put toothpicks in with sticky note flags on the ends of them.  Blase decided what parts of Italy he wanted to point out on the map.  For instance - #1 flag was Mont Blanc the tallest mountain half in Italy and half in France.  He labelled the three largest cities, the three volcanoes, the two independent states within Italy (Vatican City and San Marino), the Po River, Venice, and the tallest mountain completely in Italy.  I printed off a collection of maps he could choose from.  He picked the precipitation amounts (we also did climate), the size of Italy compared to the USA, and the physical regions of Italy.  He did really, really good answering the questions I asked him in front of everyone.

This is a a somewhat close up of his map.

Next month we are studying Hungary.  I picked the same three topics so we could just continue focusing on the same type of information.  Look for pictures of Hungary next month!!

PE for the Day

The end of PE was quickly followed by a confident "TA-DA" and a ton of giggles.

The Final Apple Count

 This is what made it past the hungry kids and into jars:
Apple jelly - 6 pints, 3 -12 oz. jars, 5 -8 oz. jars
Spiced apple jelly - 5 -8 oz. jars
Apple butter - 8 -12 oz. jars, 9 -8 oz. jars
Apple maple jam - 3 pints, 11 -8 oz. jars, 4 -12 oz. jars
Crab apple jelly - 2 pints, 3 -12 oz. jars, 3 -8 oz. jars
Brandied apples - 11 pints
Pickled crab apples - 4 quarts, 7 pints
Plain applesauce - 30 quarts
Cinnamon spiced applesauce - 9 quarts
Apple pie filling - 35 quarts

That is just what made the water bather.  We probably ate 6 or 7 quarts of applesauce before I canned it.  There were tons of apples being consumed by the boys.

 One lucky apple became a school project for Brech Earl.

 Oh he's adorable!!

Serious work making clove apples.

Can You Hear It??

Can you hear me singing and see me dancing??

This was the last box of apples. 

These are the last three apples. 

This is the apple dumpling I made.

I still have a bit of juice left to make into jelly, but other than that I am done peeling, coring, chopping, or anything else apples!!!!  YIPPEE!!

Year of Faith

The Year of Faith has started for the Catholic Church.  Our family is adding another prayer to our nightly family prayers.  It is the "Prayer for a Generous Faith" by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Lord, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve You as You deserve;

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not to heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labor and to ask for no reward,

save that of knowing that I do Your will.

Amen.

I am also going to read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church this year.  I am hoping that Darren and I can spend some time talking about what I am reading.  The boys already do a bunch of catechism for school so I will not add any more work to their day.  Overall, I think this year we will focus on increasing our faith in God.  He is taking care of us and we should trust in His plan for us.  I have to admit that having faith in God's plan for us is sometimes hard for me.  I want to know NOW if our dreams will ever become a reality.  Will there be another move?  Will we be moving one step closer or two steps back from our desires?  All questions I want answers to so I can plan the future.  This may be a good year to focus on today's blessings and not worry about tomorrow.  Have a little more faith, Karen.

I pray that God will bless you and your family throughout this year.  Even if you are not Catholic, consider increasing your faith, add something extra to your prayer life, or change your mindset to a more positive outlook.

Gianna Frightens a Bug

 Gianna has a little friend.  Actually, she has many little friends.

 Where are you little friend?

 There you are!!

 Meet Gianna's little friend.  The box elder bugs in our house are very stressed.  They get harassed quite often.  I have wondered if maybe they are putting warning signs up at the doors because we are seeing less and less of them since Gianna found her first friend.

 Little friend where did you go?

 Oh, you are on this side of the dress.

 This is a picture of her squealing at the poor bug.

 She man-handles them.

 She picks on them.

 She pinches them.

 She squeals at them, again and again and again.  (Usually its a happy squeal.)

She was very upset because she couldn't reach her friend who was sitting on the back of her right shoulder.  She calmed down as soon as I picked her ever weakening friend up and handed it back to her.

On a side note - some of her brothers are as bothered by box elder bugs as Gianna is fascinated with them.  This should prove to be very interesting in years to come.

Sunday Blaze

 On this lazy Sunday evening we are eating marshmallows and roasting hot dogs.

 Our first night using the fire pit.

A perfect fall Sunday!

Pumpkin Family

 Meet the family:

Pumpkin Gianna, Pumpkin Brech, Pumpkin Rex, Pumpkin Cormac, Pumpkin Stephen, Pumpkin Blase, Pumpkin Mom and Pumpkin Dad.

 Putting the stuffing in Pumpkin Dad.

I walked out and said I was going to take pictures.  I guess that is the first time Cormac and Stephen were helping.  Rex was a trooper and helped with the other bags.

Morning Excitement

It is SNOWING! 

 And it is STICKING!  YIPPEE!!

In honor of such a great occasion I am wearing my warm, snowflake socks today.  Duo purpose as it's a bit chilly in here this morning.  Nothing like a quick spin around the yard to pick up toys and bikes to make a guy appreciate a chilly house.  Need prove -ask Blase and Stephen.  Wicked mother anyway!!!  

(I helped them too, so I'm only evil, not wicked.)

Beautiful Book

Have you read this book before?  Its such a beautiful book.  I read it to Brech the week after his birthday.  We try to read a few books every day and rest for 20 minutes.  This particular reading of the book was almost more emotion than I could handle.

All the pictures and text are taken from the book by Charlotte Zolotow.

Here's how it goes: 

 One day a little girl said to her little brother,

Do you know what I'll do when it snows?  I'll make you a snowman.

Do you know what I'll do when it rains? I'll catch the rain in a pail for your plants.

Do you know what I'll do when the wind blows?  I'll put it in a bottle and let it loose when the house is hot.

Do you know what I'll do at the seashore?  I'll bring you a shell to hold the sound of the sea.

Do you know what I'll do in the city?  I'll buy you a surprise.

Do you know what I'll do at the movie?  I'll remember the song and sing it to you.

 Do you know what I'll do at night?  If you have a nightmare I'll come and blow on it.

Do you know what I'll do at the party?  I'll bring you a piece of cake with the candle still in it.

Do you know what I'll do on my walk?  I'll look at the clouds and tell you the shapes when I get home.

Do you know what I'll do when I wake up?  I'll remember my dreams and tell them to you.

Do you know what I'll do when I grow up and am married?  I'll bring you my baby to hug.  Like this.

Four years my little Brech has lived.  Four years I have watched him grow.  Four years I have missed my brother, Mark.  Four years I have wished to share my Brech with my Mark.

 I shared my Blase with him at Storybook Island.

 I shared my Rex with him at the Army museum.

 I shared my Cormac with him at Christmas.

 I shared my Rex, again.

Though there is no picture of it, I shared my Stephen as well.

I shared all my kids.  They were all held by Mark and hugged by him.

I finished reading the story and Brech looked at me.  He said "Mom, there is water in your eyes."  Yes, there was water in my eyes.  

Those precious tears fell silently because I could not share my Brech and my Gianna with Mark.  

Those tears fell because sometimes it just plains sucks being an older sister who loves her siblings wants to protect them.  When you can't help them, it just sucks more.

Those tears fell because love hurts.

Those tears fell because love heals.

Those tears fell because its ok to remember those times and cherish them.

Those tears fell because they could.

Most likely those tears will fall next time I read that beautiful book.