Old pic

I just found this picture online of Luke from the All Saint's Day party we attended last month, what a cutie.

Thanksgiving 09

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we left on Tuesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents and siblings. The night we got there, Ryan and I scooted out to see the second Twilight movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I started the third book that night when we got home, haha. Wednesday was a fun day for the kid's to play; if my memory serves me correctly there wasn't much going on except a little meal preparation. Thursday we had a yummy Thanksgiving feast cooked mostly by my mom! My contribution was the fudge, and I have to say that it's the best I've ever made. Mmmm it was so good, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Friday is the first year I skipped out on Black Friday shopping. I wasn't really in the mood, plus I'm in "conserve" mode right now so frivolous shopping is out! I did run out to Hobby Lobby to buy some fingerpaints, we all made a couple of "cards" for our grandparents with handprint turkeys. It seems most of us needed a little practice but the effort was definitely an A+ since the grandparents loved them! Saturday we said goodbye and hopped in the car to drive to Ryan's parent's house for a quick visit- we stayed the night then finally got home late on Sunday. Quite a busy week!

my sweeties, looking nice for a messy meal.

pawpaw and his two grandkids!

ryan, "before" as i like to call it!

my mom and dad, cooking up a feast

she enjoys video games a little too much for my comfort!

not sure what to make out of this noisy thing!

breakfast is better with a hat

Weekend update

Well we've all been sick, big surprise. Two Fridays ago Beth woke up hoarse and it's gone downhill since! Beth, Luke and I have all been struck with the same head cold, lots of congestion, runny noses, sneezing and coughing. And it's lingered around the house for over a week, it seems only now do I not feel like I'm wiping Beth's nose every 10 seconds. I've been plagued with awful headaches, and Luke and Beth are just on the border of being cranky in the sick sort of way, if you know what I mean. It hasn't been so much fun, but Ryan has put up with us and taken care of all of us; what a good man. Needless to say, we didn't do anything this weekend except go to Mass on Sunday. It was kind of nice to not feel the need to do anything- usually on our free weekends we feel like we *should* be doing something.

Beth is loving her magna-doodle so much these days, it's her favorite toy right now! She draws people, traces her hand or her dolls, and is writing a few letters. It's the best toy in the world because it's so easy to clean up, ha!

I haven't been taking many pictures lately because the snot glistens in the camera flash (haha) but here's one of Luke from a couple of weeks ago. He really enjoys climbing right now, anything he can stand on or climb into is just awesome! He's still not walking yet though, but he's standing for longer and longer periods of time. I have a feeling when he does decide to walk, he will actually run.

Miami!

Surprise! Ryan and I went to Miami!

For those that didn't know our little plans, Ryan had a conference in Miami scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. After a lot of hesitation, I decided that I'd tag along and leave the kiddos at home with Grandpa and Grandma. Ryan and I left on Monday and arrived safely in Miami, got our rental car and headed to Coconut Grove to stay at the Sonesta. It was a very snazzy hotel, within walking distance of their little touristy shopping area.

Monday night we walked around and found a new restaurant that had just opened their doors and offered their menu for half price. Score! The food was good (not great) but considering what it would have cost, we were pretty content! Since I wasn't feeling very well we headed back to our room and called it an early night. Turns out I was feeling the beginnings of a very serious head cold! I was up all night because I couldn't breath and my throat was on fire- my night that was supposed to be full of peaceful restful slumber was one of the worst nights of the year! Figures.

Tuesday Ryan went to his conference and I took it easy in our room. At the prompting of nearly everyone on the planet, I had started to read Twilight on the plane and really got into it, so I spent a good chunk of the morning just reading in bed, trying not to think of the pains in my head. For lunch I told myself, I'm in Miami! I have to get out of this room!, and put on my walking shoes. I walked to the little touristy area, found a cafe with a table in the shade on the street, and ordered a nice lunch and read my book some more. ;-) Sadly, I noticed my lunch didn't have much taste, due to the major congestion and therefore lack of taste. But it was soooo relaxing, just being able to sit around and read! I have to admit, I definitely felt like there was a huge chunk of my brain that was going duurrrrrr because it's used to being constantly occupied solely on my children. Without having them with me meant this part of my brain didn't know what to think about!

the view of biscayne bay from our hotel room

I walked through a few shops before heading back to our room to get ready for our early dinner. We had dinner scheduled at 5:30 so that we could see the sun set, and before that we grabbed a drink with Ryan's friend at the conference and her family. At our dinner restaurant, we got the VIP treatment for some reason, all because I asked the concierge where we should dine that evening. She made the reservation for us, and they wound up giving us a free appetizer and a free dessert! We were overlooking the bay at sunset, it was very beautiful and Ryan said some of the best food he's ever tasted. I ordered the cheapest thing I could find (lobster bisque) because I knew I wouldn't be able to taste it. :-( We brought dessert home and I tasted that and ate it for breakfast!

in front of the hotel on our way to dinner

Wednesday was a lot of the same, except I'd slept better since I'd acquired some Tylenol PM. I had another relaxing lunch while Ryan finished his conference, then we checked out of the room and drove up to South Beach (which was actually north from where we were). We had just enough time to walk along the beach and admire the gorgeous water before we had to leave for the airport. I finished my book on the plane home, and nearly died during decent because my ear plugged up and I thought my ear drum was going to explode. Flying with a head cold is a BAD idea; the doctor told me today it puts you at a much higher risk of turning an ordinary cold into an infection of some sort. So I'm on antibiotics now, waiting for them to kick in!

south beach

We heard the kids did fantastic, despite their runny noses and probably the same variety of head cold I had- though they both checked out fine at the pediatrician this morning. I'm sad the vacation wasn't what we'd hoped it would be but I was very grateful for the chance to relax a little!

Children live here

(the letter "H")

(a person, most likely a self-portrait)

(chalk everywhere!)

How blessed am I to have constant reminders around my home that we have been blessed with children? Stickers on the cabinet, crayon on the tile, magnets on the floor, chalk on the sidewalk and toys everywhere! Our house might not look like a museum; certainly there's enough dust to prove otherwise! But it's a home, and it's our home!

All Saint's Party

Can you guess?

Beth was dressed as Mary (with her lamb and baby) and Luke went as St. Francis (inspired by a little book given to him from his godparents!).

Last Sunday we attended our homeschool group's annual All Saint's party. It was our first time to go and Beth had a pretty good time. She was very hesitant to take part in the parade and wasn't too interested in the games, but she had a good time playing with her friends out on the farm. Don't be too impressed with their homemade costumes, by the end of the night Beth's dress had ripped at the seam from her thigh to her hip! Scandalous! Apparently sewing with silky costume fabric is sort of tricky and I will have to remember this for next year!

not so sure about this parade...

Happy Birthday Luke!

Today is Luke's first birthday, yay! We had a very busy day, and I just kept looking at him like, wow- this boy is one year old! We went to the portrait studio this morning for some big boy pictures and had an incident. The photographer took a few of him then decided he wanted to put Luke in a basket with some fall leaves and autumn decor. I was thinking to myself, he's too old to sit in a basket, that's for babies! But I went with it, because I'd already told him no portraits, haha. Luke leaned over in the basket and, before I could reach him, face-planted the hard floor and screaaaaamed bloody murder. I noticed blood and realized he'd busted his lip (I thought he'd broken his nose!) so that was the end of picture day. After Luke calmed down (surprisingly it only took a few minutes) I picked out my favorite one from before he fell and they gave me a portrait package for free. So, that was quite a morning! We met a friend for lunch then ran another errand since we were far from home, and came home for naps. Well, of course they both slept in the car and didn't want to nap once we got home! Beth had a makeup dance class today and Ryan met us up there after he got off work a little early to catch her last few minutes of tap dancing! We all came home for spaghetti dinner (Luke's favorite!) and we sang and opened presents. And yes, this overbearing controlling mother let her son have a cupcake with real HFCS frosting! And boy did he love it! He opened some presents (with the help of big sis) from mommy and daddy and his godparents and we got some really big smiles with some of his new toys!

And of course I'm having issues with my camera and computer again. I am praying Windows 7 will fix the mutiny my camera and computer have against me. Here are few from tonight!

Fall garden

My fall garden is doing okay. My little bell pepper has resurrected itself from a little stub with one leaf to a tall plant with a real bell pepper! It's struck me that it's just too darn hot here in the summer to grow anything but tomatoes- or at least it is in my garden where chances are I'm not going to water it every single morning! Next summer I will adjust accordingly and wait on the bell peppers till it starts to cool down!


After I planted my seeds on labor day, the sky opened and it rained a torrential downpour for the next week or two. Hence, my seedlings have sprouted sort of oddly and sparcely. I do have some baby carrots, arugula and broccoli (no lettuce). I wanted to plant a few more rows of each this weekend but didn't have the time so maybe we can find some time one morning this week.


I also have friendly ants. I contacted a master gardener and he said they weren't a big deal since they're not fire ants, and suggested I didn't try to kill them since they're in my garden bed. Well, it still ticks me off when I see those little suckers all over my plants, even though they're apparently causing no harm, so I spray them off with my hose! However, this is what they do, ALL OVER my garden bed:


Ant holes. It's not cool. Maybe part of the reason some of my seeds didn't sprout is because they were relocated by the ant holes!

I took this video on Thursday, during Luke's afternoon nap. It's been to glorious outside to not actually be outside, so for the past few days we've basically spent the time after naps until dinner time outside. Beth likes her new outdoor toys, empty flower pots, sticks and digging in the dirt. I have caught her eating the dirt though...That's pretty gross. In the video, you'll hear a couple of her made-up words that she came up with on the spot (she'll make up words to describe anything and everything), this instance they're describing "tricks" she does on the fort thingy. Also, about halfway through, Finley ran by at top speed and scared me half to death, you'll see!



(ok, can anyone help me? I've been to use the blogger video upload literally all day and it hasn't uploaded yet. should I just go back to using youtube?)

We're home from DC!

We're home from our trip to Washington DC! We left last Saturday, flew into DC and visited Ryan's brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Ramona, and we all got to meet baby Christopher for the first time. Beth was so happy to finally hold him (she's been talking about it for months now!). In addition to the excitement of seeing everyone, we had gorgeous weather and sight-seed as much as we physically could!

hiking through the airport

cousins, meeting for the first time!

they loved each other so much, beth always wanted to hold him and luke always wanted to grab chris's face!

We arrived at the airport early Saturday morning. People in the airport stared at us, I'm not sure they had ever seen two kids in slings before! They looked at us like we were crazy for traveling with two kids, but it really was a piece of cake. Ryan carried Beth on his back in a Beco baby carrier, I carried Luke in my pouch, and each of us carried a car seat and a carry-on bag. It was a lot, and we looked odd walking through the airport, but it really went pretty smoothly!

While we were waiting to board our plane, Ryan and I noticed a priest standing alone in the corner reading a paper. I thought, "Hmm, I know him..." and a few seconds later it hit me- it was Cardinal Dainel DiNardo! The Archbishop of our Archdiocese, and the newest Cardinal! He was alone and dressed simply- a black suit and roman collar- so I second-guessed myself for a second. As starstruck as I was, I sure as heck wasn't going to pass the opportunity to meet him! We introduced ourselves and made small talk; he was headed to DC to say the Red Mass the next day. I wished I'd have gotten a photograph or at least asked him to bless the kids, but I struggle to think straight in situations where I'm nervous so you'll just have to take my word for it that we met him!

Anyways, we arrived in DC and once we got our rental car, drove out to Josh and Ramona's apartment. Oh, the happy reunion! We hadn't seem them since the spring and had never met our precious little nephew, and Beth was so happy to finally meet and hold "Baby Chris."

Sunday was Christopher's baptism and party! He did really well, he happily sat through the entire service and didn't cry during the water part. It was my first experience with a female minister (at a Lutheran church), I have to admit as a cradle Catholic I was a little weirded out!

the baptism of christopher daniel, now a child of god!


beautiful boy

Monday Ryan, the kids, and I set out to see DC. Our first stop was the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the US! It was amazing, and reminded me of my trip to Rome in 1998. It had so many nooks and crannies (and I'm a fan of nooks and crannies!) and I just loved peeking around every corner and would be amazed that the rooms were just way bigger than I expected! We stayed for awhile and had lunch there (there was a cafeteria in the basement!).

trekking to the national basilica. beth is on ryan's back and i had luke in my pouch. they lived in the slings all week; i think ryan and i need professional massages!

this is a serious jesus. one that the devil should cower from!

enjoying some "free" time outside of their slings, before lunch at the basilica

pretty girl

Next stop after the shrine was DC! We drove around for awhile to see the town, and wound up parking just south of the Washington Memorial. We planned to walk the National Mall- and we did- but oh boy we had no idea what we were in for! At the end of the day, right before we were heading back to the car to call it a day, someone told us it was a four-mile round trip. Ya, no joke. We had a stroller and two slings- the kids took turns riding in the stroller and in the slings though we found we made the best time if we were pushing an empty stroller!

Tuesday we decided to take it easy. The kids were sleeping horribly (both waking up multiple times throughout the night and Luke waking up for the day at 5 am!) so we just needed to stay in and rest. Luke had a morning nap then we walked to Ikea for lunch; yes Ikea was walking distance! How jealous I was! The kids took afternoon naps then we decided to drive to a pumpkin patch (because we're not the types to fly halfway across the country to stay inside all day!). It was beautiful: rolling hills, gigantic sunflowers, hundreds of pumpkins all shapes and sizes, hay bales and corn husks. It's the sort of pumpkin patch I've been dying to find around here! The kids had so much fun, and we got some great pictures!

walking distance to ikea!

Wednesday was another busy day. We met Ryan's high school friend for lunch then headed to the National Zoo, which was rather disappointing. The best part were the gorillas, and we saw those the first 10 minutes we were there! It seemed it was "off season" as a lot of the exhibits were closed. We finished there then weren't sure what to do with ourselves, so we went back into DC to find Arlington Cemetary. The kids were sleeping in the back so we decided not to get out, we drove through a part of it though so at least we were able to see it.

at the national zoo. beth wanted to hug the panda but he was too big!

Thursday we started our day with the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, which was very cool. Beth loved all the animals that had been preserved, and the funniest part was when we went to the dinosaur room. Beth had been so excited to see the dinosaur bones (like in one of her books), and we went into the huge exhibit hall and she seemed rather disappointed. I made a big deal about it and said, "Look, Beth! We're finally here!" and she said, "They're like in our mall." HAHAHA! Why go all the way to Washington DC to see the dinosaurs when you can just go to the mall? LOL.


breakfast at einstein bros

the museum

i got a kick out of this. my kids are marsupials. ;-)

the infamous dinosaurs

After the museum we drove to the Pentagon. We couldn't quite figure out parking, but we drove by the 9/11 memorial and figured that we didn't want to get out since the kids were sleeping in their seats. Then we drove around DC for about an hour trying to find a spot for lunch during lunch hour- our mistake was listening to a loaned GPS instead of just finding a fast food spot. Since the downtown area was incredibly crowded and busy, we decided to drive out a little to find lunch. Well then we were in an area where we felt sort of...unsafe, so lunch was greatly delayed. We went to some aquatic gardens thinking it would be a little touristy, but we couldn't have been more wrong! No food there either, so we hiked around the marsh (which was cool), thinking it would make a circle around the marsh. Big fat no- so at the dead-end we turned around to hike the .7 miles back with two kids on our backs.

hiking around the marsh

Exhausted and tired we went home, devoured food, and passed out!

Friday we went to Baltimore to visit Josh's place of work, Johns Hopkins. We had some yummy crabcakes for lunch then walked around campus and met some of Josh's colleagues and saw where all the genius work happens! Afterward we drove to the Harbor and walked around there for a bit, it was very cool but I wish we'd have had time to tour the boats or the money to go to the aquarium! Wanting to beat Friday afternoon traffic, we hit the road early to drive back to DC and have some of Josh's yummy chili for dinner!

visiting the johns hopkins campus in baltimore, where josh works. i felt pretty old bringing my kids on a campus, haha.

at the harbor

We left for the airport at 11:30 on Saturday. Luckily we gave ourselves lots of time, because we were overly-confident in our abilities to get ourselves to the airport and didn't have a map. We got soooo lost and sooo confused, but in our defense the highways and interstates in DC are royally screwed up. By the time we dropped off our car, took the bus to the airport, had to empty our checked back of a few items (since it was 58 lbs, sheesh) and ran across the airport, we made it there only minutes before they started boarding! Eek!

The flight home seemed longer than the flight there, and once we finally were home...Well, I don't think anyone has ever been happier to see home! Beth kept saying, "It's nice to be home!" We had such a great time, and the weather couldn't have been nicer. We saw everything we wanted to see and came back with fantastic memories. :-)

coming home!