The News... As We Know It

Haven't updated around here for a long time.  So here's the news from our neck of the woods:

Joseph is in the final stretch of his first semester at SJV.  Hear snippets of his life when he calls on his way to class or the occasional Sunday call.  Life seems pretty good overall.  He's looking forward to some R&R over the Christmas break before heading to the southern US for some mission work.  Then, of course, back to the books for the spring semester.

Timothy is loving life at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Who wouldn't?  He has laundry service and all the mashed potatoes anyone could hope for.  He's also managed to hold down a new part-time job while going to the Tech. college and still finds time to be the assistant director for the local homeschool play (helps if you know the director, right?).

Stephen finished his first college course for the school year and is looking forward to starting two more on Monday.  He's delivering pizza's pretty much every night in the hopes to save enough money to head back to Haiti in March and still pay for his soccer obsession.

Clare and I have devoted our afternoons to Algebra in the hopes of finding an answer to all the world's problems.  We've discovered we share a quirky sense of humor and spend half our time giggling.  Who knew math could be so much fun?  Thankfully, she gets to share her biology with a nearby homeschool co-op. News from the orthodontist...one more month of headgear. ( I think I've heard that one before.)

This past Tuesday night, Dan took Matthew, Andrew and Stephen to our parish rectory for a "Guy's Night Out"  with our pastors.  They had a lasagna dinner that I still haven't heard the end of and a whole lot of fun getting a glimpse of life as a priest.  They loved it!  (They were the test group, so I'll have to remember to let Fr. Gregory know that this idea is a big hit.)

Johnny lost another tooth...not really big news.  This one came out with the bite of an apple.  How mundane!
Poor kid really has a hard time eating lately.

Gabriel and Marianna are in a quest to see who can keep the Mater and Lightning McQueen cars away from each other.  Maybe St. Nick will have to solve this problem with a matching set.  Hate to see what will happen if they keep duking it out the way they have been lately. And horror of HORRORS, we have lost the CARS DVD.  Marianna wanders the house aimlessly saying, "Watch Carsh, watch Carsh?"  She's devastated, I tell you.  Absolutely, devastated!

Matthew, Andrew and the rest of the littles have actually been sledding on the dusting of snow we have around here.  Crazy kids!  Don't they know winter will be here for a LONG TIME? (Not Marianna,  she WANTS to go outside but is too afraid of her snowsuit to actually wear it. She screams when I take it out of the closet.  What's up with that?)

And that's about all from our neck of the woods as we get ready to celebrate Advent.

Ode to a 21 year old

That was then...

this is now!

The little boy...

who grew up right before our eyes.

We are very proud of the young man you have become.

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Love, Mom and Dad

PS.  Don't party too hard with that study group tonight.

Yarn Along

I haven't posted anything in the Yarn Along lately because I have been making very slow progress.  This morning I finished the Owlie Sleep Sack.  It's so warm and soft and the babies on the Ravelry page where I found this pattern are SO adorable.  I thought this yarn was lighter when I originally bought it.  Now that it's all knit up it definitely has "boy" written all over it.  If we have a girl, I suppose I will have to pass the sleep sack on to Dan's niece who is due the week after I am. (She already knows she's having a boy.)

Here's the reason for slow knitting progress and no book to offer for the Yarn Along.  Marianna's Christmas stocking is moving along at a pretty good clip and I hate to interrupt that project right now.  So, no new reading going on around here. (Although, I did just pick up Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie from the library.  I might have to find a little time to start it this week.)

Check out Ginny's Yarn Along for more great knitting projects and book suggestions.

Look what showed up on our refrigerator last night...

 
Wow!  Who knew that a poster could bring so much excitement.  Guess Christmas came a little early this year.  A big thank you to Fr. Gregory for dropping it off.

Marianna's version of cookie baking

And this would be my whole wheat flour that she's experimenting with.
She isn't looking very upset about the mess, though.  Is she?

Dracula

I know this picture will seem like old news to the local blog readers.  But for those far-flung friends who only hear the latest family news through this blog,  Johnny wants you to see his dracula look (Thanks, Joe K.)  He's very proud of this somewhat dubious accomplishment and really hopes his godparents will be impressed. ( I guess I've done my duty now.)

Miss Marianna

Just to show how quickly the mood can change around here...

and whoa to you who displease the girl!

The Fun and Cool Weekend Projects

I haven't posted a project in a while, mostly because Dan's time has

 been consumed by two non-cooperative cars.  This past weekend he managed a much needed faucet makeover in the kitchen and bathroom.

 The bathroom required a little more ingenuity than he first expected.

Which made for a hole in the living room wall.  Bummer. (This is why he keeps an excellent supply of cabinet doors in the shed, for just such an occasion.)

Marianna pronounced this faucet "fun".

Stephen and Johnny got into the action in the kitchen.

This was a much quicker fix and Gabers dubbed it "cool".

So, there you have it. 

So much for manners...

This week I decided that Gabers needed a refresher course in courtesy.  His "gimme, gimme" has gotten old.

After lunch, I was singing the Please and Thank You song to him.  He gave me a funny look so I asked, "Don't you know please and thank you?"  

His reply, "I know Tom and Jerry!" 

Maybe we need more than just a refresher course.

Found Marianna reorganizing the kitchen...

New Do and a Scary Smile

Here's Therese's new look...

and Johnny lost another tooth.  This one came out shortly before the sign of peace during Mass on Sunday.  Left him with a bloody hand to offer everyone around us.  NICE!

Went out to put wood in the boiler and found this little beauty waiting for me.  Either she was trying to avoid the gunfire (sounds like a war zone) from across the road or she was hoping for a pickup game of soccer.

A little afternoon wrestling, anyone?

Happy All Saints Day!

Normally, Halloween at our house consists of  a bag of candy and a late night movie (and little kids dress up as their favorite saint for the day). This year the kids have really been into pumpkins, since we grew that monster one this summer. Sooo, we actually carved one...

The general consensus was that pumpkins stink and although everyone had a good time, the thing they couldn't stop talking about was the SMELL!  

Then Dad brought home the excessive necessary amount of candy and the festivities began!

This morning, when Gabriel woke up, the first thing he wanted to know was where 

"the guy with the face was". Gotta remember that one.