May the Force be with you...

All this snow and ice is good for making light sabers.

(Just trying to look on the bright side of a never ending MN winter...)

 

Foggy Day on a Frozen Lake

Late to the Party!

That's me...better late than never.  Here are the pictures from Fran Man's special day.

I don't know, Grandma.  He looks a little worried here.

Getting that walking thing down.

In action, opening gifts.

Looking good in his Sunday sweater.



Fr. John Paul's gift....an Apostolic Blessing.

Miss Nonnie and the marshmallow

 

Looks like she's foaming at the mouth.  Must eat the entire marshmallow in one huge bite.

Free Art Classes!!

Found Mark Kistler's online art classes for FREE for the month of February.  Here's a sample of what kids around here have done with his expertise.  Also discovered that after the first two weeks we have access to his top 400 previously recorded lessons.  What a great deal!  My budding artists are thrilled and now they don't have to listen to me nagging them to go outside.  The snow is so deep it's really hard for them to get around out there.

Crafty Kids on Special Assignment

Dan had requested prayer cards for the Saturday Morning Mens' group at church.

 

 

 So we got busy and whipped out a bunch of pictures we had of the Blessed Mother.

 

 Therese trimmed them with our fancy scissors.

 

 

 Matthew glued four on each sheet of paper.

 

 

Andrew used the same set of fun scissors to cut out the Angelus we had printed.

 

 

And since I have become an obsessive laminating mama, we added that little extra!

(Oh, how did I homeschool all these years without that nifty machine?)

 

 

We made these Friday morning, so technically we can say they were a Valentine's gift.

Right?

Anyway... Dan loved them and asked if we could make another set with a different prayer theme.

Another opportunity to laminate?

I'm in!

If you give the kids a camera...

they might just have a really wild time and record every minute!

 

The Fran Man's Latest Discoveries



There's nothing better than a drawer full of tupperware.

The laundry chute is a close 2nd though.

Wait a minute...big brothers top tupperware anyday.

Gotta make friends with the bathtub while Mommy cleans.

 I'd rather be checking out the toilet.

But I'll roll around in here for awhile.

Since I have no other options.

You wanna check out my baby pudge
(or is that squishy muscle)?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I was on a blogging hiatus, due to Dan running away with my camera (needed it for work, he claims).
I kept saying...I should take a picture of that!  Oops, no camera.  Then Clare scrounged through her room and found the "old" camera, so we're back in the blogging business!

Yesterday, we made Valentine cookies for Clare's chemistry class.  A whole afternoon of cut-outs, baking and frosting...ugh!...today I'm all worn out.  BUT I have pictures to remind me that my littles had LOTS of fun... so it was all worthwhile.

See...those are the cookies!

Love this moment when the house is all quiet with concentration.

How many more do we have to frost?

Who needs frosting?  Miss Marianna knows the broken ones are for eating.



My serious guy...

and his goofy siblings.



My version of decorating for Valentine's Day...cover pre-existing snowflakes with hearts.



Matthew's broken heart masterpiece.
 (Clare refused to bring this one to class...
I thought it was funny but 15yo girls have no sense of humor.)

Matthew's Michaelangelo Valentine
(that kid's got creativity in his bones!)

 

Marianna:  Can we play giddy(video) games?