Birthday Recap

Yesterday we celebrated Matthew's 12th birthday.  Clare and Marianna made brownie pizza and chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake on Saturday.

Cheese smile to go with cheesecake.

Clare's baking do.

Matthew and Andrew played all the music from their respective lesson books.

More cheesy smiles...

Celebration time!

This morning the birthday boy is having his cake and eating it, too (right out of the pan)!

 (For breakfast, that is.)

Fall Clean Up: Part 2

Just lots of outdoor photos of all the fun we had while raking leaves.

Fall Clean Up

Leaf blowing duties have officially passed to the next generation.

Couldn't get a clear picture, he was moving so fast.

The rest of the crew was dragging leaves off into the woods.

Just threw these in for the cuteness factor.

Just a few pictures from the past week...

 Matthew is taking a portrait drawing class and sharing his knowledge with Andrew. Here's Andrew's finished drawing of Padre Pio. (I'd post Matthew's masterpiece, but he doesn't want Joseph to see it until he's home for a visit.)

Johnny has graduated to reading Bob Books.  Therese is revisiting them, too.  Notice Johnny's book has seen better days.  I guess that's what happens when 8 kids practice reading skills over the years.

Marathon games of Rat a tat Cat.

Now that it's getting kind of chilly for playing outside, it's time to find fun in the garage.

(I thought they were playing ping pong.)

Uh, oh!  We know what this means.

Time for Marianna to make friends with the potty chair. Fun, fun, fun!

Here's the few pictures I remembered to take from Parents' Weekend at UST.

They're from the Rectors' Bowl, which is a football game between the two seminaries on campus. 

One gratuitous picture of a seminarian from our diocese, aka "the Dougster", just for Stephen.

Joseph, Gabriel and Dan in a continuous (friendly) debate over who would be the victor of the intense duel on the football field.

Yep, that's it!  I was too busy trying to stay warm and hiking all over the campus for the day.  We had a great time, though.  Both UST and SJV won their respective games and we enjoyed hanging out with Joe. 

It's all good!

Treasures found under Matthew's mattress...

Had the boys change their sheets the other day.  Matthew discovered all of this when remaking the bed.  Oh,  and a twenty dollar bill.  Not too bad if you can get past the ancient chocolate chips and other grossness.

Pillow Refurb

These pillows came with the comforter in my bedroom.  They've been all over that room, but never on the bed.  The last thing Dan and I need in our bedroom is more pillows, so...

I took Clare out a few weeks ago and had her choose three pieces of fabric that would complement her new bedroom decor.

Finally got everything cut out over the weekend and then discovered that my sewing machine was not going to cooperate.  A little fix-it with superglue and electrical tape and we were back in business!  (The book is in the photo because I was going to join an online sewing link up.  Don't have the time to do all the linky stuff though. Beautiful book if you're looking for a good read.  I can read Fulton Sheen even when the kids are running circles around me.)

Notice they're actually on the bed now... and I didn't put them there either!

Yesterday morning it was still warm enough to sit outside for breakfast and enjoy the view.  Since the leaves were falling so quickly, I thought I better capture the moment.

Love the two maple trees, they really brighten up the yard.

The freshly planted grass is still green!

Have to get that umbrella put away, yet.

Jim's field was picked this past week.  What a dusty mess this year.

Don't let her fool you.  She's not here for the scenery, just the coffee.
(Preferably, with lots of cream.)