And Another Thing...

Whew! What a great weekend!

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity.  On Friday, we went to our orthodontist's annual ics skating party.  I didn't get any pictures of this, I was way too busy eating pizza, pigging out at the chocolate fountain and ice skating with the kiddos to photograph anything.  Suffice it to say, it rocked!

When we got home, we had to bathe the girls and get them into bed so we could all get up early for Olivia's First Communion!  But first, I put Olivia's hair up in rag curlers.  It was so much fun and she looked so cute!

So when I was done, I shooed her off to bed and finished getting the house ready.  Then we were up early and bustin' our butts to get out the door on time for Olivia's mass.

Ben and Braidon served this mass so I thought I'd include ths shot of them and our beautiful church. 

Olivia in the dress my mom made for her, the sweater I knit for her and my own First Communion viel re-made to be a little more modern.

Olivia with my dad, because my dad made his First Communion this spring too!   After 40 some odd years, he finally relented and became a Catholic.  Olivia actually made her first communion at the Easter vigil with my dad.  This is technically her second communion.

Olivia with Grandma and Grandpa.

Olivia with Grammy and Papaw.

Olivia with Mama and Daddy.

It was a great mass,  Olivia got to read the second reading and enjoyed spending the morning in the limelight for her special event.   It's not very often in our house that you get a whole day just for you!  After mass, we went home and started getting ready for the party, of which I have no pictures beacause I have apparently taken leave of my senses.  I don't know what's wrong with me, people...

On Sunday, we got up and a bee-yutiful morning!  Oliver's parents stayed the night, so Oliver made french toast for everyone to selebrate Mother's Day.  It's super yummy french toast, and uf you ever spend the night at our house, chances are, you'll wake up in the morning to find Oliver in the kitchen, frying up a batch.  Yes, he deep fries his french toast.  Yum-o!

Then we spent the morning outside chatting with Oliver's parents and generally enjoying the first really fabulous day we've had this spring.

Good times :o)

Birthday present for Mama

My mother has recently started knitting again and has been lamenting that I'm loaning her all the stuff she needs, so I decided to put together a little knitting kit for her birthday.  Olivia and I went to the fabric store and picked out two different fat quarters to sew up into this little project bag.

(I know this picture is super blurry inside the bag and I am realy sorry for that!) 

I filled the bag with some yarn, circular needles, a tiny pair of scissors, a needle/knitting gauge/ruler thing and some stitch markers.  Now she's all set to knit with her own stuff! 

 

 

It's all about eight...

Eight?!?!  Really???  How can that be?  Can she really be eight?  Oh yes.  She can be and she will be eight.  And she'll do it with a vengence because that's who she is.  This little girl could rule the world, if only she were a bit taller.  I have watched her grow these past eight years and I can tell you without a doubt that she is going to set the world on fire and never look back.  She know what she wants and she'll figure out a way to get it.  But behind that tough girl exterior lies a very sensitive young lady who reminds me every day to be gentle and kind and thoughtful.  I would like to say that I can't wait to see who she becomes, but I can and I will and I will enjoy the ride in the meantime.

The Great American Girl Place Adventure

Olivia and Anna both celebrated a birthday this month and a while back my mom and I decided to celebrate with a trip to Chicago and American Girl Place.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Nearly 36 hours of fabulous girlie-girl adventure and excitement.  Wow.

Oh my were they excited about staying in a fancy hotel room.

We even had a lake view.  It's there. Waaaaaaay in the distance, right in the middle.  I swear.

All "dolled" up and on our way!

Right in front of the store and so excited!

Ah... The promised land.

Julie, the newsest member of our family.

Molly and Kit in their new summer dresses.

Grandma and the girls waiting to be seated for dinner.

Oh my goodness, a fancier dinner there never was.

All the pink lemonade a girl could want.

"The best day of my LIFE!!!!" Olivia exclaimed as we were leaving.  I am so happy that Grandma and I got to be a part of this fabulous memory with them. 

Christmas at the Nut House

An awesome kid potrait session on Christmas Eve. 

Stockings hung by the chimney with care...

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Our beautiful Christmas Tree.  I LOVE this picture!

Excitment over the Santa gifts.

Santa brought Braidon a new sled!  It was all we could do to keep him inside for the rest of the gift opening!

Benjamin was so surprised with his new toothbrush.  He could not believe his luck ;o)

Oliver's 1.5 mitts.  He'll get the rest when I get over having to rip out an entire section because I knit the cable the wrong way.

Benjamin being ridiculously excited about his new ipod touch.

Braidon being quite creepy about his.

If you look at this picture hard enough, you can actually hear the scream coming from her mouth.  Or maybe my ears are just still ringing...

Anna's scream wasn't any lower than Olivia's, but this picture is so sweet.  She loves her Ruthie.

This is actually a better picture of my dad, but it's the only one where you can see how happy Saragh was about her new barn.  Her animals get slaughtered everyday now.  Except for the sheep, she sheers them for Mama!

Oh my!  A spinning wheel just for me.  Now, if I could just figure out how to use it...

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are ever so slowly decorating for Christmas around here.  The girls and I have been busy painting a Christmas tree on our dining room window (which reminds me so much of Dream Snow) and Oliver and the boys humg up our roping and lights outside.  Yup, there is a definite division of labor in this house :o).

Reading...

We read our way through the seasons.  With a few helpful friends, I bring the world and all it's joys into our home for every season and holiday.  Short of selling everything and traveling the world (Sigh.  My dream.), this is the best way I can think of to help my children learn how everyone else celebrates, plays and works.  I have had lots of help over the years, building a list of favorite books and adding new ones.  Elizabeth Foss and her lovely, soul-feeding book was my first introduction to holiday reading.  Then, like most mamas I know, I happened on to Amanda Soule and her wonderful holiday reading list.  From there, my obsession took off and for years now, my hold list at the library has been consistantly full.  Hopefully these lists will inspire you to create your own list of holiday and seasonal reading!

Love at first snow...

We sure had a lot of fun playing in the first snowfall of the year! 

My Reading Girl

If you've known me at all for the last few years, you'll know that I have been worried about Olivia reading.  After her baby and toddlerhood where she excelled and was often far ahead of her peers (she was speaking in full paragraphs at a year), I assumed that she would keep up that pace as she grew and was surprised when she didn't.  Not disappointed, just surprised.  I had to learn to be patient with her and let her go at her own pace, because she will accept nothing less.

However, we learned back in August that she had a pretty strong eye prescription and her pervious lenses had not been helping at all.  Once we got that issue fixed, she took off like a lightening bolt and is now reading every word she can find.  Phonics lessons are almost obsolete at this point.  Almost. 

Last week while we were wandering around the Henry Ford, she read this sign with almost no help.  I know that for some of you, this does not seem like a big deal at all and maybe you're right.  But for me, and for Olivia this is huge.  This opens up a whole new world to her and to both of us.  We can share things that we couldn't before and we can communicate in a whole new way. 

Olivia makes it clear, everyday, that she is growing up, with or without my permission.  I love watching her discover new things and I can't wait to see what she does next.