A Catholic Riddle

Sleeping baby

2012-01-26T09:34:00.000-06:00

Baby faces

2012-01-24T09:08:00.000-06:00

I caught Anastasia waking up and couldn't resist some photos.
She has the biggest yawns I have ever seen on a tiny person.

Groggy face

Mommy, I am still tired...stop taking pictures!

Hair stuff

2012-01-23T06:42:00.001-06:00

I tried to catch a few photos of Anastasia with the girls where you could see the red in her hair...

And the girls all received much needed haircuts this week. I had planned to do this before baby came, but since my time was cut by several weeks that didn't happen. Mariana wanted hers "short" so I cut it shoulder length, and it looks really cute. Gloria's ended up shoulder length because she was so wiggly it ended up crooked, and I had to correct it. Allia still wants to grow hers "down to her waist." So she just received a good trim. :)

Puzzle Success

2012-01-22T15:08:00.000-06:00

Allia worked this 500 piece puzzle all by herself with a promise from Daddy of ice skating for finishing it. She is so proud because on the box it says, "10 and up." Great job!

Manah time

2012-01-20T08:12:00.002-06:00

It has been so nice having Manah here for the week! It has definitely eased the transition of Austin going back to work! She leaves today, and I am sure I am not the only one who will be sad to see her go. But Pawpaw is getting lonely in Groves... ;)

Happy Baptism Day, Gloria!

2012-01-19T20:06:00.000-06:00

We had Shipley's (Gloria's new favorite treat) for morning snack and went to daily mass. So glad you are a child of God...may you continue to grow closer to Him!

Ahoy Matey!

2012-01-18T20:02:00.000-06:00

Manah is here helping to ease our transition of Austin returning to work. The girls love to wear Manah's boots around the house. Last night, Stephen decided to take part. Daddy added the eye patch, and here we have Pirate Stephen!

Two redheads?

2012-01-18T14:59:00.001-06:00

I think we may have two redheads...only time will tell for sure. Everyone else seems to think Anastasia has red hair, but I haven't been convinced. Stephen's hair had a redish tint to it as a newborn, and well, look at him! But the sun has been out for a few days now, and her hair really glows in the sunlight...much like Mariana's did. So maybe it's true and we now have two?!

Quick update

2012-01-17T12:20:00.001-06:00

Anastasia had her two week checkup this morning. She weighs 6lb 14oz now...almost to 7lbs! She was so brave for her heel prick...didn't even cry! And our Gloria had blood drawn and was a brave big sister. Good job, girls! Well, that concludes our babymoon. Austin headed back to work, so back to "normal" life for us all!

Daddy time

2012-01-16T09:26:00.002-06:00

Big sis

2012-01-14T11:58:00.001-06:00

Gloria is really enjoying her role as big sister. She can even calm the baby to sleep sometimes if she is fussing!

A tea party

2012-01-11T11:44:00.001-06:00

Time off work does a Daddy good! Gloria is so blessed...her Daddy organized a tea party for her yesterday (thanks to Lita's cookie bouquet she sent for Gloria's birthday suggesting a little tea party). He called and invited friends, cleaned the downstairs, set the table complete with delicate snacks and tea sets with real tea. What an awesome Daddy and a sweet get together for a precious girl!

Gloria gets up from nap and admires the setup

Dressed for the occasion

Friends! They had such cute girly conversations while being served

What little brothers do during a tea party

Mmm...those cookies must have been good. They were SO quiet eating them!

And...

2012-01-10T14:53:00.000-06:00

just so you don't think the girls do all the baby holding

He adores his baby sister and doesn't even mind when she cries!

Plenty of arms

2012-01-09T20:58:00.000-06:00

to hold a new baby girl!

Family movie time

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-06:00

Austin found a deal on Horton Hears a Who and couldn't resist. Here are all five of our cuties watching together.

A special visit

2012-01-08T15:52:00.001-06:00

Uncle James, Aunt Karen and Jake came for a little visit to meet Anastasia yesterday. Such fun! There were tears shed when it was time for them to go!

Birthday girl

2012-01-06T17:46:00.002-06:00

We opted for cheesecake (compliments of Pawpaw) as opposed to cupcakes because Gloria just eats the icing off and leaves the cake. Trying hard to make a special day for our special girl amidst the busyness of life with new baby. She and Daddy went off to Shipley's first thing this morning to pick out doughnuts and bring back breakfast for everyone. She picked a bag of doughnut holes for herself and ate the whole thing!

Happy 4th Birthday, Gloria!

2012-01-06T08:58:00.000-06:00

Holding baby brother on your 2nd birthday

Holding baby sister on your 4th birthday!

You are such a sweet girl with so much spunk! We love you, Gloria! Thanks be to God for our sweet 4 year old girl!

Her name

2012-01-06T08:51:00.000-06:00

It is always interesting to discover how a baby's name comes about...at least in our family! As we discussed it, Austin mentioned that all the other girls have the name of their Heavenly Mother, Mary, so she should too. But I suggested that since Austin and I both have Christ's name in ours (his middle name is Christopher) perhaps her middle name could too, not knowing that she would be born on the feast of the Holy Name! He insisted that if we did this she should have my name, so I humbly agreed and her middle name was pretty much decided as long as it sounded nice with her first name. Then, some sweet friends of ours had a baby and named her Felicity. Instantly, all the girls decided this was the name for our baby girl (they were really enamored by baby Felicity). Beautiful name, but I didn't really want her to have the same name as one of her friends growing up! Since St. Felicity's name is in the Eucharistic Prayer I of the mass, Allia decided perhaps Perpetua, Felicity's "sister saint" so to speak. But nobody especially liked that name. Then she suggested Anastasia, another name from the list of saints in the prayer. We didn't take it too seriously until I looked up Saint Anastasia and the meaning of her name. The name means "resurrection," and her feast day is actually celebrated in the second mass on Christmas Day. Like the other saints in that Eucharistic Prayer I, she was a martyr of the early Church. It went so beautifully with the middle name after Christ that we began to consider it. We had a few other favorites, and once she was born that one just kept coming back to us. It just fit so well with her birthday, so by the middle of the next day we decided that just had to be it! So now we have our little Anastasia Kristen, and Allia is so proud to have helped choose the name, actually for the second time. She helped with Gloria's name too!

Homecoming

2012-01-05T17:02:00.001-06:00

Welcome home, Anastasia! We arrived home last night around 9pm. Boy are her sisters and brother happy to have her. She has many arms for holding and cuddling!

Pawpaw, Manah and the girls had a balloon bouquet, lots of yummy groceries for meals and even two little gifts from Allia and Mariana to me waiting for us when we arrived. The girls gave me some pretty new nailpolish colors for "all my hard work having baby sister." So sweet! What a nice welcome!

Baby pictures

2012-01-05T10:21:00.002-06:00

We also had a little visit from some dear friends (including her Godparents to be) last night, but there were so many people I couldn't get a good photo. Allia counted, and we had 20 people in that little hospital room! It will just have to be a sweet memory. :)

Her Birth Story

2012-01-04T19:58:00.000-06:00

It started at my 36 week OB checkup when we discovered I was measuring small and it turned out we were low on amniotic fluid and as a bonus baby had the cord around her neck too. We went from thinking the baby would be late again to planning an early induction to keep her out of stress and danger. What a change! After seeing the fluid continue to decrease over the next two weeks, we decided, with the doctor, to induce on Tuesday, January 3rd, the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (38 wks 3 days). However, the hospital was booked that morning. We went for a checkup Tuesday morning, and the doctor called to see if there was any room for us to go ahead. There was, so we headed on over around 11am. I was positive for Group B Strep, which was new for us, so we began the slow process of getting checked in and on antibiotics. I finally received a sublingual (under tongue) dose of Cytotec to start contractions at 1pm. It worked quickly but the contractions stayed fairly easy, so at 4pm they broke the bag of water (what was left!). That started harder contractions, so we labored for a few hours until baby started looking stressed. They gave me oxygen, put in internal monitors (another new experience) and had me lay on my left side to improve circulation. She perked up, and we headed toward birth rapidly. Just after 8pm, the nurse checked me at 9 1/2cm and told me to make it through a couple more contractions before pushing, but baby had other plans! On the next contraction she started crowning despite my weak attempt to resist pushing. So they let me push, and out she popped two pushes later! Boy is it different birthing a baby 2 lbs less (Stephen was 9lb). The doctor carefully removed the cord as soon as her head was out, and she cried right away. What a great sound! She seems SO tiny and fragile compared to my 8 and 9 lbers! She is well adored already of course. :) Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for us. It really couldn't have gone better!

She is here!

2012-01-04T15:32:00.001-06:00

Anastasia Kristen Riddle
Born 1/3/2012 at 8:31p.m.
6 lbs 12oz and 19 1/4 inches
Photos to come when we get our camera cable that we left at home...

Off we go

2012-01-03T10:35:00.001-06:00

We are heading to the hospital! Pray for us! :)

The good life

2012-01-02T09:18:00.003-06:00

When you wake up and your scraped knee still hurts from the night before, this is what your big sisters should do. They carry you to the lounge chair and feed you breakfast there. Gloria had the royal treatment this morning! Maybe I will try scraping my knee later. ;)

Building project

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we built the gingerbread house we bought at Target's 70% off after Christmas sale. Quite a bargain. The children loved it...the building/decorating and the eating!

Dragon boy

2012-01-01T16:10:00.000-06:00

Stephen loved wearing this costume from Lita, and he looks pretty cute I think!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T14:29:00.001-06:00

We had the blessing of spending yesterday evening with some great friends to ring in the new year...well, sort of. Our celebrations ended around 9pm, but who wants cranky children the first day of the new year, eh? It was lots of fun, and the food was delicious. Probably our last friendly outing for a while since we will be adjusting to new baby soon!

Dig the hats!

And of course some party poppers

Silly hair

Silly Daddy...Stephen was totally cracking up!

Making a scene

2011-12-31T18:19:00.000-06:00

Austin broke out this Nutcracker book for the girls during quiet time. It has paper dolls for all the characters from the ballet. Allia and Mariana spent hours setting up scenes of dancers, complete with spotlights and all.

A little visitor

2011-12-31T08:21:00.000-06:00

Our Goddaughter and her family stopped by Friday evening for a little Christmas visit. The children are always enamored by she and her baby sister (Can you blame them? What a cutie!). Monica had lots of attention opening her Christmas gift from us and playing with it!

Baby update again

2011-12-29T14:17:00.001-06:00

Yay! Everything looked good at the appointment this morning, well good enough to last until next week anyway. So we are scheduled to go in Tuesday afternoon/evening to start the process of ushering baby in. This means she should be born either Tuesday night or Wednesday. And I have Dr. orders to get a lot of rest until then. ;) That is my kind of prescription!

My new light

2011-12-29T06:33:00.000-06:00

We have been trying to get some long awaited projects done around the house this week while the girls are at my parents' house (they come back today! Yay!). Austin has been wanting to paint the downstairs ceilings for over a year now, so that was his project of choice. As Austin was taking the light down, I had casually mentioned that if we ever needed to replace the fluorescent light in the kitchen I would love one of these decorative ones so it doesn't look so industrial. While he had all the fixtures down (on the floor), he threw a drop cloth over them to protect them from paint. Clumsy pregnant lady didn't notice this and stepped right on the fluorescent light cover. We looked everywhere for a replacement cover but instead had to replace the whole fixture. So I got my wish! And figured out how to spend my Christmas money. ;) (pardon the hole where he still needs to put the A/C vent back!)

Baby Update

2011-12-28T14:36:00.002-06:00

Well, we are looking at baby girl being born sometime in the next week! And here I thought I would be going late again. There are some minor(hopefully!) complications in there, so it will not be safe to let her go much longer. If all goes well at my next appointment tomorrow, we will be scheduling induction sometime at the beginning of next week! Prayers for safety for myself and baby girl would be greatly appreciated. :)

Christmas fun

2011-12-27T15:36:00.000-06:00

The girls are at my parents' house for a few days, so I have no excuse for taking so long to get these photos up except that I am trying to get lots of other stuff done!

We had a great celebration this weekend with my parents. We decided to do our big dinner Saturday evening so we could relax more Sunday. Here are the biggest and littlest (besides one yet unborn) sitting together for the Nativity Story movie.

Of course Austin was working hard on his aforementioned turkey. Here he is carving.

The meal was delicious featuring the turkey with cranberry relish, a spring green and strawberry salad, sweet potato fries and pecan tarts for dessert. Here we are about to eat.

Christmas morning, we woke and dressed for mass which was beautiful. No photos though. My dad took one quick one but I looked like a Beluga whale and refuse to post it on the blog. ;) After mass, we opened gifts. The girls squealed and shrieked for every little gift they received, even the pack of gum from their sisters (they had a low budget for each other spending their own allowance money!). This of course made me so proud. Stephen was a little overwhelmed, but his favorite gift by far was this automatic car from Lita that flips and rolls and just goes crazy. It was hysterical to watch. I tried to get a video, but there was just too much going on. The children were so excited to see baby Jesus!

Gloria was so excited to have her own Texas Girl doll...

Mmmm...

2011-12-26T18:43:00.002-06:00

Gumbo! We had a turkey (cooked by Austin using his family's very laborious and yummy recipe!) for Christmas since we had gumbo for Thanksgiving at my parents' house. But we decided, after receiving a batch of turkey gumbo from a Cajun friend when Stephen was born, to try it out on our leftovers. I have never actually made gumbo myself...just watched my parents for many years and enjoyed the tasty results (they make seafood gumbo, but the process is basically the same)! But today I actually did it. I made a pot of turkey gumbo....and it was delicious! Yay! I am so excited. That just has to be the best way to eat leftover turkey!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T19:09:00.001-06:00

We hope your celebration is blessed!

P.S. If you didn't receive a Christmas card from us, don't fret, we still love you...we are sending out Happy New Year cards with baby girl's birth announcements when she arrives instead. ;)

Preparations

2011-12-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

Mariana was Austin's big helper this afternoon preparing the turkey, and Allia helped a little with that then with my chocolate pie. Lots to do to get ready...

Surprise baby shower

2011-12-23T16:30:00.000-06:00

A very sweet neighbor and friend organized a little surprise baby shower for me yesterday evening. Only a few friends were able to make it, and we had a nice relaxing time. What a treat!

After Birthday celebrating

2011-12-23T15:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Pawpaw and Manah arrived. While we were waiting, Stephen enjoyed his reindeer lollypop from Lita. Then, he received a cool red scooter from Pawpaw and Manah which he enjoyed riding in the driveway. He pretty much attached himself to Manah's side when they arrived and has not left since except for an occasional scooter ride or quick mow. Nice break for Mommy, but I am afraid Manah has barely had a moment's peace. ;) Great to be loved, right? It does make us all feel better that things will go smoothly when baby sister arrives, though!

Birthday fun

2011-12-22T07:38:00.001-06:00

We had a great day celebrating with Stephen yesterday. It started with cupcakes for breakfast and the opening of his gift from us...his mower! He was so excited. My camera cut out in the middle of him opening it, but you can hear the end of him exclaiming, "Daddy! It's a mower!" So cute. My little guy is totally intrigued with mowing and has been running down to his friend's house every chance he gets because our neighbor has a little plastic mower. Well, now Stephen has his own! He was a little torn between actually mowing and chasing the bubbles it blows though. (The neighbor's doesn't blow bubbles any more.)

Then we went to Daddy's work and had lunch with him which Stephen loved of course. Any extra Daddy time for him is a good thing! For dinner, Lita, Uncle Matt, Tia Nana and their puppy, Penny joined us. The dinner was nice, and the children had a blast with the dog afterwards! So thankful for a fun celebration of our sweet boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Stephen!!!

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

You are such a treasure and bring so many smiles to our lives. It was so fun to have a new baby boy on Christmas day, and we are so happy to celebrate with you again this year. I had no idea how sweet and cute a little boy could be (and wild and mischievous too of course). We love you big 2 year old boy!

Newborn

One year

Two Years!

Final touches

2011-12-19T07:40:00.000-06:00

We put the ornaments on the trees and put the nutcrackers out last night. It was so fun to watch the children's excitement as they rediscovered their ornaments from past years. Stephen was mostly interested in the bubble wrap and string beads but did enjoy putting his football ornament on the tree. This boy loves football...yikes. I would rather him take interest in a safer sport, although I am a big football fan myself. ;)

Weekend with Friends

2011-12-19T07:25:00.002-06:00

We had two visits with some out of town families this weekend. What a treat! The H family came Friday night for dinner on a quick overnight trip to attend a graduation, but I totally missed out on photos! We had a great time visiting with them. Then, Saturday we made a day trip to see Allia's Godparents, our Godson and his baby sister. It was a great relaxing day together.

Here are the children playing with Stephen Patrick's Christmas gift from us

And Allia's Goddaddy has a cool remote control helicopter that had everyone captivated, especially our Stephen!

Gloria's last dance class

2011-12-15T11:42:00.003-06:00

I was so proud of Gloria yesterday. She had her performance and did great (especially compared to dance camp this summer where she didn't even move!). She really enjoyed her class and was so excited about the ornament exchange and cookie party at the end. Sweet girl!

Ballet (please pardon the immodest leotard in this one..I didn't realize while I was filming, yikes!)

Tap

Scooter Boy

2011-12-13T11:12:00.000-06:00

Little guy has been working on riding the scooter lately. After some lessons from Allia this morning while I was inside cleaning bathrooms, he got it!

Saturday Dinner

2011-12-13T10:50:00.005-06:00

Saturday we had dinner with two of our local priests and the R family. It was a wild, fun evening! Here are the younger children at their table enjoying the special "mixed" drink Austin made for them (lemonade, apple juice and sprite). The oldest two, Richie and Allia, sat at the big table. I didn't get any photos by the time the priests were here and the rest of us were eating, but it was a great evening and a nice prelude to Gaudete Sunday!

Helping out

2011-12-09T15:52:00.001-06:00

We watched some children this morning for a friend who is recovering from a C-section. The girls loved being little mommies all morning. It was great...and easier than I expected adding 2 toddlers to our mix!

A little piano duet with Michael

"Baby Jane" really warmed up to Mariana and even leaned her head down on Mariana's shoulder for a bit. Mariana was beside herself.

Jane received a LOT of girl attention, even during lunch

Phone call to Daddy

2011-12-07T10:30:00.001-06:00

This morning as I was trying to do some school with the girls, my mischievous boy picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons. As I asked who he thought he was calling, he spoke into the phone, "Hi! I wove wu, Daddy." So sweet!

Happy Anniversary!

2011-12-07T07:15:00.001-06:00

Today, Austin and I celebrate 9 years of marriage. Best 9 years of our lives...may we be blessed with many more!

Dance performance

2011-12-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

Allia and Mariana completed their semesters at the homeschool center dance class today. They did some sweet dances for the parents at the end of class.

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

2011-12-06T14:39:00.001-06:00

Our stockings went up today with goodies inside, and we are even taking the day off school so we can do some extra baking and other fun stuff! We have lots of special days this week with mine and Austin's anniversary tomorrow and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Thursday. What fun!

Sword fighting

2011-12-05T19:01:00.001-06:00

We went to a very fun R family birthday party Saturday, and Daddy and the girls have been enjoying the cool sword party favors ever since!

At the party

Back home, the battle continues

Christmas Piano Recital

2011-12-04T19:07:00.001-06:00

Allia played beautifully! Here is Carol of the Bells...

And a family rendition of Angels We Have Heard on High, which is the song that helped name Gloria when she was in utero. (Someone tell that pregnant lady to smile and enunciate! ;) ) Gloria was supposed to be up there with us, but she "chickened out" at the last minute. Oh, well!

Christmas at the Creek

2011-12-04T12:34:00.001-06:00

(formerly known as Christmas in the Park, but it changed locations this year to a more spacious spot in town)

A real camel at the live Nativity (a very nice addition since there formerly was no Christ at "Christmas" in the Park!) All three girls agreed the Nativity was one of their favorite parts!

Allia: "It was sooo soft but it really stinks"
Stephen was really interested!

A pile of snow. They had tons of fun throwing snow balls!

And Mariana took one to go!

We also rode the hayride, did a craft, heard some live music and had cookies and hot chocolate. Lots of fun!

The Gospel according to a 3 year old

2011-12-02T19:37:00.001-06:00

Today, the girls made letters for their neighbor friend. I was out watching them deliver the letters down the street. The little girl took one at a time and put them in her house. Afterwards, Gloria came running down the street excitedly and shouted, "Mommy, I was last at Bekah's house so I will be first in Heaven!" Then later as they played she told her friend, "Did you know that the last will be first in Heaven and the first will be last?" So cute! She is paying attention!

Stephen's new room

2011-11-28T20:44:00.001-06:00

After our travels, we decided to make the switch. So Stephen is now in his big boy room complete with his sports theme crib set (from Lito and Lita), leaving the nursery awaiting baby sister's arrival.

My sister and her sister-in-law made this for Stephen. I will probably eventually hang it on the wall, but am waiting to make sure I like the furniture arrangement first. :)

Turkey for Thanksgiving?

2011-11-26T21:06:00.001-06:00

Not in Cajun country! We went to visit Pawpaw and Manah's house for Thanksgiving. You know you are in Cajun country when you go to Super W on Thanksgiving morning and instead of Stove Top Stuffing and canned yams, there is a huge display of Douget's Roux mix and rice! So we enjoyed some yummy seafood gumbo, chicken and sausage gumbo, cajun meatballs, and of course plenty of pie!

Raiding Manah's suprise bags after our arrival

Yay! Basketball!

Allia really enjoyed shooting hoops

A little help from cousin Jake

"Slam dunk"

Tree swing and climbing

Tugboat Island...wild ride in the tire swing

Little guy wore himself out at the park! Good thing we ate a picnic lunch because he was zonked!

And a very special treat...a trip to Larry's French Market for dinner. Allia and Mariana both had Alligator and Frog legs (although after a few tastes, Mariana willingly went back to chicken tenders). Just for the record, I tried a few bites too, but weird meats are really not my thing. ;) Austin, however, thoroughly enjoyed the buffet!

Gloria stuck with the chicken!

Um, am I supposed to eat that?

Bedtime story with Daddy

Feeding the ducks at a different park. There were even some ducklings!

And nothing like some good old family soccer!

Gloria as Goalie. She was so cute just standing there blocking the goal!

So much fun! They cried when it was time to go home!

Sisterly Love

2011-11-23T06:48:00.001-06:00

We went to the library the other day, and Mariana left something inside. I told her to go back and get it (I was parked right in front) while I was buckling the other two in. Gloria pleaded desperately with me not to leave Mariana there. I told her, "I love Mariana. I wouldn't leave her at the library."
She responded, "I love her too! And I want to play with her when we get home!" So sweet. :)

Happy Baptism Day

2011-11-19T08:30:00.001-06:00

to me. :) I made this cake yesterday, and Stephen kept climbing up and pointing saying, "Mmmm, Chochate cake."

Our world stops...

2011-11-18T12:27:00.001-06:00

for the garbage truck. Really. And yesterday it was a welcome interruption. Stephen had been screaming and stomping around for about 20 minutes, and I was trying to figure out how to defang him while folding some laundry. Worked great! Thanks, garbage truck (aka "barbage truck")!

It is a special treat when they do the "crusher" which happened twice on our street this time!

Baby shower

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

We had a last minute baby shower yesterday afternoon for a friend who is due any day now. It was fun, children and all! My girls were SO excited to be invited to a baby shower. Mariana even dressed in her fancy new rosette dress she received from Pawpaw and Manah (her godparents) for her baptism day!

This had to be the fastest gift opening ever. One of the children asked if they could help, and of course Mrs. N graciously agreed. Before we knew it everyone had taken all the gifts out of the gift bags and piled them in her lap! Too funny!

Here she is going through everything after the onslaught!

What's your name?

2011-11-16T10:42:00.001-06:00

We have been working on Stephen to answer that question. He was sooo close and even did it once (instead of just repeating "name" back to us). Then he watched the guardian angel video with the girls and decided to make a joke. Now when we ask him, he answers "nummy tummy" which is from the video. He received such laughter the first time he did this that now it is all he will say! Then he gives this coy little grin...

But we are making some progress. If you ask him, "Where is Stephen?" He will point to himself and say, "Sehnen."

Happy Baptism Day Mariana!

2011-11-13T15:02:00.001-06:00

We made some cookie sandwiches (icing in the middle) and since we are having unseasonably warm weather, the girls talked Austin into setting up the big jumper. They are all having a lot of fun!

Stephen kept saying, "Boing, boing." So cute! We are so thankful for our sweet Mariana and the gift of her baptism. Her RE teacher said she was eagerly answering lots of questions in class this morning. Good girl!

Soccer finale

2011-11-11T15:31:00.001-06:00

Allia had her end of season party last night to officially wrap up our soccer season. Here are the girls with their trophies and the team photo of Mariana I have been waiting for.

What are they doing?

2011-11-07T18:46:00.002-06:00

Playing Angry Birds of course. Every year I loathe the switch to Standard Time. I am an outside kind of girl and always have been (ask my parents...I used to beg to eat dinner outside as a child!). I resent being forced indoors before 6pm. But I guess it does promote family togetherness. Sort of.

Lolo Lookalike

2011-11-06T19:38:00.001-06:00

The boy likes hats and flashlights and when armed with both looks strikingly like his great grandfather!

Last Soccer Saturday!

2011-11-05T11:31:00.000-06:00

I wish I could have seen both of their last games (I will have to hope somebody posts some photos on Mariana's team website), but we had one at 10:15 and one at 10:30. So I was at Allia's game. They played a great, tough game and came out on top 4-3. Allia played great defense as goalie and back defense, her two best positions. They actually lost to the same team last week, so the coach had them all playing their best positions today, and it worked! We will miss soccer but are looking forward to a more relaxed family schedule!!!

Playing Goalie

Allia and her buddy, Peyton

My view

2011-11-04T17:10:00.003-06:00

from the kitchen window doing dishes after dinner this evening. Gotta love it.

All Saints Day!

2011-11-02T06:03:00.000-06:00

We have been looking forward to this for weeks! Here is our little saint lineup at home featuring St. Lucy, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Padre Pio and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. (Stephen got a kick out of Austin coloring on him with marker for the beard and wounds of Christ!)

Face painting...always a hit!

St. Elizabeth of Hungary was mostly interested in the candy after playing a few games.

Saint Bingo...they played this for quite a while!

Mariana looked so beautiful and grown up!

A group of saintly friends with our St. Lucy hiding behind one of them. :(

Austin and I were Saint John Bosco and Saint Gianna Molla and did brief presentations along with several others...but no photos of that! He made quite a show even singing "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" and leading a parade. (He was the last one to speak). So much fun!

Children's Barnyard

2011-10-29T07:30:00.000-06:00

We have not been to this in a few years, and the children really enjoyed it yesterday! We were so blessed to go with a group of our very good friends!

Goats

Sheep

Baby chicks (I think the favorite of all the children...at least mine!)

Allia was so sweet carefully picking up the chicks and handing them to the younger children who wanted to hold them but couldn't pick them up on their own.

Pigs

Miniature Horse...the children enjoyed this animal because he was eating all the hay they handed him. So they were all walking around scooping hay off the ground to feed him.

Full Size Horse

Ahhh, the John Deere Tractor...can you say boy magnet?

The whole group!

Mmmmm, the ice cream sandwich treat at the end (this was how I convinced Stephen to leave the tractor! Luckily he knows what ice cream is!)

Sweet helpers

2011-10-26T14:20:00.002-06:00

I am always thankful that the oldest in our family are girls...today Stephen hasn't been feeling so well. I think he has a cold, and when we were picking Gloria up from dance at noon he looked ready to conk out. So Allia started stroking his hair in the car, and she and Mariana made an elaborate plan to put him down for nap right when we arrived home. We came home, I served Gloria lunch, and they did it. Stephen went down peacefully and happily with them, and by the time I made it upstairs to check on him he was already fast asleep!!! What great helpers!

Crazy Daddy Games

2011-10-23T13:37:00.001-06:00

We try to do something fun and unusual as a family on Sunday to set the day apart as special for the children. Last week, it was hide and seek (good family fun!). Today after lunch Austin decided to create this wild jumping game where the children jump off the couch into a pile of couch pillows (which are usually not allowed to be on the floor!). They had great fun, as you can see!

The Sound of Music

2011-10-22T16:28:00.000-06:00

Austin and I took the older two girls to see some friends of ours in the Sound of Music (my all time favorite movie!) this afternoon. They did a beautiful job! Here are the girls afterwards with Johnathan (Freidrich ) and Stephen (Rolf).

Soccer Saturday

2011-10-22T09:46:00.002-06:00

Here we are with soccer again! I was at Allia's game this morning, and they played an awesome game. It was quite a match but they came out on top with Allia making an awesome pass to her teammate who then scored a goal in the last 10 seconds of the game! Here is the shot of her playing goalie in the first half (the photo is deceiving...she did make the stop, so no goal scored). Austin is going to Mariana's game, and I could have gone too. But I have to stay home to get ready for our special afternoon outing today. ;)

And unfortunately I have no photos from Mariana's game, but she made her first ever goal this week. Yay, Mariana!!!

Treats and play

2011-10-22T06:38:00.000-06:00

The children received a surprise package of treats from Lito and Lita yesterday. So exciting!

And poor little Stephen is having a tough time. He wants to play with the girls but usually destroys whatever they are playing with, which invokes a fight. But here is sweet big sis Mariana playing with Cooties after nap with him. He was so tickled and kept calling her Mommy!

Woohoo

2011-10-19T11:33:00.001-06:00

I am super excited. Austin found a bench seat for our Suburban. We have been looking for over a year because ours has captains' chairs in the middle, and this baby will max out our seating. Which would mean if we have another child after this one we would have to upgrade to a big white passenger van. Now we have a whole extra seat so we can keep the Suburban for several more years. I will post a photo when he returns (he had to go out of town to a salvage yard to get it!). :)

He did a great job! It cleaned up really nicely and matches the color of our other seats really closely (a blessing because the seller originally described the seat as "brown"). Austin was even able to see the vehicle it came from to be assured that there was no damage to the area (it was a front impact-only crash). So glad to have an 8-seater now!

Little cuties

2011-10-18T07:24:00.001-06:00

It is all of 60 degrees this morning, and the girls broke out their heavy winter coats! Too funny. (Of course you may notice Mariana is wearing flip flops!). They sure look pretty though. :)

And this little guy is really blossoming with his speech. He is now speaking in two and three word phrases and occasionally short sentences. Here he is showing off his new shoes. This is one of his popular phrases this week. "My's new shoes." I love the "my's" instead of my or mine. He tends to add an S to the end of a lot of his words for some reason. Super cute!

Oranges

2011-10-17T15:13:00.000-06:00

This boy eats oranges and raisins like I have never seen! He can eat one large orange, and occasionally more, in one sitting! Every morning for the last week he has asked me for an orange.

And just for fun here is a video. He actually speaks a little more clearly but he is talking with his mouth full. ;)

Soccer Saturday

2011-10-15T14:57:00.001-06:00

We had to split up this morning for soccer, and Gloria and I were at Allia's game. Her team played beautifully and won 11-3!

Go Aggies!

2011-10-14T18:03:00.001-06:00

I am SO excited that we have a flagpole and Aggie flag to fly for tomorrow's game. My very sweet sister sent me some birthday money, and we have really been wanting a flagpole and American flag, so I used the money to purchase that. Austin put it up last Saturday. But I didn't have enough money left for an Aggie flag, figuring it would be pretty expensive. Well, I was right, except that my deal seaker hubby found this one on clearance at one of the bookstores for $10. Amazing. All the others were over $40! Thank you my wonderful husband (and sister too!). Go Ags!

Ah, paper dolls

2011-10-13T13:44:00.000-06:00

I needed to do some cleaning this week but had one big stumbling block...toys. Everywhere. Every room had toys scattered all over the floor except for mine and Austin's bedroom which has officially been declared a toy-free zone by necessity. So I made a decision. I would organize, sort and lock up most of the toys in an armoire. Then, when the children want something I can take it out on the condition that the other toys that are out are picked up. Brilliant, right? One problem. The creativity of children abounds. I had not even announced my plan yet but had most of the toys closed away and the ones I was still organizing stored up high. Not finding any toys readily available for play (I say this, but there are a few things I am leaving out like the dollhouse), they resorted to their own devices...making paper dolls. This started last year when one of the girls received a paper doll kit for her birthday. They make whole families of dolls with clothes, shoes, etc. (Dig the one with the Aggie shirt in the photo!) The result? LOTS of paper dolls and LOTS of paper scraps. Everywhere. Ahhhh...paper dolls. Can you say backfire? I do commend their creativity though. :)

Home Depot?

2011-10-13T13:22:00.001-06:00

Wowsers....we always go to Lowe's unless forced for some reason to shop at Home Depot. This began many years ago because the people were just super helpful here at our Lowe's and super, well, rude at Home Depot. I was actually griped at and hung up on by the Home Depot store manager once when reporting a problem by phone...and I promise I was being as cordial as possible! Anyway, I just received this link from AFA regarding Home Depot and their support of the gay community. Some of the other floats in the parade were just plain filthy and disgusting. Scary. Glad we like Lowe's better anyway, but if we didn't we sure would switch now!

Little boy with a balloon

2011-10-13T11:38:00.002-06:00

Mom and Dad have been sending the children these giant punching balloons, and Stephen loves them because he can actually throw them up high and catch them (can't do that with a ball yet!). So cute.

Republican Debates...

2011-10-11T20:08:00.002-06:00

through the eyes of a child...

Austin: (explaining why we are listening to all these people talk) Mariana, what country do we live in?
Mariana: TEXAS!

as we were putting them to bed...

Allia: I like the woman in the white dress, and that man....the one....

Me: Herman Cain?

Allia: Yeah! The 9-9-9 guy! And...the one that looks like Fr. Brian (aka Rick Santorum)

REAL Popcorn!

2011-10-09T15:29:00.000-06:00

Mom and Dad have been emptying out all their unused kitchen appliances and bringing them to our house. We recently inherited this air popcorn popper that I grew up with. I have so many memories of watching the popcorn pop and drizzling it with butter. YUM! They even brought us some sea salt! Way better than the microwave stuff. And it was so fun to watch the children enjoying it.

Reading together

2011-10-08T18:45:00.000-06:00

Stephen climbed up in Allia's lap while she was sitting in her reading corner and handed her this book. It was so cute. The video is below. The book is in Spanish, so Allia was sort of translating/going off memory to read it to him in English.

Anima Christi

2011-10-07T08:04:00.000-06:00

Allia was recorded praying the Anima Christi (Soul of Christ) prayer by a friend of ours who runs the local Catholic radio station! For those who are not local, during breaks between programs, they play clips of families and/or children praying for the listeners and the station. So Allia is now praying on the radio! (My voice starts by saying, "Allia's prayers fly straight to God.")

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-05T11:42:00.001-06:00

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch today after Gloria's dance class....now that our high temps are mostly under 90 degrees! The children had so much fun picking pumpkins and even generously offered to let me pick the big family one. ;) Stephen just kept squealing "Puh-kih". It was soooo cute. He received many extra mommy kisses because I just couldn't help myself!

National Night Out

2011-10-04T21:30:00.000-06:00

Sno cones...yummy!

Fun with neighbors

Little boy enjoyed having his own sno cone and even threw a fit because he couldn't have seconds!

More Soccer photos

2011-10-03T19:36:00.002-06:00

I just discovered that one of the moms from Mariana's team set up a website where she posts all of her photos...and she is one of those mom with a professional camera taking photos the whole game. So here are more soccer photos of Mariana...

Mariana and her buddy, Keelyn, chatting it up on the sidelines (Keelyn actually has auburn hair but it looks more brown in this photo).

"Run, Mariana" That is what Austin and I constantly yell during the games...and sometimes it works!

Happy to be running through the parent tunnel at the end of the game...there is just something really cute about a girl running with her pony tail swinging behind her. :)

Piano Recital

2011-10-02T17:54:00.000-06:00

Before

All the students

Our Godson, Andrew's first performance and the first one to play today

My camera randomly switches modes when it thinks it senses your finger nearby, so I was only able to catch half of Andrew's song. He did a great job though!

Allia was more nervous than usual today (maybe since so many of her friends and family were there watching this time) but she did a good job on In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Richie's Solo of Riding the Hobby Horse

And here we have a comparison:

This is the Duet in practice

This is the Duet with Nerves. Really, they did a great job. The first half of the song was so perfect! We were all very proud. :)

The bow (they look so serious!)

Weekend fun

2011-10-01T21:38:00.000-06:00

Lito and Lita came in for a visit, and of course there are always gifts. Stephen really likes this dog from Toy Story.

Then, of course, we had soccer Saturday...after Austin, Lito, Uncle Matt and Tia Nana ran a 5K together. Looks like they had fun!

Here are my soccer girls.

Mariana's team was up first this morning. They did great, winning their game by one goal. She actually made some good ball contact this time. Yay!

Allia's field is much bigger, so it was tough to snap a good photo, but her team played well and ended up in a tie. She also made ball contact this time. Yay, Allia!

Stephen has really enjoyed his "Tito" time. They are good buddies.

Pawpaw time

2011-09-25T16:37:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Pawpaw's birthday today (really it's Tuesday) with a yummy homemade chocolate pie (I actually made the whole thing from scratch by myself, even the meringue). Here are all of us September birthday folks together.

The children love Pawpaw's cel phone. Here is Stephen enamored by the ringtones.

Sharing sweets

2011-09-25T07:40:00.000-06:00

Gloria is really enjoying her big sister roll, taking Stephen under her wing. Here, she shares with him her very special treat even though I gave him his own "pop pop" to try and appease him. What a sweet sis!

Kid quote of the day

2011-09-24T19:54:00.003-06:00

After watching the end of the Aggie football game...
Allia: "Mommy, you shouldn't let me watch a football game. It is addictive. Now I just can't wait to watch another one."
(That's my girl! She may look like Austin but there is some of me...and Pawpaw...in there after all!)

First Soccer Games

2011-09-24T19:35:00.001-06:00

What a Saturday morning! We had a 9am and 10am game today and discovered that Allia left her soccer bag (with uniform in it) at Thursday's practice. Craziness! Thankfully her coach found it and brought it to the game!

Allia's team is called the White Diamonds and played a team with a lot of experience. They played really well (blocked a ton of goals!) but lost 4-0.

Mariana's team is called the Fire Dragons. She and another redhead are the only girls on the team and are best buddies already. They did great...I lost track of the score but I think it ended up something like 8-1 with them winning. They have several feisty little boys who played last year and know their stuff!

Random photos

2011-09-19T10:30:00.001-06:00

I finally developed the photos from our waterproof camera that we took to Sea World!

Here we are eating cotton candy waiting for the first show to begin

Most of the pictures were not keepers (go figure!). I let the children use up the remaining exposures with friends at the pool, and these were the two keepers from that batch....Gloria under water

and Stephen and Gloria playing on the steps

And here is a photo of my handsome guys reading a book together before mass Sunday. :)

Birthday fun!

2011-09-19T06:49:00.000-06:00

I failed in the photo department this weekend, not taking many pictures. But we had lots of fun celebrating Saturday and Sunday since it is hard to squeeze two birthdays into one day. ;) We started Saturday with an early trip to the park for soccer practice and play, then went to ChuckECheese, where Mariana and I got special birthday treatment, to play some games. After heading home for lunch and naps we went out to eat and practically had the restaurant to ourselves compliments of the Aggie game. Austin even enjoyed a 99cent Aggie-rita! (I had one sip of that and a ton of salsa!). Yesterday after mass and RE we had a yummy lunch, plenty of cake, and Mariana opened her gifts from us. I even opened some cute homemade paper dolls from the girls. We closed out the evening with another yummy dinner and trip to the park. All in all great fun!

Here is everyone sharing a big bowl of ice cream after dinner.

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-18T05:52:00.000-06:00

To my Mariana and myself. :)

Then (3 years old)

Now...SIX years old! My birthday buddy and I received a special delivery of flowers and chocolates from Lito and Lita. How sweet! (and Mariana shared very generously, I might add)

Noodle Wars

2011-09-17T06:26:00.001-06:00

Yesterday evening the children on our street were all out playing. I had just purchased some end of season clearance swim noodles for next year (50 cents at HEB, you local deal seekers!!!) since some of our old ones may not make it to next year. Suddenly, the swim noodles turned into swords and noodle wars broke out. They must have played this for at least 30 minutes straight. It was so funny. They would fall on the ground until a teammate came to heal them. Then, back to fighting. Everyone was so good natured, no whining or hitting too hard. It was almost amazing....well, until I discovered one of the children (not my own!) had bitten about 10 holes in one of the brand new noodles! Last time I bought some that happened to us at the pool. What luck! At least they were cheap!