Prayers needed

for our sweet friends, the R family. They had to leave baby William at the hospital today with jaundice. Mary has to stay in a hotel nearby and go nurse him every few hours, while Rich goes home to be with the other boys. We almost had to leave Gloria at the hospital when they discovered her low heart rate, and I remember how heart-wrenching the idea was to me! Pray for their strength, peace, and for things to improve soon!

Problem solving

(as we prepare for Daddy to leave this morning after him working late last night)
Allia: Daddy, I wish that God would just give us some money so that you can stay home and not have to go to work.

(playing Horsey with Pawpaw...where he is the horse)
Allia: Do it again

Pawpaw: I can't be a horse anymore...it is too hard on my knees.

Allia: Well, can you be a cow instead?

Welcome

little William Thomas to the R family! Yay! We are so happy for you guys. We may be working on "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" with you guys I think! ;-)

Tooth update

Well, Mariana fared well at the dentist. I think she liked all the attention! And she picked Mommy to go with her, scoring some one-on-one time with me!

As for the tooth, it looks OK for now. Xrays showed it is not broken. However it is recessed and will probably stay that way, especially with the thumbsucking! It is also grayish colored and could even become darker. We will go back in 3 months (if not sooner due to any problems arising from it) for another checkup. Poor girl!

Here is her 2 year photo before all of her mouth-busting falls started.


When she gets up from nap I will take an "after" photo and update the post with that.

*Updated




It actually doesn't look so bad in the photos...probably the poor lighting!

Busted!

times two:

First, I "caught" Allia reading on her own! I sent the girls to separate rooms to play after growing weary of the screaming and fighting this morning (?!). When they were released, I found out Allia had been reading her Curious George book...for real (she has had most of them memorized for some time). She was pretty far into the first story. How exciting!


Second, Mariana busted her lip again...for about the 6th time this year! Except this time, she hit her teeth too. It moved one of her top front teeth backwards, so we will be visiting the pediatric dentist tomorrow morning! Poor girl! I will spare a photo of that, instead here is one of her pretty hairdo for Memorial Day. We took the holiday to spend special individual time with the girls (so I did hair and nails with each of them while Austin took the other on a bike ride, and I went to the pool with Allia during the other girls' naps). We also spent some nice time with Tia Becky and some sweet friends, the K family.

3 of a kind

Zipping along

Leave it to Austin to use his graduation money to buy a zip cord! What a fun daddy! It went through several adjustments to find just the right height and location...

Discovered!

Gloria finally discovered the little doggy head that the other two girls were so enamored with in their baby days. She has been passing him by for weeks, but today she finally looked up and was so puzzled to see him. I still remember the look of victory on baby Mariana's face when she finally pulled him down into her mouth! I would post the photo, but it is in her baby album. Cute!

Her own version

of the rosary...

During our family rosary tonight:

Mommy: The second glorious mystery is....(pregnant pause waiting for the answer)

Mariana: (beaming) The Ascension of the Holy Father.

Can it get any better?

A dashing duo

"Mama"

Gloria said it. She really did! I know it is hard to believe since she is only 4 1/2 months old, but it's true! She was SO vocal all day today, "coo"ing and "wooo"ing and "wawawa"ing. Then after her bath, Austin was chatting with her on the changing table and started saying mama to her, and she said it back. I was a little skeptical at first, but I watched, and sure enough she would stare at his mouth, curl her little lips in until you could barely see them, start moving her mouth with a concentrated look, and out it came: "Mama." All four of us danced around the room clapping and squealing and then persuaded her to do it a few more times before she decided it really was bedtime. I am soooo proud. The other two said "Dada" first, but not this one. She's mine!!!

Also on her list of accomplishments today is putting herself down for naps without crying. It was taking me 20+ minutes to rock her, and this morning after a good, long rocking, she woke back up after I laid her down! Argh! So I decided it was time. She cried for a while for her first nap (as her sisters and I said prayers for her in the living room!), but the rest of the day she did great. Yay!

The Trinity

after mass today...

Austin: Mariana, why are we eating ice cream before lunch? (we get extra treats around here on solemnities)

Mariana (she paid good attention during Allia's "quiz"!): because....because......Today is solemnity...(making her best attempt at a good sign of the cross) God is father, (she skipped the Son!) Holy spirit...Flame. (they made Holy Spirit flames to wear on their heads last Sunday for Pentecost!)

So cute!

Sister talk

Graduation Weekend

Pre Ceremony Photos:



At the ceremony:

Our "Distinguished" Graduate...he looks so happy!



The celebratory lunch which also doubled as a nice Mother's Day luncheon!

4 Months old

today! What a big girl. She is so sweet and so much fun!





Please say some wellness prayers for us (esp. Gloria!). She has one sister with fever and the other with a terrible cough, and she has her next shots Friday (just a few, not the whole big round like last time!!!) then Daddy's big graduation that night!

Rainy Day fun

It rained all day today. So we broke out some "crafts." The girls made collages and really enjoyed it. I haven't done crafts since the baby came! :-0

Happy Trails...

to the J family, one of our favorites! We went to their goodbye party at the park on Sunday. They are moving to Maryland in a little over a week, and we will miss them so much, especially Allia. She and her friend, Mary Clare enjoy playing together so much. What a sad goodbye!

Family fun

We had the sweet R family over Saturday, and we all had a great time.


Here are the kiddos enjoying dessert


After dinner and dessert, the kids made their own "feast." Then the older two pretended to wait on these two as they dined! Too cute!

Little prayers

Mariana (after hearing Manah was sick yesterday...with hands folded in prayer): Oh, Lord, I pray for Manah being sick and that you will take her sick away. Amen.

May

is the month of Mary. We used these beautiful cactus flowers that bloom once a year around the first of May, and the girls made little crowns for our Mary statue...no photos of that, sorry.