Stephen's version of Holy Week

The mind of a child trying to absorb so many events can be tricky. Thanks to him being so verbal, we got some glimpses into Stephen's version of what has been happening.

Last night at the Veneration of the Cross...
Stephen: Mommy, when the Roman soldiers nail me to the cross and kill me, you take me off the cross before I die, ok?
Mommy: Aw, buddy. Don't worry. I don't think they are going to put you on the cross, just Jesus.
Stephen: But, Mommy, when I am on the cross you take me down.
Mommy: I will take you off the cross just like Mary took Jesus down.
Stephen: But take me off before I die, ok?
Mommy: Ok, buddy. Don't you worry. I will take good care of you.

While talking about our plans for Holy Saturday...
Stephen: Mommy, today we are boiling the eggs with Manah and then we all have to die.
Mommy (a little confused at first): We are dying the eggs, buddy.
Stephen: Yes, after we boil them we will eat them and die.
Mommy: Oh, no, buddy. We have been talking about dying the eggs, but the word dying that we use means changing the color of the eggs, not that we will be dead!

Poor guy! I was amazed at how calmly he said these things. What a sweetheart.

Holy Week and pigtails

They don't really have much to do with each other! But I am not posting much because we are trying to immerse ourselves in the spirit of Holy Week. Last night, Allia sang with the youth choir as a prelude to the parish Passion Play. Both were beautiful. Tonight, Austin will sing with the schola at Tenebrae. Unfortunately, I think the children and I will have to skip that event since it is full of moments of silence! ;) But we look forward to participating in the other events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, for which both girls will be singing.

And just to have a little photo...the girls talked me into fixing Anastasia's first pigtails this morning. Isn't she cute?

Already?

We had an unusually warm but beautiful day yesterday (88 degrees!). In the afternoon, the children and I went to the nearby foresty park to pick up some trash (those frisbee golfers drop a lot of stuff!). We were all hot and sweaty by the time we finished, so I somewhat reluctantly agreed to drag out the rashguard suits and give the splash pad a try. Our neighborhood just added it in the fall, so we hadn't been able to try it out yet. Much to my surprise, they jumped in the pool too. I was expecting them not to last much longer than 20 minutes, but we ended up staying a whole hour!

The new baby pool acted as a hot tub since it was quite "warmer" than the pool. They would hop in the pool for a minute, then run over to warm up there.

Brave girl!

 Stephen in the "shower"

She just wanted to splash

Cute smile

 A friend came with us and brought this ring the flamingo game. They sure liked it...

 especially Anastasia!

Boy I don't think I ever heard so many high pitched squeals in my life...both due to cold and excitement...and that says a lot since we have 4 girls! Fun times!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a mini celebration yesterday in honor of St. Patrick. Manah even bought some special green cupcakes for the children. Yummy! St. Patrick was such a great example of loving our enemies. St. Patrick, pray for us!

Spring Break

We had quite a week! The children and I took a trip to the Children's Museum, but I forgot my camera! They had tons of fun. Then, Austin and Pawpaw started the big upstairs tile project (we are replacing most of the carpet up there). The weather was so beautiful that we took lots of bike rides and trips to the park in between helping the guys with the project. We had a nice dinner out to celebrate, and Mariana had her own piece of Key Lime pie because she was such an amazing helper to them.

Our bedroom before (I had ripped out the carpet already, so this is the plywood subfloor).

Pawpaw warms up his muscles (Mariana is missing because she ran fever that afternoon!)

During

 After!

 There is still much to be done. Our bath and closet are only partly tiled, and then we have to sand, paint and replace the baseboards. But we ran out of time and energy! At least we moved the furniture back in and can sleep in our own room again. We were in Stephen's bunk beds for several nights!

Welcome, Pope Francis!

We are so excited about our new Holy Father and where the Spirit will guide the Church through his leadership. God bless you, Pope Francis! We are in the middle of a big house project, but we did pause to watch/listen to his first address and prayer as Pope. :)

"Catapulting Annie"

The girls made up this game yesterday after lunch. They sit Anastasia on the small end of the wedge and then jump on the large end to pop her up in the air. It was so cute, and she really enjoyed it. They ran to tell me saying, "We are catapulting Annie!"

Garden time!

We decided to build another garden box, since our original one gets a little too much sun in the hot summer months for some of the veggies we like to grow. Stephen was Daddy's little helper. (You can see his black eye in this photo!)

And we even dragged some neighbors into the fun! Now we are ready for spring planting. Yay!

Big ouchie

Stephen got quite a doozie the other night. He was playing with the other choir siblings during the older girls' practice. Two very sweet older boys decided to let him have a ride in the wagon (think big dump cart) he was pulling. Simultaneously, the two boys decided that the ride would be much more fun for Stephen if they ran as fast as they could. Before any of us parents could get the words out "Slow down!" they hit something which stopped the wagon and sent Stephen flying, crash test dummy style, onto the rocky concrete where he landed on his head/face. It was horrific to watch, and as I dashed from about 20 feet away to scoop him up, thoughts flooded my head of his face being mangled, ambulance lights, etc. But almost miraculously he just had a huge knot on his forehead. We iced it and watched him through the night, but he managed to get away without even a concussion. What a relief! He was back to his usual energetic self the next morning. I made him a bandage to help protect it yesterday morning so he could play at the park.

And here he is helping in the yard this morning. He has a black eye (or rather eyelid), but you can only see it when he closes his right eye. The eye is a little swollen too.

What a guy, this cutie!

Mount Riddle

We had a few friends over to play this morning, and some of the children decided to collect all the sand for a big mountain in the middle of the sandbox. Tons of fun for them, and it made me realize that we could use a few more bags of sand in there. I don't think I have ever seen the bottom of the sandbox since we first filled it. :)

It happened

We became users of an Apple device....beware the iPad...mesmerizing fun for all ages! ;)

White as Snow

Mariana dressed in a mostly white outfit today that looked so pretty on her and was so appropriate since she made her first Reconciliation yesterday! She was washed clean inside and out. She did a great job, and we celebrated with pancakes, bacon, eggs and blueberries for lunch afterwards. Yummy!

Mariana and her buddy, Brenna, before their first confessions

Beautiful

Sometimes I can hardly believe God has blessed me with five beautiful children. And on a beautiful day like this, I am so thankful to have them to share it with. We went to the park for a bit before lunch and then came home to play in the backyard before and after lunch. It is just too nice to stay indoors!

Don't worry, she had plenty of outdoor time too, but had to hang out inside with me while I cleaned up lunch.

It was so sweet. Stephen really wanted to play in the sandbox with someone, so he sidled up to Allia and reminded her of a game she played with him in the sand about three weeks ago. She was so touched that he remembered it that she happily obliged, and they took off for the sandbox together. He even let her put him down for nap!

Stephen has been funny lately. He keeps saying that Daddy is a "Big Man." He was telling me in the bath the other night, and decided to clarify, "Not a big fat man, just a big man." Then he told someone at the park this morning. So funny!

Now, let's hope I am feeling so blessed by my crew after we attend the rosary for Dr. Benson this afternoon. Daddy can't get off work in time to come with us, so it will be quite a feat!