Pretty Pony

With all the cold weather and a necessary trip to the attic anyway, Austin decided to bring down the pony for some indoor entertainment. We haven't had it out in so long that Anastasia had never seen it. She was pretty happy!

Lito Time

Lito came yesterday after dropping Lita off at the airport for her trip to the Dominican Republic. We watched the (very disappointing) Aggie game together. Then after morning mass, we went out to breakfast. The last few days have been really cold here, and Anastasia sat here snuggling with Lito for a good 20 minutes while we waited. So sweet!

He had to head home for a few days but will be back for Thanksgiving. Yay!

Anastasia and buddies

I forgot to post this photo a friend sent me from our park playdate a few days ago. Anastasia is hanging with the guys. :)

Crazy Castles

We have not played this game since we moved in to this house...so hard to believe. This used to be a regular occurrence when the girls were younger and I only went to Sam's once in a while. I would stock up on paper products. So when we got home, they would build castles and other structures to run and crash into. Such fun! Then when the game is over everyone has to help put them away. Yesterday we needed paper towels and toilet paper. When we got home I just couldn't resist letting them have a go at it. They all had so much fun together!

Last Sports Saturday (and Tuesday)!

I can't believe fall sports are already over! Allia had her last game Tuesday night (a makeup from a rainout). She was supposed to have her tournament today, which we were all looking forward to since her team has been neck and neck with another for first ranking in their division, but sadly not enough of her teammates could be there today. They did win their game Tuesday night, and she came just inches from scoring a goal a couple of times! Her coach had lots of good things to say. We don't usually do activities when a new baby is coming, but we may have to make an exception so she can play with this team again in the Spring!

 Such sweet girls and great soccer players!

So this morning, we were off to volleyball. Mariana actually had her end of season party Tuesday night. She received the award for the most improvement on her team. She started out the season barely able to serve and timid with hitting the ball. Now she gets most serves over the net and has made lots of ball contact trying to return the ball too. What a girl!

Then was Gloria's game and definitely her best. She played an awesome game...some good defense, and she even scored two goals!!! Yay, Gloria! She was super excited to get a real soccer trophy!

I guess we will have to go back to catching up on house projects and start preparing for the holidays. It will almost be weird not to have practices and games this week!

Warm fuzzies

We had a few days and nights of really cold weather, so we broke out the warm fuzzy PJ's for everyone. When we woke up this morning, there was frost on everything. The children were so excited, they put hats and gloves on with their PJ's and went running outside! They even dragged Anastasia out there right after she woke up. Cute girl...she didn't really understand what the excitement was about.

Happy Baptism Day!

We celebrated Mariana's baptism yesterday with cupcakes, a special playdate, daily mass and dinner out (and of course lighting her candle and looking at her baby album). Fun day!

Thankfulness tree (forest)

We finally got our thankfulness tree up a few days ago, unlike last year when we started Nov 1st! Somehow the younger ones decided that they needed to make their own small trees out of the scraps from the big one. So now instead of one big tree, we have a forest! They also made up for lost time by making lots of leaves! It's a good thing we have a lot to be thankful for. ;)

Piano lessons

Allia started doing beginning piano lessons with Gloria yesterday. The other girls did this with Austin when they started Kindergarden, but Daddy has been busy lately. So Allia had the idea that she could do it! The first lesson went well yesterday. (Their bunny ears are compliments of a birthday party the day before. ;) )

Fun Sunday Breakfast

The two oldest girls sang at 11am mass this weekend. So we had an unusually slow Sunday morning (we are usually 8:30am 'ers). We took advantage and made a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. Yummy! I had five eager helpers with the breakfast!!!

Lost Lito Picture

I found this photo on my phone from the weekend Lito was here. Can you tell which one he is? (Auntie Laura brought the fake facial hair when she came a few weeks ago. ;) )

Dewberry Farm Trip

I organized a trip for our homeschool group to a nearby farm. The children have been looking forward to this for a while now, and I am so thankful we were all well. Austin even took the day off to come with us. It was a really fun day for all of us!

We started with the wagon ride so we could see the farm and pick out where to head first.

 We decided to check out the Corn Maize first. Pretty fun...though a little scary even for an adult. I was starting to worry we wouldn't be able to find our way out! We didn't discover the map until later!

 Anastasia's turn on the big pillow jumpers. She wasn't so sure.

 The big kids loved these pedal carts. We spent a lot of fun time there!
(Our Godson, Andrew, whose birthday was today)

 The little kid pedal carts

More big kid carts. These looked so fun I almost wanted to ride!

 More pillow jumping

 Hay Mountain (which is more like Hay Hill)

 Ball swings

Zip lines

 

 And we did actually see animals at the farm. There was a newborn Lamb and some new piglets too! Here is Mariana feeding a goat.

Just as we were eating a late lunch, it started raining. The kids were able to go to a few more things, and then we headed home. What a day!

Gloria Lost Her First Tooth!

Amid all of the crazy fun this weekend, Gloria lost her first tooth. It happened at the first All Saints' party on Friday afternoon while she was eating taffy. She just came running up to me and said, "Look what happened!" What a surprise! Here is St. Cecilia with one less tooth...

Saturday evening we carved out time for a trip to Spoons to celebrate!

Weekend fun

Stephen ready for the vigil mass for All Saints' in his new boots from Lito and Lita

St. Kateri and St. Cecilia ready for our first All Saints' party at the L family house

All the saintly children (well, most of them....a few were already in the house snacking)

Mariana's volleyball team after their first win Saturday. So exciting! Mariana made quite a few serves over the net!

And a birthday gathering this evening for a friend turning 40! What a fun group we had!