Holy Week, Passion Play

We started the week celebrating Sebastian's birthday, which at first seemed contradictory. But our pastor assured us that every Sunday is meant to be a celebration of the Resurrection, even Palm Sunday. So a birthday celebration was completely legitimate. ;)

Last night Mariana played Veronica in the parish Passion Play. She did a beautiful job, as did the other youth. It was a lovely way to enter more deeply into the meaning of the week and a great experience for Mariana as well.

 

Happy Birthday, Sebastian!

We started the celebrations with a park playdate/party Friday morning. He was happy to celebrate with so many friends. I failed to get any photos there, but here he is when we came home with the last remaining cupcake and his happy birthday balloon!

And a sweet picture of Gloria and Cecilia walking home from the park.

Manah and Pawpaw took us out to eat on Saturday evening after mass to celebrate. Sebastian ate 3 bowls of salsa with chips and drank the last bits! Wow!
Then Sunday we celebrated with our family. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, opened gifts here and then at Pawpaw and Manah's,played a lot, had cookie cake with lunch, went to first communion prep and RE, then had a nice dinner with Pawpaw and Manah complete with birthday cake and candles!

 

 

 He was thrilled with every gift no matter how small and enjoyed sharing his new things with his siblings throughout the day! The only thing he actually asked for when we quizzed him on what he wanted was Peeps!

 

We are so thankful for this boy! He is smart, sweet and just really enjoyable and easy going. We got his stats at his well check this morning, and he is in the 85% on height and the 75% on weight. Quite a hefty boy we have. He didn't make a peep for his shots, either. What a guy!

Buddies

Pawpaw and Manah were out of town for a week, and Cecilia was so glad to have them back!!!

Swim, curls and such

As a little spring break finale I took the kids to the pool for just a bit Sunday afternoon. It was freezing, of course. But they surprised me and actually played happily for quite a while until a thunderstorm started rolling in!

 

And the best part of our family yardwork day...the swingset! We took down our old metal one, and Austin replaced this part of the wooden one, which was rotting, with a longer board to fit more swings. We even got a baby swing for Cecilia. They have had so much fun on it together. It is also really great because Sebastian can swing himself on this carriage swing so I don't have to push him!

Cecilia has learned to remove her diaper and will do so if I try to let her run around in it without bottoms. After mass this weekend, she took her diaper off and then went straight for the stairs. She is quite a handful lately! We have to keep the pantry closed or she opens things and pours them out (like cereal, tortilla chips, etc.) and the same for the cabinets.

 I just had to snap a picture of her curls. There is just not much cuter than a toddler with bouncy red curls!

Spring Break

We didn't make any big plans for our week off, but we had lots and lots of little ones. I was trying to get the older girls together with friends that they don't see much during the busy life of school days and activities!
Monday we had some friends to the house for crafts and fun (plus I took Allia and her friend to Grand Station for just a bit so they could use Allia's goal cards from swimming). Two of them had a sleepover at the friends' house that night.

 Tuesday we went to jumping world with some more friends. Everyone had a great time, and Austin was off so Cecilia stayed with him. Yay!

 Wednesday we took a family day to clean up the yard and get it ready for spring! Everyone did a great job helping out, and we finished off the day with daily mass.
Thursday was ice skating with friends. The rink was colder than usual, so it was almost penitential! Then we went to the park with some friends in the late afternoon.

Friday was a little lower key, or at least it was supposed to be. Allia just had a swim friend over, and I dropped them off at a movie (her first time without an adult!). But then an opportunity to visit our dear friend Kathy came up, so I went with a friend to see her. Then someone spontaneously organized a prayer vigil for her before stations that evening. Austin ended up singing for that. So it turned out to be a busy afternoon/evening!
What a week. And now we jump back in to finish out the school year with a whole lot going on...

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Mariana's robotics team competed in the HLSR this past Saturday. There were some technical difficulties with the anthem, so Austin volunteered to sing the National Anthem and was broadcast over the whole rodeo!