Aquinasfest 2019

We went as a family to the festival on Sunday. Everyone else went off together, and Austin and I were left with Cecilia. She loved the bounce houses and kept going from one to the other.

The older 2 girls volunteered at face painting.

 There was a little petting zoo for free. Cecilia loved the goats but was afraid of the horses.

 

Austin won an auction item, a basket of homemade pickles from a friend who is really good at making things like that. Much to mine and Mariana's surprise, there was a jar of pickled okra too. It was so incredibly delicious! Sadly, Allia did not win the car raffle with the ticket Stephen bought her. But at least she has a car to drive! :)

Happy Birhtday Pawpaw!

We celebrated Pawpaw's birthday Friday with dessert and gifts, then we went to one of our favorite restaurants in town this evening after mass to celebrate a little more!

 

Aquinasfest bingo night

Lito joined us for our annual Aquinasfest bingo night. It was fun to go as a family, and we even had a few winners!

  

 

 This girl kept things interesting, trying to mark bingo cards, dancing all over the place, and just having a grand 2 year old time!

Daddy's girl

Cecilia is getting to be quite the Daddy's girl. She loves doing real work around the house, and Daddy is just patient enough to let her help him sometimes (or at least make her think she is helping!). She also loves to hand him his lunch in the morning when he leaves for work and insists on a hug and a kiss, even unto chasing down his car if he tries to leave without one! So sweet.

Happy 14th Birthday, Mariana!

We had a nice birthday together Wednesday including lunch at Jason's and dessert at Nothing Bundt cakes thanks to their birthday club coupons! We even did a little shopping together afterwards.

Now it's time for Mariana to have her own celebration with friends! She wanted to start with a game of bowling and then go home for more games, dinner, cake, movies and more fun. It was a busy weekend in town, so some friends could only make it to certain parts of the party...

She wanted to make and decorate her own cake. Allia offered to help (especially since she got some cool baking supplies for her birthday), and I enjoyed watching them work together happily. :)

 

  

 

 

 

Mariana is so joyful, faithful, helpful and caring. What a precious girl. We are so thankful for her and happy to see what God has in store for her this next year!

Little artist

This guy drew, colored and cut out this tiger all by himself. Not bad for a 5 year old! His older brother was impressed. ;)

New Pianist

We have a new pianist in the house...Anastasia! She had her second lesson this week and is doing great so far. Her teacher said she is a natural. :)

The party

Allia planned a very nice party. The girls started at U Paint It, came home for an elaborate taco/tex mex dinner, brownies and ice cream sundaes, went ice skating, then slept over. We had 12 friends total, but 2 left after ice skating. So that made 11 teenagers (including Allia) sleeping in our living room!

 

 

 

 

 A sweet friend made these amazing cookies for the occasion, which  was a special party day surprise for Allia! They were amazing!!!

 

 

 

We are so thankful for such a fun celebration of our sweet 16 year old! She is getting closer to being ready for her license. Look out world! May God continue to bless her (and protect her) this coming year!

Sixteen candles!

Happy 16th Birthday, Allia!

 

 

 Stephen saved up his money and bought her a raffle ticket for our church's annual festival in which they raffle a new car. The tickets are pricey, so she was very surprised. He has also been praying every night that her ticket wins. Sweet guy!

  It is such a big year with driving (coming soon), taking dual credit classes at a local college, possibly getting a job, and so much more. We are very proud of the responsible, faithful and talented girl that Allia is becoming! May God bless her this next year.

Tonsils, Adenoids and tubes, oh, my!

Sebastian had his surgery Tuesday morning. We had to check in an hour before, and they gave him a neat little care package with some monster trucks and a book. So we had some nice play/reading time before.

All prepped and waiting for his turn in the OR

In recovery...he was either sleeping or crying, poor buddy

 

He was much more comfortable once we got home. He was hesitant to eat and drink at first, but we kept at it, and finally he started eating popsicles. He really started to perk up after that.

He enjoyed the cotton candy he picked out, especially after his not-so-tasty medicine.

 The second day he got up and walked around/played a little.

Last night before bed he started asking for food. I gave him a bit of ice cream but didn't want to risk letting him eat too much in case it upset his tummy. So this morning, we made pancakes with lots of syrup to make them extra soft. He ate 2!

 We are hoping he continues to slowly improve. Setbacks are common, so we have to keep an eye on this little guy. He has been such a champ! And it seems to have already helped him. He is breathing easier, hearing better, and not doing his constant little sniffle/snort thing that has been going on for months. :)

Surgery shopping

I took this guy shopping to load up on popsicles, ice cream, yogurt, special drinks, etc. Yep, you guessed it...he is having his tonsils and adenoids out and tubes in his ears tomorrow. Saint Sebastian,  pray for us (and Saint Blaise too)!