Eatin' Apples and Bakin' 'Em

This is our dog Hannah. She will be 11 yrs. old on Wednesday. She is old. That's, what, 77 yrs. in dog years? She's climbin' the age ladder quickly.

It's getting tough for her to get up from a lying position on the hardwood floors. Poor thing. She slips and slips and finally gets up - all the while I'm somewhat holding my breath. It's only a second or two, so I'm not holding it long ;) Still, it's sad to see her deterierating, albeit slowly. This last year, really the last 6 months, has been real telling that she's on the down side of her little doggie life. ::sigh::

She has been an incredible dog. Anyone with a Golden can vouch. She has been a guardian for our children all these years - another little mother - another pair of eyes. She's got nothing better to do, so she'll go sit and just be with them. Where ever they wander, she'll be with them. A little companion. Who doesn't complain of the heat (too much).

If the kids go over to the neighbors back yard, there Hannah will be. Just lying there. Watching. Enjoying. It's very very sweet. As a mother, I totally appreciate her maternal spirit.

There's one story Dani recently told me.

Our neighbor saw Hannah in her backyard and thought that that was a bit strange that she was back there alone. Until she saw her little boy coming up the hill into the backyard! She told Dani she couldn't believe that Hannah was watching out for her son! The kids must've all been back there prior and Hannah stuck around until all the kids were back in the safe zone.

Good Girl, Hannah :)

You know how you hear of those amazing pet stories, the ones that save the whole family from a house fire? Or the ones that attack an intruder in the middle of the night to protect her family? Or save a child from a deadly animal? I always had doubts that Hannah would actually do that in those life-threatening situations. I'm now doubting that doubt. I think besides just licking someone to death she actually loves us enough to maybe bark? Anyway, I'm a little more optimistic about her heroism these days, in her old age. In my old age ;)

Okay so what in the world am I posting about my dog with the whole APPLE title thingy? There was a point and I kind of got off on a tangent.

You see, we just recently found out that Hannah LOVES apple cores. Just in the last few months. We've had her for almost 11yrs. and are just now discovering this obsession she has. She will haunt any child with an apple. Our neighbor's 5yo child had an apple and Hannah followed her everywhere and wouldn't be more than 2 feet from her. I had to ask her if she'd kindly feed Hannah the core when she was finished.

I can't help but think that she's wondering about all the cores she could've had - that after all these years she's found this wonderful treat! It is really cute to see her following the kids. Oh, but don't put that apple down to pick something up off the ground.... gulp!... as Charlie found out! LOL - "Hannah ate my apple!!"

Good eats!

There are actually a couple things I won't miss when Hannah finally does leave us (sniff, sniff):

The dog hair!!! ( I see all of you dog owners nodding your heads - Golden owners are actually yelling out "YES!" as well as nodding )

And the bomb, if ya know what I mean :)

Here are a few more Charlie shots apple shots, and then some...

I love the dribble of drool! Dani thought it was gross, but no, I love it! He has always been a slobber monster - never disappointing!

Another good thing about having so many kids is that - for Hannah - it means lots of apple core treats!


I also made that Apple Puff Pancake that was over at Jessica's a few weeks ago. I made it a few days after I copied it from her blog. It was so simple and the kids enjoyed it. I think I will double it in the future. Makes a great weekend breakfast in the cool autumn months :)

And here's the recipe which I printed up on Word and posted here:
Apple Puff Pancake
One of the things that I don't care for with Scribd is that it doesn't upload the same font I used in Word. On my Word doc. it is much more appealing to the eye because of the pretty font. Oh well, just one of those things I'm picky about ;)

Enjoy!

Eight is Great!!

This post could also be called "Loser Mom" :)
Thursday was Sophia's 8th birthday.  How time flies, etc, etc, etc, Seems like yesterday, etc, etc, etc....

Happy Birthday Fia Pie!!!!

I think that's her 4th birthday above w/Aunt Karen

Last year on her birthday - still need to take some recent birthday photos :)

We Love You Sophia Ann!!

Am I the Only One?

Addicted to these...

Hmmm?

PP Director Converts

You can hear the audio here of the amazing miracle of a Planned Parenthood director in Texas, not only leaving PP, but having a conversion and joining with the Pro-life efforts!

God bless you Abby for your courage and strength!

Heaven on Earth!

I told you here that I'd be posting the other saints at our Little Flowers' All Saints Party.  I had so much fun with these girls saints!!  You'll notice, some of them really worked it!!  Cute :)

St. Catherine Laboure

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Helena

St. Agnes

St. Joan of Arc

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist)

St. Cecilia

St. Therese

St. Gabriel

St. Clare

St. Sophia

St. Francis

St. Therese

Blessed Mother

Blessed Mother

St. Rose of Lima

St. Joan of Arc

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

And just in case you're wondering (and if you weren't you will be when I tell you) that St. Francis' hair is the child's own hair!  Isn't she he incredible!?

All her hair is wrapped up, around and bobby-pinned in!  Her mother said it took hours!

Pantyhose and Bobby Pins... gotta love the ingenuity.

I must say, HE was definitely a hit!!!

(and don't you just love the stuffed labrador puppy?!)

What a wonderful afternoon the girls enjoyed!!

Little Flowers' All Saints Party

St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Catherine of Siena

The girls reading their "Guess the Saint" clues...

These are our "Up in Heaven" Photos...

...aren't they divine?

Our wonderful Craft Mom (official title ::grin::) did the backdrop.  Actually I think she delegated - whether it was supervised or not, I do not know.  All I do know is that my dear daughters had white paint on them and loads (loads!!!!) of fun!  Thanks Michele!!

I am waiting on permission from the other mothers to post their daughter's pictures.  They are soooo adorable!!  (wait til you see St. Francis!!!)

Some Saint Games

The girls got in a single file line, oldest to youngest and a mom counted off each girl 1-4.  All the ones got on Team 1, the twos on Team 2 and so on.  So each team had an older girl (captain of the team) all the way down to the younger players.  They had to complete 5 tasks - each teamate assigned a task by the captain.

Sweep up the beans and dump into a wastebasket

Pick up the socks and put into a basket

Stack the dishes

Wash the window

&

The Captain had to bring back the basket of socks and the stacked dishes without dropping them.

When the team completed all the tasks they circled together to recite a Hail Mary (reflective of St. Bathildis's entrance into religious life in later years - after her duties were completed)

Pin the Rose on the Bouquet

Here the girls performed different virtues (charades style) while the other girls had to guess the virtue.

All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Our Halloween

People usually crack up when I tell them, "My kids start thinking of next year's costumes for Halloween the night of the present Halloween." Seriously. 364 days-o-plannin'.

The downer part of this year's trick or treating was the cold and rain. But the great part (besides the kids being so doggone excited) was the spontaneous visit by some great fellow homeschooling friends. The only reason I mention the homeschooling part is because we were some of the last remaining beggers around (again, in the miserable cold and rain) - we were all joking how our children are Hearty Homeschoolers. "We're deprived of most everything. This is our one thing. We're not stopping 'til we've hit every house!"

So here are the results of much creativity on the girls' part mostly:

Baby New Year (Charlie - 2.5yo)

The Pirate-y Boy - "ARG" (Joseph 4.5yo)

The Mad-Hatter (Dani 13yo)

And of course, Dread Pirate Roberts (John Paul 6yo)

Dani put this whole costume together herself. She bought the shirt for John Paul. Paul, Kayla and I were the only ones who knew of the secret costume. The other sibs loved it when they saw him in costume.

The Pink Panther (Therese 9yo)

Annie Oakley (Sophia 8yo - in 11 days ::sigh::)

Therese had an iPod shuffle with little speakers plugged in [$7 @ Best Buy] which was playing the theme to The Pink Panther. Paul attached the speaker to a belt with cable wraps and then it was hidden under her sweatshirt. She had the walk down to a T. It was so awesome. I really wanted to take some video of her, but it was rainy out. And cold. Yuck.

Dani bought her coat, shirt, vest, teacup and hat at Goodwill (actually, the hat she got at a party store). Her pocketwatch was an old alarm clock we had and we made a chain out of paper clips.

And now, they begin planning who they'll be in 364 days....

I Can Relate ~

The procrastinator in me so loves this. Should I?

H/T: P.M.

Venus vs. Mars

Things That Make You Go...

what the hell?????

Here's one that'll have you shaking your head as you say "It's sure gonna be hot later, if you don't mend 'em ways, sista!!!"

Here's another great point by a Kennedy ::significant rolling of the eyes:: - not sure their heads were screwed on all the way.

And lastly, more data, concerning the black numbered abortions, from the CDC. Who cares about numbers, right?

does anyone smell smoke?

LOL - Friday!

"Out of RESPECT for their opinions, I promise NOT to use MY GUNS to PROTECT THEM"!!

Finding Framers

Took a gazillion some pictures of the boys on Sunday - with the hopes of filling up the frames which Paul made for their room.  It was the perfect day.  A bit brisk and a bit windy [which you'll see in John Paul's pictures].

Here is just a small sampling...

~ Charlie ~

~ Joseph ~

~ John Paul ~

Don't believe it.  He's really NOT this serious.

See?

he's cracking up with my dad here...

Love this one!

great, but too blurry

I'm so loving both of these

~ The Brothers ~

Charlie spaced out...

photo shoot about to end...

"...give me back my ball, Joseph!"

~ Joseph with Hannah ~

Paul and I are so very blessed by these boys. 

All unique.  All loving.  All beautiful.  And all God's gifts to us!

School Activities Last Week

This past Wednesday our homeschool group had a Pre-School Activity Swap [I plan to post more on that soon]. So Thursday morning kept some little hands occupied - in a good non-destructive way :)

This activity had 2 bags of pony beads. Some beads are solid and some were transparent [?]. There are different colored pipe cleaners which, of course, the child is to put the correct colored bead to match the color of the pipe cleaner. There were some more advanced ones as well - all on white pipe cleaners - that had patterns to follow.

I was pleased how well Charlie did on his own...

...and then after just a few moments, they became what else but...

swords!

There was another bag of activities which had the clothes pins

on the cup for those fine motor skills...

Wikki sticks on laminated cards. I thought this was cool a) because they actually stuck on the cards - I suppose mostly because they were laminated - and b) because Joseph really enjoyed doing this and did a fine job as well :)

The old pompom on a spoon in the cup routine...

Charlie did a really good job at this. Not sure if I should be all that surprised,

but I kind of am ::shrug::

He started getting a bit nutty and would start to do it so quickly that he'd just put it on

the spoon and grab it with his other hand and put it in - ha! He

just wanted to get those in there fast, fast, fast!

The Number Fishing Game

This is the one I contributed to the swap and Joseph had fun.

They are numbered 1-10, have a paperclip attached and the pole

has a magnet. Sophia was running this show but I got her started

showing her how to spread the fish out [and you'll notice how they had

to be in the water! LOL] and tell him which numbered fish to catch.

He really liked this and got the hang of manuvering the pole/magnet.

I may try to weigh down the bottom of the string above the magnet -

as it swung back and forth a bit as he tried to catch a fish.

Sophia coloring the Annunciation

coloring page found here

Continuing the Manners Alphabet...

Compassion: making those who are suffering feel better

Do your Duty: and do it cheerfully :) that's the tricky part!

Kimberlee has posted the next few letters - graciously drawn

by her dear daughter. Thank you to both!

Kayla the Koala

You can find and draw your own koala here.

And finally, after a very blustery, drab week,

a bit of silliness...

...John Paul had just cracked himself up here...

not too silly, simply sweet!

Blessings to you and yours!

Love how blogger now has an Extra Large size for pictures! Yay, Blogger!

Choices, Choices...

While walking down the street one day, tragically, a US Senator is struck and killed instantly by a bus.


The senator's soul arrives at the entrance to heaven, where he is met by St. Peter.

“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “But before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”

“No problem, just let me in,” says the man.

“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”

“Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the senator.

“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St Peter is waiting for him.

“Now it’s time to visit heaven.”

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. “Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: “Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.”

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

“I don’t understand,” stammers the senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.

What happened?”

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, “Yesterday, we were campaigning. Today, you voted.”

H/T: Patrick Madrid

piles

Since last Saturday I've been a bit under the weather. And you know what happens when mom is ill...

Mom Faces the Monster in the Laundry Room

Yeah, so that was what my goal was yesterday. To Tackle That Laundry!

seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...

this last picture was taken around 9:30pm

I have to confess that there is laundry in the washer and dryer here...

OH, and there's a clean load in a basket which I pulled out

of there for the sake of a clean laundry room photo :)

This morning I got the rest washed, dried, folded and put away!

Yay!

I must also add that the putting away task does include children!

The ugly orange Home Depot bucket is where I keep my homemade

laundry detergent. I just made a new batch this afternoon. It works okay, I suppose.

I still use my Oxi-Clean with every load. The homemade detergent is definitely cheaper.

Plus, there is something Oh-So-Gratifying about making your own soap!

It feels so good to accomplish an undaunting task :)

For the Church and for the Pope

I thought that this was pretty awesome!  I love Mother Angelica - her faith, her trust, her spunkiness!  If you've never read her biography by Raymond Arroyo, you don't know what you're missing.  It's one of those "can't put it down" kind of reads.

Divino Nino, continue to bless Mother and - if it would please You - cure her completely!

Friday Playtime

Last Friday we didn't do any artwork or extras, instead we headed to the ballfield. People often joke that we almost have a baseball team, ha! But you realize you need to have an opponent to make it truly fun.

At any rate, we split up the girls [the boys didn't want to play - still a bit too little]. So it was Sophia and I against Therese and Dani. Paul was all-time pitcher. We had fun. I got my exercise for the day and ... ahem... also hit a bonafide triple. All air, baby! Nice.

Here are some shots of our game :)  [These actually aren't the game shots, they're from the practice beforehand :)  You'll notice that practice means different things to different people.]  During the game I was too busy playing to stop and take pictures :)

look at that form...

... the ol' change up ::wink::
 there wasn't a slugger up to bat - Charlie's life was in no way threatened.  Not by the
batter, anyway. Ha!

He done good.  Darn good.

Oh, who won?  Well, let's just say that humility is a great virtue, while losing is...
not so great :)

In Fourteen Hundred...

...Ninety-Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue!

We managed to squeeze some extra time in for this...

All worksheets were from Enchanted Learning

so cute!

We also listened to an mp3 audio download from Freebie of the Day, You Are There! Columbus Discovers America!

Imagine what it would have been like had radio reporters tracked Columbus' voyage!  You can in this "radio report"! 

It was really awesome.  I think I may have appreciated it more than the kids though.  During some 'interviews' you'll recognize some people in history and you'll even hear from a priest who administered Holy Communion to the crew and graced them with Benediction.  Not something you're going to hear in our modern world!

I must say, it did stir me a bit in all their excitement when LAND!! was discovered :)

Hope your Columbus Day was filled with your own discoveries!

centering photos

anyone know how i can center my photos? they all hang to the right and cut part of it off. Plus i think i'd like to remove the orangey photo border... anyone know how to do that?

Thanks to Elaine for posting the link for creating larger pictures - not even leaving blogger to do so!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today marks the 42nd year of my parents' wedding anniversary!  If you've been around a while, you remember they were here last year actually 2 yrs ago! - wow, I can't believe 2 yrs ago.

I love you two more than you will ever know.

May God bless you today, and always!

Happy Anniversary

Mom & Dad!