The Cast:

The Hunter [and the loyal dog]: The Nice Pirate:
The Leopard:
The Owl:
The Bumblebee:

The Dragon, Owl and Nice Pirate

More later. I must go to bed! Good Night...

The Making of an Owl...

We went to the thrift store on Saturday [remember?] where I got the stuff for Sophia's owl costume. I found the brown sweater with fringe on the bottom. And as we were browsing I came upon different fabrics which were hung on hangers. I saw this material - for $1, I might add - and thought: these would make perfect wings for the owl. So that's what my plan was.

So I cut a bunch of feather-shaped pieces out:
And cut 'feathers' at the bottom of the sleeves. That wasn't enough, so I had to cut some more above the ends and then made some 'V' cuts above those.
Found a mask online...stapled some elastic to it. And voila - an owl!
I started to hand-stitch the feathers on - then had a revelation after the first row [the bottom]. I know I have some Stitch-Witchery somewhere! I searched and searched in my sewing basket and finally found it. So that is my secret weapon here!

And I am also very aware how scary the mask looks. She kind of reminds me of some bad 80's slasher-flick character. It really was a cute mask...see?

This was just a dress rehearsal, but for Sophia's sake - I need to put the video on...

Rome Sweet Home ~

Please keep my parents in your prayers. They left for Rome this afternoon and will be coming back next Thursday.

Thank you!

A Little Off the Sides, Please ~

Inspired by this post [John is the same age as Charlie], I wasted no time in trimming Charlie's over-the-ears-hairdo! Thanks, Katherine :O)

Before:

These 2 were taken on Sunday. I really do love the baby hair though ::sigh::

After:

Now if only John Paul and Joseph were this easy!

Gadgets -

When we bought my new laptop a couple months ago I, of course, got the new Windows program Vista.

It's got some pretty neat features. One of the things you can do is have "gadgets" appear on your desktop on your sidebar [they're a little larger than the icons]. There are hundreds of "gadgets" you can put on your computer...

I have 4 on mine. I have my Outlook info - how many are in my inbox, any reminders, etc... - I think I'm going to delete this one though. I just don't use it. Then I have a flower clock. Real cute. And also one that shuffles through My Pictures in slideshow fashion. But my favorite one - bar none - has got to be the weather for the town we live in. How cool is that? Well, actually pretty cool...it was 45 degrees this morning when I got on my computer!

Bella IS Beautiful!

I almost forgot to post this! Paul and I went to see Bella last night! What a beautiful film. So many thoughts flooded my mind as I watched this movie. You must support this film!

Put it this way...my eyes were a bit puffy this morning! Not that it's a tear-jerker, per se - I think I was a bit overly emotional last night. Plus I've been waiting and longing to see it and just saw a beautiful story unfold from the opening scene!

This will adorn my family room wall one day: If you want to make God laugh...tell Him your plans!

My Day...

Today was a busy day, but a really nice day. First of all, it was a beautiful day - though we're in such an awful drought and I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see rain - the air was crisp and the sky a beautiful blue.

I went to a Pampered Chef party. My very first one. I must say when I told people that their mouths dropped to the floor. I've been invited to many, but never went for whatever reason. The friend who hosted the party did it as part of a fundraiser that her kids are doing for Food for the Poor. Truly an amazing family! More to come on what I ordered...

I had a surprise at this party. The Pampered Chef consultant was a friend I went to Catholic grade school with! It was so cool. I love those little surprises that God gives us. Just to keep us on our toes :O)

Paul is finishing part of our basement off. So this afternoon was dedicated to the "drywall stage". This is the part I like. You know - where you can see results and the room...well, looks like a room.

At any rate, he is very satisfied that it's coming along so well and that he's at this stage in the game. It means his office is that much closer to completion.

And finally - I took 5 of the kiddos to some thrift stores to find things for their costumes on All Hallows Eve - otherwise known as Halloween. The only one out of the 3 girls who knew what she wanted to be was Dani. Any guesses? Here's a hint: camo is involved.

So we found some things for her and got a back-up camo hat just in case hers wasn't found in time!

Therese will be a leopard - that was easy..."oh, look. Here's a leopard print shirt! You can be a leopard!" Done!

Sophia had no real clues on what to be. So, I found a funky-looking Ladies sweater and told her: "Look, you can be an owl!". Done!

Another post to follow on their costumes. Personally - I'm looking forward to the owl ;O)

Here they were last year [see Penny in the background by the door? :O) ]

Where Oh Where?

UPDATE: Camo hat is safe and sound in Dani's room now. As we were driving around today it dawned on me that Joseph [aka: *The* two year old!] has this hiding place where he likes to put all his secret stash of random items. I told Dani to look there when we got home. To no avail. Ahh, but she [or should I say older sister Kayla] did not look in all nooks and crannies. So Mom and St. Anthony to the rescue! Needless to say...she was very thankful and very excited!

--Can Dani's camo hat be? She's misplaced it. She had it on Saturday; a day that she would have to have it, but she couldn't find it when she needed it on Saturday! She hasn't looked high and low...yet. She just knows that she doesn't have it.

--Can Pepi be? She might be in someone's bedroom or...outside. We put a kitty door in the basement door from the kitchen so we could put her litterbox down there. Paul was doing work down in the basement today - building stuff - so he had the basement door opened to the outside. I hope she didn't get out. She's still not fixed :o0

Ohhhhh, St. Anthonyyyyyy!

UPDATE: Wow! St. Anthony is on top of it tonight! Just caught Pepi finishing up Charlie's food in his highchair. All is well! I can even envision a camo hat atop his bald head below!

Blubber...

This was a cool experiment Dani did in science today.

She just finished the units on whales and seals. So this experiment was to see how blubber is beneficial to whales and the like.

We had to use 6 latex gloves, a large tub of vasoline or shortening and a bowl of ice water. Well, we really only needed 4 gloves but someone had to smear the shortening all over one hand...and this someone wasn't going to touch it bare-handed!


Here's the Blubber Hand. I'm so thankful to be rid of that shortening! Plus, I have more room in the pantry!



She had to put the un-blubbered hand in the water first. Then I set the stopwatch. 1:o1:7 - she said it was Freezing!

Then...the blubber hand went in. The stopwatch started. I asked Dani after 1 minute if the blubber helped. She said she couldn't feel the cold at all. How cool is that!?
So at 4:01 minutes she stopped "...to get on with school..."! She could've kept it in so much longer she said.

I wish I could peel off blubber the way I pulled off her blubber glove!

Catholic Quiz

Take this 10 question quiz

Just a Little Observation...

...I'm not supposed to really "comment" on my blog about the ad in the upper corner. But I find it very humorous that at times it reads something to the effect of: Planning a Crab Feed...all because of my post about the Hermit Crabs :O)

Small wonder they've been in their shells a bit more :o0

Movies...

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 54%

You are well on your way to becoming a movie buff. You've seen many of the great films, and you have even probably developed an expertise in a few genres.

Thanks to Therese at the Coffee Shop for this quick questionnaire!

Are You a Movie Buff?

In the Home Stretch...

no, not baseball - the photo contest. I think that it ends on the 26th. So to all you out there - and you know who you are - click on the link above or at the top. Click on FREE VOTE and then enter Charlie D2 - then submit - it's that simple. So many of you have told me how much trouble it is to vote, and I agree that I really had problems in the beginning, but as long as you click on the free vote all you need to do it enter a name and submit. Vote once per day [per 24hrs - so if you voted at 12 noon yesterday, it won't let you vote again until 12:01pm]

My dear dear sister better buy some votes! She'll be on a cruise for the last week! [just kidding, Karen!] But Grandma and Grandpa...Charlie is counting on you! Actually, he could care less...

UPDATE: I really think this contest is not tallying votes correctly or even at all for the *free* votes. A scam - at least for those not willing to buy votes by donating $$$. I received another e-mail today [10/24] stating Charlie doesn't have 150 votes yet - so you might want to purchase [well, donate :O)] votes for only $40 or something like that. Hmmmm...it just doesn't seem possible. I'll still vote for these last 2 days, but I'm over the whole "contest" thing. ::sigh::

Cold Season

All the kiddos are sick. Let's see. From youngest on up... Charlie [yep], Joseph [yep], John Paul [early-sore-throat-indicators], Sophia [big YEP...woke up miserable, crying...sore throat! Yuck.], Therese [yep], Dani [nope], and Kayla [yep].

It's going to be a long night!

Update: Praise God! I didn't have to get up even one time with *any* of the kids last night! When I woke up I was so surprised that no one had woken up in misery. Thank you, God.

What the...!!??

The ad. I was so confused on the whole "dress thing". Then Paul turned my attention toward the homecoming post. Aaaaahhhh. Now I see. But I still don't appreciate having that on my ad!

Adorned in Autumn~

After ballet today the girls and I went over to Hobby Lobby - *love this store!* - at any rate...I went for Tempera Paint and wreath hangers. Came out with a little more. Not too bad. I got the leaf garland around the door...

This is Penny. She was with us last year too. Isn't she adorable and cheery?

and this...

Some other finds...

...and to add to our mantle, these...

And, finally, for serving special treats - this beautiful platter

The candles that I got for those candlesticks smell so good! Their fragrance reaches upstairs. Quite a musky smell.

Everything that I purchased was 50% off - it does justify it somewhat - right? :O)

We've only been in our present house for a year and a half [pre-blogging!]- it's taking little by little to fill it up and decorate a bit here and a bit there. We have a long way to go - and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Thanks to my dear husband who endured a bit of hum-drum-home-decor for sticking it out! Well, in all honesty, he had it easy. The store closed at 8pm. We got there at 7:40! Yeah, I see all your heads nodding. He had it way too easy!

Go Indians!

They're up 2 games to 1! They're playing as I type - and winning 3-0 in the 5th. I know things can change in a heartbeat, but for now they're looking good.
Since the Bravos aren't in the playoffs, the Indians are who we're pulling for.

Update: Peralta just got a 3-run homer!!!! YAY!

Can't You See...I'm Mrs. Nessbaum!

While I was blopping last night [oh, alright. it was actually today] - I found this cool site at Starry Sky Ranch. Thanks for posting this!
It's so darn late that I haven't even been able to explore it much, but it looks like a great homeschool resource. I can't wait to wake up...um, later - and check it out :O)

Can anyone guess to what I was referring to by my title??? Any guesses?

Anyone?

Meet Mr. Mantis!

I know this sounds like a Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends character, but actually this big guy was found and caught by the girls.

They had so much fun with him! I think the photos are pretty cool! As is the video that Paul took with Kayla holding Mr. Mantis.

This Cannot Be My Baby!

Tonight is homecoming. Enough said, right?

Kayla went with a bunch of girls from school. They met for dinner then one of the mom's took them back over to the school for the dance.

We had fun picking out her dress this past week. And we got such a good deal on it that I also bought her another dress - which she'll probably use for my brother's wedding in March.

We also had fun doing her make-up tonight. It was dramatic for her formal, but not as dramatic as when I was plucking her eyebrows while Aunt Karen was clipping her toenails in preparation for polish. Karen got a bit of skin on one clip and I got a bit of skin on a pluck! We needed to quit before Kayla showed up bloodied and bruised! oh, yeah. She also burned her neck with the curling iron! It was a good time :O)

Well, here is our beautiful Kayla. She shines in more ways than one!
It's amazing to see your oldest growing up. Becoming beautiful both inside and out. It's a little scary, but very thrilling to see the daughter you've raised become the young lady you've always hoped she'd become. I know we're not done. But she makes it so easy to go through these experiences on the flip-side - as parents. I know my parents wished they had had it so easy with me :O) Oh, but she's our first! We have 3 more girls - one of whom will surely fill their "I can't wait til you have a daughter just like you" visions! It just won't be Kayla :O)

Kayla ~ We love you and pray for you always! We're so glad you had a wonderful night. You deserve it!

The Hermits in Our House -

After Sophia and Therese's ballet class a couple weeks ago, we walked down the shopping center toward the hair salon so that I could make an appointment. But between the studio and the salon is a pet store. Some of you know that - in a word - I'm doomed.

Right in the window was a big cage of hermit crabs. And since Fia and Therese are studying crabs, I thought this would be fitting and cute and, well, not too expensive.

The not-so-up-on-the-crab-info guy gave me some general instructions, and told me vaguely about these little crabbies. They were inexpensive and they eat lettuce and "stuff like that" [yes, this is from the pet store owner!] We had a 10 gal tank on the back deck - used to house the periodic lizard, caterpillar, etc. That would be perfect to keep these things in. So the girls got to each choose a crab. I knew from the pet store guy that they'd need extra shells - I just wasn't clear on HOW soon :O)

Therese named hers Sandy while Sophia named hers Pinchy. Cute. Pinchy bit it Friday morning. Not cute.

Apparently he had come out of his shell and needed to have that home immediately [they have extremely soft abdomens and need to be protected from prey - namely the kids around here]! It would've been nice if the pet shop guy was a little more knowledgable concerning shells. "Yeah, and you might want to buy some extra shells NOW to have them in their cage. You never know when they'll outgrow their shells." Something like that would've been helpful.

So Friday morning I *knew* I'd be heading up to PetsMart. "Are you gonna get Sophia another crab?" - "Yeah. I think so." Sophia was naming her *new* one before Pinchy was totally out of life and before I even left!

When I found the Hermit crab items at PetsMart I bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 shells [they were not cheap!], saltwater, salt [to make our own saltwater!], a hideaway kit w/a food dish, a sponge - oh!, and let's not forget the crab!

What started out as a fairly inexpensive pet project turned out to be close to one hundred smackaroos! I was not about to NOT have another shell for these fellas. And the shells are different sizes to accomodate the crabs as they grow.

Now we have Sandy and Crabby! Crabby really is crabby. He does not come out of his shell much. He is a scar-dee-cat! Sandy was really sociable but is learning bad habits from Crabby!

He did, however, move into a different shell a couple days after I bought them! Pretty cool.

I can't be sure, but I believe this one is the late Pinchy

I've Found Paul a Dance Teacher!

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html
Thanks to Megan - I had a great laugh tonight!

40 Years Ago...

...on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, my mom and dad got married!

So we three kids got busy planning :O) It was definitely a surprise......

My sister, Karen, arranged a Latin Mass for them where they would, unbeknownst to either of them, renew their vows. Of course my brother and sister said that they hoped they wouldn't be too surprised and refuse to do it - could you imagine them...making this big scene during a Mass!! The thought is quite hilarious! - Karen sent out some invites to close friends of our parents.

My brother and his fiance [Chris and Nina] flew in from Houston Friday night and stayed with us. Then they surprised Mom and Dad at the little chapel. But, back in June my brother surprised my parents with a trip to Rome! They leave at the end of this month - so they are getting ready.

This was a Techniversary - as we coined it.

They received a new camera from us: [before unwrapping - isn't he cute!?]

Hey...nice wrapping

After. You can see here how my dad didn't let go of his camera even as they opened Chris and Nina's gifts - personal iPods!

Now they are set for Rome. Well, except for Mom's shoes...but that's another story :O)

What a beautiful gift I have in my parents. Funny how life is, ya know? Just how much you appreciate and love your parents as you get older. We just don't fully appreciate them as youngsters.

With that said, Thank You MOM and DAD for all you have ever done for me [not to mention my OWN family!]. You are truly PRICELESS. Truly BLESSED! May God bless you!

~My Beautiful Mother~

Other shots from the day:

*Note: No, Dani does not ever take her camo hat off!