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!