Ice Skating (In Houston? Yes)

Our Catholic Coffee Club had a scheduled week off the Monday after Easter. Our chapters are so so so long that I decided the teens (and the adults) would not have enough time to enjoy the Holy Day with family and read the chapter. The CCC teens were not happy with this and begged for an activity. Ice skating was planned and I was thrilled to learn that homeschoolers got in for a great price.

We drove a CCC friend and I am so glad she joined us. In the end no one else showed up, so it was just us.

I was amazed at how much fun we had. The little ones did great. We got some walkers to see if they would help. They were the best few dollars ever spent.

These kids were good at it to. I told Goobers that we found her sport. She laughed at me, but she was really good.

They all got a little cocky as well. There were some other kiddos there hanging out. They were excellent skaters. Well my kiddos started racing the more experienced skaters. They were winning race after race.

I could not believe how great they were at skating. (Until Possible fell - another post.)

I loved the cold! It was my new favorite place.

This is the Catholic Coffee Club group.

All my skating crew. It was a blast!

Each One a Litte Different

Easter shots . . . new pictures.  We tried to match everyone.  We spend weeks working on this stuff.  We decided that we actually need months.  I think we will begin working on Christmas outfits starting in May this year.  The girls wanted skirts to show off their boots .  .   . notice that the pictures don't show that.   

Each shot shows something different.  A little variation.  I can never pick a favorite because they all show a little bit into each personality.  I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I do.  I really do have cute kids. 

The Bunny was here - Easter 2011

The surprise of Easter morning is always so much fun. As Catholic's we celebrate Easter at every Mass but Easter Sunday is extra special. We all love the extra surprise of Easter morning. The joy of the egg hunt and basket filled with the little treats. The small sweets remind us of how sweet the taste of heaven is. God's love is so great that He gave up so much for us to have the joy of heaven. The little ones sit on the steps waiting until everyone is ready to go. The thrill of a Christian can be found in the eyes of these little ones. The know that their treats are around the corner, waiting is the hard part.




Then we come down and begun the hunt.
After all eggs are found, the little ones peel eat and examine their baskets.

Sugar just hanging with her peeps. She is the only one that likes these treats.

Dad likes to make sure each kiddo knows what his favorite treats are.

I am so blessed to be able to look into the eyes of this little one. Jumba will always melt my heart.


Bagel is no different. They all do.


Thank you for the joy of heaven. Thank you also for the joy, the taste of heaven that we see right now. I look at this group of kiddos with such a swelling in my heart. They are my taste of heaven.

Dye the Eggs 4-23

That time of year is finally here. Easter is so late this year. So it is 90 plus outside and we are just now sitting down to color the eggs. I prepared them ahead of time this year. I was hoping to avoid all the cracked eggs. On good Friday I boiled our bunch and they had a day to cool off. It didn't help. My little ones would pick up an egg, drop it, pick it up again and then drop it into the color. I realized that the cracks were not my fault just the age of my workers.

Lingunini and Kat joined us as we colored the eggs.

Sugar and Jumba helped each other.

Goobers and Princess wanted to mix colors.

Possible takes this very seriously.

In the end we had a a tray full of cracked colored eggs. Another beautiful Easter tradition.
I really do love this group of workers. Easter is just a day away.

Why peaches?

Kids say the dardest Things:

Bear needed a suit for his upcoming Confirmation and the boys all needed pants for Easter. I headed out with my men. At the first stop light we came to, we pulled behind a car that was sporting a bumper sticker with a message that I had not yet seen. I read it out loud to point it out to dad. "Impeach Obama" was the message. Pickle started laughing in the back seat. His laugh was contagious and we all started laughing. Then he asked the question that made Bear, dad and I laugh all the harder.

"Why peaches and not pears or apples or rocks maybe tomatoes . . . why peaches?"
"What?" I asked.
"I understand people wanting to throw something at the president if they don't like him, but why peaches and not something else?"

First Communion Dress Shopping, Tradition Style

Our family tradition for first Holy Communion is special for the girls. When the time gets closer we head out to purchase the dress. All girls that already have made their Communion get to join in the adventure. That means that this time every girl in the house got to go. The hard part was finding the time to get everyone together. We went early, without the date set, because dresses are out now but will disappear from the stores soon. The day was planned and we set out.

I think that the older kids were more excited about the day at first. We decided to start where we usually end up. Burlington Coat Factory had a ton of choices. The older kids got right to work. They found all the choices in the appropriate sizes. Princess started the day with a bad headache and had a hard time getting into it. Bagel knew what dress she wanted when she first laid eyes on it.

We took lots back to the dressing room. The woman working the area was a little concerned because we wanted to all go into the big dressing room with about 15 dresses in hand. In the end she let us go with the promise that we would gather up the dresses and put them back ourselves.

We all loved this part. The two girls lit up as they tried on each dress . Bagel stayed true to the one she thought she liked at the beginning. I must admit that she looked amazing. Princess wanted to try everything one again and again. In the end she picked more than one and we had to all vote.

Bagel was thrilled when wearing "her dress". I cried two times this afternoon. In the end the kids did not see me but it was when I saw each girl in the dress that they ended up picking.

Dress shopping with these crazy kiddos is fun.

Then came lunch. We ended up at Olive Garden and it was a Friday during Lent so it was Alfredo for everyone. No worries we all love it.

There are times when we fight. There are times when we are too busy to be together. Days like this remind us what being a family is all about. These six girls have taken on the world together. I know they will continue to do so. I admire each and everyone of them. Strong, loving, faith filled woman who will support each other no matter what.

Not to mention that they are all adorable as well!

In the end Pooker was able to get out of work so we headed to the Mall to look for Easter outfits and to complete the other part of the tradition, ear piercing. We all played with the manikins in various stores until one girl thought we were taking pictures for a competing store and told us to stop.

We really had a blast.

Girls being girls,

More importantly it was sisters being sisters!


The time of truth finally came, we headed to Claire's for the ear piercing. They both wanted them done and begged and begged to get there. Once there panic set in.

Princess was ready but Bagel wasn't.

After Princess had her done we found a few more dresses to try out. In the end we ended up with the same one. When we finally made up our minds that Princess already had the right dress, Bagel took us back to get her ears done.

She was nervous but not backing out this time.

She didn't want them watching. This was hard on all of them as they wanted to be standing with her. They did what she wished and stood to the side.

The girls all cheered when it was said and done.

Princess and Bagel are now part of the big kid world with their ears pierced.

This ended our busy day. We had a blast. We got two beautiful dresses for two beautiful girls. We all agreed that the next time we will head out looking for a white dress will be for a wedding years from now. They all look forward to that and hoped to continue the tradition with their own children. Time will tell about all that but for now join me in thanking our heavenly Father for these awesome girls in my life and ask for special blessing fo the two preparing for First Holy Communion.
God Bless Princess and Bagel!