Five Weeks Old Today!

Something to smile about...apparently!

Back to Work

Today I went to work for 4 hours for the first time since Thomas' birth. It was actually really great! I love seeing all of the new styles (that I'll pick up when they are on clearance later!) and being busy doing something without anyone SCREAMING at me for a change! I finally found a matching nightgown for Mari (she and Weazy HAVE to match, you know) on sale so I was really happy about that. If you want to know where I work, email me and I'll tell you about it. I really like the women I work with. One of the sweetest gals is Natasha. She gave me her email today and I sent her the link to this site. She's one of those people who you meet in some casual aspect and you just KNOW you're going to be friends for life. She was born in Belarus and is married with 4, beautiful children.

I finally smelled spring on my run yesterday! Woohoo! Finally, we're almost out of the doldrums of winter! I saw a commercial about lawn care the other day where the people are all laying around on their grass outside. I can't WAIT to roll around on the grass with my bare feet. Ahhhhh, oh, to go for a run and not see melting, dirty snow everywhere!

ARRRRGGGHHH!

Why, oh WHY do some people insist on saying stupid things to other people?
Example:
Let's say that I just fell down and hit my head because I wasn't looking where I was going and stepped on some ice. Let's also imagine that I was bleeding from the head and couldn't see straight. Now, a normally perfectly nice person comes up to me, looks at me (totally ignoring the gaping wound on my head), pats me on the back and says something like, "Gee, you really should be more careful! I really love you and want what's best for you so I'll go get you a washcloth for your head and stuff but, honestly, watch out for ice from now on!".
Duh...okay, so the next time I slip on some ice, are you going to just roll your eyes and not offer to help me...what?! What GOOD does it do to offer this "loving" advice?

PLEASE, shower my friend, Kelly with prayers and blessings on her dangerous pregnancy. She needs protection from frustration, negative forces, and bad "advice"!

Dancing With The Stars...

...preschool style! Presenting...Cousins and Future ballroom partners:
Niklaus(4) and Gabriella(5)

My Beautiful, Wonderful, Loveable Family...and Happy EASTER!

Thirty of my favorite people were in my house today! All of my sibs, their kids (minus one), my mom and dad, and my aunt were here.

We did the smart thing (thanks to my morningpersonhusband) and brought the family to early Mass which was not obnoxious and overrun with Chreasters. It gave us some extra time to tweak the cleaning job we'd been working on since Friday night. I love having events and parties here because it forces me to do all (or MOST) of the things I've been putting off in the way of organizing or shaping up the house.

Mom and Dad provided the ham, the paperware (which was very convenient! I only had to do a half a load of dishes when everyone left!), stuffing, and 3 deserts. Nick and Deb brought homemade pickles (I ate about 10 of them), olives, rolls, and cheeses. Nellie and Pete (well, NELLIE did...but she said that Pete and the kids helped by critiquing the first batch she made for them to test out the recipe) brought a huge tub of potatoes, YUMMY! Uncle Rudy brought the stuff from Mom and Dad and some pop to boot. Anna brought her Easter Bunny/deviled egg making abilities. Trine brought the PW salad that was so pretty (and a HUGE hit, even with the kids!) that I had to take a picture of it:

Here are some more pictures of the day and a video at the end. Katrina and Matty complain about being the oldest cousins but it's so nice that they are looked up to like they are. Katrina is like a nicer, more patient mom to them and Matty is their lego hero who makes them stuff.

Thoughtful Bubby (refusing to give his "Auntie Yoda" a smooch. Hmph, I'll get him later!)

Pretty Trina

Wigglemonkey Kids...



...That drive Auntie Nellie to DRINKIN'! (Heehee, not really!)

Sheesh, no wonder we hardly ever get family portraits taken around here!


Bubby and Cia Share Some Treats

My baby brother, Nick (Taken from my ACTUAL point of view! I was brushing by him in the kitchen and marvelled at how huge he is so I snapped this shot of him from waaaaay down where I live.)

The Lunch Line

"IwannaseeIwannasee!"

Uncle Pete shakes his fist at mother nature and shouts, "SCREEEWWWW YEEEWWWWWW!" by starting a collection of wild, Hawaiian shirts and not wearing a coat. In Minnesota. In 30 degree weather. In March.

He and his family will be going to Florida next week.

Little Miss Stinkerpantsinchurchthismorning Looks Like an Angel To ME!
(She was rubbing her eyes right before I took this, but I just love her big blues so I took the picture anyway because she was holding STILL)

More Big Blues

Since I was busy with the baby or wiping up messes, I didn't get pics of EVERYONE so here's a little video of everyone else (Trine's family had gone home by this time.)



7pm. Easter Sunday Evening.
The Sugarcrash Finally Sets In.


I hope everyone had a safe, happy Easter like we did! God bless you all!

EVEN FUNNIER!

Will it never end? This is much to funny for Good Friday! I'm SO sorry!


By the way, my favorite quote from the video is when Mr. Riggle asks the boa-ed lady, "If only there was an organization that was...SWORN to defend that 'free speech'!"
and she blankly responds, "Wouldn't that be great!".

Oh, my achin' sides!

I Couldn't Resist!

I know I shouldn't post things like this during holy week but I was laughing so hard when I saw it here...hope it gives you a giggle too!

It's Maple Sugaring Time!

We went to the Eastman Nature Center today.

The kids learned all about Maple sap, how it gets processed, and what it's uses are. They got to try it on pancakes after the slide show, examination of artifacts, going outside to see some tapped trees, and a big cast iron pot boiling some sap. You can see by their faces that they had a GREAT time! They were all very well behaved and helpful toward each other. They also were very grateful for being able to go today. It looks cold in the pictures, but it was really very nice outside and they were out there for a long time identifying maple trees, checking sap buckets, and drilling and placing a tap. Tomorrow, we're going out to the woods near Mom and Dad's and we're going to use the tap that Matty bought at the center to try and get some sap from a maple tree. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Homeschooling rocks! I love days like this! Also, I told them they could have "off" of doing their workbooks, but they did most of their schoolwork anyway this morning because they like to have Friday's free to do what they want.

Niklaus is learning his numbers so he can play "Go Fish" more effectively. He absolutely HATES learning letters and numbers so this is a happy development for us! Also, Analise learned how to tie shoes and is doing fabulous at telling time on the clock.

I learned that if you have a baby in the Baby Bjorn in front, it's much easier on your back if you also have a toddler in the backpack at the same time. Otherwise, you end up slouching a lot. This worked today at the nature center (it probably looked really funny, but I got used to those looks when I had Mari and my sister's Polly in the same situation in D.C. last summer!). It's much easier to manage than a huge stroller that the kids don't like very much anyway. It's much more portable and it's a good abdominal workout to boot!

My running blog is not very interesting, but if you'd like to be invited to read it (only invited readers) go ahead and send me an email laura7550atyahoodotcom and I'll send you an invite!

By the way, go to Papa's blog, he has a couple of new entries!

P.S. He really would like some comments!

Palm Sunday (and some other weekend pics)

Palm Sunday: A day of rest (especially after the long Mass readings!)!


(They were both snoring when I took this picture.)


Here is my little Mari's feet (Saturday) in her beautifully coordinated penguin slippers, monkey socks, and pink leopard sweats. It makes for a "wild" combination!


Here is my Aunt Judy (her hubs is my Uncle Thomas whom that little baby is named after. They are Butch's godparents!) she came bearing gifts on Friday so she got to hold Thomas. Hey, you could hold him too, you don't even have to bring a present!

Funny

The weather has FINALLY been sort of nice around here. There is hope of spring! Looks like the cold weather has gravitated elsewhere!

Heehee!

Prayers for Kelly's Gabby

From my previous post's comment box:

I need you to say a prayer for my Gabby, she is going under general anesthesia early tomorrow am for dental work, (extensive decay, horrible enamel in our family), I know you'll pray for her if I ask you,
Thanks,
Kelly

Going under is scary! Especially for the little ones. Stop and say a quick prayer for Gabby today?

Thank you!

Are These Horizontal Stripes Working For Me?

Or do these glasses make my chins look big?





The downstairs bassinet (big brother Matty's chest):

My friend, Michelle, brought over this ginormous cookie (gone in 2 days)!

Weazy took these pictures of the church we went to (Thomas' first TLM at St. Walburga's in Fletcher) on Sunday.



Here is a video of Mari and Bocker mauling Thomas with love. No babies were harmed in the making of this video!

Sorry, Can't Stop to Blog...

...because I have to go get all oiled up, get on my bikini and lay out in the balmy, 50 degree, spring air! Woohoo! Let's set up the pool!

Actually, I've started running and training for the 1/2 marathon (yesterday). I'm blogging about it on a new blog. I'm not going to share that with you until next week so you can see some actual progress!

I'll try to post some pictures tonight of my little dumpling (who's currently snoring on my chest). Right now, I've got to go yell at my kids who think they can go barefoot now that it's "summer" (there IS a huge patch of grass in the back yard...surrounded by mounds of snow, but really, does THAT matter to kids who've been cooped up in the 20 below all winter?)

Donate For Easter

I know times can be tight for us but if you could, please go here and donate any amount for this family (and a chance to win a cool prize!) who just found out their children have a horrible disease.

We are very blessed to have healthy children! Please shower this family with prayers and maybe even a donation for their very expensive medication.

My good pal, Amy Caroline knows these people personally.

VOTE NOW...(especially my MN folks!)!

Hey everyone! I promise to post some new pics of my soon-to-be-chubster baby but for now, PLEASE go here and look on the right of the page where you can vote in the homemade ice arena finalist area. My cute, little cousin is pictured on the "Scott Barthel" rink. VOTE FOR HIM BY SUNDAY! So my super-cute cousins can get braggin' rights and a bunch of Arby's coupons! You can also text: To vote for Scott Barthel text RINK3 to 36888.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote now so we can see his number go up (his main competitor is a teacher and has a whole school voting...NOT FAIR!) I was also told that the warming house that isn't pictured is a work of art so he deserves recognition (the cute nephew picture was submitted over the warming house...good one, I think!)

Cute Picture

Check it out.