Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!!

April Shower of Photos

April Shower of Photos

photo credit: Danny
I love the sunshine!

Finally, Fun in the Sun!

Spring has arrived in northern New York!
Laura looking pretty.

One monkey,

two monkeys,

our third monkey of the day.

Amy and a very impressive tree root system.

A bump on a log.

static electricity

big brothers and little brothers.

Happy Birthday!! Holy Father!!

I honor of Pope Benedict XVI's birthday today, we had a delicious meal of pork and sauerkraut. We learned alot about some of the Pope's favorite things on this very informative poster that I have printed out.

We also learned that one of the Pope's favorite things is chocolate. Because of this, we made a chocolate cake for dessert. On it I put candles to form the number 16.(I didn't have 81 candles.

We have been having a wonderful time watching the coverage of the Pope's visit on EWTN.

The kids were especially excited to see the Pope-mobile on tv today.

We are also very lucky to have 5 family members getting ready to see the Holy Father in person. Amy and Matt are going to Dunwoodie on Friday and Saturday for a retreat and a prayer service with the Pope on Saturday. Pat Sr., Becky and Danny are boarding a bus early Sunday morning to go to the Papal mass at Yankee stadium on Sunday afternoon.

These are wonderful days of prayer for our whole country!

He is Here!!

We have spent the last few days getting ready for Our Holy Father's arrival.
We read about his life and learned about his path to the Vatican. We found many resources for learning about Pope Benedict at this site.
Grace is wearing her red socks in honor of Pope Benedict's red shoes.
We heard that it is tradition to ring bells at the arrival of the Pope. So we got ready and watched EWTN on tv.
Let the bells ring!!!!

A Fun Monday!

My friend Kim and I took a carload of kids to the Museum of Science and Technology for a great start to our week.

I would have to say that the highlight for the kids was the five story tall Science Playhouse.

The playhouse was full of fun, including air guns that shoot plastic balls-a hit with the boys and girls alike.
Gracie enjoyed going on an archeology dig and searching the giant sandbox for fossils.
Mark and Grace tested their mountain climbing ability on the rock wall.
Grace became a human kalidescope in the mirror room.

Thank's Kim, for a wonderful day!

An April Shower of Photos

A cold April sunset.

Raise your hand if you're cute!

Gracie's new dress

I made Gracie a new dress today. I used Simplicity pattern #5483

and was very happy with it.

She will be able to wear it with a shirt under it, like I show in the photo, or it will be able to be worn with nothing under it. The arm holes fit her perfectly, (they aren't too low like many jumpers are).

I used denim. I have only made skirts with denim and this was tougher than I thought it would be. The denim was a mid-weight-I knew I didn't want to sew anything heavyweight, but even the mid-weight was hard to work with. It took an hour to just turn the ties that are in the back right side out. (If anyone has tips for doing this with denim, I would love to hear them.)

Ah....springtime!

Charlie

We have a large abundance of squirrels in our back yard because they love our birdseed.
Gracie sat looking out the window. "I have named the squirrels Charlie," she said.

I corrected her. "You mean, you named one of the squirrels Charlie."

"No!" she answered, "They all look the same, so I named them all Charlie!"

Wherever we are now, if we see a squirrel, someone is sure to say, "Look, there's Charlie!"

An April Shower of Photos

Mark and Grace spotted this chipmunk this morning raiding our birdfeeder. They scared him, and he ran into his hole directly outside our sliding back door. Mark noticed him just peeking out of his hole, so I snapped the first picture. I think it took at least five minutes for him to move between each step you see in the pictures, but then, all of a sudden, he took off running, lickety split!

Amy's Homecoming

Amy arrived safely home last night at about 9:15. She was a little tired and had sunburn here and there where the sunscreen missed, but other than that she was in as good a shape as when she left.I let the little kids stay up past their bedtime for her special arrive, and they weren't disappointed. After hugging and yelling and general chaos, she presented gifts for one and all!

I knew that the kids missed her (they had been marking days off the calendar until her arrival home) but it was Luke-3- that surprised me the most.

The first thing he told her was, "Amy, I thought we lost you?" He then commenced to show her his sneakers (which he had before she left) and then he gave her a tour of the living room. Now, he never appeared upset when she was gone, he would say "Amy's gone" once in awhile, but I have to wonder what was in his mind about "where" Amy had gone.

All I know is that we are glad Amy is home again, and we all love her very much!

Today's the day

Peanut Butter Playdough

We had fun with one of our stand-by craft/snack/boredom buster activities this afternoon, peanut butter playdough.

Kim and Luke enjoyed cutting it, squishing it, rolling it, pounding it, and then starting over again.

Peanut Butter Playdough

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups peanut butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 1/2 cups honey
4 cups dry milk powder
DIRECTIONS
In large bowl, cream together peanut butter and confectioners' sugar, then beat in honey and fold in milk powder. Divide into 15 equal portions and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Of course, the best thing about craft time with this mixture is
the eating it!

An April Shower of Photos

"Say cheese!"

Amy Sighting

Amy and Dylan

April Shower of Photos....

but a better title for this would be April's glorious sunshine with the promise of new leaves on the trees.

HCA's Dinner Dance-2008

Holy Cross students and alumni enjoyed a wonderful formal dance last night.Matthew, Becky, and Danny clean-up pretty well!
Matt and Alexis
The senior class of Holy Cross Academy.