Unknown Flower/update

I can't seem to identify this flower. It is in my dad and mom's yard. If anyone can give me some help I would appreciate it.

We(with the help of wonderful ladies over at 4real learning) have narrowed it down to spanish bluebells or english bluebells. Thanks for the help.

Afgans Galore!

I wanted to show off my latest afgan. I made it for my grand-niece Emiline Lorraine. I hope she enjoys it for many years to come.

I don't want anyone to worry though, that maybe my own children don't have their own afgans.
I sent Laura to collect everyone's blankets from their beds. This is what she came up with. We also have two on the couch, and one left at grandma's house.

A Little Bird Watching

Today my wonderful husband took me on my first outing since surgery. First, we had to go and have bloodwork done. That came out perfect. I am well on my way to recovery. A few more weeks of rest and I should be better than new.

After the doctor, we drove over to the Great Swamp Conservancy to do a little bird watching. We brought Luke with us to have an outing with us one on one. (He napped the whole time.)

We saw red-winged blackbirds, tree swallows, and numerous sparrows.

This turkey vulture scared me silly when I didn't notice it until it was 20 feet over head.

We were on the look-out for the great blue herons and we were not dissappointed. They were everywhere. The problem is that the heron nesting rookery is on private land, so we can only get so close, and my camera just doesn't do the beautiful birds justice.

I do love seeing the 50 or so nests up in the tops of the tallest trees. Pat got this one good picture of a heron on its nest.

My next bird to find here is a wood duck. They have had them nest here in the past and I am now determined to find one.

Where Did the Time Go?

When did this happen? It seems that we have all been wondering that lately, with the season of dances, recitals, and comfirmation all around us.

I want you all to know how proud I am of the young men and young woman that you have become.

A Sandbox with a Past

I thought about apologizing for the amount of pictures in my blog today, but I decided against it because there is a lot of history in today's blog.The picture above shows my grandparent's camp. This picture was taken in about the year 1966. It shows my sister Sue wading in the same spot that I and 8 of my ten children also waded over the next 40 years. My grandfather named his camp the "Shadywood". A very fitting name for a camp in the heart of the Adirondack mountains.

For as long as I was alive we had this rowboat up at camp. My Grandmother G enjoyed rowing, as did every grandchild that came along. The picture of my grandma was taken in about 1961, she was born in 1909. She has been gone for 11 years.

All of us kids have rowed this boat between the camp next door and our dock. I'm sure the miles had reached up into the hundreds. Above, I am giving my brother Bob a ride. The year was 1972.

The rowboat fell into disrepair and sat in the yard of camp for the last 10 years or so. I always said that I would love to have it as a sandbox for my children. (I have fond memories of a boat sandbox at our neighbors house when I was growing up.)

Well, this spring, I got my men busy. It wasn't a real big job, but it is certainly one of the jobs that I have appreciated the most.

Everyone had a hand at painting. I wanted the small children to have a big part of making the boat their own.

We have christened it the "Shadywood", in memory of Grandpa G. and the many great memories I have of our camp, and the many hours of memorable rowing on the channel.

Hopefully, the "Shadywood" has many more years of memories left in her.

Our Blessed Mother Lapbook Update

At the beginning of May we began our Blessed Mother lapbook. We have been coming up with our own ideas, and as you can see, compared to our first post, here, we have been progressing very nicely.Our cover remains the same. I don't know if we will add words to the cover or not.

On the first fold we have our prayer for the unborn. This was inspired by reading Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue. We discovered this book through Catholic Mosiac by Cay Gibson. I thought the abortion topic in the book might be too much for my 5 and 7 year olds to deal with, but when we finished the book they were so eager to say the rosary for the unborn, I knew that we had certainly NOT made a mistake. We have now adopted an unborn baby in danger of abortion and will continue praying for this baby for the next 9 months.

Our parish church is Our Lady of Good Counsel, so we have added a picture of our church, and underneath that we have put the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

I decided to consentrate on four images of Our Lady. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Grace. ( Our Lady of Grace is in honor of our 5 year old Gracie)
We have incorporated geography into our lapbook by discussing Juan Diego and that he was from Mexico. We also have some questions that need to be divided in groups. If we do what each card says we need to decide if we are saying yes to God or no to God.

Our flip book contains the words to the song "Lady in Blue" We have decorated each page with pictures and stickers and we have also learned to sing the song very well (if I do say so myself).Hopefully, we will keep filling our book up and very soon we will be able to show the final product. Even if we were to stop here, I am very pleased with what the children have learned and the amount of devotion they have developed for Our Blessed Mother.

The Hummingbirds are Here

Grandma and Grandpa H. have always had many hummingbird feeders and therefore a lot of hummingbirds. Last year, Amy took much interest in them and so Grandpa gave her the traditional hummingbird feeder. We had a few sightings last year, but not many.

This year I bought a fuchsia plant in hopes of attracting more. It seems to have worked.

We have ruby-throated hummingbirds buzzing all over the place.

our fuchsia plant

male ruby-throated hummingbird

female ruby-throated hummingbird
These pictures were taken through the dining room window at Amy's feeder.

A Baseball Career Begins

I have been to many opening season baseball games for many of my children. I have missed some of their first games also. This year was a year I had to miss. Mark began his little league career with big brother Pat in attendance. I told Pat what to expect, and I told him about the pictures that I hoped he could get for me. I wanted the pictures that I have in my mind from six other 7 year old baseball players. I wanted the outfielder playing in the dirt, picking flowers, and fixing his shoes. I was not disappointed.

I wanted a picture of a boy swinging the bat with all his might and running with the speed of a major league hero.

I wanted a picture of the beginning of a very big part of a little boy's life, his first big game.

Seeing Double--Birthday!!!!

Twenty years ago, on May 16th, at 10:30 p.m. I gave my husband his 22nd birthday present. Our first child, our son Patrick Joseph Jr. They have celebrated every birthday together since, and as the pictures show, many yummy birthday desserts.

I would like to wish both of my men a very happy birthday today. I only hope that I can show them all the love they deserve for all that they have done for me over the past years.

I LOVE YOU!!

Welcome Emeline Lorraine!!!!

We want to congratulate Jenny and Brad on the birth of their beautiful daughter, Emeline Lorraine. She was born Saturday, May 12, and joins sisters Georgia and Josie.
Welcome home Emeline, and may God always bless you and your family.

A New Fireplace

The seasons are changing and soon it will be the season of roasted marshmallows and s'mores. Campfires have always been a part of my life, a very special part. We have enjoyed uncountable fires at our camp from the time I was born until 2 summers ago. I remember Fourth of July fires on the water watching a boat parade following the fireworks. I remember fires when white-tail deer have snuck up on us and scared us senseless. I remember times with grandparents and relatives long gone.

I asked Pat to make us a fireplace out in the backyard for my own children's memories. One of our memories will be contructing it on our own. Little kids worked hard ....

...and so did big guys.

We will remember our first fire on Mother's Day evening, the day after mom got home from the hospital.....
....and we will remember many more fires with many more memories for years to come.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I hope every mother has as wonderful a Mother's Day as I did.

I am Home!!!

I arrived home yesterday, and I am feeling much better than was expected. Everything went well. The doctor was very pleased and very surprised by how easy the surgery went. I know it was because of all the prayers. I will be recovering for 4-6 weeks. Pat has off of work for 30 days and people have been helping us with food. I figure that I will be able to stay in my chair and blog.

I will offset my computer time with knitting. Knitting-computer-knitting -computer. How spoiled am I.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and help. May God bless you all as He has certainly blessed me.

Whats going on when mom is gone

Yesterday it was very hot outside, so we put on our bathing suits and played with the hose.
Later in the day we went to the hospital to see mom, she is doing and looks very good!!!, Thank you for all of your prayers.
So during the middle off the day we watched a movie and had a little special time to play electronics.


We are going to visit mom again later in the day and give her some get well cards that we made for her. After we get home from the hospital we are going to try to get everything as clean as we can for mom to come home tomorrow!!!

Here Mark and Grace are working in their get well cards

Luke even made mom a card.... but he was to busy looking at his amazing
art work to look at the camera

Health Report

My mom left today a 5:30 and had her surgery at 7:45.
The surgery went better then expected and she was in recovery for 1 hours and afterwards went up to her room.
She will return home on Saturday and can't do anything for a month.
Dad took Mom so Pat and Becky got off from work and are staying home for the day.
All and all Mom is doing great!!!

Meet the Stand in Blogger

I would like to introduce Laura. She will be my stand in blogger during my sabbatical. I am scheduled for surgery 5/10 at 7:45. Please keep me in your prayers.
Laura, I am sure, will do a very nice job for me. She is a wonderful writer and very creative, and I am sure she has taken into account that the time she is blogging, she will not be able to watch babies.