Really?

Email from my brother in law (aka Uncle Te Tee):
I think you misinterpreted the mini texas apron. It was meant for you and Chris. It is a wine bottle bib/decoration.

Lia's Baptism Anniversary Gifts

Lia's baptism anniversary was August 17th and her Godparents, Steven and Stacey sent her a package today! When I got the mail, I told Lia she had a package from her Aunt Stacey and Uncle Te Tee... you should have seen her eyes light up. She doesn't get packages very often, but when she does... it is generally something good! Here is the text of the card:

"Happy Baptism Day Lia! Uncle Te Tee picked out this blue glass window decoration to remind you of your Godparents and how much we love you. The three crosses is the symbol of Las Cruces. When Las Cruces was discoverd years ago there were three crosses. Some believe that Las Cruces was once a place for Christian settlers. I personally like the window decoration because it symbolizes Uncle Te Tee, me and you as well as the Holy Trinity. We Love You! Auntie Stacey and Uncle Te Tee."

The crosses are beautiful. And the stickers were a big hit. Lia LOVES stickers!

And the other item in her care package was a doll sized Longhorn apron. I think it was meant for a barbie doll... but it worked out beautifully on her giraffe - the lovey of choice for the moment.

Thank you!!! We love you and miss you very much.

Happy Birthday Mary Katherine!

Mary Katherine's family threw her a really fun Dr. Seuss party for her 5th Birthday. Everyone in the family dressed up and it was a lot of fun.

They had parachutes for the little kids to play with.

Face painting! (A first for Lia... she was too timid at other parties and events)

What a creative family!

Happy Birthday Blessings

A lot of little things added up to make my birthday special this year:
1. Emily wrapped up her favorite Saint book and gave it to me because it was the "best thing she had to give me." We read about St. Monica - her feast day is on my birthday - She was a Saint becasue she loved her son, worried over him, and prayed constantly. I can do that too!
2. Pizza at the park with my family.
3. Girl talk and breakfast out with Peg! (priceless)
4. Dinner and dessert with friends!
5. Flowers.
6. Cute pajamas from my parents. (Mommy Jamas according to Lia)
7. Carrot cake.
Lucky me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was last Friday and we went out to the fountains to have pizza and celebrate. David took my birthday picture.

And David took this picture of his Daddy. What a unique way to gain the the perspective of a 4 year old!
Sweet Lia.

And a clown!

And fountains to play in.

Poetry Memorization

The Mother of Divine Grace syllabus has my kids memorizing poetry which is really sweet. Emily is working on The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear. It is rather long so we are focusing on the first stanza this week. To help them, I make puzzles out of the verses by cutting up the lines and mixing them up. It has worked very well! When that becomes too easy, I just cut them further to include only a few words rather than a whole line.

Singapore Math - Kindergarten Stuff

Singapore Math - for the Earlybird Kindergartner has us doing these funky 3D visualization excercises in our favorite 'Look and Talk' worksheets. The parent instructions said to find a cube that looked like the picture and have your child orient it to look like the picture... Well I was inspired to doctor up some playing dice with my handy dandy sticky back paper. So I probably spent 10-15 minutes making the materials and then David did the excercise in about 30 seconds. :-)