Swimming, Birding and Shakespeare

Tuesday was the feast day of St. Mark, obviously a favorite around here.  I wanted to do something that looked like a lion but all the internet ideas seemed to complicated.  In the end I made up this lion made with cinimmon rolls- (his eyes are frosted cinnamon rolls with chocolate chip pupils)  :)

We read from Saints and Angels-

We are going to the beach in a few weeks so I signed Tucker and Charlie up for some swim lessons to get them swimming stronger.  They love it and all of us have enjoyed going swimming several times this week. 

Wednesday we went with a doctor from the Audubon Society on a bird walk at the Botanical Gardens.  It was wonderful!  Julia said it's her favorite field trip she's been on all year.  She kept looking at me saying, "Oh- isn't this wonderful!?"  My girl loves God's creatures.    We saw over 20 types of birds.

We saw a meat-eating plant!

Yesterday I took Marc and Julia to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Shakespeare Festival.   This is the advertisement the festival put out-

So imagine my surprise when the house lights dim and they start playing hippie 60s music and all the actors in 60s clothes come out.  It ended up being a well-acted play, but I think audiences should know if they are going to see a modern-interpretation.

While we were at the play Charlie and Tucker went to BB and Poppy's farm.  They each picked one toy to bring.  :)

Tucker managed to get his line tangled to the extreme, but he was happy because he thought it looked like the letter A.  :)

And BB has taught them how to make big bubble gum bubbles.  :)

First Confession and St. George

Tuckerman had a big week!  First, last Thursday he auditioned for the boys choir.  He did a great job and the choir director let him set in his friend's pink mustang.  :)  We haven't found out if he made it yet. 

On Sunday, Tucker received the sacrament of penance, also known as confession.  Here he is waiting to go in- I wrote down the opening and closing prayers for him.

We love you sweet Tucker!  You were so excited about today!

We were excited that you had your first confession on Divine Mercy Sunday!  Also, it was the feast day of St. George the dragon slayer!  Today we made our dragon cake to honor St. George. 

Julia helped too, but she was with the Latin tutor when I took the pictures.  :)

Tucker really wanted to skewer the dragon.

We couldn't find green food coloring so we used a little blue.  Charlie said, "Dwagons can't be bwue?  They should be gween!"  Tucker said, "Have you forgotten the dragons from Blueland?  Of course they can be blue!"  Daddy just finished reading them the "My Father's Dragon" trilogy, which they LOVED and begged for him to keep going every night.  :)

And I will say this cake is an improvement from the one we made on St. George's Day 2013- (this pic breaks my heart!)

We enjoyed our St. George stories. 

Tucker was excited to know that the St. George cross (a Greek red cross on a white background) is found on England's flag as he is the patron saint of England.

And the Union Jack, the U.K. flag, is a blending of St. Andrew's cross, St. Patrick's cross and St. George's cross!  So the patron saints of Scotland, Ireland and England are represented. 

As I was explaining the flags to Tucker I said, "and the Union Jack is found in the corner of other flags- like Australia and New Zealand."  And he said, "Yes, all of the flags in Oceania have the Union Jack in them except Tahiti."  :)  Sure. 

The other day he said, "Mommy, can you wash my flag blanket?  I got toothpaste on Lithuania and Maldova."  :)  He loves his flag blanket and wears it like a cape every morning and sleeps with it every night.  It is appreciated!

Oh, and if you are wondering how Daddy fared while I was in Memphis- they had a great time.  On Friday he took them to homeschool gym day and they had movie night and watched "Free Willy."  Saturday they worked in the yard, went bowling and visited the brand new Whataburger near our home. 

When I got home Saturday evening I saw water color paintings in the kitchen and soap carvings in the bathroom.  Sounds like everyone had a great time!

He said he was "talking to all my sheepies through this headset."  He's a high-tech shepherd. 

Oh, and before I go- I thought this stat was interesting.  We play Jeopardy on the Wii U a lot as a family- everyone loves it.  We noted tonight that we are getting 85% of the questions right with our highest scores in Literature and the worst scores in Pop Culture.  Marc said, "That's exactly what  I want to see!" :)