Barn dance, baptism and baby girl

This weekend we went to a church barn dance.  It was so much fun.  It's a potluck and everyone just mixes and mingles and dances.  I didn't take any pictures at the dance, but I took one when we got home.  I love everyone in their barn dance clothes.  :)

We went to our friends' sweet baby girl's baptism Saturday.  I love the wonder in the children's eyes at seeing this pure soul given to God.

Anastasia was there to meet her new friend.  :)

Godparents, parents and priest!

Julia had some friends over Friday evening.  At the last minute Marc decided to take Marky to see Unbroken: Path to Redemption and two friends tagged along.  But first- a stop for pizza!

They had the blessing of pets in honor of the upcoming feast for St. Francis of Assisi.  :)

And as for angel baby, she is doing great.  She still prefers to take her daily naps on people.  :)

And she is starting to really enjoy toys.  She likes to play her piano with her feet. :)

After church this morning-

 

And she enjoys sitting at the lacrosse field taking in the breeze.  :) 

This weekend we celebrated two fun feast days.  Saturday was the Michaelmas- Feast of the Archangels!   I didn't get a chance to do our "cocktail swords into devils food cake" tradition, but we are making an angel food cake.  It was the Feast of St. Jerome on Sunday.    We read St. Jerome and the Lion and watched a YouTube on his life.

Braces, winnings and baby girl

Well Julia got braces this week!  She already seems older.   Here is a before picture- and yes, her teeth are straight.  Sadly there is a permanent tooth that is stuck and won't come through until we shift some things around.   And we are working to perfect her bite as well.

We got clear braces on top, metal on the bottom.  I really don't notice them that much.

She also won $100 drawing at her math tutoring center.  She won the drawing a few years ago and they put the two pictures on Facebook.   (I am not on Facebook- I was sent the screenshot)   I asked her what she wanted to use the money for and she said she would like a marionette puppet a la Sound of Music.  Isn't that what most 7th grade girls would want?  Ha!

I got to see sweet Sam this week- he is 31 pounds at 7 months old!!  He is a happy little guy.

Marc is taking Geometry, Biology and Spanish II two days a week at a homeschool co-op.  All his teachers have degrees in their subjects, and it's a great experience.  He is doing well- his Spanish teacher told me she thinks he has a "gift" for Spanish.  What?  I mean, Que?  :)  I do think his 5 years of Latin probably helped.  Also, languages come easy to big Marc so maybe it's in his genes.  It's not from his Madre!

He is taking Ancient History/Literature with a college professor online.  They do the work during the week including readings, taking tests and writing papers.  Then they meet one evening a week and talk about the subject matter.   It's so neat to watch. I wondered if it would work, but it definitely is.  He calls on the students just as if they were in a classroom.   They are reading The Iliad right now.

Tucker and Charlie are finally, finally reading chapter books on their own.  They both read well, but only wanted to read encyclopedias, atlases or picture books.  They would only read chapter books under Mommy's direct orders ("Read 2 chapters and then you can play") (which was so different from Marc and Julia).  Well, something has clicked and now they are both reading all the time.  Charlie is moving through the Magic Tree House series and Tucker is going through Imagination Station.   Julia just finished The Bronze Bow.

And as for baby girl, she is just precious as precious can be.  :)

Sissy held her and walked her around while waiting for the little boys' art class to start.

She still sleeps all night like a champ.  Daytime naps are trickier.  She will take a little catnap in her swing.  We love this sweet girl!

 

This and that

We have had a nice week.  The children's activities are up and running.  All four children are now on homeschool swim team that meets two mornings a week.  They do exercises and games for 45 minutes in the gym before an hour of swimming.  Marc takes them, and they come home by nine-thirty all exercised and showered and ready to work.

Marc had his first collaborative concert of the season Saturday evening.  They paired up with a Christian ballet company, and it was a beautiful show!  Julia and I went with two of her friends.

 

At the end the boys brought the girls flowers- so sweet!

All three boys are going to Fall Lacrosse clinics.  They are having a ball!

We have a pop-up tent that has been so useful in this brutal heat!  The boys like to hide in the carrying case-

And yesterday we had a storm come out of nowhere and we hunkered down and stayed mostly dry.  

Go Marc!

And when they aren't busy with the teams they just play together-

  Here are some pictures of our sweet Annie Rosie!

 This is all you have to do to get Anastasia to smile!  She loves to be talked to!