Family Fall Fun

Today SuperDaddy took off work a little early so we could head to the Grand Old Pumpkin Patch. I figured out last year that the best time to go is Friday after 3:00. Before that you still have school field trips- and on Friday nights everyone goes to high school football games- the place was almost empty!

SuperDaddy and little buddy-

The happy, excited crew! (Charlie was 10-weeks-old yesterday)




First stop- the petting zoo-



It was almost impossible to drag Sissy away from the animals- she LOVES them so much-


Then we got to make Julia the happiest girl by letting her ride a pony!







We played on the jump castles after riding the horses- big brothers are very helpful in these cases-




So are sisters- Tucker has it made-





Then we jumped on the hayride to head out to the punkin patch-


Daddy and the big kids looked through the garden for the perfect pumpkins-


I stayed with Tucker and his "little Tucker punkin" and played in the hay-


Climbing hay bales-


"Look at me Mommy- I did it!"


Telling me a story about the "biggest sunflowers" that he was looking at- I didn't hear the story I couldn't stop thinking how precious he was in his curls-


Sweet Charlie, aka baby Elvis, was a perfect angel the whole day-


And we were able to get four little punkins for four little punkins-


SuperDaddy took us out to Olive Garden for dinner and even got the kiddos ice cream for dessert- you know that was a hit!



Julia always tells me she wants to be a mommy when she grows up- and I would love for her to be one. It is the most precious blessing of my life. Thank you, Lord, for these children and our life together.

Columbus Day and Symphony

Had a wonderful couple of days here at Ayers Academy. I was able to take my two favorite big kids to hear the symphony today. What a treat!



They know the names of all of the instruments and their groups (woodwinds,percussion, etc) because of Baby Einstein's Meet the Orchestra that Tucker watches. You never know where kids will pick up knowledge- even from little brother and his things.



We got there early and sat on the front row- VERY close- close enough that I could read the sheet music as they played...



They played Barber of Seville, two pieces from Swan Lake, the Magician's Apprentice, Sleeping Beauty's waltz and the theme from Superman. We all loved Swan Lake best- it almost made me cry with the emotional swells.





Tucker and Charlie were with a babysitter. I picked them up, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to the big kids' science classes- Julia made a volcano and studied states of matter, Marky made slime and studied bacteria and germs. I had the pleasure of taking my little guys around- and spending lots of happy time with my happiest-go-luckiest toddler Tuck Tuck.





Tucker said, "stop pushing the 6- I want to push this NINE! It's 9 dollars!" The other kid had no idea what he was talking about- I mean, aren't we supposed to be babies? You are in diapers right?





We did celebrate Columbus day in style- thanks to my new subscription to Enchanted Learning I got tons of printoffs for the kids to do- here's just a couple-



And our drawing books had a series on Columbus so we did those-



We also watched our movie on his life and learned about his devout Catholic faith. After all his flagship was called Santa Maria, or Holy Mary. He and his crew sang Salve Regina at the end of every day and he wrote again and again about his prayer for the conversion of the people in the New World. When they landed they named the place San Salvador- Holy Savior. While he may not have been perfect, we certainly should all thank him for bringing the gospel of Christ to the Americas.

From Columbus' logs of his first trip in 1492-

October 11th, Thursday:"As is our custom, Vespers were said in the late afternoon, and a special thanksgiving was offered to God for giving us renewed hope through the many signs of land He has provided. I now believe that the light I saw earlier was a sign from God and that it was truly the first positive indication of land."

October 12th, Friday:"At dawn we saw naked people, and I went ashore in the ship's boat …I unfurled the royal banner and the captains brought the flags which displayed a large green cross with the letters "F" [Ferdinand] and "Y" [Isabella] at the left and right side of the cross …To this land I gave the name San Salvador, in honor of our Blessed Lord."

In his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain telling them of his find-
Your highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes devoted to the Holy Christian faith and to the spreading of this faith, and as enemies of the Muslim sect and of all idolatries and heresies, ordered that I should go east, but not by land as is customary. I was to go by way of the west, whence until today we do not know with certainty that anyone has ever gone there. He sent me that I might bring the true faith to the Indians.

From his Book of Prophesies (about scripture prophecies not his own)-
I found our Lord well-disposed toward my heart's desire, and he gave me the spirit of intelligence for the task...Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit? He [the Spirit], with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures, a strong and clear testimony ,...encouraging me to proceed and continually without ceasing for a moment, they inflame me with a sense of great urgency.

In a letter to the Spanish treasury after the discovery-
Since our Redeemer gave this victory to our most illustrious King and Queen and to their famous realms, in so great a manner, it is fitting for all Christendom to rejoice and to make celebrations and give solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many solemn prayers for the great exultation which it will have and the turning of so many peoples to our holy Faith."

Sunday pics

Charlie was saying "you guys are the worst! I am SO over this!"



Poor wittle Charliebear!



This little guy gets away with anything because I think he's so dadgum adorable-



Oh- very serious now- I see....



And now back to sweet....with a hint of drippy apple face-

Remembering Lepanto

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto- the last big battle at sea using "oared" ships. In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire, spreading medieval death and destruction west across the Mediterranean, threatened Christianity and trade. No single country had the power to halt its advance and so a coalition between Spain, Venice, the Vatican, Naples and the Savoy called the Holy League formed. The 26 year old Don Juan de Austria, in the flagship ‘La Real’, led the Christian fleet against the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

This painting of the battle is in the Map Room of the Vatican Museums- Marky was very interested....

At dawn, on October 7, 1571, as recorded in the Vatican Archives, Pope Pius V, accompanied by a group of the faithful, entered the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to pray the Rosary and ask Our Lady to intercede for a Catholic victory. Meanwhile rosaries were being prayed all over Europe as the Catholic and Muslim fleets battled far away in the Gulf of Lepanto. Later in the day, the Pope is said to have suddenly interrupted his business with some Cardinals, and looking up, cried out, "A truce to business! Our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Catholic army." (1)

Over 12,000 Christian slaves that had rowed the Turkish ships were rescued by the Christians. And this is one of the most decisive battles preserving Christianity in Europe. Bells rang all over Europe and the victory was attributed to "Our Lady of Victory", and now we remember her as "Our Lady of the Rosary."

Click on this picture to enlarge it- it's amazing- it really looks like the flag is draped on a man- it pops off the painting- I remember being amazed at this in Rome-

I knew my little ancient-history-warriors-loving boy would love celebrating this day. We began by reading G.K. Chesterton's famous poem, "Lepanto", which Hillaire Belloc called Chesterton's greatest poem. Marky loved it and quoted the refrain all afternoon. A bit about the Pope calling for aid- who would help? Our hero the "crownless prince" from a "nameless throne"-Don John from Austria!

... And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the
Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war, ......

After reading the poem, Marky colored a sheet with a galley on it and read this cartoon I found that describes the battle in detail....





Then we decided to make some boats! Making sails for our fleet....



We decided my blue porcelain plate looked like the sea...



Mommy may have eaten two "boats" during this craft. Marky kept saying "Mommy, don't eat my ships!" :)





Such a super fun day with my boy. I tried and tried to get Julia to do this with us-but she was on a mission to find worms and caterpillars ("callipitters"). Mission accomplished-



"Mommy look- the caterpillars have red faces and chompers!"



Tucker slept through all of this, but here are some Charliebear pictures for your viewing pleasure-






Have a good weekend!

Cookie Factory and Park Day

Today was a super-fun day at Ayers Academy. We started off by heading to a 10 am birthday party at a precious tree-filled park. These fall days are just made for parks- I just read "Last Child in the Woods" about American Children's "nature deficit disorder" and how our kids just aren't interacting with nature enough- certainly not as much as their parents or grandparents did. Being in nature actually lowers blood pressure and is great therapy for many mental and emotional maladies. This idea of getting back to nature was on our mind when we bought this house with the woods all around it. I LOVE seeing them go down to the creek and build bridges or forts. But I digress.

After the birthday party we took a tour of the Bud's Best Cookie factory. We were the only people on the whole train- they took us all through the cooking, baking, packing, shipping process and gave us bags of cookies and coloring books when we left. Then we picked up lunch and headed to the park with friends. The kids played for hours and there was an unusually large number of older homeschooled boys there that we got to meet. Marc was thrilled.



Sissybug found little girls to play with- I don't think I've yet had a shy child- they will walk up to any kid and ask them to play-





Mr. T had a blast- I've learned that he can unlock his seatbelt on the car seat now. I got out of the car to get the stroller and when I got to his seat to get him out he had taken off. I'm going to have to really watch him and train him on this-



Now when he disobeys I make him say "I da toddler- you da boss!"



Last night at dinner he was making us laugh and said, "I a jokester"....never have truer words been spoken- this sweetybear is always making us laugh- (his face is flush from running for so long)-



And this punkinface is always making mommy happy with his sweet disposition and love of cuddling- (by the way, he literally "coos" now- I forgot that babies coo!)



In other news- I think we should all by Chick Fil A stock- I mean, is it EVER not busy? The drive through at the one by our house is crazy chaos with all types of people standing in the parking lot directing traffic and greeting you. And now they always have this cow to entertain the kids while we wait- it's a real show!



And don't worry the kids will still get their work done this afternoon. They are watching "Ben Hur" right now while Tucker and Charlie nap. We will pick up with our work when it's done. :)

Church Directory Photos 2011