Florida Trip Day 1- swimming, movie

This week we went to Florida to visit Marc's family. It was a quick, but very fun, trip! Here is the night before we left- while I was packing Julia was reading to Tucker- she does this almost every night- they get baths, clean jammies, and sit in bed while she reads him a story-


The next day we got on the road. We spent the first night in Dothan and the hotel only had one pack-n-play (which we had to use for Tucker because he can open the hotel door and needs to be restrained). So we improvised and let Charlie sleep on the floor- but because I was scared of people stepping on him, we put him in the closet and kept the door open- he slept all night!



We got to Amber's around 3:00 and the kids immediately wanted to go swimming- how often do you get to go swimming on October 29th? They have a heated pool and it was wonderful! (And yes, their house is gorgeous!)





Tucker didn't mind borrowing Landin's pink puddlejumper-





They have fountains in the pool- the kids loved that!



Charlie slept this one out-



After getting the kids down the grown ups enjoyed their huge 3D television. We watched the new Pirates of the Carribean with our fancy glasses (they are battery powered) and had ice cream.

It's good to be the baby...

Everybody loves the baby....I'm just so darn loveable...see my dimple?



This girl is always holding me- every morning she holds me and giggles. The bigger boy holds me a lot too....



The smaller boy likes me a lot too- here he is saying "Can I kiss baby Charlie, Daddy?"



"SMOOCH"...(sort of)-



"Haha- I kiss him!" says Tuck Tuck.



Yep, I'm a happy guy- I've got a LOT of people who love me. It's good to be the baby-

Little Flowers Club- Hope

Today we had our monthly Little Flowers Club where we studied the "flower" Ivy, virtue of Hope and Saint Monica. After reviewing last month's virtue and memory work, we started by reading a beautiful story about the life of St. Monica while the girls colored a picture of her. St. Monica was the ever-faithful mother of Saint Augustine and she literally prayed him into salvation. He had led such a wayword life and his mother, through her tears and prayers and constant intercession, finally saw him converted to her great joy and consolation!



Here is Julia's picture of Saint Monica with her memory verse-



Then we sang our songs while a big sister played the guitar. Our song was based on the memory verse.



Then we began work on the their notebook pages-


We did a lesson on the virtue of hope. After learning the definition of hope (from the catechism) we talked about where we would all go if we could go anywhere in the world. We had Rome, Paris, Candy Stores, beach and one said a sister's home- Julia said BB's house. :) Then we talked about all the work it would take to get ready to go to those places and how that work would not seem so hard because we knew "as soon as we cleaned up" we could get to our favorite place. Then we erased all the girls' favorite places and put heaven there instead and talked about how offering up our lives to God is always worth it because of our HOPE for heaven!







Julia's finished page- the heart and ivy are to remind us that "hope must encircle and cling to our hearts like climbing ivy."

After finishing the notebook pages the girls had a little pumpkin cookie snack and lemonade in tea cups.



Then they all took turns showing off different poems or facts they had memorized and then played in the yard. A wonderful day to spend with my little flower. :)

All Saints Party

Today we celebrated All Saints day early with a homeschool party. All the kids picked a saint to dress up as and introduced themselves with clues and you had to guess who they were- can you possibly guess who Sissybug was?



Yes, she was Joan of Arc- and yes, I do believe Joan of Arc wore a black hairbow to match her armour!

Marky was St. Albert the Great- here he is hanging with Saint Padre Pio, St. Anthony, St. Michael the Archangel and St. George. :)


Marky went first and said, "I was the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas. I was born in Germany. My father was a military lord for Emperor Fredrick II, who was a great crusader. I was later named a Doctor of the Church."







Little Bit was too shy (as usual) to do her announcement, so big brother read it for her- he said, "I was a lady knight who fought for France. I found a sword in a field."


The kids played a bunch of games and did crafts after the "guess the saint" part- it was a cute little party-

BB and MCS Homecoming

This week was busy. We had a brand new shower installed in our bathroom which took three days of labor to complete. And this new shower came on the heels of getting an entirely new HVAC unit. Spending money like crazy over here people!

BB came up on Tuesday so we could attend a prolife banquet where we sponsored two tables. It was fun and Charlie enjoys seeing his BB-






We all drove to BB and Poppy's house on Thursday and had a fun time playing in the driveway- Julia liked being a horse that pulled baby Tuck Tuck.







They also had fun making mud pies-








We went to Mobile to celebrate my high school's 50-year anniversary. They brought back all the old Homecoming Queens including momma D-




Got to bump into my favorite cheerleading sponsor and her husband- they were so great to us in high school!


And I ran into one of my best high school friends Allison and had the best time catching up-


Superfun time reliving my high school days!

Meanwhile, back at the homestead- Marc and Marky had a WONDERFUL guys' weekend. They started off by going to see the Sleepy Hollow play at the Children's theater on Thursday and then going to the Imax to see the Tornado movie. Then Friday Daddy went to homeschool PE with Marky and they played dodgeball and capture the flag. Saturday morning Marky had his final football game of the season- and his team won- and Marky won the Leadership star. Then Saturday it was time for their first ever camp out with Boy Scouts- called Cub Haunted with haunted hay rides and tons of fun events. They had a blast- I'm so happy for them- but I'm glad I didn't sleep in the freezing cold!








That catches us up with most of this week!

Race for the Cure

Last Saturday I walked the 5K Race for the Cure for my friend Minda to honor her sister, Jenice, who died from cancer.


We wore our "Team Niecy" shirts and had so much fun-




Minda and her mom, former Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley-



Mrs. Riley getting the crowd going-



Team Niecy crossing the finish line together-




It was a fun race and the best part was seeing the creative team t-shirts- especially since the race was about breast cancer research. My favorite shirt, "Save Second Base". :)

Divine Mercy

"Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen."

From the Divine Mercy Chaplet