This and that, golf and bonnets

Angel girl had on one of her big sister's dresses this morning along with her new monogrammed bonnet.  :)  We were in a huge hurry so I just grabbed a few quick picks on the driveway!

 This is how she falls asleep with her bonnet on.  It's like a nice eye-mask keeping things dark.  :)

Julia, Tucker and Charlie went to our church's Children's Schola 1/2 day camp.  These children sing so beautifully- all Latin chant.  They are learning to sing all the Mass parts and the breviary.

They sang at Mass on Friday afternoon and Tucker had a beautiful solo!  I wish I had pictures or video!

Meanwhile, Marc and his friends went to a 4-day golf camp.  He has never played golf ever, but really wanted to learn.   He had a great time and learned a new skill.  

 

The three boys stained our front door yesterday.  It's nice having boys who can really work!

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And the door looks so much better! 

I am pretty sure these two have played chess every day this summer. 

This picture was taken on another day- I heard Tucker mumbling to himself in the study.  I went in and he had out a chess book with various moves and plays and he was recreating the moves on his chess board.  :)

The boys had a special Fraternus dinner this past week with a former member of the Pope's Swiss Guard!  They learned a lot.  To be in the Swiss guard (which are armed and dangerous- don't let the uniform fool you), you must be a Catholic Swiss citizen, between the ages of 18-35 and at least 5'8.  They go through basic training.  The group was founded in 1506 to guard the Pope.  Very interesting!

Tucker is so excited to be old enough to attend Fraternus events this year.  He jumped right in to their dodge ball game.  The group meets once a week during the school year and has dodge ball, dinner, large group message (usually a poignant movie clip is shown) and then squad times.  Confession is offered during the evening.  Afterwards they meet in the Church to pray Compline.  

Last night the Knights of Columbus gave every altar server boy (including our three) free tickets to the baseball game.  Daddy took them and I stayed home with baby.   They had a lot of fun.

The little boys always play on this hill and roll down. 

Best friends-

What I love is how the baseball stadium was built right beside the Children's Hospital- the children in the hospital can watch the games and see the fireworks!

Summer magic

Watching my little boys show their baby sister bubbles for the first time and the joy they all felt brought tears to my eyes.  I cannot thank our Lord enough for sending me these children and letting me enter into the wonder of childhood. 

 

Summer days, drifting away

This summer we followed Sarah Mackenzie's lead and read the Secret Garden for "Family Book Club."

We all enjoyed the book so much.  We also watched the 1987 movie on YouTube, it was the one I watched as a child and it is beautiful.  

A few friends had also read it and one suggested doing a book club day for it so I volunteered my home and we had a gathering on Friday.  It was so sweet.  All the children remembered their favorite characters and parts. We learned all about how English Robins are different from American robins, which are thrushes. (A robin is a major character in the book.)   Our teacher brought a robin's nest to look at and we listened to robin's songs.  

Then the younger children painted a craft, while the older girls did watercolors. 

This was how the adorable Robin's craft turned out-

Tucker wanted to change his bird's angle and have two eyes.  :) 

Then we had a skipping rope competition, as a skipping rope is a big point of the book. 

Tucker won the contest and got a gardening prize.  :)

We had a baked potato bar for lunch as Dickon cooked baked potatoes outside in the book.  It was a very sweet day.

That afternoon, the children and I went to the pool with the happiest little water baby.  :)

 

 

It's good to be the baby!

 

That night we had a yummy supper at home and took the baby for a walk. Afterwards I surprised the children with a trip to the see The Lion King, while Daddy kept the baby and worked.  It was an epic, awesome day with my favorite people. 

I picked the boys up from Boys Choir camp on Thursday.  They had a beautiful open rehearsal and sounded AMAZING!

 
The fun of boys choir is all around the leader, Mr. B- he is FULL of energy and knows just how to wrangle boys. 

On Saturday we hosted our Teams of our Lady couples' prayer group- we ended up having three priests join us! 

I am loving these last days of summer.