Answer Me This!!

Joining up with Kendra's summer installment of Answer Me This.

She picks the questions.  I get to answer them.


1. How long have you lived in your current home?
Neil and I moved here when I was pregnant with Fone.  We lived in an adult-only apartment before that, so when we found out I was pregnant, we knew we have to find a new place to live.  Believe it or not, we bought the house from my brother-in-law's parents.  So, my brother-in-law grew up here!! Super cool!  So how long??  14+ years now and hoping and praying for many more!  

2. How do you find out about news and current events?
**Facebook - seriously!!  
**apps on my phone
**hubby - he always fills me in with what is important 

3. Would you be able to make change for a twenty right now? For a dollar?
Yep, only because I just got done paying kids allowance for their chores and had to take some cash out.  Normally, not.  

4. What's the craziest food you've ever eaten?
Calamari, at a fancy restaurant for an anniversary celebration years ago- never. again.  
(let's just say that I was a tad turned off by the tentacles!  Eeeewwww!)

5. Which of the commonly removed parts have you had removed? (tonsils, wisdom teeth, appendix, etc.)
only wisdom teeth, removed when I was a teenager

6. What's your favorite sport to watch on TV? 
Olympics - mostly ice skating and gymnastics. No regular sports-watching as a hobby of mine.  

****click on over to Catholic All Year for more answers from the Answer Me This link-up!  

Music Recital - 2015

Our six big kids shared their hard work and musical talent during a Music Recital for our homeschool group this month.  Fone and Mario even teamed up and performed with their cousins.  Having had no musical talent myself, Neil included, it really amazes me at recitals like this to take in what giftedness God has blessed our children with.  I am such a proud momma!!!

~ Pookey ~ age 5 ~

~ "Happy Birthday to You!" ~

~ Max ~ age 7 ~

~ "Zoo on Saturday" ~

~ "Tucker's Secret Life ~

~ Ariel ~ age 9 ~

~ "Things That Go Bump in the Night" ~

~ "Mouse in the Clock" ~

~ Melody ~ age 10 ~

~ "Five Note Sonatina" ~

~ "Pumpkin Dance"  ~

~ Mario ~ age 12 ~

~ "I Love Rock-n-Roll" ~

~ Fone ~ age 13 ~

~ "Minuet in G" ~

~ Fone, Mario, & their cousin ~ age 13, 12, 12 ~

~ "Hit the Road, Jack" ~

~ Mario and two cousins ~ ages 17, 12, 12 ~

~ "Bridge Over Troubled Water" ~

The Recital was held in a local historical home that once belonged to John Deere's descendants.  (and you know how we are Deere fans since Neil works for Deere, both of our dads are retired from Deere, and two brothers-in-law also work at Deere!!).   It was so beautiful just to walk around and see all decorations from that time period!   The bust statues and decorations reminded the kids of the Haunted Mansion from Disney World - lol!. Here's some pictures of us enjoying the building.....  

++Thank you, God, for the musical talent you have blessed our young ones with.  Thank you for their dedication and hard work in practicing to be able to learn their instruments well and perform as beautifully as they did!++

(here is the link from last year's music recital.  

It's neat to see how much they have progressed!!)

Big brothers rock

During our zoo trip recently, it was so precious as a momma to see the love Fone has for his little sister, Rose.  He held her hand, walked with her, carried her, gave her drinks, lifted her up to see the animals, and more.  It's so beautiful to see the love between siblings.  Here's some pictures I took of these two sweeties...

++Thank you, God, for living so clearly in my children as shown by the way they treat each other with love and are so helpful like Fone was to Rose at our zoo trip!++

A special visitor

We have been blessed with the presence of a traveling statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the next few weeks.  What a great honor and privilege it has been!!  We love our Mother's continual presence and prayers!!  

Hail Mary, full of grace,

The Lord is with you.

Blessed art thou among women,

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.  

Wordless Wednesday - Father's Day fun

A zoo trip

We went to our local zoo for the first time this summer at the end of last week.  (checking off items from our summer bucket list, remember?)  It was so much fun, and this momma heart bubbles over with joy seeing her kids delight in great experiences like this.  Rose was especially adorable and has asked at least three-hundred-twenty-seven more times to go back.  She canNOT wait!  And, to be honest, I can't either.  The work to get there and keeping track of 8 little bodies is so worth it!!  And, I am so proud of them too, to see how sweet and helpful and well-behaved they are when out and about.

++Thank you, God!!!++

Here are some pictures of our wonderful day with the ducks, turtles, snakes, lizards, giraffes, wolves, zebras. leopards, camels, and more....

**The GANG**

**SPLISH SPLASH**

(Rose is so stinkin' cute when she jumps in puddles, I just love it!)

**The Lorakeets**

(Mario and Melody are SO brave!!)

**Yoda's first trip to the zoo**

(I think he liked it!!)

**"Hanitizer"**

(for after the petting zoo, of course!)

Is is strange that I take more pictures of my kids than the animals??  Hmmmm.....  

I just realized that!  ;)

Two cats better than one??

A few weeks ago, we brought home the cutest little kitty.  Our first cat!  How about that?!  Our girls named her Elsa.  Any guesses on where they got that name from?  Hee hee!  

My sister and I both wanted to get cats to be mousers (I am WAY too practical!) and we found a sweet family who were giving away their cats.  So, my sister got one of the boys and we got one of the girls.  So, us two sisters got a brother/sister pair of kitties for our families.  

Melody and Ariel have been especially helpful with our new pet.  They are the ones who feed and water her every day and clean up her house and litter box when needed.  I haven't had to once!!  (NOTE: having bigger kids, although I have 8 kids, is so much easier than when I had 3 or 4 littles who were dependent on me - seriously!)  We have multiple allergies, so we had to create a little house for her in our garage for the nighttime.

We have been working on training her to be outdoors all day (because she was an indoor cat when we got her and never even stepped outdoors until we brought her here) and then she goes back in the garage at night or when we are gone during the day.  She's really doing well outside and starting to get used to our dogs (one BIG labradoodle and one miniature poodle).  And, she loves when the kids bring her in the basement to love on and play with her too. This has been such a fun experience for us all.  And, I'm hoping it'll pay off with no more mice in the fall and winters.

We were told by multiple people that you "have to have two cats" and "two are better than one", so my sister and I have been keeping a look out for more cats being given away. We found some this week, so they took home a boy and we took home a girl kitty.  And, I bet you can't guess what we named this new girl cat???....

.....Anna, of course!!!
Now our Frozen kitty pair is complete!!  Yippeeeee!!!

 But, Elsa is not warming up to Anna and is being a little icy!!  She hisses and growls and pounces and bites and did this from the first instant we put them together.  So, we got another small cage (from another one of my sisters) for Anna to be in because we need a safe place for them to be overnight in our garage.  (Again, this is just a temporary home since we are training them to be outdoors 100%).  But, goodness, we were not expecting the territorial Elsa personality to come out.  So, the big question is, "did we mess up?"

Are "two cats better than one?"

Help!!!!