Father's Day 2014

I have three really great fathers in my life, whom I adore and love and am greatly blessed by....

First, my own daddy!!!  He worked his tail off when I was a little girl and gave his all for us four girls and my mom.  I never saw him enough, but that was because he was working hard and taking overtime hours to feed and support his wife (my momma) so she could stay home and bring us girls up. This was one of the greatest gifts he could have given me.... the gift of a mom who was present to me daily to teach me, love me, correct me, etc... and it meant so much to me, that Neil and I wanted to give this same gift to our own family.  How blessed I am from his great example of working and loving us through this sacrifice that it now affects and blesses our daily life.  I never knew that I would get all this wonderful time with him now!!  He calls me many times a week just to say "hi", jumps when something breaks or needs fixed here, helps do regular work on our Big Red, and just got done remodeling our basement for us with one of his buddies, and so much more!!!  As an adult, I appreciate this time so much more NOW that I ever would have as a child. Happy Father's Day, Dad, and I love you more than you know!!!!

Second, Neil's great dad!!!  I love him for the man he created and the support and love he has given Neil and I and our big bunch of kids.  He taught Neil that he will someday have a family to support and that he needs to get a good degree, good job and work hard to maintain that job.  What a success this has been - all because of his example, support and encouragement.  Neil went to the U of I and graduated with a degree in computer science, works at Deere and Co, and works his tail off now for our kiddos and I.  Neil's Dad also jumps and helps out around our house too, and is our regular donut delivery man - the kids LOVE this part!!  Having only two sons himself, he has graciously accepted the 16 (and growing number) of grandkids that God keeps sending his way and as silly as it seems, I think he is more calm now than when the first few arrived.  Happy Father's Day - love you bunches, Ken!!!

Third, is this great man - my husband and father of our children!!!  How can I tell of this man and his greatness as a father?  I know I will never come close!  Sweet Bridget did a great job describing the job of a father of many and almost everything she said applies to Neil as well - thanks Bridget for all your help!  ;-)    What a sacrifice these dads must make when they have more than the average number of kids - what is that - 2 kids?? Come October, we are going to be four times that amount!!  Neil loves his job as a father of many and does it so beautifully and gracefully. Like Bridget mentioned, most large family fathers - just like Neil give up a nice family vacation every other year for a hospital stay to bring home the next bundle of joy God has sent our way.  He comes home from work and doesn't sit on the couch with his feet kicked up and favorite sports team playing, shooing kids away - instead, he comes home and helps a little girl with her phonics lesson or changes a dirty diaper or whips up a fast easy dinner to feed us (instead of asking and demanding "what's for dinner").  Of course, that meal is always lukewarm - feeding kids always comes first which means the two of us get to eat lukewarm meals on a regular basis.  His "activities" always revolve around his family - he takes TKD lessons with all 5 big kids and earned his black belt with our two oldest last year, gets to go fishing and enjoy that hobby with his family and if he's lucky, gets to throw his own pole in the lake a few times, enjoys the outdoors and goes on walks with all of us, wrestles little kids and almost always loses, reads kids books to kids, watches his sports programs very rarely and always with all kinds of noises and questions and interruptions (he was so sweet and patient last night watching the USA win their most recent game in the World Cup), takes us all to Mass every weekend and helps feed and dress kids to get us there on time, and his list truly never ends...  His life IS his kids and family and faith!!!  Neil, I love you so much and fall in love with you more and more daily as you give your all for our children and I!!  Thank you, dear!!

Why I am not a very good blogger...

Because my schedule revolves around these 7 little birds who are the light of my life and keep me busy-as-ever, and even when I am not busy-as-ever, I may just want some downtime with them and my wonderful hubby!!  I've tried the blogging schedules and blogging weekly on certain days, but always seem to get caught up in what-matters-most and this place seems to get neglected first. So, I admit it and place *all* the blame on these gorgeous kiddos, whom I am mothering and loving and snuggling and feeding and cleaning up after and running them around and teaching and on and on and on...  

...happily and gladly and super blessed!!!  :)

My 7 little birds and I on Mother's Day - 2014

VBS Days

My 7 young'uns and a niece and a nephew of mine too

One of the highlights of the summer for our kids has always been VBS.  Ever since Fone was old enough, he has been taking part in VBS in the community where I grew up.  Although we moved to a new parish over eight years ago, we have continued attending VBS in this community, since our parish never had a VBS, until I was persuaded by our sweet summer seminarian to help lead one.  It was such a great experience and I think we threw it together in just a couple weeks. We were so happy it turned out great and even happier that the next summer, our new DRE continued with VBS  - we are now three consecutive years going strong!!!  So amazing that saying "yes" to the VBS at our church would turn into a huge success and be enough to keep it going.

The program that our church chose this year is Son Treasure Island, and the first two days have been a blast so far.  Throughout the day, the kids travel from music, snacks, games, crafts, prayer experience, and Bible stories.  Three and a half hours later, the kids are fed both spirtually and physically, and skipping to the van at pick-up time singing their love for Our Lord!  Such a blessing!!!  Here is a video of some of my kiddos plus my niece and nephew, singing the theme song - "Treasure Forever"...

Our two oldest are of the "helper" age, so they are both helpers instead of participants - Fone is a crew leader and Mario is a game helper.  Fone was also asked to help out with the skits.  With his love for acting and being goofey, he was more than willing, gave it his all with practices, memorizing lines, and performances.  What a blast it has been so far!!

Here are the first two days of video's of Fone's skit performances....
(Please leave a comment and tell him what you think)

Day 1

Day 2

More to come as the week progresses....

Baby Rose on the piano

Rose loves to play the piano as much as her six older siblings.  Now that she is able to climb up on her own now, we find her a few times each day making up her own little melodies.

++Thank you, God, for instilling in our 

young ones the love for music!!++

++St. Cecilia, pray for us!!++

Landscaping help needed - yay or nay??

We added on this ginormous garage a few years ago to fit our ginormous van.  With our hilly lot, the back of the garage slopes down into our backyard and it is an almost impossible task to landscape. Our kids, both boys and girls, love to dig.  As soon as this space was built, we found our little ones out digging like crazy here.  This became *the* safe place to dig in our yard - it is up against a wall (the back of the garage) and not in the middle of the yard where someone will fall into the holes that are dug.  So, that becomes a "not so pretty" part of our yard, not that our yard is perfectly landscaped anyways - it's a far cry from it.  But this is the kid-zone and they can dig all they want.  So, what do you think??  Should we pretty it up a bit or just let our own little "landscapers" enjoy their digging time??

Our Marian Artist Trading Cards - 2014

I mailed out 30 trading cards on Saturday, all decorated in honor of Our Lady for the month of May and to take part in this ATC swap.  In a couple weeks, we'll get a special delivery of new cards from children the same age as mine who participated in the same swap from all around the US.  We had a great time doing this swap in 2011 and the kids were so happy with all the new cards they received!  We *had* to take part in it again!!

Three years later, we added another artist and all the other kids have grown in their art talents as well....

Pookey - age 4

(did all the coloring - momma drew the picture of the "Immaculate Heart" for him)

Max - age 6

Ariel - age 8

Melody - age 9

Mario - age 11

Fone - age 12

Hail Mary, full of grace!

The Lord is with thee.

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.  

First fishing adventure of 2014

This past weekend, we made it out to the lake for the first time this year.  And, as always, fun was had by all!  Lots of bites, a few fish caught, 2 dozen worms gone, bugs swarming all around us, smiles, giggles and memories made of family love and bonding time.  My sweet husband, maybe, got his pole in a few times.  It's a big job putting worms on the hooks, helping little ones reel in their catch, untangling stuck lines, etc...  And, my clumsy self, wore some slip-on shoes and slipped and took a little fall when untangling one of those lines - doh!  It's always a great time to ...s...l...o...w... down and take time to enjoy the outdoors and each other on beautiful nights like that.

Isn't this cheesy smile from our sweet Rose just the cutest ever??

Never tire of seeing her smile like that!!  

Always love fishing with my sweet sister, her husband, and sweet boys!!  

++Thank you, God, for family, fishing, 

fun and beautiful weather!!!++