Welcome to Star Command!

On Saturday we held Brother's friend birthday party. He had a blast!

I am always so busy leading the activities at my kids' parties, so I never have time to take many photos.

This time I took some pictures of the kiddos trying out all the activites while we were setting up.

The last couple were from the actual party, though.

I had all the kids go through Space Ranger Training Camp.

They had to complete several activities.

Afterward they all received certificates.Fight the Evil Emperor Zurg and his robots.Save the aliens.Save the Buzz Lightyear.A little celebration dance.

Time to find Zurg's hide out.Hop through the hoops.Walk across the balance beam.Crawl through the tunnel.Victory!Time for the final battle with Zurg.Celebration time. A whole new group of official Space Rangers.

Happy Birthday Brother Bear!!!

Brother Bear Turns 5!

Brother Bear turned five-years-old today.

I can't believe it's been half of a decade since the day he was born. This morning I woke him up by cuddling him in his bed and singing Happy Birthday songs to him. His favorite is, "You say it's your birthday..." He also loves staying in bed late (as do I) so we rarely cuddle in the morning as I don't normally get up any earlier than necessary.

After I finished singing, he asked me what time I went to the hospital to have him. I told him it was about this time (early morning). He said, "I was born in the morning?" Sadly, no. Brother was my only child to make me miss several meals and beg for a c-section (which the nurse sadly denied) because he just didn't want to come out. He's my clingy cuddlier still. I love this little monkey dearly, but man was he a difficult labor and delivery. Brother's theme this year is Toy Story; more specifically Buzz Lightyear. The "cake" I made for him today is actually brownies since we'd all had cupcakes yesterday to celebrate Brother's birthday with his preschool class and I'll be making another cake this weekend for Brother's friend party. Since he just wanted chocolate with frosting, he didn't care that I made brownies instead. I also used the leftover frosting from the cupcakes and tried out the Buzz action figure on it. This is a smaller version of what I plan to do for the friend party this Saturday. I'll probably use blue frosting with green writing, more figurines, and obviously a bigger cake. Here is the front of his friend party invitation:

After enjoying some dinner and "brownies", Brother played with all his new action toys (super heroes and GI Joe of course), went to his baseball practice, and enjoyed some loving calls from grandparents and friends. What a special birthday for our super son!

St. Joseph's Altar

"Gracious St. Joseph, protect me and my family from all evil as you did the Holy Family. Kindly keep us ever united in the love of Christ, ever fervent in the imitation of the virtue of our Blessed Lady, your sinless spouse, and always faithful in devotion to you. Amen."

~ From the Franciscan Mission Associates

Our home St. Joseph altar. As you can see, we changed it up a bit so the foods can all be donated to the county food bank.
Our St. Joseph chapel was blessed again today after the mass in honor of the improvements they recently made to it.

What a beautiful display and meal that was donated by a local restaurant again this year.

Have a very blessed St. Joseph Day today!!!

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for me.

http://stjosephaltar.blogspot.com/2010/03/1st-annual-st-joseph-altar-blog-fest.html

Happy St. Patrick's Day

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face.

May the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And, until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

I helped to lead some songs and fingerplays during the Moms' St. Patrick's Day party. The Leprechauns are marching. They're marching down the hall. They're marching on the ceiling. They're marching up the wall. They're marching two by two and now four by four. What's that, you don't see them? Look out! Here come some more!Look who found some gold at the end of the rainbow! Baby Bear loved throwing the "gold" into the pot.Sister sat down and made her Leprechaun trap on Saturday. She was sure the rainbow leading into the "trap" would be the best way to trick those rascally Leprechauns in. Brother decided to make a trap too. His is a bit more difficult to understand. He used some "gold bricks" to trick the Leprechaun over. The crane will lift up the lid. After the lid goes up, the Leprechaun will drop in and the crane will lower the lid again. Don't ask me what the cars are for.It's St. Patrick's Day and Brother's preschool class had a fun green snack after exhausting themselves chasing a Leprechaun.

While away at school, we had a little visitor stop by. He left some yummy golden chocolates in both the traps. (Yes, Brother did change his trap since Saturday. He actually made about ten different ones in between.)He even left a bit of a mess: drawers open, toy bins tipped over, and trails of golden chocolates all around the house.Sister found chocolates all over her room. (BTW, the mess on her desk was there prior to our visitor. Sadly, we wouldn't have known if the Leprechaun had actually messed up her room or not). (=Baby Bear, though he didn't make a trap, also enjoyed the chocolates.We finished the evening with a yummy "Irish" stew and some brownies (which aren't Irish, but were very tasty). I hope all of you were able to enjoy this blessed day as well.

Special Visitors

Grandma K and Grandpa L came down for a visit this past weekend.

We had lots of fun playing with them.Reading with them.We even were able to give them a tour of the kids' school as it was Open House on Sunday. Brother loved showing off his kindergarten classroom-to-be. Sister showed off all her projects that were on display and had fun checking out the third grade classroom as well.

Thanks for the fun visit!!!

We're Off to See the Wizard...

It's a fun filled cousin weekend!!! The cousins came up to attend The Wizard of Oz play with us. To get some energy out earlier in the day, we took the big kids to our local Children's Museum.Look how much Memere is buying. The big kids must be great sales people.Here's Baby Bear in the kitchen waiting for the rest to bring the groceries home.Sister led Brother and Cousin M in a portrayal of the Wizard of Oz. She's Dorothy and Cousin M is the Wicked Witch of the West. I'm not sure what role Brother was playing, but he showed off lots of martial arts moves.Baby Bear is at the controls. Who wants to hear some thunder?Cousin Construction Company at your service!!!Sister and Brother pose with Brother's favorite character, the Tin Man.The cousins and Memere with the most popular character, Tin Man. As you can see, Brother Bear wasn't happy about not having his axe.Where were the little boys? Here they are! Baby Bear really likes Cousin E and wanted to give him lots of kisses and hugs. Unfortunately, he also wanted to pick him up.Don't worry, Papa was on the job.Look, the Winkies followed us home. You can't see him, but Baby Bear is actually the leader. Six cousins all in a row!

Boys

What do you do on a rainy day?

Well, if you're Brother Bear, you clear the cushions off the couch and pretend it's a trampoline-pool.Baby Bear jumped into the fun as well.My crazy boys. They were having so much fun, I couldn't ruin their fun by making them stop.At least it tired them out.
Welcome to a snapshot of our daily life.