Plumbing problems :)

We've had a plumbing situation in the upstairs bathroom over the past 2 weeks, and appearantly it's been a sourse of distress among at least one of our children. Read the note we found in our bed 2 nights ago...

The kids will be happy to know that the plumber is coming today :)

Elena is 2-months old!

Elena turned 2-months-old last week. She just started smiling and cooing, and I've been trying to get a good picture or video to post. This is the best I could get so far...

Elena is really growing! She had her doctor's appointment last Friday. She's almost doubled her weight in 2 months. Here are the stats:

Birth - 6lbs. 6oz. (2.89kg)

1 month - 9lbs. 9oz. (4.34kg)

2 months - 12lbs. 7oz. (5.64kg)

Little Mommy

Maria loves her job as the Big Sister!

The other day she asked me to show her how to use my baby sling :)

What have we been doing this summer?

Learning to smile (and packing on the pounds!)...






Reading...

Learning to crochet...

Making puppets and putting on puppet shows...

Playing outside...

Doing a little math...

And, painting :)

It's been a relaxing summer so far, and we've been enjoying every minute of it!

Summer play clothes

The older the girls get, the more difficult it is to find decent clothes for them to wear, especially in the summer. Most of the clothes out there are too short, too tight, too low cut, or otherwise inappropriate.

Thankfully, I have a good friend who loves to sew! My friend Jessica (Modestmama blog on the right side of my page) made some clothes for the girls to wear this summer!!


Maria loves skirts and feels so grown up in them :)



Look how cute this is!! She also got a purple dress with fairies in this same style.

Cati got some skirts and dresses.

Cati picked out the shirt to go with this one. She says that they match because both the shirt and skirt have flowers :) :)

Here is Maria's other skirt. If she was a little bigger, I could borrow it!!

Chiara thinks they look best when you wear them all at the same time!

Thanks, Jessica!! I'm so happy the girls have such cute, comfy clothes for the summer :)

Jessica loves to sew and sells some of her things (for kids and women) at this site. She's a busy lady, with 4 littles ones, but she's always adding new things!

Product Review: Dressing with Dignity

My latest product to review from The Catholic Company is Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond. This is book written from a Catholic viewpoint about dressing modestly.

To be honest, I found the beginning of the book difficult to read because of the poor writing. It is written in a casual tone to make it easy to read, which I appreciate, but the lack of focus and direction in the first two chapters really bothered me. The author shares some valid and somewhat interesting observations in these chapters, but she really needed help with organization and writing style.

But, perservere! The third and fourth chapters get down to business! These chapters examine the evolution of women's fashions, propose reasons why they have become what they are, and give the responses of Popes and Saints to these changes, especially during the last 150 years. I found much food for thought in these chapters and had a great conversation with my husband about the ideas presented. In my opinion, these two chapters are enough reason to read this book!

The book concludes with a couple of chapters about a return to feminine dress and behavior and appendices of modest clothing websites and quotes from Popes, Saints, and Scripture.

I felt that I was a modest dresser before reading this book. But, the author gave me many more reasons why I should dress modestly, changes I could still make, and how important it is to instill these ideas in my children.

The Cutest Kids at Mass this morning :)

Here are some pictures of the kids after Mass this morning.




Aunt Ginny sent some of the clothes that they wore. Elena got a new dress and handmade kitted booties. She had the prettiest feet there!

Cati got a new handmade dress. This is one of my favorite dresses that Ginny has made!