Catch-up Post #1: Easter and April Birthdays

 I know, it's been a LOOOOOOONG time since I last posted.  What can I say?  I'm a homeschooling mom of 6 kids.  I'm busy :)

I've decided to stop promising a renewed habit of posting from me.  It's just not gonna happen.  So, I'm turning over the blog to Maria and Cati.  They are in-training this weekend.  I'm doing this post with them looking over my shoulder, and then they will do some more "Catch-up posts" and take over from there.  Hopefully, it will be enjoyable for them and for any readers of this blog.

In this post, we're looking back at the month of April.  We celebrated Easter and 3 birthdays!  These pictures are in reverse time order.

Elena's 3rd birthday at the end of April... 

Easter Sunday

Giuseppe is enjoying his first egg hunt.

Chiara's birthday was on Easter this year.  She was born on Easter 5 years ago. 

One of her birthday gifts was a family membership to the zoo!  Stay tuned for pictures from our first 2 trips to the zoo.

Family Easter Sunday picture

Giuseppe fell asleep during Mass :)

Papa's Birthday...

So, I am signing off for now!  Good luck, girls!  I look forward to reading your posts :) 

Spring Break 2012

I would love to write about all the fun we had during our visit to Charlotte last week, but if I wait until I have time to do that it'll never get done! A few pictures will have to suffice...

Chiara loses a tooth!

Chiara, who will be 5 on Easter Sunday, lost her second tooth today! She lost her first tooth uneventfully a week or so ago. One afternoon I just noticed a new space along her bottom row of teeth. We never found the tooth. We have this second tooth tucked away in an envelope now, ready for the tooth fairy. Perhaps she will back-pay for that first missing tooth. We'll see!

Cati studying multiplication facts

"Now that I wrote these down, I actually have to memorize them!"

Project for Lent

On Sunday afternoons during Lent, the kids and I are doing the Stations of the Cross kit from Illuminated Ink (Google it if you're interested). Today was our first day to work on it. It is a very involved project, but I can tell that it will be a beautiful addition to our prayer room! Maria (age 11) could complete this on her own, but the younger ones definitely needed our help. We're planning to do 2-4 per week so that we can complete this by Easter. Here are a few pictures of Elena finishing hers this afternoon.

It finally happened

We finally had an unplanned haircut in our house. I've heard stories of them from others, but we have somehow avoided them here - until today. The wannabe beautician is an almost-5-year-old (it's uncertain that she will actually make it to this birthday!) who goes by the name of Chiara. Her victim is pictured below. And if she continues to wear that hat for the next few months, no one will ever notice :)

Chiara and the Mustard Seed

You know that I love blogging about conversations with Chiara (soon to be 5-years-old)!  Here's another one...

Yesterday, when I picked her up from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (Religious Ed), I asked her what she had done.

Chiara:  We learned about the mustard seed.
Me:  What did you learn about the mustard seed?
Chiara:  I don't know...Jesus threw some on the ground and it grew into a big tree.  (Long pause) I don't know why???