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???

More eating news

I noticed that Giuseppe is not adverse to putting things in his mouth. He just doesn't want me to do it. So, I decided to get one of those mesh baby feeders for Giuseppe to try. He likes it! He's had banana in it and tonight I tried some broccoli. He loved the broccoli! Go figure. :)

Taking a break...

We're taking a break from spoon fed solids for Giuseppe for a bit. He really wasn't taking to it. He does like gnawing on apple slices, though!