St. Valentine's Day Celebration

This year we were able to, once again, celebrate Valentine's Day with our awesome Catholic homeschool co-op!  Although our celebration was delayed by one week due to a snow storm, we still got to exchange valentines and have fun.

Usually, we tend to take Valentine's Day as a feast day at our co-op.  This year, however, I decided to host it at my home so that we could dedicate a co-op feast day for another saint.  I planned some art activities for the kids.  They were separated by ages/grades and sent to different stations around the house.  This was followed by a valentine exchange and then snacks.  

We are so overly blessed by our Catholic co-op!  The families are each amazing and we have all become great friends.  

Catching Up on Past Events.

April was a pretty busy month. There was our end of year program for our awesome homeschool co-op, Marco had his birthday, and we celebrated Easter. In an attempt to keep up family and friends with our April happenings, here is a brief recap of what we were up to. Get ready for pictures!!

End of Year Program for our Holy Family Homeschool Enrichment Co-op.

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of all our co-op moms, our end of year program was a huge success. This is a time when all our co-op students get to showcase and present what they have learned all semester. There's food, drinks, a performance by our bell choir and lots of fun!

Isabella with her gal pals.

Three lovely ladies smiling for the camera!

Christian performing with his preschool class.

Anthony with his Blue Knights class. They were all knighted and got to show off some of their handy crafts!

Marco reading about his saint for his saints class.

Father Tri gave a wonderful opening talk and prayer.

Marco Turns 9 Years Old!

It was a great day in early April as Marco turned 9 years old!! I don't know how time has slipped by us so fast, but we are so blessed to have this guy in our family. It was a low-key birthday with just the family, and Marco didn't care in the least.

My "little guy" is beaming!

A rare picture with me in it!!

Ready for his present.

I'm not sure he liked his new IPod Shuffle.

And that Pokemon game? Lame.

Easter!

Of course, it was just us for Easter. I can't remember the last time we had family come in for the holiday and we've grown accustomed to having it be a laid-back family day. This year was not too different, but I must say that the kids said it was the "best day ever." Why? Not exactly sure, but I'm sure the Holy Spirit was with us! And as the kids have gotten older, holidays just seem more fun, too!!

On our way to Mass.

Hubby with the kids. I love my boys and my baby-girl Isabella!

In our home, no one gets Easter baskets until after we come home from Mass. It just works for us and give everyone time to enjoy the moment without having to rush the kids to get ready to go to church.

After baskets are done, we usually eat lunch and then have a craft and activity set for the kids to do. Here, Anthony is making Easter egg holders.

Marco is working on a Lego creation.

After crafts, we fly kites!

We play outside!

We fill our cascarones and get them ready.

So much fun!

After our Easter egg hunt, we cracked cascarones over each others heads. So much fun!

So that concludes some of my catching up with tons of pictures. Hopefully I didn't get carried away! I hope that everyone's April month was just as fun!

Brainstorming for First Day of School.

If you caught my first day of school post last year, you probably know that I started giving my kids schultutes as a celebration of the new school year. This year, we'll continue with the tradition and I've started racking my brain as to what theme each cone will have and what will be inside of each one.

Since I'll be adding one more child to our school (Christian is doing nursery level work through Angelicum), I have to plan 4 different schultutes! Images are plenty on the internet, so I can get some ideas there. But I like to personalize them with what each child really likes. I have some ideas, but I really have to narrow them down.

As for what will be inside...that shouldn't be so hard to fill them up! I'm planning on some school supplies, candies, and a small toy (much like last year).

In the mean time, I also have to decide when our first day of school is going to be. From the looks of things, I'm thinking that we'll have our celebration sometime around the beginning of August.

Never seen a schultute? Here is a picture of some super cute ones that I found.

Catching up.

Well, even though we've just recently moved...a lot has been happening in our lives. Family and friends keep bugging me that I haven't posted pictures, what's going on with the kids, etc. So I decided to make this post all about what's happened in the last month or so!! Get ready for a long picture post!


Best Friends Come Visit
Our awesome friends (if you remember from previous posts...they moved to Illinois last year) came over for a week to visit! It was great to see them again and to meet the newest member of their family, baby Nora. The kids had a blast and the grown-ups were all giddy to see each other after about 8 months.

Lots of hugs went around as friends were reunited!

The girls hanging out and playing together.

One last picture before our good friends leave.

Moving Day!
DH got his friends together and it was like a barn-raising event!! The men worked hard and every muscle was used. The kids got to hang out in the new house and explore it. And even through the weather that day was well into 92 degrees (never mind how much Gatorade we went through!), we celebrated with pizza and drinks.

Moving was a DIY project with friends. Here Dh parks in the driveway. Never mind the ugly grass, the previous owners left us a bit of work to do outdoors!

Laughing it up while resting.

Moving heavy furniture up the staircase was not easy!

Looking out the nursery window.

Baby Jimmy is growing like a weed!

Super Cheese!

Easter
We moved on a Good Friday, so it was a laid-back Easter this year. Super, early morning Mass means not having to dress up so much and avoiding the big crowds. Getting home back into our pajamas and play clothes while eating Krispy Kreme donuts was a treat...not to mention the excitement of the kids finding Easter baskets in their beds!

This was the scene early in the morning on Easter.

After returning home, it was time for Easter baskets!

Anthony loved his rabbit and goodies.

Isabella was the only one who left her Easter dress on.

Happy Birthday Marco!!
This was the year that Marco was to get his big birthday party. Unfortunately, his birthday came right at moving time. But he wasn't disappointed. A big party wasn't important to him. He just wanted some friends over to celebrate with him. Bike riding, cake, and even a pinata made his day special! My baby is now 8 years old!

Getting ready for pinata time!

Marco got the first hit and all the kids waited in anticipation for their turn.

Anthony did a good job whacking the pinata.

Finally, all the treats fall to the ground!

Happy Birthday!

American Girl Club
This week was our turn to host the American Girl Club. We are still reading up on Josefina's adventures. For crafts, we made memory boxes and books; snack were pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) and Mexican hot chocolate! Yum!!

Painting memory boxes.

Great girl fun!

AG Club is Isabella's highlight of the week!

American girls posing pretty on our front steps.

In the Mean Time...
We are still trying to get settled in. Boxes are almost everywhere and the garage is full of stuff left to unpack and put away. But the kids keep being kids, we keep working on crafts, and it's a happy house full of love for family, friends, and above all...God!