New call sign: Peter Joseph, child of God

Hooray, Peter Joseph has been baptized into the Catholic faith!!

Peter Joseph, in the baptismal gown made from my grandma's wedding dress.  All of Grandma's grandchildren were baptized in it and so far all of her great grandchildren as well.

Papa holding Peter.

Nana and Papa with Peter

Grandma holding Peter, after he took off his gown, with Rebekah.

Happy Birthday Paul & Miriam!

We are really blessed to have two of our children (whom are not twins) share a birthday exactly two years apart!

Paul asked for a turtle on his cake.  Miriam wanted cupcakes with "kitties" on them.

Now, I have gone through some "adjustment" as to what is allowed for a birthday.  I used to be pretty "crunchy" and in my attempt to be healthy, I would make my kids this"nutri-cake" which is actually pretty healthy (has no sugar, uses whole-wheat flour, contains fresh fruit, etc.) and my children and I think it tastes ok, too.  But after enough looks of discomfort from guests at their birthday parties, I finally cracked and started making "typical" cakes, aka chocolate - or I even branched out and tried a recipe for a pumpkin cake (not healthy at all, but super yummy - no left-overs on that one!!) and similarly a blueberry cake.  Although I still try to feed my kids real food and not many sweets, I have thrown in the towel on birthdays -but my one stipulation was that I had to make it.  Then I still felt like I was giving them something worthwhile -my time and effort.  Well, this time, I decided that even that silly bit of pride is going out the window.  I was going to buy the baked goodies because I am still recovering from having Peter (just a month ago).  Unfortunately, even though I was planning to buy the treats, I did not feel like ordering them ahead of time - too much work!!  I figured I would just show up and have them write on one of the cakes they already had made.  This would have been fine, but Paul wanted a turtle. . . and apparently the cake decorator for Dillons only works at night?!?!  And when I asked for a turtle at Wal-mart, I was first told that it could not be done.  But then then she surprised me by giving it her best shot.  Fortunately all the kids loved it.

Although the turtle graphic ended up being well-received, I was concerned it would not do, so I had picked up a toy turtle as "plan b."  I went ahead and put it on the cake as well.





Now, Miriam's cupcakes. . . well, since it was the weekend for Fort Hays State University's graduation, all the pre-made cupcakes were graduation themed.  Then I had an inspiration.  I could bake cupcakes, from a box, frost them, and then put kitty fruit snacks on top!!!  So I purchased the items I needed and headed home.  Once I got home I had another inspiration.  Rebekah and Samuel could do this job!!  Yes, with a little minor supervision they were able to bake the cupcakes and frost them. They could have put the fruit snacks on top, too, but I chose to do that in order to be sure we had enough for the cupcakes (as I anticipated a little filching to take place while decorating).

For the record, although they may not look like much, they tasted wonderful.  The kids did a great job.

In order to compensate all my failing to be "healthy" at this party I decided to offer some other snacks as well:

summer sausage, cheese, pepperoni, carrots, hummus, and fruit salad.



The party went well.  

Paul, 6-years-old

*Paul catches on to things very quickly - all things, from Math and Reading to sports and social situations.  He is just all-around awesome.

*He has an adorable grin that already wins him many requests and will surely do so far into the future.

*Paul has no guile when it comes to begging for food.  He rates his friends by what kind of food they give him.  (Nana is very high in his book because she ALWAYS has dessert for him.)

*He LOVES computer games - playing them or watching his brothers play them.

*He is into Pokemon right now and will play the card game with his big brother, Samuel, or request episodes of the animated cartoon on netflix.

*Paul finished all his schoolwork by the end of February.  Apparently he can be quite studious.

Miriam, 4-years-old

*Miriam is very observant.  She pays attention to details and likes things to be precise.

*She loves to play dress up and have tea parties with her little sister, Zipporah.

*She is into princesses right now and loves reading books about ballerinas as well.

*Miriam is becoming a bit of a dainty eater but she still puts away her favorite meals - meatballs and spaghetti, as well as desserts.

*Kitties are also among her favorite things.

She has an odd love of the grocery store (which sounds more like "drocery store" when she says it) and gets OVERJOYED when I take her along for our regular grocery shopping.

*On of Miriam's favorite pastimes is coloring.

Thank you, dear God, for the blessings of Paul and Miriam.  May you ever draw them closer to yourself.  - Amen.

7 Quick Takes

1) Peter is six-weeks-old today!!

He is getting better at transitioning to sleep but he still grunts and groans like an old man.  He loves to be talked to - will quiet down and look you in the face.  I think we are going to keep him :)

2) Laundry

Doing the laundry is probably my favorite chore.  We have a high efficiency washer and dryer that work well and I even enjoy their elaborate end-of-cycle chimes.  When we were selecting this set, about eight years ago, my dear husband was pushing for the larger capacity set, but I wanted to be able to stack them (and honestly, this set was more in our budget anyhow).  I'm glad we go this set, though, and now, eight years and seven children later we have just crossed the point of every two or three days of washing to doing a load a day.  Funny how one little baby can tip the scales, but he has.  In any case, one load a day is really not a big deal and can be helpful when someone wants their favorite piece of clothing two days in a row!!

3) Food

I am slowly but surely coming into my own as far as cooking goes.  I am not a giant fan of cooking.  I like to eat.  And I like to eat food I cook (rather than eating out) but the actual taking raw foods and turning them into meals has always been a bit of a challenge.  I find it especially entertaining since providing food for nine people has now become my calling in life for the next twenty years or so at least.  God certainly has a sense of humor.  Anyhow, I am beginning to realize that simple can be good.  One of my family's favorite meals is my rendition of "hash."  Apparently "hash" is a meal Gordie's dad used to make for him, which included ground beef, potatoes, and various spices.  My interpretation of this dish has evolved into browned hamburger and fried cubed hash browns.  Mix them together, add a little ketchup, and viola! a delicious local crowd-pleaser, often with no left-overs.  Simple, but delicious.  That is definitely my new motto.

4) Paul's latest trick.

Lately Paul has been finding my water jar (I like to drink out of a mason jar), filling it up, and bringing it to me - without my asking.  It is really adorable.  He can certainly be thoughtful.

5) I am reading this book right now and it is AWESOME.

I stumbled up on it at the suggestion of someone in a facebook group - and the suggestion was not even for me!  They were talking about how beautiful it was and I guess the Holy Spirit gave me a push because I ordered it and I have been LOVING it.  It really speaks to my soul as the author uses his experiences in Russia to touch basic spiritual matters that everyone has to work through.  I highly recommend it.

6) A recent funny:

A few days ago the following conversation ensued:

Rebekah: Mom, can we get a pet snake?

Me: No.

Rebekah: Mom, can we get a pet at all?

Me: No.

Rebekah (to Samuel): I think we asked her at a bad time.

7) We have a new AC!!

I am pretty sure that we have been living the last ten years, using the air conditioner that was original to this house - built a really long time ago.  It was still running, but just could not keep up on those really hot (one-hundred-plus temps) days, so we have finally decided to upgrade.  As of right this minute, the old one is gone and the ducting and such is all changed up for the new one that is sitting (still in its box) in our yard.  Tomorrow morning they are planning to finish up the install and we can hardly wait!!

And if you have read this far, you get to enjoy these pictures of Zipporah. . . 

Yes??

Can't be bothered.

7 Quick Takes - Things to Remember

1) Rebekah has been saying the word "tarnation" when she is frustrated or forgets something, etc.  I find it odd but entertaining and I have no idea where she picked it up from.

Rebekah LOVES to hold Peter.  She often snuggles him in her lap and enjoys reading or coloring.

2) Peter is a unique baby - compared to his siblings.  He prefers to sleep nestled in someone's arms and will rarely sleep more than a half hour left on his own.  When he is awake though, he will look all around and likes to wiggle.  He is not a sit-and-cuddle type of baby, unless he happens to be asleep, of course.

Here is Peter all snuggled up on Mom.  He does not mind being "worn" this way and it allows Mom to get a few things done!

3) Zipporah is quite possibly the happiest almost-two-year-old I have ever met.  She spends most of her day dancing, giggling, and smiling so hard it must make her cheeks hurt.  She definitely finds all day every day in this family to be one big party.

Zipporah, enjoying pizza.  Yes, that is red marker all over her arms.

4) Miriam is in love with Peter.  When I ask Rebekah to hold him, she always wants to hold him, too.  Likewise, she is almost constantly asking if she can "pet Peter."

Miriam, holding Peter.

5) We came into an excess of cameras.  I had one I was not overly fond of but still works, bought another, and then my parents gave me theirs because they just use their cell phones now.  (Yes, I am the only person left on the planet that does not own a cell phone that takes pictures.)  Anyhow, Rebekah asked if she could "have" one of the cameras.  I told her yes, but did not realize just what that would mean.  Now she takes pictures of EVERYTHING.  She always has that camera.  I find it entertaining, but the hubby gets a little annoyed sometimes.  Oh well.  It is not hurting anything and thankfully digital pictures can just be erased at the click of a button.  No harm, no foul.

I'm not sure if you can see it, but the cord around her neck is the strap for her camera.

6) Now that the novelty of a newborn is wearing off, I'm waiting for my super-powers to show up.  Thankfully, God has blessed me with some amazing and helpful kids so they are definitely helping out as Peter keeps me from getting much sleep these days.  But I'm hopeful that soon I'm just going to turn into "pure awesome" and be able to do everything like I have in the past.

Here is Rebekah, putting Peter to sleep for me (accidentally, but I will take it :)

7) Peter is one-month-old today.  And although his brothers, Samuel, Jacob, and Paul are quite amiable toward him, I am pretty-sure they are going to find him loads more entertaining once he can do more than wiggle and cry.