Tuesday

The little kids missed co-op last week due to serious colds. Poor Nate had an ear infection to boot and was just miserable.
I finished up Molly's costume for Halloween and I have one last thing to do for Alexander's.

On Saturday we had some wonderful guests. It's always amazing to hear people's conversion stories and I am especially struck by how many people come into the Church in part because of the Church's stance on contraception. You would that that due to mass secular acceptance of contraception that the issue would be more of an impediment. I think as protestant churches continue their downward spiral it becomes more and more clear that the Catholic Church is indeed the Church of Jesus Christ.

On Monday we went to a Palin rally with my mom and a family friend. It was such an adventure! We parked blocks away and there was a lot of debate on what to take and what not to take. The newspaper had reported that you couldn't have bottles and snacks. I had received an email saying they weren't allowing strollers. In the end we decided to take the stroller and food and if we couldn't get in we would just stay outside the gates. We were in line from 10 something until almost noon. I can't imagine not having snacks and drinks for the kids! We would have really been miserable. As we went through security I was chastised for having the snacks but they let me through anyway. My mom bought buttons to share with the kids.
Xander has been really excited about what is going on with the election. He seems really confident that McCain will win because he sees so many stickers on cars, signs along the road and he notices the advertising. I have no idea why he has selectively not been able to 'see' the Obama signs. Interesting!

Molly wanted the DRILL BABY DRILL button but I used my mommy persuasion to get her to pick the "it's a girl" with a pink elephant. Obviously we can save this one for future elections! --but she kept chanting DRILL BABY DRILL all day long. It was pretty funny. When Sarah Palin started talking Molly became very excited and declared, "Hey! that's the lady on all the buttons!"

It really wasn't supposed to be so cold... but when I started feeling a few raindrops I made the decision to run for it. We only stayed for a bit of Palin's speech and then started high tailing it back to the van. We were just a few blocks away when it started to rain more steadily and we managed to actually get inside the car before it really started coming down!

To keep the kids motivated on the fast walk back to the van I had been promising we could go to the krispy cream and try to get hot donuts. I had no idea that Nathan would be the one who liked donuts so much! Even Max ate his donut and he usually only eats the sprinkles.

Diapers

I've gone back to cloth diapering. I'm thinking it might help Max want to potty train. Several people have asked me what I ordered so here is my info!
I have a big aversion to aplix/velcro. It always seems that the velcro leaves scratches on the little legs or tummy. In the past I was using snug-to-fit Snap-to-fit fitted diapers which I loved, but they don't make these anymore!
I don't have a problem using prefolds and a snappi under a cover and I already had prefolds so I ordered a few covers. I got a variety of Bummis snap wrap, litewrap and I also just use some gerber plastic pants that I had gotten on clearance for $2.99 (for a pack of 8!)
I also got some all in ones to try. I've never had any of these but they are really super easy.. I found a pack of 5 kushies all in ones on www.kidssurplus.com and I also bought some SposoEasy snap diapers from www.greenmountaindiapers.com . The only worry I have in all of these is the fit on my boys. They don't have the chubbiest legs and I think there is the potential for some wetness to wick out into pants.
I've also broken out the babylegs for max so he can wear a diaper and legwarmers around the house.

Our Pumpkin Hunt

Ok, so everyone else had the same idea to go to a pumpkin patch on monday. It was a little too crowded to accomplish a really great family portrait! Better luck next time. Actually, I am thinking I should have enlisted some of the other moms to be assistants for me and then taken their pictures in return =)

Nate loved seeing all the "puppies". I think I may take the kids back to do the swings and hay barn in the next couple weeks. Molly had a rough time finding a pumpkin because she wanted TWO pumpkins and being told she could only pick out one had a crippling effect on her scouting abilities.

Sunday

Another Ordinary Week =)

Let's see.. This week we were really busy. More soccer, Xander was reviewing some vocab words and continues to practice those math facts. Molly is able to read quite a few words but insists she is not reading =) I guess we will have to call it something else!
I had a lot going on with a big charity event, pulling card sets together and then several email inquiries. It's amazing how they all come in and hit you at once sometimes! The big event was great and it's just really so uplifting to be around a group of like minded positive people!
On to the pictures..

It was a beautiful week and we managed to spend a lot of time outside. On Thursday we even took some of our school work with us to the park. Nate decided he would wear his little baby rosary around and I just thought he was wielding it as though he was rambo and the rosary was slung across him like his little ammo clip.



I also managed to get the kids bathed this week ;)


and I finished Molly's dress! She was soo happy about the pockets I added!


and I managed to find the perfect costumes for the kids. Here Molly is wearing Nate's and it will really simplify things if she also wants to be a penguin rather than sailor moon. Max can be a bit grouchy over things and Halloween costumes ...well there was no even getting him to talk or look at any. He does love penguins so when I saw these on clearance I thought it was worth a shot and he loves it! He's already asked to wear it twice and it stayed on until bedtime!



oh and finally this one..



One afternoon Molly walked in from outside with Max following right behind her. "Mommy I picked you this pretty flower!" and not missing a beat Max chimes in "and Mommy I picked you this piece of small grass!"

It doesn't get more lovely =)

This Week

This week we finished our first quarter of school! Proof that we are making progress. I want to find some samples of Xander's handwriting in particular to post so you can really see the improvement there.
Here are a few pictures from this week:










On Friday Xander did more exciting things with circuits and added double didgets. Molly got to go on a field trip to the Church where they got holy water. This afternoon while the kids were playing we overheard a serious discussion between Molly and a 4 year old neighbor. Molly was showing her the holy water and then we could hear, "Now repeat after me!...In the name of the Father......" !