365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 44

As you've probably noticed, I've missed a few weeks. And in the midst of those few weeks, I missed a few days of photos, so then I got all panicky as I tried to figure out how I'd post those weeks. Whelp, life happens, so we're just moving on to this past week for now. I think we've finally gotten our groove back after all the traveling... just in time for the holidays... in which we'll probably get things all snarled up again. Such is life. I like it anyway.

These two sitting next to each other on a chair has been rare as of late. There has been an awful lot of, "She has that/is doing that/has Mom's attention and therefore I want that/to do that/to have ALL of Mom's attention to myself." I keep reminding myself that my siblings are some of my very best friends now, especially my sisters... and we fought terribly.

 

 This is one of those tricks of illusion. As I took this picture of her little feet all balanced and ready to help me cook, she was throwing a fit (I don't remember what it was about, but there was much wailing). So. Cute feet. Shattered preconceptions. You're welcome. 

 

We met some friends for a very quick end-of-the-day photoshoot of a friend's very full-term baby belly. While we waited for them, the girls and I stayed warm by running up and down the (rather lovely) paths.

We pulled out a much-loved but recently forgotten "only at Nonna and Papa's" toy, and Colette got to spend our visit quite happily discovering "the castle".

As I sit shivering just thinking about the snow and negative temps outside, it's hard to believe how warm it was just this past weekend!

 

Annnnnd, I had a birthday. It was lovely, like really, really lovely. My husband took the day off, and I was spoiled absolutely rotten. What a sweet life I live! 

Then came the snow. Usually our first snow comes much earlier in October, so we've been ready and waiting for this. Well, as long as ready means not having a coat or gloves for the littlest, or snow pants for anyone, or boots, or, well, I wasn't actually ready so much as expectant. We have since bought snow pants for the eldest, borrowed a coat for the little one, and the rest will have to come as money and searching permits. Right now, no one is spending time out in it, as fun as it looks, because it really is too cold to play in. The end of the week is supposed to be warmer; though, so there's hope!

365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 41

 

More of our trip, and a baby!

The other, quite wonderful, reason I made the week long trip "back home", was to help my sister out while she had her fifth little one. There's no way to replace or even come close to the amount of things she's able to do in a day, but I helped bridge the gap a little and tried to document those sweet first couple of days.

The night before Katie's induction, I got my instructions for school, food, and emergencies, and Little J got in one last snuggle before his baby sister made her appearance.

The next morning, my sister and her husband left bright and early, and we settled into doing what needed to be done. I was probably most worried about how the previous baby of the family would react to me being there and not his lovely mama, but we actually did pretty well as long as we kept busy.

We kept busy with the everyday things... and luckily, with six kiddos in a house (her first four and my two littles), there were plenty of everyday things to do. Food, shuttling to and from school, keeping clothes on Little J (overalls, overalls are much harder to get out of when clothes are a necessity, in case you're wondering), and a pretty good stream of laundry. All day we watched for updates from my mom (who was there to support my sister and brother-in-law through labor), and once we knew sweet baby girl had been born, we held our breath anxiously until we could go meet her (and I may or may not have gotten lost picking up big sisters from school to take everyone to the hospital...whoops!)

Oh, but the joy when siblings saw their mommy and met their baby sister was absolutely beautiful! There were continuous, hushed whispers of, "Look at how CUTE she is!" "Her ears are so tiny." "Her hands are so tiny and purple." "She looks just like I did when I was baby!"

This is the first little one I've gotten to meet in the hospital since my first, now rather grown up, nephew was born 11 years ago, so to say I was excited is an understatement.

That night, after a rather conspicuous stop at a fast food joint with all six littles, we set their talents on a welcome home sign. My favorite is how the eldest kept writing, "Good Job, Mom!" all over it. Good job, indeed! My sister really is a rock star in labor.

And then came day two without mama. We knew they should be coming home that day, so everyone was a little anxious, and, well, crabby (I am included in that, trust me!) We survived; though, and there were some really fun bright moments. Such as, teaching the four-year-olds how to play freeze dance...

... and catching Little J with a jar of nutella rubbed all over his face... haha! At first I was pretty cranky when I caught him, but then I realized how hilarious it was, grabbed my camera, and took a picture of that adorably mischievous little face.

By the time the big girls were home from school, we were all waiting with bated breath for them to arrive. In fact, they all stood at the window, counting the seconds (literally counting the seconds, I think they made it to 110 before they lost track).

Finally, having had to wait on a whole lot of signatures and a wheel chair on their own end, they were home! If you ever question if siblings are gifts to each other, I want to bring you right to this moment and the absolute delight on all of their faces.

As dinner baked (I am rather proud that I managed to get a lasagna made and in the oven, not as proud of how messy the kitchen ended up being as I sorted all that out), another set of the kiddos' grandparents came, with balloons. There were some, ahem, wild times to follow. I think we were all just relieved to have my sister and the babe back home; though.

The next day my mom came out, so we double timed it and got things cooked, cleaned, and attempted to shoo my sister off for sleep whenever possible (she is a very wanted woman with her five littles, so that's harder than it sounds!)

My girls admired their darling little cousin, though we kept their touching to her little feet as their noses were doing a fair imitation of faucets at that point.

By the time our last day arrived, the girls and I were missing their daddy, and the fights among cousins were, well, you know how these things get. Despite all that, I soaked in my last little bit of time with my sister and her family. I probably won't see them again until Christmas, and by then, this itty bitty gal will be quite a bit less itty bitty.

I'm not sure of a good conclusion on this one, except, thank you, to my parents for giving me my siblings. And thank to you my siblings for my nieces and nephews. What a delight to breathe in that newborn baby.

So there it is. Certainly not the whole story, as that's really not mine to tell. But, there's my little slice of the story.

Welcome to the outside world, sweet little girl, you are so very loved!

Celebrating 65

Oh, hi! After the past week or so of radio silence (due to a busy, busy trip), I'm back! The first order of business on our trip was to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday. The big gift was a fancy-schmancy new tv (installed while my dad took a nap after Mass) to replace the rather elderly one that had been limping along before.

Of course, the best part about a new tv, is that there was a big ole box for the cousins to crawl into.

 

One of the things I miss the most about living near the rest of my family are the big Sunday lunches where we all sit around and chat. This was like that, only even better, as we listened to Dad's stories (he is an epic story teller) and talked about baby names and sweet Grand-baby #10 who was scheduled to be induced the next day.  

My dad deserves celebration. He has worked incredibly hard for us for so long, and he and my mom somehow managed to keep a big family not only together and close, but all remaining in the faith. 

I am so grateful to have a life filled with these family dinners, with everyone teasing, laughing, and yes, definitely getting annoyed at each other (we love each other, that doesn't mean we're always nice to each other).

And the grandbabies? They're all about a celebration. Cake, ice cream, and candles to blow out? All about it.

It was also that waiting day for my sister. The next day was her induction, but she had enough contractions that we were all holding our breath to see if Miss G would get things rolling sooner.

Not only was it a celebration of my Dad, but of the family he and my mom have made. I can never tell them how grateful I am that my girls have aunts and uncles and cousins galore to snuggle and play with, fight and make up with, and to love.

My gift to my dad was the scanning and sorting of a whole lot of photos (that will eventually go in a book). Here's the video we put together as a sort of "trailer" to the book for his birthday:

365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 40

Dance is always a good way to start off the week (well, week of photos...) Anni likes to check that we're watching with little glances over her shoulder and just a wee smile when she meets someone's eyes.

 

 We tried to fit in as many snuggles with Daniel as we could before he headed off for his (incredible, packed, filled with awesome knowledge, food, and free goodies) conference. We have missed him for this week, but the guy deserved some serious time to himself, and it doesn't hurt that he's been spoiled a bit while away. 

 

You get a video for day 277! You can hear Colette starting to sing "Happy Bertday" at the beginning as she makes her soup, and then the rest is Anni singing from off-camera. My brother just had a birthday, so they're on a birthday kick after leaving him a message with us singing to him.

 

 

I hate dressing myself. I've never been good at it, as much as I'd like to be. However, I love getting to help the girls get dressed and pick out fun outfits. I mean, at four you can pull off just about anything. So, mustard tights ($3 on clearance!) and a borrowed thrifted jumper? Ah... happy mommy.

 We went back to Cider Days this year, and Miss Colette threw a tears-streaming, sad little faced fit when she had drained the last of her sample of fresh apple cider. It really was good stuff.

  

The next day was off to the zoo! The fall is my absolute favorite time to go to the zoo (I hate being hot, just really, really hate it). It was a lovely fall day, with three matching little chickadees to watch.

And finally, to end up this week, Anni finally got to head back to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd! She was so excited... excited enough that this was what the picture before we headed off looked like (there was a slightly more normal one, but this describes the excitement better).