Trick or Treating at Bluebonnet House and Pumpkin carving

We had a great time at Bluebonnet house trick or treating again this year! Here are some shots with most of the group.




Can you spot my ever-so handsome Optimus Prime?




















My adorable god-daughter Melissa as a lady bug.

















The cutest fireman I know.













Pumpkin carving with Pops. I love this man. He really does it all.











And a bonus...Milo and his Hot Shots soccer team.








Jack o lantern is still in the making....photo to appear soon.....

Zin zin zin a violin!

Home organization & Halloween

Here are some of the fruits of our labor. Bronius and I stayed up late last night working together and there is SO much to be done still. Below shows a bin organizer (which will surely be disorganized very shortly), an official art shelf for Dominic (which is riskily within reach of a curious 2 year old, but he's also a very compliant one :), and my "discovery center" as I plan to call it - a shelf of Montessori jobs. I have not yet ordered the tasks according to difficulty, but I'm getting there. I gave the boys mats to roll out today and they did jobs right on the floor there. I'd like to put polishing and pouring jobs on trays for Milo there when he is a little older.

Also featured is Milo the fireman (a sneak peak at his Halloween costume) and the boys enjoying the treat Senele gave them (I had to award a stellar day at school today! ) I had a picture of Dominic in his Optimus Prime costume but it was deleted :( I will have more soon. Friday we are making our annual trip to the nursing home for trick or treating, and we'll carve our pumpkins on Saturday night. Sunday we may just putter around the neighborhood. And sadly the big All Saints Day party falls on a school night, so we will be celebrating from home. We may fly kites since that is a tradition in Central America!

Projects, Science Fest, Hay Maze - must be October!

What a great weekend...and productive too!

Bronius took Dominic to the Science and Engineering Festival on campus (they LOVED it, and Bronius' Dad would have been proud!) while I got some sorting done at home and purged almost ALL the closets - naturally, my nesting has hit the same exact time as a pinched nerve. Luckily, I've felt all right this weekend so I'm pushing forward with projects!

Bronius played in a wedding gig last night and then cantored at Mass early in the morning, and somewhere in between ran to Walmart to get us a bunch of bins so we can start sorting through life around here. He's tired! Today we took the kids to the hay maze and bought some pumpkins at the Farm Patch, had lunch out with Senele and now we're headed for hair cuts and to pick up some furniture from a friend.

Tonight I have more sorting and organizing to look forward (gag me with a spoon). Actually, it's not as torturous as I thought it would be. But I can see why we avoid doing it. Our artistic temperaments can't be bothered with such mundane detail - hah hah!

Can brothers be as close as sisters?

I really hope so. Because to me, the things that guys do together are pretty foreign. I grew up in a household with a 4:2 female to male ratio :) There was lots of Jane Austen, and heart to heart talks, shopping with my sisters, and musical sessions. Oh, and fighting over clothes. ;)

I am pretty close to my brother, but my 2 sisters and I have been very close growing up. Living in 4 different cities now it is more difficult for my siblings and I to see each other, but I honestly live for the times when we're all together.

Today I asked Bronius what he pictures our 3 boys (and, potentially more than that) doing when they're getting together. First of all, will they be getting together at all, or will they be in different states because of different jobs?! Then what will they be doing....will they be fishing? Having beers and watching a game? Piling into a V.W. van to film a documentary of social importance? Or, will they be playing in a stringed quartet or in some sort of musical ensemble? Our dreams are many. I just hope that by their 20's they are happy, healthy, and most importantly, getting to see each other regularly.

Baby report

Just wanted to let everyone know that today at the doctor we found out that baby's head IS head down...which is not what I expected based on the way I've been feeling the last 2 weeks. So we're celebrating! The reason for all my ridiculous, unprecedented pains are because he is kind of positioned like the number 7 right now...with bottom and feet sticking me in either side.

He probably moved just recently because the side pains are gone...yeah! But they've now been replaced by sciatica pain. It's not like I need to be able to WALK AROUND without wincing and limping while keeping up with 2 boys and a busy household. Sighhh. I definitely need prayers to be more positive and less "poor me." I am just learning how to lower my standards a little earlier than expected. I'm frustrated because usually in my 8th month, I still feel like I could climb Mt. Everest. Whether or not that's actually possible or just delusional of me is a completely different story. Okay, sarcastic "poor me" rant is officially over.

So the aches and pains just make me look forward to his arrival all the more. Fortunately, he is weighing in a little less than average (for our babies) so I might not have a sumo wrestler this time :) Most importantly, he is healthy!!!

Just wanted to keep you updated. Thanks everyone for your prayers! Please continue to pray for me to have a positive, upbeat attitude about the physical challenges, small as they may be, that I have to face until baby comes.

Dewberry Farm

We went to the famous Dewberry Farm this weekend, and met my best friend Jamie and her boys there. Aunt Les also made an appearance with her friends. What a good time! The kids got to ride a train, take a hay ride, run through pumpkin patches, jump off hay stacks, see pig races and pet animals and SO MUCH MORE. We spent the weekend with Papa and Grandma and the kids soaked up the TLC as I soaked up the rest and Bronius got much needed work done. Thanks Mom and Dad for blessing us with that help! I'm so glad we could give the boys this experience. In some ways I feel we're running out of time, and I'm trying to make the most of our last days of "normal" life. :)

An aside....please keep me in your prayers if you could...it seems baby is lying transverse, which is a new (and PAINFUL) experience for me at this point in pregnancy. Usually at 8mths I feel like I can climb Everest, and lately even just a simple sneeze is painful because of the pressure on my ribs and back. I am doing exercises to try to get the baby head down and I will see the doctor later this week so I'll know more then. Thank you for your prayers! :)

Slow Yo' Roll

We heard a rumor that you can see the fall leaves changing color in East Texas during this time of year, and since neither of us had been to East Texas, we thought it sounded like a good way to spend Dominic's school holiday on Monday. Apparently, Palestine got its name because the Dogwood tree, which is indigenous to the Holy Land as well as the Piney Woods region, is the tree which was used to crucify Jesus. The locals desire that people will be reminded of Christ's ultimate sacrifice every time they look around and see a dogwood tree, and in the Davey Dogwood Park (which is pictured above) we saw many dogwoods!

Apparently we were a little early for the "turning of the leaves" but we still saw some beautiful nature. We stayed in a hotel and the kids LOVED the indoor heated swimming pool (as did my aching back) and curling up in a giant, fluffy bed with popcorn and a movie with Mom and Dad. We took the boys to the train depot and even though there weren't any departures, we got to see the train! We thought about coming back to do one of the themed train rides at the end of Oct or Nov but it depends on how big I am and how I feel. :) We stopped in at the lovely Sacred Heart Catholic church for some prayers before treating the kids to some small town baked goods. It was a nice and quiet little trip. I'm kind of glad we didn't opt for San Anton or Austin this time, sometimes you just have to "slow your roll." :)

Storybook dress up day

Can anyone spot my knight in shining armor? He's next to Ariel. :)

The Wizard of Oz

We took Dominic to see his first play this weekend! The Theatre Company put on a great production of the Wizard of Oz. It was fun to see a lot of familiar faces on the stage and in the pit band. We had a great time! :) We came home and made our own pizzas for dinner...Dominic did the sauce, Milo did the cheese and they both took care of the veggies and pepperoni. The boys also got to see a cool classic auto show with Daddy and explore some cool outdoor sculptures. We also enjoyed having lunch at Senele's on Sunday and had the pleasure of playing in the park with this beautiful Fall weather! Weekends go so fast these days! Everyone is healthy and happy (most of the time) and we are blessed and thankful!

The cutest pumpkin pancakes you've EVER seen

I mean, come on, you have to admit it. They're pretty cute, right? I was proud of myself this morning for thinking to pull out the pumpkin cookie cutter and giving it to my kitchen helpers to get to work!

The best part of these pancakes is how healthy and tasty they were...with how little our kiddos eat, every bite has to count. So we made them with brown sugar and flaxseed meal, and the kids actually requested to have honey on top instead of syrup! There's nothing that gives me that satisfied feeling then knowing my kiddos are eating something packed with nutrition. Other than a plate full of pancakes, of course ;)

I imagine you could decorate these with a little powdered sugar/water icing squeezed from a ziplock bag. If you wanted you could dye it yellow to make it look like a bonafide jack o lantern!