a Carnival, 2 Birthdays, a Festival, a Hike, a Helicopter and more....

In this issue....some moments photographed, others remain fondly in our memories...

Explanation of these random home shots - kids check out the new steam vac (thank you Mom and Dad for the early Christmas present!!!!). A beautiful, homemade chicken pot pie made by Terri Duhon that we LOVED. And Milo hangs out and watches the neighborhood from Daddy's office window.































Sat - Nature hike with Daddy at Lick Creek park, I got a whole bag of nature specimens to analyze! :)

























Weds - Apache helicopter lands at our neighborhood elementary school on Veteran's Day and we got close to the action. Also W Dominic and Milo's 2nd annual carnival trip. While Mommy was teaching class, Daddy had a blast with the kids.








Fri - Married Couple's study group at the Reiter's, thank you Senele for watching the children and thank you to Tony and Emily for hosting!

Sat - We neglected to take pictures at Matthew's birthday party, Dominic's special school friend, but we had a grand time at Powersports. Dominic was jumping into cool sponge pits, climbing ropes, swinging from vines (or so it appeared) and many other WAY COOL things! Happy Birthday Matthew!!!

Sat - Following that we went to World Fest with my parents. We were collectively crestfallen by the absence of Indian food, but we were pacified by the Indonesian peanut chicken shish kebabs instead. The dancing was lovely, we loved the Ukraine presentation! It was a beautiful day and really enjoyed how it was laid out at Wolf Pen Creek this year.












































































And Sunday we enjoyed celebrating Bruce's birthday with the Dvoraks, Boulangers and Reiters with a delicious lasagna dinner and marshmellow roasting with a sing a long. The boys ran amuck with flashlights while the Mommies got to catch up. We had a super weekend full of family and friends.

Happy Halloween, All Saints days and All Souls day!

We had a wonderful Hallow's Eve celebration. Our friends invited us for a delicious supper and then we carved pumpkins, and then trick or treated in the historic district. It was so neat to see the beautiful, old victorian homes all lit up! Dominic was St. George and Milo was the dragon, and they were adorable. We usually go with the B family to the nursing home to trick or treat, but we tried something different this year. It was a perfect, simple, lovely Halloween with no crazy hype. I wish we had gotten better pictures, it is a goal of mine to get a real camera and get more serious about picture-taking! We missed the All Saints Day party at church this year but I hope we will be able to go next year. Uncle Steve came up to visit (aka go to the football game and see his sister on the way) :) with his lovely girlfriend (also Julia!). I included some pictures of the rockin pillow fort they made for the kids. We miss them!

Hoping everyone had a blessed weekend!

Around (and outside) the house moments

I took some shots of our boys on this GLORIOUSLY beautiful day. We spend as much time as we can outdoors, not only to enjoy the weather but also to give Bronius quiet chunks in the day to get his work done.

And here is a picture of our "last minute robot" costume....largely designed by Dominic but then foiled (in both senses of the word) by his parents. Apparently Dominic will debut his originally planned knight costume on Hallow's Eve. We are all waiting in suspense in the meantime.


Milo is almost 18 months! And I never realize how I underestimate my children until I see other people interacting with them, and I see how the respond and react. Milo really understands everything that is going on. I can finally say things like "first put your shoes on before going outside" and I have at least a 50% chance of him not throwing a tantrum beforehand. It's nice to see things clicking, and tantrums decreasing (somewhat). He is adorable. And determined to do all things big-boy.

Milo's appetite has dwindled a bit, and we noticed two molars have broken through! He loves to dance and spin in circles, it is adorable, but even more he is obsessed with motorized vehicles. This is fun because Dominic was totally indifferent and not at all curious about them. He asks about planes, motorcycles, cars, trucks, bikes....anything with wheels. He pitched a fit when we wouldn't let him touch the gigantic wheels of a parked tractor the other day. He loves books, and brings us stories. He opens them to his favorite pages. He still takes 2 naps, and who knows how long that will last. An hour in the morning, 1.5 hrs in the afternoon usually, sometimes 2. This ends up being beneficial for everyone in the family, so if it's not broke, we aren't going to fix it!

Dominic is definitely 4 years old. Wow, what a difference a year makes! He can play independently so nicely, his critical thinking is kicking in, his eagerness to do all things by himself, his aptness in learning new skills, his helpfulness, his excitement in showing what he knows, his inquisitiveness.....and I hasten to mention the negativity and back-talking. :) We are working on this, and we find that the more we pray as parents and the more consistent we are, the more energy and love we have to deal with the situation, and the more success we all have. He is a wonderful big brother, and over the last few months I have seen SUCH growth in him. We love watching his interests and his passions develop. We are so very proud of him. At the half year mark, I hope to share a more detailed description of our big guy.

Happy weekend to come....Uncle Steve is coming into town and trick or treating festivities with the Buchan's. Hopefully an All Saints Day family lunch on Sunday (better double check with Grandma who may be reading this right now!) Will post more pictures soon. Lord Jesus thank you for our Beata Vita!

Fall Fest 09 and Family Fun

Saturday I attended a Writer's Bar Camp, the first for our city, and given that it was downtown, Bronius was able to take the kids to the Fall Fest while I was attending workshops. I love my husband!!!! Bar camp was amazing, and I wish I could have stayed the whole day to soak up more information and network with writers. I'm really looking forward to next year! We met for lunch and went home together, and all lived happily ever after for the rest of the day! Looks like the kids got to do all sorts of fun things while Mommy was not around - jump from high places, play with shaving cream, pet snakes and play around the a/c vent. :) Dominic wanted to make frankenstein treats since he is obsessed with our neighbor's Frankenstein mannequin, so we made some spooky brownies. On Sunday we had the Grandparents and Greatgrandma over for pumpkin-painting and dinner. What a full, happy weekend. Love my family, love my life, thank you Jesus!

Around the house moments

In this issue...swingin' boys, Dominic's homemade robot, sneaky hiders, Dominic's first minor head injury, Dominic's art on the computer and a sunny lunch on the porch.

Quality of Life

Our quality of life has changed in the last month. Fortunately, all for the best. However not in the way that most would expect. Bronius lost his job at the end of September, a government job which we always imagined would be stable. On the same day and actually within the same hour, I was ecstatic to find out I was hired to write part-time for a local newspaper publication. Neither of us knew about each others news though, so we had an interesting conversation that Friday night that was full of mixed joy and sorrow.

After the initial shock, confusion, anxiety and excitement wore off, we got to work on figuring out how this new chapter of our life was going to shape up. After several sleepless nights and plenty of yard work to sort through his thoughts and feelings, Bronius determined this was a strong sign that he should take time off to build his web business like he always had dreamed of doing. This was an idea we always regarded as an unattainable dream, because we felt this would cause too much uncertainty for our family. But now that the choice was made FOR us, we could not be more happy. It is amazing to see the way God works through what seems to be the most unthinkable situations. Bronius and I both work from home now, and our quality of life is what we always prayed it might be one day. We are eating healthier, we are getting more exercise, more sleep, more quality family time - our spiritual life has grown by leaps and bounds as a result of this turn of events. Our relationships have improved. We have to put family plans on hold until health care gets settled, and this lifestyle also requires financial sacrifice from us, but that seems like a small price to pay for the jackpot we've received in return!

Bronius has been blessed with a fantastic contract position for the time being, and we will be praying that blessings will continue to flow from the good work which he does and the good people with whom he works. Praise God for refreshing our memories and opening up our eyes to show us how to be grateful for our blessings and what we are truly striving for as a family.

Family game night, weekend quartet, pumpkin hunting

Five Things Food Poisoning Taught Me About Motherhood

1) My children love it when I lay on the couch! Course this couldn't work every day....or could it......

2) It's not the end of the world when I don't have a perfectly picked-up house at the end of the night. Before this was unacceptable to me.

3) My children think their toys are the COOLEST when I am sitting on the floor with them.

4) I may not be as accomplished as I usually am, but I feel much more peaceful, in doing less.

5) I still hate cleaning the bathrooms but triply recognize its importance now.

I'm writing these down so that I remember them. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our experiences, and this was a timely message for me. On that note, Praise Jesus that I am feeling better. I would prefer natural labor every day for eternity to what I felt the last 2 days! I'm shocked by how debilitated I feel, still, it will be awhile before I'm back to my zestful self.

On the road again (and back)

What a bloggy weekend! We went to Houston to see my family and unprecedented ever before, we had a sleepover at my sister's apartment downtown. Aunt Les decorated for the season and pumpkins and fun decorations where everywhere. The kids loved having Howie the shih tzu all to themselves. We loved getting to stay up late eating pizza and watching Netflix movies on demand. Ahhhhh.....the single life, I remember it well! We went to the Natural History & Science museum since it was a rainy weekend, and then after a short nap, went to the Family Fest at Lesley's church. Then we went to Mass at 5 pm (don't recommend that time with small children, by the way, especially in a big city where the cry room is packed full and true to its name) Then we stopped at Mom and Dad's again for dinner and baths before hitting the road. We missed you Steve this time around but we'll be camping at your new (ancient) house next time, gadget. Now we're home, bags unpacked (again), Mom's group and soccer tomorrow, grocery shopping....and the list goes on. Thank you family for all your hospitality and love and Lord Jesus thank you for our Beata Vita! Please bless us this week with endurance, patience and gratefulness!