Movies, Movies, Movies!

Well, technically, it should probably be "movie, movie, picture" :)

Grandma has been quite demanding lately...she wants more grandkids around here! Here you go, Yaya & Papa. We miss you.

This first video was taken because I was getting such a kick out of watching Thomas eating. He adores the tomatoes from our garden...you can tell by the way he's trying to lick his tray! Turns out, Sammy and Clara got in on the action too. "Camera shy" will never be a title any of my kids hold :)

This next video is of Thomas crawling around and playing. He's so much fun these days :)

And this last shot is one of Thomas getting out of the bath...just last night!

Boy Meets Dog

This one's for you, Mom! I can't imagine a better video to put up for your viewing pleasure than one with a dog AND your grandson :)

I Don't Know What's Growing Faster Around Here...

...The zucchini (look at this thing!):



...Or the babies. My Thomas is going to be a year old NEXT MONTH! I seriously...truly, and honestly...can NOT believe it. I don't know if I want to laugh along with his giggles, or cry at the rate he's growing up. Although hubby is planning a getaway for the two of us to some strange, sandy, sunny place for after I wean my last baby...I guess I'll stick to giggles ;)


We went to a local park the other day. Thomas and Sammy adore the swings...would have stayed on them all night if we'd have let them. Clara likes to help with the little ones, and Ben...he's outa there! He went straight to the monkey bars and got himself a giant blister on his palm. It seems like just yesterday that I was pushing my baby Benjamin in these very swings.



My sweet and spunky Clara Rose spent the night away from us last night for the first time. She stayed at her cousin's house. They live about 40 minutes from us...out on the "ranch". It's not really a ranch, but they do have goats, sheep, and dogs. And most importantly, Clara's favorite cousin...and a POOL.

I half expected to be driving out to get her at midnight, but she was quite the trooper. In fact, I just got off the phone with her and she was begging to stay the rest of the day and another night! I don't know what kind of brainwashing is going on over there, but I don't like it. Not one bit!

Yesterday was quite the day. I think the upcoming STLS "Satan" topic is making life difficult for me. Not to sound too dramatic, but I think that this is what spiritual war feels like. Yesterday I felt physically heavy...waves of fear coming over me at times that literally made me nauseous...tears and frustration for no apparent reason. I wasn't ready for it! But I've been working on putting on my armor this morning.

Bottom line? Satan is real. He's at work. And one of his favorite tricks is to make us believe that he's a fairytale. If we ignore him, we can't very well fight against him, now can we? Let's do some study, folks. Let's learn about him, let's seek the Lord about him, and let's shine some light on the SOB. He's the Prince of Darkness for a reason...he does his best work from the shadows.

I hope you'll join me this weekend to write about what you've learned about Satan, so we can all be educated and encouraged.

Well...I wasn't planning on writing about that today! Can you tell what's been on my mind? :)

To finish up, the grandparents are due for a baby video. Here you go...enjoy!

Just Call Me A *SUPERSTAR*!!

I'm a member at 5 Minutes For Mom, and they just published an interview with me! Kinda silly...but if you'd like to check it out, click the button above.

The clutsy, stumbling, fidgeting, goofball, "Mary Catherine" always cracks me up. She's my kind of SUPERSTAAAA :)

DANCE TIME!!!

I've mentioned before that we do lots of singing and dancing around here. Every time one of my kids hears music playing on the TV, they jump up and yell, "Mommy! Dance time!". I drop what I'm doing, and go dance with them. We like it loud. I grab the remote, crank up the volume, and we boogy around the living room. It's great fun :)

Well, today was no exception. Only it wasn't music on TV, it was on the computer. Clara found this great music on Playhouse Disney...click HERE and then click on "Do Your Own Dance" if you'd like to give it a listen. Consider yourself warned though...this song will be stuck in your brain for days!

To my point...

Thomas LOVES this song! When it gets going, that kid starts kicking and flailing his arms so violently that I can hardly hold him!

Sammy has lots of fun with it too. I love her pretty little dance and how she tries to sing along. Here are some clips:

Some Goodies For The Granparents

Greetings from our crazy house...just wanted to put up a video to show Yaya and Papa how our little Thomas is motoring around the house lately.

The video is a bit shaky, jumbled, and confused. It's called Reality around here. Enjoy :)

P.S. He's getting around so well, he surprises me sometimes. Yesterday as I was standing at the sink washing some dishes, he did his little scoot thing right over to me...and bit my ankle. No joke!

Spicy Soap

Some things should just be filed under, "No duh!" And so goes a conversation with a 2 year old...

Thomas, Our Happy Little Screecher

See?? He screeches...at everything. Hubby better go get some ear plugs!

P.S. Can't wait to see you, Yaya & Papa :)

A Little Slice Of Life At Our House

Thomas, My Little Sewing Helper

I was sewing some personalized pillowcases the other day, and Thomas was my little helper. It was such a nice day...just my little guy and me :) He was so sweet and fun, I just had to grab a little video:

I had my camera handy because I was taking step by step pictures for the pillowcase tutorial I'm working on for you. Keep an eye out for it!

PS. Don't forget to take 5 minutes and earn an easy $25!!

Something Tells Me He Doesn't Like It!

I Promised The Grandparents

I got scolded recently for not having more kids' pictures and videos. And here I thought you all were tired of seeing my amazing kiddos! Well, if you insist...

I realized that I haven't shared any of our traveling photos. Remember, we went to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago? It was such a nice little getaway from every day life. The travel was an... adventure... though. I wrote all about it. In case you didn't read about it (or you blocked it out of your memory like me), you can read about it HERE and HERE and my personal favorite, HERE.

Alright, here's the low-down on our trip:

We looked out the window, and Ben exclaimed "On TOP of the clouds?! It's like we're in Heaven!"

Well, my son...it's actually United Airlines. If you think this is Heaven...boy oh boy, are you in for a treat when you see the real thing!

But I can sorta see his point. It was really beautiful.

I didn't know about it until this past trip, but the dreaded Chicago airport actually has a nice little play area for kids...which is nice of them since you'll probably be there for oh, roughly eternity plus a day.

I love this picture. This is a great shot of Ben and Clara's backs...but look...look how they're standing exactly the same!

Here's Sammy at the play center. Notice the bright orange top we have her in? It's bright for a reason...so that we can keep an eye on her busy little body. She's two ya know.

I mean, really. Does it get any cuter than this?

Oh, my little man. Isn't he handsome?

We *Finally* made it to Wisconsin! One of the first days we were there, we went to my sister's newly remodeled home for a good old fashioned brat fry (bratwurst). Here you see my grandma on the right, sister in the middle, and then Tony and Samantha on the left. Tony is Megan's hubby...a great guy, who can, by the way, bowl a perfect game (or 6!)

See how we're all sorta sitting around looking at each other over our empty plates? You do that after a brat fry. You sorta sit there in a "my belly's gonna burst" type coma. There's nothing like a brat fry :)

Here's Uncle Tony reading to my little Samantha Ruth.

And here's my Grandma Ruth. She's my mom's mom, and will be turning 90 years old in a couple of months. I love this spunky little chick-a-dee :)

One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing my Grandma with Thomas for the first time. My Grandma had 6 kids of her own (my Mom is her baby).

"Lemme look at ya!"

"Look at those toes!"

One day we drove into Sheboygan (that word makes my friend, Becky, giggle hysterically) to go to THIS indoor water park. What a blast! Thomas got to wear swim trunks for the very first time....he loved the water.

Hey Becky...SHEBOYGAN!

SHEBOYGAN, SHEBOYGAN, SHEBOYGAN!!!

Here's Thomas playing with Papa (my Dad)

Me with Grandma and Thomas

My little Clara is such a snuggler. She soaks it up with Great Grandma....

And Yaya (my Mom)

Thomas needed a quick bath while we were there, and instead of filling up the big tub, I just washed him up in the kitchen sink. He enjoyed it :)

"Hey look! A finger! Must...try...to...chew..."

Before we knew it, it was time to head back home again. Here are Ben and Clara in the Minneapolis airport.

If you happened to be in a certain lady's room in the airport that day, you probably heard me cackling with laughter! Look! The walls of the stalls are plastic, and look what happened to Clara's hair the moment she walked in the stall! Leave it to me to have a camera with me in the bathroom...

Despite the humor found in the airport bathroom with Clara's hair, this was my favorite part of our trip. It was about 1 in the morning, and the kids and I were waiting for Daddy to get our luggage so we could head home. Clara was sitting in her booster on the airport floor, and Sammy was padding around in her jammies. She walked over to Clara, but her arm around her neck, gave her a squeeze, and said, "I wub you, sissy". Awww...

Ben was not impressed.

I just have one more thing to share...the video of my Grandma meeting Thomas for the first time. I love it because it's so...Grandma. Do you know what I mean? Some people just have a certain way of talking and being...Oh, I just want to always have this little memory of my Grandma tucked away in my mind and heart. I love how she says "schpeck" :)

I lied, I had two more things to say. Here's the second thing:

SHEBOYGAN!

(Do you think my beautifully pregnant friend Becky has peed her pants yet? If she's anything like I was when I was prego, she has ;) Love ya, Beck.)

He's Alive!

Thomas Has A New Favorite "Word"

...and it's "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"

Goodies For Grandparents

Thomas snuggled in bed with me this morning, and I caught him waking up on video. So sweet!

Your Love Is Extravagant

Speaking of great songs...here's the song I told you about in my 100th post. It's called "Your Love Is Extravagant" by Casting Crowns. Enjoy!

An Awesome Song

Hey, go check out Leigha's blog "Help Meet In The Making" today. She posted a video on there that just made my morning...such a great song!

Thanks for sharing, Leigha!

Sammy Songs

Are you sick of seeing my adorable kids on video yet? Sorry 'bout that. Part of the reason I like to keep this blog is because I want to preserve some memories. Videos go a long way in doing that...so you're stuck with them!

Sammy was cracking me up this morning. She's learned a new song in Sunday school, and she sings it.

All. The. Time.

She was in her jammies first thing this morning, and was watching cartoons. AND she was on a continual loop of the same song. The words are: