Cute photo session

As you can see from our new Blog photo at the top...our photo session on Thursday with the kids turned out great. All 6 kids were in a good mood and every photo turned out adorable. We actually had a fun time at the photo shoot.
Enjoy the photos!

Updates...

Elliot is 4 1/2 months old now. I forgot to post a 4 month posting, so here are some recent photos of Mr. Chubby. He is already 20 lbs and is the happiest, cutest, cuddliest baby ever (no, I am not too bias, am I?). We started him using the "Johnny Jump Up", which he seems to like, as well as his fun red ladybug play center. It's been fun to be able to put him in different things, besides just his bouncy chair...or my arms.

Tomorrow I am taking all 6 kids to get professional photos taken together. So, hopefully that will all go well and they will all be in good moods...we'll see.

Jeremy is very busy with football, and really has only another 3 weeks left. Here are some cute photos of him in uniform.



We still are fostering Albert, the beagle. This has been our longest foster dog yet...about 3 months now. As with all the dogs who come here, he seems to fit right in here in "Beagle Heaven".


Isaiah with his beloved Lola. He is doing a Dog Training class with her this fall, and enjoying that.

Fall classes and updates

We are back into the full swing of homeschooling this Fall. We are in our 3rd week of our Homeschool Co-op, which meets every Tuesday from 10am-3pm. During that time, the kids all have classes they attend, which are usually taught by the other homeschooling mothers (and a few fathers). Actually, my dad is teaching an Algebra course at the Homeschool Co-op this year! Since he is now officially retired from St. Ignatius high school, he is giving a lot of his time to teaching homeschoolers on a part time basis. He is also teaching a Pre-Algebra class at his home on Mondays and Wednesdays, which Isaiah is doing. I've never seen Isaiah so excited about math as well! I think he likes having Grandpaa teach him.

The girls both opted to do separate classes this fall. Kateri is doing Gymnastics classes on Wed and Luanna is doing Dance classes on wed. It is a little more work for Mommy to get them to different facilities at different times, but it is nice to see Luanna becoming her own person for once. She loves to copy everything Kateri does. It often drives all of us nuts, esp poor Kateri, who gets really annoyed at being copied all the time. I am hoping Luanna starts exerting more of her personality now that she is getting a little older and talking a lot more as well. Even Luanna's dance teachers told me they are noticing a huge change in her this year, without Kateri being there. They say she is talking a lot in class and doing things at her own pace, which is great. Big sister is not there to tell her what to do, or to copy. Kateri loves gymnastics and she is really good at it too. Oliver is actually also taking Gymnastics for his first time this fall, and is enjoying it, although Oliver pretty much enjoys everything.

Jeremy is in the full swing of Football season. His team is not doing so great with the games though...at a record of 0-3, but maybe this weekend they'll get their first win. He has 2 hour practices 3 nights a week, so he is very physically fit this fall.

Isaiah is taking a Dog Training class with Lola. I am going with him to monitor and help in case he needs it. But, he is doing fine and has not needed my assistance. So, I just sit back and watch. He really loves his dog Lola and wants to get her to the point of passing the CGC (Canine Good Citizen test) so that maybe she can go on to become a Therapy Dog. It would be a great thing for both of them.

So, with all these classes and being homeschoolers...when are we actually home? That is the difficult question. I try to squeeze in homeschooling whenever I can. Lately it has also been at night, when Ken is around to help watch Elliot, while I can sit with the boys and read History or do English grammar. The girls are also asking to do school as well, which we can all help them with.

Elliot is 4 1/2 months old now. He is my little love. Wait...did I say little? He is a huge kid, weighing almost 20 lbs now! He is still exclusively nursing and I'd like to wait to get him on to solids until at least 6 months. The nursing is just so good and healthy for him, and he is just soooo happy with that. He is lovely, and always full of smiles and laughs for Mommmy, so he gets constant kisses and hugs.

Little Actors

My kids LOVE to have sleepovers at their Grandparents house, esp since my younger siblings (their teenage aunts and uncle) still live there and provide LOTS of entertainment for them. Over the summer, Isaiah started doing these cute little "movies" with his brothers and sisters, using my video camera. We all found them very fun to watch. Well, a few weeks ago, all 5 kids slept over my parents house and Aunt Mandy and Uncle Brian, along with some of their friends, helped the kids plan and act in this little movie. Thank you to Matches for the great editing and getting this up on YouTube. Enjoy my little actors in BUM Productions, The Ring!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxWLhjC-QCs&feature=user

The last Summer flings....

This week, we spent 2 days at the beach! On Tuesday, we met with other area homeschoolers to enjoy the annual "Not back to school beach party". There had to be over 200 area homeschool kids there and the weather was great. The kids had so much fun, that my friend, Patty, and I decided to take the kids back to the same beach on Thursday (Fairport Harbor). We are trying to enjoy every last ounce of summer fun before the weather changes cooler.

I had planned on starting back on homeschooling this week...which we did, however, we are starting back sloooowly. We probably did more homeschooling this morning than all week. Rainy days are great for that!

Enjoy our beach photos!

On his way to Rome....

My brother, Vince, who visited us for 3 weeks recently, went back to California last week. Today, he is on his way to Rome to study near the Vatican for the next 4 years. Vince is a Norbertine monk in California. Like the Franciscan monks, they wear long robes, but not brown...they wear white. Sometimes he will also wear a regular black priest suit and white collar, but normally he wears the white gown.

Vince, who is now known as Fr. Alan in his community, will always be my goofy, little brother...Vince or Vinnie as we call him.

Anyways, our thoughts and prayers are with Vinnie today as he travels to Rome on his long mission. Peace!

Luanna's 4th Birthday!

Monday, August 18th was Luanna's 4th birthday. We had a wonderful day with her. My brother, Vince, from California, has been in town for the past 3 weeks visiting us. Lots of our family joined us in going to the Cleveland Zoo on her birthday. Luanna loved seeing the giraffes, and we saw the new baby giraffe, just born on August 10th. That night, we had a birthday celebration for Lu at our house with chocolate cake and soy ice cream.

Luanna loved all her gifts, with some of her favorites being: a Dora umbrella, Polly Pockets, Lulu books and a pink dress.