The first!

Not a moment he enjoyed. The other children were excited for him, but, their excitement did not encourage his own. It happened none the less.



Lawrence lost his first tooth.




I did get him to give me a "cheesy" smile though. And it did help to wake up to the dollar the tooth fairy left for him!

Science at it's finest!!

Be forwarned!! This post is not for the sqeemish or faint of heart!!

Today we had a "biology lab". It proved to be very interesting and, hopefully, somewhat informative. We had the great opportunity to dissect a hog eye, tongue, and heart!! I must say, the boys did enjoy it much more so than the girls!

My birthday.

Today marked another year passing and another year beginning. It was a hard day, but good day. It started with breakfast in bed made by my daughter, a few of the kids worked together to make a birthday cake, and played (and lost) at cards game with another daughter. My rosary arrived. Then this evening we were invited to some dear friends' home for dinner, cake and ice cream. You can see some of the fun here.(Thanks Meredith, Paul, and family. We love you all!)
We ended the evening with a family movie and four of the five kids camping out in my room.

As I said before... it was a good day!

A cherished treasure!

Back in May I had talked to Paul about wanting a "Mother's Rosary". I wanted all of our birthstones to be represented in the beads of the rosary. Paul's for the Our Father beads, mine for the first three Hail Mary's, and our 10 children (5 that we were blessed to know here on earth and 5 that now grace us in Heaven) would be represented on the beads through each decade. Paul had given me the go ahead to order one; unfortunately, he died before I could even finalize the plans for it.

However, it arrived today... on my birthday, no less. And it is BEAUTIFUL. A cherished symbol of the faith Paul and I shared and the family we created together.


All I can say is, Jennifer... you did a wonderful job. It is so much more than I could have hoped for. Thank-you!
(You can see more of Jennifer's work at Miracoli Beads.)