Bullet Points and Pics: Third Week of March

And this post pretty much catches us up to where we are in the present.  I give you a last week.  

March 15-21

• This sunset was actually from March 14...oops.  Photo by Chris

• Did I mention Kolbe is everywhere?  Among other things (continue reading this post) he tried his hand at climbing stairs.  Kayla was his spotter.  He only got his hands up and standing on the first one (though as you can see from the last photo Kayla was trying to help him reach the second), so we aren't scared yet, but still...

 

• Kolbe took his first ride in the swing at the playground...like a pro (and his second too!)

 

 

        

•  Fun with the neighbors when the sun comes out!

• More of our daffodils bloomed.  (Chris plants and cares for them, otherwise they'd probably be dead.  I'm not much of a green thumb, though I aspire to be).  Also our landlords had the house re-painted.  The new color is much better in my opinion.  :)

• Megan led our mom's/Blessed is She group in an Ignatian scripture reading exercise.  It was wonderful. 

• Kolbe is (in the week I'm blogging about) about a week and half away from being 7 months! As predicted he's crawling.  Everywhere.  The video shows a tad.  He's everywhere and interested in everything.  Also in putting it all in his mouth.  And he can go from crawling to sitting up and back again on his own.  Big month for this officially mobile little man. 

        

     

• prayer journaling has been such a great Lenten practice.  Not that I keep up with it and don't miss days ever....

• park play dates because the weather was awesome.  The video is a game the girls made up to play on the huge spider web at a nearby park.  "Freeze tag". 

 

            

• St. Patrick's Day!  

• We helped form a men's and women's group in January.  The guys meet once a month and are beginning a Bible study on the Eucharist (I think!) and the girls meet and are going through The Wild Goose Series (on the Holy Spirit).  We switch houses and it's just a neat time with other Catholic guys and gals.  We decided to get our families together for a Friday meatless soup dinner and it was so fun.  

• We are also part of a Families of Bethany group.  We meet as couples once a month and a priest from the parish joins us and we discuss the following Sunday's gospel in depth and discuss marriage and family and faith.  We invited those families over on (the day after) St. Patrick's Day for a party.  There were coloring sheets, friendships bead bracelets, yummy food, great company, and Irish car bombs!

(group car bomb pics by Danielle{'s phone})

• A friend's birthday party! There was face painting and balloon fun!

• Family of Bethany meeting for March.  Kolbe had a blast playing with Fr. Javier (who baptized him)

• Reading outside together

A busy, but very fun, week!

7 Quicktakes Friday- Any Part of May that I Didn't Cover in Another Post....

.....plus the these first few days of June......

1. Reading

We read a lot around here.  Kayla's reading chapter books.  Currently I am reading a St. Martin de Porres chapter book aloud to the girls.  Chris and I are reading The Imitation of Christ together.  Chris is reading a World War II novel by Jeff Shaara.  You've seen my book list so have an idea of what else I'm reading.  And we go to the library at least once a week to find new titles for the girls to devour.  

You better believe we are stoked to jump on board with the summer reading program at the library in a week or so!!

2.  Sophie Can Use a Spoon...

...mostly properly.  She looked like she could be ready the last couple weeks, so I let her try.  And she's pretty darn good at it.  Not much mess for mom to clean up.  WIN with that accidental perfect timing for "spoon training". 

                            

Yeah, yeah.  The video doesn't show her greatest work.  But you she's got form and she does actually get more on the spoon than this video shows.  She just doesn't perform as well under pressure, I guess.

 

3. Lilacs and Family Walks

I love lilacs.  We used to have wild bushes of them that grew in the empty lot behind our house growing up.  In addition, we had a bush or two that grew in our yard.  And I grew up in Spokane where lilacs are "the" thing.  There's a lilac parade and everything each year.  So....when I say I love lilacs, I mean it.  They bring back wonderful memories and their scent is delicious.  They grow well here in CO apparently, because lots of people have them.  I want a bush SO BAD, but we're renting, so I'm trying to be patient.  But I totally stop and unashamedly smell and admire any that I see on our evening family walks.  Give me all the lilacs!  Mmmmmm!

The girls picked up on my habits...

4. School is Out

Well technically according to the Charter School we go through, we have one more day (Monday), but Kayla has been done with most of her school books since the end of April/beginning of May, and we finished Math last week, so this week was our "fun week" of lots of extra hands-on experiments and projects and we're DONE!!  I officially graduated her from First Grade to Second Grade today.  To celebrate, we had a "field day" and went to a local park with a water feature and had a picnic afterwards.  Yay, Kayla!  We're proud of you, baby!

card games to promote math skills

Her second semester goal for school was to learn how to tie her shoes.  We only ever use shoes with shoelaces when we hike, so it hasn't been much of a priority, but she made it her goal, and she conquered it.  

Making a stethoscope to hear our heartbeats!

Elise is interested in school too (just in time to start Kindergarten in the fall) and is making leaps and bounds in copying her letters.  

5. Exploring Local Parks and Meeting New Friends

In the last few weeks, we have visited several different parks in our area and set up a few playdates.  I'm part of a Denver Catholic moms group as well as the Blessed Is She group where I've been able to connect with many other moms locally.  Can't wait to meet up with more, but here's a few pictures I snagged of the girls exploring some fun new parks.  

 

                         

 


6.  Sophie at Bat

One of Sophie's many favorite outdoor activities recently is "playing" Tee-ball.  It's cute. 

                           

 I snagged this for free on Craigslist to keep her a from running out in the street constantly while her sisters ride bikes.  She plays for awhile before she wants out so she can ride her little bike and then play tee ball and eventually play her little game of "Make Mom and Dad Chase Her Out into the Street".   I daresay I would have paid $15 or $20 to get the thing just to keep from having to constantly haul the preggo self into the street when she makes a run for it.  Oh, this age.  They are so mischievous.  

7. Flower/Herb Garden

I can't get my lilacs yet, but we did do some planting of a little flower and veggie and herb garden.  The girls were thrilled to help pick out flowers and veggies to grow in our little plots.  

 

Kayla wanted to buy some of those little fawn statues for the girls desperately.  Sorry, sweetie....they are cute, though.   There was also a doe that she wanted to get for me....

 

Elise really wanted to buy that moose for Chris.  Deer for all the girls, and a HUGE moose for Dad.  Lol.