Library Haul -- August/September 2018

Just a few sweet books that we especially enjoyed in the last few months from our weekly library hauls.  I could literally share dozens and dozens each month, but you'd never get through the blog post then.  So here are the ones we liked BEST. 

Over in the Wetlands

A sweet rhyming book that tells all about life on the Bayou when a hurricane hits.  

Little Blue Truck

Kolbe loved this book where this kind blue truck picks up all kinds of fun passengers along the way. 

How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?

A sweet little bedtime book that gets you all the goodnight kisses your mama or daddy heart wants.  ;)

Henny, Penny, Lenny, Denny, and Mike.  

The kids adored this book and thought it was quite funny. 

All the Seasons of the Year

lovely book of poetry through the seasons with lovely pictures that my kiddos just loved looking at.  

Moo!

The only word in the book, as I recall, is MOO, but the illustrations and inflections are awesome.  The kids though this book was hilarious and were often to be found reading it to each other using the inflections and laughing.  

Llama Llama loves to Read

My kids really like the Llama Llama books and this was a new one we saw.  

Big Rig

Kolbe, especially, loved this book, but all the kids got a kick out of the book that followed a big rig around as it traveled along carrying it's cargo.  

Beatrix Potter and Her Paint Box

A sweet picture book about Beatrix Potter as a young girl.  

Happiness is.....

This book was just SO sweet.  Would be lovely to do a little lesson about what people, activities, and things bring joy to your life.  

The Fantastic Ferris Wheel

If you've ever wanted to learn more about the ferris wheel and the man who thought it up, this is an interesting read.  

20 Big Trucks: The Middle of the Street

This book was filled with trucks as one truck broke down and caused a traffic jam of trucks.  

Trucks Roll!

Another book about big rigs traveling the country with their loads.  

 

Click, Clack, QUACK to School!

This is such a fun series and this was one we'd never read before!  

Small Walt

The story of a brave little snow plow.  

Truck, Truck, GOOSE!

This was a little board book we found that the kids ALL loved.  They thought it was so funny and clever and they all loved reading it to Kolbe who got so excited about the trucks and the goose every single time.  

Kolbe's First Two Weeks- Random Tidbits

I must warn you that a good bit of this post involves bodily functions, so if poop and pee and things that like make you squirm, probably don't read this particular post.  

 

Just starting to open his eyes a bit more, but he is still working on focusing, so he looks pretty cross eyed or at best, VERY serious in most photos.  Lol. 

Are you ready for your random-ness?  

• I forgot to mention in his birth story (perhaps I should go back and add this bit), but our Little Man upon coming out of the womb (and in the process of being handed up to me) peed all over me.  Awww, there's nothing quite like getting that "It's a boy" announcement and then having him prove it.  Thanks, buddy.  

• Elise asks every day if he is a boy.  Umm...YEP.  He's still a boy.  

• Kolbe did NOT pee on me again at the hospital, but did pee all over himself (oops, I totally didn't see that he was doing it until he dribbled all overhimself) a time or two.  Sorry, buddy, I'm a total newbie at this whole little BOY thing.  

 

• When we arrived home, Kolbe gave me his best effort yet.  One night when I was changing him on the sofa, he began peeing.  I grabbed the new diaper and tried to cover him, but then he started pooping, so I grabbed a wipe to help with that situation.  The little guy literally kept peeing, then pooping, then peeing, then pooping and every time I tried to take care of one end of it, he'd start back with the other....the situation ended with me just sputtering some kind of "Help, babe, he just keeps going,", Chris laughing at me and not helping at all, and pee all over the sofa and Kolbe.  At least we prevented the poop mess.... 

• Kayla constantly wants to hold Kolbe.  No surprise there.  She was the same with Sophie.  Elise and Ava also want to hold Kolbe, but they need way more assistance and get super jealous when Kayla's turn is like twice as long.  So Kayla holds Kolbe a lot during nap time.  She gets her baby time and everyone else doesn't get so jealous.  

• The girls have taken up a new game--Ninjas--since Kolbe was born.  I'm not sure where they even came up with this, but I guess they are preparing some games that Kolbe might actually want to join in on since prior to his birth there was only ever "Dress up", "House", "Ballerinas", and "Gymnastics" games....

• A few days after we brought Kolbe home, I put Sophie to sleep for her nap in a dress.  I forgot to put a pair of pants or bloomers underneath (she is in this lovely "pull off her diaper" phase).  LUCKILY, though she did pull her diaper off immediately upon waking from her nap, there was only pee in it, so no mess for me to clean up in her bed.  Yay!   I got her out and (keep in mind, I'm not supposed to be carrying heavy things at this point) waved her after me down the stairs so we could get her a new diaper.  As I'm walking down the stairs, I get a call from one of my brothers-in-law.  I answer it, get distracted, and about 10 minutes later remember that Sophie is somewhere with no pants.  She had gone outside in the backyard, pooped on the deck, and was headed out the gate into the front yard where her sisters were chatting with our next door neighbor.  I ran (oops, I'm not supposed to be doing that yet either!) out the front door, snatched her up, and somehow avoided what definitely could have been a much worse situation there.  Still gross though.  

 

• I ventured out to the mom's group at our parish this morning.  I left a pitiful Sophie crying after me in the nursery.  As I walked to drop the other girls off at their child care in the next room, I could barely keep from crying myself.  I hate leaving my kids crying...  The older three were much easier to drop off and they apparently got to go over to the church and pray a rosary and learn all about Mother Teresa today.  Awesomesauce.  When I went to change Kolbe's diaper mid way through the meeting, he peed all over himself and his outfit (seriously, I am such a newbie to this whole boy mom thing).  The good news is that though Sophie did have an off and on morning in the nursery, the ladies said she did a good job and when I went to pick her up she was not crying and I got some super huge hugs.  I guess she loves me.  

• Kolbe's "due date" is approaching in just two days.  It's so strange to think we could have still easily been waiting to meet him at this point.  Instead we're up and about, transitioning to life with 5 kiddos, and his due date no longer means anything because he's here.  

• At 1 week and 2 days old, Kolbe rolled over from his tummy to his back.  I kid you not.  I'm still crying over here because WHY can't my babies ever just be content to be BABIES for a bit longer??  Way too soon, buddy.  Mama needs only the sweet snuggles and cuddles you've been giving her.  None of this rolling stuff.  And it happened twice...so not a fluke.  Eeek. 

• We have been blessed by some wonderful and generous family and friends (and even strangers- gals from mom's group whom I don't even know who signed up to bring us a meal anyway).  We have had a few delicious meals delivered here, and Kolbe has been the recipient of a few packages with some cute little guy prints since all we've got around here is frills and ruffles.  Two of my friends brought me flowers and I have been getting regular texts from family/friends asking how we're doing and making sure that things are going well as we transition.  I can't tell you all how much the prayers, thoughts, cards, texts, gifts, and meals have meant to us, especially being so new to the area and feeling a little more isolated than usual when a baby comes along.  THANK YOU, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  

My Sunday Best- Father's Day fun!

A blessed and joyous Father's Day to you all especially all the dads out there: my dad, my father-in-law, my amazing husband, godfathers, spiritual fathers, adoptive fathers, priests, and any other father figures out there.  You are incredible and your job is SO vital.  

I saw this quote by Pope Francis earlier and got all heart-eyed emoji.  

"To be a good father, the first requirement is to be present in the family.  To be close to his wife, to share in everything, joy and pain, burdens and hopes.  And to be close to the children as they grow; when they play and when they make efforts, when they are carefree and when they are distressed, when they dare and when they are afraid, when they make missteps, and when they return to the right path.  A father must always be present, but being present is not the same as being controlling.  Fathers who seek to control end up stifling their children; they do not let them grow." 

Our fashionistas with their dad

I'll give you the quick run-down of #mysundaybest plus a quick recap of our fairly quiet Father's Day.  

 

Last month, I won a giveaway with Pink Blush Maternity, so I bought a few new items for my maternity (and after) closet.  The only downside is that they are online so no trying things on.  The first couple things I ordered didn't fit right, but this maxi dress arrived and fit great, and all my girls were oohing and ahhing about "how pretty, Mommy!" and all that jazz and similar adjectives. 

My Sunday Best:

Navy and white striped maxi dress: Pink Blush Maternity

Brown belt: Goodwill

Brown cardi: Ross

Fav flip flops: Sanuks

Necklace: a lovely medal of our Lady and baby Jesus with my wedding rings (because some days, especially these warm ones, they don't fit on my fingers so easy...)

Earrings: Premier Designs

Baby bump: 28 weeks + a few days

And now onto our Father's Day celebrations.  We started our day with Mass, of course.  After Mass was a brunch with sausage, bacon, eggs, and raspberry muffins.  Naps followed for small ones, and Daddy got some time to read his latest Jeff Shaara war novel.  Kayla and I worked on a yummy chocolate/raspbery cheesecake.  I used this recipe and this recipe and kinda combined them plus substituted gluten-free chocolate grahams so that I could enjoy the treat too.  

It was delicious in case you were wondering. 

The girls made Chris tons of pictures and cards and we made him a special painted canvas using an amazing St. John Paul II quote.  

And we completed our annual Father's Day "survey" for each girl (who can talk).  It's so fun (and funny) to read their answers each year.  

 

 

Dinner was a recipe that I've had in my allrecipes.com box for years and Chris always enjoys: Savory Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Plum Glaze with potatoes, cornbread, and some grapes.  

Happy Father's Day!

And don't forget to link-up with #mysundaybest (use that hashtag on Instagram) or link up with Rosie at A Blog For My Mom and share your lovely Sunday style this week.  

Top 8 Moments of Christmas Day 2015

I took the remaining part of Advent and most of Christmas season off (to follow the advice in my lovely Advent print above and "pause in silence to understand a presence") after posting our Christmas Video Interview, but Epiphany seemed like a nice evening to finally get our Christmas Day post up.  

Top 8 Moments

of 

Christmas Day

2015

(in order of appearance)

yet another Christmas outtake

1. Magic Christmas lights!

I'm not sure how everything works at your house, but at ours, if you sing to the Christmas tree the lights turn on with the help of special Christmas magic.  It was especially magical on Christmas Eve as the girls sang "O Christmas Tree" to Monty (our Monterey Pine tree) and the lights twinkled and sparkled from a few moments after their little voices began all the way through the night and all day Christmas.  There's just something about Christmas lights that makes Christmas that much more special especially when they turn on by themselves!

2. The Christmas story and Nativity decade

To begin our morning, we all gathered in our big, comfy bed to read the Christmas story together.  I'm sure that's a tradition that many adhere to, as it's something that both of our families did growing up, and we continue to do with our little family of 6.  This year, Kayla asked for something extra though--perhaps a new tradition for our family of Bissonnettes.  She wanted to pray a decade of the Rosary and I'm sure you can guess which mystery (The Nativity-duh!).  It was really beautiful to hear Chris read the Christmas story and then pray together as a family to start our Christmas, and we were both proud of Kayla for her very appropriate suggestion/new tradition!

(time to head downstairs....picture by Chris)

3. Nativity scene with baby Jesus!

Each year, Santa places baby Jesus in the manger, and each year the girls run first thing (before looking at presents or stockings) to the Nativity set to see if baby Jesus is there.  He was, and I added a few more friends to our scene.  Kayla was thrilled to see that "Mom, my horses are here to see baby Jesus too!"

 

(visiting the Nativity scene pictures by Chris)

We also lit a candle to remind us to pray for a dear family friend, Becky, who was in labor and who had a sweet little baby girl on Christmas Day. 

4. Christmas Gifts

The girls were thrilled to come down the stairs and find all sorts of wonderful surprises left by St. Nick.  They had asked for a train table, but we told them it was unlikely that Santa could bring one because our place isn't big enough for one.  However, that ol' rascal, St. Nick, figured out a way to still make their wish come true in the form of a smaller train set that they could use on the floor.  They were impressed with his ingenuity.

 

(train set pictures by Chris)

In addition, he brought some incredible books which the girls pored over and a set of magnet dolls which were a HUGE hit.

This Usborne Swan Lake book was only ONE of the amazing books received and already beloved. 

In our stockings, each of us found a Disney or Pixar movie (can you say family movie nights?) and a juicy orange (this was especially exciting to Elise, who noted that it was 'just like the Sweet Smell of Christmas book, Mom!'

 

(Orange Pictures by Chris)

The girls also found snow hats which thrilled them beyond belief.  The hats were pretty much worn all day when we weren't at Mass.

 

(excited hat pictures by Chris)

they are ridiculous

completely ridiculous

What is different about this picture?  

(isn't that CRAZY?!!)

This was a gift I found for Chris.  Perfect, right?

5. Kayla's Christmas gifts

I think we all agree that Kayla's gifts were the sweetest part of our Christmas.  For weeks leading up to Christmas, she holed herself up in various corners of the house working on gifts for everyone.  She even asked to use the wrapping paper and tape and wrapped all her gifts too.  And though they were essentially scraps of paper, sweet doodles and carefully drawn pictures with little personal notes, they were everyone's favorite because they came with the most love.  She was SO excited to explain all the little parts of each gift to everyone and her notes were so sweet.  My heart is so full.  What a sweetheart.  

Here she is explaining everything about Daddy's card. 

6. Christmas Mass

Next we headed to a beautiful Mass in our Christmas finery (see #7).  It was a lovely service with marvelous music by the choir and chamber orchestra.  There were several Handel pieces including one of my favorites, The Hallelujah Chorus, which was the recessional song at our wedding as well.  It was truly beautiful to celebrate and pray at such a wonderful Christmas Mass together.  

7. Christmas dresses

And we even got proof that the girls actually wore their matching dresses, sweaters, and headbands.  A few quick pictures were taken as before we left.  Several of them were typical, but in one we got everyone to smile....except Elise, who claimed (loudly) that she really needed to go potty. 

so close!

8. Lamb dinner

Last item of note from our very quiet, very peaceful (I'm actually being serious) Christmas was our very first ever try at cooking lamb.  We've had lamb, but never cooked it ourselves, so we decided that a special Christmas dinner was the perfect time to try out something new and exciting.  Thanks to my incredible husband who did pretty much all the work (except a little prepping by me on some of the dinner sides), we enjoyed a delicious meal.  

Just sharing our Christmas card collection from this year.  Definitely one of my favorite parts of the season is hearing from dear friends and family and getting to paint my house with their pictures and cards.  :)

And since that is a bit of a slow note to end on, why not share an embarrassing Elise story?  During Christmas Mass, she looked at my mid-section in carefully selected Christmas outfit, and whispered, "Mom, do you have a baby in there?"  She speaks her mind, much to the embarrassment of her mother.  There is nothing like your kid accusing you of harboring a little extra pooch in the middle to make you feel like hopping back on the P90X train....sheesh!