“Uh-oh!” Daniel’s little voice called. Maria asked him what was the matter, and he proceeded to point at himself, and then at the television remote in his hands. (The remote being both one of the most coveted and the most forbidden articles in the house, surpassed only by the phone.)
The past week the temperatures emerged from below zero and today it soared up to fifty degrees. It has been a lovely break from winter and a nice head start on melting away the snow. Since it was so lovely, we figured the wildlife would be enjoying the spring-like weather as well, and we headed out to the Outdoor Campus to watch and draw some birds visiting their feeders. As we expected, there was a huge number of birds fluttering around the feeders, including sparrows, chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, mallards, and even a cardinal! Everyone had fun drawing the birds, though they were frustrated that they wouldn’t stand still, and I got in a few good pictures.
Downy Woodpecker (Female)
Quack, Quack!
Joseph (on a Sunday): Alex, you know tomorrow going to be a school-day. It goes: Schoolday, Schoolday, Schoolday, Schoolday, Schoolday, then Videogameday.
It’s snowing. Again. Winter was fun at first, especially with the ice skates I got for Christmas, but now it is beginning to drag. I have found, however, that a nice, hot cup of tea really helps to warm up the whole day. Apparently the rest of the family thinks so, too, because no sooner than had I made a cup a few days ago than everyone decided they needed to have some as well. Even Daniel was in on it, saying ‘tea’ in sign language over and over again until we got him his very own cup.
Daniel signing "Tea".
The trip went smoothly, and now I have my birds! The male is on the perch and the female on the side.(You tell them apart by the red feather on the male’s chest, and the female’s more streamlined appearance.) The female says some words, including hi, hello, watcha do’in, come here, uh-oh, whoops, and meow, along with an assortment of beeps and whistles. Uh-oh and whoops are even on cue, such as when she drops a seed to the floor of the cage! I want to go look at them all the time, but I am forcing myself to spend only short times in their room so they can be comfortable enough to breed for me.
In the last week of December I sold my last baby sun conure. I was both sad and excited to see him go, since now that I no longer have any baby suns, I can now get into breeding a larger kind of bird. Tomorrow Dad, Maria, Landon, and I are going to Minneapolis to pick up a breeding pair of African Greys, the best talking parrot breed of all. I’m chomping at the bit to leave, and I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight from excitement.
If you give a baby a gingerbread cookie, he will ask for another one.
If you give him another cookie, he will hand it to you and pull you over to the nearest chair to sit and eat it with him.
If you sit next to him and begin to eat your cookie, you will become thirsty and want a cup of tea.
If you get yourself a cup of tea, the baby will see the tea cup and then promptly tell you in sign language he wants a drink. By the time the baby has finished with his drink, your tea will be done, and you will bring it over to the table and dip your cookie into it.
If you dip your cookie into your tea, the baby will want to copy you with his own cookie, and say tea in sign language.
If you let the baby climb on your lap and dip his cookie into your tea, he will then try to take a sip of your tea, but you warn him it is too hot.
If the baby is told the tea is too hot, he will bring you a spoon so that you may give him a small spoonful of tea in the spoon after blowing on it. He will want more and more spoonfuls of tea, until you begin to get frustrated that you can’t even have a cup of tea in peace.
But then the baby will look up at you and give a beautiful smile, and you will melt and let him take as many spoons of tea as he wants.
Joseph (Just after getting home from shopping with Mom): “We got a present for Sarah, and we can’t tell!”
Johnathan: “What is it?”
Me: “Nooooo!”
Alexander (trying to get onto the computer): “Mom, how do you spell Boba Fett? That’s the password on my settings.”
Mom: “I think it’s B-O-B-A F-E-T-T.”
Alexander: “But I tried that already and it didn’t work.”
Johnathan (who had been standing nearby the entire time): “Alexander, I know how to spell Boba Fett.”
Alexander: “Hey, how do you know my password?”
“Happy new year!” Dad greeted me this morning. Advent has arrived, the first day of the liturgical year, the time to remember the waiting of Israelites for the coming of the Messiah, and prepare for Christmas. One of the ways I’m getting ready is by saying the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena, which I have heard of but never done before. Though its not technically a novena, it consists of saying this beautiful prayer 15 times a day from Nov 30, (St. Andrew’s day), until Christmas:
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [State your intention(s) here…] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
The table settings, with a hungry boy thinking that if he sits at the table supper will be done faster.
Pumpkin pie made a day ahead.
I made the main course and wanted to experiment a little with cornish hens.
The finished product. I made an orange glaze for on top of the hens, which received mixed reviews. Some of the family really didn’t like it, but I thought it was a nice change.
There was better feelings about this turkey I baked on Saturday after Thanksgiving. I brined it overnight and baked it breast down for 2/3 of the baking time, all the while babysitting it with a meat thermometer. It turned out to be the moistest turkey we had ever eaten!
A few days ago I received a thick packet in the mail and I opened it hastily. It was from the Universal Living Rosary Association, which has over 11 million members all praying a single decade of the rosary daily. When I got the envelope open, I couldn’t find the card which had my assigned decade amidst all the pamphlets and holy cards of Saint Philomena, the patroness of the organization and also my confirmation saint. I found it eventually, however, and my decade is the Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven. If you would like to enroll and be assigned a decade, you can visit http://www.philomena.org/.
With less than a week to go before Thanksgiving, we at the Frederes house find ourselves extremely grateful for the completion of our basement. The last step in repairing the flood damage was the carpet that arrived this morning and is now installed in every part of the downstairs except my room, which has to wait till next week for more carpet to come in stock. After four months of a half finished lower level, it finally feels like a house downstairs.
I love the new color of the walls and our carpet, which is very, very soft and plush.
This is the color of the downstairs bathroom, which goes with a palm tree shower curtain we have.
The boys' room, which they are planning to decorate in a space theme.
Daniel is thrilled by being able to walk downstairs without fear of tack strips.
