My Favorite Board Books

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I love looking at these beautiful board books that feature paintings by famous artists with Daniel. Aside from being a lesson in art from the impressionist era, the pictures are quiet and relaxing. They are a nice change from the vivid red, yellow, blue and green pictures found in many baby books.

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My favorite is the book with paintings by Degas, who was an artist famous for his paintings of ballerinas. Our quiz bowl team wears matching shirts with a nickname for each person on the back, and my nickname is ‘DegasDancer.’

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My Grandma Becky read

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Look What was Munching . .

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In my carrot patch! I’ve wanted one of these guys for years, and I’ve planted several dill plants in the last few years hoping to catch one. (Dill is in the carrot family.) This year, Landon and Johnathan were digging up carrots and they found this beauty, which will turn into an impressive black swallowtail butterfly next spring. (He’ll overwinter in the fridge.)

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He has a pair of orange-ish horns that he sticks out when he’s mad. They make a pretty disgusting smell as a defense mechanism.

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“Oh, no, little teeny tiny caterpillar, I will not eat you. You are so scary with your eency-weency horns that smell bad. Even though I am a many, many times bigger than you are, you are very, very scary!”

Sneaky

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Joseph(proudly holding up a pull-up): I kept my pull-up dry last night.

Maria: You did? Good boy! You get a gummy bear!

Joseph: (with a rather mischievous smile) I wore two pull-ups, see? This one’s wet, and this one’s dry !

September

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The temperature high for today was 66, and as it was very breezy you couldn’t stay outside long without wanting a jacket. Tips of trees all around town are turning yellow, and one of our trees is starting to drop some leaves. It is sad to see the days of watermelon, swimming, and hot weather fade, but I do look forward to crisp weather, aromatic pies and apple cider.

St. Lawrence’s Tears

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J+M+J

Thursday night, Landon and I stepped outside, hoping to see a meteorite. Faint flashes of lightening from a far off storm played on the eastern horizon. It was after 12:00 on the peak night of the Perseids, one of the best meteor showers of the year, also known as St. Lawrence’s tears as it falls on or around the feast of St. Lawrence on August 10. After only a few minutes, we had seen one really good one. Mom and Maria joined us, and we stood out for almost forty minutes, and we saw over a dozen nice bright shooting stars, which is really good for being in the city with street lights all around.

Finally, it was nearing time to go in, and we all tried to tear ourselves away from the sky. There was a terrible feeling that just as you turned your back, another fascinating pinhead of light would dance across the dark night, and we would miss that triumphant feeling of having witnessed it. We did eventually make it inside, but  I just couldn’t take it any longer and I stepped outside until I saw just one more. Then I went to bed, knowing that outside my window the light show was still playing.

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Feast of Saint Philomena

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J+M+J

St. Philomena is my confirmation saint, so I was very happy to hear that our priest was having a special mass on her feast day, August 11, and that there would be a blessing with a first class relic (part of Philomena’s bone) and the oil that burns before her tomb afterwards. It was in a beautiful little church in the town of Salem about forty minutes away, and our whole family drove out for the mass.

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The altar is decked in red and gold in honor of Philomena's martyrdom.

The Carmelite nuns made this special Saint Philomena vestment.

The Carmelite nuns made this special Saint Philomena vestment.

Alexander with a holy card of Philomena.

Alexander with a holy card of Philomena.

After mass we were anointed with the oil, and then had a chance to kiss the relic. Alexander was a little confused when it was his turn to kiss the relic, and opened his mouth instead. I think he thought he was about to receive his First Holy Communion. Fortunately, Dad was next to him and he told Alex what he was supposed to do.

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The anointing with the oil. (Different than the anointing of the sick)

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Daniel waits for his turn.

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The end procession, with Landon at the front.

After Mass, I took a close up picture of the pretty statue of St. Philomena and her relic.

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Transformation

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J+M+J

We took the baby parrots to the nursing home again today, and they were just as big of a hit as last time. THey puffed up their heads to be petted, and everyone thought they were really beautiful. I still can’t believe that they came from those ugly little pink things I pulled out of the nest:

From this-

From this-

To this!

-to this!

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The Muffin Man

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J+M+J

Sunday after church, Alexander declared he was going to be a priest. When we asked Joseph if he was going to be a priest also, he responded, “No, I’m gonna be the muffin man, remember?”

“Do you like eating muffins, Joseph?” Dad asked.

“Yes, but I even more like making muffins,” he replied.

So, today I made lemon poppy seed muffins with the muffin man.

Tasting the batter

Tasting the batter

Rewards of Baking

Rewards of Baking

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Waiting impatiently

Waiting impatiently

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Making the lemon glaze.

Making the lemon glaze.

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