Star Student

I had to get a shot of our last snow fall. It was beautiful outside, so the kids made a mini snow man. It was so warm that his "face fell off" as Joe lamented.


The split second before daddy got nailed with a snowball.


Patrick was the "star student" for the week in his class. He gets to fill out a poster about himself, be the line-leader, and bring a treat on the last day. But, the best part for Patrick was that he got to bring the big stuffed Curious George home with him the weekend before. Every night, he would dress him in jammies and tuck him into bed. He would also dress him every morning - down to his socks! Precious.


We had big plans to go to the St. Patrick's Day parade, bowling, etc, but the ear infections struck again, so we bummed around at home.


I thought you would enjoy these snowmen that the twins made in class. I thought they were so cute!

So, what's been going on lately? Well, we're all still a bit sick. After a trip to the ER last Thursday for Patrick's 105.6 fever, we learned that he had another ear infection. Then Joe had one a few days ago. And I still seem to have my sinus infection. It's been relentless - almost a full month. Luckily, no one is contagious, so, as long as they are feeling good, they go to school. This makes paying that tuition a little easier!

When I grow up...

Recently, on our drive home from school, Joe informed me that when he grew up, he wanted to be a "math teacher, a Chicago Bears fan, a mailman, and an ambweunce driver" Um, what? Patrick is the one that usually tells us he wants to be a mailman. The ambulance driver, I'm guessing, came from an admiration for his Uncle Michael (firefighter and EMT) and the desire to drive fast. The rest of it... well, your guess is as good as mine. Aunt Shannon is a math teacher, but I'm not sure he really knows that. And the Bears... ????

Luke talks about drawing houses and building, so Scott and I suggested he should think about being an archetect. That actually sounds fitting for our little "rules is rules" boy with a mind that can problem solve pretty well. Scott was explaining the concept of being an expert to the older boys. They each talked about what they were an expert at: Joe is an expert at Wii, Patrick is an expert at taking care of little doggies and Luke? Scott asked him. His reply, "Everything." Scott, "Everything?" Luke, "Yeah, I'm good at everything" (especially humility! ;))

Patrick saw a mailman getting out of his truck the other day and got all excited. We should have told the guy he had such an admirer. I'm sure the mailman isn't everyone's hero, but he gets Patrick's vote.

As for Andrew, well, who knows. He's so small and his little presonality is just coming out as he is able to express himself more. He's learning to be a jokester like Joe. Just the other day, he came up to me, out of the blue and said, "Knock Knock" to which I replied "who's there?" "Um, girblerible (something unintelligible)" This is where the joke breaks down, but he at least has the form right! We do call him "Deacon Drew" because at the dinner table when we announce that it's prayer time, he drops everything and reverently folds his chubby little hands. He tries to make the sign of the cross, but ends up with only one hand on the opposite shoulder. Good try! He's also so cute at bedtime prayers. When we say the "Our Father", he puts his hands out, like the priest does in Mass.

Speaking of Mass, Andrew and I go every Wednesday to Mass at our parish. There's something about a little one that gets people to open up. Every time, someone has stopped us to say hi and chat about their own kids growing up or other memories. Remember, most of the folks at daily Mass are retired. They always say how wonderful it is to see Andrew there. He's SO good at Mass when it's just him and mommy. Not so much on Sundays with all of the brothers there...

During Lent, we've been saying a decade of the rosary before bed with all of the kids. You can just imagine the mis-pronunciations and little pieties that keep Scott and me giggling (to ourselves, of course). The biggest problem is keeping the boys from fighting about who gets to go first. If we don't specify way ahead of time, there's some serious and unholy squabbling and anger.

Just overheard:
Patrick: "We're all going to die" (obviously quoting a movie)
Luke: "Pat, don't say that!"
Joseph: "Yeah, never say die!"

Olympics

To celebrate the Winter Olympics, Luke played Robin skiing - he even had opening gates for his down-hill runs.


Luke must have taught Andrew how to stick out his tongue.


Andrew was so anxious to see Daddy coming home from work, I found him clinging to the window sill and pushing up with his toes on the heat register. Future rock climber, anyone?


At first glance, this looks like one of the thousands of pictures the boys take when we leave the camera unattended. Their vantage point of toys, the couch, tables, etc. Upon further study, one may wonder how this little boy actually took this picture - both hands are shown in the photo. Hmmmmm......


And, finally, we've had a rather rough couple of weeks, starting a month ago when Andrew's ear drum ruptured. I didn't know there was such a thing as ear pus. But now I know. And how. Just add it to the list of nasty bodily fluids a mom finds on her shirt at the end of the day. After that first rupture, we had TWO more! Poor kid. Then some weirdo sickness invaded, and one kid at a time, save Joseph, has gotten ear infections and pink eye. It's just been so long and drawn out! So, this is a picture of one day of oral syringes in our dishwasher. Yes, that's eight. Four doses of Amoxicillin, two of Cefdinir and some random ones for Motrin. That's not including eye drops and ointments administered, either. Keeping track of all of this has been crazy. But... Spring is just around the corner!!!!!