The Big Picture Archives | Page 18 of 45 |

{O}’s (much discouraged) Haircut | Before & After

June 24, 2010 By Laura 16 Comments

Big haircut in the house!

I have been talking for 2 weeks, about getting my hair cut again, because it’s driving me crazy. This morning I mentioned out loud to Michael, how I’d really like to go get it done today. But he said, “Me and the boys all need them too, anyway.” We are rather spoiled, because our hairdresser, Janine, comes right to us, and cuts anyone who needs it. SO convenient. Sometimes I go to her, for a highlight, a dye job, or a big-deal-cut for me. But generally, she comes to us. So Michael called her as he always does (her number has always been in his cell phone), and she said she would come tonight! She most always comes within a day or 2. Got to love that!

Well that’s when {O} said she wanted to get hers cut short. And then, that’s when the household went into a state of tissy, and great debate.

For some reason, her triplet brothers and big sister really, did NOT want her to get her hair cut that much. Even her Daddy has scowled at the mention of it, many times. I on the other hand, love it long on her, but feel like if she really wants to get it cut, she should be able to. My only concern, is to be sure, she is sure.

Well trust me…..she was discouraged, BEGGED, and someone even attempted to bribe her, all-day-long, not to get it cut, by her siblings. But she stood strong, and never wavered, right to the end. She was so excited. She was sure. It wasn’t necessarily about donating. She just wanted it cut. She’s all about style and fashion anyway. She’s a girl like that.

Even Janine made a little disappointed expression, when she came and we told her. Although she is DYING to BUZZ the boys hair!! She has been waiting to do that. I do believe she will be waiting, forever, on that one. I love my long haired boys, and thankfully, they love it long too. {S} always wants it long enough for a ponytail. lol

So Janine first cut {S}, then {JM}, then me, then Michael, and THEN {O}. Janine asked how how much, and {O} said “to here“, and showed her shoulder level!

But Janine started cutting lower, and I could already tell it looked pretty cute at that length. When Janine did all the way around, {O} went and checked it out to see if she should go shorter, but she came back out squealing, “I LOVE it!”
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BEFORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AFTER

It really did look pretty cute! I think it was only about 8 inches taken off. Nowhere near the 17 inches her sister cut off last year! But for {O}, and her size, it was a lot. More than she had ever gotten cut at once before, anyway.
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She had her photo taken with Janine, just like {A} did last year.
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Her triplet brothers and sister decided it wasn’t so bad after all, and they would be o.k. Daddy also loves it.

I think my little girl is a doll, with her long or short hair. She’s even cuter today though, because of how giddy-happy she is with her new shorter haircut. But what I really love about her , is that she already has such a strong sense of self-confidence. She knows who she is, and what she wants, (as much as a 7-point-10 year old can) and while she will listen and consider, she is not shaken by the opinions of those around her.

She follows her own heart, and the beat of her own drummer. I think that’s going to take her somewhere in life.
No matter what her hair looks like.

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A Dragonfly Wonder | Homeschooling | Nature Study

June 18, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

It’s Friday afternoon, and a beautiful summer-like day. I was doing some stuff around the house, with all of the windows open, and the kids were all playing outside, when I hear {JM}, “WOW! I just found a really BIG dragonfly! Guys, come look!”. I was chuckling at how loud he was yelling, with such enthusiasm, and wondered if the whole town might come running. I slipped on my flip-flops, sauntered out there, and saw Michael was already at the site of said-dragonfly. He said to me as I headed over, “You didn’t bring your camera?” My plan was to judge for myself, if it was camera-worthy. ; )

I took one glance, and…..Yup! It was!! I went and got the camera, hoping it wouldn’t fly away before I got back.

{JM} found it on the tree, just like this…..

It looked like it had no intention of moving, any time soon. It was huge. But I knew you wouldn’t be able to tell the scale of it, in a photo of it, on a tree.

So Michael put his big man-hand beside it….

It was 6 inches, easy, head to tail.

After I got those shots, Michael was dying to get it on his hand. He managed to very gently….

Just LOOK at the size of that thing!! It did flutter it’s wings momentarily, and it honestly sounded like a bird’s wings flapping.

Maybe it’s common, but we’ve never seen anything like it, in our lives. Have any of you New England folks ever seen one like this? Do they grow this big in other states?

If you know what kind it is, or even have a guess, please let us know!

We’ve been trying to research it, and figure out what the species is. But I haven’t yet been able to find a photo that matches it. We’d love to learn more about it.

Is it possible to have a ‘dragonfly hive’ in your yard, like some have bee hives?

THAT would be so cool, huh?

One thing is for sure: God’s work never ceases to amaze us.

BTW, yes, Michael has been painting, among 100 other projects we’ll be sharing with you soon enough.

Thanks for dropping by, and sharing in our marveling at the wonders of nature!

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Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad…| Triplets’ First Holy Communion Day

May 15, 2010 By Laura 3 Comments

The triplets’ First Holy Communion Day, was so special.
This day, that they have waited for for so long, finally arrived! I promise, this is the last of the First Holy Communion posts – along with the Simple Lunch Spread for a Celebration Gathering post up right now. We’re hoping someone, somewhere, is still interested, while we indulge in posting about this happy occasion one more time.

Anyway, I wasn’t going to take photos of them actually receiving for the first time, because it just didn’t seem right. But….the other parents were told it was alright, as long as the photos were taken from their seats. So, I decided to do so too, not wanting to regret passing up the opportunity! Even though my angle was awful! All of the other children receiving their Sacrament this day, sat at the end of a pew for their family, and simply stepped out of their pew to receive this first time. But ours stepped out of our pew, and across the whole aisle in a line up, across the back of the 2 lines of kids. (Hope you followed that.) Anyway…..the Mass was really nice, as always, and the kids did great! They were so excited prior to…..then after, so happy and just….beaming. Trust me when I say, they fully understood/understand the significance of this event, and every Mass from here on out.

Some of our family and friends were there at the Mass with us. Some traveled quite a ways, to celebrate this day with us, and it meant a lot to all of us. {JM, O & S} brought up the gifts for the Mass, which was so sweet. They were really happy to do it.

Do you all know Fr. Bob Reed, from CatholicTV? ( Do your kids watch WOW!?) Well, we do, and love him. We were touched to learn that he had put in for presiding the Mass at which they would make this Holy Sacrament. He has become a great friend of ours. Yes, he is giving them rabbit ears in the first photo, still being silly in the second, and finally we get a serious shot in the third! He even has a secret handshake with them. He is, simply put, a really kind, funny, down-to-earth guy, and the work he does to evangelize our Catholic faith through by his vocation, through TV and otherwise, is nothing short of amazing!
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Following Mass, our family and friends came to our home for a continued celebration. Of course, we had decorated our little tree (a.k.a. a branch) for this special Sacrament occasion, and I loved what the kids did on our schooling chalkboard! We served our guests a light lunch, which I shared in the Recipes section.

Before we ate though, we took some more quick photos with the people who love them, and came to be with them on this day:

triplets-first-holy-communion-day-7 Left: The 6 of us. I love that this is small, and you cannot see how absolutely terrible & tired I looked! (Aren’t I clever?) I had been going non-stop for days, to be ready for this day. Can’t imagine how I would have survived, if I didn’t ‘keep it simple’! But I digress. {A} on the other hand, was an absolute doll! She had on the sweetest outfit, and beads! / Right: The trio with their Godparents, (one of my brothers and sister-in-law), the kids Uncle G and Auntie K. As blessed as our kids are with the Godparents they have, we wanted badly to be able to give them each their own set of Godparents. They are individual kids, not a unit, and deserve that like any other kids. But you know how complicated these things can be, and we just couldn’t at that time, give them their own. I feel compelled to say that, only because I do not want to give the impression that we see our triplets, as ONE, and not individual kids. Most know that, but I feel better SAYING it. (So thanks for letting me!) Their Godparents love them very much though, and vice-versa. They are also a wonderful aunt and uncle, and were gracious to accept all 3 as their Godchildren.

With their ‘Papa’, who often comes for overnights to spend time with them. And then with two uncles.

“It’s all…..for you.” lol.

WITH FR. (Bob) REED

Fr. Bob showed up, so I took the fruit cup in his hand away, and I made him have another photo. Even though, as he said, he didn’t have his priest attire on anymore. But he had PINK on!! I think it’s great when guys wear pink. Don’t you?

We were so done with photos by this point. And hungry. So we all went and ate. Well, I made sure everyone else ate, and tried to keep up with everything going on, and took bites in between!

Family and friends brought, and sent by mail, very thoughtful and unexpected gifts. We wanted to spend as much time with the people who came to celebrate with us, so the kids opened most of them later that night by ourselves. They received so many beautiful and special tokens of this day, that the kids truly already, treasure. They have always had a special fondness for their own religious items-and now they have so much more. The people in our lives are so kind and thoughtful.

The day just seemed to fly by, and I felt like I missed so much. I despise that feeling. I had planned this special day for the kids for so long, and I didn’t want to miss a moment. But I just couldn’t take it all in at once. We had several friends with us that day, that I wanted to get candid photos of, and never got to before they left: A family who good friends of ours, and some folks who have sat near us for so long and have become dear friends, who have watched the kids ‘sit like indians’ while we all went up to receive Communion, and have waited for this day too. It’s really bothering me, still. It’s one of those things…I want to go back and have another chance! I want the kids to have photos of everyone who was there with them that day. Despite my planning, I didn’t get this part done. I wanted to take LOTS of candids all day. But I was so busy with so many things, time got away, people eventually left, and then it was too late.

But to the kids….the day was truly perfect, and joyful. And I too, do have sweet moments of this day, burned into my memory. (But, I don’t have proof of it all in photos, darn it! lol). Sweet moments, like this one…..

….The boys, pushing their Aunt/Godmother on the swing. She, of course, was really being dramatic and making the most of it for their entertainment, and they were just loving it!! They were laughing so hard, and having so much fun. And so was she!! I truly just love the photo of her on the right.

THIS……Is Fr. Ken. The pastor of our church. You know, the one who’s AMAZING homilies I speak so much about?! We were so happy he came over to our house for awhile, too!! He came a little later on, after many had left (even Fr. Bob). But you know what…it was SO NICE. Because we sat with him for a long time on the deck, and just talked. (After he quizzed the kids on important questions. Talk about being put on the spot!) We talked about his homilies, and how he prepares for them. (I had to know the details!) He also shared a whole lot…..about the new church we will be building quite soon.

Here is another photo, that represents more sweet memories of this day….

…..our kids, with some of their cousins. Many could not be with us this day, but these 2 could!! D & M (right behind {A} in the front) are great kids. They all had SO much fun together, playing with Pixel, laughing and talking about random stuff, and playing basketball. It was great to see them all having a great time together, and we’ll be doing it again soon!

It truly was a blessed and beautiful day, for sure. The weather could not have been better, too. Sunny and mid-70’s. Perfect.

O.K. now, aside from the day’s menu over in Vittles, that should wrap up our First Holy Communion posts!! Thank you so much, for letting us share so much of this special occasion with you, and sharing in our joy!! As much hype as we have built up to this day, the kids will tell you, the happiness and excitement only began with this day. They will, and already are, re-living the joy over and over, as they receive Jesus at every Mass of their lives, from this day forward.

Let us continue to rejoice, and be glad.

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Meet "PIXEL"; Our Rather Unusual New Pet

May 7, 2010 By Laura 22 Comments

Quite recently, we got a ‘real’ pet, and it seems I about shocked about half the world over in allowing this. Let’s just say, I’ve never been into the whole domestic-type pets thing. More than anyone, my sister-in-law was in sheer disbelief that we got a pet, and couldn’t wait to find out what we got. I loved taunting her. We sent her (and my brother, niece and nephew) “I am….” riddles and clues for 2 days, before my brother finally guessed what she (our pet), was.

Would you like to meet her?

Can you tell, looking at this photo, what she is??

She’s a hedgehog. And she’s a doll. If I do say so myself.

She’s quite active sometimes. She has awake and sleep time intermittently, both through the day and night. But we can put her to sleep anytime, in our hand, in a heartbeat. Especially ME. {A} keeps asking how on earth I can do that so quickly. I looked up at her and told her, “Because I’m a mama….through and through. I could put YOU to sleep right now, if I wanted to.” She looked down at me, and giggled.

{A} has wanted a hedgehog for a long time. She had researched hedgehogs thoroughly, and then some. An then again, and again. She studied them, looked at photos, saved sites and info, and asked me if she could get one at least once a day. I was blowing her off, ever chance I got. Which as I said…was at least once a day. She sent me e-mail reminders and links, and asked me to promise to read them. I finally did.

As I read, I was waiting to come across ANYTHING that was a deal breaker. Give me a reason to say ‘no’. Tell me they stink. Tell me they are noisy. Tell me they are dirty. Tell me they bite. But nope……no smell, they are quiet, clean, and very sociable. As a matter of fact, the more I read, the more I thought a hedgehog just may BE the perfect pet.

The photos I was seeing of the hedgehogs, were pretty cute too. Well, most of them. I also remembered how I just HAD to buy the hedgehog Stampin’ Up set from my sister, when she was selling them years ago, because I thought they were so cute. I’ve used them many times too.

So, I asked {A} some questions, and she had a good answer for every one. I told her we could look into where to get one, but she promptly informed me she already had all of the info. She found a breeder right in the Boston area, and she had her name and e-mail. (When our girl puts her mind to something, she prepares herself to win, like nobody’s business. ‘Research‘ is the girl’s middle name.) (O.k., that’s not actually true….her middle name is Grace. But you know what I mean.)

Honestly…I didn’t have a leg to stand on, as a reason for saying no. Well, except that I am the parent, and I can say no without even giving a reason, if I want to. But since she was being so grown-up, I figured I should too.

So I got in touch with the breeder, and asked some questions. We gave her our preference….a female, salt & pepper. It took several e-mails back and forth, an application process and a deposit, and a waiting period, while these baby hedgehogs were weaned and socialized. The excitement was building, even for me!! And then…. finally, we got notice we could go get her. (Well, we would pick her out when we went. But she was already real in our minds.)

The breeder was very nice, and interesting! She had lots of animals, and was great with giving the kids all kinds of info and letting them see all of her animals. I had wished I brought my camera!! (The breeder took the one below and was nice enough to send it to us.) I love these surprise-field-trip-home-schooling experiences! We met her ‘indoor chicken’, which is a ‘serama chicken’…..the smallest chickens in the world. (Who knew? Not us.)

Her name is SOLO. The kids loved her.

Once we got ‘Pixel’ home, we gave her a day or 2 to get used to her new place, and then we all started spending time with her. Even me!

She’s very easy to hold, and in fact, loves it.

She’s SO cute when she is curled up.

Especially when she really pulls her face in, and hides. She doesn’t do this very often, because she is always so content to just look around, enjoy her petting, and fall asleep.

She’s so easy to take care of. {A} is her main care-taker, and she ({A}) loves her (a hedgehog) even more than she knew she would. Did you know you can potty train hedgehogs? (That was a plus in my considerations too!) It’s true. Pixel is just a baby, but we’re working on it. Mostly, she eats hard cat food. We do have freeze dried meal worms and crickets too….as treats. She is an ‘insectivore’.

Hedgehogs are related to the moles – not rodents! Interestingly…..the porcupine, which a hedgehog is often compared to, IS a rodent. Hedgehogs and porcupines are not even cousins. Hedgehogs quills are somewhat soft, but yes, sharp on the ends. (No barbs, because they are not like porcupines….remember?) If she’s not happy, they do come up a little. But that is rare, because she is very happy and content with us. Mostly, she does not like being woken up, needlessly. (Neither do I. I tend to be prickly then too.). She has a very soft underside though. I love petting her quills. She’s so misunderstood on appearance. Kind of like me, again. We can relate.

I know sometimes, she looks a little, like a rodent. But don’t say that to me, because you’ll hurt my feelings. Because the truth is, she’s got a little piece of my heart. Many in my family, are still trying to wrap their brain around this because really, it’s not very expected of me. But, I too have become a bit smitten, with Pixel. This past weekend was our celebration for the kids First Holy Communion, and everyone discovered she was cuter than they expected.

Almost every night, I hold Pixel for a little while. She loves me to pet her to sleep. She loves to cuddle on me. I do believe, she loves ME. : ) (No surprise there. lol). She actually is happily held and cuddled by all 6 of us in the family. Even {JM, O & S} are great with her, and she with them. But I can put her to sleep the fastest. Oh….I guess I already mentioned that.

She LOVES to be in her TP tube. She’ll curl right up in a ball and have a snooze. Oh….that little bit of green you see is a bit of paint the breeder dabbed on her, to differentiate her from the others in the litter. She’ll lose these quills and get adult ones as she grows….which she is already doing. She won’t get too much bigger though.

Look at that little face in there. <sigh>

I think her ‘hair’ rocks.

She’s a handful, and yet, she’s not. KWIM?

If you’d like to learn more about hedgehogs, here is a great link. Hedgehog Central. You can read for yourself what a perfect pet they are! But first, go ahead and tell us how cute you think she is. ; )

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Earth Day 2010

April 24, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

A few years back, we decided to invest some ‘extra’ personal efforts of our own, on Earth Day, to help preserve and protect our environment.

It has become a tradition of ours, every year since. Somehow, we’ve been blessed with perfect weather to revel in every year on April 22, as well. This year was no exception.

Typically, our Earth Day starts with heading out into our neighborhood in the late morning, with our poke sticks and big trash barrel on wheels, to clean up all of the litter we can find.

As we work our way down the side roads, people drive slowly by, and smile at us, through their puzzled expressions. As if they are thinking, “What on earth, are they all doing?” (No pun intended. lol). Some actually roll down their windows, and ask us out loud. Others get it right away and already know and say, “Are you cleaning up because it is Earth Day?”….to which all the kids say in unison, “Yesssss.” And they usually say something like, “That’s so niiiiice. Thank you.” And again in unison they say, “You’re welcommmme.”

It’s downright sad, to easily find all we do.

We know some escaped the back of a truck on the way to the dump, or blew off someone’s deck by accident, etc.

We also know how many people just carelessly toss out their vehicle window, anything they are done with.

We love the part where we get to our beach.

We don’t find a whole lot of trash on the shore, but some. There are often adults, settled with their chairs and blankets at the beach, on (school) days as warm and fine as these. So most of them strike up a conversation with us. They first group thought we were a real crew, hired to clean up the beach, because of their colored shirts. But the kids explained, they were trying to wear “Earth Day colors”. Then they got it…”Ohhhh. It’s Earth Day….that’s right.”

I know the awareness of Earth Day has slowly grown since the 1960’s. But it seems we have a ways to go! For ALL to be aware not only of Earth Day, it’s history and purpose, but to contribute to it’s success every day of the year, through our daily habits. That’s the goal.

For us, our rituals of global love include not only cleaning up, to beautify our environment….

….but appreciating the beauty and Creation by God already all around us. Like this huge sea snail I spotted in the rocks, left behind by the receding tide, as we made or way down the shoreline. O.k., ‘beauty’ may be a stretch, for a sea snail. Sure, in it’s shell, it verges on pretty.

But I am quite sure, out of it’s shell, it’s about as ugly and nasty as the dickens.

The kids studied the sea snail meticulously….

…and had lengthy discussions about how interesting it was. And big! Then they decided it would be kind, to return the snail to it’s safe-haven home: the sea.

So that’s just what they did, even though it was a bit of a hike to the water line, as the tide was going out.

But the sea snail seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, or perhaps a thank you, as bubbles quickly rose from it’s shell, to the surface of the water.

Like any gorgeous weathered day around here by the shore, it’s hard not to feel so blessed, and amazed, at all God has created, for us. We sure do love it.

Soon, we headed home, ate some lunch, and later on, baked some Earth Day treats! Cupcakes.

The cupcakes were deviled food cake mix, aiming for an earthy color. Then we colored ‘whipped’ vanilla frosting from a can, and got creative. Going with the whipped was a wise choice. It was so easier to work with.

I do love the “EARTH” ones, that Michael/Daddy did.

Michael, {A} and I designed the rest.

These 2 were a couple of my favorites. By sight, and bite. : )

Our Earth Day has been as simple as this, but I have some bigger ideas for the future. We know many others do special things on Earth Day, and still others do nothing special, but are just good “earthlings” all year long. (And we appreciate that!) Did YOU or your kids do anything in particular, at home or at school, for more global awareness, appreciation or nurturing, on Earth Day?

Year round, we try to recycle, conserve energy (for our bills too, lol), reuse materials, and do other clean-ups on our street now and then, and we never, ever litter! (We also let anyone we see littering, really ‘have it’. “Excuse me. Pick that back up, please. NOW!!! <throat clear>. Thank you.”) Michael wants to put a rain barrel in the ground, to use for watering our gardens.

We hope you had a wonderful EARTH DAY!! Feel free to share with us anything about your day this year, or any and all tips or habits you use throughout the year, that benefits us all, as we preserve and protect the beauty of our world, together.

(P.S. After commenting, don’t forget to visit the Home Page! XO)

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Let us continue to rejoice, and be glad.

Would you like to meet her?

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