November: 50th Day of School, 50s party!

The younger grades at the boys' school had a 50's party. It was so cute!
They had a sock-hop and rootbeer floats.

They wore their hair slicked back, and rolled up jeans.

The girls wore poodle skirts.

THe first picture is Francis Dancing.

The second pic is Seamus during indoor recess.

November 7: Celebrating Seamus' birthday!

Birthday Craziness!

We spent one whole day out.. Chuck-e-Cheese at 9am, followed by

the Hands-on Museum at noon. We got home at 3:30 or so.

That was WILD! I was exhausted!!

THen, a few days later, Seamus had his "friends" party. We got to meet some of his new friends from school. It was really fun!

Wrestling in the leaves! (November 2006)

The boys love to wrestle with Daddy!

Here they are having lots of fun!

The toy corocodile is even getting a chance to wrestle daddy!

All Saint's Eve!

Many of you know that we celebrate All Saint's Eve, as an alternative to Halloween. The boys love it. We go to a party at church, and they get loaded up with candy and fun!! This year, we had St. George, St. Michael the Archangel, Lazarus, and a third knight, Liam. We actually found a long-named Saint for him, but I can't remember it at the moment! The boys love to dress as knights! LOL!

October 28, Peter's 2nd Birthday!

I have to admit, we were working hard on the house on his birthday... so we took him out to dinner.. and he didn't get his cake until the 29th, when Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit! Poor kid! He had a great time. We went to this fabulous little restaurant, where the kids get to make their own pizzas! It was very relaxing and fun!

Enjoy the pics!

A Weekend Getaway!

Thanks to some wonderful friends,

James and I got to take a weekend away!

We went to Mackinaw Island. The weather was beautiful! We had a blast!

We even got to eat at the Luncheon Buffet in the Grand Hotel! WOW!

(And I wasn't feeling too yucky, considering I was 11 weeks pregnant!)

James starts Mountain Biking!

This was his second race. I didn't see the 1st one.
He placed 4th place in his division. Yeah!

The boys had a blast watching.. I am hoping they can all race at their own levels!


(James is in the red and black helmet)

Welcome Fall 2006, and School....

Well, this 'homeschooling' momhas become a 'school' mom. I can't believe it has happened. I have to say, it has been a huge blessing, overall! Big changes are happening.. I am in my 30's now.. I am trying to switch to Katie instead of Kate.. and I sent my kids to school. Is this some kind of early-life crisis?? I can't be sure! LOL!

What I do know, is that the Lord is really blessing our family, and I am very hopeful in his provision for us.. and for his protection, too.

So, now I am room mom, assistant scout den leader, choir director, and just plain old mom, which I love being! It has taken a lot of pressure off of me, to have someone else in charge of the actual education part of schooling. And, the teachers at the boys' school have all been just wonderful!

Anyway, I heard our little ones' heartbeat today. I cried so hard! I was just so convinced that this one was going to leave us already, too. But, hey, at least I know I have had 10 and 1/2 weeks with him/her. What a blessing!

That is it for now. Here is a pic of the boys going off to school. They are my pride and joy! I just love seeing them dressed up in their school uniforms.. ( I just wish they had to wear ties!!! )

Over and out--
KatIE

Th conclusion of Summer: Does it HAVE to end?!?

Bowling with the boys. This was a BLAST! Our 3 y/o, Liam liked it the most, I think! He was SO excited! They can't wait to play again...




















Labor Day weekend.. we took our *New Van*!! to Lake Michigan's beautiful "Sleeping Bear Dunes." ALl you East coasters are really missing out.. Lake Michigan is so beautiful!! Camping is well, umm, LOTS of work with 5 kids.. but, we had a great time with some really fun families. ANd *Maybe* we will do it again... in a few years! LOL!

Our new pets! Oh MY!

The black striped fish...

OK, so we just can't put a stop to this pet thing. We got two new fish, after the death of our fish.. which we had for at LEAST 3 years.. maybe 4!

Yesterday we added a "sucker" fish to help with the algae..

And today.. we found that MANY (Perhaps 50!) "baby" fish are swimming in our tank! Yikes! Looks like we have a boy and a girl fish! What are we to do?

We also have baby "sea monkeys." Patrick got a starter kit for his birthday. The "sea monkeys" had not grown for several weeks, and so we gave up all hope. (I was tempted to dump the water out!) Then, yesterday, we looked and saw SEVERAL seamonkeys swimming around in their teeny tank. Oh, this is funny. we are just growing lots of pets here, all of the sudden!


Here are pics of the "fry" or "Guppies" or whatever they are called! You can see the white fish on the left, surrounded by little "dots". These are the babies! The picture on the right is a small black ball (Covered in some algae!) that is about 3/4 in in diameter. And the babies can be seen to it's right. AMAZING!
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile58.html

Patrick at Camp AND Our Very Own Bike team!

My son slept in this TENT for a whole week! He had a fabulous time. Thanks to everyone who sent him letters and postcards!

Boy, they get SO OLD, SO FAST~ We recently realized that his "Time at home" is likely more than HALF over already. YIKES! We are making sure to enjoy life and do fun things with the boys..

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Including this 10 mile non-competetive bike race we did. It followed a 5K that I ran a few weeks ago. The helicopter from the U of M Hospital paid us a visit, too. The kids got to touch it and see it up close. This amulance-type copter flies over our home once in a while. The races were a fundraiser for U of M's transplant patients.

A Wonderful Pooh production! The kids LOVED it!

(And so did I!)

It runs in the family... we love icecream!

Celebrating Francis' Birthday! A pirate Party!

MORE Holden Beach pictures!

SEAN
VIRGINIA's braids!

Thomas and Peter

Viriginia and Liam

GiGis birthday!

James and Sean

Holden Beach

We had a WONDERFUL vacation at Holden Beach this year!

The Seale family is growing by leaps and bounds..

We had 12 little ones from age 10-3 weeks.

It was WILD!

Here are some pictures.

What a BLESSING for the kids to have so many fabulous cousins! WOW!

Our vacation! (Post #1) June 15-23, Springfield VA:

On one of the first days of our vacation, Patrick got to go flying with my dad! They flew in this little plane. Patrick was excited, and not nervous. "What do I have to be nervous about, Grandpa? You are the one who needs to make sure not to crash the plane!" --OK, it's not an exact quote.. but close! I haven't even been up in a plane with my dad yet!!

Francis' Birthday

We went to Battle Creek to celebrate Francis' birthday in June. We swam, went out to dinner at Applebee's with his grandparents, and had a great time!

Happy Independence Day!!!!

This is a picture from last year.. but we went to the same parade today! I forgot my camera :( The whole family rode bikes downtown, with the exception of Liam and Peter, who rode comfortably in a trailer! LOL! Downtown Ypsilanti is about 3 miles from here. The boys were real troopers! James' office is near the parade route. We "parked" our bikes in the office building, and watched the parade!

Afterward, we rode our bikes to our friends' house and ordered pizza for lunch.

We grilled tonight, and the boys are anxiously awaiting darkness.. for fireworks. Well, I am not sure fireworks is really what they are. Nothing that flies or explodes is legal in Michigan. But, they are "good enough" (And safe, too!)

Tonight, we were talking about the declaration of Independence and of course the topics of war, kings, and queens came up!

Francis apparently is quite knowledgeable about Kings and Queens. "No, queens don't fight in wars. They just take care of the castle... and the treasure."

That's it for today! I still need to get beach pics up.. SOON!

I'm BACK!

I guess it is time to update everyone!!

Since I last posted, I found out that I was expecting a little one.. started feeling sick.. miscarried our little one... and went on vacation for 2 weeks. SO, needless to say, things have been a little crazy here. Our little one, BTW is named JoseMaria Jorge (Or JJ for short). S/He was only about 2 and 1/2 cm long. VERY tiny!Here are some pictures.. a quick upate of our family!

Look for pictures of : My cousin, Rob's graduation, a trip to Binder park zoo with the boys in their yellow shirts!, Me in my racing clothes from my 5K, a homeschoolers fieldtrip to a Fire Station, the boys with plastic puzzle pieces connected to rope which is connected to the TV stand. Homemade Video game controllers!, and pics from Pat's last day of school at SSA. A Eucharistic procession.

I will put beach pics up later!!! :)