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Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day in the 70s.  It's hard to believe, especially when friends and family in New England are getting tons of snow and bitter cold temps right now.   Stay warm and safe up there!

While my oldest daughter went to her soccer practice, I took my other children to the nearby park and snapped this picture of our cuties :)    (My son was running around nearby somewhere.)  


It was a fun park day, but the nice weather quickly changed to rainy and cold and in the 30s today!  But, I'm not complaining :)

Today, February 11, is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

BERNADETTE - THE PRINCESS OF LOURDES
It’s February 11, 1858. Three girls from Lourdes, France, gather firewood in front of a grotto. Suddenly one of them, Bernadette Soubirous, 14, drops to her knees, gazes ecstatically at something beautiful only she can see, and starts to pray. Soon the town buzzes: Has Bernadette, poor, sickly, and always behind in school, really seen a Lady from Heaven? The police chief is angry, the pastor busy, and the crowd amused, but Bernadette is calm and brave. Then a spring bubbles up from nowhere and withered arms and sightless eyes are cured. At last, the Lady tells Bernadette her name: “I am The Immaculate Conception.”
BERNADETTE, THE PRINCESS OF LOURDES, is the exciting true story of a visit by the Queen of Heaven that left all the world a source of health for body and soul.

Hope you are having a blessed week!

Have you heard?  It's that time of year again for the Nominations for the Homeschool Blog Awards hosted by The Homeschool Post!  You can nominate your favorite Homeschool blogs in 20 different categories until October 20th at midnight (PST). Voting won’t begin until November 3rd!

Go HERE to read more information and nominate your favorite homeschool blogs!   Have fun!  I know I loved nominating my favorite homeschool blogs!  

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Ok, so this won't be exactly a wordless post, but it will be short and to the point :)  I haven't been in blog land much these days since in real land I'm busy praying (and praying alot), organizing, planning, cleaning, scheduling, pondering, wondering, doubting, searching, questioning, and typing for the upcoming 2014-2015 homeschool year!  I will hopefully do a post showing our homeschool room that I have been re-organizing as I do every year and I'm almost done ironing out the curriculum for my children so I will have a post listing all that we will be doing in the Fall.

In the middle of all that I have been doing to prepare for our upcoming school year, it was nice to take a walk with my youngest in the stroller around a park lake close to our home.  My older ones were with friends and family so I took advantage of having only one child with me and went out in the evening to get some fresh air.  Here is a shot I took with my iPhone on the paved path that goes around the lake.  We are blessed that this park and its beauty is walking/bike riding distance from our home.

And today, July 9th, is my oldest daughter's Baptism Anniversary.  We usually celebrate this day that she became a member of the universal Church and her rebirth in Christ, by lighting our children's baptism candle and my parents come for a visit and get my children a small gift.  We also look at pictures from our child's baptism and talk about their special day.  Sometimes we enjoy a special dessert too!  Each of my children have a candle stick holder for their baptism candle with their name and baptism date engraved at the base of the candle.  To find out more about the sacrament of baptism go HERE.


Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Last week, I went to a local park with my Cupcakes and while I was strolling the baby, they rode their bikes through a trail to get to the park.  I spotted a black racer snake on the side of the trail and my son informed me that they are harmless.  My son then went to investigate and caught what looks like a snake, but is a legless lizard.  He knew right away that it was an Eastern Glass Legless Lizard. Here are a few pictures I took with my phone:

Last month in April, our family traveled to OH to visit dear friends and we made a trip to the Columbus Zoo.  It was a perfect day for the zoo...no crowds and overcast so not too hot.  I snapped alot of pictures and these are some pictures I got of the polar bear.  He was fascinating to watch glide through the water and come up to the glass!

A few weeks ago we went to OH to visit friends and we found this nest of robin eggs on their playground set in their backyard. So pretty! The eggs have hatched recently as our friends keep us updated on the cute chicks. I wish we could have seen the babies!

A few weeks ago, I was waiting for my oldest daughter to finish piano lessons and my 4 year old  here fell asleep in the car.  Boy, was I surprised to see that she had one eye open while she was sleeping when I turned to check on her in her car seat!  It was a little freaky! :)  Even while she's sleeping, she has to know what is going on and keep up with everything and everyone!  :)   Happy Wednesday!

On Christmas morning 2011, our family woke up to another one of God's masterpieces in the sky.  My husband snapped these photos in our backyard.  What a beautiful, priceless Christmas gift from our Creator!

At the beginning of November, I went camping with my son and his friend's Boy Scout Pack.  His friend's mom is a dear friend of mine. We had a great time hanging out with mostly boys and their dads, but there were several other moms there pitching a tent, hiking, and roasting marshmallows alongside of us.  While we were walking around the 2.2 mile trail around a beautiful lake I snapped the following photos.  The leaves were beautiful and so full of vibrant colors during this Fall season.