Brotherly Love

The dynamics of siblings is an amazing thing. You cannot stand them one second and are inseparable the next.  People you can totally be yourself around and will love you anyway.  I have always loved being a part of a big family and am so happy my kids have each other to grow up with.  I love watching their intricate games come to life, the silly jokes they crack, the empathy they (can) show each other and the pure silliness that ensues when they are all together.  Don't get me wrong.  They rag on and fight with each other like the best of them, but in the end they love each other and what fun it is to watch!

We cannot take photos without at least one silly face one, which usually ends up being our best one.

I watch one of Caleb's friends in the morning 3 days a week for a few minutes before school.  He is an only child.  He and Caleb have silent desires to be in the other's family.  Per his mother, the other boy longs to come over for longer and whines on the days he is not supposed to come. He longs for the companionship and chaos of siblings.  Caleb longs for the quiet and solitude of being an only child.  The grass is always greener right?

One night, Caleb brought up the topic.  He said that there are good things and bad things about having siblings.  He started making the obvious list of pros and cons.  Then, you could see the realization on his face that his siblings are priceless. He said he was glad he was not an only child.  He still seeks quiet and alone time.  He has learned not to announce that is what he wants, or else everyone will follow him.  He often grabs a book and locks himself in the bathroom or sneaks off into his bed.

You can barely see the 3 of them, but they sat out in the tree house and read books for an hour together.

Walking home from school.

Skipping to Easter Mass together.

Monkey see monkey do.  Caleb was mad about wearing the vests I made them, therefore so was Toby.

Nellie was saying "It's okay sweetie" and pretending to doctor up Caleb's toe.

I was going to fix them more comfortably, but after turning around to put
the camera down and they were back on their pillows and under the covers. 

When the boys go to bed at the same time (which rarely happens,
when Toby takes a nap), they often end up in the top bunk together.

Caleb's First Communion

On Sunday, May 19th, Caleb made his First Communion at Santa Maria del Popolo Church.  Since we do our Religion work at home, he made it during the regular Sunday Mass, as opposed to a special service. It was also Pentecost, so the Church was full of beautiful flowers, many of which were red, his favorite color.

This has been something that he was been looking forward to for years.  Nearly every time went to Mass he would ask when he could make his First Communion.  In our preparations, we read two books about saints who received their First Holy Communion as young children, earlier than allowed at the time.  The stories of Blessed Imelda and Little Nellie of Holy God paved the way for children making their First Communion at the age of reason.

As one of our last preparations, I asked one of the priests at our parish to give us a sacristy tour for a chance to see everything we had been learning about up close.  My class did this when I was in second grade and I really loved it.  We were going to have the tour after Holy Hour and Mass on a Wednesday afternoon.  When Fr. O'Reilly arrived he told us that he would have to leave directly following Mass to go to someone who was dying.  Naturally we were a little bummed, but stayed for Mass anyway and thought we would just reschedule for the following week.  Instead Fr. O'Reilly started giving an oral tour to us and the 5 other attendees. Then he asked Caleb if he wanted to serve Mass (another privileged that Caleb has been anxiously awaiting).   Throughout the Mass, he pointed out and named everything to Caleb, even the prayers he says in his head while walking from one place to another.  It was quite an experience and Caleb was in heaven.

Although we did not have unconsecrated hosts to practice with at home, we offered Caleb one sip of wine so he would not be surprised by the taste.  At first he thought it was a good idea, but when it came down to it he declined.  He said he was worried about getting drunk. So sweet. The night before, after he should have been sleeping he came out of bed and asked if he could try the wine and I told him in the morning.  I poured one tiny sip of wine into a glass.  He had only one mini-sip of the already tiny sip in the glass.

The morning of the big day, Caleb was up bright and early at 5 am.  He is notorious for getting up super early when he is excited.  He wore a blue suit, light blue shirt and white tie with chalices and hosts on it.  He fixed his own hair and looked quite sharp.  We requested that our family bring up the offertory gifts.  Caleb brought up the bread, Lucy the wine, Toby the intention book and Andy the collection.  Most of our immediate family members were able to attend Mass with us.

After Mass we celebrated at home for the rest of the day.  We it was in the 80s and gorgeous.

The kids love to go visit the Ten Commandments after Mass.

I found a First Communion blog link up and got a few ideas.  I love to get into a theme.

For breakfast we had "hosts" a toaster waffle with a frosting cross.

We also made jello/marshmallow Chalices/Hosts.

We used our Wilton cross pan for the funfetti cake.

Chatterbox

I love the stage of learning to talk when I get a full rundown of every thought process/action as well as a parrot of everything I say.

Nellie is at that stage.  I hear her little voice all day long and it is so cute. It is interesting to finally get a glimpse at how her little mind works.

I decided to write down everything she said in the few minutes while she was eating breakfast.

I want breakfast.
Banana (handing me a banana). Open it.
I peeled it. (she got it open.)
Throw away. (taking the peel to the garbage.)
Peanut butter on it.
Plate.
Eat it.
Take a bite.
Eat banana. (she finished it). Ate whole banana.
Hands messy. Wash them up. Peanut butter on them.
Wet. (I didn't dry her arm well enough.)
Want some water.  This one in the sink. (tap water as opposed to Brita in the fridge.)

Spring Break Science

We are trying to keep spring break fun around here.  We are not going anywhere and the weather is only sometimes cooperating for us to play outside.

Yesterday we made some crystals with a borax solution (from a set that Lucy got for her birthday).

This reminded me about the slime we used to make with borax.  While we were out running errands this morning we pick up a box and are now elbow deep in the stuff.