Weekly Wrap - #3

 Since there are no more Quick Takes : ( let's go with a Weekly Wrap of all things... 

~ 1 ~

Christmas Programs...

Neither school had in person Christmas programs this year.

So we got all dressed up for Christmas program taping! It was actually waaaaaay easier than getting dressed and racing to the plays at 5:49!

~ 2 ~

The muppet tree!

We got our tree - it is still happily outside. Lee nixed my muppet tree but I loved it. It is was really cute!

~ 3 ~

The windshield...

A windshield ding turned into a full on windshield crack. That was great. I held my breathe EVERY single time I went over railroad tracks or a bump on the highway. I go over more railroad tracks each day than I imagined. 

~ 4 ~

St Lucy's Day rolls.. 

Good things I got friends who actually do liturgical living and want to share!

~ 5 ~

The big kids (not the preschoolers) helped with a Christmas nativity

H started as baby Jesus in the pic only 

R got to be Mary a bunch of times!

A was a shepherd and a wise man and had lots of hot chocolate. 

~ 6 ~

H has been a bed hog so...

she got sent to the crib and has done quite well!

~ 7 ~

The weather has been great. 

There was a soccer game organized and we went to the field for a stroll

All The Dressing Up - 2021

Seeing that it is nearly Christmas its about time to chat about Halloween... 

We have: The Hulk, The Wicked Witch, H who was too happy in her carseat to put on the pumpkin get-up, a ballerina, a vampire? - maybe, Yoda, St Monica

There happens to be a whole lot of back story to the costumes this year... Sometime in July the bigs were in a bit of a bind because they were supposed to clean up the playroom and they didn't so Lee and I took everything and bagged and boxed it up and told them they had to sort through EVERYTHING before it was put back into the playroom. Trash to the dump. Toys to the playroom. Well it turns out there was only supposed to be one bag of trash and the other black trash bag had ALL the costumes in it. EVERYTHING. Star Wars, Wizard of Oz, saints - everything. It is enrages me to even type it. So I told them they had to buy their costumes this year because I wasn't. I think I would have if there was a theme but some people are too cool for that so they shelled out money and reused what didn't get tossed. 

St Lucy, St Olga, St Monica, St Michael

We got over the not-so-late-night Halloween and put on our game faces for All Saints Day - I think I told Lee he HAS to block off All Saints Day morning to be at the house until we leave because most Catholic school parents will say it is one of the tougher mornings to have costumes the night before and then the next morning!

A was all about St Michael - and has since decided that Kindergarten is angels in the Christmas program that he needs his St. Michael costume for the Christmas play

R's costume required the most hands on work and she made her crown of lights which I think came out great!

E repurposed her royal costume from last year when she got wind of the costume punishment decree so she found another queen saint. 

I've hoarded the costumes in my room so as to help people save their pennies next year.

 

Weekly Wrap #2

 Since there are no more Quick Takes : ( let's go with a Weekly Wrap of all things... 

~ 1 ~

Sweet baby J! He loves a fire just as much as his big brother. 

~ 2 ~

We had a swim meet

E and R swam and I didn't catch R in a smiley swim pic but she was she usual smiling self. 

~ 3 ~

We are in the throws of Advent. We are still trying to do our Advent activities. The first week we did the Thanksgiving food collection at school, last week the bigs helped make Thanksgiving dinner for a shelter, and this week is get your stuff ready for St. Nicholas. Next week E has been begging to do secret sibling exchange - we will see about that. 

~ 4 ~

The weather has been amazing... 

I've been able to open the windows several afternoons.  

~ 5 ~

Black shoes!

E and I were on the hunt for black shoes for her choir concert - five stores later and about 13 minutes before dress rehearsal - we found some - not the ones pictured. It was INSANE. 

~ 6 ~

Guess what J found… 

Ashes from the fire from several days before which he proceeded to rake up and get suuuuuper dirty in. E had lots of choir rehearsals this week so that meant the normal schedule was a bit different and more at home in the afternoon time 

~ 7 ~

Lady C decided to skate

The benefits of having big sisters... they get you suited up!

Fall 2021 Soccer Thoughts

Will play for snacks

E - E's soccer season was cut VERY short thanks to a broken arm. It was a huge bummer for me because she had a great coach and a good team. I think she would have come out of her shell because she didn't really want to play and she didn't have any friends on the team. She did go and cheer them on during the games. She was bummed to miss swim. Hopefully the spring season will not involve a cast. 

R - R's team had a good run. Our last game was in a heated OT battle on a freezing cold night with the wind - and it took me an hour to thaw out - we ended up losing and we had a number of teary eyed, tired girls. We had a fun time and a good run. R had a good time and scored a few goals. 

This is the only pic I have of R playing since we had to divide and conquer soccer watching

M - This season started out in an interesting way - with a loss and a you need to check your emotions reminder. Her team ended up winning the championship and M played a lot throughout the season. She got picked for the County All-Star team so that extended soccer another two weeks. That was a fun run too. Fortunately the tournament was only an hour and a half away and unfortunately there was only one other team which meant a best of three series which the girls took in two games!

The cold day of the county championship - which was also H's baptism 

Isn't it funny how numbers get picked? M's friend wanted to be 12 and M wasn't thrilled about 11 or 13 - and they HAVE to have numbers next to each other - so we considered birth year or birth month and this is how we got 13!

First Kibbe on the county All Star team 

I can't help but smile when I see pics of these two since they've known each other since they were three weeks old. 

A - I didn't see a whole lot of A's games this season between coaching and practice. The ones I did see it looked like he was learning about not running around the WHOLE entire field and there was definitely lots of smiles so there was lots of fun being had too. 

C - Lady C might have broke me of coaching her - at least for a season or two. I'm pretty sure she might have risen to the occasion better/more if I was not her coach. Toward the end of the season she did make it through several games without pouting or tears - so that was some growth. I believe she score a handful of goals but snacks were definitely the major motivating factor for that group!

The Coach Mom - I could say a whole lot about this season but I'll try not to. The little girls are always fun to coach. You never know who is going to pitch a fit or surprise you with a goal. The older girls definitely required alot more strategy and managing playing time - everyone is supposed to play half of the game - took lots of brain cells to try and come up with the best/efficient line ups. True colors were shown by a handful of people this season and I'll just have to tuck those situations away into the life lessons and carry on people. 

Weekly Wrap #1

 Since there are no more Quick Takes : ( let's go with a Weekly Wrap of all things... 

~ 1 ~

The littles got to enjoy another tub and J was thrilled and H wasn't. I do feel like the littles miss out on stuff we did with our bigs when they were little so I try to relish in the little moments. 

~ 2 ~

Lady C can be super great with H

The flashlight was being shown off to H

~ 3 ~

I have a host of posts I need to do... end of soccer wrap, H's baptism and Halloween and All Saints Day

~ 4 ~

Lady C has been coloring instead of taking rests... 

I think we got the whole - color on the page not on your person - thing down now. 

~ 5 ~

A friend of mine told me about this dried okra in the veggie section

It was super great. Too bad they are a little pricey. 

~ 6 ~

Lady C had a turkey project... 

Meet Chicken the turkey... 

Yes I had to go out and get white feather just so C could make her turkey a chicken. 

~ 7 ~

A also had a turkey project to work on 

This Ironman - The Turkey. Crafting with boys is waaaaay different then crafting with girls. 

Eight is Great - for M

 This week M turned 8!

The big bad eight. 

Despite being definitely one of the big kids, she can often be found playing with Lady C or carrying around J - who is a bit denser than she is - so that makes us a little nervous. 

She loves to play soccer and was rewarded with a spot on the County All Star team this fall - she is thrilled! Swimming is not as much her thing but her competitive spirit really helps her out and having a load of friends at practice also helps. 

Last week she came home with the Little Flower award from school because she puts others before herself. I told her that was way more important to us than any straight A report card that comes home. 

We were recently remind she’s our best ascetic and will boycott dinner if she doesn’t like what we are having - most notably she won’t eat soup on the sole basis that it is soup - that doesn’t apply to chili though.

Three months of Baby H

 Little Miss H is three months old! A quarter of a year! She’s really sweet and talks and smiles. She is a pretty good sleeper and I can count on her to go 7-9 hours of sleeping at night! Whoot! My favorite thing she does is stretch. If she’s the tallest Kibbe it’s because she does the best stretches. It’s so funny to watch and it makes me and Lee wish we could stretch into all the positions she does because she looks so satisfied with herself when she finishes. 

Her siblings love her. J loves to get on the bed with her and C makes sure her paci is never far. She’s getting baptized this weekend so that’s on her agenda. I think she’ll be pleased soccer seasons are coming to a close because outside of work with me, she has spent a good chunk of her life in the sidelines.

A is 6!

This week A turned the big six! 

We celebrated over the weekend with his requested Dirt and Worms cake - which is actually a cake (dessert really) that I got to make - Grammy and E (with Papa's help) are much better bakers than me. 

A is quite the busy guy. He loves to be outside getting dirty or doing a job. Hence the skateboard, boogie board, shovel and blower he got for his birthday. 

I made him close his eyes because I wasn't going to try to wrap a shovel. Currently A is into emptying the sandbox of all the sand, making piles of leaves to burn, burning leaves and cleaning off the playset with his blower. 

He has settled into K and made a few friends. He comes home from school EVERY day with his white uniform shirt FLITHY. But that shouldn't surprise us because this is him making sand angels after school before swim practice. He is enjoying swim team and soccer. C is still his best partner in crime even though they can fight terribly - they are great for each other if they are outside. A is taking J under his busyness wing and they swept out under the stairs in the garage over the summer. 

Who knows what the next year will hold for A but I'm sure it will be busy and dirt-filled. He said next year he needs to get a gas blower so he doesn't have to wait for the battery to charge on his new one : ) Spoken from the kid who poured gasoline in his plastic lawn mower a few years ago! 

7QTs - Soccer, birthdays, & other grateful things

Linking up with Kelly ... It only took a month to finish my seven summer updates. Here's to some more of the latest and greatest. 

---1---

I think I left off the weekend of Js bday which was action packed with soccer, a flat tire 

After choir practice, while Lee was in Raleigh for church. Very thankful for the boy who stopped me before leaving the parking lot - because I had no idea - before we were heading 20 min down the road for Mass. It could have been a disaster because I would not have known who to call. A friend whose daughter is in choir happened to be picking up her kids and was like - oh my husband can fix that! Insert all the praise. He came and was better and faster than AAA - which we don't have. He was telling the kids all the stuff he was moving around and super patient with the flurry of questions. God was watching out for us because we were rolling a zillion miles a minute that day. 

The next day was As bday but not without a swim meet first 

It was the first home meet we had since January 2020. 

It was a fun, fast and close by meet which are all PLUSES in our book. 

A swam and did well. He almost didn't DQ in backstroke - he flipped over on the last stroke and his 50 free was funny to watch because everytime the coach said something to him, he stopped and looked at her and took FOREVER to get down the lane. 

Then it was As bday celebration!

---2---

Last week was blessing of the pets... 

aka Es least favorite day of school because... dogs. But the Tortuga came and got blessed. E threw some fresh grass and leaves in his cage before - so it 'looked better'. 

Speaking of animals

See that hump in the roof - yes? 

Wasps were building a nest up there and separated the gutter away from the roof/house?!?!?! So random! I thought there were going to be hundreds but when Lee sprayed them there were maybe twenty or so? 

---3---

Lots of soccering without many pictures... Papa needs to step up his game!

I was conned into Italian Ice after one of M's games

But it was hot and she played hard. I took A and R out that night much to the other two's chagrin. C did not get the nod because she has basically gotten on the field and started crying. 

But this week Lady C held it together and played and got her post game refreshments for the first time this season! and scored a goal or two. Proving to me (and hopefully herself) she can do it but I think I'm going to hang up my C coaching hat in the spring : ) 

A celebrated his 6th! bday with his soccer team in a late night (for 5 and 6 yr olds) games. I brought cupcakes - in addition to the snacks - and his team sung him Happy Birthday! It was late but it was fun. 

These girls are so intense playing and super fun to watch

Ms friend from school is on another team but are all smiles when the game is over. There's alot of good action and games in Ms age group at the moment. I don't know if it is the energy of the coaches or the quality of the players but it has been a really fun season of games to watch - and there's still a few more games left!

 

---4---

H is embracing her role at the office... 

I think she much prefers hanging out in the bouncy seat or on the floor with toys and plants to look at than this swinging chair BUT it was cute while it lasted. I think she'll warm up to this and get some good exercise soon. 

---5---

I made a discovery recently while giving blood (I give for the cookies : ) ...

 

I'd never heard of it and neither had the other donors who were at the blood drive. Alkaline water. Apparently the pH is supposed to help your body hydrate better? I guess it has been around for a while and I'm late to the party (shocker) - more investigation required. It does a little bit different than 'regular' water. 

---6---

With all the time and energy going to carting kids to and fro and soccer coaching (which I do like but man it can get stressful), a friend's bday was an excuse for some me time

We went to a wine tasting and apparently they are every month so we might need to carve out friend more often. We had a fun time and tasted some interesting wine - some we liked and one really earthy cava that I thought tasted kind of like dirt. H behaved and Lee held down the fort and all its dinnering, showering, homeworking and go to bed glory. 

---7---

Despite all the busyness, I can't help but think of this family and how their world was turned upside down; pray for them. Their daughter was two days older than H. Between them and my niece who is still in the NICU - but doing great! - it causes Lee and I to pause and be grateful for our wild routine because every day is a gift.