Dancing - the joys of little ones

Yesterday William pressed the button on our "Fridge Farm" and grabbed Miriam and said "Let's Dance." It was just such a cute photo opportunity I thought I'd share it :-)

How to make a Saint Paul Pinata

From start to finish this project took about 2 weeks because I let the children add a few layers during their Vacation Bible School week - it could be completed in 1 week if time was short.

Items needed - Time, imagination, recyclable items (listed below), newspaper, flour, water, paint

Step 1: I found a picture online to use as my reference of what St. Paul looked like and then assembled random recyclable items to make the basic shape...I used a cereal box(it will hold the candy), some water bottles/ a pine sol bottle & a milk jug & a hanger I stuck them together with masking tape. It's important that you put a hanger in at the beginning and make sure it will hold the finished pinata.


Step 2: Get the Paper Mache ready - you need flour, water, & newspaper. Tear the paper into strips (it's easier to tear with the grain) & mix 2 parts water to 1 part flour (I always estimate).

Step 3: Prepare the workspace with newspaper & place the strips in the flour/water mixture & then smooth onto the pinata. Make sure to use long strips to secure loose parts - when it dries it will be very strong.

Step 4: Cover the entire front of the pinata and let dry (on a hot summers day, it was ready to move in a couple of hours but it can take a lot more time in cool weather.) As soon as the pinata is dry to the touch, you can turn it over & cover the back. On the same day, I was able to hang my pinata to dry.

Step 5: When the 1st coat on the Pinata is dry, cut a hole and add candy. After it was full, I covered the hole with masking tape & we put two more layers(the 1st 2 days of VBS). I also added a book by "paper mache" ing over a folded newspapar. The more layers you put on the stronger the pinata will be.

Step 6: Paint the Pinata - I just used craft paint from Michael's.

Step 7: I added a sword with Masking tape & then the kids had fun hitting him with a foam covered bat. (see 1st picture)

July Project

The big project for me in July was our Parish Vacation Bible School. For the past 4 years we've been writing our own curriculum - I generally do the teaching points & then one of our very musically talented parishoners does the music, other volunteers teach & Phil handles all of the nitty gritty tasks & the actual directing and coordinating during that week. The overall theme was "In the Footsteps of St. Paul" in honor of the recently concluded Year of St. Paul. Each day followed the life of Saint Paul from his conversion and the focussing on the adventures he had while on the Missionary Journeys. Each day always has a Saint or Saints & Prayer that the kids learn. Everything went really well this year! I wasn't able to stop with just writing the teaching points this year though but ended up organizing the crafts and a skit - thus the kids & I were exhausted by the end of the week but I think everyone had fun. Here's some pictures of our crafts. I'd upload the Curriculum but I'm not sure how to post a pdf file.

Fourth of July Weekend

4th of July weekend in review...

Grandma Lawson visited

We set off Fireworks

We saw the Stevens Point Parade

Mom had a birthday

May God bless our Country and grant that our nation may foster Life from conception to natural death.

June at the Lawsons

June has been a fun and busy month for our family! In Wisconsin - spring comes around the beginning of June, the days get much longer & everyone seems to come alive! Lucky for us, this is the time of year when Phil's job isn't quite as busy & he is able to take some vacation time so the first two weeks of June we had dad at home :-) We began by planting our gardens - we have a vegetable garden, a Jesus, Mary & Joseph Flower garden & a strawberry & pumpkin patch.



Another exciting day for us was our trip to Mt. Olympus Water Park in the WI Dells (we got free tickets from our credit union) so the trip only cost us $5 for parking & gas!

Grandma Lawson came to visit us for a weekend after our trip to the Dells. We realised that Miriam definately takes after Phil's side of the family - she looks just like grandma!


The next big event was the arrival of our new guinea fowl - we picked out 4 from the Nordbergs (unfortunately 1 didn't make it throught the first night). I think Cleo is the most excited person in our family - she's been intently watching the keets grow.


That same weekend was our Parish picnic at St. Peter's, while we didn't win the big raffle prize of $2000, William did win a nice mini raffle prize which included a bubble grill, 2 chairs, 2 butterfly nets & bug catching kits - He and Miriam have been really enjoying this prize!






Friday June 19th, The tritz boys came over to play for the morning and here's a picture of the kids enjoying the new bubble grill.



Saturday June 20th, we had a delightful day at the Milwaukee Zoo with Grandma Lawson (we were lucky to get free tickets from Phil's Aunt Kay). William & Miriam really enjoyed the train ride at the end!

For Father's Day, William & Miriam made a special pencil holer with their pictures on it for Dad's desk and gave dad a new hammock. As the month of June comes to an end, we're just enjoying our summer weather and the fun times together with family & friends! From our family to yours - hope you're having a great summer!

Patty's random morning musings

I have a bunch of great post ideas that take more than a few random minutes to finish...perhaps I'll get them up soon. In the mean time here's what my day allows...

Personal space takes on a whole new meaning when you have 2 kids & a dog fighting for your lap.

Miriam is sporting her first pigtails today - it is so much fun to have a little girl with cute curly hair :-) Pictures to follow later - pictures take more than a random few minutes to upload -my downfall in blogging.

The other morning, I had a rude awakening at 5:30am - as Phil left to go to an early morning meeting, Cleo (our 90 lb Weimeraner) decided to take his place in bed.

White shirts and kids with muddy shoes don't mix.

Last night we enjoyed our first homegrown lettuce salad. Gardens are great!

oops - there's crying that's the end of my spare moments for now.

Have a wonderful day

Some Fun times

Miriam enjoys playing with the Rabbit at Grandma Lawson's House

A Sweet Mother's Day Card

William gives Miriam a push

A Productive Day

Today was a beautiful day & quite productive. Laundry is done (relatively speaking) and hanging out on the line; the kitchen's a bit cleaner (counter & stove top are shiny clean); I started working on the curriculum for our Vacation Bible School - In the Footsteps of St. Paul; learned how to use twitter, & fixed an annoying problem on the computer that had mystified me for weeks now. Now this evening I get to enjoy an evening out with other Mom's at a local restaurant while Phil pitches for our Parish Softball team's 3rd game. Thank God for little favors & happy days!

Mom's little helper

Here's the real reason my blog isn't always up-to date :-)

Miriam is One

Miriam's Birthday was on Divine Mercy Sunday this year - both kids had birthdays on great feast days! How quickly this year has gone by - and Miriam has some great accomplishments already - she started walking at 10 months & 1 week (earlier than her brother) and to great fanfare as it was right in front of Grandma Lawson while we were visiting in Milwaukee. She is also already communicating well - says mama & dada at appropriate times & to the correct person (though sparingly) and can sign milk, more & hurt. She has a climb every mountain approach to life and enjoys standing on chairs "look mom no hands" and has to do everything big brother is doing.

To celebrate the kids birthdays, we had a party on April 18th - Grandma Lawson, Great Grandpa & Great Grandma, & Cousin Carrie made the trek up from Milwaukee to celebrate. Thanks for celebrating with us - we had so much fun! William had fun helping to make his "Thomas pinata" and really enjoyed eating the Winnie-the-Pooh cake.