Rainy Days

There is a certain peace that settles over the house on rainy days, especially when you're curled up with a hot cup of tea and a good book. Or when you're behind a camera that actually takes decent indoor pictures, you don't mind being stuck inside all day.

Did I mention that our family is giving up all TV and computer for Lent. Since Wednesday was the first day of Lent, the first day of no TV or computer, it was the hardest. Hard for the kids because they really wanted to watch Netflix, and hard for my mom and I because, as sad as it is, the TV had became the simple, free, easy, babysitter. Just use the magic words, "Here, I'll turn something on. What do you want to watch?", and you were guaranteed at least 20 squabble-free minutes. And so, it was a little hard that Ash Wednesday was rainy and cold with everyone stuck inside.

Now I just have a bunch of pictures from this week:

Phase Ten






Our Little Prisoner
We have a baby gate blocking the stairs in both directions on the main floor. Joey always heads to the gate if people are downstairs and bangs and whimpers. He definitely knows he isn't allowed downstairs and that makes him want it even more!







Haircut
Joey had is first (at least I think it was his first) hair cut the other day. His hair was getting pretty long. While looking at the pictures I took after his hair cut, we realized that Joey looks a lot like Benny. :)

Before his hair cut:




After his haircut:





Do you see Benny is Joey? And isn't he just the cutest thing ever!!

A VERY Girly Sleepover
I had to babysit for my cousins all weekend while my Aunt was on a silent retreat and my Uncle worked. My Uncle Brian leaves the house at 5:00AM each morning for work, so I had to spend Thursday and Friday night. Our one cousin, Emily, is the same age as Rose, they are two weeks apart (funny story: my Aunt Jackie wasn't due with Emily until July 2nd and my mom was due with Rose on June 5th, there was a baby shower for my Aunt on June 5th and during that baby shower her water broke. So Emily stole Rose's birthday. :) Rose wasn't born until June 13) Anyway, those two are very close and love to play with each other. They took forever to fall asleep and then - no joke - they woke up at 5:30am and stayed up. Emily and Rose ate breakfast with Emily's brothers at 6:30am and so around 9:30am, Rose comes up to me and says "Mary Kate, I'm hungry, can we have lunch?" I had to laugh, our family is NOT a morning family. Rose is usually eating breakfast at 9:30, not asking for lunch!


Playing Inside
The rain meant playing inside and my new camera meant I could get pictures!

Pillow fight:








Joey is laughing in this picture, just to clarify:












Mother/Daughter Tea
St. John's Parish in Westminster MD has an annual Mother/Daughter Tea for mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends. Since my dad always has to work on Sunday my mom couldn't go. Instead Aunt Beth took Cecilia and I to it. It was a lot of fun with delicious desserts! We listened to Mary Lou Rosien talk about handling stress with our Catholic Faith (you can find her book here, she was really funny and had some great tips), we made a lavender craft with a St. medal, and even won earrings in the door prizes.






Look at that cookie:








The lavender bucket at our table:


Lavender:







Pictures With T2i





Max:




David:











I hope Lent is going well for you all so far.
Love,