Weeell I was already going through old photos and quotes to put this together when Dwija announced her 2013 in 13 Photos link-up and it just fit so perfectly so...  I'm linking up my link-up.  Is that allowed?

January:



From Safari

February:



From How to Take Pictures of Kids

And my favorite quote from February (from this post):
 
JP, trying to get a mini keg of Newcastle off the counter:  Ohhh thaaaat's?
Me:  That's Dad's beer.  You don't want it.
JP:  Ohhhh I want it!
Me:  No, it's for grown-ups.  It kind of tastes like pee.
JP:  Ohhh I want pee! 
Me:  No you don't...
JP:  I like pee!  I want to drink beer that's made of pee!  I want to drink veggie beer. 

And now John Paul is reading this aloud while I type, so Cecilia is chanting, "I wike pee!  I wike pee!!!"

Reminds me of the time I told him brownies were poop...  "OH I WANT POOP!  I WANT A WITTLE PIECE OF POOP!  I WIKE POOP!!!"

March:



What We Wore Easter Sunday

Oh man there were a lot of March quotes here, here, and here...  But I think the best was from this post:

Cecilia, loud and clear in the middle of the gospel:  "WHO HAD A FART???"

Me:  "Shhhh Cecilia, we whisper at Mass!"

Cecilia:  "Who had a fart?"

Me, resigned: "Who had a fart, Cecilia?"

Cecilia:  "I had a fart!!!"

 

April:

 

 

Giggling twins from this post

 

Oh man this one was hard...  I had to pick two quotes from this post, because these were both pretty awesome:

 

JP, discussing contents of the bathroom cabinet:  Open up the cabinet and you'll find... a pregnancy test!!!"

Yup, signs you life in an NFP household...

 

Cecilia:  What's dat in da potty?

Me: ...That's your diarrhea.

C:  John Paul has wed diawea and I have purple diawea!  It's so beautiful!

Me:

C:  I WUV pink diawea!  It's my favowite!

Me: 

C:  What got on my booty?

Me:  Still your diarrhea...

C:  It's so beautiful!!!

 

May:

 

From this post

And my favorite quote is from this post:

"Last night the smoke alarm started going off so of COURSE Andrew had to start singing, "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!"  to which John Paul responded, "The roof is on fire!  BECAUSE IT'S ALMOST PENTECOST SUNDAY!!!""

Although there were pretty amazing quotes here, here, and here too...

June:



Photo of our new swing set from this post


Favorite quote from this post (more here):

After reading The Way of the Cross for children:Cecilia:  Who hurted Jesus?
Me:  The soldiers did.
Cecilia:  Dere's NO soldiers at our house!
Me:  That's right.  And what would you do to help Jesus when he's hurting?
Cecilia:  Um...  Say "What-a heck."  WHAT da HECK???
July:



Picture and quote from this post:

Cecilia:  A dead bug.
Me:  Where do you see a dead bug?
Cecilia:  Um...  a dead bird.  In da water table!
this happened more than a month ago...
Me:   Yeah, but it's gone now (thank goodness)
Cecilia:  What did it say?
Me:  Umm...  Hi?
Cecilia:  *uncontrollable sobbing*
Me:  Um...  What do you think it said?
Cecilia: *sniffling* NUFFIN.  It's DEAD!!!

No, she's not dramatic at all.

August:



Photo from this post

Quote from this post:

John Paul, out of nowhere:  When will I be canonized?

Me:  ...Um...  I don't know, John Paul...

JP:  In what year?

Me:  

and later that day

JP:  Maybe I will be canonized in 2150!  And when will I become a bishop?

Me:  Well, I guess whenever the Pope makes you a bishop...

JP:  And how old will I be when I'm a seminarian?

Me:  ...Maybe 22 years old?

 

September:
 

Babies in the tub!

Favorite quote from this post, more here:


Cecilia:  Mom, may I pweez come in da bafwoom?
Me, sitting down:  Well, you're already in here...
Cecilia:  You have a big booty, Mom.  Because?
Me:  Because I'm a grown up.
Cecilia:  And I have a wittle booty.  Because I'm a girl!
Me:  Yup.
Cecilia:  I want to see your poop!

October:

 

From this post

 

Some quotes here, but my favorite is from this post:

 

JP:  Hello?  Dr. Murphy?

Me, being Dr. Murphy:  Yes John Paul?

JP:  Um, I pooped out the penny!

Me:  Wow, great job!

JP:  And do you know why we have a clock with popes on it?

Me:  No, can you tell me?

JP:  *long pause*  Um, I have to go.  *hangs up phone*

 

It's a Pope Pius clock, in case you're wondering.  12 Pope Piuses - it's always Pope Pius o'clock!

 

November:

 

 The expressions say it all...

 

This was a pretty funny month - quotes here, here, and here and my favorite:

 

Cecilia, trying to tell me what underwear to wear in the morning:  No, wear your PINK underwear!

Me:  No, I'm going to wear this pair.
Cecilia:  NOT your beige underwear, I don't wike your beige underwear, wear your PINK underwear!
Me:  Cecilia, my pink underwear is dirty!
Cecilia:  What maked it dirty?
Me:  Well, when we wear our underwear for the day, it's dirty.
Cecilia:  Maybe you pooped in it a wittle?  Or peed in it?

She caught me.

 

Bonus picture from November:

 

 

1988 throwback!

 

 December:

 

Christmas tree time!



More quotes here, here, and here, plus my favorite:

 

Cecilia, coming in while I'm nursing Mary Claire:  Oh, hi kitty!

John Paul:  She's not kitty!  We're playing Old Testament, and she's Judith!
Cecilia:  She's not Judas!  Dad is Judas!
John Paul:  No, JuDITH!
Cecilia:  No, KITTY!
Me:  No, Cecilia, he's saying Judittttthhhh, not Judas.
Cecilia:  Oh!  Hi Judif!

later...

Cecilia:  And who am I in the Old Testament?
John Paul:  Oh, you're Ruth.  And Elizabeth is Esther. And Dad is Malachi.  Mom is Moses's mom and I'm Isaiah!!!
Aunt Sister:  Why don't we choose names where we're all in the same story?  So we could play...  Pentateuch!
Cecilia:  And I'm Roof!
John Paul:  NO!  We're playing Pentateuch!  Ruth is a Historical Book!!!

 

 

Okay, go check out more picture posts at Dwija's, and if you have any quotes to link up with me (especially if you want to do your own "Best Of" post!), do it below!

 



WIWS: On the Fifth Day of Christmas We Tested Our Luck...

Want to know what happens when we have ONE decent Mass with all four kids?

 

That's right.  I get cocky.

 

Our 45-minute music-free 8:30 AM Mass went swimmingly on Christmas Day, so we foolishly thought that since the big kids slept in, we'd try the 9 AM at our old parish. 

 

Bad. Move.

 

New church for the babies + music (making Mass MUCH longer than they're used to) + memories (for the big kids) of past misbehavior encouraging MORE misbehavior = BAD BAD BAD times.

 

Soooo maybe we'll just stick to taking all 4 kids together once a month or so? 

 

 

Here's what I wore, in one out-of-focus shot and one lopsided shot!  Perhaps I should have asked for a tripod for Christmas...  Also, that picture convinced me it was time to cut my bangs today...

 

The princess of all things adorable wore last year's Christmas dress and wouldn't cooperate for nice pictures...

 

 

And John Paul wore last year's Christmas shirt and sweater vest. 

 

Elizabeth is in Cecilia's Christmas dress from 2011...

  

And Mary Claire wore one of the few items of clothing the babies have that ISN'T a hand-me-down!

 

Thank goodness they're so cute, or we would have left them at church to fend for themselves :P

 

I'm thinking I'll make tomorrow's link-up a "Best of" post - find your favorite quotes and/or photos from 2013 and link them up!

 

Linking up with Fine Linen & Purple - Merry Christmas!

7 Quick Takes: Christmas Edition!

 

--1--

 

We took Christmas card pictures on Saturday when we went to cut down our own tree (and failed, and ended up running out of time and having to purchase a pre-cut tree!) - I'm glad we got one of all of us on the couch, because I was a dummy on Christmas morning and had my sister take pictures of us in front of the tree (which was in front of the window and made us end up dark and blurry!)...

 

Here are the kids in their matching outfit glory:

 

Cecilia:  I'm just going to snuggle da pillow!
Mary Claire:  *stare*

 And since they were the cutest, I posted more pictures (with quotes) in Tuesday's post, which most of you probably missed because hey, Christmas Eve!

 

--2--

 

Here's an awesome series of shots from the end of our "photo shoot" on Christmas morning after we got home from Mass:

 

 

 

Cecilia's face.  I just can't get over it.  And Elizabeth is SO excited to be chasing her!!!  Also, please note that Cecilia is holding a doll and John Paul is holding a note pad.  Yeah.

 

--3--

 

Can I just say how proud I am of getting crafty this year?  We have almost NO ornaments that aren't breakable, so I decided I'd make some felt ornaments to put on the bottom of the tree, and then I decided each person would get their OWN felt ornament, and spent way too many hours doing that and getting too little sleep, but how adorable are they?

 

 

I was all set to make a train for John Paul and he requested a math problem ornament.  Sigh.  So I puffy painted "10 x 10 = 100" on the back and THAT is what he's excited about.  Soooo glad I simplified his ornament and didn't use the 20+ pattern pieces it would have taken to make it the original way!

 

--4--

 

Christmas tree decorating on Christmas Eve was...  Interesting?  Only one ornament was broken, but after Andrew put the lights on the tree we realized they don't work.  So sad!  Christmas lights are one of my favorite things.  So we need to hit up the sales and get some new ones and hopefully get them on the tree because we'll have it up for quite a while and we might as well!

 

 

I got such a kick out of the ornaments the kids chose to put on the tree:

 

 

Cecilia wanted the hearts, the pink ones, the little rocking lamb...

 

 

And John Paul went for legos, star wars, Gandalf...  Too funny!

 

--5--

 

 

Elizabeth and Mary Claire's favorite presents?

 

 

Cellophane bags.

 

 

Seriously, they cared not even a little bit for the contents (And check out that incredible bedhead!).

 

--6--

 

 

My sister crocheted some beards so that John Paul can use them for his Bible story pretend play, but he won't wear them!

 

 

And she made cupcake hats for the babies - how cute are those?

 

 

Despite her obsession with hats (it's one of her favorite words), Mary Claire wouldn't keep it on.  Shocker, I know!

 

--7--

 

We finished the evening with a birthday cake for Jesus - Devil's Food with peppermint buttercream.  Yum!  And those are the candles that we only use for Christmas and Epiphany - hopefully they'll last us many more years!

 

Looking forward to celebrating all 12 days of Christmas - check out Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

What They Said, Vol. 6

 

Cecilia, hugging me tightly:  Um, big girls don't get killed by emperors!
Me:  ...No, I guess they don't...
Cecilia:  Because their mamas pa-tect dem!

Someone may be a little too into the life of St. Nicholas...

Me, discussing John Paul's sour cream mixed with hot sauce:  It's like hot cream - do you think that's the opposite of ice cream?
John Paul:  CAN WE HAVE ICE CREAM???
rookie mistake...
Me:  Not tonight, but maybe for Christmas?
Cecilia, perhaps the most excited I have EVER heard her:  MAYBE WE'LL GET ICE CWEAM IN OUR STOCKINGS?!?!?!
Every grown-up at the dinner table:  No.

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a soggy stocking, that's what I always say.

My sister mentioned something about a guy we know named "Michael Brown."

John Paul:  What's a "micro brown?"
Me:  Um...  A very small brown thing?
John Paul:  And what's a...  micro...  orange?
Me:  ...A very small orange?
John Paul, raising his hands in the air, extremely proud of me:  YOU DID IT!  YOU GOT IT! 
Me:  ...Thanks?
John Paul, still ecstatic:  YOU GET A GOLD STAR!!!

Gotta love a little validation, you know?

Cecilia, eyeing her pizza crust: Oh baby... I'm going to eat you.  'Cause you're a dead baby.  And I turned you into bwead.

Normal.  Totally normal.

John Paul, climbing into a laundry basket:  I'm Baby Jesus!
Cecilia, clad in underwear with her "Mary Veil" covering her tummy:  Do you want a bwanket, Baby Jesus?
*covers him with a quilt, the pulls aside her veil to expose her stomach*
Cecilia:  And do you want to tickle my tummy, Baby Jesus???
John Paul:  No.

Bet you forgot about that part of the Christmas story!

John Paul, to a nursing Mary Claire: I have to tell you a baby secret. *whispering* If you push me, you'll get in trouble and get farted on!

 

Time to add your own link!  Although I have a feeling this week will be even lighter than others...  Anything goes - show us your funny!

Quick Takes: O Antiphon Edition & Crafts for the non-crafty

I was reminded of the goodness that is the O Antiphons when this Catholic Icing post showed up in my feedly:  O Antiphon Ideas for Catholic Families

I knew John Paul would be SO so excited for us to incorporate these into our Advent preparations, but the "simple" crafts on the website are far from simple for those of us who aren't quite so crafty...  So we've done several SUPER lame crafts that are really easy and work for really young kids - here's what we have so far (along with my sister's reflections from last year):

--1--

 O Wisdom - Easy paper scroll.  Took two seconds - super-lame but John Paul was ecstatic!

--2--

O Adonai - John Paul specifically requested a burning bush and the ten commandments tablets.  He drew tablets on the back of a cereal box and I cut them out.  Then he and Cecilia wrote/colored on them and glued "flames" to a "bush" on a piece of paper.  Again, SO simple and lets them reflect a little in their own way.

--3--

O Flower of Jesse's Stem - Three guesses which one is John Paul's and which one is Cecilia's...  I cut out the shapes, they made their own flowers and then we used glue to show the "roots" under the "dirt."

--4--

O Key of David - Parts of a key.  Glued them to paper.  Real tricky, this one...

--5--

O Radiant Dawn - Tomorrow we're going to be a *little* more hardcore and look at pictures of a sunrise and then use watercolors to try to reproduce our own.  I'm actually excited about this one because I really like using the kids' watercolors...

O King of All the Nations - We're making paper crowns.  Hardcore, I know.

O Emmanuel - Something involving making a baby Jesus...  Do you have a good craft you recommend?  Otherwise it'll be construction paper and glue :P

I'll be instagramming the results - click the subscribe button on my sidebar!

Are you doing anything for the O Antiphons?  Even just singing the corresponding verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel is fun!  There are printables here that we're using and loving.

--6--

Is even this too much for you?  Is Advent burning you out?  Have you had your Christmas decorations up since Thanksgiving?  This one from my sister is a good read, too!  Advent:  You're Doing It Right

--7--

Christina's O Antiphon posts are also really beautiful - if you're not subscribed to The Evangelista, go subscribe now!

Check out more at Jen's!

5 Favorites: That's What I Want (For Christmas)

One week to go!

ONE WEEK!

I'm really (really) bad about figuring out what exactly I want for Christmas until the holiday is suddenly upon us!  But I'm awesome at shopping for everyone else - here are presents for 5 categories of people if you're looking for ideas (most links are Amazon affiliate links, so I get a teeny percentage of your purchase and will probably use it to buy birthday presents for Cecilia...):

ONE

For her (or me!):

Elizabeth headbutted me a while ago and I lost the backing for one of my pearl earrings.  These are the ONLY earrings I ever wear, so I've had to branch out and realized that I just don't have any decent studs...  Enter Christine!  She's a friend who has an online boutique with beaaaaautiful jewelry - there's seriously something for every style, from vintage-inspired to costume to simple to hipster.  Check out her shop here: https://www.chloeandisabel.com/boutique/thefinishingtouch

If someone (*cough* Andrew! *cough*) happened to be looking for jewelry for me, here are some of my favorites:

Little Bird Stud Earrings

Crystal Square Stud Earrings

Teeny Tortoise Stud Earrings

I know, I'm boring and am only asking for studs - I love love love some of the others, but babies are always pulling and poking and I don't want anything to get broken!

Organizational things:

Storage Bin with Handles and Command Hooks to help organize the shoes, scarves, mittens, coats, etc. that get piled up by the front and back doors.  It's bad, friends.  I don't like the storage bin above best, I think I need to hit up IKEA and get some, but we're going to get rid of the piles, by golly!

This book:



Pope Awesome and Other Stories

A NAP!!!  Twins, friends.  Twins.  I need a nap.

And in a similar vein, a maid service wouldn't go unappreciated ;)

TWO

For the grandparents:

Photo book - Snapfish is almost always having a sale on photo books, so I try to keep recent photos uploaded and make a bunch of photo books to send out to the grandparents/great grandparents.

Photo ornaments - You can get kits at craft stores or make them via other photo sharing sites

Family portrait - frame it and send it off, it's a good excuse to get professional photos done!

THREE

For the siblings:

Hallie was right on the money with this one - I told my brother-in-law about it and he immediately said, "Yes.  That.  My wish list doesn't matter."


Granite Drink Chillers

So that one's easy enough!

Also this cookbook:



The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Seriously the best ever - they offer explanations as to why they use certain cooking techniques and ingredients, which is hugely important to me.  Mostly I prefer to use online recipes because of the reviews, but I don't need reviews for these recipes because they've already been perfected!

FOUR

For the kids:

I really want a marble run.  But it's not happening any time in the near future, because...  Choking, you know?

Enter this:



Rollipop Ball Drop

We're ALL having fun with this one - it was a birthday present for the twins but John Paul plays with it more than anyone else.  We got one for Andrew's 1-year-old godson and I have a feeling that his big brother is going to be playing with it a ton, too!  Seriously, this is my number one gift recommendation for kids under 5!


Richard Scarry Busytown Game

This is for John Paul - I'm hoping he and Cecilia can play it on their own, but I think it'll be a good opportunity to spend time with them while the babies nap.



Thinkfun Roll and Play Board Game

THIS is for John Paul and Cecilia and I have very high hopes - I have a strong feeling Cecilia will memorize all the cards and they'll be able to play it together all the time!  We have approximately zero board games that they can actually play right now, so we're stocking up now.


FIVE

For the family:

Our family membership to the National Children's Museum is about to expire, so I'm hoping we'll get another!  Things like this are awesome options if you don't want a lot of *stuff*, and want to be able to spend more time together.  We didn't take advantage of our membership a ton this year (because twins...) but I know that this upcoming year will be easier.

Booze.

An Amazon Prime Membership (free 2-day shipping and streaming videos for a year?  Sweet!).  Heck, now is a REALLY good time to get a Prime Membership for yourself - you can get a free 30-day membership and get free 2-day shipping on all your Christmas gifts!  And if you sign up through my link, even if you cancel it, I get $2!

Not sure?  Check their wish list!  Kelly makes it easier for you in this post:



Shopping on sites that aren't Amazon?  Check ebates first to make sure you're getting cash back if you can!  Use my link and you get extra money and so do I!  It's win-win!  They even have some Amazon categories where you can get cash back, so make sure you've covered your bases.

And with that very lengthy post, I direct you back to Hallie and the other Five Favorites ladies!