Halloween

Pia didn't go out with us, but I'm sure she would have raked in the goodies, too.

Give me a firmness.

Last night I was telling Betsy I'm trying to be more consistent with my discipline because Bernadette needs more firmness. Enter Kateri (i.e., little person with big ears).

K: I need firmness, too!

M: Yes, you do.

K: Can you give me a firmness right now?

M: What is a firmness?

K: It's something for your bottom. Because sometimes your bottom gets sore.

M: So then you put a firmness on it?

K: Yes.

Second tooth in 24 hours

Pia

Slip sliding

Sisters

Amusing Pia and themselves. 

More questions from Queen Bee

Who was the first person to say the rosary?

What makes water stick together?

Butchering Day

Here's an image: Bernadette, much to her own amusement, shaking a bucket full of chicken heads and shouting, "Wake up, you guys! Wake up!"

A few hours after being told not to bring the chicken feathers she was collecting into the house, Bernadette came inside carrying a bag and, as she crossed the living room, kept her eyes fixed intently on her mother. This made her mother suspicious, and the following conversation took place:

M: "Bernadette, are you doing something you're not supposed to?"

B: "Yes."

M: "You're not bringing chicken feathers into the house, are you?"

B: "Oh, no! They're duck feathers."

A moment

Group shots

Posed fun

Pumpkin patch

Sisters and cousins

Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa

Pia, left, and Levi with Charlie.

Mara, left, Sylvia and Pia with Betsy.

Guarding against zombies

Peaceful morning

Kateri is 4!

Cement pour

Home, school

Sisters

Tummy time for Pia

Camping

Yankees-Royals

Sister story-time

Mara is 2!

Minor-league baseball in Lincoln

Bernadette opted not to run the bases after the game, but Isaiah and Kateri flew around them.

Hitters

Kateri

Mara

Vaccination day

This was the before picture for Pia.

Siblings

In birth order from left: Charlie, Marilyn, Phil, Galen and James. Second youngest Fred was not in Kansas.

Stuff Mara says

Occasionally at the dinner table, and once during Mass: "I smell cow poop!"

Whenever she sees a frog: "It gonna eat me!" (This is often accompanied by tears.)

When she feels the need to give me instructions on keeping some item safe: "Don't let the chicken get it!"

Ready for my close-ups!

Four days of fever

But she made it through last night and was her old self today. Boy did she look rundown for a while.

Pia and Grandma

Isaiah is 8

Birthday season is in full swing.

Walk