Well, well, well, here we are again. And I haven’t blogged since February. Yikes. Adding ‘write blog’ on the to-do list doesn’t necessitate that it will get done, obviously!
Today is Gabriel/G-Man/Man Child/ G’s 12th birthday! He’s growing at the speed of light and is nearly eye level with me and is fast approaching his teens. He requested a lemon cake for about the 5th year in a row so I’m getting decent at making that!
- Summertime is just about my most favoritest thing ever. It seems that just about every other summer I am pregnant, so the summers that I AM NOT pregnant, we do ALL THE THINGS. This year we bought a family pool pass, for the first time. It’s been great and I can now add ‘taking 6 children 11 and under to the pool and keeping them alive {so far}’ to my list of lifetime accomplishments. Other highlights so far include a 3 day tent camping trip to Decorah, family get togethers, hiked/caved at Maquoketa Caves, visited the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo, visited family, attended various library programs, attended massive number of ball games (Gabriel, Lucy and Amelia are all playing this year), met new friends, consumed large amounts of ice cream and ate many meals on the front porch (another of my favorites!). I am looking forward to ball games being over in 2 weeks so summer slows down a bit….we will see how that goes. We have a few more road trips planned, with Gulf Shores, Alabama and Milwaukee, Wisconsin topping the list. It’s shaping up to be a good one!
2. My man-child Gabriel purchased his first vehicle. That’s right. What other could a 12 year old boy want for his first car but a 1983 Ford Bronco with 2 holes rusted through the floorboards and bird nests in the hood?! And it doesn’t run–hasn’t for the past 20 years. Yes, this is his dream. He wants to take it all apart and build it back up, learn about motors and all that jazz along the way. The males in our family think this is great and have done this themselves. His goal is to have it running in 2 years to drive with his school permit back and forth to school. But in the meantime, let me show you the current view in our driveway……
3. The Costellos are now officially beekeepers. I should say that Jeremiah and Gabriel are officially beekeepers! Gabriel’s interest was sparked back during the beginning of C*V*D {let’s not mention that 5-letter word} and he’s held onto it since. In that time Gabriel and I read every beekeeping book we could get our hands on, Gabriel by chance befriended a local Master Beekeeper who has been an excellent mentor, Jeremiah and Gabriel took a 4 month long local beekeeping course, Gabriel built a hive with Papa Dave, we purchased another hive, ordered/picked up/installed 2 packages of Italian honeybees from Wisconsin, and now J and G complete weekly ‘bee chores’ of feeding the bees (to get them established) and inspecting the hives. I think it’s so cool. We hope to get honey later this summer but we shall see!
4. The Dynamic Duo continues to be….dynamic. There’s not really ever, and I mean ever, a dull moment. Kateri is literally and figuratively, always along for the ride with Ruth. Their teen years will be….interesting. Start praying for me NOW.
5. Somehow, Mary is one month shy of 1 year! Her birthday is exactly 1 month after Gabriel’s. She continues to get around by scooting on her bottom with one hand in the air and one hand pushing her on the floor. She cruises a little bit around things and people’s legs and is getting better at standing with less support. She still doesn’t take a bottle-or cup, we are working on that! She eats a good amount of table food and is getting better at feeding herself. She’s obviously the 6th child because her sleeping situation for the past 4 months has been a portable crib in our large main floor bathroom. Think what you want, but it works for now! 1700 sq feet and 8 people…you have to get creative sometimes! Mary enjoys Gabriel and Lucy a lot. She basically has 5 mothers so that gets interesting sometimes. She’s a trooper for the most part, often getting broken up naps this summer due to the older kids’ activities and getting to bed way later than she should. She rides in the jogger with me most mornings and likes to feel the wind in her toupe-like hair 😉
Ta Ta for now!
House of Costellos 