Adventures in Wisconsin on a Mid-Autumn Day

Luke Turns 4!!!

Around the end of October, life starts getting a little nuts in the Bullio household.  Halloween kicks off 3 months of celebration madness in our home.  Trick or Treating, All Saints, All Souls, Luke's Birthday (which will sometimes fall on Thanksgiving), Thanksgiving, Advent, St. Nick, other advent Feast days, Jack's Birthday (which is a week before Christmas), Christmas, New Year, Kate's Birthday & finally, Mark's birthday (what am I forgetting???).  It's all good stuff, but a lot of good stuff at once is a bit overwhelming, especially for me, who has never been very good about "being on top of it all."  Sometimes it makes me cry up to the heavens, "June, Lord?! Could I have had one of these beautiful blessings in June?!"

On this particular year, Luke's birthday fell on Thanksgiving, so we had a family party the weekend before.  I have dubbed this party "The Noro Virus."  For little did we know, while eating cake and having superhero merriment, almost everyone was becoming infected by a stomach bug.  Words cannot describe how bad I felt about this...  But here are some pictures of the good part :)

The Tooth Fairy Came!

September Photo Collage

Happy Feast of JP II!

It's this little guy's first Name Day!  We love Blessed John Paul II and we love you too, little Jack Jack! So much!  May you too, one day, be a great follower of Jesus!

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, makng the world more human and more fraternal.”

― Pope John Paul II

Blessed John Paul II, pray for Jack and for our whole family!

We're BACK!

To school, that is, not necessarily to the blogosphere.  We're also back in good ol' Wisconsin, where it all began, but that will be a different post!  Yes, it's true, we went on vacation and never returned, and Jack is 9 months now and there is a ton of stuff to write about, but all I am posting right now are the back to school pictures.  And they are not that great because Kate was so excited, I could hardly get her to stop and smile for the camera.  Needless to say, she loves school and is doing fine.

Some Friday Quick Takes

1. Not to be outdone by his sister, Luke has been swimming for quite some time now.  He just started one day. Just like that, which was exactly what his sister did.  I guess that's what happens when you live in Florida.  Here is a video (excuse the extremely poor quality).

2.  Luke took a fell, scraped his face and chipped his tooth yesterday.  It's not very obvious and I think it's of no consequence, but we will of course check with the dentist.  After a while,  I was examining his face and said in sympathy, "Oh Lukie, poor guy!"  He looked at me, trying to smile and hold back tears and said, "It's ok, mom.  I'm ok.  I'm going to be ok."  It was so sweet - it broke my heart.

3.  Kate "graduated" from preschool yesterday.  When I first heard that they "graduated" and that there would be a ceremony and all, I thought it was a bit silly and over the top.  I mean, it's just preschool.  I almost didn't even send her to preschool.  While I do still think that a bit, I must admit, the ceremony was really cute.  The kids prepared songs and were very proud of themselves and excited.

Kate had a hard time keeping her hat on:

And finally, a little Whitney tribute:

4.  Mark is almost finished with his 1st year at Pine Crest!  Pine Crest has been an wonderful blessing for us.   It really is an amazing school.  Recently, the upper school was ranked 2nd in the nation for college preparedness.   Dr. B is a big hit among both parents and students alike and we have been told by more than one crying parent, that he has changed their child's life forever.  I think it's true and I think it's safe to say that they have changed ours for the better as well.  More to come on this!  Maybe even from Dr. B himself.

5.  I know I promised you part three of Jack's birth story.  I promise you it will come.  I'm sorry I'm the worst when it comes to this stuff. :)

6.  Luke doesn't like to go to the bathroom outside of our house.  He, "only likes to go where it's safe and warm."  The other night we were at a friend's house and he had apparently been holding it for a while and finally went a little in his undies.  I asked him if he went in his pants and he said, "yes, but only a cute, lil' bit."

7.  We are getting super excited about Summer Road Trip 2012!!!  It's sure to be a Bullio road trip of epic proportions!