M.O.M.

 So, Lili and Audrey have started having "school" for Kateri when they come home in the afternoons. They have named their program "Mary our Mother" school, aka M.O.M. as in "M.O.M. is such a slacker at homeschool preschool that we have to take matters into our own hands." I guess they can't have me embarrassing them next year when Kateri starts kindergarten woefully unprepared.
Anyway, here is the pile of supplies I found when the big girls went to school on Monday:

I especially like Lili's lesson plan...my favorite is how she wanted to start with a placement test to "see where she is at" although we may need to outsource her spelling program to someone who can, you know, spell.

Here are the rules and contract promising good behavior.

It has actually been really nice the past two afternoons. Lili gets Kateri set up with some work and then does her own homework, taking turns with Audrey, who is the "co-teacher" and handles religion and science. Religion consists of storytelling in the legendary style of the legendary Miss Stagg. I need to set up a hidden camera to catch her in action. I need a video of "choir practice" too, to catch Kateri fudging her way through the Latin hymn Lili has tried to teach her.

 

It all has made for a nice quiet pre-dinner hour.

I wonder how long they will keep it up.

A little comparison

Now that Isaiah is starting to chunk out a little, he looks a little bit more like a Speier baby.

Here he is today.

Compared to Kateri four years ago

 

 

 

Isaiah's Baptism

 Isaiah was welcomed into the Church on October 13th. He wore the gown and bonnet that my father was baptized in. It has been used by three generations, but this was the first Speier child who had a small enough head to wear the bonnet. (Much to his father's delight.)

 

With his Godparents, Uncle Steve and Aunt Cindy

the family with Fr. Vietor (and Abby in self-imposed exile in the background)

 It was a blessing to have both grandmothers there on Isaiah's big day.

 The occasion even put to rest the ancient feud between Luke and his "arch enemy" Tesfaye, who had been praying novenas that his nemesis be blessed with a male heir.

It was a beautiful day, but although the sacrament washed away his Original Sin, it didn't turn Isaiah into a perfect angel, as you can see from this shot after Mass the following week.