Merry Belated (but not really) Christmas!!

St Nicholas

Happy Feast Day to you all.  The St. Nicholas Center has some great ideas to help celebrate today, so go check your shoes for chocolates and what-not and have a great day!

Happy Birthday GG!

We all love you and miss you much. Happy day to you!!

Poetry Friday

Back to our regularly scheduled program:

Anticipation

Lots of waiting and anticipation goin' on around here in the new digs.  Waiting for our furniture that was in storage to be delivered, waiting for painters, waiting to get motivated to unpack our household (for the 427th 9th time), waiting for my sore back to heal (I should have been reminded that I'm not as strong at 39 as I was at 19--what up wit dat??!!?), waiting for..(you name it....)  But most importantly waiting and anticipating the birth of Our Lord and Savior.   

We've been adding more activities to our Advent.  We have various Advent calendars all about the house.  We've got our Advent wreath which we light at dinner and while reading Bartholomew's Passage (the second book in the Advent Trilogy by Arnold Ytreeide).  The kids have been begging me to "Find Jesus' bed Mommy!" so they can add straw to it with each good deed done in order to provide Baby Jesus with a nice soft bed come Christmas Day when we place the Christ Child in it.  Aaand, I'm planning to dig out our Jesse Tree from the boxes that surround us so we can add our ornaments daily.  

St. Nicholas' Feast Day is coming up Saturday!  I had hoped to make some of these.  Buut we've still got to clean out the old house and our storage unit, so pfffffttt!-- phoey.  Monday brings about the Immaculate Conception and the 12th is Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe ....  so much richness in this season to embrace.  I hope to share some of our activities here.  But for now, I guess I'd better get offa here and get crackin'!  Blessed Advent to you all.

Jotham's Journey

Before the movers pry away my keyboard.. gotta hurry... they're on the way.... I thought I'd share one of our favorite books for Advent.   Jotham's Journey  (click on the purple writing for a quick review) is a great read for the family.  It can be a bit intense for littles-- depending on how sensitive they are, but mine have all enjoyed it (we're on our third time reading it).  It's the first book in a series of three by Arnold Ytreeide, but I think at this time only Jotham's Journey is in print.  

Uh oh.. here come the big burly dudes... better run. 

See ya! 

Because doesn't everyone need a little chuckle in their day?

Oh, and also because this is something that would sooo-oo happen to me.. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Taking a quick pause in all the PAINting, moving and cooking action around here to wish you all a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.  

Please take time today to say a prayer for our many deployed soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen-- especially for their safety and swift return home.  Also lift in prayer those family member that are here on the home front  missing their loved ones on this holiday.

I'll close this post with the prayer that will be said before our dinner this afternoon and that accompanied loaves of bread that some very thoughtful ladies baked for our parish to share:

Gracious and generous God, 

we come before you today with grateful hearts.

In the beauty and bounty of creation

we see the work of you hands.

In the loving faces around us 

we know you own love for us. 

May this meal nourish us and strengthen us.

We pray in thanks to you, 

our God who lives forever and ever.  Amen

Christ the King

Viva Christo Rey!

I can't help but think of Bl. Miguel Pro and his story today , the solemnity of Christ the King--the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year. 

ACK!  I also can't believe that Advent starts a week from today!  We're in the midsts of moving.  (Yes, I said moving-- after only 5 short months here in our base house--we're moving to another one.)  However, I hope to get up an Advent post sometime this week.  Advent is such a special time in our home.  LOTS of preparation for the Babe Jesus.  I hope to post some of our family's favorite reads an activities that have helped us prepare our hearts for the Savior in Advents past.

Until then, I leave you with this... 

A discussion of the finer things in life~namely jelly beans...

At lunch earlier this week:

Four: "So, Princess (he really doesn't call her by that-- I think he'd rather choke first..) what's your favorite color of jelly bean?  I like the pink ones, 'cause they, um, they taste like bubble gum.  But those black ones.... are HORRIBLE!  Unless you eat them after pancakes and syrup, 'cause then, ...um, they taste better.  Not delicious, but, uh  definitely better."

Princess: "Yeah, I yike dem.  The purpo ones are my favwrit.  They taste like purpo bubble gum."  Do you like purpo Four?"  (she really doesn't call him that either.... but she does like to tell you she's four-- 'four and a half!!' thank you vewry much!)

Four: "Um, I don't think that I've ever tasted purple before.  But remember, uh, remember thaaaat time thaaat Grandpa, um, not Grandpa Skip and not Papa, but Graaandpa had this HUGE jelly bean jar?  It was wicked huge! (... and here we see the effect older brothers can have on a 6 year old's vocabulary...)  And it was so DELICIOUS!!  All those jellybeans.  DE-LI-SHUUS!  Buut, um, not broccoli.  Blech! 

Princess: "Yeah.."

Four:  "You know, if you wrapped gum, like all around your tongue, well then it wouldn't be so bad, 'cause all you would taste would be, um... GUM!  Yeah... gum.  HEY MOOOOOM!  Where's all the gum??" 

Princess:  I can't have gum until I'm five..(big sigh)

For all you Star Wars (and/or John Williams) fans out there...

a little sumthin', sumthin' for ya...

You know you're a big family when...

...it costs you 50 bucks for dinner at Chick-fil-la.  Five.  Zero.  FIFTY DOLLARS folks!  Mucho dinero a la chick-fa-lay-O.  No toys with meals, nuthin' fancy and (insert giant sucking noise here...)  Fifty Dalla! --and not a crumb left to save for later  throw away. 

Mm'kay, maybe it's time to sell one off....

Poetry Friday

A little late, but here's the next installment:

And because I'm a bit late, I'll throw in this extra goodie.  I found it randomly when uploading the previous video.  Never a dull moment around here, I'll tell ya!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Heroes

Today our family honors Veterans for the sacrifices they've made on behalf of our Nation so that WE may be free.   Free to live, learn, speak and worship however we  so choose.

We will also celebrate the Feast Day of St. Martin de Tours, a Roman soldier that converted to the Christian faith.  He gave his life over to Christ and became one of the greatest saints of the Church.  He is most known for drawing his sword to cut his own cloak in half  in order to give it to a cold and lonely beggar.

So as a family we will be attending the Dedication Ceremony of the C-141 Starlifter Memorial Park.  In the spirit of St. Martin, we'll scour our closets in an effort to help clothe others and gather what we can to donate.  And at the end of the day, we will offer up a Rosary for those who have served and are still serving this great country of ours.

=================================

I wanted to share with you all one final thing.  Last year we were able to go into D.C. and take the monkeys to all the beautiful Memorials for Veterans Day.  We spent the most time at the Vietnam Wall Memorial.  My uncle's name is on that wall, and all of us were very humbled to be in the presence of so many names all in one place.  

Each child ran their fingers over the names, and even the littlest monkeys were quietly taking it all in.  It was very moving to say the least.


"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."--George Orwell--

Poetry Friday

In an attempt to broaden your horizons ('cause that's me... Horizon Broadener), I bring you the first edition of Poetry Friday.

Take one:

Take two:

and, finally (whew), third time's the charm,  TAKE THREE:

No go off and enjoy your weekend, knowing you've added a little 'monkey' culture to your day. :)

Leaves

 Poem by Elsie N. Brady       Photography  by yours truly...

"How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.

 

At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow." 

Halloween fun--polaroid style

All Hallow's Eve

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday

Umm.... it's a bit early for this, don'tcha think?

Leaf Man

Inspired by:

I give you this......









Oh, and least I forget--I also give you....

Leaf WOman!!

Super Tuesday

It's just around the corner.... I was coming here to put in a little post on where my heart lies with this election, but came across Margaret's post.  It's everything I wanted to say, only better.  

Friday fun

check it..

.

Our Trip to NOVA

That'd be Northern Virginia for all my TX  peeps. (okay, so really I don't have any "TX  peeps" aka: readers, except for my mom, and well, does she actually read my blog??  er...  a girl can pretend, can't she?!?) Now where was I.... oh, yeah our VA trip.  We had a great time-- well most of us did, that is, except for Two.  He spent THREE days in the hospital--cellulitis.  Go ahead, google it--I'll wait....  

Now, just look at this pitiful child:

Sad, isn't it?  He sat for three days in bed--just lying, laying(?), lieing (I know, I know-- that last one isn't even a word..) 

He was poked and prodded

and drawn on.  See, look near his left  ear and down his neck...

But do you think all this it got him down?  Why, no sirrrree, it did not.  'Cause Two got to take in all kinds of football games, play Wii for hours, and catch up on cartoons. Now, it would have been a great time for Two if he'd been able to spend more time with friends and not so much with docs, but all things considered,  he says he still had a pretty fun time.  That's why his nickname around here is Mr. Happy.  Nothing gets this kid down.

Wordless Wednesday

Catholic Vote

catholicvote.com

Wordless Wednesday

A great week of Feasts!

Autumn is certainly a favorite time in our household.  Leaves are changing, weather is cooling, football is upon us and pumpkins abound.  There are yummy lattes at Starbucks, aisles and aisles of Halloween candy, caramel apples, hot chocolate with whipped cream, toasted marshmallows, apple cider....   wait, where was I??  

Ah yes, Autumn....  Another reason we love, love, love it is because some of our favorite feast days are in fall.  Take this week for example.  We start off with the feast of the Archangels (today).  I'll read some stories out of A Book of Angels.  We will print off and color some of Charlotte's coloring pages (we're so grateful to her sharing her talent); we'll have angel hair pasta for dinner, followed by Devil's Food cake (the boys have a great time piercing it with tiny cocktail swords) for dessert.   Then tomorrow we'll read St. Jerome and the Lion and do the accompanying lesson out of Catholic Mosaic.   Wednesday is St. Therese of Lisieux's feast day (still working on activities for that day--she was such a special little lady and is very much loved around here).  Thursday is the feast day of the Guardian Angels.  We'll read My Guardian Dear, have angel food cake, and make these little cutie patooties .  Aaand since October is Respect Life Month, Friday we'll read Regina Domain's beautiful book Angel in the Waters,   We'll also pull out our pictures from March for Life and relive what an important day that was for us as a family and we'll recommit ourselves to fervent prayer for Life~from conception until death.

Are you ready...

for some..

FOOTBALL ???

Two sure is!

40 Days for Life

I'm one day behind on this, but it's not to late to start...

To learn more about how to get involved, check out their website HERE.

Wordless Wednesday ~ not

Long time no post.  Wordle.net  is helping me get my blog back up to speed by allowing me to share with you all, in a fun creative way, what we've been doing around here lately:

From Left Field-ish

Four:  "Hey, Mom... I like saying apple while holding my tounge."

Wordless Wednesday ~ a double shot~

Happy Birthday Three!

Today we celebrate Three's birthday.  From the get go, this kid's theme song has been, "Which One of These is Not Like the Others?"  (Sesame Street, people..)  He's helped us earn our parent badges, that's for sure.  He's athletic, stubborn, smart-- more like brilliant, sensitive, moody, intense, LOUD, loves to sing in monotone and can get very, very grumpy. (which can be hard on the rest of us "Suzy sunshines"around here, ya know..)   But the most endearing thing that sets him apart is his beautiful heart.  From the age of about two (seriously), he'd give you his last and only piece of gum, his favorite toy or the first turn that he's been anxiously awaiting for hours.   He is a lover of animals (we call him "The Beaver, Squirrel, Cat, Bug Whisperer), and babies.  The latter is evidenced below.  A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of babysitting a newborn baby girl.  From the moment Momma brought this bundle of joy into our home, Three sat oh, so patiently waiting.. 

for her to wake up...

for over 20 minutes....

.......and when she did, oh, what joy!!!

We sure do love you,  beautiful Boy.  Happy birthday Three!  May God Bless you this special day and all the days to come.  Love, M & D.