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.

Goodbye Summer~

So we spent the past two Sundays at the shore, trying to soak in every last bit of summer we could.  We had a great time and can't wait to get back there next summer.  

Toddle Monkey was content to stay faa, faa away from the waves

One was able to enjoy plenty of boogie board time with Daddio.

 Daddio was having fun channeling his inner teenager...

And lastly, we discovered a local favorite and feasted on some shrimp tacos.  (Forest and Bubba would be proud)

Hope you all had a great summer!

"By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer."
-   Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

Novena for the Election

There are nine weeks until election day.  Won't you please join me in praying this Election Novena?

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you.

We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged 
And recognized as higher than any human law.

We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active.

Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer 
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.