Our Video Christmas Greeting to YOU!!

May God love you and 

bless you this Christmas season!  

And may you be His presence 

to those around you!

A Saint Song

We love to live our faith liturgically and celebrate all the feasts in the church year.  Especially the saint feast days!!  Having saint peg dolls in house helps bring them to life even more.  Our sweet 3 year old, Rose, gets sung to every night and we ask for the intercession of 6-10 saints - whichever saint pegs she has chosen.  Last week was St. Zita's feast and she is one of Rose's favorite saints.  She has totally fallen in love with her!!  I know St. Zita is one of her special intercessors now too.  Here is sweet Rose singing to St. Zita, asking for her prayers...

Beautiful Days

We've had some GORGEOUS summer days in spring this past week!!  Like 70's and 80's!!  Yeah, talk about spoiled!!  Not only have the kids been playing outside a TON, but we've also done some eating outside, school outside, cooking outside around the fire ring and watching an outdoor movie too!!  Such a blessing!!!  

 

And some tunes to sing on these lovely days when they come your way...

++Thank you, God, for all these beautiful days!!++

Wordless Wednesday: What Happens When the Fingers Hit the Keys

The latest Funny Boys video: Prank War

I know, I know.  I AM one of their biggest fans.  But, c'mon, they have you cracking up too, right?

Enjoy and.... Laugh.  Out.  Loud.  No sense in holding it in....

"Water and the Faith" video

Our oldest son, Fone, was asked to help out at this past weekend's Confirmation retreat to be a table leader and give a speech.  Doh!  Give a speech?  He was super nervous to do that.  Get up there in front of a room of teens and give a speech?  Not quite ready yet.  Play the piano?   No problem!  But a speech - nah!  However, he LOVES making videos - this is "his thing".  Well, his and his brother's "thing" - Mario and Fone have been making videos for a while now.  So, he hopped on this video right away and covered his topic and the outline very well.  And, without further ado, presenting "Water and the Faith"....

2015 Christmas Video Card

We wanted to try something new this year and put our Funny Boys' video-making skills to use and create a Christmas Video Card.  The boys (Mario especially) worked hard on all of this, with only a few suggestions/ideas from Mom and Dad.

Enjoy....

May God bless you abundantly this Christmas season and over the New Year too!!  

An Advent Litany - "Litany of the Word"

Our oldest girls have sang in our children's choir at church for over 5 years now.  They practice weekly and sing once a month.  It's such a blessing to see them grow more confident in this gift and give their all for Jesus as they sing. They are like little angels singing in a choir.  It's such a joyful noise to hear all the children raising their voices to Our Lord in song.

We were first introduced to this song a couple years ago, and the same day I heard it, I came home and had to google the lyrics.  It's became a favorite ever since.  An Advent Litany, "Litany of the Word", sang by 7 of our 8 young ones....

And, what does "maranatha" mean, you may ask?

**Definition - "An Aramaic expression occurring in St. Paul (I Corinthians 16:22) in the verse "If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him. Maran atha." The Christian Fathers understood the term to mean "Our Lord has come." But more probably it means what St. John has at the close of the New Testament, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20)."

from Catholic Culture

**"The Apostle Paul uses the Aramaic word maranatha only in 1 Corinthians 16.22.[1] This use indicates that Greek-speaking Christians borrowed this transliterated word from the early Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians of Judea and Galilee and made it a part of their own liturgy. Its meaning is complex.[2] If parsed marana tha, it is a request and means “our Lord, come;” but if parsed maran atha, it is a confession and means “our Lord has come.”"

from Patheos

"The Show Must Go On"

 

Yesterday we woke up to almost 10 inches of snow on the ground.  It was the first snowfall of the season, so it hit all of us in the area REAL fast.  I had to get out and size boots for all these young ones.  Put away all our ball caps and bonnets and replace them with scarves, snow hats, gloves, and snow pants. And, of course, they can't wait to get outside to play and help clear the drive.  So thankful, my big boys actually do an amazing job of clearing the drive!!  The others just "help".  ;)

And, how inconvenient that it came on the day when we all had to be up, dressed, fed, and out the door to be over at our local children's theatre by 9:30am, which at that time, it was still snowing and the roads were in terrible shape.  I was really really really hoping that it would be delayed or rescheduled.  But it wasn't. With 260 kids performing that day, it was nearly impossible to reschedule the day.  So, as the saying goes - "The Show Must Go On"!  And, it was going to!  We had to get our little actors and and actresses to their performances.  Not wanting to chance being out in Big Red with the shape the roads were in and were only going to get worse, I sadly stayed home with the kids who were NOT in the morning showcase performance.  And, Neil braved the roads with our performers in tow.  Thank God Neil was able to record the performance, so at least I got see my Mama Sheep (Ariel) and Monkey (Max) perform.

Then that evening, the snow had ceased, roads were so much better, so we all made it to the performance of our two oldest boys.  Mario was the host, and Fone was the last contestant.  And, the rest of the boys are homeschooling friends of theirs.

This theater thing and interest is still so foreign to me.  Even with Hansel and Gretel performance in October and all the showcase performances that these young ones have taken part in, I'm still in awe at how our kids love to be up on stage and have the confidence to memorize all those lines and act.  So so thankful though!!!  It's such a great experience for them!

Funny Boys Dynamite

Our Funny Boys, Fone and Mario, have taken a break from their video-making, but just came out with a super funny, beyond hilarious, take on Napoleon Dynamite.  Click on the image below to take you to their YouTube channel to view their newest latest greatest hit....

Well done, boys!!  

7 QT's - Instagram recap of our week

Joining in with This Ain't The Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes Friday via an Instagram re-cap style....

---#1---

A week ago, we had a nice rain and I decided that I would be nice enough and let the kids go outside in the rain to run around in, splash in, and get all wet.  Not everyone took me up on this offer.  But 5 of the 8 young'uns did!!  What's one more load of laundry, eh?  

---#2---

This little guy has now been crawling for just over two weeks now and can get everywhere he wants.  Including the laundry basket!!!  Isn't he the cutest laundry helper ever??  

---#3---

Sams trip stocking up on groceries for the week - only hubby, these two little cuties and myself...

---#4---

Pope Francis arrived in the US on Tuesday, and like I mentioned, we had to celebrate his visit from afar.  Flat Francis has been hanging out with us and has come along to some activities with us this week.  Poor sweet Flat Francis hasn't made it to all of our events and was left at home or out in the van.  It's been fun though, for sure!!  We've especially enjoyed watching EWTN all week.  And, I can't wait to read this post with link-ups from many of the ladies from CWBN (Catholic Women's Blogging Network).  

---#5---

Who needs a toy drum, starring our little guy, Yoda??....

---#6---

Both Melody and Mario have been cast to star in Hansel and Gretel, that our local junior theatre will be performing next month.  So, we've been trucking here at least three times a week for play practices, not to mention the other two acting classes our kids are in!  Thank goodness the grounds are beautiful and there is so much room for our kids, not in practice/class, to run and play.  

---#7---

Tired momma with baby who doesn't sleep very well..... yeah, that's me.  In this picture, I had just got nursing lil Yoda and got him to sleep.  He sleeps only after being rocked, nursed, or traveling in the van.  Never falls asleep on his own in his crib.  No schedule whatsoever.  He'll be one in a couple of weeks.  Still doesn't sleep through the night.  Wakes/nurses at least twice.  I'm okay and love him to pieces, but man, am I tired.  I've never had a baby with sleep patterns like this.  And, I just can't lay him down and let him cry it out.  That's just not me.  Funny with him being my 8th, things are just so different.  Silly guy!  

***Please join in on the fun and stop and take a look at all the other Quick Takes by clicking the image below***

Music Recital - 2015

Our six big kids shared their hard work and musical talent during a Music Recital for our homeschool group this month.  Fone and Mario even teamed up and performed with their cousins.  Having had no musical talent myself, Neil included, it really amazes me at recitals like this to take in what giftedness God has blessed our children with.  I am such a proud momma!!!

~ Pookey ~ age 5 ~

~ "Happy Birthday to You!" ~

~ Max ~ age 7 ~

~ "Zoo on Saturday" ~

~ "Tucker's Secret Life ~

~ Ariel ~ age 9 ~

~ "Things That Go Bump in the Night" ~

~ "Mouse in the Clock" ~

~ Melody ~ age 10 ~

~ "Five Note Sonatina" ~

~ "Pumpkin Dance"  ~

~ Mario ~ age 12 ~

~ "I Love Rock-n-Roll" ~

~ Fone ~ age 13 ~

~ "Minuet in G" ~

~ Fone, Mario, & their cousin ~ age 13, 12, 12 ~

~ "Hit the Road, Jack" ~

~ Mario and two cousins ~ ages 17, 12, 12 ~

~ "Bridge Over Troubled Water" ~

The Recital was held in a local historical home that once belonged to John Deere's descendants.  (and you know how we are Deere fans since Neil works for Deere, both of our dads are retired from Deere, and two brothers-in-law also work at Deere!!).   It was so beautiful just to walk around and see all decorations from that time period!   The bust statues and decorations reminded the kids of the Haunted Mansion from Disney World - lol!. Here's some pictures of us enjoying the building.....  

++Thank you, God, for the musical talent you have blessed our young ones with.  Thank you for their dedication and hard work in practicing to be able to learn their instruments well and perform as beautifully as they did!++

(here is the link from last year's music recital.  

It's neat to see how much they have progressed!!)