Look who is 4!

Pookey is now four and a little one we still adore.

He is silly and goofey.

And we will love him forevermore!  

Loving God, you created all the people of the world and you know each of us by name. We thank you for "Pookey", who just celebrated his birthday. Bless him with your love and friendship that he may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. May he love his family always and be faithful to his friends. Amen. 

School pics 2013

We had pictures taken last month and I am SO happy how they turned out!  I guess I should expect that from a bunch of cute kids though, huh?  (just a tad biased, eh??)

**Fone - 12 years old - 7th grade**

**Mario - 10 years old - 5th grade**

**Melody - 9 years old - 4th grade**

**Ariel - 7 years old - 2nd grade**

**Max - 5 years old - kindergarten**

**Pookey - 4 years old - pre-school**

**Rose - 1 year old - pre-pre-pre-school**

++Thank you, God, for these beautiful children who call me "mom".  You have given them to me and appointed me to the best job in the world, in leading them closer to You.  Please help me be the best mother I can be to them, and bless them every moment of their lives.++

Welcome, Jesus!!

We had lovely Thanksgiving celebrations with both sides of the family last Thursday and Friday.  Great food, great fun, but even more importantly, a great family to celebrate with and thank God for!!  Have I shared how blessed we are to have both sets of parents, all siblings, and all our nieces and nephews within 15 minutes from us??  Then on Saturday, our sweet Melody was able to attend a Handmaiden Retreat with the Apostolic Sisters of St. John!  Wow - again, how blessed we are to have such a beautiful community of Religious so close!  Then, to end the weekend on the best possible note, Ariel was able to receive Jesus for the very first time.  And to double the fun and blessing, her cousin was able to celebrate and receive her First Holy Communion at the same time! 

Our two oldest boys, Fone and Mario, served at Mass, with their cousin and it was the first time their cousin served at our church and the first (of many!) that all 3 boys served together.  I was one proud momma, although I was a tad nervous that those boys would be a bit comfortable up on the altar and goof off.  They were perfect though!!  :)

Here are some more pictures after the First Holy Communion and the party we had...

I remembered that we had to make a banner less than a week before her FHC.  A quick trip to Hobby Lobby and using some patterns and ideas online - viola!!  It turned out lovely - Ariel did a great job!!!  (we will no longer be buying the banner kits, as this was easy peasy and allowed for more freedom)

the whole crew

Ariel and Father Paul

Ariel and her Godmother

"What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what is given to us in time, be our healing for eternity. May Your Body, O Lord, which I have eaten, and Your Blood which I have drunk, cleave to my very soul, and grant that no trace of sin be found in me, whom these pure and holy mysteries have renewed. Who live and reign, world without end. Amen. We humbly beseech You, almighty god, to grant that those whom You refresh with Your sacraments, may serve you worthily by a life well pleasing to You. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen."

(found here)

Hmmmm, is this going to work??

I was uploading some pics to Google Photos and noticed that in my most recent album, there was snow falling in one of my pictures - actually from my last post.  So, just trying to see if this is going to work on the blog......  "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!"

Gotta love Google animation!!!!!!!!!!!!    :)

Wordless Wednesday

Signs of Advent

We are now in our second week of Advent and are in the midst of this beautiful time of preparation for the birth of Christ.  Here is a peek into our home and all the "signs of Advent"....

Our Advent wreath

(I love how it takes votives, which are so easy to find, and I can easily change out the scents.  I found the above link on amazon, but bought ours from our local Religious Supply company many years ago)

THE song

We sing this every time we light our wreath.  

 (thanks to Elizabeth Foss for sharing it years ago)

Our Jesse Tree and new ornaments

Advent devotionals 

Tabitha's Travels and Welcome Baby Jesus

(we have also used Jotham's Journey and Destination: Bethlehem in the past.  Both are wonderful - we just like to switch things up a bit.)

 Advent Lego calendar

(there are so many to choose from!)

Baby Jesus missing from our Nativity sets

(one is the Playmobil set and the other is an Isabel Bloom.  My wonderful husband gave me once piece each year for until I had the whole Isabel Bloom set!  I treasure this set!!)

Wise Men ADVENTures (a Christ-centered alternative to Elf on the Shelf)

We have passed on the ever-so-popular Elf on the Shelf tradition because we just wanted something "more" that actually tied into our faith.  I'm glad we held off and never jumped on that bandwagon, because there is an option that relates to our faith - The 3 Wise Men searching for Jesus!  Yippeee!!

And, it's easy peasy too!  Every night after kids are in bed, the 3 Wise Men come to life and move around the house in search of the Newborn King.  So far, they are still searching and having no luck, but we know why - it's not Epiphany yet!  Plus the manger where Jesus will lay is still empty, since we are waiting for His arrival still.  The excitement and anticipation is just contagious!!

Here are some pictures and details of our Wise Men ADVENTures so far...


Our "3 amigos" (aka: 3 wise men) were hard to spot the first morning among all our wooden saints. They must have noticed the Light of Christ burning so brightly in their new friends and that's what led them there. We could almost hear them asking, "Have you seen a star?", "Where is the new king?"

The 3 kings are still searching for the King and the star.  Don't think they will find anything in there - lol!  Max was fascinated and just sat and sat and sat and sat multiple times throughout the day and kept telling me, "Mom, I see them moving!!"

The wise men must have been paying attention and noticed that we were watching our Jesse Tree Bible stories last night on our "idiot box", so after we went to bed, they wanted hints in finding Jesus and tried to make it turn on and work. I think they got a bit distracted. What do you think??

 **** if you are wondering what the "idiot box" is all about, then you HAVE to get to know this guy!

 Still searching for the Newborn King, and they didn't even make us any sweet treats.  What a tease...

 Attempting to scale a wall here....

Searching under our prayer table...

And, today they were up on our fireplace mantle....

 I am so thankful for this great idea and the excitement and anticipation that is brings to our Advent experience this year!! 

++Thank you, God!!++