7 quick takes - a week in review

Christmas is coming!!!  Only one more week!!

#1 - Last week we celebrated two Mexican feasts in our domestic church - Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady Guadalupe!!  Easy kid friendly Mexican food was served both days.  How great it is to be Catholic and having so many reasons to celebrate!!

++Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady Guadalupe, pray for us!!++

#2 - Neil and our big boys got to test out those cool new guns that Saint Nicholas brought them.  Fone was extra prepared and had 4, yes FOUR, pairs of pants on for cushion.  Such a goofey kid!!  I don't know who had more fun - the three of them running around the yard or the little kids and I on the inside running around from window to window to watch the air soft wars.  

#3 - We celebrated another special saint on Saturday and surprised the kids with our plans....  After Mass, we grabbed a bite to eat and had a "picnic" in the van and drove around our area to see all the beautiful Christmas lights.  Thank God for Facebook and my wonderful friends who offered all the suggestions on where to go.  Our favorites were a house that had a light show set to all the Frozen songs and another house that had hundreds of blow up decorations.  What a fun way to celebrate the patron of LIGHT!!

++Saint Lucy, pray for us!!++

#4 - The big girls and I treated ourselves to a fun brunch and show at a local dinner theater.  We went with a good friend and her two oldest daughters.  Twas the Night Before Christmas was showing and we were all happy with both the performance and the delicious food!  

#5 - Christmas caroling on Sunday in the town where I grew up!!  Neil took the 4 big kids out while I stayed back at the church hall with the 4 littles - you gotta do what works, eh?   Taking a toddler and a baby outside this time of year doesn't work too well, and Pookey and Mark were not too thrilled wandering around outside in the dark either.  After the caroling bunch was done, we all shared and enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate at the hall!!    (It was a jam-packed weekend of fun, family, food, and faith!!)

#6 - This beauty of ours celebrated her second Baptismal anniversary as well.  Keep shining His light sweet Rose!!  

#7 - Christmas is coming, right?  And we all know who that special day is about?  Santa?  NO!  (St. Nicholas comes to our house weeks earlier to allow the focus on Who it should be on Christmas). Me?  NO?  (It's definitely not about me, myself and I and what I get, although the Who is actually a gift for us all.  We don't buy our kids any Christmas gifts for THE Gift has already been given). It is about Our Heavenly Father sending Love down to us all to be with us in a very real way.  It is about a Baby who is the One who will save us all!  Ah yes, Jesus, the Messiah, born on Christmas Day - THE best gift of all!!  Still waiting and still preparing!!  It's almost here!!!

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For more quick takes, click on the image below....

Feast of St. Nicholas - 2014

A couple Saturday's ago, the kids awoke to full stockings, toys, games, books and more from jolly ole Saint Nicholas!

What a blessing that he comes to our kids on his feast day rather than on Christmas, so that the focus is on Jesus instead of "me, me, me" on His special day.  Makes for a more peaceful and meaningful Advent in our home as well.

Some of the favorites this year were....
air soft guns for the big boys
a cool Hobbit lego set for Fone
an electric guitar for Mario
barbies and girl dart guns for Melody and Ariel
a beautiful castle and new playmobil's for the littles to share
fuzzy big foot slippers and remote control cars for Max and Pookey
baby bottles and a leap pad for Rose
new jammies for all 8 kids
sleepers and a sling for baby Yoda

Phew!  That was a lot to list - guess Saint Nicholas thought our kids were good this year!!  

++St. Nicholas, thank you for your intercession and generosity to all children.  Please pray for us that we may be loving and generous like you and that we may always grow closer to Our Lord!++

Shine your light, baby!!!

"As a man must be born before he can begin to lead his physical life, so he must be born to lead a Divine Life. That birth occurs in the Sacrament of Baptism. To survive, he must be nourished by Divine Life; that is done in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist."
~Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Baby "Yoda " was transformed from an inherited darkened soul to a beautiful, spotless, radiant soul just a couple weeks ago in the sacrament of Baptism.  It was a blessed night of grace and love surrounded by our family and friends!

"...Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

~Ephesians 6:4

 "You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul...  And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up."

~Deuteronomy 11:18-19

 Yoda's Godparents are our oldest son, Fone, and my older sister!  How blessed he is to have their love, example and prayers throughout his life!!

After the Baptism, we gathered in the hall for dinner and cake to celebrate Yoda as the newest Catholic!!  Dinner was super simple - sandwiches made by my beautiful girls, cake from Sams, and everyone else brought something to share for the meal.  (We have such a sweet family that always offers to bring stuff!!)

++Thank you, God, for yet another beautiful child that you have entrusted to us during this temporary life to love, care for, and teach him to know, love, and serve You!++

Our Lady Guadalupe, pray for us!!

Isn't living the liturgical year so wonderful?  In the midst of the waiting of Advent and holding back from Christmas festivities, we have three great saints to celebrate this week - Juan Diego (on Tuesday, December 9th), Our Lady Guadalupe (today), and St. Lucy (on Saturday, December 13th).

During our morning devotional and prayer time, I read this beautiful book and we lit our Advent candles and decorated our wreath with our crocheted Rosary roses and our Shining Light doll in honor of Our Lady Guadalupe.  We may even make some paper dolls and color themed pages for today's saints later today. Tonight for dinner, we will have a Mexican feast as well - walking taco's, chips and salsa, and chocolate cake.

This past April, we took Ariel on her First Holy Communion trip down to St. Louis.  On our way back home, we stopped at the Shrine of Our Lady of Snows.  Here are a few pictures while visiting the grotto dedicated to Our Lady Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego...

++Our Lady Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego, 

pray for us!!++